The firm grip of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), on the politics of Lagos seems to be tenuous with the wave of several reversals in its fortunes in last year’s local government polls, where its candidates won a landslide victory carting all the 57 local councils and majority of the councillorship seats . Lately, the election petition tribunals in the state have been upturned the victories of the party in about four councils in favour of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). OLAOLU OLADIPO, in this piece looks at the implication of this for the party as well as what it signposts for both parties in the battle ahead of 2015.
With the conduct of the local government election in Lagos State in October last year, both the state Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) and the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), would not have envisaged the kind of judgment coming out of the numerous election petition tribunals upturning the outcome in favour of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
So far, the opposition party has secured key victories in Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area and Badagry Local Government, Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area where its candidates have been pronounced winners of the elections, while another tribunal called for rerun polls in Yaba Local Council Development Area.
The first wave of surprise came when the Justice Dolapo Akinsanya led panel declared Mr. Ibrahim Babajide Obanikoro of the PDP, winner of the Ikoyi/Obalende chairmanship election, nullifying the victory of Mr. Adewale Adeniji of the ACN.
The five-man tribunal held that Obanikoro scored the highest number of valid votes in the election to be so returned.
It therefore ordered LASIEC to revoke the Certificate of Return issued to the ACN candidate and return same to the PDP, a decision that is yet to be complied with by the leadership of both the ruling party and LASIEC. ACN had opted to challenge the decision at the petition appeal court. However, the judgment proved to be a needed tonic to reawaken the rank and file of the PDP as members went wild in jubilation.
Chieftains of the PDP as wont to do, praised the judiciary to high heavens over the decision. Not left out of the frenzy is the South West Zonal chapter of the PDP, who through its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kayode Babade, hailed the outcome, saying, “it is not a surprise because the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Dolapo Akinsanya, has a strong reputation that is known to everybody.”
Not long after, another panel headed by Justice Francis Owobiyi (rtd.), ruled in favour of the PDP’s chairmanship candidate for the Agbado-Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, Alhaji Busari Akande, nullifying the election of incumbent Augustine Arogun.
Perhaps, it is in Badagry Local Government that the two parties seem to be pulling their weights, but with the prevailing balance tilting slightly in favour of the ruling party. The battle stems from the controversial judgment handed down by the petition panel in the chairmanship and councillorship tussle.
Though the tribunal members were in agreement that the PDP’s candidate, Mustapha Dada,? won the polls, it however failed to reach the same consensus on whether he should be sworn-in.
Election Petition Tribunal sacked incumbent chairman of the Badagry Central Local Government, Moses Dosu Hunsitode, but declined to order Mustapha Dada of the PDP sworn-in, because a member had declined to vote. The issue, the others have shifted to the Local Government Election Appeal Court.
A member, Senior Magistrate R.O. Davies, said he could not rule in favour of the PDP because of his position, that the petition was filed outside 30 days, saying “it is settled in law that the court is not a Father Christmas and cannot give a relief that is not sought in the course of the proceedings.”
The decision threw members of the ACN into wild jubilation as they celebrated the judgment believing that the status quo must be maintained.
Piqued by the development, spokesman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Taofik Gani, decried what he referred to as judicial magic and expressed disappointment that in a state being governed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and in an election presided over by a retired judge, this kind of “embarrassing judicial mumbo-jumbo could be recorded.”
Another turf where the two rival parties have been slugging it out is the councillorship election in the same local government.
The ACN that won eight councillorship seats out of the 10 slots leaving two to the PDP, have so far lost four of them to its rival. The permutation is that if and when the four whose victory has been upheld by the tribunal are sworn-in, the ACN will suddenly find itself as a minority.
Reacting, a former State Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Sentoji Koshedo said: “it is an extension of the big fraud by LASIEC to prevent the opposition from being part of the governance of Lagos. They are building an empire for themselves. LASIEC tried to show a level of fairness initially. Later we learnt of their plans, which they used to disenfranchise voters and our supporters.”
However, ACN state Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, dismissed PDP’s claims as the ranting of a losing party. He alleged that a top PDP leader hired thugs to disrupt activities in Eti-Osa after failing to ‘buy’ voters.
“On the whole, PDP is trying to create confusion, inciting the voters to violence and circulating false claims of electoral victories in places like Badagry, Ikoyi-Obalende, Agege-Iganmu and Epe.”
Taking advantage of the situation to score some political points, PDP embarked on a “Thank-You-Walk” around the Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council development Area (LCDA).
Led by a former National Deputy Chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, stalwarts used the occasion to urge Governor Babatunde Fashola, to review current policies in the state with a view to ameliorate the sufferings of Lagosians.
Addressing party faithfuls, George advised the ACN and Fashola to review his unpopular policies, saying his call was premised on current realities, following the complaints of Lagosians. According to him, such review would allow the people to be heard and their complaints addressed though within the context of what were critical to the overall progress of the state.
He said: “Without doubt, I feel touched and quite obliged to appeal on behalf of our people, that the state government gives a second look at prevailing policies so that we can have a breather. Lagosians are complaining and even if I have recently returned to the country, I have been inundated with such gory tales of hardship which we must urgently look into and tell our brother, Fashola, to review such policies that have made life pretty tough for our people.”
Earlier, state chairman of the PDP, Olatunji Shelle, also criticised the government for perceived arbitrariness and double taxation, indiscriminate sand filling leading to abuse of the environment, corruption and infrastructure decay, and the need to swear-in the PDP candidate for Obalende-Ikoyi LCDA, Obanikoro, as the substantive chairman going by the declaration of the Local Government Election Tribunal, adding: “The recourse to appeal was nothing but a calculated attempt to delay justice but we are confident that justice, though slow, will be done.”
So far, no words have been heard from the quarters of the ACN regarding the George diatribe. Party sources stated that the decision by officials to keep mum on the issue is deliberate.
“We know that he has been attacking us rather than face the issues on ground but we won’t join issues with him at this stage. What we will do is to concentrate efforts on the appeals pending at the courts,”an ACN chieftain told LEADERSHIP in Lagos.
Joining the fray is the South West chapter of PDP who in a statement hailed the various Local Government Elections Petition Tribunals saluting their courage.
The zonal chapter has been providing the much needed moral support for the local branch that had never hidden its resolve to wrest the control of the state from its rival.
The ruling ACN has expressed its resolve to hold on to the state of excellence, being its prized possession. Its chieftains have never shied away from describing the resolve of the PDP as a wishful thinking, maintaining that it (the opposition party) does not have the structure and the wherewithal to upstage it from LAGOS HOUSE.
With the schism and attention being generated by the two feuding parties, pundits however are of the opinion that the current faceoff my just be a prelude to the battle come 2015.
While the PDP has never hidden its desire to wrest the control of the state from the ACN, the ruling party has always declared such aspiration as mere pipe dream.
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