In a couple of months, politicians and political parties would be getting cracking. Already, government at different levels- federal, state and grassroots are strategising to take advantage of the political space ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week released the timetable for the elections which is believed would be one of the most keenly contested ever seen between the two major political parties- opposition People Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
At the federal level, governance is seen slowed down as politics begins to take the centre stage, with groups already launching subtle campaigns, and members of the National Assembly cross-carpeting across political parties where they believe their fortunes and chances would be better enhanced in the 2019 contests.
Across political divides, arguments and counter arguments are rife as to why incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari should re-contest. There are schools thought that believe that the president has waged relentless war against monstrous corruption that had eaten deep into the national economy, and on this basis, should be given the opportunity to continue the beyond 2019.
For others, however, such narrative is mere rambling for a president who promised so much and delivered so little. The anti-Buhari groups believe that the president has disappointed millions of Nigerians who expected a ‘messiah’ that would not only clean the ‘mess’ of the previous administrations, but also chart a new economic and political direction for the Africa’s biggest economy. And on the basis, they argue that Nigeria needs a breed of politicians come 2019.
Across the states, similar arguments are playing out mostly between the two rival parties. Two weeks ago, the Lagos State chapter of PDP and the ruling APC were on each other’s throats. While the PDP had boosted that it would send the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode packing from the Lagos House, Alausa. The APC, on the other hand, dismissed the PDP’s outburst as infantile.
Abdulrakeem Abdul-Lateef, the state’s commissioner for Home Affairs, contended that Ambode having done very well, would enjoy a consensus endorsement across political divides in 2019, and as such, it would amount to a waste of national resources to conduct elections in states where there are no oppositions to incumbent governors who have performed to the delight of the electorate. There was also the report that over 1,500 members of the opposition had defected to the ruling APC in the state.
The PDP state’s secretary, Taofik Gani, whose party won eight State House of Assembly and six House of Representatives’ seats in the 2015 general elections, in an immediate reaction, described the report of the defection “as outrageous propaganda”, and vowed that 2019 would be the end of the APC-led government in Lagos.
Taofik Gani, the publicity secretary of the PDP said: “Let it be known that Ambode will not contest in 2019 because as soon as we start our own game, even the APC leaders would think twice to endorse him.”
“The cosmetic projects will not be adequate to save APC from monumental defeat in 2019. No wonder the APC is obviously jittery over the governorship election that they are already using Lagos tax payers’ money to sponsor Ambode’s re-election bid by organising various group supports.”
The PDP also called on the INEC to disqualify Governor Ambode for the 2019 elections on the ground that he had commenced his campaign while the commission was yet to lift ban on the exercise. The party, while making the call, said it hinged it on the self confession of a group ‘Itesiwaju ipinle Eko Vanguard’ led by one Seyi Bamigbade that the group organised a recent 3 million-man-march for Governor Ambode’s reelection in 2019. It described the act as against the rule of the game, urging both the INEC and the police to speak out on it, else it would deem that the 2019 Lagos governorship election was already rigged for APC.
On its part, the APC dismissed the PDP’s diatribe, saying Governor Ambode would not be distracted.
Abdul-Lateef, said: “I want to assure Lagosians that Governor Ambode will not be distracted by the PDP. The governor will not be distracted by political lilliputians whose current retrogression has compelled them to operate as dysfunctional silos.”
Speaking further, he said: “Akinwunmi Ambode is irrevocably committed to the completion of all on-going projects in the state. He has presented before the Lagos State House of Assembly a budget size of N1.046 trillion worth, the size of about nine states of the federation.”
He added that: “Where does he (Ambode) have the time to respond to them having committed himself to the completion of Agege Pen-Cinema flyover in nine months? He has said the Oshodi world class transport interchange which comprises of pedestrian bridges, shopping malls, CCTVs, which will regenerate Oshodi into becoming a world class business district, will soon be completed.
“Where does he have the time to respond to worthless statement from a failed party when he has committed himself to the completion of the Oshodi International Airport Road in 15 months? Governor Ambode is busy looking for how to build four stadia in the four regions of the state,” the commissioner said.
Joe Igbokwe, the publicity secretary of the APC in Lagos, also reacted. According to Igbokwe, Governor Ambode’s performance alone had endeared his administration to the indigenes and others across the federation. He argued that the PDP stood no chance of contesting against Ambode in 2019 governorship poll.
But while the rival parties continue to engage themselves, Ambode is not taking chances. Last week, the governor carried out a major cabinet reshuffle in which he dropped three members of his executive council, redeployed others and appointed five new commissioners to strengthened governmental machinery. The governor’s action seen in the political circle as repositioning the government ahead of the 2019 elections, saw to the appointment and redeployment of Kehinde Bamigbetan, an astute journalist cum politician from the ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, as special adviser, to the ministry of Information and Strategy, as commissioner. Before his appointment in 2015 as special adviser, Bamigbetan had served as chief press secretary to the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and later as chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA). It is believed that the government would be needing the experience of Bamigbetan in information management and projection of the achievements of Ambode, having worked at senior editorial levels in a number of media organisations before going into politics.
Also, the redeployment of Samuel Adejare from the ministry of Environment is seen as a strategic decision by Governor Ambode to breathe new life into the environmental sector and accelerate the pace of implementation of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) to rid the state of filth as the 2019 elections draw closer.
Ambode is also seen seeking to raise the bar in the physical planning and urban development architecture of the state with the exiting of Wasiu Anifowoshe, former commissioner in the ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, and the redeployment of Rotimi Ogunleye, from the ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives to take charge of the physical planning sector for better service delivery.
Steve Ayorinde, erstwhile commissioner for Information and Strategy, now redeployed to the ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, not only has passion for the development of the tourism sector of the state, as an outstanding journalist and former editor and managing director of different national newspapers, Ayorinde, it is believed would leverage on his long standing relationship with musicians, actors and actresses to mobilise supports for the government.
Before the cabinet reshuffle, a few ministries had been without substantive commissioners. These include transport; tourism, arts and culture; works and infrastructure while the ministries of finance and economic planning and budget was manned by one commissioner, Akinyemi Ashade.
To ensure that the gaps are bridged and the various ministries effectively manned and made to deliver services to the people of the state, the governor made new appointments, bringing in Hakeem Fahm, as commissioner of Science and Technology. Fahm, a brilliant politician and former chairman of Surulere local government area, takes over from Femi Odubiyi, who was dropped. Also appointed afresh is Ladi Lawanson, as commissioner for transport; Segun Banjo, as commissioner of economic planning and budget; Olayinka Oladunjoye, a former commissioner for education in the former administration of Babatunde Fashola, to take charge of commerce, industry and cooperatives, while Hakeem Sulaiman is brought in as special adviser on communities and communications.
JOSHUA BASSEY
