Category: Politics

In this piece, Williams Adeleye contends that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has hired commentators to malign the reputation of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu because of the growing popularity of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is largely perceived by Nigerians as the government-in-waiting.

There is no doubt that these are interesting times in Nigeria’s political landscape. And it is not surprising. The 2015 general elections are around the corner and politicians are at liberty to dig into their bag of tricks to sway potential voters to their side, even if some of them have to demonise their opponents. What is however, worrisome is the activities of some so-called commentators and political analysts, whose comments and write-ups are nothing but outright partisanship. Indeed, it will not be out of place to describe such commentators as paid agents and favour-seeking cronies of the government in power.

The interest being expressed by all shades of opinion and groups since the formation of APC is a confirmation of the discomfort of the ruling party on the one hand and on the hand the expectation of deliverance from poverty and want by the long-suffering people of Nigeria. However, there are those who have resolved that the only way to slow down the growth of the APC is by demonising its leaders through outright lies and falsehood in the hope that lies repeatedly told can become truth.

The recent article by Femi Aribisala in the Vanguard Newspaper of Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at page 17 is a classic example of a political hatchet job carried too far. In his article titled:  “There is nothing progressive about the APC’, Femi Aribisala tried in vain to confuse his readers and create doubts in their minds about the credentials of the APC as government-in-waiting. He engaged on a rehash of the well-worn (to use his own words) and ineffective tactics of the PDP – referring to the APC as a Muslim party and demonizing its national leaders. In all, Aribisala listed some grounds which he thinks will justify his deep-seated hatred for General Muhamadu Buhari (rtd) and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu – two personalities he has chosen to vilify for reasons best known to him.

He alleged that the APC is a regressive party. The only reason he gave for such a conclusion is that General Buhari ‘truncated’ a democratic government – an apparent reference to the 1983 coup that ousted the Shagari Administration of the Second Republic. What he failed to add in his jaundiced allegation is that the1983 coup of Buhari and his colleagues in the military was a popular movement which did not come as a surprise to many at that time. Indeed, Nigerians today still relish the 20 months of Buhari/Idiagbon administration as twenty months of order and probity in public life. Of course, there would be certain decisions and actions taken during that period that he (Buhari) would not take today with benefit of hind-sight. But that was 31 years ago as a 40 year old!

It was also convenient for Aribisala to overlook the fact that President Shagari was a Northern-Muslim whose questionable election victory of 1983 over Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a  Southern-Christian, was one of the grounds for the military putsch of December 31, 1983. Which ethnic or religious chauvinist will overthrow a President who shares the same ethnicity and religious persuasion with him?

As a corollary to above, Aribisala referred to Buhari and Tinubu as dictators -Buhari for overthrowing a government (that was lacking in legitimacy) and Tinubu for foisting candidates (including his wife) for election on his party, and for making his daughter the Iyaloja of Lagos State. He also accused Buhari of calling on his supporters to go on rampage if he lost an election. These cannot be farther from the truth. In the first place, very few contemporary Nigerian politicians can be more democratic than Buhari. A man who kept subjecting himself to seeking political office through the ballot box cannot be said to be a dictator. Who can be more democratic than a man who resorts to the law courts for redress anytime he felt cheated at the polls? I think it is libelous for people to continue to peddle the lie that General Buhari asked his supporters to protest violently, if he lost the 2011 election. The truth is that General Buhari warned of possible dire consequences if the elections were rigged. Was it not President John Kennedy, one of the most respected and revered American presidents that made the indelible remark that ‘those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable’? I believe that it was General Buhari’s quest to avoid a breakdown of law and order that prompted that comment, which in any case, had been made by other politicians before Buhari.

On the allegation that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu imposes candidates including his wife on party members, I want to ask ‘does he also impose the candidates on the electorate?’ If indeed, the electorate had any problems with the candidates of Tinubu’s party, they would have used their votes to express that. This allegation smacks of jealousy. He was also accused by Aribisala of imposing his daughter as the Iyaloja of Lagos. Market women and men are very vibrant and organised set of people. I am not sure that you can impose a leader on that kind of group without a fight. I am not aware that the market men and women registered any protest on the emergence of the new Iyaloja.

