The men after Fashola’s job

X-raying the silent but discernible battle for the governorship race in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State.

A COUPLE of days to the recently concluded nationwide membership registration exercise, stakeholders in the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held what an insider described as crucial meeting. Virtually all the major gladiators in the party were in attendance. The national leader of the APC, Senator Bola  Tinubu reportedly used the occasion to underscore the need to sustain unity and cohesion in the Lagos APC as the battle for 2015 enters into a crucial stage.

However, most instructive in his speech on the occasion, according to party sources, was his counsel to the party members to discourage groupings because of their tendency to cause intra-party frictions and disharmony. His advice may have been informed by the circumstances that surrounded the birth of the leading opposition parties. Four major parties: the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC); Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) otherwise referred to as the legacy party literarily coalesced into the APC. Thus, Tinubu had to harp on the need for proper harmonisation beginning with the membership drive by the party.

On February 22, 2014, thousands of the APC in the state again converged on the Airways Ground in Ikeja, the state capital, to mark the 15 the anniversary of a very powerful caucus in the APC, Mandate Group. The body parades the most influential leaders of the party in Lagos. Deploying his rich political experience as a senator and former governor, Tinubu has tactically succeeded in building Mandate Group into powerful political machinery that has been able to stand the test of time. Other persons said to be the arrow heads of the caucus is the incumbent governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola and an APC top shot and erudite lawyer, Dr Muiz Banire, both of who served as commissioners when Tinubu was the governor of the state.

Before the advent of the Mandate Group, there was the Justice Forum (JF). It enjoyed an unparalleled following across the 57 local council areas of the state. In fact, almost every famous and leading politician was a member of the forum, including Chief Tajudeen Olusi and Alhaji Olatunji Hamzat. While Justice Forum has for long become part of history due to political intrigues, the Mandate Group has since taken the centre stage, a prominent position which cannot be ignored by any prospective contender for elective public offices in the APC in the state. And for the governorship race, the Mandate Group eloquently holds the ace, going by the antecedents of the leadership. It was believed to have overruled the then leaders of the Justice Forum who had pushed for need to look within for the possible successor to Tinubu, who dramatically came with a masterstroke in the incumbent Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Contending issues
Right now, the tempo of the debate over who picks the governorship ticket of APC in Lagos State has taken frenetic height. Wide ranging issues have been thrust to the front burner by varying interest groups and individuals. The issues range from the real to the mundane and ludicrous, just as most of the characters appear to be satisfied with adopting shadowy approaches to showcase their intention. While the state APC leadership has consistently assured that it will ensure another worthy ambassador emerging as the party’s candidate, there are other issues of emerge and fairness among the three senatorial districts, as well as the factor of religion.  

However, some APC leaders claimed none of the said contestants has actually contacted them for the purpose of information or mobilisation for them. A principal officer of the party in the state, who craved anonymity, said the APC was pre-occupied with election of substantive officers from ward to the state level at the moment.  “We can only start talking about the contest for elective public offices after March, when we will have filled all party officers in the state,” he claimed.  

The contenders
The number of prominent APC members said to be interested in the party’s governorship ticket is indicative of the scramble for the position. There are speculations that 19 of them were warming up to hit the ground running once the party gives the go ahead for declaration of ambition.  Some of the contenders are either former members of the state cabinet or serving ones. The influence of Tinubu in determining the who the cap fits in the APC is further accentuated by claims and counter-claims that he has subtly sought the opinion of Fashola on the issue.

 Those members of the present cabinet speculated to be interested in the race include, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Ayo Gbeleyi; Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr Olufemi Hamzat, Commissioner for Trnasport, Dr Kayode Opeifa.

Outside the cabinet, the touted names include Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, who is the serving Senator for the Lagos-West district and the Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila.

Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Honourable Adeyemi Ikuforiji; the Senator representing Lagos-East,  Senator Gbenga Ashafa; a former commissioner in the state, Dr Muiz Banire;  Hakeem Alibo;  Hakeem Muri Okunola;  Mr Gbolahan Lawal and  a former deputy governor in the state, Mr Femi Pedro.

There are also former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Olasupo Shasore; former Commissioner for Finance,  Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, former Commissioner for Health and later Education, Dr Leke Pitan and  former Permanent Secretary and Accountant General, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode; as well as the serving Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeola Ipaye; Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Waheed Enitan Oshodi and the chairman of the state Internal Revenue Service (LIRS),  Tunde Faula.

A media report claimed the governor had Dr Femi Hamzat, Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure; Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Waheed Enitan Oshodi; Gbeleyi, Shasore; Mr Tokunbo Abiru, immediate past Commissioner for Finance; Pitan; Mr. Akinwunmi Dapo Ambode, former Permanent Secretary, State Treasury Office and Accountant-General of the state, who resigned in 2012 purportedly because of his governorship ambition.

The general focus seems to the Lagos-East senatorial district for the stakeholders in the APC. This because of the agitations that it should be the run of the area to produce the governor based on power rotation among the three senatorial districts. Governor Fashola, who is on the last leg of his eight years of two terms of four years each, hails from Lagos Central. His predecessor, Tinubu came from Lagos-West, where another former governor of the state [in the Second Republic], Alhaji Lateef Jakande also comes from. But, Tinubu served for two terms as well.  And the last time the Lagos-East produced an elective governor [late Michael Otedola] in Lagos was in 1992.  

