Many believe the 2015 elections will be different in Lagos State. The state is the seat of the All Progressives Congress, Nigeria’s biggest opposition party in the South-West. APC controls five of the six states in the geopolitical zone. It also has about 6.2 million registered voters, the highest in the country, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Governor Babatunde Fashola once said Lagos is the only state in the federation that could survive without oil revenue or federal allocation. The state, which is the country’s economic capital, has been speculated to have a population of about 17 million people.
In this regard, the state is crucial to any political party that wants to garner the required 25 per cent votes in the geopolitical zone for the presidential election.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party will contend with the strong grip of the APC on the state in the next governorship election. Already, the political tempo in the state is rising, with regard to who will succeed Governor Babatunde Fashola in office, with both the APC and the PDP shopping for the best candidate.
Analysts have, however, advised political parties to examine the governorship records of the state. Records show that governors of the state either belong to the opposition party.
In the Second Republic, the state had Alhaji Lateef Jakande, a Muslim, of the Obafemi Awolowo-led Unity Party of Nigeria (1979 to 1983). In the Third Republic, it was Sir Michael Otedola, a Christian, of the National Republican Congress (1992 to 1993).
In this Fourth Republic, it was Bola Tinubu between 1999 and 2007; and Babatunde Fashola, whose tenure commenced in 2007 and will end in 2015. Both of them are Muslims and belong to the opposition party.
In 1999, the defunct Alliance for Democracy, a faction of which later transformed into the Action Congress, then to the Action Congress of Nigeria, and now the APC, was in power.
Ahead of 2015, the governorship race in the state is already taking religious, gender and ethnic colourations.
In 2013, the Director of Civic and Political Affairs of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Diocese of Lagos Mainland, Venerable Folarin Shobo, had urged Lagos residents to vote for a Christian as governor of the state in 2015. He said Lagosians could not afford to continue with the present political arrangement, whereby political officers were largely people of a particular faith.
The same year, a religious group, Christian Conscience, and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Lagos State branch, made similar calls.
SUNDAY PUNCH had exclusively reported on April 6, 2014, that the APC was nursing a plan to present a Christian candidate for the next governorship election.
A national leader of the party, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH in confidence, said Tinubu might back a governorship aspirant, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, a Christian, who is a former Permanent Secretary/Accountant-General of the Lagos State Government.
The former governor’s political influence, according to political watchers, may determine who wins the APC governorship primary.
Also in the APC, a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, is said to be eyeing the seat. The ace broadcaster-turned-politician, who is representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency at the House, is set to be the country’s first female to be elected as governor.
While Tinubu allegedly introduced Ambode to the state’s local government chairmen as his choice aspirant at a meeting in Lagos recently, Dabiri-Erewa was tipped to be his running mate.
Shortly after Tinubu’s alleged declaration, some traditional and political leaders urged Dabiri-Erewa to contest the governorship seat during an empowerment programme she organised recently.
Aside Ambode and Dabiri-Erewa, other aspirants said to have close ties with Tinubu included his former Personal Assistant, Hakeem Muri-Okunola; an ex-Commissioner for the Environment, Muiz Banire; and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji.
Others include the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said to be enjoying Fashola’s support; the Senate Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, who is representing Lagos-West Senatorial District; Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos-East Senatorial District; Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and Chairman, Lagos Internal Revenue Service, Tunde Fowler, among others.
The Publicity Secretary, APC, Lagos State, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, has since denied knowledge of Tinubu’s alleged preference for any aspirant. He stated that the opportunity to run in the governorship election was still open to all the aspirants in the party.
A Lagos-based group, Visioners for New Lagos, has however vowed to resist imposition of any candidate for the election. The Coordinator of the APC-affiliated group, Mr. Bambo Akin-Johnson, said members of the group were ready to “fight to the finish,” if Tinubu and his supporters insist on imposing a candidate.
Also, a PDP governorship aspirant, Babatunde Gbadamosi, said the people of the state would ‘liberate themselves from Tinubu’s grip in 2015.’
However, Tinubu has dismissed the allegations. He said the electorate in the state would decide who they wanted as governor.
His Media Adviser, Mr. Sunday Dare, said, “It’s the season of politics, and an election year. Such allegations and insinuations will be commonplace. This particular one is unfounded. Let them provide proof. He who alleges must prove.
“What I recall he has said repeatedly is that development is not about religion, and that governing Lagos State is about merit, competence and ability of the candidate.”
Already, the governorship slot has been zoned to the Lagos-East Senatorial District.
As it is, the zoning plan leaves Abike-Dabiri, Ashafa, Ambode and Ikuforiji, who is currently facing graft charges, in the race. The argument is that Lagos-Central and Lagos-West produced Fashola and Tinubu, respectively.
Speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH, Dabiri-Erewa declined to comment on her governorship ambition.
Rather, she said, “The office has been zoned to Lagos-East and it is the turn of Ikorodu to produce the governor; Epe once had it under Sir Otedola.
“Leaders in my constituency are mounting pressure on me to contest the election. I have given my best to the state and the country, one of which is the sponsorship of the celebrated Freedom of Information Act. Whatever my constituents ask me to do for them, I will do.”
The PDP, the state’s opposition party, is said to have seven governorship aspirants. The party has yet to name them.
The state chapter of the PDP had directed members interested in elective political offices in the 2015 general elections to signify with letters of intent. In a statement, the party said all political aspirants should express their interest formally to the party from January 7, 2014.
The state Publicity Secretary, Lagos PDP, Taofik Gani, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH, said more aspirants were considering the PDP and the party might have at least 15 of them on standby for the governorship ticket.
He said, “Many of these aspirants are very perfect for our strategy to win Lagos in 2015. There are seasoned politicians and professionals, who have attained the summit of their calling and have been found to be untainted in character, with true commitment to deliver best possible service to Lagosians.
“In furtherance of our strategy to defeat the APC, come 2015, the party will deliberately keep their identities close to its chest. Unless they make themselves public, we shall keep their identities protected.
“If you remember, we are the only party whose frontline governorship aspirant (Funsho Williams) was murdered before the election. We want to make it like the saying, ‘Once bitten, twice shy.’ The aspirants are, however, at liberty to advertise themselves.”
On religious sentiments, Gani stated that the state PDP “is not cajoled by the bait.”
He added, “We are not going the way of the APC that traditionally deceives people before arriving at an eventual governorship candidate. They are the ones flying the religion kite. This has never been a major consideration in Lagos politics. They are the ones now introducing religion into Lagos politics. We are not religion bigots.”
SUNDAY PUNCH, however, learnt that the PDP aspirants include Gbadamosi; a leader of the party, Deji Doherty; the candidate of the PDP in the 2011 governorship election, Dr. Ade Dosunmu; and a former candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (now APC) in the same election, Michael Dominic.
Others are a lawyer and former governorship aspirant, Owolabi Salis; a former Lagos Commissioner for Health, Dr. Segun Ogundimu; and a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse.
Igbokwe confirmed to SUNDAY PUNCH that there were about 10 aspirants in the party, “and each eminently qualified to seek the most powerful office among the states of Nigeria.”
He denied the PDP’s allegation that the APC was playing religious politics in the state.
He said, “We have no room for mediocrity and childish politics. In our political page in Lagos, only the best is good enough for the land’s endless and limitless opportunities.
“Only a person gifted with courage, skills and good temperament is enough for Lagos. Lagosians will not accept a nitwit, a non-thinker and a non-cerebral person to pilot the big bird called Lagos in the name of balancing religion. Our party does not play religious politics.”
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