THE reported insistent of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos to field former Accountant-General of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode, as its candidate for 2015 governorship election is tipping the party at the precipice, Nigerian Tribune learnt on Sunday night.
At about 5.43 p.m. on Sunday, top-notchers of the party across the three senatorial districts were locked in a crucial meeting on how to stop the alleged plan to pick Ambode as Plan A and, if the imposition succeeds, helping the opposition to win the state as Plan B.
Disgruntled associates of the national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu, constituted the fulcrum of the meeting.
One of them, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune before the meeting, disclosed that things had gone completely awry within the party over the Ambode project.
The meeting was said to be a fallout of new developments in the state chapter of the party, as different caucuses struggled to control the process that would throw up delegates for the December governorship primaries.
At the centre of the storm within the party was said to be the issue of the control of local government councils, which a competent party source said had torn the party in the median, leading to the emergence of those who called themselves the “Progressives” and the party leadership, as represented by Tinubu, being referenced as the “Old Brigade”.
The reality that council chairmen would be crucial to the emergence of delegates had reportedly seen both divides struggling to have control of headship of the council areas, with Tinubu’s camp said to be insisting on the return of the chairmen whose tenure ran out last week, in acting capacity.
The former chairmen, said to have been coordinated by a particular chairman of a local government (name withheld) in Lagos West senatorial district, had allegedly played a major role in Ambode’s campaign so far, allegedly providing financial, logistic and moral support.
The alleged move to return them to power was said to be the plan to seize the control of the delegates by Tinubu’s camp and ensure the emergence of Ambode as the candidate.
The Progressives reportedly walled the move and yet to budge as of press time.
The idea of new caretaker chairmen is being rebuffed by Tinubu’s camp.
New caretaker chairmen was said to be seen as a move to take the levers of influence and ensure the emergence of another candidate, who is not to be handpicked by the Tinubu caucus.
The reported stalemate is now said to have stagnated activities in all the local government areas in the state, since the council managers that Lagos State government ordered the former council chairmen to hand over to could not function without a bye-law to be passed by the state House of Assembly, whose Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, is also seeking APC’s governorship ticket.
As of last night, Nigerian Tribune could not confirm if the legislation was before the state lawmakers.
When the Nigerian Tribune contacted an affected council chairman last night, he painted a situation that was incomprehensible.
The two-term chairman, seeking a legislative ticket, disclosed that they were yet to know whether they would be returned or not.
According to him, “our Ogas have obviously not agreed. It is when they agree that we would know what is going to happen to us.”
The pro-Ambode ex-council boss could not fathom the insider opposition to his candidacy and when reminded that the arithmetic of voting population in Lagos might not sustain the agitation for a Christian candidate, he retorted “Is that why he can’t be governor? We are waiting to see how it would end.”
As both parties struggle to control the delegate appointment process, another move is on to ensure Ambode’s defeat at the general election, if those pushing his candidacy succeed at party level.
A close associate of Tinubu, who is now aggrieved over the Ambode project, told the Nigerian Tribune last night that they just rose from a strategic meeting at a location in Lagos (identity withheld), where their struggle had been given a direction and code-named “Operation Enough is Enough.”
He noted that Tinubu was now a bigger picture for them to end his dominance of Lagos politics, adding that whatever happens with Ambode would not really matter at the end of the struggle.
Describing Ambode as just a part of the whole project, he disclosed that the agenda to upstage Tinubu from this point would have nothing to do with the candidate he presents for the governorship election, as they may be pushed to give the opposition the Alausa Government House next year.
“We want him to dare us. Over 70 per cent of our members (APC members) may be voting the opposition next year. Just watch us. He tried unpopular imposition during the last local government election and you saw what happened by yourself.
“We lost clearly in nine local governments in an election they (ACN then) conducted by themselves. Oh, you think it was Obanikoro’s son that was that popular to defeat Tinubu in his local government? It was an insider job. “Aggrieved party members simply showed him what they were capable of doing. If he got such drubbing in a state election, we are talking about an election that those who want to take over in Lagos would conduct from Abuja. Wait and see,” he said.
The source made it clear that the disgruntled chieftains were meeting with stakeholders across party lines with a view to building a coalition that would displace Tinubu.
Meanwhile, the candidate selection crisis in APC is said to have sent the leadership back to the drawing-board to rethink the Ambode project vis-a-vis the agitation for the emergence of a Christian governor next year.
The agitation was said to be a major criterion for the Ambode’s choice, while PDP was said to be looking in the direction of another Christian, Jimi Agbaje.
However, the reported realisation that 62 per cent of voters in 2011 governorship election in the state were Muslims is reportedly giving the leadership of both parties serious concern, especially if one decides in the zero hour to field a Muslim candidate.
One of the leaders of “Enough is Enough” group explained that while the religious consideration would matter for APC, it might not cost PDP any fortune, since sacking Tinubu would be a greater motivation than religious belief of PDP’s candidate.
It was learnt that in resolving the APC logjam, the ticket might be zoned elsewhere outside Lagos East and this possibility was said to be responsible for the emergence of the former Attorney General of Lagos State, Supo Shashore.
Despite the expected windfall from the imminent implosion of APC, PDP leadership is the state is also said to be double-checking the idea of a Christian candidate, given the arithmetic realities.
A group within the leadership of the party was also being credited with the idea of an Igbo running-mate, who is most likely to be a Christian, in order to forestall the emergence of a Christian candidate.
The move is said to have put Agbaje’s chances in the cooler, since a Muslim candidate would be expected to run with the Igbo deputy.
Though the idea was publicly premised on sweeping the Igbo votes, which were put at 23 per cent of total voters’ population in Lagos, Nigerian Tribune gathered that the original concept was to get a Muslim to pick the governorship ticket.
A chieftain of APC, while reacting to the Igbo agenda, confirmed it and expressed the readiness of his party to counter it.
“Let PDP try it. It would make our campaign easier. It is simply to tell the entire Yoruba race that PDP is planning to dash Igbo the most economically-viable state in Yorubaland.
“That means if something happens to the Yoruba governor, Igbo man becomes Lagos governor. Can they allow that in Enugu or Anambra? Let them try that nonsense because they want to win election. We are waiting for them,” he fumed.
Nigerian Tribune also gathered that other aspirants on the platform of APC might end up presenting a consensus against Ambode.
A source in the race told the Nigerian Tribune last night that “we are exploring a lot of options. The main focus is to stop this man (referring to Tinubu).”
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