Asiwaju’s detractors would wish they had the kind of ardent followership that God has given him the grace to enjoy. Those who understand what leadership means know that the major task of a leader is to set direction for his team and convince them to buy into it. Obviously, reaching a consensus on candidature for election may not be possible at all times but the majority view will always prevail. What political opponents of Asiwaju call imposition is actually consensus building which is an acceptable mechanism for decision-making.

On the emergence of his wife as a Senator, when has it become a sin for the spouse of a successful man to also become a success in the same vocation? The question should be whether or not Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu has the credentials to become a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The people of her senatorial district have already answered that question with their votes. I think Aribisala should go and read the stories of family political dynasties to understand that there is nothing essentially negative about this.

The Clinton, Bush, Kennedy, Cuomo, Rockefeller, Roosevelt, Daley, Adams, and Harrison families in the United States of America, Aquino family in Philippines, and the Gandhi family in India are relevant examples here. In contemporary times, the Bush family has produced two Presidents and two State Governors. Mrs. Hillary Clinton may well be on her way to becoming America’s first female president. Here in Nigeria, President Shagari’s son is the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State. The current Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives had an elder brother who was also a Federal legislator. Dimeji Bankole, the son of a former chairman of defunct ANPP and later frontline member of the PDP, Chief Alani Bankole, was a Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives. The late Senator Olusola Saraki’s off-springs – Bukola and Gbemisola – also held public offices as Governor and Senator. Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello served as a Senator while her father was President. In Yobe State today we have the former governor of that state  His Excellency Bukar Abba Ibrahim representing the people of his senatorial district in the Senate while is wife is also a member of the House of Representatives. The wife of the former governor of Niger state, His Excellency Abdulkadir Kure, is today one of the three senators representing Niger state. Going back in time, late Chief Oluwole Awolowo was a member of Lagos State House of Assembly in the Second Republic. His sister, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu was a gubernatorial aspirant of the  SDP in the short-lived Third Republic. Both are children of the revered Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

I do not think it is a sin to aspire to public office just because a relation has made a success of public office. Perhaps, we should be asking successful men and women in business and politics why their off-springs do not follow in their foot-steps. It could be a case of leadership failure at the home front. Like a Harvard Review article puts it, ‘democracy does not eliminate political dynasties; even the most enfranchised nations in the world have them. Voters tend to give political scions one free election before evaluating them on their own merits.’

On corruption, Aribisala questioned the anti-corruption posture of Buhari and Tinubu. According to him, General Buhari built a palatial guest house in Daura as a Head of State. If this is all he can come up with against Buhari, then, Aribisala deserves pity. If after a meritorious military career during which he was Petroleum Minister, military governor, and then, Military Head of State, not to talk of various command positions, all that Buhari can be accused of is building a palatial guest house in Daura and not series of choice properties in Abuja, Lagos, New York, Dubai, Paris, or London, then General Buhari should be hailed as Mr. Clean. The fact on ground suggests that General Buhari is the most exemplary Head of State (military or civilian) that Nigeria has had. As to the alleged discharge and acquittal of Tinubu on technical grounds by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, I hope Aribisala is not suggesting that the Code of Conduct Tribunal was compromised. Whatever corruption allegations anyone has against Tinubu should be proven in a law court and not on the pages of newspapers. It does appear that Aribisala does not believe in the rule of law as he would want us to believe. He would rather that people be sent to jail on mere allegations of operating foreign bank accounts. Interestingly,even he could not conjure up any allegation of corruption against Tinubu in his article.

Aribisala was also uncomfortable with the decision of APC to allow defecting members of the PDP to join the party. This is gibberish. People like Aribisala were the ones who accused the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo of being a political puritan who did not relate with some politicians that could have helped his political cause because they were not ‘clean’. Does anyone need to be reminded that this same the late Chief Awolowo predicted some decades ago that a time of political alignment and realignment was coming in Nigeria? Why should a political party be afraid of allowing people to willingly join it? What is important is for the party to have a clear code of eth-ics which will guide the conduct and behaviour of members.

