El-Rufai, First Lady and future of Igbo Lagosians

By Lanre Adewole 

”Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgement”—-The godfather.

On May 4, 2019, a Saturday, Nasiru El-Rufai, as Kaduna governor, came crusading in Lagos. He was guest of ex-APC National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire (now a Silk).
The controversial lawyer, since his demotion and most people will say, demolition, in Lagos power corridors, has had an on-off, high today-low tomorrow, friends yesterday-enemies today relational with the strongman of the state politics in the running republic and today’s President Bola Tinubu.
Nasiru’s gospel; how to defeat political godfathers in Lagos. It was a tongue-in-cheek move. Lagos has only one lord, he owns the crazily-expensive land in the state and gives as he likes. Does the Bible not say the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof? Well, Tinubu is god of Lagos politics and he is also the fada (slang for overall boss) of anybody aspiring to be or has been anything in the state. If in doubt ask incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwoolu and 61-day speaker Mojisola Meranda. She didn’t last despite being a daughter of the soil and of unquestioned ancestry. The President proved to both and their recalcitrant kind that he is the ologbojo of Lagos politics, the father of all small small masquerades. The only “small” egungun the ologbojo sensibly shied away from unmasking was Babatunde Fashola. The big masquerade seeded his disavowal of his continued dance in Alausa beyond the first term, but was met with state-wide, even region-wide pushback. The people wanted the smallie masquerade to dance for another four years. Baba read the discontent well and backed off, to fight another day.
Eight years later, ologbojo had mastered the art of stopping incumbent governor from second term despite being a private citizen then. His favourite for Fashola’s job in 2011, Akinwunmi Ambode, was the guinea-pig of one-term stricture in 2019. Nothing would placate the godfather. His estranged godson gotta go!
So El-Rufai came with receipts, manual and fool-proof blueprint of how he ended, not one but four unnamed godfathers in Kaduna, allegedly holding the state purse gruffly in the jugular. He had testimonies of his valorous conquests too.
Hear his ace; “Here in Lagos, you have over six million registered voters, only about a million voted (in 2019 general elections); five million did not vote. If I want to run for governor of Lagos, I will start now. I will commission a study to know why those five million registered voters did not vote; where do they go on election day? Then I will start visiting them for the next four years. I will try and get just two million of them to come and vote for me; I will defeat any godfather. The key is to go to the people. The card reader and the biometric register have given us the tools to connect directly with the people. I assure you if you do that for the next four years, connecting with the people; the tin godfather, you will retire him or her permanently”.
Regarding logistics, he said, “But it is hard work; it requires three to four years of hard work. So, if you want to run in 2023, you should start now. With about N2 billion, if you start, you see these guys with black ties, they will give you the N2 billion”.
Then he testified, “Many of the godfathers are either on paper or in the mind of people in politics. They are defeatable. We retired four of them in Kaduna State within a four-year time and they are gone. One of them boasted that he put me in the government house and he would take me out.”
Less than four years after, Nasiru’s projection was validated. A supposed rag-tag army of Peter Obi’s political movement; the Obidients, populated by inflamed youth across ethnic aisles (though mostly Igbo) and backed by anti-Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket of Tinubu/APC crowd, did the unthinkable and got the job, which organised opposition like PDP couldn’t do even while in power at the centre for 16 years, done. For the first time, Tinubu actually lost a presidential election in his Lagos backyard and unlike the 2011’s, which he sold to Jonathan, he did all he could this time, to win, considering he was rooting for himself on the ballot. Tinubu lu’le (fell) in Lagos but miraculously got Nigeria despite losing practically all the bellwether states. A fortnight after the humiliating loss, Tinubu orbit regrouped to retain Lagos governorship. How they did it had been well-documented including by foreign observers who slammed the comeback as a charade. The rest is for history.
The night Sanwoolu led the Tinubu army to the bruising presidential poll defeat in Lagos, his household was in turmoil. A cabinet member with whom I share a common friend whispered the Lagos First Lady, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwoolu was almost inconsolable. Jeremiah 31:15 says “Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more”. Rachel, Jacob’s wife, is depicted here as the mourning mother of the Israel nation after the exiling. The First Lady was quoted as consistently querying amid wails why the calamity that befell the state’s ruling elite had to be during her husband’s reign. Deep down her, she must have foreseen consequences, considering that the Lagos loss didn’t sink the leader. Those who saw her the election night described an extreme worrier. Like Nasiru, she could be said to be prophetic too. Her husband recently had a taste of the humiliation that comes with such a fight-back. It is like a viping cobra. The venom, terminal.
