The big news in the public discourse in Nigeria at the moment is the move to unwittingly reverse the giant strives of social and economic developments we have witnessed in Lagos under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, through the attempted denial of a second term for the governor. The state positioned as the fifth largest in Africa is about to slide, to suffer setbacks if the architect of those achievements is allowed to be sacrificed simply to oil an individual’s ego. For by a consensus, Ambode has propelled Lagos far beyond where he met it in 2015. And the omens for another four years are that, all things being equal, Ambode will surpass the extant statistics signposting superlative performance of the current term.
But Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, isn’t looking in the direction of Ambode’s achievements and the popular acclaim the governor has received. He is driven by mercenary political and business instincts to seek and strive for the ouster of an incumbent. It bodes ill for the nation, but especially for the millions of Lagos residents and APC. When you are locked in such a straitjacket, you also become imprisoned, detained as it were in a world which begins with you, proceeds with you and ends with you.
The sad news is that at the end of the day, when the drama is over, and the actors have left the scene, the people would ask themselves: what were we served, tragedy, tragicomedy or melodrama? Theatregoers who pose such questions have been outwitted by a smart alec. Now the world doesn’t crash only on the manipulator and his helpless marionette, but also on the tricked and short-changed spectators who have invested hard earned money, dedicated precious time, sacrificed other appointments and summoned scarce energy to make it to the event. All evaporate as the trickster is allowed to have his way.
That is the waiting ogre behind the veil of the move to fell a sitting governor through the snare of a primary on September 25. It is strange the governor who, months ago, was praised by Tinubu to high heavens would now be a villain to be barred from a second term, not on account of defective performance or anti-party activities. At that time, the APC chieftain even rained curses on those who might seek the downfall of Ambode. He invoked Yoruba gods to come heavily on the governor’s adversaries.
According to Tinubu, the governor had so transformed Lagos that nothing should stand in the way of such a person. By his reckoning, the people of the state had enjoyed Ambode’s tenure and anyone desiring to stop him should be considered an enemy of the people and the state. He was right.
At the time Tinubu was the only Alliance for Democracy governor and his stellar exploits in Lagos constituted the talk of the town, we all rallied round to support Tinubu against the ploy of the central government of the Peoples Democratic Party headed by Olusegun Obasanjo. The federal authorities staged a battle of wits to dwarf the gigantic achievements of Tinubu. But the energetic Lagos was doing well and we all, of opposing political camps resisted Obasanjo, especially when he went to the ludicrous extreme of withholding the huge federal allocation due to Lagos state. The story ended well; the national clamour that the high-performing Tinubu should not be silenced won the day. He has since gone on to erect a template his predecessors have exploited to transform Lagos.
In less than four years of Ambode’s first term, he has justified the trust of the party that presented him. He has also not disappointed those who left the comfort of their homes in 2015 to vote him into power. There isn’t any doubt about the question of his performance. Indeed, he has become the poster boy of APC. He is considered the best governor at the moment. His era has witnessed the biggest jump in IGR receipts in the history of the state.
His excellent labour relations were deepened when the governor paid the huge sum of N11b as arrears to retirees of the government. And the government doesn’t owe its workers. Only last week, the national labour body said the vote of its workers in 2019 will go only to governors whose states are labour-kind who don’t owe their workers.
Many believe that these are considerations that should guide Tinubu and the APC hawks in handling so-termed offences of Ambode. His feats drown the perceived ‘missteps’ of the governor. APC risks losing Lagos if he is dropped. The biggest losers will be the people of Lagos.
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No non-politic affiliated individual would want APC divided against itself. Governor Ambode has done measurably well on economic purview but such feat is not seen in the welfare of the state-Lagos environs till now remains dirty.