The Crest

Tag: Akinwunmi Ambode

  • Where is Akinwunmi Ambode? By Fred Ohwahwa

    Where is Akinwunmi Ambode? By Fred Ohwahwa

    Is the former Lagos state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, in Nigeria? If he is, what is he up to? He has been pretty quiet for some time now. That is since 2019, making it look as if he has run out of gas. For more than two years, the man has been under the radar. He became a one-term governor by virtue of the peculiar machinations of Nigerian politics.

    Before he took his exit from the stage, he was a star of sorts among his contemporaries. He was the governor of Lagos State, about the richest state by more than a mile in Nigeria. In addition to the ever-growing internal revenue base, Lagos boasts of the most dynamic human capital in the country. The private sector is truly the engine room of development in the state. Successive governments since the Tinubu administration in 1999 had had the good fortune of selecting the very best and brightest to run the state. Not something we can say for many of the other states in the federation, where mediocrity and nepotism are the cardinal instruments of state policy.

    Before Ambode went down the political tube, President Muhammadu Buhari and Ambode’s fellow governors tried employing all their political and diplomatic skills to save him, but they didn’t succeed. I remember the several delegations that went to see the Jagaban forgive his protégé of his “sins” but it all came to naught. Many reasons have been adduced for why things fell apart between the godfather and his political godson. Bottom line: All politics is local.

    Ambode was generally considered a successful governor during his tenure, yet he was unable to secure a second term. Some of his contemporaries who were poor in performance easily got their parties’ nominations and won re-election. Several factors have been attributed to this. One, the current godfather of Lagos politics was not happy with him. Two, his party men and women were not impressed with how miserly he doled out of largesse to oil the political machinery in the state. Three, he wasn’t a natural politician and didn’t understand the meaning of the word compromise. Four, he had an arrogant bent. And in politics, humility, even if it is a forced one, is considered a virtue.

    In Nigeria, politics is essentially a zero-sum game. You win, you are on top; you lose, you are crushed.

    You are interred even before the doctors certified that you are truly dead. The environment is worse than a crocodile-infested pool. There is no attempt to harness your redeeming features for the common good. The people can do without your good qualities and you can go to waste. Thank you.

    In Aisha Osori’s book, “Love Does not win elections” she lays bare the time-worn reality that your good deeds may not be enough to move you forward in life, especially in Nigerian politics. I think that is one of the lessons people like Ambode and others have painfully learned.

    But we cannot make any meaningful development as a people when we see politics as an art of war; where those who have temporary advantage cannot see the good in others. The country belongs to all of us and those in control of the commanding heights must realise at all times that it is a sacred duty on their part to harness the best in all of us to make for a better society.

    As governor, Ambode was no saint. He made his fair share of detractors and enemies. One visible group of “enemies” were those who are involved in refuse collection, otherwise known as players in the Private Sector Participation (PSP). They were blindsided by the government and they waited and took revenge in a spectacular way.

    Ambode also refused to continue with some of the legacy projects of his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola. One glaring example was the rail project, from Ijanikin to CMS. That laudable project was abandoned for four years without any apparent justification.

    But the former governor had many things going for him. He tried to modernize the system of governance in many respects. Even the process of paying taxes was made more friendly during his tenure. The International Airport Road is a thing of joy to all those who pass through it now. That road was left to rot for decades, an eye-sore to the civilized. Neglected, as usual, by the Federal Government, Ambode turned the story around.

    He must also take credit for the beauty that the Oshodi concourse has become. The massive road network he constructed in the Alimosho axis of the state will be difficult to surpass. He constructed some signature bridges like that of Alagbado, Ajah and began that of Pen Cinema. The whole of Epe was transformed by the massive road network he built in that senatorial division.

    True, that is his primary constituency. But nobody can begrudge that part of Lagos State the facelift it received during its tenure. The place had been neglected for so long. It was no wonder that the Epe people came out to chase away some law enforcement people who came to search his abode some time ago. It is an appreciation of what the man had done for them.

    At no other time than now that Nigeria needs all hands to be on deck to pull us out of the brink that we are all starring at. The Nigerian narrative is bleak and it must be changed. Otherwise, we will all suffer the consequences of a failed state.

    One of the tragedies of the Nigerian enterprise is the elite recruitment process or the lack thereof. It is an all-comers affair. It is completely devoid of ideological convictions. Minimum intellectual endowment does not stand you in good stead. Morality is absent. Greed, small-mindedness, and self-interest are the governing principles. As a result, we live in a society of big men in a small state. Our security architecture is an embarrassment. The infrastructural deficit is scandalous. We are handing over a disgraceful state to our children. And this is not fair.

