Bola Ahmed Tinubu popularly called Asiwaju of Lagos, and Jagaban (a title which was given to him in Borgu kingdom, Niger State) was born in Lagos State. He attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos and Children’s Home School in Ibadan.

Tinubu went to the United States to study at the phenomenal Richard J. Dailey College in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 23 and later obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

He is married to Oluremi Tinubu the current senator for Lagos Central Senatorial District and are blessed with four children namely JideTinubu (now late), Oluwaseyi Tinubu, Folashade Tinubu and Abibat Tinubu. Tinubu has worked for many companies outside the country. Some of which include; Deloitte Haskins and Sells where he practised auditing and management consultancy services of General Motors, GTE Service Corporation in the United States of America and also served at Mobil, United Kingdom.

Asiwaju returned to Nigeria in 1983 where he joined Mobil Oil, Nigeria. He eventually became a senior auditor in Mobil Oil, and retired as the company’s treasurer.

His political career began in 1992 when he joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and was also elected as a senator in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where he represented Lagos West Senatorial District. He further became one of the founding members of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) which was a body that rooted for the winner of the June 12, 1993 election.

He was a protégé of Abraham Adesanya and Ayo Adebanjo, leaders of Alliance for Democracy (AD). He defeated his opponents, Funsho Williams and Wahab Dosunmu. In the 1999 gubernatorial election, he won the position of governor of Lagos State.

Being the governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 he made investments in education, initiated new road construction, required to meet the needs of the fast-growing population rate of the state at the time. Just as he won the election in 1999, he was also re-elected as the governor, and his deputy, Femi Pedro in 2003, where he was the only governor in the south west who didn’t fall through to PDP.

Tinubu was also very active in the creation of the Action Congress (AC) political party and was succeeded by Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who was his Chief of staff. Asiwaju Tinubu is currently the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress.