IF AYUBA WAS NOT A PRODUCT OF PRESS CONFERENCE & PROTEST IN 2023: BEING SERIAL 3 OF OUR READING OF CHAPTER 25 OF THE BOOK -- ONCE A GIRL-CHILD.

By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh

If Hon Ganiyu Adele Ayuba was not a product of Press Conference and protest in 2023, but an evolution of the bullets Enilolobo took for him to become the member of House of Representative today, turning around to fight the same cause that produced him cannot amount to a sure doing to commend. Saying this is not a pick of imagination by this essayist. It is the fact grounded in the election history of Alimosho as documented in the book -- Once a Girl-child -- by the author in him (this writer).

In a publication of the Civics Weekly magazine in 2022, the party primaries for the 2023 general elections was metaphorically described as the "Season of Black Market" for the Cover Story. Surely, the understanding of the meaning could not have been lost to those who read it in between the lines. Combined with the letters of the history book above, it turns out that the person of Hon Ganiyu Ayuba as an outcome of that black market could have been defined after all as his four years expires in a short while. To some, he must have been a good product to pick in that darkness. To others, he was just as right as a product to pick with the misfortune of darkness. To this author, it is a talk of mixed feelings pointing to one direction from both the buyer (party faithful( and the seller (Enilolobo) who offered him them.

How did Ayuba become the MHR is what this concluding serial of our reading from the book brings. Enjoy the history as we dwell into it, travelling back to 2022.

"REPORT from the constituency 02 at Ikotun concluded that “no election for State Assembly was held”. The reason was not farfetched. The two opposition camps appeared to be a match for each other in mutual suspicion for anticipated violence. This was my privileged reading of the tensed atmosphere from experience of the earlier 2021 primaries for local government elections. It was noticed that while accreditation was about to begin, the Police attention could have been drawn to some set of empty bottles lining the motor way demarcation pavement blocks almost covered by the grasses along the perimeter edges of the Bachus Park in the Council's premises. While picking the bottle in a way, they were also led to another Korope bus parked in isolation for which the Area 'M' Commander would demand for the owner.

Of course, the owner turned out to be an enigma for the obvious reason. The compelling cause to force the mini vehicle open revealed that it was filled with assorted arms and ammunition. It was reportedly towed away to the Command Headquarters in Idimu. Perhaps the Returning Officer advised a postponement of the election to hold before the House of Representatives election the next two days 28th of May. But that could not stop the eventual sporadic gunshots that heralded the arrival of Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo from his guards of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel. No life were lost, but unconfirmed latter report to reach this author after fleeing the venue said injuries were recorded on this day.

It was nevertheless a total war that would involve some hooded personnel of the NSCDC on the rescheduled date. It must be understood that the expected delegates to converge at Ikotun were being expected from constituency 01 and constituency 02. The rescheduled 02 election was to be conducted first. While the accreditation process was on course, a report I would pick in eavesdropping was that a detachment of NSCDC operatives in hooded majority had occupied major roads in the axis of Idimu/Isheri Olofin for their itinerary pathway to the election venue.

WITH ELECTION BATTLE IN THE APC PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN ALIMOSHO, SOME ARE OF THE BELIEVE THAT ABE'GI OF THE ALIMOSHO PROGRESSIVES MAY HAVE COLLAPSED! WHAT IS ABE'GI OF THE APC CAVE IN ALIMOSHO? YOU GET TO KNOW IN THIS EDITION AS KEHINDE JOSEPH TELLS ITS ORIGIN

The sporadic gunshots for their show of force could not have been scary and dreadful as much as their hooded appearance. But for their operational vehicle and a few in their real uniform, their semblance of armed robbers on mission for daylight robbery would not be mistaken for real. The deadly partisanship connection of the NSCDC to this election should be well founded without ambiguity of arm twisting to play to the gallery of needless falsehood in balancing of opinion.

