There is uneasy calm in the camp of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Lagos State, five days to the all-important governorship election.
The outcome of penultimate Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections has thrown up permutations, intrigues and frenzies over the conduct of the last leg of elections (governorship and state assembly) amidst what observers call “the onslaught from the opposition PDP.”
The fear and apprehension in the APC camp have necessitated series of meetings to smoothen rough edges and position the party against the much-hyped PDP’s onslaught.
Tinubu is said to be enraged over the gap between the APC and the PDP in the first leg of the elections. Daily Trust reports that President Muhammadu Buhari of APC polled 580,825 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who polled 448,015. Obviously, the result was a depletion in the APC popularity in Lagos State as against what was witnessed in the 2015 elections.
When the national leader at the weekend met with the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, out-going governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, the APC governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the immediate past governor and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Chairman of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Dr. Muiz Banire, among members of the political family, it was obvious the camp is not ready to give anything to chance.
The consultative meeting, which was said to be at the instance of Osinbajo, followed intrigues that trailed the outcome of last Saturday’s election; more so as Ambode was accused of anti-party activities by hobnobbing with the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, even though the governor has consistently denied the accusation.
It was gathered that Ambode is still aggrieved with the way he was treated in last year’s APC primaries.
However, recent events in the polity have triggered the apprehension in the ruling party. The move by some activists to launch an anti-Tinubu campaign at the Airport Hotel, last week, which was disrupted by the police over claim of hijack by hoodlums, was part of the plots to perfect the opposition’s Lagos takeover agenda by the PDP.
The campaign tagged, “Setting Lagos free from Bourdillon Bondage #Otoge Lagos” was structured after the Otoge campaign in Kwara State, a slogan which literarily means, “enough is enough,” deployed by the APC to break the hegemony of the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, in Kwara.
Behind the campaign in Lagos, it was revealed, were former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba and spokesman of Afenifere Group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, among others.
A popular ally of Tinubu, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, who supported Ambode’s second term ambition before it crashed, was also mentioned as one of the arrowheads of the campaign to “free” Lagos from Tinubu. The party has issued a press release, saying Afikuyomi is no longer a member of the APC.
But Tinubu’s camp is not taking the gang-up for granted which explains the consultative forum convened by Osinbajo to close ranks among the chieftains of the party.
A source said, “We are not perturbed about the seeming gang-up by these paper-weight individuals, but we believe as a family we need to get our acts together.
“This was essentially a family meeting to further solidify the unity of the family in order to fight any external aggression,” he added.
In addition, the alleged attack on Igbo voters for rejecting APC has dominated the polity during and after the first leg of the elections.
The attack was reportedly a move to instill fear in Igbo voters and whip them into line to vote for APC in Saturday’s election.
But the opposition PDP which sees the Igbos as its traditional supporters in Lagos, is poised to take advantage of the crisis to appeal to the Igbos not to be deterred in voting for it.
It was, however, learnt that the leadership of the APC and its candidate have made moves to pacify the Igbos and assure them of the good intention of the ruling party.
Spokesman of the APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, while speaking with our correspondent, said the APC has nothing against the Igbos and that many of them would vote the party in Saturday’s election.
On his part, PDP Leader in Lagos, Chief Olabode George, urged the residents of Lagos State to vote for freedom and deliver Lagos State from what he called the “tyranny” of the ruling hegemony.
“Don’t be afraid, I have spoken with Igbo, Ohaneze leaders. This is Lagos where we accommodate people,” he said.
Having tried unsuccessfully to defeat the ruling APC in 2015 when PDP was in government at the federal level, it is now left to be seen if the opposition would weaken the stronghold of Tinubu in Lagos with all the federal might in his kitty.
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