After the 1966 coup, when General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi took over leadership in Nigeria, he sought guidance from respected minds on how to heal the nation after the bloodshed that claimed the Prime Minister and members of his government.
My father, Godfrey Kio JaJa Amachree, Queen’s Counsel, told him plainly:
“Whatever you do when you meet the Northern leaders, do NOT salute them. Do NOT bow to the Emir of Kano. They will interpret it as weakness — and deal with you accordingly.”
Ironsi ignored the warning.
He flew to Kano, the Emir met him at the airport, and the first thing Ironsi did was salute the Emir.
Not long after, Ironsi was dead.
This story, told to me by my late father, has never left my mind.
So when I saw a recent video of Seyi Tinubu bowing and scraping before Northern leaders — what many call respect, but what I call political grovelling — it troubled me deeply.
It tells me one thing:
Seyi and his father are worried.
Worried that the Northern power bloc that delivered Tinubu into office is no longer pleased with him.
Tinubu shifted long-held Northern privileges to Southern appointees, especially in the military and core institutions.
But the biggest provocation was the decision to move the Central Bank of Nigeria’s offices from Abuja to Lagos — a direct shot across the bow, a message to the North that he would not remain their obedient servant.
Seyi clearly has political ambitions of his own: Governor of Lagos someday, perhaps even heir to his father’s Abuja empire. His mother already behaves like a future president, using the First Lady’s office as a political machine rather than a ceremonial seat.
But in Nigeria, when you bow to the Northern elite, you signal dependency — and once they believe you need them, you become expendable the moment you step out of line.
That is the reality.
That is the history.
That is the lesson Ironsi learned too late.
Seyi Tinubu had better be careful.
If he underestimates the intelligence and instincts of the Northern political class, he risks walking the same fatal path — and dragging his entire family with him.
⸻
Hashtags
#NigeriaPolitics #NorthernPowerBloc #SeyiTinubu #TinubuAdministration #PoliticalHistory #Ironsi #Kano #PowerDynamics #Nigeria2025 #LeadershipLessons
Credit: KIO AMAKREE FACEBOOK PAGE.
