By Kazeem Akintunde
Ego is one of the requirements to be a leader. How it is managed is what differentiates a great leader from a fascist. One past world leader with a high dose of ego is Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was the founder of fascism and leader of Italy from 1922 to 1943. He allied Italy with Nazi Germany and Japan in World War Two. He was born Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini on 29 July, 1883, in Predappio, Northern central Italy, and his father was a blacksmith. Employment prospects in the area were poor, so, in 1902, Mussolini moved to Switzerland, where he became involved in socialist politics. He returned to Italy in 1904, and worked as a journalist in the socialist press, but his support for Italy’s entry into World War One led to his break with socialism. He was drafted into the Italian army in September, 1915.
In March 1919, Mussolini formed the Fascist Party, galvanising the support of many unemployed war veterans. He organised them into armed squads known as Black Shirts, who terrorised their political opponents. In 1921, the Fascist Party was invited to join the coalition government.
By October 1922, and with Italy seemingly slipping into political chaos, the Black Shirts marched on Rome and Mussolini presented himself as the only man capable of restoring order. King Victor Emmanuel invited Mussolini to form a government. Mussolini gradually dismantled the institutions of democratic government and in 1925, made himself dictator, taking the title ‘Il Duce’. He set about attempting to re-establish Italy as a great European power. The regime was held together by strong state control and Mussolini’s cult of personality.
In 1935, Mussolini invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) and incorporated it into his new Italian Empire. He provided military support to France in the Spanish Civil War. Increasing co-operation with Nazi Germany culminated in the 1939 Pact of Steel. Influenced by Hitler, Mussolini began to introduce anti-Jewish legislation in Italy. His declaration of war on Britain and France in June 1940 exposed Italian military weakness and was followed by a series of defeats in North and East Africa and the Balkans.
In July 1943, Allied troops landed in Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned by his former colleagues in the Fascist government. In September, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies. The German army began the occupation of Italy, and Mussolini was rescued by German commandos. He was installed as the leader of a new government, but had little power. As the Allies advanced northwards through Italy, Mussolini fled towards Switzerland. He was captured by Italian partisans and shot on 28 April 1945.
In the same mould with Mussolini are leaders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Henry V III, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler. The more recent of a world leader with a big-size ego would be America’s latest President, Donald Trump.
To recognise a leader with a big ego, the following characteristics stand them out. They are mainly self-centred, as they focused on their own personal ambition, power, and status. Secondly, they are mostly arrogant, as they believe they know it all. They are also resistance to feedback, closed-minded, and unwilling to learn from their mistakes. Again, they are known to shift blame for failures to others and take credit for success. They do dominate conversations to prevent others from sharing information, and they may resent people or systems that they feel have let them down, and most of them have persecution mentality, playing the victim of ‘unfair’ treatment.
Coming back home, we have also had our share of leaders with king-size ego with the duo of Sani Abacha and Olusegun Obasanjo taking the cake. In the same league would be General Ibrahim Babangida.
In Lagos State politics, one politician that has been cut to size due to his king-size ego and ambition is Mudashiru Obasa, former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. Obasa is one lucky politician who stooped to conquer but who allowed his ego and ambition to ruin him. He joined politics at a very young age, becoming a Councillor in Agege Local Government at the age of 26 with a secondary school leaving certificate between 1999 and 2002. He was elected as a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2003 and during that period, enrolled at the Lagos State University for a law degree. Due to his closeness and loyalty to the then governor of the state, Bola Tinubu, who is now Nigeria’s President, Obasa was re-elected into the Assembly in 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. He became the Speaker of the House in 2015, and has remained so for almost a decade before he was given the boot last week Monday by his colleagues.
In Agege Local Government Area and Orile Agege Local Government Development Area (LCDA) where he played his brand of politics, Obasa was all-conquering and all-knowing. He hates opposition and deals with those who go against him with maximum force. Once you threaten his hold on power, Obasa would lure you to his fold with money. If you resist, subtle warning from him and his ‘boys’ would follow, and if you prove to be stubborn, you should be ready to take whatever comes your way. Although there are several experienced and older politicians in the local governments, Obasa is the de-facto leader.
