No to Dictatorship, No to Tinubu
Adeniran Ogunsanya By the provisions of section 1(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which states clearly that no person shall take control of the government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
This provision makes it unconstitutional for any person to take control of a state government by whatever means. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees that all elections to public offices must be democratic. Section 223(1) (a) states that all registered political parties must provide for the periodical elections on a democratic basis.
In position of candidates or any candidate is therefore unconstitutional and any party or person that indulges in such practices should be resisted by the electorate. It is clear that whoever imposes a candidate on his party for a general election has a hidden agenda which is not in the interest of the people and should be clearly seen as a devise to circumvent the provisions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Our Constitution establishes the policy of separation of powers. Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers must not be controlled by one person or a group of people. Also by the oath of allegiance and the oath of office of an elected Governor and members of the House of Assembly, their duties and loyalties is to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to the people. In circumstances where it is clearly seen that a Governor and members of the State House of Assembly owe their allegiance to a particular person in contravention of the provisions of the Constitution , such candidates should be rejected totally at a general election.
In other to establish a solid control of Lagos and knowing the effect of grass-root politics, Senator Bola Tinubu established a succession structure that would determine successive Governors in Lagos State and members of the State House of Assembly. In pursuance of his objectives, he established 57 local Government not recognized by the provision of the Constitution and put a personal structure in place which will guarantee his control of Lagos State Government.
This well laid out device produced his chief of staff as governor of Lagos who was a non party activist. His control of the Lagos State Government was clearly demonstrated by him during Governor Fashola’s first term tenure when Senator Bola Tinubu threatened the Governor with impeachment if he fails to carry out specific instructions given to him.
t is therefore not in dispute that senator Bola Tinubu appointed the speaker of the House of Assembly of Lagos State and enjoys the loyalty of over two thirds of the members of the State House of Assembly over the Governor and therefore in a position to remove the governor when he pleases. By the pronouncement of the Oba of Lagos that Akinwunmi Ambode is the next Governor of Lagos State before the ACN primary elections clearly shows that the party primaries was stage- managed and influenced and therefore not democratic. Akinwunmi Ambode was brought into Lagos State Government by Senator Bola Tinubu from the Local Government and during Fsshola’s tenure as Governor, became the Accountant –General, a position where he displayed a greater level of loyalty over and above Governor Fashola by making payments to a Company in which Senator Bola Tinubu has an interest against the instruction of the Governor which led to his resignation in August, 2012.
As a civil servant, it is obvious that in August 2012, Akinwunmi Ambode was not a member of any political party like Governor Fashola. Akinwunmi Ambode became the chosen candidate of Senator Bola Tinubu supported by the pronouncement by the Oba of Lagos before the APC Governorship primaries was conducted.
It is therefore obvious that the political structure of Senator Bola Tinubu elected Akinwunmi Ambode as APC candidates for Governorship of Lagos State. There is no doubt that Akinwunmi Ambode an indigene of Ondo State who became a party member of APC after August, 2012 could never have dreamt of contesting for Lagos State Governorship election without it been proposed first to him by Senator Bola Tinubu.
In reality without any doubt, Senator Bola Tinubu is the Commander-in-Chief of Lagos State, with one hand he controls the Executive Government of Lagos State and with the other hand, he controls the Legislative Government of Lagos State and there is absolutely no doubt that he has a tremendous influence even in the Lagos State Judiciary. He is much more powerful today in Lagos State then when he was first elected Governor in 1999.
If we in Lagos State elect Ambode as Governor and majority of APC members into the State House of Assembly all of whom are controlled by one man, then we have made nonsense of our democracy of the principle of the separation of powers of the oath of Allegience and oath of office and we have all endorsed dictatorship of one man, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu whom with the powers held by him to impeach the governor whenever he pleases would empower him to be above the Law in Lagos State. Like the saying goes you can fool some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all the time. Let us stop been fooled and reject all APC candidates who are been controlled by Senator Bola Tinubu in Lagos State. May God help us all.