By Olumide Abayomi
Just like in 2007, the smear campaign and mudslinging has begun to be tarred on Lagos irrepressible politician and grassroots mobilizer, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, over his renewed bid to run for the office of the governor of Lagos State.
Though he is yet to officially declare his intention, the stage seems set for the final war in the state’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of 2015 gubernatorial election and the battle line is drawn between supporters and opponents of Obanikoro, the immediate past Minister of State for Defence.
It is common knowledge that notable leaders in Lagos PDP have forged an alliance under the leadership of Chief Bode George and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe with the sole objective of stopping Obanikoro’s governorship ambition, while rallying round a new entry into the party, Mr. Jimi Agbaje.
But while Agbaje and his backers have been dropping the president’s name, insinuating that Agbaje is President Goodluck Jonathan’s candidate to win Lagos, spirited attempts to foist him on the party through an unpopular consensus arrangement is likened to the Lagos PDP going again on the path of self-destruct and playing directly into the hands of their major opponent, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Just when imposition of candidates instead of primaries, is going out of fashion in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and with its chances of capturing Lagos almost becoming a possibility, it would be foolhardy for the PDP leaders to think the change Lagosians want is the change of baton from one godfather (Tinubu) to another (Bode George). To imagine that Lagosians weary of the godfather factor which has dictated the way things were run since 2007 will allow the menace to reincarnate in another form is sickening and I very much doubt that this will happen.
‘Godfatherism’ is fast becoming an irritant to the Nigerian voters. They want a candidate who can stand on his own; one who will be responsible for the decisions he makes, one who won’t think twice before allocating sums for project. This is not to say that outside influence can ever be dispensed with in politics. I doubt if that will ever happen but such outside influence cannot be concentrated in just one man to whose whim and caprices the sitting executives bows.
As a true democrat, who has seen it all in public service as a council chairman, commissioner, Senator, Ambassador and lately Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, all Obanikoro is asking for is a level playing ground and anybody seeking to govern any state in the country should not be running away from primaries to test his popularity.
“I am confident of victory at the primaries because I am a grassroots person with grasp of key issues in the state. All we are asking for is a level playing field where we can all come out to test our popularity among the people,” he told newsmen recently.
It is therefore laughable that after several dirt thrown to dissuade the man, fondly called Koro, from contesting failed, the leaders pulled out of their bag of tricks another stunt lately, when a Lagos High Court was urged to stop Obanikoro from participating in the forthcoming primary on the ground that he has dual citizenship and for presenting forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Resulting to the antics that failed to stop the man in 2007 election is an idle waste of the court’s time. Despite pursuing the matter at the tribunal up to the Appeal Court, an effort that failed to stop his participation at the polls, resuscitating the old lady’s tale in 2014 would be an exercise in futility.
Rising in Obanikoro’s defence, the Group of Concerned Lagosians (GCL), a Lagos-based political advocacy group, has roundly condemned the PDP chieftains, Chief Bode George and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, for what it described as “a consistent antagonist and character assassination campaign aimed at truncating the gubernatorial aspiration of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.”
According to the group, in a statement by its coordinator, Olayinka Sotade, it is now common knowledge that the duo of George and Ogunlewe are hell bent on derailing the success of Lagos PDP in the 2015 gubernatorial polls with their insistence on producing the party’s candidate by hook or crook.
“The latest in their character assassination game is a flimsy lawsuit seeking to bar Obanikoro from the polls based on a concocted accusation of dual citizenship. All of this is motivated by a simple fact: the fear that Obanikoro will sweep the primaries landslide and then proceed to win the gubernatorial elections.
“Let it be made clear that Musiliu Obanikoro is a natural born citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and nowhere else, not USA, not UAE, not Outer Mongolia. Instead of meeting him at the party primaries, desperate individuals are resorting to the same dirty tricks they used in years past to at most frustrate his aspiration, and at the least confuse the electorate.
“Having served as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Ghana and Minister of State for Defence, Obanikoro had the highest level of Security Clearance obtainable from the Federal Government. Such clearance comes after a rigorous security check by relevant security agencies. If he was violating the Constitution of Nigeria in any way, including allegiance to a foreign power, this would have been discovered and his appointment would never have happened.
“We are solidly behind Senator Obanikoro and wish to let Bode George and his cohorts know that Obanikoro is a true son of Lagos who has served Lagos decently all through his public service career without any criminal record, accusation or litigation. He will not be intimidated by half baked politicians who are already afraid of meeting him at the primaries,” the statement ended.
In a related development, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, the Lagos APC spokesman recently played god and proclaimed that Obanikoro’s candidature is dead on arrival. According to him, “after voting for a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Lagosians cannot stoop so low to vote for Obanikoro. Anything the PDP touches turns to ashes.”
From Igbokwe’s statement, it is clear that Obanikoro is the APC’s biggest headache in the Lagos 2015 gubernatorial race; hence their constant attacks at Obanikoro. Every time the Lagos APC resorts to its campaign of calumny against the PDP, Obanikoro becomes the target of their vituperations as if he is the only gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of PDP Lagos.
This has only confirmed the open secret that the APC in connivance with Jimi Agbaje are playing out a script targeted at truncating the success of PDP in Lagos. Curiously, it is on record that not only does Jimi Agbaje fraternize with the APC, he has never criticized nor found anything wrong with the APC government in Lagos State. It is the same with the Lagos APC whenever they launch attacks at Lagos PDP. They pretend as if their man in the PDP does not exist.
George Oladipo Philips, a political affairs analyst and Lagos PDP loyalist, also voiced similar concerns in his reply to the Lagos APC. According to him, “Igbokwe continues to bark like an over-excited attack dog, but let him be told that his self-indulgent feeling of importance begins and ends in the doorsteps of his paymasters in Bourdillon. He is in no position to determine who Lagosians will vote as their governor in 2015. Lagosians know who to vote for and if indeed, the APC is confident of their performance in Lagos, Obanikoro and PDP Lagos should be the least of their concern.”
My advice to the APC is to focus on running a decent electioneering campaign devoid of mischief, pettiness and blackmail. No conspiracy or connivance between the APC and its mole in the PDP, can stop the PDP from winning the Lagos 2015 gubernatorial elections.
Abayomi writes from Lagos
