30 September 2018
Away from tough talk and on to some political reality- it seems like Lagos state’s Governor Ambode’s fate is all but sealed! He has been boxed into an impossible corner. Most especially with yesterday’s unbelievable unification of the Abuja(Fashola, Muiz etc) and Tinubu’s Lagos APC faction. If a Fashola who is now, almost a sworn enemy of Tinubu can forge an overnight alliance with with his erstwhile godfather and someone like Muiz Banire(national legal adviser of the APC) who has been having a running battle with Asiwaju since 2015 do likewise, then it means Ambode did so many things wrong (politically).
For starters, he inherited his now estranged godfather’s enemies —the aforementioned (Fashola and Muiz) were on the receiving end of Ambode’s wrath in the last three years. We all can remember how Ambode fought dirty with Fashola a couple of years back just to please Tinubu- some of us can also remember that Ambode earmarked Banire’s Ikeja GRA property for destruction when the public spat between the latter and Asiwaju reached a crescendo sometime last year. Lesson to learn from this is “Do your best not to inherit enemies or battles”.
Let’s not also forget that in the last three years, Ambode, for reasons best known to him, isolated himself from political alliances(local and national) and was so comfortable with being totally under Tinubu’s umbrella. When even opposition governors[Ayade(PDP), Obiano(APGA), Umahi(PDP)] were pledging their allegiances to President Buhari and hobnobbing with him —Ambode rather chose to keep a distance due to the Cold War between PMB’s inner circle and Asiwaju. The same Ambode is now running to Buhari to beg for his intervention —hence, the reason for Buhari’s halfhearted involvement isn’t also farfetched. Lesson to learn from this: In politics —forge alliances!!!
Governor Yari of Zamfara avoided impeachment earlier in this dispensation due to his closeness with PMB. We remember clearly how the presidency ordered security personnels to seal off the Zamfara state assembly complex when the likelihood of impeachment was becoming very high. We can also remember how Amaechi as a governor in the last dispensation forged an alliance with the anti-Jonathan house of reps so that when he was under threat of being impeached by the Rivers state house of assembly, the Federal house of reps took over(constitutionally) the operations of the Rivers state house of assembly. When Fashola was in the same fix in 2011, we all can remember how all and sundry(Lagosians, traditional rulers, key members of Tinubu’s mandate group, musicians etc) rallied around him, which led to Tinubu thinking twice and besting a retreat afterwards. I doubt if Ambode can pull either of these stunts —due to reasons that are obvious!
And to those advising him to decamp to the PDP, stop deceiving yourselves- that is going to even further tighten the noose currently around his neck. Bottom line is, Ambode is in a very tight corner and can only be rescued by a timely miracle.
Utsu is a social commentator