    The gladiators expend so much of their energies pursuing personal vendetta and primitive accumulation that they do not have time to conceptualise how the country should be in a few years. On top of that, they do not give a damn. The basic functions of a state, such as providing for and promoting the security and welfare of the people are almost a mirage.

    Ambode, Donald Duke, and their likes must not give up in their quest to contribute to the betterment of our society. They should not wait to be “begged” to re-enter the political terrain. It is their duty to use their privileged position to work for the greater good of society.

    It is surely one way to guarantee a better future for our children and the unborn generations.

    • Ohwahwa, former editor of The Guardian on Sunday, wrote from Abuja.
    • The Guardian, Nigeria
  • The Politics of Tinubu Obsession, By Azu Ishiekwene

    The Politics of Tinubu Obsession, By Azu Ishiekwene

    Azu Ishiekwene
    Azu Ishiekwene

    National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has very strong enemies and a few of them would not wait for him to die before burying him. As soon as there were indications last week that President Muhammadu Buhari had withdrawn support for APC Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the floodgate of attacks opened. Apart from its obvious collateral damage, Oshiomhole’s ouster was scrutinized and interpreted for the worst it could mean politically.

    It has since been widely celebrated as the ultimate proof that the relationship between Buhari and Tinubu has broken down irretrievably. Tinubu, not Oshiomhole, was the target of the attacks. From the apocalyptic terms in a number of the articles, it was as if the long-awaited, long-coveted and long-overdue end had come for Tinubu. At last, they said, Tinubu has been thrown under the bus. The man who sold the South-west to the Northern slave-masters has met his Waterloo. The betrayer of the Yoruba cause has met his foretold end. Every empire ultimately declines and now the sun has set on the Tinubu political empire, never again to rise. The man so long blinded by ambition and selfish interest, has met his comeuppance. Save your tears: It is finally over or if not, it’s definitely the beginning of the end! Is it really? I suspect that those who are anxious to see Tinubu’s political decline – for real and imaginary reasons, and more imaginary than real reasons, to be honest – may be disappointed to hear that the end is not yet near. It’s not even close, and I’ll tell you why, if you’ll suspend your rage for a moment. We’ve been here before. In the days of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), when that party controlled all the six states in the South-west, former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched a no-holds-barred attack that led to the hijack of five of the six states for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), with only Lagos left standing for AD. Obasanjo succeeded, to a large extent because AD governors genuinely believed his pitch that the only way to mainstream the Yoruba, was to accept that in the new political kingdom, the sheep and the lion could lie side by side again.
    But it really wasn’t about mainstreaming, was it? Obasanjo was being mocked as a stooge of the North, who failed to win even his ward in the election that brought him to power in 1999. So, it was not about mainstreaming. It was the wounded lion fighting back in sheep’s clothing. Sadly, five South-west governors bought the mainstreaming lie and were consumed. Obasanjo left Tinubu for dead. The man lived not only to tell the story but to lay a foundation which virtually turned Lagos into the last surviving stand of progressive politics, from where four of the hijacked states were reclaimed one by one.It’s easy to forget now or to underestimate the risk Tinubu took against the vicious tide of the ruling PDP that wanted to take Lagos at all costs. But had Obasanjo and the PDP succeeded, we would be living in a different Lagos today and the map of South-west politics would be significantly different.The floods came again in 2011. By this time, the AD was dead and the core replaced by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). During the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Tinubu faced a three-count charge at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for allegedly operating foreign accounts between 1999 and 2007 when he was governor of Lagos.The political undertone of the trial was unmistakable. After Jonathan won the elections in April 2011, PDP hawks who felt Tinubu breached a last-minute political deal with Jonathan (even though insiders felt Tinubu had, in fact, given too much) advised the government to move against him out of spite and fear.
    To teach Tinubu a lesson, Jonathan’s government threw the kitchen sink at him, hoping that the shards of broken glasses and table knives would cause enough bloodletting to put him out of action, possibly in prison, while they move in to dismantle and take over his political base. Again, it seemed the end had come. It was no joke. I recall the trial judge saying he was under pressure to follow the government’s script. In the end, however, the man was set free and what seemed like the end for him, turned out, in fact, to be the beginning of the end for the Jonathan government. A few months after Tinubu’s acquittal, massive public protests erupted in January 2012 over the mismanagement of trillions of naira in petrol subsidies by the Jonathan government. The protests, later compounded by Boko Haram insurgency, would eventually lead to the fall of that government three years later.
    If 2011 revealed anything, it was that the myth about Tinubu being a Northern stooge is slightly overwrought. It was also a lesson that both Buhari and Tinubu would learn. After Buhari’s three failed consecutive attempts at the presidency in spite of his popularity in the North, he came to accept, or was compelled to accept, that his fourth attempt would be fatal without Tinubu.
