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Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State.

By Tony Iyare

Nothing really has been as revolting as what turned out as the virtual deployment of a bulldozer to stop and annihilate anyone angling for Governor Akinkunmi Ambode in the recent Lagos All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship primary. The godfathers were simply not ready to abide by the famous dictum of Alexander Pope: “I’m opposed to your opinion but would contend to the death your right to utter them”. It’s some pointer to the fact that those who romanticize democracy and profess progressive politics on the housetops are nowhere near what they seem to openly proclaim. They make some fetish about their credentials of ousting military dictatorship when only a thin line separates their antics from the men of the jackboots. But at a period when everything is in flux, you may not chuckle seeing everyone parading the progressive hue. Even when it was clear that Ambode stood no chance against the rampaging formidable structure superintended by the Mandate Group led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the party apparatchik seem to have little faith that a free, fair and transparent process would deliver Babajide Sanwo-Olu, their anointed candidate. They not only sent scare threats amongst many rank and file members, who may be nursing the idea of casting lot for Ambode but did what renown professor of Sociology, Omafume Onoge would describe as “archaeological retrieval” of the open ballot system that ran contrary to the process spelt out by the APC Governorship Panel headed by Clement Ebri, a former Cross River state governor. Even those who had the effrontery to openly cast the lot for Ambode were physically harassed and molested. It was like putting a man’s back behind a wall and still clubbing him at the same time. I’m not persuaded that we have learnt anything in this almost 20 years of what’s more like demoncrazy. Those who ought to set the standards here are perhaps the most guilty in imperilling the system. I shook my head for my country when Tinubu said Ambode performed in governance but failed as a party man, some euphemism that he was faulted by the elders of APC for not oiling their pockets enough. I really do not know what other testimony can further explain that their grouse with the governor had little to do with the people. Ambode certainly has his fault. He’s not a team player. He no doubts overreached himself. He engaged his predecessor, Mr Babatunde Fashola in a needless tangle and abandoned his legacy projects like the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, the Ilubirin housing estate and the monorail project which should have tremendously impacted on the people. Even the brickbat with Fashola over the primacy of who constructs the 10 lane airport road was unnecessary. He has also failed to allocate land for the federal housing project. Ambode’s predilection for Visionscape to displace the PSP is also some gamble that was completely ill-advised. He also appears to be delivering too many roads whose quality are suspect given the peculiar terrain of Lagos. Although Ambode has been loud on a “big plan” for Apapa, now in the decrepit state, it has been more of motion without movement. He also needed to massively renovate schools that are in deplorable conditions, refurbish the hospitals and rebuild many of the inner city roads that are now filled with craters. But everyone concurs that Ambode has made a significant impact in infrastructural renewal, impacting on many densely populated areas that have been outside the radar of development. He no doubt has a big plan to give a new face to Lagos. My axis will benefit from three bridges to decongest the traffic gridlock which has not been witnessed in my 28 years of sojourn here. Although he was unjustly denied the second term, Ambode will go home with his head high. It’s only tragic that a sterling performance in government is not what determines a second term ticket but the lacing of the pockets of some political buccaneers.”