2011: Fashola’s ambition and the powers that be

Monday, December 7, 2009
Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, may have done enough to merit a second term of office. But he is up against a cabal in the Action Congress (AC), his own party. Kunle Awosiyan reports.
No doubt, the achievements of the incumbent Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), in the last 900 days are enough to earn him a second term in office but the “powers that be” may erode his ambition.

The governor has been so diplomatic about his bid for the second term. At various events, he had ceded the decision on second coming to his party, the Action Congress (AC).

Unlike some of the state governors, Fashola has been so careful in his utterances and public presentations on his second term issue. Despite his achievements in the area of environmental beautification,transportation system, security and health, he could not just beat his chest for the second term ticket.

Though he has wormed himself into the hearts of most Lagos residents, his political future depends solely on the powers that be, which perhaps are synonymous to his predecessor, Senator Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu, unarguably, holds the power to install anybody in Lagos at present. The incumbent governor, Fashola, whose status in Lagos politics today is a measure of Tinubu’s strength, is a good example. The former governor succeeded in convincing and confusing over 600,000 electorate to vote for his former Chief of Staff, Fashola.

Since he became the governor, Fashola had been soaring high to the amazement of his critics. Opinion polls across the state also favoured him, as most residents would want the governor to run for the second term. But it is quite unfortunate that for now, leadership in this part of the world is not about public acceptance, but the skill to swindle the electorate.

Interestingly, Fashola lacks the skill to deceive the masses and may pay for it with his position. He has since stopped the activity of praise singers at public functions organised by his government.


The praise singers, led by a woman popularly called, “Mama Kalokalo” are not happy with the situation. They are grass-roots politicians selected across the state to promote AC. They appear unfavourable to Fashola’s academic approach to issues and have vowed not to sing at AC rallies, if Fashola eventually emerges as the party’s candidate for 2011 gubernatorial election.

Fashola’s style is also a thorn in the flesh of some members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, most of who are Tinubu’s stooges. The governor believes in due process, which is not in the dictionary of the parliamentarians.

Recently, the House turned down the governor’s request to present the budget 2010 to the parliament. To the governor, budget presentation to the House of Assembly is an official assignment that should not hold any snag but he was surprised when the House turned him down.

He could not present the budget on a flimsy excuse that the notice was too short for the legislators to converge.

This perhaps would have not happened if the governor had been compromising his position with the House. The budget presentation was postponed and to most political umpires, the parliament’s action could best be described as the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob.

The powers that be used the House perhaps, to teach the governor some political lessons he had failed to learn at the Law School.

For a student of political science, the postponement of the budget presentation is not illegal but a show of parliamentary power. It is an indication that Fashola did not adequately lobbied the members of the House like his predecessor, Senator Tinubu.

It is not that lobbying is immoral or illegal, especially when it is about adopting a superior argument on the floor of the House, but it connotes different thing in Nigerian politics, including Lagos.

Lobby, to an average politician, could mean bribery, which Fashola might not want to indulge in. But he could still pay for it with his position. Since the inception of the present administration, bribery, as a weapon to lobby, is believed to have ceased at the state House of Assembly.

Tinubu was able to buy over the Assembly with his lobbying strategy, an idea Fashola had refused to embark upon.

When the budget was finally presented about two weeks ago, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, advised the governor to beware of flatterers. He made the audience realise that the legislature was in good terms with the state executive, contrary to the insinuations from various quarters.

He told the governor not to be carried away by sycophancy, adding that he would be judged by the amount of resources at his disposal, the prevailing conditions and environment under which he operated and how he made use of those resources.

Ikuforiji did not hesitate to announce to the audience, including Tinubu at the chambers of the Assembly, that no member of the House was bribed by the executive to do his or her job.

“Today, I can boldly state without any fear of contradiction, with the fear of God, that no House of Assembly in the entire federation can boast of being more productive and supportive without financial inducement of its executive arm, at no cost to the executive arm, as Lagos State House of Assembly has done. We are just fully committed to our responsibilities and our shared goals,” he said.

However, one thing is certain. The popularity of Tinubu is gradually fading due to the achievements of Fashola. Though Fashola has been decorous in his comment on the second term issue, his predecessor is disturbed by the heroic posture being given to him by flatterers. And one of the ways Tinubu might show the flatterers that he is still in charge in Lagos is by replacing Fashola in 2011.

In the interim, the governor has been so careful with his former boss. He could not reshuffle the state executive council because of the powers that be. He has had to accommodate some of members of the state executive council, despite their inefficiency because of the same reason.
He has continually echoed that his running for a second term in office as governor of the state will be determined by his party.

At the 2009 alumni day of the Lagos Business School, Fashola said that he would follow due process on the issue of second term and laid down nomination procedure of his party.

“I have not said that I would not serve a second term as the governor of Lagos State, if fielded by the Action Congress (AC). But it is too premature to do so now since my party has not called for nominations.

“My party will call for nominations, conduct its primaries from which the gubernatorial candidate would emerge, which has been the procedures adopted in the past,” he said.