“Never Outshine the Master”– Law 1, The 48 Laws of Power
By Edoaga Declan Esq
The recently concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference in Enugu was a profound letdown. For a body that once stood as the conscience of the nation during the darkest years of military despotism, Nigerians expected much more. The NBA of old challenged injustice, exposed the failings of government, and provided clarity in times of chaos. One would have thought the Enugu gathering would offer an unbiased interrogation of President Bola Tinubu’s policies, with rigorous analyses that either exposed inadequacies or gave deserved commendations. Instead, the event collapsed into a shallow spectacle, an atmosphere more reminiscent of a rowdy students’ union gathering than the august assembly of the nation’s learned minds.
“Is the Economy Stupid?”. A Panel Turned Political Circus. The panel discussion titled “Is the Economy Stupid”, moderated by Channels Television’s Seun Okinbaloye, was billed as one of the marquee sessions. It featured Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Gabriel Okeowo, and the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, among others. Yet, what should have been a serious economic appraisal of the Tinubu administration degenerated into a festival of mockery. Rather than sober reflection, the stage became a platform for cheap jabs at the government, with laughter and claps drowning out reasoned analysis. How much more can one demonstrate insincerity of purpose overcoated with self glorification than watching a Minister, smiling at an audience mocking the administration, while Seun Okinbaloye, tossed questions such as “Is your life better than it was two years ago, is your hope renewed among others.”
Reports suggest that serious disagreement had simmered within the NBA over the choice of certain panelists. Many felt that the platform was being hijacked for self-promotion, not national interest. At the center of these allegations stood Minister Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, whose presence on the panel, credible insiders reveal, was allegedly purchased, alongside the orchestration of his personal media consultant, Seun Okinbaloye, as moderator. This carefully engineered arrangement exposed the event for what it was: an exercise in vanity, not value.
It is also now a public knowledge, that financial inducement to appear on such exalted platforms as the NBA AGC, is currently causing ripples within the leadership of the Association and interested stakeholders.
Tunji-Ojo’s conduct is a classic violation of Robert Greene’s first law of power: Never Outshine the Master. His pattern has become predictable: policy ideas conceived at the highest level by President Tinubu are swiftly appropriated and rebranded as the personal achievements of the Minister of Interior. From the much-publicized passport reforms to digitization drives, he has cultivated the image of a one-man “star performer” while subtly sidelining the President whose vision makes these programs possible.
It is not new in history for ambitious subordinates to mistake their masters’ patience for weakness. In biblical times, Absalom, the son of King David, sought to hijack his father’s throne by stealing the hearts of the people. The result was catastrophic: civil strife, bloodshed, and Absalom’s tragic fall. Similarly, in Nigeria’s own political history, Chuba Okadigbo, as Senate President, allowed his ambitions to blind him to the need for loyalty to President Olusegun Obasanjo. The ensuing clash not only consumed Okadigbo’s career but also destabilized the polity.
Tunji-Ojo’s Enugu performance, laughing while President Tinubu was openly mocked, was not mere misjudgment; it was symbolic. It betrayed a man detached from collective responsibility, more concerned with burnishing his own image than defending the administration he swore to serve.
Intelligence reports now suggest that Tunji-Ojo has invested heavily in building his personal political machinery. From bankrolling media outfits to recruiting an army of social media influencers, who works round the clock to project him as the “face of progress” within the administration. The worrisome aspect is that, rather than holistically projecting the Renewed Hope Agenda, they are always amplifying Tunji-Ojo’s “heroics,” feats, all under the Minister’s payroll.
This is not loyalty. It is self-serving ambition dressed up as performance. History teaches us that when a subordinate grows too powerful, too visible, and too ambitious, the master is inevitably undermined. In government, this creates cracks that enemies exploit. Every policy celebrated as a personal conquest of Tunji-Ojo diminishes the collective credit of the Tinubu administration. Every orchestrated media blitz widens suspicion within the cabinet. And every smirk at public ridicule of the President emboldens detractors to intensify their attacks.
If left unchecked, Tunji-Ojo’s ambition will not only embarrass the Tinubu presidency but also destabilise it from within. The NBA conference in Enugu should have been a stage for national reflection, but it became instead a vanity parade. Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, in particular, revealed himself as a man whose ambition has broken through the bounds of loyalty. President Tinubu must take heed. From Absalom’s rebellion against David to Okadigbo’s clash with Obasanjo, history is unkind to subordinates who mistake personal glory for collective service. The first law of power is eternal for a reason: Never Outshine the Master.
Minister Bunmi Tunji-Ojo has forgotten this law. And if allowed to continue unchecked, his ambition may not only consume him but also stain the administration that gave him his rise.
Edeoga Declan is an Enugu Based Legal Practitioner and a Member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Enugu State Chapter