    On his own part, after what he had been through at the hands of Jonathan, Tinubu also had to accept that if he didn’t support Buhari in 2015, he would be fried – done for – in Jonathan’s second term. It’s therefore not a slave-master relationship as often conveniently and simplistically explained: It was real politics, a matter of mutual survival for both men and their core supporters.
    The genius that produced that defining moment is still active. It’s being tested, yes; but the outcome cannot be foretold, underestimated or written off.
    In all the talk about fiscal federalism and restructuring, which interestingly has won latter day converts like Obasanjo, no state has done more than Lagos under Tinubu, to use the law courts as instruments to claw back substantial autonomy for states in areas that, if properly explored, would improve their viability and financial independence.  And while many states still can’t get over their dependence on Abuja, this same Lagos derided as Tinubu’s ATM, generates more internal revenue than 26 states combined, according the report by the National Bureau of Statistics for last year released in May. Of course, the imminence of Tinubu’s political death has ebbed and flowed with the fall-outs with some of his protégées, the most high profile of them being former Governors Babatunde Raji Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, over second term tickets; not to mention the constant snipping from the conservative Afenifere rump of the old AD.These battles and rumours of battles in his inner circle have taken their toll on Tinubu. But far from being the death knell which some think, hope, or pray it is, Tinubu’s capacity to survive, to come through and get even stronger, should serve as a cautionary tale.There are few, very few presidents who after a decade of leaving office still wield any influence. In Nigeria you can count them on the fingers of one hand. There are even fewer governors who after 13 years of leaving public office still continue to spawn the kind of influence and authority that Tinubu brings to the party, not to mention his nearly insane appetite for risk.It’s not just about money only; it’s also about tea leaf reading – a gift that Tinubu possesses and uses in far greater measure than most. It’s about strategic thinking, planning and execution. It’s the courage to pick yourself up and get on with life even when things don’t go your way as it happened during the governorship election in Ondo State four years ago, and would doubtless happen again in future. Because of his significant role in forming the APC, Tinubu is easily a scapegoat whenever anything goes wrong there. Yet those who know, know that it’s not always true or fair to blame him, except for those who have made Tinubu-bashing a sport. In the current crisis, for example, if the APC secretariat had accepted Tinubu’s suggestion to fill the position of deputy chairman South with Abiola Ajimobi early on, instead of squabbling over whether it should be Ekiti’s or Oyo’s turn to fill the gap, the Victor Giadom pestilence which brought the party to its knees could have been avoided.The party is in its present mess not because Buhari fell out with Tinubu, but because politicians who want to ride both sides of the road dragged the car into a ditch.
    We’ll have to wait for the outcome of the party’s next convention to know if the vehicle is damaged beyond repair.The obsession with Tinubu and the relentless predictions of his political death boil down to one thing: suspicions that whatever he is doing now, he is pulling the strings to run for president in 2023. I don’t see how or why that ambition is a crime.  Politics is about interests, an aggregation of self- and group-interests. And a number of Tinubu’s harshest critics in play today can’t even stand for and win ward elections, never mind consistently being in the forefront of consequential politics at the state and national levels over one decade after leaving public office.
    He is without a doubt, the most influential politician in the South-west today and one of the most strategic in the country. Mark my words, Tinubu’s political death is exaggerated. No politician who intends to serve, not even Tinubu, should get a soft pass. They should, and must at all times, be held to account for what they have done, what they’re doing or what they plan to do. And there’s room to do that through debate and contest for ideas, not by obsession and mudslinging. Hating or wishful thinking is not a substitute for strategy.
    • Ishiekwene is MD/editor-in-chief of The Interview
  • Ex-LASIMRA Boss, Odekunle, Dies of COVID-19 Complications

    Ex-LASIMRA Boss, Odekunle, Dies of COVID-19 Complications

    A former General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency, Jide Odekunle, has died of Coronavirus-related complications.

    The late Odekunle served under the administration of the former Governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, for five years.

    He passed away on Saturday after being treated at the Onikan Isolation Centre.

    This was confirmed by the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu via a Facebook post.

    The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Drainage, Joe Igbokwe, also wrote, “I am diminished once again as a mortal as my successor at LASIMRA, Jide Odekunle, dies of COVID-19 complications at the Onikan Isolation Centre in Lagos. May his soul rest in perfect peace.”

  • Alleged 820 Buses Fraud: Court Orders Status Quo in Ambode/Assembly imbroglio

    Alleged 820 Buses Fraud: Court Orders Status Quo in Ambode/Assembly imbroglio

    Signs that the legal tussle between former Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and the State House of Assembly would be a long drawn battle surfaced Wednesday as major actors in the legal battle stayed away from court.

