VICTORY IN PATCHES OF THE CRACK: WILL SANWO-OLU LOOK FORWARD FROM THE REAR?

JOKE ORELOPE, ABOYADE AND ENILOLOBO AT CLIMAX OF THE INTRIGUES

Story by Razaq Adedeji Jimoh

T’omode ba subu a wo’waju. T’agba ba subu a w’eyin wo. This is a proverb from the pouch of Yoruba’s wisdom. In a literal translation, it means when a toddler falls, he simply rises up to move on; but when adult falls, he rises up to look back – to see what may have caused his falling. This is the fundamentals of this essay with a poser for the just re-elected Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu. It also goes with complementary desirability for his deputy, Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat. It is a rumbling distraught to this writer and many other concerned Lagosians whether the Governor will thence move on with the sole business of governance. Or he will look back imperatively to reevaluate the path to his victory as well as the 2023 general elections in the Lagos corridor – as a cause to strengthen the polity and base of the political platform he trod through for it.

With his own victory, he did not fall per se. But with the earlier presidential election, he stumbled big time on a big stone! Thus the need to heed the advice entrenched in the proverb above. However, the clue for him to do it is to raise another fundamental question thus: what would have been the mood of Lagos today, in spite of his own victory, if Bola Tinubu had lost the presidency as the wish of some lads hitherto at his heart as trusted allies?

I say all this from knowledge of human nature on the healing of illness as a metaphor for pains of victory. Victory is a sweet balm and a strong opium that instantly relieves pains of the struggle for it. This is the experience Sanwo-Olu, his deputy and other APC chieftains in the state must be going through right now. They would seem to have forgotten the pains they encountered on their way to the bliss. Commonly, the odd side of the joy of victory is that it switches off all sense of history to preclude a reflection on the path to its joy as absolutely imperative. If the Lagos APC had done a needful reflection on the 2015 governorship election, the capacity of Igbo electoral bloc would have been attenuated. It would no longer be dreadful for 2023. But this problem of Igbo influence is not the subject of concern here. The one in need of reflection and of concern was the mismanaged intra party affairs that cost the state an exclusion from the minimum of 24 states Tinubu needed for his victory.

To start the review is to first acknowledge that Sanwo-Olu’s victory came through a mere patching of the crack in the wall of APC in many areas of the state. But for a case study, Alimosho Federal Constituency shall be our reference point. As one good reason for this, the constitutional Local Government is the resort home of “Oranmiyan Chief priest” (as per Hakeeb 2023), where the crack began and enduringly held to cause the big impact eventually.

The objective issue in view, therefore, is whether Sanwo-Olu, in lead of the state leadership, will choose to be contented with the results of patched works or choose to holistically rebuild the party with all intents and purpose of lasting solutions to party indiscipline. In my candid followership of the political events in trends, the Governor may wish to join me in tracing back the path to this day of joy for a guide on his choice.

To move from the current mood of joy, a soul searching of the three-part leaders of Alimosho ought to come first. This refers to Chief Sunday Aboyade, Lagos West Vice Chairman, as the man with responsibility to hold the party structure intact – standing as the bond to bind the party factions together. There is Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adfulire (OFR), a former deputy governor of Lagos and currently the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SSAP-SDG), as leader of the factional Asiwaju Solidarity Movement (ASM). Third part is the leader of BATCO-Mandate faction, Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo. The last two – the factions – are symbolic of the crack in review.

It should be a common knowledge by now that the crack evolved out of the foundation for a new order in the party, which was laid on March 14, 2022, when a new State Executive Committee was inaugurated. Aboyade had replaced Alhaji Enilolobo as visage of the party in Alimosho. Further to this as manifestation of the crack, the state leadership had formally recognised the rebellious factions that arose from the hitherto “One Alimosho” progressives’ mantra solely led by Enilolobo – a pure semblance of an autocratic order, if you ask me. The recognition came with the material value of 45% sharing formula for the rebel factions, leaving the Enilolobo camp with the balance of 55%.

As Thomas Paine says, “he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct will pursue his principles (even) unto death”. The question to address now is that going back in time for our reviews, how can we possibly discern the consciences of these three personages aligning with approval of their conducts at the period of electioneering process and the polling days? The needed clue may subtly be found in how they celebrated the election victories as the combination.

Aboyade began his role with a quote that “It’s time to go higher”. This was the concluding clause of his inauguration speech as Lagos West Vice Chairman. It may not be compelling for one to presume that going “higher” implies the works for Aimsoho to be great again. As the demand of his duty call in purpose of his office, he earnestly began a process of harmonization of the factions for the course to electoral victory. In strict commitment to this, he raised an eight-man committee he personally team-led to embark on reconciliation of the factional differences. The membership consisted the six council chairmen and the APC Zonal Organizing Secretary. The exercise lasted about four weeks. Nevertheless, it did not appear to yield the desirable results as a faction remained resolute and unyielding for peace to reign. In a seemingly “half-year” report of his activities in office, as captured by Civics Weekly in following trends of the events, Aboyade did not fail to officially indict the Enilolobo camp as the unyielding faction. But the faction seemed to be enjoying the strong backing of a power above his sight.

