Freedom, democracy: What Agbaje promises Lagos

The political campaign poster of Jimi Agbaje, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Lagos State, which has flooded many parts of the state since Saturday, December 1, has a bold inscription above his picture placed side by side with that of his running mate, Halimat Oluwayemisi Busari. It says: “Freedom, Democracy, Lagos”.

The import of these words is not lost on keen observers of Lagos politics. It is, indeed, generally believed that since he left office in 2007, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State (1999-2007) and now national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has dominated the politics of Lagos and has been the sole determinant of who gets what in the state, including elective and appointive positions. And there are allegations that Tinubu has a big (some say final) say in how Lagos’ enormous resources are allocated.

In simple terms, therefore, Agbaje’s message is that Lagos and Lagosians are under bondage, true democracy has eluded the state, and so he is coming to bring back these elements to the state.

This was his message on December 1 when he flagged off his campaign in Lagos. Optimistic of victory at the polls next year, Agbaje promised to restore the lost glory of Lagos and deliver it from the hold of one man. He described the 2019 poll as a contest between people’s Lagos and one-man Lagos, saying he was on the side of people’s Lagos.

“These people have been in government in Lagos State for 20 years, what do we have to show for it? Lagosians between the ages of 18 and 50 do not see the future in the Lagos of today,” Agbaje said.

“Many residents of Lagos State want to relocate abroad, where there are good schools, constant electricity, and other amenities of life. The ruling party in the state has spent about N6 trillion or $35 billion in 20 years and they have nothing to show for it,” he said.

But in a quick counter, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the APC governorship candidate, said Lagosians were free citizens and not in bondage and that the state had achieved accelerated prosperity since 1999 under APC-led government.

“Some have started talking about freedom and insinuated that Lagos is in bondage. Unfortunately, we cannot begin to talk about freedom in the 21st century. This is insulting to humanity and the people of Lagos especially because slavery and bondage were abolished in Badagry several decades ago.

“When they talk about freedom, we ask them, freedom from what? We have had our freedom and everyone in Lagos is free. We have since moved away from the era of slavery, to era of prosperity with deep-seated aspiration for greater Lagos,” Sanwo-Olu said.

But Agbaje, like a man who knows what he is talking about, has taken the same message everywhere he has been since then.

While on a programme on Silverbird Television in Lagos, Tuesday, Agbaje alleged that no Lagos State governor in recent times has had executive authority because such authority has been relinquished to one man who gives the orders and his orders must be followed accordingly.

Agbaje also, in a statement, accused the APC government of emasculating the local governments in the state and promised to grant the local governments free rein to administer their budgets and allocations and manage their funds to enable them build drainage, markets, and primary healthcare so the citizens could feel the impact of government at the grassroots.

“We also intend to fully liberate the local governments to mind their own business. Today we have a situation where, in order to continue unbridled corruption and mismanagement, the ruling clique deliberately emasculated the local governments to make them lack the wherewithal to tackle their primary functions constitutionally placed within their purview,” he said.

In a Facebook post in October, Agbaje had said the 2019 governorship race in Lagos State was a battle between forces that want Lagos to continually remain in slavery and those that want to ensure prosperity for all.

“This election is not just another popularity contest; rather, it is a clear choice between two ideologies: one that enslaves and puts the interest of one man over many or another that, at its core, seeks to meet the yearnings of the greater good of the people of Lagos,” he had said.

Many Lagosians agree that godfatherism is the bane greatest factor militating against development in Lagos. Only a few months ago, a certain message circulated on social media. It was the image of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi, with the inscription, “If you live in Lagos, these are your parents.”

Tinubu’s influence in Lagos has never been in question. It is everywhere. Babatunde Raji Fashola, who came to office on May 29, 2007, was clearly Tinubu’s choice. Fashola nearly lost his second-term bid because of a misunderstanding he allegedly had with Fashola.

And so, when in 2014 Akinwunmi Ambode, a former state accountant-general, was picked by the APC to succeed Fashola, there were concerns that Ambode would just be a puppet for Tinubu and not be his own man and, according to Opeyemi Agbaje, Lagos-based public affairs analyst, in a 2015 article ‘The contest for Lagos (2)’, Ambode needed to “project himself as a credible candidate and not one hiding behind Fashola, APC, Yemi Osinbajo and Tinubu”.

On the other hand, Jimi Agbaje, Ambode’s closest rival in 2015, had anchored his campaign on trust, integrity, visionary ideas and a Lagos that serves the interests of everyone rather than “vested interests”. He was clearly speaking of the Tinubu connection.

Agbaje lost the 2015 race to Ambode, but Ambode lost his second-term bid to Sanwo-Olu, Tinubu’s choice for the 2019 Lagos governorship seat. Ambode’s loss in the APC primaries is a testament to Tinubu’s overwhelming influence. It is this influence that Agbaje is promising to liberate Lagos and Lagosians from.

CHUKS OLUIGBO