    Justice Yetunde Adesanya of the State High Court in Ikeja had, on Tuesday, ordered the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, and others to appear before her on Wednesday.

    He order followed a motion exparte moved by Ambode’s lawyer, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo.

    But when the case got under way on Wednesday, the men were conspicuously absent in court. But they were represented by their counsel, Mrs. Adenike Oshinowo.

    The former governor had instituted a civil suit against the State House of Assembly, Speaker Obasa, and House Clerk, A.A Sanni, over the probe into the purchase of 820 buses as part of the Bus Reform Project of the Ambode Administration for the state.

    Other respondents to the suit include: Fatai Mojeed, chairman of the probe panel, and eight other members of the panel, namely-Gbolahan Yishawu, A.A Yusuf, Yinka Ogundimu, Mojisola Meranda, M.L Makinde, Kehinde Joseph, Temitope Adewale and Olanrewaju Afinni.

    During Wednesday’s proceedings, Oyetibo, Ambode’s lawyer, informed the court that all the respondents had been served with the court processes the previous day, Tuesday.

    “Your lordship directed that we serve the respondents with the Application of Notice which has been done,” he said.

    “We are ready for the Application of Notice filed on October 28 and all the originating processes have been served.”

    Responding, counsel to the absentee panel members, Mrs. Adenike Oshinowo told the court that the lawmakers got the notice late and they would oppose the motion.

    “We were served the Motion on Notice very late yesterday, My Lord, and we shall be opposing the Motion,” Oshinowo said.

    “We shall be asking the court for a date to regularise our processes.”

    Sequel to the submissions of the counsels, submission, Justice Adesanya adjourned the case November 20, and ordered parties in the case to maintain the status quo.

    Former Governor Ambode  had gone to court is asking the court to uphold that the actions of the Lagos State House of Assembly regarding the purchase of the buses under his administration and other projects constituted an infringement of his rights.

    He prayed the court to declare that the power of the state Assembly to pass a resolution, under Section 128(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), to direct an investigation into his conduct whilst being governor was subject to his right to a fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36(1) of the Constitution.

    Ambode also sought an order of the court to stop the House of Assembly from re-presenting to the public what he called falsehoods concerning the purchase of the buses.