Perhaps, what gave Mr. Aribisala away as engaging in political jobbery is his decision to join the PDP in painting the APC as a Muslim party. He concluded that the APC is a Muslim party just because some members of its Interim executive committee bear Muslim names. He conveniently listed all those he considered to be Muslim and left out those who are not. Let us for the purpose of argument conceded without admitting  that majority of the interim officers of the party are Muslims, how does that make the party a Muslim party? Is there a written or unwritten code that precludes non-Muslims from occupying leadership positions in the party? Does the fact that the majority of delegates at the on-going National Conference  are Christians make it a ‘Christian’ conference? Has the APC declared any ideology or principle in its manifesto that gives the impression that the party is pro-Islam and anti-Christian? Indeed, it is people like Aribisala that should be accused of religious bigotry and ethnic chauvinism by reading religion and ethnicity into every issue. Are Kayode Fayemi, Rochas Okorocha, Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomole, George Akume, Tom Ikimi, etc Muslims? Even some of the recognisable leaders of the party who are Muslims have proved to be religiously moderate and tolerant Nigerians who are married to Christian spouses and have allowed them free rein to practice their faith. In Lagos, Asiwaju Tinubu as governor returned Christian Mission schools to the various Christian denomination owners. The same man instituted an Annual Thanksgiving Service every January with a well-known Christian clergy presiding. That tradition subsists till today under another Muslim Governor without the Muslims in Lagos complaining! People like Aribisala should recognise and promote this in their writings.

In Osun State, the governor, a Muslim, practically bank-rolled the funeral expenses of a foremost Christian evangelist. In addition, he donated a princely sum of money to a Christian denomination that held their annual convention in Osogbo last year. As if by some divine arrangement, all the Southwest governors of APC with the exception of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola are married to practicing Christians.In all the APC – controlled states, no one, including Aribisala has heard of any form of discrimination against any religious or ethnic grouping. APC does not and will not elevate any religion above others. The party is not built on any religious philosophy but on the principles of fairness, equity, and justice for all. No attempt to give it religious coloration by any one or group will succeed.

For once, I agree with President Goodluck Jonathan that announcing his rerun intention would appear quite insensate and out of place now. He has been consistent in declaring that he would neither confirm speculations that he would be submitting himself to the electoral process again, nor deny same. He said doing so would amount to a distraction.

I agree that, in view of growing inequity in the system, welling anger in the hearts of Nigerians and failure to live up to the constitutional demand on every administration to focus on the welfare and security of the people, it would amount to gross insensitivity. I believe that the country has gone past the debate over his eligibility to seek another term, whether it is indeed second or third. Every citizen has the inalienable right to seek the votes of the electorate, provided he satisfies the minimum conditions stipulated in the grundnorm.

My concern here is that, while the President, if really he wants to contest is well advised to keep the intention to himself for now, were he minded to stay away from the fray, there is no better time to make that declaration than now. He has said making such a statement could lead to disruption of the electoral system and social disequilibrium in the country. I believe that his withdrawal would rather calm nerves. While some professional agitators who seek to profit from his reelection would cry out, that would only last a short while. As jobbers, they would quickly locate another person believed to stand a good chance of filling the vacuum.

In any case, what does the President stand to lose? In my view, nothing. He has been in the saddle since February 2010. He is on record as proposing a single six-year term for would-be Presidents. He added that any occupant of an executive office should have made his mark in six years. This is an opportunity, really, for him to demonstrate that he means what he has been saying. There is no special reward for those reelected, anyway. A one-term President would have played his part and moved on.

A more important argument against his seeking another term is the state of the nation under him. There is no doubt that the country is in a worse shape now than when the President stepped in. At first, as Acting President, many sympathised with his predicament, not knowing whether the substantive holder of the office would return and reverse any fundamental change he could have made to the direction of national affairs. Then, when he was sworn in June 2010 as substantive president following the death of his erstwhile boss, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, he presented himself as someone who was not in a hurry to undo whatever his predecessor did or introduce anything radically different to stop people speculators who may depict him as inordinately ambitious.

But, when on assumption of office as an elected President in his own right, there was no discernible change of pattern, it became clear that the Jonathan administration could, at the end of its tenure, end up the worst in the country’s history.

