I was amused to read the story in the Punch of May 7, 2015, where the former Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan, tried to subtly mend fences with his party, the All Progressives Congress. Maybe the intention was not only to mend fences but to position himself as a loyal party member as the party leadership considers individuals for the many openings for political appointments available to the APC.

The story in the Punch is an obvious PR stunt by ‘DLP’ as he is fondly referred to by his supporters and the reasons for this are not far-fetched. With the APC in control at the Federal level and in Lagos, there are a lot of juicy positions and benefits available party loyalists. In this move for survival, DLP must surely be hoping that the party members and leadership have forgotten many of his divisive activities in the run-up to the elections.

During the jostle for the governorship ticket for the APC, DLP first tried to engineer a consensus candidate situation where other candidates would step down for him. When this did not work, he played the played the religious card on many occassions. He was quoted to have told members of his Christian congregation not to vote for anybody outside their religious sect.

When he failed woefully at the primaries, polling a paltry 112 votes, he withdrew from the party and shunned all party activities. All efforts to bring his back into the fold were met with a deafening silence. He is the only governorship aspirant on the party’s platform who did not attend any meetings brokered to create unity amongst all the aspirants and did not attend any of the party’s rallies. There is concrete evidence that he held secret meetings with the PDP and urged his supporters to vote against his own party at the Presidential and Governorship elections.

These are some of the reasons his recent statements are laughable and smack of desperation. Clearly, he has failed and needs to find a way back into political relevance. Being a politician out of touch with the realities of the times, he did not anticipate the party’s success at the general elections. Leke Pitan was the lone wolf who purposely made himself unavailable and did not contribute one iota of support to the APC’s victory in Lagos State. He was bitter at his defeat and did not hide it and cannot now `rewrite’ the story of his treachery to the party and its leadership. He must not be allowed to reap where he did not sow by agitating for a Federal or state appointment through the back door. Rather, the likes of Senator Ganiyu Solomon, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji or Obafemi Hamzat, who worked hard for the party during the campaigns, should be considered for any appointments from Lagos state.

DLP is a spent politician whose futile attempts to stop the APC’s victory in Lagos failed. He should retrace his steps and purge himself of his anti-party activities before he can begin to beg for rehabilitation.
By Segun Adeboye.