Enilolobo had changed his formal uniform security guards from the Mobile Unit of the Police Force to the NSCDC since his Principal, Aregbe, became the Interior Minister. From my deep insider knowledge of Alimosho progressives politics, the House of Representatives seat has become the public office slot Enilolobo arrogated to himself as his due political right as a leader. This idea was not original to him. He seemed to inherit that in succession to Adimula leadership era. By design, the occupant must defer to him absolutely in pecuniary pay back and unquestionable submissiveness. The empirical evidence for this was his asserted order that the incumbent Hon Adebanjo would not be going for another term by his preference. It came to past indeed. His new choice was Hon Ganiyu Adele Ayuba, an aspirant in this primary election he was ready to install apparently in “do or die affairs”. It became so because it was time his sole apex leadership had been challenged by a development from the State quarters. Ayuba’s major opposition was Prince Idris Balogun.

The quest for the office as an aspiration made by Prince Balogun and the outright decline of consent from Enilolobo was to become the cause of animosity that broke down the bond of accord between once a jolly two fellows. By all standards, Enilolobo was already at the advantage position to win the election. Pointedly, therefore, the ideal possibility to reason with was that he could have as well resorted to the armed struggle for the victory in order not to take any chances. The reason was not farfetched too.

Before their parting of ways for the umpteenth time, the political relationship between Enilolobo and Prince Balogun was underscored by recognition of the latter as mercenary of brute force for power grabbing for the former. Prince Balogun never failed to acknowledge this for fact in a number of times, especially once in my media interview with him. He would say: “Won Kuku ti so’pe toogi awon l'awaje sugbon awa t'a je toogi won l'apada so'pe a le ma seruku fun won mo. A so'pe Omoluabi lawa na” – literally to say: They have declared that we were their thugs, but we are now the one saying also that we are no longer inclined to that. We are a responsible people too, so we are not ready to be so used anymore. Thus, and perhaps, this pedigree of relationship underscored the resort of Enilolobo to might of the Federal security agency, which of course, had a precedence of alleged similar act in Osun State by Aregbe during the 2022 APC governorship primary election. But the latter appeared to be an act of self-defence from account of independent media.

The rescheduled Constituency 02 election was recorded to have returned Kehinde Joseph as the validly elected Party Candidate by an outcome of 100% returned delegate votes. But unconfirmed report appeared to have it that it later became a “null and void” election on account of the violence that rocked the House of Representatives election. But this impression would later be contradicted with the exclusion of his electoral contest from any potential trade off in a latter consensus table the violence would force the pugilist leaders to for the imperative jaw jaw.

The accreditation for the election had gone under way, as I so perceived the ambience, when an affray that broke out within the precinct of the election venue set the Ikotun environ into a spontaneous commotion and pandemonium. The pieces of information gathered about this was a conflict of two opposing camps of sworn enemies in simile of a conventional war of cult gangs’ rivalry. But the information did not adduce any lexicon of cultism. It was an open brawl of “rival members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW)”, report said.

From experience of Nigerian politics, rivalry of NURTW factional groups could hardly disconnect from party partisanship. This could not have been an exception, given the ambience and timing of its origin. Being a primary election, the two warring groups could as well be mercenaries of election war within the party.

It was amidst the affray that the booms of gun shorts marked arrival of the NSCDC operatives at Ikotun in full guards of no other person than Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo. This time, eye witnesses' accounts claimed that the firing was now arrays of flying straight bullets from vans of the hooded corps. In no means for the verification though, not one account of the witnesses insisted in affirmation that the leader of the NURTW rival gang having the upper hand in the fisticuff was actually felled by the corps’ bullets after he had sniffed life out of his contender. But it so remained in the confine of rumour mills without any autopsy to authenticate it.

By and large, the role of NSCDC in compounding the failure of that 2023 APC primary elections could not be in doubt for a needful place in black book of indictment if the right investigation had followed. It is only unfortunate that in the Nigerian game politics, such a waste of life is regarded as a falling tool of political engineering at sea works. There should be no dive into the sea bed for the recovery as a necessity. And no worker is liable for a comeuppance for deterrence in avoidable act of negligence.

On the long run, the deceased were later identified as members of the party for which Aboyade, as the State Vice Chairman, South West Senatorial District, moved to flag off a mourning mood with the Press Release for cancellation of his birthday for the year. Doing this for him, at no time Oga ever offered any monetary compensation to me nor did I ever have any anticipation of that howsoever. I would later have cause to believe that it was on account of the assigned duties and commendations Oga started giving me for my works so early that informed Arole’s needless envy that consequently became the cause of our “Battle of the Green Snake and the Snake Charmer” in the House.

