Tinubu took charge, dumped the “wise men” controlling the affairs of the South-West politics and appropriated the political space of the richest state in the country to himself and his Mandate group, which has now transmuted into Mandate movement.
To the credit of the group and its leader, two successive governors had been produced from the Mandate rank, only that the winning-group seems to have perfected the art of using wildcards as governorship candidates, to win their political battles. The front-runners always have a way of ending up on the queue, without being picked by the decision-makers.
BabatundeFashola, the current Minister of Power, Works and Housing was a long-shot as the Chief of Staff when Tinubu and his “wise men” picked him as the successor to the one who has gone to become a major force in national politics. Apart from being far from the governorship candidate cadre, he was not even nursing such an ambition, Sunday Tribune gathered. But the oracle of Lagos politics picked him and he spent eight years in office.
The incumbent Akinwunmi Ambode also got a wildcard to jump ahead of those considered to be at pole position to succeed Fashola in 2015.When it could be safely assumed that Ambode, the now-known incumbent, would be running his constitutionally-allowed second term, an emergency wildcard situation is presenting itself again in the political family that has dominated the scene but could play itself out for the last and final time.
Since the shock-waves of the likely abortion of Ambode’s second term gripped the Nigerian political landscape, various theories have been flying around, including the possibility that the 1991 scenario could repeat itself in the state, when the dominant political groups battled themselves to stupor within the Social Democratic Party (PDP), which should ordinarily be the runaway winner of the governorship election, allowing the little-known National Republican Convention (NRC) to produce the governor in the person of the late Sir Michael Otedola.
Twenty-seven years after, the scenario is about to repeat itself in the party that should easily nick the governorship election in February next year, and strangely, another Otedola, this time, the son of the former governor, is in pole position to reap the fruits of the crisis on the other side. Femi Otedola is a close confidant of the embattled governor. He was the first person reportedly contacted by the Mandate movement to come and have the ticket of his friend. After reportedly consulting with their common friend and Africa’s richest, Aliko Dangote, Femi demurred.
A meeting at the Bourdillion home of Tinubu, among Femi, Aliko, another friend (name withheld) who is very close to the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the former governor, months back before the current bubble, could not resolve the issue, as Aliko and Femi reportedly failed in their bid to pacify Tinubu to back Ambode for another term. The grapevine had it that Seyi, Tinubu’s son, was already listed as Femi’s running mate before the billionaire son of the former billionaire governor rejected the tempting offer.
But Femi isn’t out of governorship range. He only said he would not run against his friend. But the emerging scenario is suggesting otherwise, considering that Femi is also as good as settled for the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and many are wondering what changed between when he said no and now, though there is a theory that nothing has really changed but that “the friends are trying to engage in class preservation.”
An unconfirmed report suggested that Femi was simply trying to occupy the PDP space for his governor-friend who has almost lost even the outside chance of retaining the APC ticket, with the Jide Sanwo-Olu’s hurricane blowing everywhere. The protégé of Senator Remi Tinubu, wife of the national leader, has nearly swept Ambode off the ticket and with his official declaration expected today, the chicken appear to have come home to roost for the accountant-turned-governor, who is about going down in history as the first Lagos State governor to be denied a second term.
But Ambode is certainly not going down without a fight. There are two theories about Femi’s involvement with PDP. One is that he is securing it for his friend when the chips are down and the governor is edged by Remi’s “boy.” Two is that Ambode may not want to associate directly with PDP and will likely give Candidate Femi the push to defeat Sanwoolu and end Tinubu’s reign in Lagos politics.
Whatever the plans, one thing is certain, Ambode will always get a platform to run if APC eventually pushed him out and ADP, which is allegedly being promoted by Fashola, may come in handy, considering that Femi Hamzat who should have been the beneficiary of the now-active platform, has decided to join forces with anti-Fashola elements in the state politics, despite holding on to his current job as Fashola’s adviser in the Power, Works and Housing ministry.
While Ambode is still fighting to get what is considered the winning-ticket of the APC, some of his associates are already looking beyond his APC travails, believing that at the end of the day, Lagosians and not party platforms, will determine who rules the state.
History is on the governor’s side in a situation like this. But the question is who really will be making the best of history among Tinubu, Ambode and Otedola.
and then