In anyway and at any rate in a year after as climax of the political intrigues and scheming, his simple clause turned out to be a prescience of his vision. Like a mission set on God’s will, Alimosho regained her old glory with the massive votes it contributed to the victory in discuss. The margin for both the Lagos total and Alimosho’s partial contribution ran in contrast to expectations that the governorship race would be “close” following results of the earlier presidential election that put the Labour Party on top of the table. It was therefore a celebration galore at his Isheri Olofin residence, where party faithful, upon return from their respective election fieldworks in his immediate constituency, gathered to deliver their PU victories in anticipation of the eventual aggregate victory in view.

With her characteristic charming look always in her ibile fashion outfits, Orelope-Adefulire was one of the early caller to the re-elected Sanwo-Olu. She was caught there on camera in company with Hon Tayo Oduntan and Abike Dabiri for celebration of the victory. Salient observers were quick to describe her visit as a message deeper than it appeared. They said she could have been there to flaunt the pride of her feminist gender achievement as leader of Alimosho with the success, which suspiciously could have been doubted by the Governor.

Earlier, upon announcement of results for Alimosho, insider sources revealed that Her Excellency rejoiced in clear mood of joy that her Local Government had regained its place of glory in matters of electoral victory in Lagos. To work for the victory, she moved to harmonize the rebel factions, existing then as Liberation Movement and The Veterans, into one group. The move was even applauded to be sagacious because it promptly came to decimate a further factionalisation of the rebel group with a new faction – Alimosho United Forum (AUF) – already springing up. The coalition of these three factions as a glorious success of her efforts is the ASM, which she used to drive the electioneering campaigns.

It must also be acknowledged that even upon her induction into the prestigious elite cadre of the Lagos progressives – the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), she yet strived to harmonize her ASM with the Enilolobo’s BATCO-Mandate for a cohesive approach to the election. But politics of deep belle hindered the efforts.

For Enilolobo, the conducts in the new order can only be innocently explained around the principle of human sociology from a variegated cause of his animosity against the party. Implicit that it all converged on a struggle for his leadership survival from imminence of collateral damage he thoughtfully to suffer inevitably from the feud of his political godfather, Rauf Aregbe, with the National Leader of the Party, now President-elect, Bola Tinubu. Once in the course of intrigues presaging the elections menacingly unabating, Enilolobo had affirmatively felt it would be an arduous task to achieve the feat of this resounding victory. In a speech he entitled “History and Fundamental Facts” made at a gathering of the party, he opined that the declining electoral values of Alimosho was a consequence of the sustained influx of the Igbo settlement into the Local Government. He added that Alimosho ought to be adjudged lucky not to have lost any election thus far under his superintendence as the sole leader. While he could have possibly made this view out of innocent observations and reality on ground, his suspicious pandering to grudges with the party weakened all.

As political godson of Aregbe, he was therefore caught in the web of dual struggle for his leadership survival and the imperative intrigues to blend an unwavering absolute loyalty to his godfather along with his scheming for the election victory. Consequently, he got ensnared and entangled in an elliptical wrap of the web that tied his limbs to his body in simile of a bodybag content. In other words, in his efforts to die back as he died down in the struggle, he clung to the straw of “Oranmiyan Cult” to finally sink down.

It had been alleged that he played a role in the loss of presidential election by Tinubu in Alimosho. Even if he remained innocent of this without direct evidence of proof, to maliciously complement the resentment of electorates for APC over naira redesign and swap quagmire built up into the election with disenchantment of party members on the election day should be a material to suffice for circumstantial evidence of a plotted sabotage. He also gave a behavioural verity to this by implication of his avowed disaffection with the party’s formalisation of democracy with 45% sharing formula slashed from his wholesome 100% autocratic dominance and gifted to his opposition faction. He remorselessly confronted the Danmole-led three-man fact finding committee sent to Alimosho with this implicit statement, querying: “ta lo le gba iru e” – who can take that? What may be more disappointing about this confrontation was that, perhaps innocently too, he seemed to give it as his reason for holding back the N125Million election funds put in his custody, even though he projected a kleptomania instinct around it by first denying that he ever received the money. But while case had closed on the election funds because he had been “forced” to disburse it afterwards, his camp played a fair role to facilitate victory at the governorship election. Enilolobo was also well visible in the convoy of Sanwo-Olu’s visitation rally to Alimosho two days before the election. All this notwithstanding, how did he celebrate that victory?

Sources close to him confirmed that he was “regrettably moody” all through the victory mood. The reason may be obvious from above. Nevertheless, he would later regain his grove to join the joyful mode of the victory with inauspicious reservations though. For whatever reason he thought it right to so be, his own election victory was held at the Isaac John GRA residence of Aregbe. According to sources, he led elected party candidates from his faction to the place for the celebration the penultimate Sunday. While some people may see this as pandering to the oath of “Oranmiyan Cult” (as per Hakeeb), those close to him said he took them to Aregbe as a show of his feat in the struggle for power he engaged with Asiwaju in Lagos without any recourse to Aregbe. But the seeming consensus of analysts on this was that however he may so pretend, it could never be a fair play for him to claim that he holds Asiwaju in high esteem while his oath of covenant with Aregbe subsist.

For Governor Sanwo-Olu who gave all his heart to him, the lesson is in another Yoruba proverb that says ti a ba gb’omode gun oke odo tan a ni owun fe duro de baba owun – literally meaning every human would always seek a return to where his heart is. Given all this, therefore, what reflections can we expect of Sanwo-Olu and his team of state leadership to make for the party to regain its structural strength back, both in Alimosho and across the state? This is the question to address in the concluding part.