  • Ondo 2020: APC group bent on replacing Akeredolu-Investigation

    Ondo 2020: APC group bent on replacing Akeredolu-Investigation

    By Samuel Fasua
    Indications showed at the weekend that the Ondo State governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) may be denied the governorship ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 2020 governorship election coming up in the state.
    Last week, a pressure group called Aketi O to Ge (Aketi or Akeredolu, Enough is Enough), fully backed by an APC block, held its inaugural meeting in Ikare-Akoko in Ondo State, with strong determination to ensure that the embattled governor does not secure an APC second-term ticket, Crest can confirm.
    The group, which is replicated in Lagos as Change Agent Foundation International (CAFI) is headed by Hon. Dipo Okeyomi, an Ikare-Akoko-born, Lagos-based politician.
    That same group, which is an offshoot of Mandate Group, a Lagos APC in-house body, participated actively in denying former Governor Akinwumi Ambode a second-term ticket.
    Akeredolu’s ordeal, investigations revealed, stemmed from what top sources in the APC described as “his compromising attitude when the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, supported him to contest against Governor Segun Mimiko in 2012.”
    “We didn’t know that Akeredolu is Mimiko’s childhood friend and would never do anything against the former’s interest; yet the party then (Action Congress) was funding Akeredolu, not knowing we were fetching water in a basket.
    “Asiwaju felt betrayed by this play of Judas and that was why he didn’t support Akeredolu to pick the party’s ticket in the 2016 election; but Akeredolu did a fast one by running to a political block formed by Governors Nasiru el-Rufai and Yahaya Bello of Kaduna and Kogi states respectively, which also include the then Minister for Steel and Mines Development, who is now the governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi,” the source, who craved anonymity owing to the sensitivity of the issue, explained.
    The source added that the renascent group of el-Rufai and co. were able to sell the Akeredolu candidature to Buhari, at a time Tinubu was attending to other private concerns outside the country; hence it became too late for the President to withdraw his support for Akeredolu.
    It was also gathered that Tinubu hesitated to attend Akeredolu’s inauguration in Akure, the state’s capital, but was mandated to grace the occasion by the President.
    Sources, however, revealed that Akeredolu had engaged so many political juggernauts in the APC to reconcile him with his estranged godfather, Tinubu, all to no avail.
    But Tinubu himself, in many media interviews, had denied ever having any tiff with Akeredolu.
    However, the governor’s ordeal came to a head during the last general elections, when all his National Assembly candidates were dropped by the National Working Committee of the APC, under its chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
    The APC NWC had directly supervised the conventional primaries held by the APC in the state. According to party sources, Akeredolu should have known that it was all over, if he ever recollected that Oshiomhole himself was fully backed to become the APC chairman by Tinubu.
    A party chieftain from Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo local council area of the state, Mr. Adeyemi Pelemo, had in a chat with Crest, rationalised the plight of the governor thus: “Instead for Akeredolu to allow the duo of Tinubu and Oshiomhole to fulfill their wish by picking candidates of their choice, the governor, rather childishly got angry and withdrew his support for the APC candidates.
    “The governor from there, brushed up a mushroom political party called Action Alliance (AA) and asked all his candidates to go there, giving them the necessary funding.
    “This anti-party act cost the APC victory in the last National Assembly election, as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seized the opportunity of the discord to coast to victory.”
    Pelemo also noted that petitions arising from the governor’s act led to his recent suspension by the NWC of the APC.
    Although Governor Akeredolu recently denied being suspended by the party, sources within the APC which affirmed the suspension to our correspondent, said some rapprochement was on, towards resolving the impasse.
    Meanwhile, a pressure group in the Ondo APC-The Young Flyers (TYF) then called for the lifting of the suspension placed on Akeredolu, describing the action as ill-advised and unfair.
    In a statement issued in Lagos by its president, Mr. Clement Adeyanju, and secretary, Mrs. Esther Buraimoh, the group said the accusation of anti-party activities levelled against the governor was a concoction by some desperate politicians keen on securing the party’s governorship ticket in the November 2020 election.
    “There was no way the governor would have worked against the party in the last general election. It is true that some candidates endorsed by Akeredolu did not scale through at the party’s conventional primary but he still went ahead to mobilise support for all the APC candidates during the election.
    “But the truth of the matter is that, some aggrieved party members who knew that the governor actually supported popular candidates went on their own to do protest votes for the opposition PDP.
    “As you all know, Ondo State people are egalitarian in nature and detest imposition in whatever form; this was simply demonstrated in the outcome of the last general elections in which the APC performed abysmally in the Ondo South and Central senatorial districts,” the group explained.
    It added that it was Akeredolu who eventually saved the day by going round the state to assuage frayed nerves “among our teeming members, which resulted in the massive victory recorded by the APC in the state’s House of Assembly elections.”
    The TYF, as such, called on Tinubu, and Oshiomhole to revisit the suspension order, by sending neutral assessors to come to Ondo State and hear all the parties involved.
    “Governor Akeredolu is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who knows the full implication of anti-party conducts and will never be that careless as to commit political hara-kiri. They are just blackmailing an innocent man, and our great party must stand for truth, equity and justice,” the group appealed.
    Already, however, top party sources informed that before the end of the year, a new governorship hopeful is billed to emerge in the Ondo APC, to challenge Akeredolu; same way the current Lagos governor,  Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was backed up to dislodge  Ambode.
    Although, Tinubu reportedly visited Ondo State recently on a peace mission with Akeredolu, insiders informed that the visit was only premised on reconciling the governor with some aggrieved politicians in Ondo APC, and that it had nothing to do with “the issue on ground”.
  • N9.9 Bn Fraud: We Didn’t Raid Ambode, We’re Only Investigating Him-EFCC

    N9.9 Bn Fraud: We Didn’t Raid Ambode, We’re Only Investigating Him-EFCC

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Tuesday, debunked reports that it raided the Epe home of the immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode.

    Rather, the anti-graft commission said the exercise was part of ongoing investigation into an alleged N9.9billion fraud reportedly committed by the ex-governor and his Chief of Staff  while in office.

    In a statement issued in Abuja, Tuesday, by EFCC spokesperson, Tony Orilade, the commission said whatever it was doing now was perfectly in order and in tandem with its mandate and the rule of law.

    “The EFCC has since early hours of today, been inundated with calls that operatives of the Commission raided the residence of the former governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode,” the statement began.

    “We need to state for the records that the EFCC did not raid Ambode’s house.

    “It is instructive that his administration, like other former governors, is under investigation since they no longer constitutionally enjoy immunity against prosecution.

    “The commission hereby states with high sense of responsibility that the operatives did not raid Ambode’s residence.

    “Whatever the commission is presently doing with regards to the investigation is in line with its mandate and the rule of law.

    “We wish to inform the social media to be circumspect in the reportage of any news with regards to investigation activities of the Commission.

    “As a tradition, the Commission does not carry out investigation on the pages of the newspapers or through the media.

    “Our operations are always covert until at a time when we file charges in court.

