Is it the end of the road for the second term ambition of incumbent governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode? This is the question Olajide Omojolomoju tries to answer in this analysis.
What began like a child's play or a joke taken rather too far is gradually becoming more of reality, as the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Lagos State picks it gubernatorial candidate for the 2019 governorship election today.
One fact that is glaring like a sore thumb is that for the first time in the history of the state, an incumbent governor may not be opportuned to run for a second term, as available statistics and indices have pointed to the fact that today, the party may pick another candidate apart from the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.
Perhaps, if some nine months ago, a prophet or seer had told Ambode he would be fighting a gargantuan battle for a second term in office, he would have asked such prophet or seer who showed him such blasphemous vision.
But unfortunately, that is the situation today. As the same party apparatchik, which ensured his victory in the 2014 primary election of the APC and also ensured that he won the 2015 governorship election has today shifted action and support to a new kid on the block, Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu, a former Special Adviser, commissioner in the state and incumbent Managing Director of the Lagos State Property Development Corporation, LSPDC.
In the blast two weeks or more, events have been taking place in the APC in the Centre of Excellence in a dizzying manner that what ordinarily should have been a walk in the park for Ambode is day by day becoming a herculean task for the governor.
If first began like a rumour that the governor may not get a second term ticket, but many analysts saw it is one of the ploy of the powers that be in the state. After all, the immediate past governor of the state and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, went through the same motion in 2011, and eventually bagged a second term ticket, but it became more of a reality when tthree weeks or thereabouts ago, Sanwoolu and another former commissioner in the state, Obafemi Hamzat purchased the nomination and expression of interest forms, same day that Ambode also picked his.
Words went round same day that local government council and local council development areas, LCDAs, chairmen in the state endorsed Babajide's ambition. Few days later, the Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu Campaign Organisation, BOSCO, was inaugurated and the Director General, DG, is Hon Tayo Ayinde, a former Chief security detail and well known loyalist of the National Leader of the APC and former governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This development sent tongue wagging that it was Tinubu who does not want to give Ambode a second term ticket. As if that was not enough, the Lagos State House of Assembly, which was said to be on recess, was alleged to have told the governor to perish the thought of a second term in office or he would face impeachment proceedings as the Assemblymen were said to be solidly behind Sanwoolu.
Many permutations were thrown into the rumour market as to why Tinubu did not want a 'working governor' to go for a second term, but the major reason being bandied about was that it was because Ambode did not allegedly allow Tinubu to dip his hands in the state till.
As time went on, the Sanwoolu camp continued to swell, with the Mandate Group, a group within the APC said to be loyal to Tinubu publicly described Sanwoolu as the 'next governor of Lagos State come 2019.
Since then, it has been a compendium of endorsement from one stakeholder of the APC in Lagos State to another for Sanwoolu. And in what seems to be a final nail on the coffin of Ambode's second term ambition of the incumbent Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, the Governor's Advisory Council, GAC, the highest decision making organ of the Lagos State APC, yesterday publicly endorse Sanwoolu, as the APC candidate for the 2019 gubernatorial election.
Announcing the outcomeand decision of the GAC meeting to party loyalists at the Lagos APC Secretariat, Senator Anthony Adefuye, a member of the group, said, "There was a GAC meeting held this morning, which was attended by Vice President Osinbajo; Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Speaker, House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa, among others.
"This meeting was chaired by our National Leader, Tinubu. This is a meeting that we started at 10am. And we couldn't finish early. After the meeting, I have been mandated by the GAC to announce this to you.
"The governorship primary, earlier scheduled for tomorrow, September 30, has been shifted to Monday, October 1.
"Also, the GAC was informed by Dr Obafemi Hamzat of his decision to graciously step down and he endorsed Sanwoolu.
"GAC has endorsed Babajide Sanwo-Olu as its preferred candidate ahead of the primary."
He told party members that although Tinubu had planned to address party members on various issues affecting the party, he could no longer do that "because various organs of the party had decided to meet him on other issues in the state."
