NEWS >> Lagos gov’ship: Real reasons APC crushed PDP

Though many observers and political analysts see Lagos as a fortress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there were fears that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will give the ruling party tough time during the Saturday’s gubernatorial and state assembly elections, just like what happened during the Feb. 23 presidential and National Assembly elections. However, the outcome of the gubernatorial left the PDP gasping for breath and pundits are still asking what was the magic.

It was APC’s Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu that defeated Mr. Jimi Agbaje of the opposition PDP who was contesting for the third time.

Many had predicted a tough battle between Agbaje and Sanwo-Olu following the outcome of the Presidential election held on February 23 where the APC floored PDP with 130,000 margin.

Buhari polled 580,825 votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the PDP who garnered 448,015 votes. The 2019 figure was lower than that of the 2015 election when APC scored 792, 460 against PDP’s 632, 327 votes in the Presidential election.

But the governorship result of Saturday was a shocker to analysts when Sanwo-Olu was declared winner with 739, 445 votes against Agbaje’s 206,141 votes. The results declared showed that Sanwo-Olu won all the 20 local governments of the state with wide margin.

What went wrong? Did the PDP go to sleep after the presidential election? The outcome of the governorship election has raised many posers about why the PDP was virtually rejected in the poll despite the much-hyped popularity and revolt against the APC leadership in Lagos State.

Agbaje who was also the party’s candidate in the 2015 election scored 659,788 votes as against Ambode’s 811,994 votes with the former defeating him with a margin of 152,206. But four years after, the margin of defeat was about 533,304 in a supposedly keen contest.

Analysts say the victory of Sanwo-Olu has further stamped the APC superiority in the state after the hullaballoo that greeted its primaries where the out-going Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode was denied the second term ticket.

Daily Trust reports that last minute’s moves to pacify those who were allegedly aggrieved

within the APC as well as the olive branch extended to the non-indigenes especially the Igbos, contributed to the resounding victory of the APC. It was learnt that the pockets of violence witnessed in the first leg of the election also dissuaded people from coming out to vote, leading to the poor turnout witnessed in most of the polling units in the state.

“I can confirm to you that more Igbos voted for APC and Sanwo-Olu this time around and this was as a result of the endorsement of our candidate by the Ohaneze leadership in Lagos”, an APC member said.

Also, the seeming lack of cohesion among the PDP in the state also contributed to the party’s crushing defeat. During the electioneering, the party’s leadership and the governorship candidate were running parallel campaigns. It got to a point that a former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe cried out over lack of harmony in the campaigns. It was very clear that the party was unable to manage its internal wrangling before the election.

From the way the campaign was prosecuted by the opposition PDP, the coordination was glaringly lacking and many analysts say the party could win Lagos only by miracle going by the massive mobilization and aggressive deployment of war chest by the ruling APC.

“It appears the PDP was not in the race to win,” says an analyst who said he was also rattled by the rush with which the party and the candidate congratulated the Governor-elect.

With the outcome of the election where the APC also won all the 40 House of Assembly seats, the state is virtually a oneparty state.

Going forward, PDP members say the party needs to do a deep introspection ahead of 2023 election if it must actualize its dream of winning Lagos.