It also informed the reason Hon Mosuru would call my attention to my right of entitlement to the largesse dropping for the boys in the House, albeit in his inclusive collective term. “Oga is commending you for doing good job and they are behaving as if you are not part of them”, he said. But intuitively, this was not to be my direct interest. The violence ultimately vitiated the Constituency 02 election as it also marked the abrupt end of the House of Representatives primary in which about eight aspirants were contesting. The list included: 1. Ganiyu Ayuba Igando/Ikotun LCDA 2. Morenikeji A. Williams (F) Igando/Ikotun LCDA 3. Babatunde S. Onifade Igando/Ikotun LCDA 4. Hon Olufemi Adebanjo Alimosho LGA 5. Ibrahim Aroworatira Egbe-Idimu LCDA 6. Prince Idris Balogun Egbe-Idimu LCDA 7. Olaseni Oladipipo Mosan/Okunola LCDA 8. Nojeem Ewesesan Agbado/Okeodo LCDA

But results were written, apparently in favour of Ganiyu Ayuba, the Enilolobo's candidate with all the 50 delegate votes assigned to him for the victory. The state rejected the result anyway and rescheduled the House of Reps election for a date to be announced later. It later reverted to the party’s convention of selectoral consensus as the next option for picking the candidates for the House of Reps and Constituency 01.

It was learned that this latter decision followed a strong protest from Joke Orelope, deployed as a tool to bring her side of disenchantment to relevance in the violence-induced stalemated primaries. To me, it was strategic move of playing the Ace Card at the time of plucking the flower when it is ripe. The state had challenged her group to injustice from the outset as she complained. How that impacted the scenario was to soon manifest at ensuing meeting.

To attend the meeting fixed for the final resolution of the stalemate at Acme were Joke Orelope and Enilolobo as leaders of their respective camps. Among the personnel of the state leadership to sit in arbitration was the state chairman Apostle Cornelius Ojelabi in lead of others. There was also a report of the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, in the Vicinity. Report had it that as the deliberation became tensed, Joke Orelope reportedly flaunted her Joker with a poser: “What level playing field would the party claim to have offered when the majority of delegates had already been given to the opposition camp at the start”.

It could not have been less of emotional weapon to jostle the wicked soul to the heart of compassion. It jostled everyone on the panel. She was referring to the 45:55 percentage sharing formula that was “albeit wrongly” applied in apportioning delegates that were meant to vote in the primary elections.

In election by delegate votes, majority vote is affirmed even by one vote difference. Thus, according to her argument, the Dynasty camp was already favoured to win all the elections by the majority delegates they got with their 55% share. If the sharing formula had been excluded and the delegates shared in 50:50, it would have been a level playing field. It would now be left to the poaching skill of any of the sides to deploy in stratagem for delegate drawing to itself. Thus, her objections to the conduct of the election had its valid merit to the full consent of the arbitrators.

She was therefore given the right of first refusal to pick a preferred slot out of the two available options. She chose Alimosho Constituency 01 of Lagos Assembly, which conclusively jettisoned the victory of Ogunwuyi and returned the party ticket to her brother, Lukmon Orelope Jimoh. The House of Representatives automatically went to Enilolobo, which Ganiyu Adele Ayuba ultimately became the beneficiary.

Kehinde Joseph would seem to have retained his electoral victory to hold the ticket for Constituency 02. But to hold so might not apply more appropriately than to conclude it on self-merit for a due second term in line with the party's tradition. Almost in all cases, except where a case of gross misconduct has been established against the incumbent during the first tenure, a return for a second term is almost an assured right of the incumbent in the tradition of the Lagos progressives.

Clearly from this narration, Ayuba was never a product of Press Conference, but a beneficiary of a consensus table procured by a violence-induced stalemated Primary Election. The question to ask now is: Did this past 2027 Primary Election for the House of Reps go the way of 2023? To address this is outside the realm of history so documented in our reading reference – Once a girl-child. But definitely, it shall be addressed as the subject for next serial. It’s all yet about events and his making. Keep a date with this page.

