APC to decide guber candidate today

As the All Progressives Congress (APC) today chooses its candidates in all the states across the country for the gubernatorial election slated for February 28, 2015, of major concern to the party and to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will be the stature of the person who will emerge in Lagos, BusinessDay can authoritatively report.

Analysts say the future of the APC will be

greatly determined by the outcome of today’s event. It is also believed that a negative outcome in the APC primaries may bolster the PDP’s chances in the state in 2015.

There has been an intense struggle over Lagos. The PDP has over the years, tried to wrest the state from the grip of the opposition. The fight over the control of Lagos, pundits say, is purely for economic reasons.

In the last few days, some of the aspirants had expressed concerns about the ability of the party to provide a level playing field at the primaries.

The incumbent governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola and his predecessor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have since endorsed different aspirants. Based on these endorsements, it is expected that today’s exercise will be laced with much high-wire scheming and intrigue.

It was learnt that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, immediate past governor of Lagos, now a national leader of the party, had at a recent meeting with all the aspirants at his Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi residence, denied ever anointing any particular one and said that the ticket was for whoever the delegates would choose.

It is widely believed within and outside the party though, that Tinubu spoke tongue-in-cheek.

Among the contenders are Akin Ambode, a former accountant-general of Lagos; Dapo Shasore, a former attorney-general and commissioner for justice; Adeyemi Ikuforiji, incumbent speaker of the state House of Assembly; Ganiyu Solomon, senator representing Lagos East in the upper chamber of the National Assembly; Leke Pitan, a former commissioner for health and education, and Tokunbo Wahab, a lawyer.

While Ambode enjoys the backing of Tinubu, Shasore, who entered the race barely a month ago, is believed to have the backing of Governor Fashola. Although Fashola has played from the background, he has so far not denied being behind Shasore who served in his cabinet between 2007 and 2011 as attorney-general.

Hamzat, initially said to be having the support of Fashola, is also a strong contender, who many said might carry the day.  A source told BusinessDay that money would play a key role in determining the emergence of the flag bearer.

A staunch APC stalwart who spoke with BusinessDay on condition of anonymity, said members are keen to see a transparent selection process for the Lagos governorship flagbearer today, and are making bold to say so.

“My candid advice to the leadership of our party is that they must ensure that the processes that will produce the gubernatorial candidate tomorrow (today) are not only transparent, but are seen to be so.

“Nigerians are becoming more politically conscious and any action that could be interpreted as subverting the will of the people may be detrimental,” the party man said.

The source further said that with the PDP waiting in the wings to wrest power from the APC, it would be dangerous for the ruling party in Lagos to toe the unpopular path of imposition of candidate.

“I want to say that Lagos is worth more than two states under APC; while the PDP might not bother itself about winning Ogun or Oyo State, it will do everything humanly possible to win Lagos. For this reason, the APC must be very careful how it goes about the gubernatorial primaries tomorrow (today) in Lagos. I hope everything goes on well,” he said.

It would be recalled that Muiz Banire, national legal adviser of the party, had raised an alarm that the APC might lose Lagos State on account of imposition of candidate.

Banire observed that imposition “does not encourage mobilisation in the party in the first instance, because the meaning is that rather than people going to their constituents to solicit for votes, they would prefer to go to some leaders lurking in

the corner to solicit tickets. So you are not mobilising people into the system, to start with.”

He further stated that the culture of imposition could cause a lot of damage.

According to him, “the level of frustration is so high within the system. Most of the people that I have come across that have struggled within the party seem to be frustrated already. In fact, it has taken my intervention to arrest the drift of people to the opposition party.

“And I believe that if you are giving them assurance, you must be able to secure that assurance to the letter, because if you fail, then you may not be able to control anybody. It could happen, more-so that the PDP is advancing seriously against us in the state.

“So I do not believe that we should play into their hands at all.”

It remans to be seen if the APC will heed this warning.

A member of the party, who spoke with BusinessDay on condition of anonymity, urged the leadership of the party to ensure that the processes of arriving at APC flag bearer in Lagos today are transparent.

“My candid advice to the leadership of our party is that they must ensure that the processes that will produce the gubernatorial candidate tomorrow (today) are not only transparent but must be seen to be so. Nigerians are becoming more politically conscious and any action that could be interpreted as subverting the will of the people may be detrimental,” the party man said.

The source further said that with the People’s Democratic Party waiting in the wings to wrest power from the APC, it would be dangerous for the ruling party in Lagos to toe the unpopular path of imposition of candidate.

“I want to say that Lagos is worth more than two states under APC; while the PDP might not bother itself about winning Ogun or Oyo State, it will do everything humanly possible to win Lagos. For this reason, APC must be very careful how it goes about the gubernatorial primaries tomorrow in Lagos. I hope everything goes on well,” he said.

It would be recalled that Muiz Banire, national legal adviser of the party, had raised the alarm that APC may lose Lagos State on account of imposition.

Banire had noted that imposition “does not encourage mobilisation in the party in the first instance, because the meaning is that rather than people going to their constituents to solicit for votes, they rather prefer to go to some leaders lurking in one corner or the other to go and solicit tickets. So you are not mobilising people into the system, to start with.”

He further stated that the culture of imposition could wreak a lot of damage.

According to him, “the level of frustration is so much within the system. Most of the people that I have come across that have struggled within the party seem to be frustrated already. In fact, it has taken my intervention to arrest largely the drift of people to the opposition party. And I believe that if you are giving them assurance you must be able to secure that assurance to the last, because if you fail, then you may not be able to control anybody. It could happen, more so that the PDP is advancing seriously against us in the state. So I do not believe that we should play to their hands at all.”

Whether APC will heed the warning is left to be seen.