₦airaland Forum

By Oluwaseun ‘Dayo Omotoso*

I have for some days now quietly monitored the diverse scenes unfolding in Lagos as the momentum slowly builds up to the gubernatorial elections. Much drama has played out with Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples’ Democratic Party and Akinwumi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress occupying the centre stage. While both candidates clearly have their strengths and flaws, I am of the humble view that the interest of Lagos will be better served if a PDP candidate is prevented from occupying the seat of the Governor of the state.
Indeed many Lagosians, particularly those of the younger generation and the largely uninformed have been deluded by the style with which Agbaje presented himself to the Lagos populace with his posters declaring him as a man with BOLD IDEAS, touting vague expressions like ‘Ocean Economy’, ‘Ensuring better WAEC Performance’ (I ask how) and ‘We have so much work to do” (of course I know, the issue is who I choose to work with). To drive home the delusion, a mellifluous ‘JK is OK’ mantra was coined, which has since been the fad.
I have taken my time to consider this fellow called Jimi Agbaje. His zeal to occupy the seat of the Governor of Lagos state is indeed not in doubt; he has tenaciously returned to contest after losing successively. He seems determined, he however will not get my vote and I will here proceed to give my reasons.

1. The PDP-Niger Delta Militant Connection: I agree this is not the best of ways to start an argument but I will start mine thus anyway. Jimi is a product of the same party that almost grounded the nation before Nigerians made a firm decision to root out the cankerworm a couple days ago. The Yorubas are wont to say “omo ajanaku kii ya arara, omo ti ekun ba bi ekun nii jo (The elephant does not beget a dwarf; the offspring of a tiger takes after it.) Ordinarily, I respect Agbaje’s right to freedom of association and he is indeed free to fraternise with any political group. Asking me however to vote him as Governor of Lagos is telling me to institute in the Lagos, the same brazen corruption we rooted out at the National level and Agbaje has not been able to convince me to the contrary. Some persons have argued that one should separate the party from the individual. I wish I could. I cannot however.

First, Jimi has the same spirit as was in Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that made Nigerians vote him out and his words betray him as having such. A couple of days after the Presidential elections that ejected Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from Aso Rock, Agbaje was quoted to have said “the best revenge is to win the Lagos gubernatorial polls.” That single statement credited to Agbaje stripped him of every regard he would since have had from me, politically and betrays his intentions. To Agbaje therefore, winning at the polls was not to ensure the interest of Lagos but to make a statement to the perceived political enemies. Little wonder then the several desperate moves that were later to follow, some of which I will later talk on. Politics and indeed administration is not about political vendetta, Agbaje should have known better.

Second, after emerging as party flag bearer at the end of a flawed round of primaries wherein 863 votes were cast by 806 delegates, he rushed to action issuing all sorts of phantom promises all in the bid to remain politically relevant in Lagos while not appearing a disloyal servant to GEJ. In the frantic effort to show his loyalty to the government in power, Jimi said at a meeting of supporters of the Peoples’ Democratic Party organized at the United Kingdom that the Niger Delta Militants would ‘shut down’ the nation’s economy if APC won the elections and that returning GEJ to power was imperative. That was the same as saying that only PDP had a hold on the Niger Delta Militia that had constantly threatened war against the nation, and this was, of course, apparent from the way GEJ caroused with them and even had some of them on government payroll as contractors.

Indeed Asari Dokubo, a retired militant (even though his utterances betray this claim) stated in like manner days after the elections that they could return to the creeks. This sequence of events and the harmony in the utterances of a gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos state, and those of a warlord who should be standing trial for treason leave me with no other conclusion than that, Jimi Agbaje, Bode George, Ayo Fayose, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Asari Dokubo, Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo) and others of their ilk were serving the same interest at the relevant time and were getting instructions or information from the same source. This interest we were later to discover when the reality of the nation’s depleted foreign reserves starred us in the face. It was not the militants that almost shut down the economy after all, it was GEJ and his foot soldiers one of which Agbaje was. If Jimi Agbaje could come out to persuade Nigerians to return such administration as that of GEJ to power, I need not talk more about his values as an individual and makes me seriously wonder if such an individual can be trusted with the economy of a dynamic and complex state like Lagos. I would not for any reason trust anyone who carouses with felons and individuals of questionable character who ‘dollarised’ Nigerian politics with my security or my political destiny. Why should I trust him with that of a whole state?

