It is faulty to equate the deep loyalty Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
attracts in Lagos as exemplary of ‘Omoluabi loyalty’ or being reflective
of the entire Yoruba or South-West populace. Ondo State electorate will
argue for example that they "liberated" themselves without compromising
the 'Omoluabi' ethos.
In the 2012 Ondo State Governorship election
the current Governor of Ondo State Rotimi Akeredolu as a candidate of
the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was perceived as a “Tinubu
imposed” candidate, he ran against the then incumbent Governor Olusegun
Mimiko of the Labor Party, the people of Ondo rejected Akeredolu.
I
recall stomping across Ondo during that election, excited crowds in Ondo
State could not but approve with songs and folk songs as Mimiko invoked
the tradition of the people of Ondo State not to take imposition from
“outsiders’.
Then most nook and crannies in Ondo State the campaign
was more about resisting Tinubu than on Mimiko’s performance. Mimiko did
not have to say much about his performance during his first term in
office, it was almost above his peers, particularly in education and
health care, is Abiye healthcare project was celebrated even by his
opponents.
In 2016 when Akeredolu was to run again, ironically
against a candidate handpicked by Olusegun Mimiko, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede
(SAN), he presented himself as an independent candidate, his own man,
not only did he defeat Tinubu’s anointed candidate in the APC primaries,
he canvassed for votes also reminding the people of Ondo State of how
they should not let outsiders chose for the people of Ondo. Akeredolu
won against the candidate of the PDP and today the rest is history. A
number of other factors contributed to the victories in the 2012 and
2016 election of Mimiko and Akeredolu.
AMBODE AS AMBODE’S ACHILLES HEEL.
A
lot has been written about current Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi
Ambode, the irony is Ambode’s problem isn't his Godfather, former
Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Akinwunmi Ambode’s problem is Akinwunmi
Ambode.
Power overwhelmed the Governor, he completely detached
himself from the strong political party structure, a party that has been
in power in Lagos since 1999 is not the kind of party you would ride on
and ignore, you may ignore the man who brought you from obscurity, but
to survive, you need to be an exceptional performer and keep your party
structure happy. Ambode did not read the hand over notes of Governor
Babatunde Fashola, if he had, he would not be facing the political
battle of his life, the people stood with Fashola even when the body
language of his godfather was hostile, even the mighty Tinubu knew
moving against Fashola would have been political suicide.
MAFIOSO NATURE OF THE APC IN LAGOS
The
Lagos APC power structure is filled with contradictions, sometimes
progressive, sometimes self-serving, mostly operating like a bunch of
mafias, highly close nit, those who control the party at every level
expect absolute loyalty and no questions asked, it reflects most
political parties in Nigeria, even newly formed political parties are
mirroring the model, they have improved on it, 6 of the newly INEC
registered political parties have founders, who are party Chairmen/Women
and also sole Presidential Candidate.
Lagos civil service is an
extension of the party structure, if you come in as a governor, you are
not expected to rock the boat or ‘change the template’ (apologies to
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu) it is a structure mostly servicing the few against
the majority. Hardly would you find a Lagos State civil servant that is
not a card-carrying member of the APC. Particularly the Alausa based
civil servants, what happens in Alausa always remain in Alausa.
Lagos
APC has political leaders who depend on state resources, they have no
other means of livelihood than politics, they know Lagos like the back
of their hand and have foot soldiers beholding on them, from NURTW
members, to genuine party members who desire progressive change to just
anyone that can be a yes man or woman, mostly reliant on on a rental
system, they cannot just be cut off and be neglected by any Governor no
matter how powerful or resourceful.
Ambode broke the first commandment, “thou shall not be unreachable”.
Yoruba
and especially Lagosian’ s do not like Governors or political
appointees who are perceived as ‘arrogant’ or cannot be reached, if you
like tar the whole of Lagos roads with gold, they want to be able to
‘visit’ and expect TP on the way home, party leaders and members expect
you to attend meetings at intervals, they don’t want you forgetting them
during ‘Ileya’ ‘Christmas’ or any festive period, the street talk is
that Ambode was not only unreachable to party members and leaders, he
lived in his own world, his appointees are also detached, party members
can’t even remember the name of commissioners in Ambode’s cabinet. Gone
are the days when Rauf Aregbesola, Musiliu Obanikoro, Muiz Banire,
Tokunbo Afikuyomi and co were Commissioners and you need not see the
Governor to have a say in the government. Ambode ran a one man show.
For
every progress Ambode made with road construction in inner city Lagos
and futuristic projects such as the Lagos-Airport road, Bus Terminals,
he undid with unpopular policies that targeted the very poor, it was as
if he was in a race to undo some of Tinubu and Fashola’s projects, they
say if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Ambode was busy fixing projects
that didn’t need fixing, from bus stops, to remodelling roads, it was a
waste of time and resources. BRT buses were disappearing one after the
other due to neglect, even Ambode’s newly constructed roads started
developing potholes, the solutions became a problem. He did so well
looking into inner city roads and improving on the Lagos Security
Architecture, Lagos under him is one of the safest city by Nigerian
standards.
Ambode’s greatest sin was taking away the garbage
clearing project, thousands of poor people in Lagos, mostly party
members employed as street cleaners and operators lost their means of
livelihood. Ambode handed the task of cleaning Lagos over to a
relatively unknown company called Visionscape Group, they did a terrible
job, the only clean effort from Visionscape was to create a clean
looking website, the new face of Lagos became the dirty face of Lagos.
Ambode
unleashed one punitive tax system after the other on the people of
Lagos, his most controversial being the land use tax, when he was
advised to review the tax policy he was stubborn, indifferent and
ruthless until the protest grew louder, he did not stop at that, he
legislated his God fathers alleged tax collection firm company Alpha
Betta as the sole collector, when citizens screamed scam, the state
legislator claimed that legislating Alpha Betta into a state tax
collection system was an “administrative mistake.”
