As for the APC, it would be recalled that early this year when it came to the fore that Tinubu had picked Ambode as his anointed candidate, the political landscape became a beehive.
Commentators predicted rightly that he would be the candidate of the as long as Asiwaju Tinubu had marked him in for the job, going by the wind of politics in the state since the ex-governor jettisoned the Afenifere machinery that propelled him to power and set up his own structure.
The APC later announced that it was – for the sake of fairness – zoning the governorship for 2015 to Lagos East which had not produced the governorship in recent times.
This was greeted by mixed feelings by those interested in the party, but some took the safe step of tracing their roots to Lagos East to be able to realize their ambition.
Here trouble came knocking on the door for Ambode whose Epe roots were discountenanced by traditional figures in the town. Nonetheless, the party paid no heed to the chronicle offered by the Edu family, source of the claim.
As the primary election drew closer, other events unfolded.
There were allegations that Ambode was busy giving out thousands of dollars to party leaders during a series of meetings held at the Bourdillon, Ikoyi, residence of Asiwaju Tinubu.
Two members of the party had reportedly filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Lagos, to nullify any primary election held with the delegates list already compiled by the Dele Ajomale led state executive of the party.
It was similarly reported that in Abuja another set of party members from Lagos had staged a protest at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja where they demanded that the party must use direct primary for choosing its Lagos governorship candidate.
According to the source of the allegations, state party executive members who attended a meeting called at Tinubu’s house before the election were each given USD$25,000 with the instruction to go and work for Ambode if they don’t want to go hungry for the next eight years.
The source similarly claimed that as the meeting with the Ajomale people were getting through with the collection of their own share of the bribe, party LGA chairmen who were also hurriedly invited to the venue arrived and, at the end, each of them left with USD$20,000 and the same message.
They were also reportedly asked to drop the bank account numbers of delegates from their local government areas with a promise to pay in N1 million for each of the delegates from the 57 local council areas.
Tinubu and Ambode were said to have wooed party leaders with thousands of dollars.
In the course of the intrigues, a meeting had been called at Bourdillon weeks back where party leaders and aspirants agreed to concede to the party’s final decision, to avoid internal rancour.
Regardless, 11 of the twelve aspirants held meetings in the last few days in which they called for the selection of a consensus candidate from amongst them.
The aspirants were reportedly against the candidature of Ambode who is also not favoured by the governor.
On the alternative, they asked the party leadership to adopt direct primaries in place of indirect primaries already decided by the party.
In a communiqué published on Wednesday in a national newspaper, the aspirants drew the attention of the national leadership of the party to its demands.
They pointed out that the indirect primary was at variance with the Electoral Act.
The aspirants, who signed the communique included Dr. Leke Pitan, Dr Femi Hamzat, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Dr Tola Kasali, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, Mr. Olasupo Shasore, among others.
According to them, the party’s constitution states that the local governments shall be defined as listed in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution which, for Lagos State, is listed as 20 local governments.
They expressed concern that the conceived indirect primaries (as presently constituted) could lead to agitation, tension and litigation and may even ultimately deprive the party the opportunity to present a formidable candidate for the general election in February, 2015.
They called on the party to immediately review the indirect primaries scheduled to commence December 2 and particularly on December 4, 2014 – with a view to suspending it.
“Our party should seek special consideration to conduct direct primaries rather than the indirect delegate-based primaries and/or commence consensus building exercise amongst all aspirants in order to effect a smooth affirmation of candidates,” they said.
A party leader who spoke in reaction to the demands of the aspirants said they were merely crying wolf because they fear that indirect primaries would not favour them.
Said he: “When they bought the form, they saw it indicated that it was to be indirect primaries yet they went ahead to fill out and return the form, why is it now they are kicking?
“Our party constitution provides for the use of either direct or indirect method for primaries for the position of Council Chairman to President, it is stated in Section 20(iii).”
At the primary held at Onikan Stadium, Lagos, on Thursday, Ambode polled 3,735 votes out of the total valid votes of 5,725 cast to defeat the 11 other aspirants.
The results were announced by Dr. Peter Obada, a representative of the APC National Primaries Committee around 8.13 am on Friday after counting was done all through the night.
Ambode later told journalists that he won the primary overwhelmingly because of his mass appeal. He said he was the only aspirant that visited all the 20 local government areas of the state.
“I won because I visited all the 20 local governments to consult with the people at the grassroots and this is the result that you are seeing,” he said.
The chairman of the primary committee, Mr. Peter Obadan, said all aggrieved aspirants could appeal the results.
In the last few weeks there had been series of meetings among stakeholders to pave way for a smooth method to pick the party flag bearer. It would seem that the effort of party leaders to keep the party intact after the election has paid off despite the high-wired politicking that characterized the process.
On the other hand, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which holds its governorship primary election today is reported to be enmeshed in caucus war. Observers claim that this may tear the party apart.
According to the reports, the Network Group, rooting for Agbaje’s candidacy, appears to dominate the process. The caucus is said to features a coalition of the Lagos PDP members led by Chief Bode George and Senator Ogunlewe.
The group also includes loyalists of the former Lagos State deputy governor, Mrs. Kofo Akerele-Bucknor, and former Special Assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Export and CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mr. Modupe Sasore.
The opposition to the Agbaje coalition appears to be the Obanikoro group, with the former Minister of State for Defence who is a major contender for the ticket.
Other caucuses that have emerged are allegedly those of Tokunboh Kamson, and Chief Adedeji Doherty. Results emerging from Saturday’s primaries show that the Agbaje bloc is leading the pack, distantly trailed by Obanikoro.
Going by reports, the bulk of the electors came from 735 elected delegates. Others eligible to vote at the primaries are the local government party chairmen, secretaries and treasurers, and members of the state executives and state executives resident in the relevant local governments.
The 735 electors emerged, as delegates, from the party’s 245 ward chapters on November 24, after the initial congress two weeks earlier had become a subject of controversy and subsequently cancelled by the national executive of the party.
Although the Agbaje and Obanikoro caucuses currently have the upper hand in the battle to win tickets for the election into the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2015, the Kamson and Doherty groups are said to have equally shown some mettle.
The Lagos Assembly provides for 40 legislators, two each from the 20 local governments recognised by the 1999 Constitution (as amended). By the results that came out, the Agbaje camp is reportedly in the lead, taking up a total of 28 candidates of the 38 declared so far, while the Obanikoro group has 6; followed by the Kamson camp with 4, and the Doherty group 1.
Events after today will indicate whether the PDP can still break its 16 year old political jinx in Lagos.
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