A new book examining President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political evolution, methods and strategies is set to be published before the end of 2026, with its author introducing the concept of “Tinubuism” as a subject for critical political examination.
Titled The Tinubu Enigma: Tinubuism, Democratic Continuity and the Future of Nigeria, the approximately 300-page book is authored by veteran journalist Lanre Ogundipe, a former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists and the African Union of Journalists.
Ogundipe describes the work as neither praise literature nor partisan condemnation, but “an attempt at political interpretation”.
According to the author, the book examines Tinubu not simply as an individual politician but as a broader political phenomenon shaped by power, strategy, coalition management, institutional influence and the demands of governing a complex federation.
The early chapters examine Tinubu as a strategist, coalition builder and political organiser operating within Nigeria’s evolving democratic environment.
Later chapters turn to questions around governance, legitimacy, reform, institutional endurance, democratic accountability and historical judgment, while examining whether the patterns in Tinubu’s political career could eventually be understood as “Tinubuism”.
Ogundipe stresses that the term is not being presented as an established political doctrine. Rather, the book asks whether recurring patterns in Tinubu’s political evolution amount to a distinctive method of political organisation, coalition management and the exercise of democratic power in contemporary Nigeria.
The study also places Tinubu’s political experience within the wider context of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic and Africa’s broader experience with statecraft, democratic consolidation and political leadership.
The book brings together a collection of essays, including some previously published in the media and others substantially revised or newly developed for the volume. It combines political commentary, analysis and historical reflection in an effort to examine Tinubu’s political trajectory and its implications for Nigeria.
Ogundipe said the manuscript has undergone substantial editorial development and has been reviewed by scholars and analysts ahead of publication, generating critical assessments of its arguments and approach.
The book is expected to appeal to scholars, political practitioners, journalists, researchers, students and members of the public interested in Nigerian politics, democratic development and the future of the Nigerian state.
Further details on the publication and public presentation of The Tinubu Enigma will be announced in due course.
