It took Dora Akunyili to enlighten Nigerians about the criminals using fake drugs to send citizens to untimely departure from Planet Earth. Now, we have Tunji Bello, taking the bull by the horns and daring petrol bandits who rob under the cover of market forces.
Not many attached much importance to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) until Bello assumed office as Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/ Vice Chairman in June 2024. You know, there are so many funny Federal Government parastatals. Some of them exist only on paper, for political and quota system relevance.
The Strait of Hormuz did not mean much to Third World petrol consumers until Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu took war to Tehran in the bid to decimate Iran. When Ayatollah Kameni was taken out, it signaled the beginning of woes as global economy wore a terrible look.
Iran resorted to oil politics and refused to die. Whatever affected Iranians was also felt by the rest of the world. For the crooks who decide the next billionaires from Niger Delta resources, war became good business at the expense of compatriots.
Before that Gulf War, the pump price of petrol in Nigeria had gone down to below 700 naira per litre, from nearly 1000 naira earlier. When President Bola Tinubu was inaugurated in May 2023, his first act was to remove subsidy on petroleum products. Hell was let loose and from below 200 naira per litre, marketeers began to asphyxiate consumers.
Nothing was really done to control the mayhem. Voodoo Economists, always looking for the slightest opportunity to blossom, sold different narratives. Everything was blamed on market forces. Unfortunately, our armed forces have been busy fighting real and phantom wars outside the economy.
Then emerged Bello. I knew him as a combatant with the pen. As a writer in his National Concord days, he could release rocket propelled grenades from his desk. Bello was also an activist at the University of Ibadan as Vice President of the Students Union.
I am sure his time with Chief Moshood Abiola as a Special Aide exposed him the more to the dual face of people in offices and power. The death of Concord also led to more experience in the field of lack. Men like Dele Alake, Mike Awoyinfa, Dimgba Igwe, Bello, Kunle Solaja, among others, lost their source of livelihood.
When the Fourth Republic took off in 1999, Bello was through with the newsroom. Having edited Concord and chaired the Editorial Board of This Day newspapers, Tinubu pushed him into regulation. The new job was Managing Director Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA).
I did not pay much attention to LASAA, maybe because in the bid to pursue revenue, I figured they might even ask Lagosians to start paying for the photographs on funeral T – shirts. I remember that Mobolaji Sanusi once operated there as Managing Director. I was in Abeokuta when his mother was buried in 2009.
From LASAA, Tinubu moved Bello to the Lagos cabinet as commissioner for Environment, in 2003. Having spent time there even under governor Babatunde Fashola between 2011 and 2015, things continued to look up. Akinwumi Ambode had Bello as Secretary to the Lagos State Government. Babajide Sanwo – Olu did not let go. The former SSG returned to the Ministry of Environment.
A man who has gone through Tinubu, Fashola, Ambode and Sanwo – Olu, must have seen enough. And seeing is believing. Many in his shoes would be feeling on top of the world, denigrating old friends and colleagues. This Bello is different and that is why Nigerians must know about one who has remained ordinary even as a big man.
If you want to dig into the past of a successful Nigerian, go to his old friends and mates. Whatever you hear from them will guide your perception. All the skeletons inside Bello’s cupboard died on the altar of distinction. They could not stay because the man is good.
Bello turned 65, on July 1. I did not have to read about him from the Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji – Bello. You know, teachers are stingy with marks so if she gave her husband an A, critics may take the case to the University Senate. The man is a lawyer and will need to go to court to prove his worth.
I chose to listen to some of his friends and colleagues. Kunle Solaja is the only Nigerian journalist who has covered ten editions of the FIFA World Cup. Some of us know him as Deacon KS. He hails from Ikenne, the home town of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and also worked as one of Abiola’s close aides. To the sports journalist, the only thing that has changed about Bello is portfolio, nothing else.
Richard Akinnola is a rugged journalist and comrade. Hear him : “The Tunji I knew before he came into public office, is the same Tunji in public office.” I believe Akinnola because right from his days as Vanguard man living around Airways Road, Ijesha Lagos, he is rich in recollection.
Author and columnist, Ken Ugbechie described Bello as ‘simple, yet sophisticated.” Adebayo Olowo – Ake said : “I have known Tunji for over four decades and he remains himself – humble, loyal to friends, extremely supportive and down – to – earth.”
All these Facebook posts are things that they can say before Bello, face to face, there is no point placing a bet. We do not need to go to court to prove that Bello has not changed, even when politicians keep preaching change.
The way the CEO of FCCPC is going, I see the pump price of petrol going down to 500 naira per litre. We need someone to punch these racketeers and their market forces below the belt.
I see Bello moving from one fuel depot to another to enforce order. NUPENG and PENGASSAN have been so quiet for a long time. I do not know if they are for us or against us. All I know is that Tunji Bello, is for us.