It is difficult for me to join the myopic in lauding Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa, Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Olusegun Obasanjo who, collectively, sold Nigeria to darkness and replaced the hope of their compatriots with hopelessness. Till date, more than any other person, I hold Obasanjo and Babangida, responsible for the dire state of affairs in the history of Nigeria. I deliberately did not mention Abacha because he was foisted on the country by IBB. The crimes of Abacha, therefore, should be credited to IBB’s account. But, I believe that the ineptitude of the current administration far outweighs whatever we might have experienced in the past.

What, today, is the quality of living of the average Nigerians? All we have as response from the federal government is bandying statistics. By rebasing the economy, merely playing the game of figures, we are told that Nigeria has replaced South Africa as the largest economy on the African continent. What does that translate to? Has the per capita income improved? Are there more jobs now than was the situation in 1991 when the figures were last reviewed?

A renewed mandate is reward for a good job. It is inconceivable that, in the face of Boko Haram insurgency, cluelessness in handling tertiary education, unchecked corruption, especially in the oil sector and lack of capacity to arrest the rot in general economic management, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan could still be awaiting an auspicious moment to launch his ambition. There could be none this year. He should save the nation the heartache of witnessing a nerve-racking and murky campaign. He is not the man for the moment. He has a right to participate in deciding who takes over for him, but, if he is a patriot, he should perish the thought of foisting on this tottering country another term of four years of rudderless leadership.

The 2015 elections may still be a year away but in Delta State, some of the gubernatorial hopefuls are already out in the open in what is fast becoming an interesting rat race to Government House. Perhaps because the incumbent governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, would not be seeking re-election, the race towards succeeding him is quiet crowded.

Not a single one of the aspirants currently jostling for Uduaghan’s job can be described as an upstart. Right in the middle of the fray is Chief Great Ogboru who has been contesting for the post since 2003. He ran on the banner of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) against the incumbent in 2011.

“I have been robbed by these people many times in the past contests and I have vowed to take over power from the ruling PDP. The party is a cabal for corruption,” Ogboru said, while signifying his interest in the race recently.

Another veteran Delta State governorship aspirant, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi is also on the list. The former  Minister of State (Education), is said to be moving round the state consulting the leadership of the ruling PDP in furtherance of his ambition.

Gbagi, who contested the party’s governorship ticket with former governor, Chief James Ibori, and the incumbent, Dr. Emmanuel Udua-ghan, it was gathered, believes that 2015 is his turn to rule the state and had asked Deltans to judge his contributions to the development of the state as a former minister and entrepreneur.

The former Principal Secretary to the late President Musa Yar’Adua, Chief David Edevbie, is also reported to be interested in ruling the oil-rich state come 2015. He is said to be enjoying the support of a strong clique within the ruling party.

Recently, a PDP pressure group, Delta Grassroots Mobilisation Forum (DGMF)  called on Edevbie to join the 2015 governorship race of Delta. The group made the call at a meeting held at the premises of its protem chairman, Francis Onobruchere in Ughelli.

Onobruchere said the decision to call on Chief David Edevbie to join the race arose from evaluation of his past records in public service. According to him, Chief Edevbie stands out among other Urhobo sons and based on his pedigree, the group chose to call on him to join the Delta 2015 guber race.

Also, two-time presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi, has reportedly bowed to pressure and agreed to contest as governor of his home state, Delta, in 2015. Sources say Utomi would most likely run on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Should he truly participate in the guber election, Utomi would be following in the footsteps of Owelle Rochas Okorocha, who in 2011successfully sought to rule Imo State after failed attempts at the country’s presidency. Utomi’s candidacy is being promoted by his Anioma kinsfolk who believe that he has bright chances of victory.

Utomi, 56, is formerly Special Assistant to President Shehu Shagari during the Second Republic and is presently a Director of the famous Lagos Business School

Dr. Judith Ngozi Olejeme, chairman of the National Social Insurance Trust Fund and a member of SURE-P, is now frontline aspirant in the race to succeed Uduaghan.

