It is no longer news that the scheme to dethrone Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has been going according to plan for those who have been plotting his ouster. Last week, he was finally denied the opportunity of having a second go at Government House, Alausa.
One thing for sure, Ambode was not rejected by his party in the interest of the larger society. Until recently, he was being bandied by the same people who are plotting his exit as a performer. All attempts from the seat of government in Abuja to reverse the plot fell to the ground. He has been denied the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the party bigwigs in the state.
At the primary, which still remains a mystery to the uninitiated, the plot which was reminiscent of the plot to kill our Lord Jesus Christ, all that rented the air in the venues where the supposed party primaries took place was: crucify him! crucify him!! Like Jesus, the same man whose praises they sang to high heavens a while ago, was eventually led to Golgotha and eventually nailed to the cross to the satisfaction of hypocritical party stakeholders. And like Jesus, his commissioners deserted him and his deputy, Dr. Idiat Adebule, denied him three times before the cock crowed.
Before you accuse me of blasphemy, I have lifted a statement by loquacious Lagos APC scribe, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, which was published as recently as April 24 this year, where he had stated that the party bigwigs were working tirelessly to return Ambode in 2019, just to buttress my position.
Speaking during the APC Lagos State awareness campaign for the Permanent Voter Cards’ (PVCs) collection, Igbokwe had said the campaign was meant to prove a political point that Lagos is densely populated and also the political hub of the party, declaring that the party was working tirelessly to ensure nothing would change the five million votes targeted for the state governor, Ambode, in the coming 2019 election.
Igbokwe said this was so because, apart from the performance of the governor in improving the infrastructure of the city, his handling of the state’s economy was another major reason why Lagosians must support and mobilise for more votes for him in the coming election.
The APC chieftain assured that Ambode would further transform the state to a mega city if given another chance.
“In recognition of his hard work, we are going to come out in millions to support him once again through voting. Under his leadership, we have seen physical development across Lagos,” Igbokwe had said.
Between April and now when Igbokwe made that statement, it is a wonder how human beings can make volte-face so much so that wherever you go now all that party loyalists will tell you is the very opposite of what they were saying some few months ago.
If anybody can accuse Governor Ambode of nonperformance, then which governor qualifies as having performed? How many APC governors whose second terms were given them on a platter can match the performance of Ambode?
Some governors not only failed woefully, they also have the temerity to want to install their in-laws as their successors while the APC hierarchy watches in excitement. What transpired between last Tuesday and Wednesday was a confirmation that the interest of a few is far more important than that of the larger society. The Lagos APC governorship panel on Wednesday finally declared Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu winner of the party’s primaries held on Tuesday.
Chairman of the panel, Chief Clement Ebri, on Wednesday in Ikeja, told a bewildered nation that the election which he had a day earlier declared as invalid and not having taken place indeed took place and Sanwo-Olu had emerged winner. The committee chairman had argued that they were not part of the process and that the party chapter conducted the primaries entirely on its own.
Meanwhile, the state chapter had disregarded the verdict of the committee and declared the result late on Tuesday. Ebri, while later affirming the result declared by the state chapter which he had disowned, said that Sanwo-Olu polled 970,851 votes to defeat the incumbent Gov. Ambode who scored 72,901 votes.
Now that the plot is nearing its final stage, the experience of Governor Ambode should serve as a lesson to many. That Ambode has decided to accept the outcome of a poll that is clearly a poorly executed plot to sack him, speaks a lot of the character of the governor. It is easy to think that because the odds are against him he is so powerless that he is even incapable of a mischief.
It behooves the party leadership to begin to think of the best way to placate a man who was unashamedly disgraced just because he fell out of favour with a few powerful people in the state. The best that the party can do now is to think of how best to ensure that the governor is carried along and commended for his strength of character. Indeed, Ambode’s decision to back down brought a huge relief to the party. There are only a few political office holders who have tasted power and bequeathed it as Ambode did. Our history as a nation is replete with stories of politicians who turned around to undo their benefactors.
For Ambode, it will be a learning curve. It is the same process that brought him up against the will of his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola, and in a similar fashion too. He obviously held that grudge against Fashola, so much so that in all he did he did not pretend that he was out to obliterate the memory of his predecessor.
Between the experiences of Fashola and Ambode, there are a lot of lessons for the new kid on the block, Sanwo-Olu, to learn. Is he disposed? Time will tell.
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