Believe it or not, the race for the Governor’s Mansion in Alausa, Ikeja is on.
Even though we’re still in the early days of 2025, the mental timeline of the typical Nigerian politician probably indicates that we are in the last quarter of 2026 – if not early 2027. Based on this futurist calendar, all the permutations about who is up (or on his way there), who is down (or on his way there), and the whole panoply of alliances and allegiances (including shifting ones, according to where one’s best interests are best served) are now out in full force.
Over the past several months, the buzz around who gets to succeed Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu as Governor of Lagos State when his tenure lapses on May 29, 2027 seemed to have settled on a number of political heavyweights, including both past and current political office-holders, such as the recently-impeached Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, the current Lagos State Deputy-Governor, Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, the Chief of Staff to the President and former Speaker of the federal House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Sen. Tokunboh Abiru, and former Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Although he wasn’t often mentioned in the same breath as the aforementioned personalities, Oluwaseyi Tinubu has in the past few weeks managed to push to the forefront of contention for the top job in the Centre of Excellence, through a combination of strategic positioning, public appearances and charitable gestures on his part, as well as through high-profile endorsements by a number of influential stakeholders across the length and breadth of the nation. Accordingly, the media spotlight on him is becoming a bit sharper than hitherto.
Seyi Tinubu is, of course, the son of the President of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But beyond that familial relationship with the nation’s No. 1 citizen, who exactly is he, and what qualifies him to vie for the office of Lagos State Governor, and to take on the onerous task of managing the affairs of one of Africa’s largest economies?
At first glance, he may seem like nothing more than a child of privilege, a pampered prince trying to ride on the coattails of a famous and influential father into the corridors of power. But on close examination by my humble-self, his friends, colleagues, business associates and admirers will assure you, there’s more to Seyi Tinubu, far more, than meets the eye.
A lawyer, business executive and serial entrepreneur, the 39-year old Seyi Tinubu, who was born on October 15, 1985, is the CEO & Co-Founder, Loatsad Promomedia Limited, an outdoor advertising, communications and content solutions company which has carved an enviable niche since its inception over a decade ago for developing tailor-made solutions for a vast range of successful corporate organisations – including some of Nigeria’s leading blue-chip and multinational companies. Highly sought-after in high-value corporate circles for his sound legal experience and in-depth, common sense approach to international business transactions, Mr. Tinubu and his firm have overseen hundreds of advertising transactions representing billions of naira in transaction value.
Known among his industry peers as an innovator and change-agent, Tinubu was the moving spirit behind the merger between his company, Loatsad and Promomedia (to form Loatsad Promomedia) back in 2016. It was a move which saw the merged entity embark on a number of far-reaching work paradigms and innovations, among them opening up its portfolio of services by incorporating digital advertising. Loatsad Promomedia has since taken strides in consolidating its already formidable position in the outdoor advertising sector. Its intention to consolidate its position in this regard was further demonstrated with its recent acquisition of E-motion Advertising Limited.
He came to his present roles armed with a formidable academic pedigree, with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a Master’s degree in Corporate and Commercial Law from Lincoln University and the University of Buckingham (both in United Kingdom). Prior to his higher education, he had enjoyed schooling stints at places like Holmewood House School, Milton Abbey, also in the UK.
Beyond the boardroom, Seyi Tinubu harbours an unwavering commitment to ensuring positive change in Nigeria via the private sector (and in particular, the MSME ecosystem) as well as by empowering Nigeria’s millennial demographic towards achieving their full potential through entrepreneurship development, innovation, and sustainable ideas initiatives – such as the ones regularly facilitated by the Noella Tinubu Foundation – the NGO he co-founded and runs with his wife, Mrs. Noella Tinubu. The foundation is focused on providing support for tech startups and empowering young people.
His other passions include foreign investment and privatization, information technology and the development of human capacity – especially in the area of digital technology.
Tinubu’s business acumen, leadership and the aforementioned interventions have not gone unnoticed by leading industry stakeholders. In 2017, he was given the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Leadership Excellence Awards, and in 2019, he bagged the Business Person of the Year Prize at the Entrepreneur Africa Awards. Also, in 2019, he was crowned the ECOWAS Youth Ambassador for Entrepreneurship & Youth Development, and in 2020, he was inducted into the Ghanaian Institute of Public Resources Management & Politics.
Seyi Tinubu’s mention as a viable (if not the leading) contender for the Lagos State gubernatorial seat in 2027 has elicited a cascade of responses from virtually every tendency on the political chessboard of the state. Most of the responses have come in the form of enthusiastic endorsements, as various individuals and groups eagerly anticipate the ascension of a leader whose wealth of experience, educational attainments, business acumen, leadership skills and philanthropic instincts belie his relative youth. Among the groups endorsing the younger Tinubu include the Coalition of Nigerian Youth Leaders (CONYL), a body comprising youth groups from across the six geopolitical zones. CONYL’s bold declaration of support has so far sparked an avalanche of similar endorsements, such as the one from the Lagos branch of the Middle Belt Youths, and the Friends of Seyi Tinubu (FOST), as well as by a number of highly-placed individuals.
Critics and naysayers have used words like ‘dynasty’ and ‘empire’ to describe the prospect of the younger Tinubu ascending to the seat his presidential father occupied from 1999 to 2027, and whose influence over its affairs is still undeniably enormous. Others have questioned Tinubu’s relative youth and lack of previous political stewardship, while yet others have expressed concern as to whether or not the coming race would be waged on a level playing-field – seeing that the President himself (or so they said) now has a proverbial dog in the fight.
What no one has been unable to fault so far, however, is Seyi Tinubu’s mettle and qualifications for the top job – in terms of his academic attainments, his proven business acumen and leadership skills, and his engagement with the rest of society in terms of his interventions – via the Noella Tinubu Foundation – in the affairs of vulnerable people, as well as young persons involved in startups and other business activities. If Seyi eventually makes public his intention to vie for Lagos Governor in 2027, his prospective opposition will do well to reckon with the dynamo that Seyi Tinubu has evolved into – an evolution that is sure to continue to grow to maturity until Election Day 2027.
As for previous political involvement, the sheer amount of work Seyi, in collaboration with hundreds of grassroots operatives, did – and the engagements and interventions he embarked on – to ensure his father’s victory in the 2023 presidential election is still the subject of much discourse and analysis till date … with some observers wondering aloud as to whether that was not, perhaps, a dress rehearsal for his own political odyssey someday…?
To be sure, the race to 2027 is a marathon, not a sprint. But from all indications so far, it is a marathon that will be run almost at break-neck speed – with the kind of vigour and political sagacity that, according to relevant stakeholders, Lagos State needs in her next leader, come 2027.
According to his teeming admirers, those are the exact attributes (physical and intellectual vigour – as he has demonstrated time and again in the evolution of Loatsad Promomedia Limited – sagacity, and a workable template for action on the issues that affect the people) that Oluwaseyi Afolabi Tinubu possesses in abundance.
• Keem Abdul, publisher and writer, hails from Lagos. He can be reached via +2348038795377 or [email protected]