From March, the APC will commence the processes towards having all substantive officers at all levels. Apart from the influential members of the party that are expected to play key roles in the election of officers, other stakeholders like those eyeing various elective public offices like governorship will make efforts at complementing such roles. The pictures will gradually become clearer as the state party structures become more pronounced with the power equation in its structures less ambiguous. From then, the process of sifting the wheat from the chaff will  have commenced. Then, the current hide and seek among the stakeholders will begin to fizzle out.

Meanwhile, a cursory look at the pedigrees of those touted names could give inkling of what to expect in the coming days and months. But for now, it might be early in the day to start separating the men from the boys, since the party has not blown the whistle.

Dr Olufemi Hamzat
His father was the leader of the defunct Justice Forum,  Chief Olatunji Hamzat, who also doubled as the leader of the ACN the Lagos-West Senatorial district. The father is current the Oba of Afowowa Community (in Ogun State). Hamzat is said to be a very brilliant young man, well respect for his professionalism, which he has brought to bear on his current assignment as  commissioner in the Fashola administration. He is regarded as one of the longest serving commissioners in the state, beginning from the tenure of  Tinubu, where he served as the commissioner for science and technology. A report quoted Fashola as having described Hamzat as “someone, who understands the workings of the state government.”

Prince Gbolahan Lawal
He is regarded as the youngest among those said to have shown interest in the governorship race.  A  graduate of University of Port Harcourt,  hails from the famous Ojora dynasty. As a Superintendent of Police in 2000, he was appointed as the Aide-De-Camp (ADC) to Tinubu. He held the post until 2007, when the former governor vacated seat at the end of his tenure. Lawal became the special adviser to Fashola on special projects and coordinator of the Lagos Youth Agricultural-based Empowerment Programme (Agric-Yes).

In July 2011, he was appointed the commissioner for agriculture and cooperatives and has retained the position till date.

Dr Muiz Banire
He was the national legal adviser of the then ACN. Brilliant and eloquent, the former senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos, is a major pillar of the Mandate Group. He served as a  special adviser to Tinubu in 1999 and became  the state the commissioner for transportation and later moved to the ministry of environment. He was assigned the same portfolio under Fashola between 2007 and 2011. He reportedly succumbed to pressure from higher quarters in 2011 to enable Fashola have another term and rewarded accordingly with the post of the ACN national legal adviser. He is considered to be too independent minded by some power brokers.

Adeyemi Ikuforiji
He is the current Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. He contested the 2003 election into the House on the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) to represent Epe Constituency 1 and later emerged the Speaker of the Assembly in December, 2005.  Between 1982 and 1983, he served as the General Secretary of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in Ward A4 in Epe and was an active member of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic.

Senator Ganiyu Solomon
He has been in the Senate since April 2007, having been elected on the platform of the defunct Action Congress (AC_ platform from the Lagos-West constituency and re-elected in 2011.  Before then, he had served in the Lagos State House of Assembly in 1998 on the ticket of the then Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) during the transition programme of the Abacha regime. In 2003, he was elected the chairman of Mushin Local Government Area of the state.

Hon Femi Gbajabiamila
A senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Femi Gbajabiamila was elected to the House in 2003, and re-elected in 2007. He represents the Surulere I constituency and he is the Minority Leader of the House. He forms part of the staying powers of the APC in the National Assembly. He is also sad to be popular in his constituency as his candidates have always gained upper hand in most elections.  Though some say he has a base in Ikorodu, it remains to be seen how he addresses the issue of where he intends to use as a platform, if he decides to join the fray.  Will he relocate his constituency from Surulere to the district?

Lobbying
Like other states, Lagos comprises three senatorial districts: Lagos West, Lagos Central and Lagos East. Both Lagos Central and Lagos-West have had their turns in former Governor Tinubu and the incumbent,  Fashola respectively. Therefore, the rising agitation is that for the purpose of equity, justice and fairness, it should be the turn of the Lagos-East district, which has such towns as Ikorodu, Epe, Igbogbo, Ijede, Agbowa, among others.

 However, the state APC interim chairman, Otunba Henry Oladele Ajomale, said the party leadership was not thinking about the governorship election yet, but promised that APC would pick the best at the appropriate time. The spokesman of the APC in the state,  Mr Joe Igbokwe, also said in a telephone interview that the issue of governorship was not yet in the agenda of the party. Nonetheless, some of the contenders have not relented in their subtle campaign, as it was discovered a few of them used the opportunity of the recently concluded membership registration exercise of the APC to reach out to party faithful. For instance, the Speaker, Honourable Kuforiji, literally turned the exercise to a political rally as he visited his Epe home the weekend before the close of the exercise to register his name. As he made his way to the poling unit at Oke-Oyinbo in Epe, venue of the exercise, he had a long convoy of vehicles, so also a large crowd awaiting him at the place, where he was received by gaily dressed men and women, who sang his praises.

Banners were displayed around the place suggesting that Ikuforiji represented the light they had been yearning to have in the area. For the record, Epe town has, for the past two years,  been in complete darkness until the power project which is at a ground breaking stage after a long delay due to certain major problems.