•All The Behind Scene Moves Revealed
The All Progressive Congress being the ruling party in Lagos State is blessed with a large pull of charismatic sets of leaders. Thanks to the ingenuity of the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has the instinct of discovering and bringing them on board. Over the years, he has groomed them for greatness and that is why he never lacks in providing highly resourceful persons paddling the affairs of Lagos State since he left office in 2007. Many of them have worked in different capacities towards the goals of developing Lagos and making it a model to other states in Nigeria. They are all trailblazers in their respective political endeavours. Among the long lists and almost endless list is Engineer Rauf Aregbesola who is presently the Minister of Interior under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Aregbesola is a political strategist and grassroots politician of repute. He is a strong grassroots mobiliser in the community. Seeing how vibrant he was, Asiwaju made him one of his most trusted allies. Aregbesola later became the director of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation (BATCO), which engineered the electoral victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Governor of Lagos State in 1999. Between 1999 and 2007, he was the Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure.
All this while, he was the leader in-charge in Alimosho and was seen as a key decision influencer whom Asiwaju listened to. Many people believe that to get to Asiwaju, you need to pass through Aregbesola. And that has been the case until months back when Aregbesola had issues with his boss. In 2010 when the Election Appeal Tribunal declared him as the winner of the 2007 gubernatorial election in Osun State, Aregbesola left Lagos for Osun as he was being sworn-in as the substantive governor of the state. Despite leaving Alimosho for governance duties in Osun for 8 years, Aregbesola still has a big influence on key decisions to be made in Alimosho.
The fall out between Aregbesola and his boss, Asiwaju no doubt caused a lot. This was evident in the way APC was defeated by PDP in last year’s gubernatorial election in Osun State. A similar thing was almost hitting Lagos when the party was defeated by Labour Party at the 2023 presidential election in Lagos. APC lost out in many of the Local governments which the party usually pride in since 1999. The way the party was defeated in Alimosho Local government called for concern as there was need to put the house in order to ensure the party recorded victory as it usually does every 4 years.
APC’s defeat in Alimosho was largely caused by the disunity in the house. There was clear rivalry among leaders of the party. Aregbesola’s exit from Lagos APC created a big vacuum for Alimosho. Some party leaders were not at home with the appointment of Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo as their new leader. This cost the party as many of the party stewards were reluctant and no longer ready to work for the party.
The Labour Party is largely supported by the Igbos saw this and used the opportunity to dislodged APC in Alimosho making them to boastfully claim that Lagos is a no man’s land. Many of them affirmed their readiness to elect one of them in Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour as Governor of the state.
The shocking result was a great threat to the dominance of APC in the state and an indicator that it might be upstaged if something drastic is not done. The party was fast losing its strongholds in the state and this called for serious concerns by leaders of the party. They all see the need to close ranks and work together to deliver for the party by ensuring governor Sanwo-Olu got re-elected. Anything short of this would spell doom for the party.
In the light of this, Aregbesola had no choice than to find means to quickly reconcile with his boss, Asiwaju in order to secure Lagos. His return to Alimosho was indeed a stitch in time which greatly helped in bringing all hands-on neck for the party’s victory in the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections held on 19th March, 2023.
Aregbesola started by meeting with the aggrieved leaders in Alimosho. He also met with party faithful, artisans and leaders of different ethnic groups, letting them know why they should work towards securing the state for APC and Governor Sanwo-Olu. He also charged them with embarking on aggressive house-to-house campaigns and sensitization across the nooks and crannies of the local government. This worked well as APC recorded massive votes which is always known for. Everything went peacefully in the area.
In addition, he was part team who negotiated the strategic and timely agreement the party struck with the candidate of Action Alliance (AA) in Lagos State, Mr Balogun AbdulRasaq Tope which saw him step down and work for the re-election bid of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the APC in Lagos. These and many other moves made by the former Osun State governor scored valid points for the party. And this resulted in the party getting more votes in Alimosho as governor Sanwo-Olu’s victory was highly pronounced in Alimosho This time around the party reclaimed Alimosho for Sanwo-Olu with 83, 631 votes over the Labour Party which scored a distant 37, 136. He is indeed back to base for good. Aregbesola has no doubt warmed his way back into Lagos APC.
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