As the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State draws near, observers of the politics of the Lagoon state are daily declaring incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwoolu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the man to beat in the contest. Assistant Editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan, examines the gubernatorial contest and explains why Sanwoolu looks good to brace the tape of victory.
SINCE the race for the 2023 governorship contest in Lagos commenced with the parties’ gubernatorial primary elections earlier in the year, the debates have all been about the chances of incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, to secure another term of four years in office. While supporters of the Governor are sure that he has done enough to earn the support of Lagosians on Election Day, critics of his administration insist he will be defeated at the polls.
The gubernatorial election in the state will take place on 11 March 2023, according to the electoral calendar of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Same day and time, elections into the Lagos State House of Assembly will also be held. The election will be held two weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections. The electoral body recently released its final list of candidates of the various political parties that will be slugging it out at the poll.
According to the list, which is still being challenged in Court by some political parties and guber aspirants; fifteen political parties have candidates for the governorship election in Lagos next March. These include the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the Accord Party (A), the African Action Congress (AAC), the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the African Democratic Party (ADP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
Also cleared by the electoral body to field candidates in the gubernatorial contest next year alongside others are the Labour Party (LP), the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the National Rescue Movement (NRM), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as well as the Young Progressive Party (YPP). Other political parties with flag-bearers in the race are the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), the Action Peoples’ Party (APP), and the Boot Party (BP).
However, pundits are of the opinion that the next governorship race in the state is more likely to be a three-horse race among the APC, PDP and the LP. Unlike in the past when it was always a race between the ruling APC and the leading opposition party, the PDP, the Labour Party is putting up a strong showing as the contest progresses. Many analysts have put this down to the alleged influence of the party’s presidential candidate among the youths.
The governorship candidate of the LP, Gbadebo Vivour-Rhodes, has flagged-off his campaign last week at Ijegun area of the state in the Alimosho Local Government Area. He vowed that his party will win the election as he was ready to tackle the infrastructure deficit in the state. Vivour-Rhodes and his supporters say they want to take over the administration of Lagos from the ruling party in 2023 to show Nigerians Lagos can still work better.
Similarly, PDP’s governorship candidate, Olajide Adediran, popularly called Jandor also kicked off his campaign last Thursday. He expressed confidence to take over the rein of power from the incumbent, Governor Sanwo-Olu in 2023. “For things to really work in Lagos, we need a truly independent helmsman,” Jandor stated. For both the PDP and LP candidates as well as their supporters, Sanwoolu and the APC must be stopped from being elected at all cost.
Confident in cumbent
But in spite of the stiff oppositions from the PDP and the LP, the ruling APC looks confident ahead of the next general elections. According to the state chairman of the party, Hon. Ojelabi, neither the PDP nor the LP has what it takes to challenge the ruling party in Lagos state. “The APC is the party to beat as usual and these other parties are just trying as they do not have what it takes to defeat us. Sanwoolu’s performance in Lagos will make it easy for APC in the elections.
The incumbent governor started the campaign for his second term in office recently and also reiterated the confidence of his party. He began the campaign at the closing of the ninth edition of the Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit. Exuding a lot of confidence, the governor said he was the best among the governorship candidates in the state, based on his administration’s track record since 2019. He said the APC remains the darling party of the people of Lagos state.
The governor was optimistic that Lagos State residents will re-elect him. “Today is the day that INEC officially flagged off campaigns for governorship and House of Assembly elections. There is no better time for me to do my official flag-off than at an economic summit like this, where we are talking about our city, our people, and Greater Lagos. What we are talking about is real; people can feel and they can see it. Some people can come here to claim anything.
“They don’t even know what governance is all about. We have done a lot and people can feel it. People know this is a government that works for them. It is not about us; it is really to create that enabling environment for them (the citizens) to do well. Lagos State has witnessed prosperity in the last three and half years even in the COVID environment and that is the trajectory in which we want to continue. Lagosians will truly understand what we are talking about,” he said.
On another occasion, the governor added that he would be re-elected because he is more experienced than the other contestants. He said “I managed the emergency of the city. Today alone, there are emergencies that have been reported today alone. I’ve recruited over 650 fire service men. I’ve bought 64 brand new trucks. I spent over a billion to take off the refuse in Lagos. We’re creating a sanitary landfill site. That’s what we’re doing. We’re building 1618 kilometres of rigid pavement road that runs to tens of billions.” Sanwo-Olu added that Lagos cannot be left in the hands of someone who “cannot run a business that has 100 people.
“This is not a tea party. We’re talking about real governance. We’re talking about the lives of 20-plus million Nigerians. So you know, like I said if you have an emergency, who would you call? What are your chances? Do you call the man that has the experience that has gone through the trenches before that has lived with it that understands what the issues are? That appreciate what challenge you have even at 3 a.m. or will you leave your chance to someone that doesn’t know where the dial is or that doesn’t even know what the issues of governance are? This is Lagos,” he said.
Controversy
Early in the campaigns, the contest attracted controversy during the week when Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State endorsed Sanwo-Olu’s re-election. Wike spoke as the Special Guest of Honour at the 2022 Annual Conference of Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials, COWLSO, with the theme ‘Spring Forth, Stand Out,’ held at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos. “By the grace of God, you will be a second-term governor. I don’t play politics of ethnicity. Even if Sanwo-Olu is at my party but is not doing well, I wouldn’t have come. I do not regret saying I am in support of you,” Wike, a PDP governor and leader, had said.