The PDP chieftain is said to be very serious with her ambition knowing full well that no woman has governed Delta State since it was created in August 1991. She reportedly has the support of the Asagba of Asaba, Prof Chike Edozien, as she is a native of Asaba.

She contested in 2007 and failed but has refused to give up. Though not too known in the state, she might pull a surprise because of her closeness to the presidency. There are already talks that she has the backing of the First Lady in her quest to become governor.

Top on the list of her supporters back home are the new Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Peter Onwusanya; chairman, ULO Construction Company, Chief Uche Okpuno; former commissioner for women affairs, Chief Theodora Giwa-Amu, Chief Edwin Uzor and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oshimili South Local Government Area.

“Oshimili South PDP will never support anyone else. Olejeme is our daughter. She has all it takes to be governor of Delta State. She will transform Delta State. Her ambition is our project. We will never disappoint her because she is a listening leader who has the interest of the people at heart,” chairman of PDP in Oshimili South Local Government Area, Evangelist Ebielim Muaduemezie, recently said.

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, representing Delta North at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, is another experienced political heavy weight in the race to govern Delta State.

Well known in the state, particularly in Delta North, his senatorial district, Senator Okowa is known and envied for his political prowess, sagacity and the large followership which he commands. He is a grassroots politician to the core as he is known in virtually all the local governments in the state.

Okowa contested the 2007 Delta State governorship election but lost to the incumbent governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, in the primaries. Although he has not officially announced his ambition to the public,  there is a strong indication that he is oiling his political machinery to once again vie for the governorship.

Also aspiring for the governorship is the former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei, who hails from Onicha-Olona, in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. He is currently serving his third tenure as the member representing Aniocha North in the State Assembly.

His elevation to the office of the speaker at the beginning of the 5th State Assembly in June, 2011 no doubt boosted his political career and made him one of the political heavy weights in the state. He has been working round the clock to make sure he becomes governor in 2015. His supporters believe that he has all it takes to move Delta State forward, hence he should be given the chance in 2015.

But losing the speakership position some few weeks back really dealt a big blow on his governorship dream although his aides say he is undeterred by the development. “He has been Speaker. he is not thinking of Speakership. He wants to be governor and that is what matters,” one of his aides said recently.

Other renowned Deltans who may be seeking to succeed Uduaghan include Chief Godswill Obielum, a retired police officer  who is from Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency; Professor Sylvester Monye, from Onicha-Ugbo, Aniocha North local government area and Hon. Ned Nwoko, a former lawmaker who represented Aniocha/Oshimili in the House of Representatives.

Others are Chief Peter Okocha, billionaire businessman, who once contested for Delta governorship election against Dr. Uduaghan on the platform of the Action Congress (AC) and Festus Keyamo lawyer and activist who has made his mark as a social crusader and rights activist, amongst others.

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State will not be eligible to seek re-election during the next gubernatorial election in the state. And as his current and last term comes to an end, the quest to replace him amongst politicians is already at its peak with not less than twenty aspirants jostling to occupy the Alausa Governor’s Office in 2015.

While the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its chieftains are determined to retain their hold on the administration of the state, leaders of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have declared a readiness to ensure that they produce Fashola’s successor.

The consequence of the political face-off is a situation where both parties now have numerous aspirants gunning for the position. Across the length and breadth of the state, the mobilisation efforts of some of the aspirants are already being felt with politicians splitting into camps and caucuses to support and propagate the aspiration of their preferred candidates.

Within the ruling APC, prominent amongst the names being bandied around as likely aspirants for the governor’s job, according to party sources, are current Senator representing Lagos West at the Senate, Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, the Legal Adviser of APC, Dr. Muiz Banire, the Senator representing Lagos East, Gbenga Ashafa, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the Commissioner for Works, Dr. Obafemi Kadiri Hamzat, a retired senior civil servant, Akin Ambode, Commissioner for Agriculture and Co-operatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal and former Commissioner for Education, Mr Leke Pitan.

Party sources also hinted that a number of young turks, some politicians, others holding prominent public positions, are also being lobbied by their constituents and other stakeholders to join the governorship race. Amongst such younger politicians with bias for the APC are Jimi Benson and Hon. Abike Dabiri, both from Ikorodu.