This was just as 36 out of the 40 members of the state House of Assembly also on Saturday endorsed Sanwoolu for the governorship race.
Also adding fillip to the ambition of the incumbent Managing Director of the Lagos State Property Development Corporation was another aspirant to the highest office, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, who also stepped down earlier Saturday and directed his supporters to vote for Sanwoolu in the APC primary scheduled to hold today.
Hamzat, while addressing journalists shortly after a meeting with Sanwoolu, said his decision to step down was based on the shared vision he had with Sanwoolu on the future direction of the state.
The aide to former governor and Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Fashola, said, "After due consultations with my numerous supporters and in deference to the wise counsel of those I consider my political mentors, I have resolved to step down from the governorship race in Lagos on the platform of our party and, instead, poll resources together with my brother and friend, Sanwoolu.
"So, my supporters are hereby directed to vote for Sanwoolu to emerge the candidate of the APC in the primary."
In a related development, 36 members of the state House of Assembly unanimously endorsed Sanwoolu for the governorship and as the candidate of the APC in the 2019 governorship election in the state.
A statement issued by the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Strategy and Security, Adefunmilayo Tejuoso, said the decision was taken at a meeting of the lawmakers which took place on Saturday.
The meeting was said to have been presided over by the Speaker, Right Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, where all the 36 members present signed the statement announcing the decision.
The statement reads, "At the parliamentary meeting, held on the 29th of September, 2018 at the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex, members do hereby unanimously resolve to support the position of the leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Governor's Advisory Council, GAC, in Lagos State on the endorsement of Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu as the APC gubernatorial candidate in the 2019 elections.
"The meeting was attended by 36 out of the 40 Honourable members in the House of Assembly."
LEADERSHIP gathered that the list of those who adopted Sanwoolu include: Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, Hons. Wasiu Eshinlokun, Abiru Rotimi, SOB Agunbiade, Jimoh Wahab, Olanrewaju Osun, Onatayo Oduntan and Funmilayo Tejuoso.
Others are: Idimogu Jude Emeka, Olowo Rotimi, A. O. Famakinwa, Nurudeen Solaja-Saka, Ogundimu Oluyinka, Dayo Fawunmi, Desmond Olusola Elliot, Kazeem Adewale, Sola Giwa, M. R. Sangodara, Mojeed Adebola, Mojisola Meranda, Gbolahan , Layode Ibrahim, Dayo Fawunmi and Abdulrahaman Yusuff.
Unless Governor Ambode decides to forgo his second term ambition, it is now a two horse race between him and Sanwoolu, who has been severally endorsed by various segments of the Lagos APC stakeholders including elected local government and local council development areas, LCDAs, bosses, among others.
And from all indications, the incumbent governor seems to be a no hope against the new kid on the block, Sanwoolu.
But reacting to all of these, Ambode expressed optimism that he would emerge the flagbearer of the party for the 2019 election, urging his supporters to remain calm. This was just as it was alleged that he had a verbal altercation with Tinubu at the GAC meeting.
The Director General, Ambode Mandate Support Group, AMSG, Hakeem Sulaimon, at a press conference said that Ambode's status alone was a tool that would swing votes in his favour during the primary, adding that the governor was capable of winning the APC governorship primary.
Saying that the governor was not bothered by the spate of endorsements for Sanwoolu, he told newsmen that Ambode's supporters had met and the support for him was overwhelming.
He said, "We had a meeting here yesterday and the chairman of all LGA chairmen in Lagos State was here and she spoke on behalf of her colleagues as having endorsed His Excellency Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. Here also yesterday, we equally had about 200 ward chairmen here in that meeting and they were equally led by their chairman who is the chair of chair of all ward chairmen in the state.
"You see, what truly constitutes the structure of the party is the ward and of course the LGA. Beyond the ward and the LGA, we also have the councilors because we have 377 of the creation of Lagos State councilors; we have 377 of the creation of Lagos State ward chairmen and so on."