Expectedly, the PDP chapter in Lagoswasted not time before criticizing Governor Wike for supporting the APC administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Hakeem Amode, Lagos PDP publicity secretary, said Lagosians will determine Sanwo-Olu’s “fate” in the 2023 polls. “I only wonder how Governor Wike, who didn’t support Jandor and at the same time couldn’t stop him from picking the party ticket in Lagos, despite his supposed might within the PDP, would apportion to himself the decision of generality of Lagosians in the forthcoming election.
Read Also: Wike: it’s waste of time contesting against Sanwo-Olu
“My dear Governor and leader, we promise to render Sanwo-Olu jobless and send him to the club of former Governors next year. Only God, who has seen Jandor and Lagos PDP this far, and the generality of Lagosians, can determine his fate at the polls in 2023, not your endorsement. We will continue to sell our breath of fresh air agenda to Lagosians with the promise of a better tomorrow. Lagos needs a breath of fresh air!” he said.
But the APC in Lagos described the endorsement of Sanwo-Olu by Governor Wike as a pain in the neck for PDP in the state. Publicity Secretary of the party, Seye Oladejo, in apparent reaction to earlier statement by PDP, claiming that its Governorship candidate, Dr. Olajide Adediran, popularly called Jandor will defeat incumbent Governor Sanwo-Olu in 2023 poll, said “We read with great amusement the painful reaction of the day-dreaming Lagos State PDP governorship candidate Jide Adediran aka Jandor, to the endorsement of the incumbent governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State during the opening ceremony of the annual COWLSO conference in Lagos.
“It’s unfortunate that Jandor and his co-travelers did not see the humor in his purported victory in picking the gubernatorial ticket of PDP. The hand-writing was clear on the wall about the worthlessness of the ticket from the point of view of precedence of many years and realistic political permutations. It was apparently convenient to cede the party’s ticket to a nomadic aspirant and a willing guinea pig who was blinded by his ambition. We are not surprised by your uncomplimentary remarks about Governor Wike who has undoubtedly made his mark in the annals of Nigerian politics and governance. Your position is consistent with your trademark aggression borne out of frustration and desperation.
“We commend Governor Wike’s unusual politics of acknowledging the landmark achievements of a colleague in another party and endorsing him for another term. Posterity will certainly be kind to him. The good people of Lagos State definitely prefer Governor Sanwo-Olu to build on his achievements in the second term rather than experiment with a neophyte. Lagos does not need a breath of foul air.”
More endorsements
Wike is not the only person who feels Sanwoolu deserves another shot at the Lagos government office e. The National Leader and presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, have also explained why the Lagos State governor and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, deserved to continue in office beyond 2023. The duo, he said, has built an unbreakable team to raise the bar of excellence in governance and service delivery in the state, with visible achievements and progress to show for their efforts.
Tinubu said Lagos under Sanwo-Olu’s leadership had remained a state of pride for residents and other Nigerians who crave responsive governance and progress. “We have a brilliant Governor at the helm of affairs, who is supported by his deputy to build an unbreakable team that has raised the bar of excellence in governance in Lagos. Sanwo-Olu with Hamzat has raised an impenetrable team. I commend both of you and all members of the cabinet. You have all done wonderfully well and I must say that I am very proud of you,” the presidential candidate said.
A chieftain of the APC and former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, also stated that the second term of office for the incumbent Lagos State governor is sacrosanct. According to him, the stability of Lagos State must be prioritized during the next governorship election in the state. According to him, while everyone has the constitutional right to desire any political office, beating Sanwo-Olu will be a tall order.
“What Sanwo-Olu has been able to achieve in Lagos and what he wishes to complete, it is the wish of Lagosians that he should be allowed to complete them. We don’t want disruption again. The breaking of policies and government has negatively affected Lagos State and we must avoid it at all costs. He declared that Governor Sanwo-Olu is best positioned to return as the governor of the state for a second term. He added that it will be an uphill task for any other candidate to prevail against him in any contest for the coveted seat,” he said.
To Modestus Umenzekwe, a Chieftain of the APC and member, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Sanwo-Olu more than deserves a second tenure. “I am saying it in capital letter that Sanwo-Olu deserves a second tenure. We are working seriously to vote him in. I have my vote. I have the people I am leading. We have started talking to them. We have started educating them, to make sure Sanwo-Olu goes in for a second term. Forget all the noise around, it will be difficult for any other candidate to defeat him at the polls,” he said.
Responding to a question on the alleged mass support for one of the opposition parties by Igbos in the state, Umenzekwe said “one thing is that Igbo are good people. They are enterprising, they are good listeners. If they support you, you can be sure of their support, if they believe in you, they believe in you. They are travelers, wherever they settle they help in developing that place. So I cannot imagine any Igbo man in Lagos not supporting Sanwo-Olu, or not voting APC into power. I am yet to see an Igbo man that will do that because we have no problem with Lagosians.”
“So my advice to Ndigbo in Lagos is to maintain the lane, making sure that Sanwo-Olu’s administration continues. What we obtain in Lagos we may not obtain it in other states, so my advice, let them maintain the lane. Myself, I am maintaining the lane, people behind me are maintaining the lane. There should be no mistakes. If there is anywhere that is giving them problem, then we approach the government for a roundtable because everything must not be perfect but my advice is let us maintain the lane, let us continue with APC. Let us continue with the incumbent governor of Lagos State.”