With his long stay within the corridors of power, Obasa became arrogant. He talks down on party leaders and treats his colleagues in the House as subordinates. He has, on several occasions, publicly humiliated Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu and his Deputy, Obafemi Hamzat. The most recent was during the presentation of the 2025 budget to the Assembly. Obasa not only kept the Governor waiting for more than one hour, he came to chamber with a prepared speech that rattled everybody. “I am not too young or inexperienced to be Governor and I am more qualified than some of those people who are there.” That statement was seen as disrespectful by many, fuelling animosity amongst party leaders.
Unknown to him, his fall from grace to grass began in 2023 with the election of Tinubu as Nigeria’s President. With Tinubu busy with running the affairs of the nation in Abuja, Obasa felt that he should take charge of politics in the state. After all, Sanwo-Olu who was the elected Governor was once a struggling party faithful that normally ran to him for ‘family support’.
After winning a second term ticket, Sanwo-Olu, as demanded by the constitution, forwarded a list of Commissioners for consideration into the cabinet of the state government to the Assembly. But under Obasa’s leadership, the Assembly rejected 16 of Sanwo-Olu’s nominees. Many top politicians in the state intervened, but Obasa would not bulge until Tinubu had to personally call him to order. Yet, when the Governor submitted a revised list, Obasa’s Assembly still dropped some of the nominees, signalling a full-blown power struggle. It is worthy of note that both are from the same political party – The All Progressive Congress, (APC).
During the 2024 budget presentation, Obasa publicly summoned and humiliated the Lagos state Deputy Governor, Hamzat, delivering a veiled warning: “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” He followed this with a proverb, saying, “The god of iron recognises the swift ones. Anyone planning to interfere in this House should prepare for the same fate.” Several interventions by the Governors Advisory Council, a quasi-socio-political think-tank of elders set up by Tinubu to guide state governors in the state did not yield any positive result, and when Tinubu came to Lagos for the Christmas break few weeks back, the revered Tajudeen Olusi, who heads the group reported Obasa to Tinubu.
His major undoing however, was an attempt by Obasa to convert Lagos state’s 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) into Administrative Areas under a new law. The move sparked outrage and reportedly displeased Tinubu, who personally warned Obasa to abandon the Bill. Despite the warning, the Assembly, under Obasa’s leadership, passed the Bill, which is still awaiting the Governor’s assent. This defiance is believed to have accelerated his impeachment as Tinubu gave the green light.
During the last Budget presentation imbroglio with Sanwo-Olu, 37 of his colleagues passed a vote of confidence on him. Soon after, he proceeded to the United States of America for vacation and was still there when the same members impeached him and elected his deputy, Mojisola Meranda in his stead to lead the House.
Obasa is a member of the Mandate Group, a group within the APC in Lagos. However, since he started nursing a gubernatorial ambition, he has been secretly funding a new group – Obasa Support Network within the same party. He has also sustained a close working relationship with Rauf Aregbesola, a close ally of Tinubu, but who has fallen out of favour with the President owing to the dirty politics within the APC in Osun State.
After his tenure as two-term Governor of the state, Aregbesola felt that power should shift to another senatorial zone, but his leader – Tinubu, insisted that his cousin, Gboyega Oyetola should be the Governor at all cost. Aregbesola felt insulted and did all within his power to truncate Oyetola’s ambition. Although Oyetola managed to win a four-year tenure, he could not repeat the same feat as he was booted out of power by Ademola Adeleke of the PDP.
Now, several allegations of corruption are emerging, and there are moves to have him arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) once he returns to the country. Even before his impeachment, Obasa was once a guest of the EFCC over corruption allegations. From awarding contracts to himself using fronts, to accusations of owning over 60 bank accounts, the ex-speaker’s name became synonymous with scandal. Among the most outrageous accusations was the alleged spending of N80 million on a training programme for lawmakers’ wives in Dubai. He was also alleged to have allocated N44 billion for the purchase of vehicles, misappropriation of N15.6 billion meant for office construction, and spending N17 billion on a gate within the Assembly complex. Obasa has consistently denied these claims, dismissing them as politically motivated.
With his governorship ambition delt a huge blow, it remains to be seen whether Obasa will decamp to another political party to realise his ambition as the APC is effectively out of his hands. A young politician has now allowed his inordinate ambition and ego to ruin his political career. Or will he prove to be another cat with nine lives and stage a comeback? Time will tell.
See you next week.
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