Third, Jimi Agbaje has resorted to the same politics of division and enmity as was resorted to by GEJ towards the swansong of his administration; pitching the Igbo community against other occupants of Lagos for political gains and making it appear like the whole show is about the Igbos against every other tribe. I have learnt, to my chagrin that JK has also stated in the course of his campaigns that Igbos developed Lagos State and that he would elevate the Eze Ndi Igbo to the level of Oba of Lagos, the same promise GEJ made to Obas in 2011 that he would create a more constitutional role for Obas, just to win their support. He was also reported to have incited the Igbo community in the course of his campaign, assuring them that they should be the ones calling the shots in Lagos owing to their numerical strength. Such comments as these are purely divisive and capable of precipitating animosity. Indeed Agbaje’s utterances was what led to the verbal gaffe by the Oba of Lagos who felt threatened by such swipe at his royal stool and warned the Igbos who had been incited by Agbaje against voting for him.

Like I said to Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in my open letter then, a leader ought to be a rallying point, not a cause for dichotomy. The Igbos have lived in Lagos peacefully for years, have made their fortunes in Lagos and some have even found their way to the Lagos legislative house. Inciting a section of the community against another for selfish political gains is purely opportunistic and antediluvian. Jimi Agbaje has in just few days precipitated division among these Lagosians that have lived in peace for hundreds of years by deciding to use the Igbos as political rooks just like GEJ did with militant groups like the OPC. I see in him the same desperation as was seen in Goodluck Ebele Jonathan which made him do almost anything he could to return to power. He is indeed the son of a tiger that takes after its father, JK is just another GEJ, he will not get my vote.

2. The hypocrisy factor; talking from two sides of the cheeks: Jimi Agbaje indeed comes across as an amiable individual who claims to have bold ideas for Lagos and has the interest of Lagosians at heart. This does not however appear to be the case, as I view it. Shortly before the presidential elections, Jimi Agbaje was reported to have stated that Lagos had not had its share of the nation’s economy because it had remained in the opposition for too long.” Now that he is on the hot seat and his party has lost on the national scene, he does not seem to hold that view anymore; now it’s time for Lagos to continue being in the opposition. Mr Agbaje persuaded me (of course he persuaded Nigerians, one of whom I am) during the Presidential campaigns to vote continuity, arguing fluently on the benefits of having the same group remain at the helms of affairs in the country and even issued a threat that his Niger Delta cohorts could ground the nation economically if the ruling PDP was not returned to power. However, this morning, I heard him decry the evils of continuity in the course of a radio interview, stating that Lagos State deserves “a breath of fresh air.” It appears to me that Mr. Agbaje says one thing when it favours him and says another when the earlier one would not work in his favour.

If indeed Lagos has suffered over time because it always was in the opposition as credited to Agbaje, I believe the time has come to reverse this trend and ensure that Lagos enjoys its pride of place as the economic capital of the nation with the support of like minded administration at the centre. Voting for JK at this point will only keep us grounded and “suffering” yet again because the state will once more be in the opposition and out of touch with the government at the centre. I have only caught JK by his words, if they are his bond.

3. The Legacy Factor: A vote for PDP at this stage will indeed be a disaster! For 16 years the nation has had to endure at the hands of political charlatans who saw the nation as a buffet from where they could freely dish their daily meal. One needs not be told at this stage that voting a PDP government into power in Lagos simply amounts to enthroning in Lagos the ‘scum of the earth’ corruption that was successfully rooted out at the national level days ago. The Peoples’ Democratic Party institutionalised crass impunity and the monetisation of politics in Nigeria, which came to a head with the alleged sharing of hard currency during the GEJ re-election bid. I do not suppose any person of honour would freely fraternise with such ideologically bereft group and yet lay claims to being a true Lagosian.

What more, you can predict the likely actions of a person by the band of advisers that surround him. Much as Agbaje has been touted to be a gentleman, I fail to see him as such amidst the throng of battered images like Bode George, Ayo Fayose, Buruji Kashamu, Segun Mimiko, Femi Fani-Kayode, Diepriye Alamieyeseigha and others of like feathers and their foot soldiers like Asari Dokubo and other militant warlords who almost ruined Nigeria. We cannot afford at this level of development, to sell Lagos to such individuals. I shiver to imagine Fayose, Bode George, Fani-Kayode or Asari Dokubo strolling freely into the oval House, Alausa to visit the Governor. We have suffered enough at the hands of these individuals whose ideals are antithetical to civilization and democratic governance. Agbaje is just a rook in their hands, I make bold to say.

Indeed some might say Agbaje is different from the PDP and should be appraised as an individual rather than as a member of the PDP but that as well further convinces me that Agbaje himself is an embodiment of the PDP attitude, as would be seen from the manner of his entrance into the party. Once a member the Action Congress, he defected to the PDP solely because failed at the primaries which produced Babatunde Raji Fashola as gubernatorial candidate. His defection to the PDP, just like the entire party structure and ideals on the whole, was not ideologically motivated but on account of personal dissatisfaction that he was not made the AC candidate. This reeks of intolerance, impatience and sheer ideological prostitution.

