WE ALLOWED LAGOS SLIP AWAY.
The governorship elections in Lagos State have come and gone. Akinwunmi Ambode have emerged winner over Joseph Kolawole Olujimi Agbaje with several thousands of votes. Frankly speaking, I did not expect that the Peoples' Democratic Party stood a chance to win the All Progressives' Congress hence I wasn't surprised when Akinwunmi Ambode was declared winner. The campaigns were colorful; the debates were healthy and I enjoyed every bit of process especially the mountain of lies dished out by members of my party and my fellow comrades in the APC to our ever gullible voters. The only low points I noticed were the outbreak of violence in parts of Oshodi, Lagos and later the inciting statement made by the King of Lagos Island against my tribesmen.
Since the return of Nigeria to democracy in 1999, Lagos State has remained a place which the Peoples' Democratic Party has not stopped desiring to win during each election that has presented itself. First, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro flew its flag, then Dr. Adegboyega Dosunmu and now Pharmacist Jimi Agbaje. These men all have a thing in common; they are great, suave and astute in their own rights. The history of Lagos cannot be completely told without mentioning them; this I am sure every Lagosian will agree to. If this is a truth, why then have each chance to win the governorship election in Lagos State eluded the PDP?
The answer to this question is very simple. As the INEC chief was concluding announcing election figures that were derived from a process that lacks the slightest element of known internal control and checks, I took time off in company of a senior friend to drive round Abuja. As we drove, we discussed Nigeria and the possible implications of the outcome of the elections but we were careful not to mention that the incumbent president was fast loosing and would be defeated eventually. In the course of our exploring Abuja, we diverted to Maitama to attend an informal meeting which held in the hotel suite of a Nigerian born political strategist based in The Netherlands. It was during the course of that meeting that someone disclosed that some members of the PDP may have knowingly or unknowingly sabotaged the efforts of genuine lovers of the party. In this class of saboteurs are the likes of Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro flew its flag, then Dr. Adegboyega Dosunmu and Pharmacist Jimi Agbaje.
Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria. Being its governor is no mean feat by any ramification. Even the King of Lagos Island confirmed that he paid some groups $250,000USD each to offer special prayers for his preferred candidate in far away Saudi Arabia. Such is how tough the processes that could cause one to emerge governor of Lagos State can be. Besides this spiritual factor, a potential governor of Lagos must never be a man or woman who after losing an election imposing on himself or herself some form of exile and goes out of circulation some months to another election and starts talking about anything under the sun. This is the exactly how it has been with every candidate who have at some point in time flown the flag of the PDP in Lagos State.
The case of Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro may be tenable because shortly after he lost in 2007, he was appointed Nigeria's high commissioner to the Republic of Ghana but I wonder what excuse Dr. Ade Dosunmu would tender for his disappearance from the political scene of Lagos State shortly after he lost to Babatunde Raji Fashola of the then A.C.N. It is the consequences of this kind of funny disappearances at periodic intervals that have made it impossible for the PDP to win the governorship position in Lagos till date.
Though one may consider it necessary to hibernate after a strenuous outing but then can such an act be conveniently referred to as wise. The implications are enormous but one that cannot be wished away is that it places the government in power in a position that causes it to operate without any form of opposition; thus it runs unchallenged. Its policies are not checked and when it commits a blunder, the governed still clap in excitement and solidarity not because they are unaware a blunder have occurred, but because they see no other alternative to the man whose leadership is full of blunders.
I do not intend to sound pessimistic but I'd encourage us all to keep an eye on Jimi Agbaje. In no time, he too shall disappear like those before him and Akinwunmi Ambode will operate as governor of Lagos state unchallenged, unopposed, uncriticized and unchecked.
ONE MORE THING:
Professor Attahiru Jega's Fraudulent Time Management Skills.
Prof. Attahiru Jega spent nearly 3 days collating only 37 pieces of papers and announcing the entire results of the 2015 Presidential. Well, I think that in itself is an element of fraud and an indictment on the internal operations of the INEC. Here's what I think; the INEC chief sits in a large hall ready to declare results collated from say Enugu State; before he commences, he declares that the resident electoral commissioner of the INEC in charge of say Kebbi State is still in Birnin Kebbi compiling results drawn from all the local government areas of that state and would be in Abuja shortly. He eventually announces on international television that during the exercise, eligible voters in Enugu State gave 500,000 votes to the Peoples' Democratic Party while only 5,000 persons voted the All Progressives' Congress. If by chance we have a governor of Kebbi State who is favorably disposed to altering the outcome of the elections where the APC had originally lost (sincere apologies to His Excellency Saidu Dakingari), your guess on what that governor in connivance with the resident electoral commissioner who is yet to convey his results to Abuja shall do can be as good as mine.
The scenario I just described is just one aspect of this election.
Ezeani, Chukwunonso Elvis is the Shadow National Youth Leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party. He can be reached via @NonsoEzeani1