The Saturday October 16 state congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will put to test the domineering influence of the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in Lagos State politics.
Tinubu, a former governor of the state, is the supreme leader of the party in Lagos. He returned to Nigeria on Friday, after spending three months in London, where he underwent knee surgery.
While Tinubu was away on medical trip, the ward and local government congresses held in the state had contentions with reports of parallel congresses from groups like Lagos4Lagos led by Mr. Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor and Democratic Group led by Mr. Fouad Oki.
The two groups are opposed to Tinubu’s anointed structure in the state.
The July 31 and September 4 ward and local government congresses respectively, adopted consensus option to produce its executives, a development that triggered in-fighting and chaos in the ruling party.
While the Tinubu camp appears to have settled for the re-election of the incumbent caretaker chairman of the party, Alhaji Tunde Balogun, as the consensus candidate ahead of Saturday’s election, three other blocs are fielding candidates for the position.
This development is perhaps the biggest internal test for the Tinubu hegemony since 2003 when he took firm control of the metamorphosing progressives’ camp in the state.
Aside from Balogun who is considered as the candidate of the mainstream APC with the stamp of Tinubu, two other individuals from different blocs and tendencies have also shown interest in becoming the Lagos APC chairman.
The other contestants are former Lagos APC Vice Chairman (Central) and Democrats Group chairman, Mr. Fouad Oki and Prince Sunday Ajayi, who is the anointed candidate for the Lagos4Lagos Group.
However, one hurdle before Tinubu’s opponents is the option of consensus agreed on by the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) and used at both the ward and local government elections.
Another hurdle is that the delegates for the state congress, who emerged from the wards and local governments’ congresses, are solely from the Tinubu bloc, thereby raising the possibility of parallel congresses and leaving the final decision in the hand of the national leadership of the party.
Last week, a chieftain of the party in the state and former member of the House of Representatives, Moshood Salvador, said members of his caucus on the platform of the Conscience Forum have been marginalised and treated unfairly in Lagos APC.
With Tinubu’s tendencies aiming to assert its grip on the political structures at ward, local government and state levels, two other groups are plotting to ensure that they whittle down Tinubu’s influence in APC.
Among the trio, Balogun enjoys the support of the majority in the party.
Oki is not a pushover in Lagos politics, having served as vice chairman of the party and Director-General of APC Governorship Election Campaign on three occasions. He has political network across the state.
The Star learnt that Oki has some veiled backers outside the state. Some even tagged him as the candidate of ‘Abuja Boys’ in Lagos APC, who are said to be hell bent on decimating the influence of Tinubu in Lagos.
For Ajayi, a grassroots politician, who allegedly fell out with Oki and the mainstream party system, he is also not losing any stone unturned to become the next Lagos APC chairman.
Except the unexpected happens on Saturday, Tinubu may have his way on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a former lawmaker in the state, who prefers to be anonymous, disclosed to The Star that there is another plot to drag a former Commissioner for Rural Development, Cornelius Ojelabi, into the race and by that resuscitates the proscribed Justice Forum group in the state chapter of the party.
In June 2020, the GAC announced the dissolution of all political groups within the party in the state including the Justice Forum (JF), the Mandate Group, among others.
“There are plans to drag Ojelabi into the chairmanship race and if that is done, the Justice Forum may be resuscitated and that may pose a big challenge for the second term of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu,” the ex-lawmaker said.
- Adeboye, Folu celebrate 55th wedding anniversary - September 8, 2022
- Tinubu denies rift with Adamu, says critics free to throw jabs - September 7, 2022
- Ooni takes new wife, Mariam Anako - September 7, 2022
