APC Lagos Governorship Primary: Time To Separate Boys From Men. THE outcome OF Thursday’s All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Lagos State has clearly shown where political power resides in the state. The emergence of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode as the APC governorship candidate may have proved that money alone does not guarantee political success. You need a structure and then goodwill. It is now an old story that from the onset, Governor Babatunde Fashola was not favourably disposed to the emergence of Ambode as his successor. Initially, Fashola’s Commissioner of Works, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, was believed to be the governor’s preferred candidate. But in what seemed a sudden desperation to play the religious card, the Fashola camp dropped their first option for the second, Mr. Olasupo Shasore. Unfortunately, the choice backfired, as Shasore, former Attorney General of the state, who hails from the Lagos Central Senatorial District like Fashola himself did not make an impact. The hurried deployment of campaign materials just a few days to the primary was even more tactless and puerile. A party source wondered why Fashola, a clear thinker could not get things right this time. But a Government House source insisted that anyone paying too much attention to “such innuendoes, is not being fair.” The governor had reiterated many times over that he did not have a preferred candidate among the aspirants. According to the cabinet member of the government, “I can assure you that if the governor felt so strongly against a particular candidate he would have made such feelings known to the party hierarchy. But there was nothing like that. They are all products of the Lagos public service system. Any of them that emerged is suitable to the governor. Attributing one person or the other to the governor is unfortunate.” To what extent these statements represent the truth about the governor’s role in the emergence of his successor is, however, left to interpretations by concerned political watchers even as the sagacity, or otherwise, of such posturing would be seen in the coming days, especially in the last days of his government. But a party source insisted that it is not possible for the governor not to have interest in his successor. “Anyone saying that is just being economical with the truth. The truth is that the governor has outreached himself by going against the well-informed decision of the party leadership. It is very strange that the governor wanted to destroy the same structure that brought him to office.” Akinwunmi Ambode Campaign Organisation was set up in all the 20 local councils and 37 development areas in the state, where sensitisation and political activities were playing out daily. This must have seriously raised the stakes. He was, perhaps, one of the few candidates that toured all of these councils. That structure is vital and very important in political success goes without much debate. Former governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, has been able to build a granite structure in the state. It has been variously tested and it has endured. “It is very doubtful if anybody can come and undermine that structure. If anyone brings trillions of naira to come and win election in Lagos, the person would be wasting his money because there is an existing structure that has been in place since 1999; not just any structure, but very solid and deep structure,” a party official said. The party leadership took a decision that, Bola Tinubu having come from the Lagos West Senatorial District and Fashola coming from the Lagos Central, the next district to produce the governor should be from Lagos East. The perceived candidate of the governor, Shasore, is from the Lagos Central. But party official retorted: “Is there any equity and fairness in that? What the party now decided to do was to ensure things are done in the interest of fair play and justice. There is this feeling that the governor seems completely detached from the party and party members. Last week was like payback time for the governor’s aloofness. “With that kind of perception, you cannot just wake up and think you would make serious impact,” a party source told The Guardian. “In most of the local government we toured during the campaign, most of the complaints were that they were not patronised. They said the man abandoned party members, making them feel as if they were the one in the opposition party. The Guardian’s checks revealed that during the party congresses in the state that produced delegates, the governor was not in town. He appeared not sufficiently interested in who becomes the chairman of the exco, as the Asiwaju bloc virtually won everything; even the chairman of the governor’s own council. A party official, at the national level, also told The Guardian that: “The governor’s capacity to promote a candidate was dealt serious blow during the party congresses. If his candidate brought all the money to Lagos to influence the delegates, there is no way such candidate could have won. The governor has no structure and consequently, no control over the delegates. “Many people complained that the governor did not take care of them until now that he wants them to support a candidate. So, they just collected the money as part of their own entitlement and followed the dictates of the leadership of the party.” Meanwhile, Shasore allegedly never visited any local council even as it was doubtful he had a campaign office in the run up to the primaries. “Few days before the primaries, he just addressed a press conference and did a wrap-around in prominent newspapers. This type of things even further alienated the leadership of the party. He had not been elected as the party candidate and you spend so much money when all you needed to do was to focus on the delegates; appealing to them,” a