The little proxy war in Lagos

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
The court verdict on the outcome of last October’s local government election in Ikoyi/Obalende Development Council Area of Lagos State is a tonic for the long suffering opposition PDP in the state. Is it sustainable?

Justice Dolapo Akinsanya’s reputation as a fearless and courageous woman in the judiciary was not achieved recently. As a High Court judge in the Lagos judiciary she came to national limelight in 1993 when she delivered the judgment that removed the legal framework under which the interim national government contraption of Chief Ernest Shonekan had vainly sought to legitimise itself.

Now retired from the bench, Justice Akinsanya as head of a five man local government election tribunal in Lagos State, again came to fore last Thursday with a judgment on a nationally watched proxy political battle in Lagos.

Tinubu: ACN National Leader; Justice Akinsanya and Obanikoro: PDP leader

In its judgment, the Justice Akinsanya led panel overturned the declaration of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN’s Adewale Adeniji as the winner of the local government chairmanship election conducted last October. Going more, the panel in a landmark 4 to 1 decision declared the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s Ibrahim Obanikoro as the winner of the election.

The reverberation of the judgment was of serious consideration and cause for celebration for the long suffering Lagos PDP which until now had not made any electoral impact in the state since the advent of the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu phenomenon. What is even being celebrated by the Lagos PDP is the fact that the Ikoyi/Obalende council is the registered home of the national leader of the ACN, Asiwaju Tinubu.

“We commend members of the panel for being bold to declare the judgment in favour of PDP in an area where the residence of the national leader of the ACN, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is and our councillor candidate was also declared winner in the ward where former Governor Tinubu resides,” Barrister Taofeek Gani, the PDP’s state publicity secretary told Vanguard at the weekend.

Remarkably, the PDP’s candidate, Babajide, is the son of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Nigeria’s current High Commissioner to Ghana and a former Local Government Chairman in the State. Senator Obanikoro was also at one time a commissioner in the Tinubu cabinet before he went to the jumped ship to the PDP.

After cancellations of alleged illegal votes and other deductions, the Akinsanya led panel declared that Obanikoro won the election by 6780 votes to 6,248 votes attained by his ACN counterpart.

The local government election of last October was the first one that the PDP had participated in since the creation of the 52 local councils by the Tinubu administration. The PDP had before last October boycotted the council polls on the premise that the councils were illegally created. in other national elections, however, the ACN in almost every case overwhelmed the PDP.

when the PDP, however, decided to participate in the local government elections last year only few could have given the party any hope of success despite the internal divisions that bedeviled the ACN prior to the polls on account of alleged imposition of candidates.

At the end of polling the PDP claimed to have been cheated out of some chairmanship positions it claimed to have won, notably the princely Ikoyi/Obalende council and Badagry.

Protests by national and local officers of the party were followed by admonitions from ACN leaders that they should go to court. The outcome of the court battle in the Ikoyi/Obalende council was Justice Akinsanya’s remarkable verdict.

The Lagos ACN was quick to rebut the declaration declaring it an impossibility for the PDP to ever win in Lagos .

“It is not possible for the PDP to defeat ACN in any council in Lagos . ACN is the most popular party in the state,” the ACN’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Chief Funso Ologunde declared shortly after the judgment.

In a more comprehensive rebuttal, the ACN through its state publicity secretary, Comrade Joe Igbokwe declared that the declaration was a vindication of the fact that elections truly took place in the state and the willingness of the ACN to open up the democratic space unlike the trend in PDP controlled states.

“We challenge the PDP and its allies to allow for such credible process in the states they govern. A situation where it is only in Lagos that a different party from the one that controls the state can lay claim to victory and go to the tribunal to have such claim affirmed should worry the PDP, which delights in closing the democratic space in all states it control through fair and foul means and striving to employ all means to control local government councils in states it does not control.”

“We want them to learn immensely from the Lagos State process and give other parties fair chances of contesting and winning elections in the states they control,” Igbokwe said as he disclosed that the party was still considering an appeal.

“We acknowledge that we may not win it all and that if we eventually lose the case at the appeal, it is no big deal to lose one out of 57 LCDAs. We urge our members to remain form and steadfast in their support for our great party.”

The notice of an appeal was being received with ominous signs in the PDP at the weekend as Taofeek feared the worst.

“The State Chairman of ACN, Ajumolae said that our victory will not last and that they will get it back. I don’t know what he means because it was a verdict of 4 to 1 and for him to say that the victory will not last it means that they are up to another Salami style at their own level here but we will resist it.”

“The people of Ikoyi/Obalende have spoken, they voted and their votes must count and the court has also confirmed that we were voted for and that we won. So, if they come up with any thing that will prcepitate violence, they should be held responsible.”