The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as well as President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, are ramping up preparations for the Lagos Governorship and House of Assembly elections on March 11.
Remember that the APC and Tinubu suffered a major setback in the February 25th Presidential election, when the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, defeated Tinubu in Lagos.
Obi won in nine of the 20 local governments and polled 582,130 votes to beat Tinubu, who won 11 LGAs with 571, 575 votes.
Obviously unsettled by this development, the topmost echelon of the ruling APC have gone back to the drawing board to woo voters in a bid to avert reoccurring voter apathy in the Saturday poll.
Stemming the tide of voter apathy
It was obserbed that last Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state witnessed a low turn out.
The party and some political watchers have attributed the defeat of APC in Lagos to apathy on the part of supporters and some aggrieved members of the party, vis-a-viz wide disenchantment by residents against the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu for foisting the out-going President Muhammadu Buhari on the nation, whose administration has been described as a colossal failure.
Tinubu arrives Lagos ahead of poll
The President-elect, Tinubu arrived Lagos, during the weekend, promising Nigerians he would not disappoint them.
Tinubu was given a tumultuous reception at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja when touched down in Lagos on Sunday.
He was received by Sanwo-Olu, Chief of Staff to the governor, Tayo Ayinde, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro among other party chieftains.
The train, according to a statement by Tinubu’s media office, proceeded to Iga-Iduganran palace, where Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu, and other traditional rulers were on ground to receive him.
Addressing the modest crowd, the President-elect likened the primary and eventual election to a World Cup tournament, thanking God and the people for his victory.
He said his message was one of gratitude, adding that he would work assiduously for Nigeria from the get-go.
Speaking in Yoruba, Tinubu thanked Oba Akiolu and the other traditional rulers for their prayers and support.
The monarch described the President-elect as a special breed “who is destined for leadership at the very top.”
APC women mobilize for Sanwo-Olu
But, in another development, Women Arise 4 Tinubu, a support group of the All Progressives Congress, yesterday, in Enugu, congratulated Tinubu on his victory at the presidential election.
National Coordinator, Mrs. Oby Onu, said Tinubu’s victory was well deserved and evidenced the political mileage he had built over the years.
She said she was optimistic that Tinubu would perform well; stressing that Nigeria would have a breath of fresh air under his leadership.
She called on opponents who lost to Tinubu to embrace peace and join hands with the winner to right the wrongs of Nigeria, noting that in every contest a winner must emerge.
Onu also called on the Lagos State electorate to turn out en masse on March 11 to re-elect Sanwo-Olu, to enable him consolidate on achievements during his first term.
The top candidates
According to INEC, the final list of governorship and House of Assembly candidates has 16 political parties contesting the governorship seat.
The leading Governorship candidates are: incumbent, Sanwo-Olu, APC; Dr. Olajide Adediran, PDP; Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, LP; and Olufunso Doherty, African Democratic Congress, ADC, among others.
APC embarks door-to-door campaigns
Members of the state executive council and chieftains of APC, it was gathered had been directed to embark on door-to-door campaigns to canvass votes from residents and aggrieved party members in order to ensure victory.
“We have embarked on door-to-door to appeal to residents on the need to come out en-masse and vote for APC. We have been to Agege, Ojo, Badagry, Alimosho, Ikeja, Apapa, Kosofe, Ibeju-Lekki, among others,” Tayo Ayinde, Chief of Staff to Sanwo-Olu confirmed.
The Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos, Seye Oladejo, when contacted simply said: “We’re doing everything within our power legally and politically to ensure that Governor Sanwo-Olu secures a second term. We will rather keep our strategies close to our chest.”
Sanwo-Olu during one of the campaign rallies, rolled out reasons he, and his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, deserved to return to the state government house in 2023 for a second term. “Now, we can say ‘Greater Lagos Rising’ because our state is rising on all our modest achievements through the THEMES agenda.”
Stakeholders showcase Sanwo-Olu’s achievements
Stakeholders highlighted some of the major landmark achievements while Sanwo-Olu should be re-elected to include: the Blue Rail Line from CMS on the Marina to Okokomaiko on the Badagry Cross boarder highway, redline rail system, Lagos Rice Mill, construction pf roads, flyovers and bridges, like Pen Cinema flyover, the Ikeja along flyover and the attendant expansion of the Obafemi Awolowo way, the Ojota-Opebi Link Bridge.
All these are complemented with new bus stop shelters constructed with the awarded Fourth Mainland Bridge project, buses, ferries and rides, and upgrade of health facilities> Education reforms include: upgrade of polytechnics to a university of Technology, as well as the College of Education to a University of Education, youth employment, apart from the structured support system for the youth and their aspirations, among others.
The stakeholders believe that he has displayed an uncommon touch by leading from the front as displayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethnic groups, stakeholders’ endorsement
In series of endorsements, Lagos State chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, had at a forum with leadership of the state Leaders of Thoughts, led by Yoruba Council Worldwide, expressed support for Sanwo-Olu.
President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mike Kelechi and Sunday Ossai, expressed unalloyed support for Sanwo-Olu’s re-election.
“Sanwo-Olu’s administration has performed creditably well in the state by giving every tribe an equal fair share of supports in all sectors,” they affirmed.
Also, a chieftain of APC, and ex-Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, stated that a second term for Sanwo-Olu, is sacrosanct, “What Sanwo-Olu has been able to achieve in Lagos and what he wishes to complete, it is the wish of Lagosians that he should be allowed to complete them.”
The former minister’s endorsement is on the heels of similar support by key stakeholders across party lines. Also, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, leader of the pan-Yoruba organization, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and the leadership of the Lagos State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN endorse him.
The state chairman of CAN, Stephen Adegbite, said the governor performed well in improving the lives of residents.
“For us to thank him for his good work in this first tenure is to rally around him and re-elect him for a second tenure in order for him to complete many of his people-oriented projects in varying stages of completion,” Adegbite added.
In the same vein, Adebanjo said Sanwo-Olu deserves commendation for what he described as the governor’s prudent management of resources as well as “the visible transformation of the state in a little over two years.”