Of all his
attempt to fix inner city roads, Ambode waged war on poor people in
waterfront areas, the people of Otogbgbame paid dearly for Ambode’s land
grab schemes, over 200 structures belonging to poor people were razed
down in 2016, the Egun and settler community around Lekki were seen by
the government and elitist friends as an eyesore, to make matters worse
the government disobeyed court orders, even when they got an injunction
from the courts, like his predecessors Ambode mocked the Freedom of
Information Act. Lagos is one of the few states where budgets are
released without a breakdown.
Ambode is a product of the ‘baba
sope’ collegiate contradiction and a victim of same. Hopefully the
Yoruba "progressive" will learn from the resistance in Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi
and the disaster of losing a Senatorial seat to a dancing clown and
almost losing Osun Governorship to him as a warning shot. The warning
being democracy is not a gift, it is a right, leaders are servants,
entrusted with superintending the fair distribution of the commonwealth,
they can’t keep distributing to their lackeys, friends, cousins, wives,
concubines, brothers at the expense of qualified members of the public.
The Tinubu Clampdown on Ambode
The assertion that Governor
Bola Ahmed Tinubu is behind Ambode’s travails are false, Tinubu would
have been swept by the revolt from within his own political base. He was
smart enough to be led by the mass, rather than lead them. The revolt
also exposes Tinubu’s vulnerability, if he had not moved against Ambode,
the mass in his party structure would have moved against him, Tinubu
barely yield power and influence, he was forced to stand with the party
and base than stand against them, even overtures from Abuja could not
have changed that. The crises within the Lagos APC against the Governor
had been allowed to fester for too long. The chicken had come home to
roost.
Many us have been saying it for years, both privately and
in public, the Asiwaju Tinubu political structure would have to adapt to
modern democratic ethos. The collegiate "baba sope" methods is plagued
with contradictions and abuse, thus repeated conflicts. It is only a
matter of time before it caves to the anger and discontent of followers
and the electorate. For all his contributions to Nigeria’s democratic
process, the legacy of Governor Tinubu will be better served if he stops
getting involved in every selection process, let contest and processes
be free and fair, Nigeria’s democratic process can only improve if
internal party democratic process is free, transparent and fair, party
membership open and attractive to the best who may disagree with the
leaders of the party. It will be a shame for all his contributions for
Governor Tinubu to leave the public with the image of the Lord of a
Mafia group.
WHO ARE THE YORUBA PROGRESSIVES?
Many are
sympathetic to the ideological left in Yoruba land, but really if you de
robe the masquerade, it is becoming very difficult to spot the
differences between the Yoruba PDP or Yoruba APC.
Land and resource
ownership and control in Yoruba land, particularly in Lagos is now for
the benefit of the few, economy of YORUBA circulates within the same
elite. Thus, a Governor Ayo Fayose could challenge the traditional
Yoruba left and “win” in Ekiti and it took the traditional left in
Yoruba land adapting the play book of Ayo Fayose to “win’ back Ekiti.
Usually it takes invoking the spirit of Obafemi Awolowo to win elections
in the South West, that is fast changing, the people can’t spot the
deference any more, they will rather take their chances with so called
‘akotiletas’ than stay with the so called ‘disciples of Awolowo’
The
class structure of modern day YORUBA politicians is modelled after the
so-called Hausa-Fulani hegemony style we all have been brought up to
detest. Check beneficiaries of government appointments both at the
federal, state and local levels in Yorubaland many are family members of
Yoruba ruling elite. A very ‘progressive’ Yoruba Senator who mouths
JUSTICE was already a pensioner in America, when the opportunity came
for the ‘progressive’ to present a name to President Buhari for NAFDAC
Chairperson, our Senator did not need to search far and wide Yoruba land
for younger qualified Yoruba, he recalled his wife, who by the way was
already a pensioner to take the position, the office of the Vice
President is littered with sons and daughters of who is who in Yoruba
land, Lagos House of Assemble like most Yoruba House of Assembly in
Yoruba land is an extension of family meetings, ‘Familitocrcy’ is
replacing fairness, New generation Yoruba leaders are winning the battle
of who is more nepotistic in the Nigerian federation. The politics of
'godfatherism' is replacing the ‘omoluabi’ ethos. ‘Omoluabi’ is just a
theme to cunningly use the load of bread to wipe the soup from the plate
of the commonwealth.
Yoruba OMOLUABI ethos should not be the
subjugation of the will of the people to the few. It is Justice for all,
equality for all who live and reside in Yoruba land, irrespective of
who they are, where they come from, what language they speak, we are
meant to be the beacon of hope, the welcoming people who rejoice at the
arrival of new settlers, the one who vacates the most beautiful part of
the household to make the guest comfortable, the tolerant one, the one
who’s strength is not in the ability to spill blood but the diplomatic
prowess of stopping a war, the people who agree, but mostly agree to
disagree. The ‘omo Karo o ji ire bi?’.
Fairness in the distribution
and allocation of Yoruba resources for all who contribute to Yoruba land
should now be the priority of Yoruba leaders, it should cross party and
ideological lines. Not all Yoruba progressive or conservatives have
done badly, even with their faults but a lot of bad has been done, yes,
we can still point to some progress, but that is due to the
determination and can-do attitude of Yoruba and all those who have
chosen Yoruba Land as home. It is never too late to stop the house from
fallen.
Kayode Ogundamisi is a commentator on Nigeria and producer/presenter of the political TV show #PolitricksWithKO on BEN-TV UK
0 Comments