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| Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State |
Political pundits believe that choosing a presidential candidate for the APC will be a herculean task, but Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State already has a choice. He said he would support his Edo State counterpart Adams Oshiomhole should he decide to take a shot at the presidency.
At a youth summit organised by the Edo State government with the theme “Nigeria’s Centenary – Defining the Issues and Setting Agenda for the Future of Our Youths” in Benin City, Fashola said: “If Governor Adams Oshiomhole decides to run as president of this country, he will have my vote. He is the kind of leader that Nigeria needs. I say that because I have spent five memorable years of my life in Benin City as an undergraduate and as a youth corps member and they are very fond memories that I hold dear in my heart today.
“I am always looking forward to coming here each time I am invited. The excitement to come here is at an all-time high. Since my brother assumed office as your governor – because every time that I come here, for all the right reasons – Benin City has not remained the same. It has changed positively and continues to change.
“On my way here, I drove past my former office on Sapele Road and clearly the place has transformed. And the Airport Road is now wider. I know what Ring Road used to be and Akpakpava Road. It is nice to know that tourism is back, flights are regular and you have done it because you have allowed yourselves to be led by a man who can inspire you to action. And I don’t think that anybody can claim the credit for what has happened here if not the people of Edo State.”
In his remarks, Governor Oshiomhole appealed to the youths not to give up on the country, adding that the future is in their hands as foreigners can assist but cannot solve Nigeria’s problems.
Oshiomhole argued that every country has its own history and that Nigeria has come to stay. “As a people, what we should think about is how we get our people properly managed such that the wealth of this great country is expressed in the quality of life of the citizen. How do we address the paradox of a nation so rich and yet its people getting poorer?
“How do we raise the issue of how the promise of democracy can be fully realised, if the federal government continues to pocket 52 per cent and ask all the 36 states and the FCT to share 26 per cent and the rest to be shared by 774 local government areas?” he asked.
Also yesterday, the leadership of the APC said the crisis rocking some state chapters of the party would be resolved soon. In an interaction with LEADERSHIP Sunday last night, APC interim national publicity secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the party has the capacity and internal mechanisms to resolve all the issues at stake.
He said, “We have abundant internal mechanisms to resolve all crises and we are confident all these issues will be resolved very very soon.”
Since some governors from the PDP defected to the APC, there has been a leadership tussle in the affected state chapters of the party.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Democratic People’s Party (DPP) last year merged to form APC primarily to wrest power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But the battle for the soul of the party began when the interim national leadership under its chairman and former Osun State governor, Chief Bisi Akande, called for the emergence of similar interim leadership at all levels.
Before the new PDP governors joined the APC, investigations showed that there were crises in some states like Benue, Borno, Kwara, Ogun and a few others over the sharing of offices among the old parties that made up APC.
But the problem became compounded with the defection of the governors of Adamawa, Sokoto, Kano, Kwara and Rivers from the PDP to the party, especially when the state interim committees in the five states were asked to hand over the party leadership to the governors.
“Most of the states like Benue, Ondo, Ogun, and Borno were having the post-merger crisis in the sharing formula adopted, as they were accusing the dominant party of taking all the key posts at the expense of others. While that one was going on, the new PDP governors joined us and this compounded our problem,” a chieftain of the party said. “Our leaders did not think of the implication when they asked the state interim committees in the five states where the new PDP governors are to hand over the party machinery to the governors. These are the governors who are not in good relationship with our people as a result of the last general elections. Unless we move fast and solve these problems before the congresses and convention, we would be having a big problem at hand.”
When asked to give details of the problem, the source, a former national officer of one of the defunct parties, said of all the five PDP governors, only two of them could be regarded as assets in their states while the rest are liabilities because of their former party and their administration.
According to him, “The APC has two parallel secretariats in Sokoto, Kwara and Kano. In Benue State, Prof. Daniel Saror is leading one camp while Senator George Akume is leading another. This is why some of those PDP chieftains who were with us are now going back to the PDP.”
He also lamented the factionalisation of the opposition APC in Borno State where former governor Ali Modu Sheriff and the state governor, Kashim Shettima, are at loggerheads over who controls the party machinery.
In the south-west, the party is not free from the pre-2015 crisis. The bone of contention is the second-term ticket for the incumbent governors, especially in Ekiti, Oyo and Ogun states. The governors want automatic ticket for their second term but some forces are saying no.
In Ekiti State, a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, has defected to the Labour Party. In Ogun State, the second-term ambition of Governor Ibikunle Amosun has suffered a setback with the speculated support of the leader of the party, Chief Segun Osoba, for his former deputy governor now a senator, Alhaji Gbenga Kaka. Kaka seems to be enjoying the support of the old ACN while Amosun is getting the backing of the old ANPP.
During the week, the two factions clashed, leading to the shooting of guns. Some people were hospitalised. The victims, who are members of the National Assembly, are accusing the governor of being the brains behind their ordeal.
In Oyo State, the plan of Governor Abiola Ajimobi to secure a second-term ticket is facing a threat coming from Senator Lanlehin who was asked to step down for him in 2011. Today, there is a cold war going on in the state.
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