Most of the named aspirants hail from the Lagos East senatorial district of the state. This development, The Nation gathered, may not be unconnected with fast growing indication that the party may have resolved to zone its 2015 governorship ticket to the Eastern senatorial district.

After a brainstorming stakeholders’ meeting held by the APC on April 16th, 2014, the party announced that it has zoned the 2015 gubernatorial ticket to Lagos East Senatorial District. The decision may have ended speculations as which of the three zones would produce Governor Babatunde Fashola’s successor, although there are still pockets of opposition to the decision amongst aspirants from the two other districts.

The Lagos East senatorial district includes Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikorodu, Kosofe and Somolu Local Government Areas. Of the five, party sources claim Epe and Ikorodu are specific favourite of the leadership of the party based on certain permutations and considerations. Perhaps as a result of these favourite status majority of those jostling for the job are from either Ikorodu or Epe areas of the state.

“Lagos APC notes that there is a rich list of competent, well qualified and worthy aspirants from Lagos East senatorial constituency, who have indicated interest in contesting for the governorship of Lagos. We note that these rich assembly of devoted party men have worked for the interest and progress of the party in Lagos and at the national level and the party owes them a free and transparent process through which one of them will emerge as the party’s flag bearer in Lagos,” spokesperson of the party, Joe Igbokwe, said while confirming the zoning arrangement.

Announcing his interest in the race recently while opening his campaign secretariat in the Ikeja area of the state, Senator Ganiu Solomon said his aspiration to become governor of Lagos State was long-standing. “It is not new. I was in the race in 2006. Nobody prompted me to seek the governorship ticket of our great party, All Progressives Congress (APC). I have passion for it.”

He told his supporters that APC is a party of democrats where internal democracy prevails. According to him, the position of the party is that candidates for elective offices shall emerge through primaries. He made reference to Anambra State where the party’s governorship candidate for the last year’s gubernatorial election was decided through direct primaries.

“Even in Ekiti and Osun where there are sole candidacy of Governors Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola , they still went through primaries, “he said.

The APC, he said, had done primaries in three states. There will be primaries in all states including Lagos State. What applies to governorship ticket will apply to other elective offices. Party members would pick candidates of their choice.

“This time around, members would pick their candidates, they would exercise their rights, internal democracy would be at work. That is what APC stands for. This is our time. If we deny ourselves the opportunity, we shall have ourselves to be blamed.”

Same week, news spilled into town that Senator Gbenga Ashafa was set to declare his ambition.

The Senator who represents Lagos East Senatorial District in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, though severally touted as being one of the alleged preffered aspirants to the coveted seat, has always denied that he had such ambition.

However, party sources insist the Senator has been consulting and moving round homes of prominent politicians in the state in recent time and has concluded to officially declare his ambition.

“The venue and time for the public declaration is what we can not say for now. But sooner than you expect, he will declare his ambition,” a party chieftain and prominent supporter of the Senator in Ikorodu said.

For Akin Ambode, the issue is not much about a formal declaration of his intention to run for the position, rather it is much more about moving round and getting the endorsement of the stakeholders before anything else.

Though not much was known about the immediate past Accountant General of the state before his aspiration became public, today, largely on the strength of the underground mobilisation embarked upon by his team, Ambode has become one of the leading aspirants in the race.

“Ambode is in the race. He wants to be governor and we are supporting him. He is working hard towards the ambition and at the appropriate time, we will have a formal declaration exercise. That is mere formality because we are already on the streets of Lagos reaching out to the people,” Hon. Ladi Eyitemi, co-ordinator of Team Ambode in Ikorodu north area of the state, said.

For Pitan, a former Lagos Commissioner for Health, the governorship race officially started when he declared last week his intention to run for the state governor’s seat in 2015. He made the declaration at a media interaction in Lagos where he expressed confidence in the ability of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), to win all elective positions in the state during the next general elections.

The Agbowa-born politician, who was commissioner during the eight-year administration of former Governor Bola Tinubu, said he joined the race because his party would need a candidate Lagosians are familiar with and could trust for the party to emerge victorious in 2015 elections.