    “Therefore, the attempt to cast the Commission in a bad light is unacceptable as the EFCC will never engage in illegal act. We remain committed to the war against corruption.”

     

  • Tunji Bello, Ambode’s SSG, hits the governor, says our government had no soul

    Tunji Bello, Ambode’s SSG, hits the governor, says our government had no soul

     

    TIME TO SAY GOOD BYE TO COLLEAGUES ON THIS PLATFORM
    BY TUNJI BELLO
    The immediate past Secretary to Government of Lagos State, Mr. Tunji Bello, has taken the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, to the cleaners, saying he ran an administration that was grossly deficient in emotional intelligence, and executed projects that had no soul.
    As they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. Please, fasten your seat belt,  sit back and enjoy the smoking farewell note:
    ‘Our main drawback is our Government’s inability to apply enough emotional intelligence in the administration of the state….The belief that our way is the best without considering other options in a democratic setting, absence of wider consultations, distance from the governed, lack of effective communication skill or amateurish display of government acts and political immaturity. Deliberate and open alienation of others. We undertook gigantic projects without the soul. We were too self opinionated and narrow in our approach to governance’
    The exit bell has sounded and it is time to say good bye to colleagues. We must seriously thank our Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode for bringing all of us together in the last four years.
    Tunji Bello
    Tunji Bello
    We must praise him for the successful strides in bringing Lagos to the present level. All the accomplishments and success stories of this administration should go to him.
    We should be happy too because we are directly or indirectly part of that success stories being his lieutenants.  We should be happy for the opportunity provided and experience gained. It is not what you can buy on the shelf even if you have all the money. We should also be happy and thankful to God for seeing us to the end.
    Yet as we depart on our individual sojourn, we must never forget to learn from our glaring weaknesses and failures. Since we are all part of the success stories we must also share in the weaknesses and failures.
    Our main drawback is our Government’s inability to apply enough emotional intelligence in the administration of the state. Emotional intelligence includes interpersonal skills, interpersonal relationship, humility, respect for the well established mores of governance, disregard for the accomplishments of others. The belief that our way is the best without considering other options in a democratic setting, absence of wider consultations, distance from the governed, lack of effective communication skill or amateurish display of government acts and political immaturity. Deliberate and open alienation of others. We undertook gigantic projects without the soul. We were too self opinionated and narrow in our approach to governance.
    ‘For the first time since the time of Governor Lateef Jakande, this cabinet departs unappreciated and disenchanted’
    It is a big drawback which prevented the administration from returning because it was punished for its lack of inclusiveness in a democratic setting.
    In leadership, emotional intelligence is 70 per cent of application while individual brilliance is only 30 percent. Successful leaderships across the world in history have thrived on this fact.
    Besides, and apart from lack of enough camaraderie compare to previous administrations, our cabinet has been less rigorous, less fulfilled, less engaged and less accomplished. And for the first time since the time of Governor Lateef Jakande, this cabinet departs unappreciated and disenchanted.
    But dear colleagues, irrespective of all the set backs and disappointments, let us thank God Almighty for his mercies and benevolence and we leave with strongest belief that tomorrow belongs to HIM.
    I wish all success in our future endeavors as we continue to remember one another!
    Tunji Bello
    Secretary to the State Government.
  • 3 weeks to inauguration, Sanwo-Olu goes to Harvard

    3 weeks to inauguration, Sanwo-Olu goes to Harvard

    Barely three weeks to the change of leadership in Lagos State, Governor-elect, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has gone to school.

    He is currently in the prestigious Harvard School, United States of America, ostensibly  to sharpen his leadership skill for the challenges ahead.

    Writing on his Facebook page, Sanwoolu said: ‘This week, I am at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government taking a course on Leading Economic Growth.

    ‘To lead a great state like Lagos, it is important that I am on top of new solutions and concepts that will help accelerate economic growth and development.

    ‘Whether in business or governance, we need to combine knowledge with practical solutions.

    ‘As we build #ForAGreaterLagos, we must prioritise learning and knowledge transfer across all levels.”

    During his campaign, Sanwoolu had promised Lagosians that he would  make the state a better place than what it is today. Many Lagosians believe he seems like a man who would walk his talk and appears to be ready for the challenges of leadership especially taking over from an achiever like Akinwunmi Ambode.

  • Did Buhari miss Tinubu in Lagos? -By Lasisi Olagunju

    Did Buhari miss Tinubu in Lagos? -By Lasisi Olagunju

    The president was in Lagos some days ago but the Asiwaju of Lagos was not available to receive him. We’ve always known that lessons not learnt at home would be forced in from outside, someday. That day is here so soon for the Smart Alecs of the South West after the lovey-dovey romance of the last elections. The president did not attend the birthday colloquium of his best man, Bola Tinubu, which was taken to his backyard in Abuja. But he was in coastal Lagos for Akinwumi Ambode’s stellar projects. Buhari flew down to Lagos but did not meet Tinubu, the unchallenged owner of the land. The Leader of Lagos and Friend of the President (FOP) had taken himself out of the country ahead of that visit. But did the president miss him?