But really a soothsayer should not be needed to reckon coming recriminations, fight-backs and a vigorous attempt at ensuring no repeat, by completely obliterating the dragon-slayers and Goliath-decapitators, considering that in about two years from now, there might still be another dance between the conquered and the conquistador tribe of militaristic Lagos youth. The street-renaming project, unabashedly tribal and targetted at Igbo Lagosians (because that is who they are), fits into the fightback narrative. A lot of op-ed(s) have been penned on the controversy. Aside the unsigned advertorial by a faceless group going by the moniker Yoruba Elders Progressive Council, calling for a mini civil war against the Igbo community in Lagos, the rest of the supporters of the anti-Igbo rants and official policy, have chosen to remain in their cocoons. Most of the writings in circulation, criticized the embraced path to decimate Ndigbo in Lagos politics. I pity the governor. Yoruba will say the one being targetted for roast and toast doesn’t dabble body in flammables. I read  a rich-in-history call on the governor by Dr. Bolaji Akinyemi, to immediately repudiate the anti-Igbo rhetoric and official policies at the local government level and distance himself from other agenda including dispossessing them of their legally-acquired property in the state. Such open disavowal of the ongoing brigandage whether with Asiwaju’s blessing or not, is harakiri for the governor. It would feed perfectly into the accusation he is an enemy-within to his benefactor. With the desperation oozing out of Asiwaju’s camp now, even Seyi, his publicly-beloved heir wont be spared if there are credible intels he is romancing opposition or worse still, funding them.
Bayo Ojulari of NNPC has gone completely underground following his alleged funding of the president’s political rivals. Yoruba will warn that if you want a fight-to-finish from the dumb, put leaves in-between your lips. Sanwoolu could spend the next six years fighting against jail term for contrived or real corrupt acts. Ibijoke’s husband will have to go low and not buga (behave anyhow) for the rest of his term, ensuring no daylight between Alausa and Abuja.
For someone seeking the whole South behind him for re-election, akin to the One North policy, it is surprising President Tinubu is not learning from the revolt of the North Central in deploring how the Fulani hegemonists have treated them. There are 17 states in the South, with five in South East, with millions of votes. If his orbit keeps sending the signal that the diaspora easterners in Lagos are not wanted, what kind of embrace is he expecting from their kinsmen over there, when the diaspora billionaires are mainly the darling of the people back home. A thousand and one South-East APC governors won’t defeat the people, no matter the dipping election integrity around here. Either on top or below a serious presidential ticket, Obi is sweeping East and Igbo Lagosians that could be persuaded to be open-minded and not vote ethnicity over stability, are being daily hounded. You are simply forcing them to retreat into the comfort of their own. It is also nobody’s fault if Tinubu isn’t enjoying ethnic advantage in Lagos. At least, it is obvious Lagos is majorly Yoruba and Yoruba-speaking. If his own aren’t finding his waist fit for beads, his corner should be asking internal questions not getting infernal with a race trying to sculpture the waist of its own for same beads. Maybe Tinubu has represented his political family more than the Yoruba nation. Maybe he has placed his political needs ahead of the general interest of the race. Even Yoruba embraced Obasanjo, the self-acclaimed pan-Nigerian, at a point. Before seeking villains to hang, the President could do well checking his politics, policies and person. Maybe he needs to be more selfless and inclusive. Ibo-speaking Deltans will still whip him, just like others in the South South. For those celebrating the Southern Solidarity thing, the pause button is like now. Tinubu hasn’t run away with the South vote.
I expect El-Rufai to return to Lagos with his blueprint, possibly to woo the Arewa Lagosians who are now seriously breaking with the ruling APC as seen in the recent largely-boycotted council poll in the state. Beyond suppression and repression, Asiwaju will have to find a lasting formula to buck his losing streak with Igbo voting bloc in and outside of Lagos and God help him if Jonathan jumps into the race and all opposition parties agree to coalesce around him. It will then be a referendum on records of two presidents who served almost equal number of years. The loser will be easy to predict, because Jonathan’s standing in the North today, is even far better than Asiwaju’s. Jonathan’s entry is likely sai gobe (farewell in Hausa language) to Asiwaju as a one-term president. Ambode may have the last titter.

ADEWOLE is a columnist with Nigerian Tribune.