The PDP has left the nation a legacy of plunder which generations to come will find hard to comprehend. A stark contrast to the PDP mismanagement at the national level however, was the systematic transformation the then opposition party carried out in Lagos. The thriving commercial hub of West Africa which also doubled as a den of thieves was recreated by visionaries who occupied the seat at Alausa. Their sweat and toil seasoned by hours of dedicated research led to the creation of the blueprint for the modern Lagos contained in the Ehin Igbeti 1 & 2 documents which led to the current mega city state of Lagos. Today, Lagos remains the only state in Nigeria that has a blueprint for development, thanks to the dedication of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who started the process and Babatunde Raji Fashola, who inherited the vision and consolidated same. I do not suppose its time to introduce to the Lagos system, the same cankerworm that almost ruined the Nigerian fabric. JK will not get my vote.

In all, I have come to recognise that the majority of persons who flock after JK do so only on account of his perceived aesthetic appeal and gentlemanly mien. I sincerely hope they haven’t forgotten the ‘shoeless fallacy’ that brought GEJ into power and the manner of his ousting when his incompetence became rife. Lagos is working already, we cannot afford to have it grounded at the stage like the PDP did the Nigerian Railway System. #vote wisely

*Oluwaseun ‘Dayo Omotoso is a Lagos based Legal Practitioner, Consultant and Political Strategist.[img][/img]

JK is OK for lagos

Just kool



Change continuity

kliq:
JK is OK for lagos

Just kool



Change continuity

wish u know d plans of PDP in lagos... they are just using the obas comment to campaign

etimutuk:
wish u know d plans of PDP in lagos... they are just using the obas comment to campaign

Oh well I don't know much about their plans,i don't vote parties,i vote individuals....they(APC) came up with the change thing so let it come down to the state level. I voted for Buhari now I'm going to vote for JK

kliq:
Oh well I don't know much about their plans,i don't vote parties,i vote individuals....they(APC) came up with the change thing so let it come down to the state level. I voted for Buhari now I'm going to vote for JK

Do u have a tangible reason for voting Agbaje. I'll Really like to know

Freelancer00:
Do u have a tangible reason for voting Agbaje. I'll Really like to know

Change!

Agbaje is just kidding. He will be a two time governorship aspirant because he will fail. An epic fail for that matter. Two mouthed and cent make up his mind. Ambode all the way for governor of Lagos by the grace of God. Amen

lol

kliq:
Change!

Lol. How much change u want

Do you know Ambode graduated as an accountant from University of Lagos at the age of 21?

Do you know he became a Chartered accountant at the age of 24 ?

Do you know he became a fellow of the Institute of chartered accountants at the age of 36 ?

Do you know he was the second best graduating student in WAEC+HSE at Federal government college Warri ?

Do you know JK was a strong Tinubu boy in ACN but left the party when Tinubu decided to pick fashola over him simply because Tinubu felt fashola would do better in governance because he is a lawyer and SAN while JK is just a Pharmacist ? Do you know it was the potentials that Tinubu saw in Fashola that now became evident to all of us in the governance of Fashola ?

Do you know Ambode was the Accountant General of Lagos state when Federal Government was not giving Lagos state any Allocation at all for some years(Tinubu was the governor) ? And Ambode/Tinubu had to put creative minds together to run lagos for four years(despite the huge population and responsibility) ?

Do you know Ambode has 36 years of Administrative/accounting experience ?

Ambode is a quiet man and he does not blow his horn too loud, but he is quality, just like Fashola.

Let's put sentiments aside, let's vote in the best interest of lagos.

Ambo, Atide. Eko oni Baje.

Freelancer00:
Lol. How much change u want

Conductor Sir,my change na Figo

kliq:
Conductor Sir,my change na Figo

Gba change ko wo motor continuity

Freelancer00:
Gba change ko wo motor continuity

Hahaha

You see, Agbaje really messed up for the Niger Delta antics. He was stupid to have said that. He probably didn't know that we were tired of Jonathan.


All these things you said about PDP can also be said about APC. Just one word negates everything you've said. Bola Tinubu. Impunity at it's peak.


More important for me is the quality of the Candidates. Jimi Agbaje could prove during the debate that he had a good grasp of government. Of course, he had 8 years to prepare for this election, he deservedly beat your Tinubu servant Ambode to that debate.


Tinubu wants to impose an Ondo state indigene on Lagos. Now you'll come and tell me about democracy. Both parties have serious flaws. And we don't play party anymore. We play candidate politics.


Jaykay we know! Jaykay we want!

lol.... don jazzy!!!!!

Charlotte15:
Agbaje is just kidding. He will be a two time governorship aspirant because he will fail. An epic fail for that matter. Two mouthed and cent make up his mind. Ambode all the way for governor of Lagos by the grace of God. Amen

pls can you tell me how many times buhari contested and failed before finally winning?

Nashoji:
pls can you tell me how many times buhari contested and failed before finally winning?

Agbaje has failed and this is the final nail in his coffin.