party official said. He insisted that: “What took place was the complete demystification of the governor. With the emergence of Ambode, the governor has suddenly become a lame duck.” By Friday, a day after Ambode’s emergence, over 24 members of Fashola’s cabinet had gone to pledge loyalty and paid obeisance to Ambode. This is outside scores of permanent secretaries, directors and heads of parastatals who had similarly expressed their loyalty. It would be recalled that Thursday’s primary would mark only the second time, under the political establishment that spanned Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to the current APC, primaries took place in the state. The first one pitched Tinubu against late Funsho Williams in the run up to the 1999 elections. Meanwhile, for the second time in less than twenty-four hours after the primary had ended, the aggrieved aspirants postponed media briefing called to express their grievances. A number of the aggrieved aspirants stormed out of the Onikan Stadium, venue of the primary to first register their protest. However, they called off the first media briefing at the last minute on Thursday with the hope of holding it on Friday. To the surprise of many journalists who had arrived the Maryland venue of the proposed briefing, one of the aides to one of the aspirants, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, broke the news that the briefing had again been called off without giving any reason. The Guardian gathered that the supposedly aggrieved aspirants might have decided to allow common sense to prevail in order to preserve the oneness of the party. The Chairman of the Election committee, Mr. Peter Obada, had disclosed at the venue of the primary that aggrieved aspirants could take advantage of the appeal committee to lay their complaints. Ambode emerged winner in the primary election with over 60 per cent, polling 3,735 votes, with Hamzat coming distant second with 1,201 votes. Over 6000 accredited delegates of the APC thronged the Onikan Stadium to cast their votes to elect the party’s governorship candidate out of the 13 aspirants who vied for the race. The security in and out of the venue was beefed with armoured personnel carriers, police sniffer dogs and binoculars. Hundreds of policemen and soldiers were deployed to quell any event of violence. But not long after the voting process commenced at about 2pm, some aspirants left the venue. Though, it was not immediately clear why they took their leave, there was the impression that a walk out of the race could halt an impending victory for the mainstream. Among those who left were, Hamzat, Shasore, Kasali and Ikuforiji. Delegates began arriving the venue as early as 8am and had to show their accreditation tag at the gate before they were allowed in. The process caused long queues and traffic gridlock around the Onikan Stadium, as some delegates could not gain entrance until at about 1pm. Though security personnel tried to restrict entrance to accredited delegates and journalists, some party faithful forced their way into the venue. Those who could not gain entry resigned to fate, hung around the venue and helped themselves with refreshments from artisans who made brisk sales from the large turnout of people. At about mid-day, the aspirants started arriving in batches acknowledging cheers from their supporters. Shasore looked cool in a black shirt, grey trousers and a red APC face cap, while white lace seemed to be the preferred choice of Hamzat, Solomon, Tayo Ayinde, Kasali, Wahab and Leke Pitan who were all decked in all white lace and fitting caps. Ms. Tobun-Adegbunwa was dressed in a blue-stripped shirt and blue trouser with a black face cap. The entrance of Ambode into the venue at about 12:29pm was greeted with loud cheers from the crowd. Dressed in a blue lace and a cap to match, Ambode, the eventual winner, took time to acknowledge cheers from his supporters before taking his seat at the topmost part of the state box. Solomon, Kasali, Pitan and Tobun-Agbesunwa sat next to each other and engaged in conversation at intervals, as if to ease their nerves. Shasore, however, looked lost in the scheme of things as he sat in a corner fiddling with his phone. He later took his leave at about 4pm after Hamzat. In his goodwill message, former governor of the state and stalwart of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu urged the aspirants to accept the outcome of the primary. Tinubu, however, reminded them that only one winner was bound to emerge at the conclusion of the process. “We must be realistic. As much as I wish the party could reward you all for your intelligent and sincere efforts, it is impossible to do so. There are 12 good men seeking but one position. Only one of you can win this contest today. We believe in you as you believe in yourself that you are all qualified in your own right. “But for the party and for all of us to win and succeed come February, we must join hands in common cause and for one single, solitary purpose after today. That cause is to win the general election so that progressive and enlightened good governance shall continue to reside in Lagos and so that our state remains a shining example to the rest of the nation. The way we conduct ourselves after this primary will be a reflection of what Lagos represents to all Nigerians: a model of democracy, a symbol of peace and cohesion. “I urge us all to comport ourselves in a brotherly manner and with a democratic spirit. And to accept the result of the primary as the choice of our party that we may move forward to protect the Lagos we have jointly built and to continue the progress we jointly seek”, Tinubu said. The challenge is for the party to remain one and work together towards the general election of 2015
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 08:51:22 +0000
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