Back in the House, the final outcome of the consensus was to provoke the anger that brought her under a barrage of attacks. It began subtly with the rants of disgruntled minds audible enough to pick, as members gathered gradually for the evening sitting. As should be expected, it turned out to be a large House this time. The rants soon grew to murmuring of accusations in different choice of demeaning words that ever suited the fancy of the talkers.

“The woman is a sell out”, one said.

“She is too Selfish”, came another.

Largely in their minds – parochial if you like – was a conclusion that she was not a “tactical politician" for choosing the local slot over the Federal because of her brother. Again, Arole was to strike her with his characteristic fangs of outburst from the murmuring. His furious anger could as well be likened to a rattle snake on rock in a hot sunny day. The deadly concentration of its venom is better imagined than to be experienced. Thus, his metaphorical bite came in his strong condemnation of the Woman General even with manifest sophistry and illogical references.

“Is that someone we should call a leader”, Arole began.

“What would you call her then?” Alhaja replied in the exact words I intended.

“Abi ooo!” I added for the needful complement.

“Aintin yen o ronu rara”, – the aunty did not think at all – he continued, ignoring Alhaja and me.

Alhaja, Bayole I think, is Igando/Ikotun based politician who must have made her mark in the politics of Alimosho. She was one of the early smart observers of the power delinquencies in the White House and was not ready to suffer the fools gladly. It was not long before she abandoned the House albeit largely for dryness of leadership charisma.

“How”, Arole continued, “can she leave Federal for local Assembly?”

“Everybody knows National is more valuable than State Assembly, which is even half of a local government”, Oye added.

“Because of her brother she wants to make us suffer another four years”, Arole continued in his anger.

“Honestly, Oluomo would have been her better choice”, an Oga's apolitical Oyo kindred said. He is also a regular member of the House I had found the convenience to enthrallingly called “Baba Wely” -- for Wale.

“Ti ko ba si T'oluomo ni…”

“If not for Oluomo”, I interjected Arole almost in rage, “what would have happened?” I was not expecting anything less than his vicious attack too, especially with my disapproval of his remarks in discernible indignation.

“If not for Oluomo, can we win this struggle?” he concluded his sentence in apparent response to me.

“How did Oluomo make us win”, I asked. As a matter of fact, this is already a flogged issue in the House. Coming out again now in matter that directly touched the person should not be unexpected.

“Even you”, Oye attempted to help him out, “yourself have said it here severally in this House that this struggle started in about 2004. You too look at it, from then till now! So, if you win the struggle about the recent time he joined you then it makes sense to say Oluomo helped you to win struggle”.

“You miss the point”, I started.

“What's the point?” Hon Monsuru asked.

“It is the other way round. It is the misfortune of Aregbe that gave Mama (as we sometimes call Joke Orelope) her due chance of time. Oluomo only came in coincidence of the time to find his own opportunity in her final victory…”

“I have said it, you are not a politician with all this you are saying”, Arole interjected.

“Okay, what role did Oga play in the struggle?” I asked with a nod of head towards the state officer.

“Ki lo tun kan'oga ninu eleyi?” Singapore threw in his own banter as he stood up to charge his phone battery.

“At least”, I continued, “Oga is part of the beneficiary of the victory now and he came from Enilolobo like Oluomo. Our sitting in this House now is beholding to that Joke Orelope's victory”.

I seemed to have the open floor with the pin drop silence now. I should think my drawing in Oga into the theme made the magic of interested audience I now had.

“Let us not forget”, I continued, “that the struggle is Aregbe versus Joke Orelope from the start. It is not even Enilolobo versus Joke Orelope. When Oluomo left Enilolobo, did he say he had come to join Joke Orelope? He was only fighting his own solo war as Otoge group for his ambition. What all this should tell us is that Oluomo only lurk into opportunity of Mama's final victory. Now, what if the woman refused to recognise Otoge group in Egbe-Idimu and decided to raise her own new group and give them the 45% share, will Oluomo have anybody in government and party executives today?”

“Ohun ti won se yen le d'egberu. Nkan temi mo ni yen.” – What she did could destroy this group, that's all I know – Arole insisted in loud soliloquy as he stood up, apparently still in sad mood which could have informed his being the first in set to leave the House.

His move set the House in rowdy session as everyone began to stand up. The time was truly far spent – some minutes past nine.