A former aide to President Bola Tinubu, Professor Dapo Thomas, has claimed that Tinubu once withdrew support for Babatunde Fashola’s second term ambition during his time as Lagos State governor over concerns that Fashola was building a political structure outside his mentor’s influence.
Thomas, who served as Special Assistant to Tinubu during his years as governor of Lagos State and now teaches History at Lagos State University, made the claim in excerpts from his autobiography, Lagos Boy and Lagos Politics. The book is scheduled for launch on July 9, 2026.
In the account, Thomas said the relationship between Tinubu and Fashola began to deteriorate not long after Fashola took office in 2007, as tensions grew around issues of loyalty, political succession and the control of Lagos’ power structure.
According to him, after settling into office, Fashola gradually began to distance himself from Tinubu and started building a separate political camp. He alleged that by the time preparations began for the 2011 governorship election, Tinubu had become uncomfortable with the direction things were heading and responded by initially withholding support for Fashola’s second term bid.
Thomas wrote that the move forced Fashola and those around him to begin efforts to repair the strained relationship. He claimed that traditional rulers and influential political figures were drawn into the reconciliation process, with appeals reportedly made to Tinubu to reconsider his stance.
He further alleged that Tinubu’s discomfort was tied not only to Fashola’s growing independence, but also to concerns that the governor was positioning his own preferred successor in a way that could weaken Tinubu’s political hold on Lagos ahead of his wider national ambitions.
According to Thomas, there had been an understanding within the political camp that the next governor after Fashola should come from Lagos East and be a Christian, partly as a balancing move after 16 years of Muslim governors in the state. He claimed that while Tinubu and his loyalists were working around that arrangement, Fashola was backing a different succession plan built around his own preferred candidate.
Thomas said the disagreement deepened the rift between both camps and heightened tensions within the then Action Congress of Nigeria.
He, however, said he stepped into the situation by writing a newspaper article titled Tinubu Fashola: Crossroads, Not Dead End, in which he appealed to Tinubu to forgive Fashola and support his re election. In the piece, he argued that replacing Fashola at the time would disrupt the pace of development in Lagos, insisting that the governor had justified the confidence placed in him.
Thomas also said he urged Tinubu to treat any misunderstanding with Fashola as one of the many challenges political leaders often face in managing protégés and allies.
Before publishing the article, he said he first sought Tinubu’s approval to avoid the impression that he was publicly challenging his political leader. According to him, Tinubu carefully read the article, discussed it with him and eventually gave the go ahead for it to be published.
Thomas said that once Tinubu approved the article for publication, he immediately sensed that Fashola’s second term ticket had been secured. He added that Tinubu later endorsed Fashola’s re election despite the earlier disagreement between them.
He said he welcomed the decision, even though he believed Fashola was politically opposed to him at the time, because he saw value in playing what he described as a constructive role in resolving the crisis.
Thomas also claimed that the tension did not end with Fashola’s re election, as succession battles resurfaced later in his second term. According to him, disagreements emerged again over who should succeed Fashola, with the governor allegedly trying to influence the process while Tinubu eventually settled for former Lagos State Accountant General, Akinwunmi Ambode, as the preferred candidate for the 2015 governorship election.