“My coming into the race is not about personal ambition, but to keep the tempo of providing social services for the people, the foundation of which some of us worked with Asiwaju Tinubu to lay in 1999 and which the incumbent Governor Babatunde Fashola has creditably built on,” he stressed.

According to Pitan, the leadership of his party is conscious of the fact that it must present to the people an acceptable candidate, particularly somebody like him they have had an encounter with in the past through some of the people-oriented programmes he implemented while in office.

Within the opposition PDP, the battle for the governorship ticket cannot be said to be less fierce. Checks by The Nation revealed that no fewer than ten aspirants had shown interest to contest for primaries. Leading the pack are Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and Babatunde Gbadamosi, an Ikorodu-born businessman.

Others include the party’s candidate during the 2011 governorship election, Dr. Ade Dosunmu, Chief (Mrs) Adiukwu Bakare, an aide to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief (Mrs) Modupe Sasore and the State Coordinator of SURE-P, Chief Bode Oyedele, as well as former aspirant, Chief Owolabi Salis.

When contacted, the Publicity Secretary of Lagos PDP, Mr. Taofik Gani, said he was aware that eight persons had shown interest.

Gani said, ‘’We have decided not to make official pronouncements regarding their identities. They can go ahead to do that on their own.  It is part of our strategy not to release their names now because once bitten, twice shy.  The people of Lagos State will be happy about our eventual candidate for the election.  We have a template that will not accommodate a mediocre.’’

Away from the two leading political parties in the state, there are talks that Chief Jimi Agbaje, former gubernatorial candidate in the 2007 election and respected businessman, is in the race. While some of his aides say he is warming up to join the 2015 contest, he is yet to formally declare his ambition and the platform he will run on is still unknown.

As part of efforts to oil the machinery of his 2015 gubernatorial bid, Senator Enyinnaya  Abaribe has begun a consultation circus with key stakeholders in Abia State with a premier at Ohafia, headquarters of the Abia North Senatorial District and a second one at Umuahia for the Abia Central.

The consultation circus is expected to run through the three senatorial zones of the state before narrowing down to the local councils, wards and organisations and it is Abaribe’s way of openly throwing his hat into the ring.

Speaking at the two forums, Abaribe who represents Abia South in the Senate and functions as the chairman of Senate Committee on Media and Publicity said beyond  power  coming to the Ukwa Ngwa of Abia South, the state must consider the candidate’s training, experience and exposure in matters of governance as Abia cannot afford the drawback of handing over power to a neophyte who would spend the first four years learning the robes.

Abaribe took the audience through a   historic excursion on how he joined politics after a brilliant career that saw him at various times as a university don, businessman, corporate executive and politician,  adding that he is the most qualified contender for the exalted post to date. “I have  been well honed by time and experience,” he said.

Abaribe   further told the audience that his vision is to help Abia State create wealth with the ingenuity of the people and not to rely on the federal allocation and therefore called on the people to consider his past experience in the governance of the state and his current exposure at the national level in their decision to support him in his quest to be the next governor of Abia State come 2015. “I am presenting myself to you as the most qualified candidate. A governor must be an all-rounded person,” he said.

While also presenting his scorecard and profile to the leaders of the PDP in the two zones, Abaribe further declared that having served as a deputy governor, chairman of a federal board and as a Senator, he has become more seasoned,   accommodating and more mature and now see Nigeria as bigger than Abia State. “You have a friend in me and I hold you highly in the decision to make the next governor of our state,” he told the  party leaders.

He used the two ocassion   to debunk the rumour that he is not in good terms with the governor and described Governor Theodore Orji as a friend with whom he enjoys a cordial relationship. He disclosed that it was the governor that paid him the arrears of his entitlements which was withheld by  the former governor, Orji Kalu. He  also recalled how Governor T. A. Orji brought peace to Abia State by bringing all the political gladiators in the state together and  described the governor as a man who has laid the foundation for the state with his legacy projects.

Abaribe  lauded the governor for shunning sycophants and upholding the law of natural justice by insisting that equity must be done by  power  shifting to the  Ukwa Ngwa.