43 INSIDEPOLITICS Cracks in Sanwo-Olu’s endorsement by opposition parties

On November 3, representatives of 45 political parties in Lagos were said to have gathered to endorse the candidacy of the governorship flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Indeed, for a party and a gubernatorial candidate that had just survived a very turbulent primary election that stopped incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode from getting a return ticket, the urgency of a breathing space became expedient and observers say Sanwo-Olu’s endorsement a few days to start campaigns for 2019 provided just that.

At the endorsement briefing, the parties said to demonstrate the genuineness of their commitment, they decided to form what is to be known as Coalition of Progressives Political Parties in Lagos State (CP3). They were unequivocal in their determination to work against Jimi Agbaje of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

“Based on the antecedents of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, right from his days in the private sector, in the three ministries he served in Lagos State up to his last days in the LSDPC as the Managing Director, we strongly believe he will actualise the good work that is ongoing in the state of excellence. Without mincing words, we the 45 political parties, under the umbrella of Coalition of Progressives Political Parties in Lagos State (CP3), hereby endorse the candidature of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the next governor of Lagos State,” the Chairman of CP3, Fatukasi, Aderemi, said.

Some of the parties include; Accord Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), KOWA Party (KP), Action People’s Party (APP), Alliance of Social Democrats (ASD), Coalition for Change (C4C), Better Nigeria Progressives Party (BNPP), United Patriot (UP), Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, Young Democratic Party (YDP) and Yes Electorate Solidarity (YES).

Others are; Youth Party (YP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), Peoples Redemption Party, (PRP), Peoples Progressives Party (PPP), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Providence People’s Congress (PPC), Progressives People’s Alliance (PPA), Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Nigeria People’s Congress (NPC), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Independent Democracts (ID), Justice Must Prevail Party (JMPP), Legacy Party of Nigeria (LPN), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), among others.

Sanwo-Olu applauded the parties, assuring them of his readiness to justify the confidence reposed in him. He promised to work with all and sundry if he emerges governor.

He also appealed to the parties’ representatives to work with his party.

The endorsement portends better prospect, though is known that no other party in the state has equal structures as the ruling party, a structure that has been nurtured in the last two decades by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Tinubu has consistently deployed to his advantage, the machinery that has always won elections. This manifested in 1999 and 2003 when he stood for election as governor under AD. He did re-enact the success in 2007 when his appointee, Babatunde Fashola, SAN won under Action Congress (AC) in 2007 and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011. He did deploy that same political machinery for the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode under the APC in 2015.

“For a party that has an anchor man, Jagaban Tinubu, piloting its affairs in the state, it may be easy to assume that the endorsement from opposition parties, especially those that are not so popular, is insignificant. But in politics, every single vote counts,” Raji Cardoso, a rights activist and social affairs commentator, said.

He added, “If you recollect that when the main opposition party fielded a popular candidate in the last election, it became a close contest. As a matter of fact, the last election exposed to all and sundry that the sophistication of Lagos State voters was higher. When you now combine that with the grievances that greeted the emergence of Sanwo-Olu even within the Lagos APC, then you will agree that the endorsement holds greater promises for the APC and its candidate in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.”

Other political pundits were quick to point to the usefulness of these parties in mobilization of grassroots voters. The argument is that with the reality of not having a statewide strength, some of them have areas and communities where their leaders are believed to be popular and can be influential to convince followers to vote for Sanwo-Olu.

“When you add one plus one, they will form a whole that may be strong enough to make thedifference,” Cardoso said.

But the PDP, the main opposition party in the state, has mocked Sanwo-Olu’s adoption by the other opposition parties, calling the gathering “a mere propaganda and demonstration of desperation.” The party in a statement by his Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani, the insisted that there was no “concrete proof that the purported parties that endorsed Sanwo-Olu are up to 45.”

“Even if APC ‘buys’ political parties beyond the registered ones in the country, its candidate would still not make any impact. The hurried and controversial emergence of the APC candidate was an indelible political albatross. Indeed, the emergence is tainted with desperation to have someone as governor who will rather fund the APC leaders. Lagosians will not forget that this is the Lagos APC’s reason for dropping Ambode,” the statement said.

The PDP argued that the mere fact that some parties endorsed Sanwo-Olu’s candidacy does not translate to victory for him at the polls. That argument holds some validity. In fact, ahead of the 2015 general elections, eight parties had hosted a similar endorsement meeting for the candidate of the PDP, Jimi Agbaje, on the eve of election, yet he lost to Ambode during the election proper.

The parties, the United Party of Nigeria (UPN), Alliance for Democracy (AD), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Accord, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), National Conscience Party and Citizens Popular Party (CPP), had at a press conference pledged their loyalty to Agbaje’s candidacy but it turned out that their adoption was not enough to save him from defeat.

But reacting to PDP’s mockery of the adoption, the Lagos State APC through its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, told Daily

that the PDP was actually “jolted by the tremendous support” shown to its candidate.

“Every election year Lagos PDP puts its old and tattered hat into the ring to contest for the governorship and since 1999 the party has been failing miserably without measure to make a difference. This is another election year and as usual, the rudderless, confused, motionless and completely dead party is coming back to do what it knows how to do very well-contest and fail again.

“Now, what it took to re-awake the sleeping and moribund Lagos PDP once again is the event that took place at Airport Hotel on Saturday, November 3, 2018 where 45 political parties gathered to throw their weight behind the candidate of the APC, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the 2018 elections. The event shook and jolted the dead Lagos PDP that has been dreaming to rule Lagos since 1999 into action and now they suddenly remembered that Sanwo-Olu is no match to their inexperienced and local champion, Jimi Agbaje, who is with no record of experience in the public sector,” Igbokwe said.

Notwithstanding Igbokwe’s attempt to downplay the PDP’s mockery of Sanwo-Olu’s endorsement, there indeed have emerged fault lines in the endorsement. First, it was the Lagos State chapter of the KOWA party that first denied ever being part of the coalition that endorsed Sanwo-Olu’s candidacy. This was to be followed by Accord party a day After, also denying ever being part of the coalition.

That rejection became louder on Thursday when a coalition of 12 political parties distanced themselves from being part of those that pledged allegiance to elect Sanwo-Olu. The list include: Allied Peoples Movement (APM), ACCORD, Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Coalition for Change (C4C), Change Advocacy Party (CAP) and Nigerian People’s Party (NPC).

Others were; Democratic Alternative (DA), Rebuild Nigeria Party (RBNP), United Progressive Party (UPP), Action Alliance (AA), Alliance For Democracy (AD) and Democratic People’s Congress (DPC). The crack, observers said, is a pointer that for APC, it is not yet uhuru in the 2019 gubernatorial election.