    It is funny that the dogs are out so soon to give life to the eerie omens of the immediate past. What obsesses you is that which will always dominate your thoughts and talks. Kidnappers and bandits may continue to rule and ruin villages and cities, the power elite won’t stop dreaming big about Abuja and about tomorrow and its spoils. They are already talking about the next elections – even before this year’s are concluded. The Northern flank is slamming its massive iron door against its southern allies forgetting that the one who slaps his mistress immediately after a sizzling bedroom act would soon have another erection.

    Alhaji Junaid Mohammed and Babachir Lawal some weeks ago formed an unusual armoured combo. They said the South should forget a shift of power in 2023. I also read old Balarabe Musa blasting the whole South over calls for a restructuring of the Nigerian nation. They were joined this last Saturday by their infantry men, the notorious Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and the Arewa Youth Forum (AYF). These no-nonsense brats appear positioned for a mop-up that will soon follow an almost certain shellacking of the southern ex-concubine.

    Hear Gambo Gunduju, president of AYF: “The year 2015 is in the past. What about 2019 general elections? What votes did he bring to Buhari? I hope you have the statistics of the votes which Buhari got. Would you say that what Buhari got is what he expected from Lagos?”

    Buhari arriving Lagos, received by host Governor Akinwunmi Ambode

    Again, listen to Abdullah Bodejo, president of Miyetti Allah: “If Tinubu is recognized by the Yoruba people as their leader, why did Buhari score 50 per cent there? Why did he not ask them to give him like even 60 per cent at least? Tinubu has failed and that is the truth. Or are you telling me that Tinubu did anti-party activities by telling the South-West to share the votes 50/50 to APC and PDP?” These gentlemen are flogging the wrong horse. In war and in peace, overfed leaders always lose the Yoruba field.

    Tinubu’s allies have started playing anti-South 2023 presidency numbers even when the final rites of the 2019 polls are still on. “The South should forget getting the presidency in four years time,” they are saying this daily, almost in a chorus. Buhari’s North is refreshed, renewed, back and bold now even with the ship of state sinking in their hands. The speakership position of the House of Representatives is no longer even sure for their friends in the South-West. The North Central is their choice. They are now preaching justice after roofing their reign with shining sheets of inequality. They’ve invented ingenious arguments with a snide at history: “You can’t have the VP and the Speaker at the same time.” But ‘they’ can have all the arms of the government and head all our security forces at the same time. That is their definition of justice, fairness and national cohesion.

    But can you really blame them? Even in the South-West, the currency of political engagement is injustice. In the APC federal government, Tinubu’s Lagos State has 39 appointees; Ibikunle Amosun’s Ogun State has 43 while Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states individually have less than five. Today’s south-west is the classic case of eight masqueraders ogling six bean cakes. Only the closest to the kitchen of the APC power men gets a full meal.

    Now, why would Buhari visit Lagos when Tinubu was out of town? Or why would Tinubu choose to be out of town when Buhari was visiting Lagos? The president has also moved out of the country “on a private visit to London.” When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49BC and entered Roman Italy, he discovered that his ex-ally and now arch-rival, Pompey, had tactically moved to Greece. Caesar did not wait for the rival; he went for him and his men. What Caesar had for Pompey and his legions stationed in Spain was pure scorn. He derisively announced that he was “going to Spain to fight an army without a General, and then to the East to fight a general without an army.” His impression of Pompey was that of a general with “no idea of how to win a war.” And both used to be allies. Between them, they levied wars against the senate, bought votes into consulship, set the rabble against nobles, even respected Cicero got exiled for opposing their alliance. They were united by the unstated desire to take Rome out of its prized republican politics. Their ambition was to be the unchallenged masters of the state.

    Buhari’s first term was about winning a second term. And so, he shoved Tinubu’s body in and out of bed -and then, back to bed to get satiated. The deed is done, the second term is here already and it is about winning Nigeria forever for himself and his ‘people’. The imperial president won’t share his loot with anyone and so, last week, he left Nigeria on a private trip with the key of the state in his breast pocket. He did not transmit any letter to the National Assembly on this because he is the sovereign and can rule us from anywhere. There will be fights, rough and tough. These friends will war and will drag stupid us into their coming pig fight — and we will all be sorry for ourselves. We won’t know that the fights we will see around us would be for the politician to possess and pillage the land, not to nourish it. It was so with former friends Caesar and Pompey.

