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By Lukman Olabiyi
Less than 72 hours before the governorship and House of Assembly elections on March 11, all eyes are already on Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to redeem the image of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
This is after the APC’s defeat by the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 presidential election in Lagos State, which was the first time the APC would lose an important election in the state since the return to democracy in 1999.
LP didn’t only win the presidential election in the state, it also won some House of Representatives seats in the state.
For many analysts, the only way Sanwo-Olu can redeem the image of the APC is to win the governorship poll convincingly.
This, they note, would even out the humiliating defeat the party suffered in Lagos, believed to be its stronghold, during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
As the March 18 round of elections approaches, the APC and Sanwo-Olu have been working round the clock to change the narrative in the gubernatorial and the State House of Assembly elections.
Although supporters of Sanwo-Olu see him as an outstanding performer and achiever as far as his first term in office is concerned, the last poll in the state has put him and his lieutenants on their toes.
Daily Sun gathered that Sanwo-Olu and his aides had held series of meetings with different stakeholders and groups, residents’ associations, and communities since the last polls to seek their support for his re-election.
It was also gathered that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu has shifted his focus to Lagos to ensure that his protégé, Sanwo-Olu is re-elected.
Sanwo-Olu’s hurdle
Before the February 25 polls, Sanwo-Olu had banked on his performance in office and his experience, as a sure ticket to winning a second term over his two major challengers, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor), of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the LP.
Some of the stakeholders in the state in their different analyses agreed that Sanwo-Olu deserves a second term in office based on his scorecard.
Many of them emphasised that Sanwo-Olu had brought critical developments to the state, therefore, he deserved to be elected for a second term, based on how he was able to harness human and capital resources to serve the people.
From records and the scorecard being brandished by Sanwo-Olu’s supporters, the governor’s leadership has repositioned the state as one that is worth emulating as a leading light in economic growth, infrastructural development, and financial prosperity.
The state has, over the years, witnessed the birth of various highly commendable projects and initiatives.
These includes the construction of over 308 roads, the repositioning of the health sector through the building of more health centres at the grassroots, and a free health policy for children below 18 years and adults above 65 years of age.
Other projects include rehabilitation of inner-city roads in 57 local council development areas, as well as local governments, and commissioning of BRT lane in Oshodi-Abule Egba; construction of Lagos-Ogun boundary roads, Lekki-Oniru traffic circulation projects, Pen Cinema Flyover, and road networks in Somolu, Ikoyi, and Victoria Island. There is also the Lekki-VGC regional road and Lekki-Epe-Ibeju road expansion projects.
Lagosians would also not forget in a hurry the governor’s gallant performance in combating and effective management of COVID-19 outbreak in the state among others.
Sanwo-Olu had held different positions in government from the days of the President elect, Tinubu as governor of Lagos State.
But all these achievements amounted to nothing to those who are also agitating for a change of leadership in the state.
PDP /Jandor challenge
Jandor believes that the ‘achievements’ peddled by Sanwo-Olu’s supporters are not enough to grant him a second term.
Adediran, who argues that the APC government in the state has failed the people, has promised to turn the state around if elected.
Jandor vowed that he would free the state from servitude, empower the residents by running a masses-oriented government; provide qualitative free education, and job creation; and create equal opportunities for all.
He noted that his administration would set up empowerment schemes across the senatorial zones in the state to tackle poverty and unemployment.
Adediran also promises a Lagos that works for all and free from discrimination and harassment of non-indigenes, especially across markets in the state.
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour
Rhodes-Vivour, the LP candidate prides himself as the architect of a new Lagos.
He has mapped programmes and plans to inject a fresh air into what he called toxic environment, where enslavement through money politics has reigned for decades.
Some of his cardinal plans for Lagos are in the areas of health, education, housing, and transport among others.
He promised to put an end to what he called the perennial culture of using the state’s funds to service a particular family at the expense of millions of Lagos citizens.
He equally has plans to incentivise businesses in Lagos to increase employment and job creation.
This, he said, was to address what currently obtains in Lagos where residents are overtaxed leading to so many businesses folding up.
Rallying support of communities for Sanwo-Olu and APC are intensifying through outreach to communities in the state as residents’ associations and communities canvass support for Sanwo-Olu’s second term.
Recently in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, where APC lost both the presidential and House of Assembly seat to LP, 62 communities and their community leaders appealed to residents to support Sanwo-Olu’s re-election bid.
Chairman of the Baales in the local government area, Wasiu Alli-Balogun, who spoke at a press briefing in Ikota Primary School, Lagos appealed to those aggrieved by the outcome of the February polls to forget the past and focus on the future.
He said, “Governor Sanwo-Olu means peace. He wants progress for Eti-Osa and Lagos as a whole. We need to support him and give him votes so that he can complete the work he has started.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has also pledged their support toward the re-election of Sanwo-Olu.
The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos State said Igbo people in the state will gladly vote for Sanwo-Olu on March 18 because he represents everything Ndigbo need to prosper and execute their businesses and professional calling.
President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos State, Chief Sunday Ossai, distanced the group from the statement credited to one Okechukwu Isiguzoro, calling on Sanwo-Olu to resign.
He stated that Isiguzoro who claimed to be the National Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is unknown to them and is not speaking the mind of Igbo in the state.
“As the President of the Lagos State Ohanaeze, I am the mouthpiece of Ndigbo in Lagos and I hereby debunk the so-called Ohanaeze Ndigbo asking Governor Sanwo-Olu to resign,” Ossai said.
On his part, President of Yoruba Council Worldwide, Aare Oba Oladotun Hassan appealed to all Igbo in the state to disregard unfounded allegations against the governor, which he said are meant to arouse people’s emotional sensibility and political ideology.
He said: “I appeal to all our wonderful Igbo people in Lagos State, to please ensure and reach out to their beloved brothers and lovely sisters and let them know and confirm to them that all those spurious allegations were nothing but satanic intrigues and orchestrated lies from a pit of hell, and that it is just a premeditated antics in futility at casting aspersions against our dear governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.”
Meanwhile, the Igbo in the state from various communities and political groups, including Ndigbo in APC Lagos State from the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the state have pledged to ensure the victory of Sanwo-Olu’s and the party at the polls.
Again, some of the APC gladiators, like former governor of Osun State and current Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who is in charge of Alimosoho Local Government, who fell out with party before the election has returned to the party’s fold to recover the area from the opposition’s grip.
Meanwhile, many political parties like Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM); National Rescue Movement (NRM); Young Progressives Party (YPP); New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP); Zenith Labour Party (ZLP); Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) had also collapsed their party structures for APC and all its candidates including Governor Sanwo-Olu for the forthcoming poll.
All the 10 political parties have pledged to work for Sanwo-Olu’s re-election bid after endorsing him.
The parties also directed all its members across the state to work and mobilize for APC at the forthcoming poll.
