Lioness of Bourdillon: Triumphs and Grace of Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 61
When most people visualise the home of the Lion of Bourdillon, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, they usually see one who is like him in many ways: Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Even as the wife of the top dog of Nigerian politics, Senator Oluremi checks all the boxes for an impactful political figure and legislator. She is not only brilliant in her policymaking, but she is also far more influential on and outside the floors of the National Assembly compared to some of her peers. At 61, Senator Oluremi wears the grace of a swan: lovely to behold and sending ripples across administrative and constitutional waters.
The history books suggest that there might have been more than a few African chieftesses in the past. With daring women like Senator Oluremi in the present, that claim is not difficult to accept. Here is one who stands and sits alongside the movers and shakers of the country as a no-blushing, no-nonsense mover and shaker herself. Truly, an allround figure is Senator Oluremi.
The Senator came to the limelight as Lagos State First Lady but almost immediately took up the mantle of representing Lagos Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly. That was in 2011. Her characteristic remark that a purposeful life is one of service is evident in the years since. This is likely what drove her to earn a diploma from the Redeemed Christian Bible College (which is why she is often called a Pastor), a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University of Ife, and a National Certificate of Education in Botany and Zoology from the Adeyemi College of Education.
Among the many bills she has sponsored, two stand out: the bill to create State police to tackle insecurity from the roots, and the bill to improve the reach and value of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST). For these and several others, Oluremi has received one award of excellence and impact after another. One of the most recent ones came from The Guardian during the International Women’s Day Summit 2021.
At 61, Oluremi is only a little less influential compared to her husband—as far as national politics is concerned. Even
so, her methods are far more graceful. To her, to be or not to be is not the question but how to serve.