Tinubu Is Nigeria’s Greatest Leader, Says Audu

Director-general (DG) of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, Princess Zahrah Mustapha Audu, has described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s greatest-ever leader.
Audu said Tinubu’s administration is confronting long-standing structural problems and laying the foundation for a stronger economy.

The DG, who is also the national publicity secretary of the City Boy Movement, made the assertion in a statement she issued yesterday in Abuja.

She argued that leadership should not be judged by the comfort it preserves, but by the institutions it builds, the difficult decisions it confronts and the future it creates.

According to her, history often gives a clearer assessment of consequential leadership after the events have passed, noting that Nigerians are currently living through a period of major reforms whose full impact may only become evident with time.

“Greatness, of course, is not perfection,” she said, stressing that the test of leadership was whether a leader could recognise structural problems, confront issues that had been postponed and build institutions capable of delivering sustainable development.

Audu said Tinubu’s political significance predated his emergence as president in 2023, citing his tenure as a senator during the Third Republic, his involvement in the struggle for democratic restoration, his exile and his subsequent emergence as governor of Lagos State in 1999.

She noted that after leaving office as Lagos State governor in 2007, Tinubu remained influential in national politics and played a significant role in the development of opposition politics that eventually contributed to the formation of the All Progressives Congress.

She said the 2015 election, which produced the first democratic transfer of power from one political party to another at the federal level, further demonstrated Tinubu’s ability to build political alliances and institutions beyond the confines of public office.

Audu said Tinubu’s experience in Lagos also shaped his philosophy of governance, particularly the need to build a capable state that could mobilise revenue, formulate policies, execute decisions and create an environment for businesses to thrive.

She said Tinubu broke with that pattern by removing the petrol subsidy, describing the decision as one of the most consequential economic reforms of the administration.

Audu acknowledged that the policy had imposed hardship on Nigerians but argued that the previous arrangement could not have been sustained indefinitely.

“Leadership sometimes requires choosing not between difficulty and comfort, but between the difficulty of adjustment today and the greater danger of structural failure tomorrow,” she said.

The PEBEC DG also highlighted reforms aimed at improving Nigeria’s business environment, arguing that the efficiency of government institutions was central to economic competitiveness.

She said issues such as business registration, permits, customs procedures, regulatory approvals, and the efficiency of government agencies directly affected the cost of doing business and entrepreneurs’ ability to create jobs and expand their operations.

Audu maintained that Tinubu had demonstrated an unusual willingness to expend political capital on difficult decisions rather than merely accumulate political popularity.

She nevertheless expressed confidence that history would ultimately judge Tinubu favourably.

“President Tinubu’s work is unfinished. History’s final verdict cannot yet be written. But his place in Nigerian history is already impossible to ignore,” Audu said.

She added that few Nigerian political figures had traversed as many political eras, influenced as many institutions and remained consequential for such a long period.

“That is why, in my considered view, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is Nigeria’s greatest-ever leader to date,” she said.