    Cassius Dio paints the picture so elegantly in his ‘Roman History’: “Because of the insatiable lust for power” by these former allies, “Rome was being compelled to fight both in her own defense and against herself, so that even if victorious, she would be vanquished.” And at the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, Caesar saw the end of Pompey, his former ally. He won and got the whole of Rome as his prize. But did that translate to victory for Rome and its people? The war and its outcome ultimately set the stage for a series of events cascading imperial Rome from republicanism to dictatorship, to a further turmoil, and, finally, to decline and decay.

    Third republic Senate President Iyorchia Ayu in an interview in the Sunday Tribune of April 14, 2019 described Bola Tinubu’s current allies in the North as the most reactionary of the northern conservatives. That sounds very much like the old Kaduna mafia. This victorious army of the elite don’t take prisoners. They pulverize all who won’t crack — friends and foes. Ayu said Tinubu won’t profit from his investment in this cavernous friendship – his nose will be bloodied. You don’t deal with possessed people as these ones without a Plan B. He and his wisemen were told this before the elections but they were too power-seeking to listen. It does not appear there was any other plan beyond making their bent backs available for a ride to sweet power by the mafia.

    Hungry, ambitious political allies are demons. We’ve been told by J.D Brown in his Daughter of Eve series that the rules for demon engagement — and slaying- are simple, and they are just three: Never tempt a demon with a promise you can’t keep; never trust a demon; never save a demon’s life. That hungry tiger you saved will come back to hunt you. Caesar did that to Pompey.

  • Lagos silent on amount spent on Tinubu, others’ pension benefits

    Lagos silent on amount spent on Tinubu, others’ pension benefits

    Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

    ((A PUNCH INVESTIGATION) The Lagos State Government has refused to disclose how much it has spent on houses, vehicles and allowances of its former governors and ex-deputy governors.

    The PUNCH had in December 2018 written a letter to the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello, requesting to know how much of taxpayers’ money had been spent on former governors and former deputy governors based on the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law No 11 official Gazette of Lagos State, 2007.

    Specifically, The PUNCH asked for the amount that had been spent on purchasing houses and vehicles for all former governors and deputy governors and other allowances paid to them from 2007 to December 2018.

    Repeated calls to the Commissioner for Information, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan, proved futile as he asked our correspondent to give him more time.

    Subsequent phone calls and text messages were not acknowledged by the commissioner.

    The Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law No 11 official Gazette of Lagos State, 2007 states that former governors of the state are entitled to a house each in any location of their choice in Lagos and Abuja.

    Section 2 states, “One residential house each for the governor and the deputy governor at any location of their choice in Lagos State and one residential house in the Federal Capital Territory for the governor on two consecutive terms.”

    The state government has built houses for former governors of the state in Lagos and Abuja in line with the law.

    A house was bought for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Ikoyi and the Asokoro area of Abuja.

    Houses have also been built for former Governor Babatunde Fashola, who is now the Minister of Power, Works and Housing.

    Others who are benefitting from the law are former deputy governors Femi Pedro, Abiodun Ogunleye, Sarah Sosan, and Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire.

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his deputy, Oluranti Adebule, are expected to be added to the list of beneficiaries once their tenure expires next month.

    A former governor is also entitled to six new cars every three years, 100 per cent of the basic salary of the serving governor (N7.7m per annum), as well as free health care for himself and members of his family.

    The law also says former governors will be entitled to furniture allowance, which is 300 per cent of their annual basic salary (N23.3m); house maintenance allowance, which is 10 per cent of basic salary (N778,296); utility allowance, which is 20 per cent of the salary (N1.5m) and car maintenance allowance, which is 30 per cent of the annual basic salary (N2.3m).

    Other benefits include entertainment allowance, which is 10 per cent of the basic salary (N778,296) and a personal assistant, who will earn 25 per cent of the governor’s annual basic salary (N1.9m).

    The law adds that a former governor is entitled to domestic workers comprising a cook, a steward, a gardener and others whose appointments are pensionable.

    A former governor will also be entitled to eight policemen and two officials of the Department of State Services for life, according to the Lagos law.

    However, the law does not state how much can be spent on building houses, procuring vehicles and health issues.

    The information was what necessitated the FOI request.

    The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria had, in its 2018 Accountability Index scored, Lagos 29 per cent on government transparency.

    ICAN ranked Kaduna, Abia, Anambra, Kebbi, Ekiti and Jigawa states higher than Lagos State.

    The state government has repeatedly ignored FOI requests, insisting that the Act only applies to Federal Government agencies despite a judgment by a Court of Appeal last year that the FOI Act is applicable to all states in Nigeria.

    • Culled from PUNCH

     

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