Lagos Governor, Akinwumi Ambode bows to APC hammer on Wednesday after a disputed primary. In this report, Moshood Adeoye examines the wits and intrigues within the Lagos APC and Sanwo-Olu’s victory.
Lagos Governor, Akinwumi Ambode bowed down midweek when he congratulated his rival, Babajide Sanwoolu after a bitter and controversial All Progressives Congress, (APC) gubernatorial contest held on Tuesday.
The National Working Committee, (NWC) after initial ambivalence, had rescinded earlier decision not to recognize the poll count which saw Sanwo-Olu thrashing the incumbent governor with an embarrassing margin.
Ambode’s belligerence began like a glowing candle in the wind, but the candle was soon consumed by a whirlwind.
Last Sunday, the Governor gave the impression he was up in arms when he launched attacks against Sanwo-Olu questioning his integrity.
Many who had sat on the gallery jeering at a possible showdown were disappointed. At a point, the PDP Lagos leaders said they would not mind enlisting Ambode as their gubernatorial candidate, a conscious plot to feast on expected political carcass from the Ambode-Sanwo-Olu fallout. Ambode’s reconciliatory speech sealed the aspirations of many hovering hawks.
Tunde Balogun, the APC State chairman had announced that Sanwo-Olu scored 970,851 votes as against Ambode’s meager 72,901. Votes were casted in 245 wards. Lagos has 57 council areas and 11, 127 polling units, the highest in the country. The Governor scored about 8 percent in total and less than 10 percent of the number of votes garnered by Sanwo-Olu, indicating a crushing defeat for Ambode.
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For keen observers, the outcome of the election was predictable. Casting his vote at Ward C in Ikeja, Lagos strong man, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu had said “This is an elixir for the general election. Ambode Akin, is doing well, yes; but he hasn’t been a good party man; not about brick and mortal. A talent is determined by character. For you to become an influential person, you have to respond to the yearnings of the people.”
Critics said Ambode has treated himself in the APC like a fish out of water. Observers said contempt was his watchword when relating with party leaders.
But after the elections, the conspiratorial posture of the National Working Committee, (NWC) led by former Akwa Ibom Governor, Mr Clement Ebri had raised fresh concerns. Ebri initially said the elections did not hold and would be cancelled amidst unconfirmed speculations that the NWC members were bribed with millions of dollars in cash by Ambode. No one has been able to prove this allegation.
The initial controversy prompted urgent meetings between President Mohammadu Buhari and APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Close sources told Newdawn that Oshiohmole had briefed Buhari on the negative consequences of rejecting the results considering the strategic importance of Lagos to APC in the forthcoming Presidential election and the traditional role of Tinubu in the battle formation.
“It was natural that they had to concede to Tinubu given his role in Buhari’s emergence” , the source said. Another reliable source told our correspondent that initially, about one year ago, a cabal in the Presidency had insisted on stripping Tinubu bare in Lagos for no reason other than to scuttle the potential of the South West having a rallying point, a timeless, common plot of Northern politicians and also overwhelm the region with individuals that will protect the interest of the cabal. The source said the exit of the former Director General of the Department of State Security, (DSS) had put the anti-Tinubu arm of the cabal in disarray prompting the potential for an independent decision by President Buhari without the meddlesome interjection of usually doctored and self-serving security reports employed to justify their intrigues.
Another source said the increasing relevance of the opposition led by the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) as indicated in the pinair victory of the APC in Ekiti and Ondo was a warning signal to the APC that any further crisis in Lagos would hurt Buhari’s chances in the general election.
Admitting the results of the election, Ebri, said the elections were peaceful and that Sanwo-Olu had won. In his response, Sanwoolu played the statesman in a speech aimed at unifying the party and preventing the festering wound from further sores. He thanked Ambode for putting up a good fight promising to run an ‘inclusive government.’
Ambode in his speech said the ‘APC is a great party and the interests of our beloved state must always supersede that of any person or group. It is in this regard that I wholeheartedly congratulate the winner of the Lagos State APC Primaries, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and urge all Lagosians to immediately support our party’s gubernatorial candidate in the 2019 elections.’ There have been suggestions that Ambode took a detour because of fears of impeachment. He was said to have consulted with his aides many of who told him the game was up. But in reality, all odds were against him even before the go whistle was blown.
Out of the 40 lawmakers, 36 are against him. The remaining four are largely from his Epe division. Of the 57 local council leaders, none is for Ambode. Eventhen, Ambode’s fate as a governor that would not cross the one term bar was evident ab initio. Apart from not having a structure outside the APC formation, he is said to have lost the confidence of many party leaders and members at the grassroots. The private waste collectors are against him. The group called a press conference not too long ago threatening that its employees numbering over 25,000 would be mobilized against Ambode.
The PSP had been jolted by the involvement of Visionscope, a foreign concern brought in to deal with waste management in Lagos. The group’s Executive Director, Harry Ackerman had said it would eliminate dump sites in residential area and bring Lagos to the global record of environmental fame. Ambode also sourced about 600 compactors from different countries with 5000 compactors as targets in the next five years. The 350 PSP operators had risen up against the government challenging the decision in court even though Lagos insisted the contract signed with PSP ended in 2016.
There are other lessons. Some observers think in spite of the challenges faced by Ambode, the potential of a big crisis was only averted by the President.
“The past has shown that the FG has the potential to stock crisis by imposing an unwanted candidate on the South West people which would create violent upheavals”, Akinmode Olukoya, an official of the APC in Alimoso told our correspondent. He said even though Ambode was unpopular in the party, the FG could have insisted on his candidature fueling public rage.
Precedents support his position. In the 1964 general elections, the FG backed the Ladoke Akintola led Nigerian National Democratic Party, (NNDP) as against the Action Group, (AG) which was the dominant party in the old Western Region.
The chain of events led to Operation Wetie and the ensuring civil war. Again in 1983, the FG backed a less popular candidate, Chief Akin Omoboriowo against Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin. The upheaval snowballed into the military putsch of December 31, 1983.
“It is significant that the FG this time saw reason. It was a decision that saved Lagos and the country from unpredictable consequences” Chief Diran Obalola, an official of Afenifere Renewal Group, (ARG) in Ekiti State told Newdawn.
For now, the APC primary has also raised fresh dusts. With a total of 1, 043,752 APC members voting at the primary, the opposition PDP is worried.
“That figure is alarming. We hope it is not true” one PDP official who sought anonimity in Lagos told Newdawn. He said if the same number of people vote in 2019 combined with estimated hundreds of votes of non-APC supporters, there is the high probability that the gubernatorial election will not be difficult for the APC to win in Lagos.
The huge number of votes recorded was an acid text of APC possible victory in 2019 gubernatorial and Presidential elections, an official of the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, (NIIA) who does not wish to be named told Newdawn.
