President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR

Introduction

Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the 16th President of Nigeria. He took office on 29 May 2023, succeeding Muhammadu Buhari, with Kashim Shettima as Vice President. Before that he was a senator, two-term governor of Lagos State, and one of the architects of the All Progressives Congress. He is also a trained accountant who held a senior finance role in the oil industry before entering politics.

Early life and education

He was born on 29 March 1952 and grew up in Lagos. His mother was Abibatu Mogaji, the Iyaloja of Lagos. He attended St. John's Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos, and Children's Home School, Ibadan. He then moved to the United States and studied at Richard J. Daley College, then Chicago State University, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Honors on 22 June 1979.

Career before politics

He worked as an accountant for Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, and GTE Services Corporation in the United States. After returning to Nigeria, he joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, rising to the position of Treasurer.

Political career

1992–1993: Elected to the Senate for Lagos West on the Social Democratic Party ticket. He was a founding member of the National Democratic Coalition, the pro-democracy movement formed after the annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election. When General Sani Abacha seized power, he went into exile.

1999–2007: Governor of Lagos State for two terms, elected on the Alliance for Democracy ticket. He worked to remake Lagos into one of Africa's major financial, commercial, and cultural centres.

2013: One of the architects of the All Progressives Congress, formed from a merger of opposition parties, which defeated the ruling PDP in the 2015 elections.

2023: Won the 25 February presidential election with 36.6% of the vote and was sworn in on 29 May 2023.

2023–2025: Chairman of ECOWAS. Elected on 9 July 2023, re-elected in July 2024, and handed over to Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio on 22 June 2025.

In office

On the day he took office he announced the end of the fuel subsidy — a major shift in economic policy. His government has signed new tax and fiscal laws and set a target of a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

Honours and titles

• ◆Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR), conferred on 25 May 2023
• ◆Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaban of Borgu
• ◆His wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is First Lady of Nigeria and represented Lagos Central in the Senate from 2011 to 2023.

Role with the Motherland Heritage Cup

As Grand Patron, President Tinubu gives the Motherland Heritage Cup the highest level of national backing. The tournament is held under his Grand Patronage — a competition built around African heritage, diaspora identity, and the power of football as cultural diplomacy.