TODAY is another Election Day in 28 states across Nigeria. Of the 36 states of the federation, the following states will not go to the poll to elect new governors. They are: Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun and Ondo.
They have become states with off-season elections. The development arose from protracted disputes over the winners of governorship elections in past polls.
After weeks of rigorous electioneering, campaigns have ended. Governorship and Houses of Assembly candidates are now on popularity scale. There are the contenders, and there are the pretenders. This has thrown up so much anxiety and suspense among the candidates and their supporters. Not many of the first-term governors can conveniently go to sleep with assured victory today.
The situation is even dicier for freshers. It is only in states where a political party is very popular that its candidate can exude the confidence of victory.
In few hours, the contest will be over. The judgment of the people will manifest in the results of the polls. The verdict will demarcate the political class into winners and losers. But this is the beauty of democracy.
In Lagos State, the outcome of today’s governorship election will determine the direction the electorate has chosen for the state: progress or regress. If they vote wisely, the future of the state will be secured. But if they vote otherwise, the multiplier effects will negatively affect the other five Southwest states and beyond. The impact of wrong choice will even be felt in the Yoruba-speaking states of Kwara and Kogi.
Lagos, a Yoruba state, is the Southwest’s fortress and jewel. This is why the regional attention is on the Centre of Excellence.
How was the battle fought, won, and lost in the Lagos of old?
Politics, back then, was not an occupation. It was a vocation. The actors had a sense of community. They resided with the masses. Wealth and material possessions were not strong factors.
Ideology was in vogue. Only men of honour and integrity were given their parties’ tickets. The conditions for eligibility included community participation, service to the party, hierarchy and loyalty to the platform.
Primaries were not among the basic issues with the parties of yesteryears. The platforms were guarded jealously by their leaderships. Party leaders were disposed to selection by consensus. The fear of hijack by moneybags was prevalent. There were party supremacy and discipline. It was an era characterised by the predominance of the party caucus.
Also, performance was key. Campaign promises were made to be fulfilled. Parties were sustained by dues paid by members and supporters.
Rigging was a core issue in manual voting and collation of results, back in the day. It often led to large-scale violence, killings and destruction of properties.
In the pre-independence era and during the First Republic, the dominant political parties lacked national outlook. Voting was influenced by ethnicity, religion and primordial sentiments in varying degrees.
The main element of regional politics was the election into the Western Regional House of Assembly under the Westminster model. From there, the Leader of Government Business, and later, the Premier, was chosen from the party that won the majority seats in the Parliament. The inaugural partisan battle was between Action Group (AG), led by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Both were elected into the regional assembly at Ibadan. Since AG commanded the majority, Awo became Premier. Naturally, Zik became the Leader of Opposition. Irked by the outcome, he declined to play the role and hurriedly left for the Eastern Region to displace Prof. Eyo Ita Eyo as Leader of Government Business, yielding his position at Ibadan to Chief Adegoke Adelabu, fondly called Penkelemeesi (the city’s dialectical pronunciation of “Peculiar Mess”).
Another contest that shook Western Region was the one between Chief Samuel Akintola, the rejected Premier, and Chief Dauda Adegbenro, who was Premier for just one day. Leaning on federal might, Akintola was restored as Premier after the six-month emergency period.
The Parliamentary system being practiced then ran into turbulence. The chaotic regional election in the “Wild Wild West” made the military, which also coveted power, to sack civilian authorities. The region thus went up in flames. The volatile politics of the Western Region took its toll on every other thing in the region and far beyond.
For another 13 years, the military held sway. When democracy was restored in 1979 under the presidential system, Lagos elected a new government. The battle was not tough. Alhaji Lateef Jakande of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) defeated Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya of the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) and Prince Sultan Ladega Adeniji-Adele of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
In 1983, Jakande was re-elected, defeating Alhaji Abdulakeem Abdulraheem of the NPN. Three months into the second term, soldiers came back and displaced legitimate democratic authorities.
In the Third Republic, Nigeria experimented with a two-party system during the transition programme midwifed by the military regime. Chief Yomi Edu, who ran on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), was defeated by the less politically popular Chief Michael Otedola of the National Republican Convention (NRC). The SDP went to the poll as a divided platform. The Jakande group (Ase) was at loggerheads with Primrose, led Chief Dapo Sarumi. The party won majority seats in the House of Assembly. But it crashed during the governorship poll.
Reminiscent of 1966 and 1983, the military later sacked the governors during the interim contraption headed by the late Chief Ernest Shonekan.
From 1999 to date, Nigeria has enjoyed political stability. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of Action for Democracy (AD) defeated Sarumi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In 2003, he defeated the late Funso Williams, also of the PDP.
In 2007, Tinubu handed over to Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of the Action Congress (AC), who defeated Senator MusiliuObanikoro of PDP, Jimi Agbaje of the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), and Olufemi Pedro of the Labour Party. On poll day, the candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), resurfaced as the AC agent at the INEC office.
In 2011, Fashola retained power on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). His rivals were Dr. Ade Dosunmu of PDP and Chief J. K. Randle of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP).
Fashola handed over power in 2015 to Akinwunmi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He defeated Agbaje. Four years later, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of APC, who succeeded Ambode, also defeated the eminent pharmacist on the platform of the PDP.
In today’s poll, three candidates – Sanwo-Olu of the ruling APC; Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP); and Jide Adediran (Jandor) of the PDP – are locking horns. The exercise has generated much interest. Religion, as a factor, is a leveller. But there is a resurgence of ethnic nationalism.
Previous elections in Lagos were won by progressive parties. Poll outcomes, unlike now, could be easily predicted. It is lamentable these days that governors who have performed excellently are not insulated from threats of displacement. It is dangerous to sleep on guard.
In whatever circumstance, it has always been painful to lose an election in Nigeria. Losers suddenly become liabilities, if not lepers. The agony of defeat exacerbates dejection and the resort to litigation. A bad blood is generated. The pain lingers. This is why the battle often shifts from the ballot box to the court.
The investment is enormous. The presidential system, unlike the parliamentary model, is very expensive.
How can the antics of bad losers, or their post-election venom be curtailed?
There are two solutions: politics should not be monetised, and political actors, particularly candidates, should demonstrate maturity.
For Lagos, today’s poll will be highly interesting, given the factors that new entrants, especially, have introduced into the politics of the state. The intrigues that certain interests brought into this year’s electioneering will remain indelible in the anal of the state’s political history. For a very long time, indigenes of this State of Aquatic Splendour will remain vigilant to the antics of some political jobbers and their crowd of opportunists who have been scheming to pocket the resources of the state for personal gains rather than for the collective progress that has made the state the envy of all and one of the strongest economies in Africa.
As goes the saying, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. This should be the motto of the progressives as Lagosians go to the poll today.
