The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has narrated how he worked as a cab driver to pay his school fees and upkeep at the Chicago State University.
The former Governor of Lagos State noted that he had to do a number of menial jobs to pay for his sustenance at the Chicago State University.
Tinubu graduated from the University of Chicago in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.
While narrating his journey to the US, the APC National Leader said he decided to travel out of Nigeria with his friends including Bolaji Agaba.
Speaking in an interview with TheNews Nigeria which was initially published in 2021 as part of his 69th birthday celebrations, The APC presidential candidate said he left Nigeria on the same day with his friend Agaba, while their third friend came months later.
He said that while trying to survive in the United States they got an unregistered car which they ran as a taxi.
The APC presidential candidate added that he deferred his schooling which should have started from April till September to raise some money.
Tinubu’s story: “Bolaji Agaba and I left the same day for the United States, while Badejo left some months later. We got our visas through my family connections. Bolaji’s own had almost expired before we left. On our arrival in the US, we thought we would stay in New York. But Nurudeen Olowopopo said no and we put some money together for Bolaji’s ticket and we headed for Washington D.C. I stayed with the late Sola Popoola at Washington before we started finding our way. We were running out of funds then.
“He helped us secure a one-room apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. We got an unregistered used car (they left the licence open) commonly called Gypsy, which we ran as a taxi. We operated at the airport, where we picked passengers, and not anywhere else, like the hotel because it was forbidden for unlicensed cab drivers to do so. We did that for a while to raise some money. We did, and Bolaji went to Tennessee, while I headed for Chicago.
“It was aimed at getting additional money to what I had. I always liked to have a life of comfort. Tunde Badejo and Olowopopo told me that Chicago was very cold, so I told myself that I must have a car. I was supposed to have started schooling in April. I deferred it till September to have more money. Immediately after I got to Chicago, I went straight to Richard Daley College. It was very interesting. I was able to pay for my apartment and tuition fees at the Chicago State University. I supplemented that by doing different menial jobs like door guard and security man.”
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