Politics

Disquiet In APC As Buhari Shuns Lagos
Again
Lagos -Why exactly did President Muhammadu Buhari
abruptly cancelled his much-publicised two days working
visit to Lagos state where he is billed to commission some
landmark projects initiated by the state governor,
Akinwunmi Ambode? Too many reasons have been
adduced for this. While the spokespersons of the president
attributed it to scheduling difficulties, others have claimed it
was due to last minute security reports made available to
the president on the need to abort the trip. Some have also
claimed the whole drama has some political undertone
which may not be revealed to the average man on the
street. Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media
and Publicity, Garba Shehu while addressing State House
correspondents had said “The president is faced with
scheduling difficulties and that is the reason for the
postponement of the visit. He needs more time for Lagos
and for Edo which had earlier been stepped down. As a
result of this, the visit has been scaled down and he is being
represented by His Excellency the vice-president, who is
going to Lagos to commission a few projects, leaving the
rest for Mr. President. The president will undertake these
visits after the Ramadan”. When told of the insinuations
that the decision by the president to terminate the trip had
political undertone, Shehu said “People are free to express
whatever they want to say, but the truth is constant and we
stay on our story.” Asked to explain what he meant by
scheduling difficulties he said: “If you are challenged with
scheduling, then you reshuffle things and see how best you
can use whatever time that you have. The President needs
more time for both Lagos and Edo and this time space does
not allow him the kind of time, the much time that he thinks
he wants.”
Twice Bitten …
Already, there is confusion amongst some chieftains of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) and politicians as to why
Lagos state, widely regarded as the economic base of
Nigeria and the home base of the National Leader of the
party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who played significant role in
the emergence of Buhari as the president after three failed
attempts should be ignored by the president for the second
time when he is called upon for commissioning of projects.
Speaking with Independent, a former federal lawmaker in the
state who was present at the commissioning by the Vice –
President said he is still at a loss as to why the president
decided to stay away from Lagos despite adequate
measures put in place by the governor to ensure he had a
great time during the two days visit. He however wondered
why the president did not shun the invitation to the 40th
year anniversary of Ogun state earlier in the year. According
to him, “ We have heard so many reasons for the abolition
of the visit, but only the president can give us the true
position as to why he decided to stay away. I can’t read his
mind. But the truth is, the decision of the president to stay
away despite the various efforts put in place by the state
government actually took the shine off the event. It becomes
even worrisome when you consider the fact that this is the
second time the governor had invited Mr. President for
commissioning of projects in the state and he declined, yet
he had been invited to Ogun state on two occasions and he
attended in person. First is the burial of Mama Awolowo and
the second is the celebration of Ogun state at 40” he said.
Independent recalled that Governor Ambode first invited
President Buhari to Lagos for the commissioning of special
security equipments purchased by the state government for
the police. The state government had gleefully announced
that the president, who will be visiting Lagos officially for
the first time since his inauguration, will be handing over the
helicopters to the police authorities for immediate operation.
That hope was however dashed when the president, who
had arrived the country from Iran two days earlier where he
attended the burial of the late matriarch, HID Awolowo, in
Ikenne, Ogun state on November 25th jetted out of the
country a day to the commissioning. He was represented by
the Minister of Interior, Lieutenant General Abdulrahman
Dambazzau (rtd).
Wrong Timing
The recent trip cancellation by the president has further
reignited the alleged frosty relationship between the
president and Tinubu over the control of the soul of
Nigeria’s ruling party, APC. Coming at a time when the
leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had
embarked on a nationwide strike, though epileptic, to
protest the increase in the price of petrol from N86 to N145,
many had alleged that there were plans by some leaders of
APC in connivance with Labour leaders to embarrass the
president. Others also claimed that the president was
advised to stay away from the trip because of the enormous
fanfare made by the Lagos State government to welcome
him. According to our source “Coming at a time when
Nigerians are groaning over the poor power supply despite
an astronomic increase in electricity tariff, increase in price
of petrol by almost 45 percent, rising cost of foodstuffs,
especially tomatoes, and a nationwide strike by organised
labour, it will be unwise for the President to come to Lagos
and be received with such fanfare. “ The Lagos state
government has already spent millions of naira in erecting
banners in strategic places. So many market women have
already chosen uniform clothes (Aso Ebi) and matching
headties to welcome the president. That will not speak well
for a government that is talking about change and has
promised to do away with such acts that were prevalent
under the PDP. I think the president took the right decision
by staying away till after Ramadan. We expect things to
have normalise by then”.
Why Osinbajo Stepped In
Also speaking to Independent, an official of the state
government who does not want her name in print said
Governor Ambode had already gotten reports that the
President might not show up for the visit. According to her,
the Presidency later informed the Governor on Sunday, a day
to the commencement of the visit and tried to persuade him
to wait till after the end of the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan, which will start on Monday, the 6th of June and
will continue for 30 days until Tuesday, the 5th of July. The
governor however refused the proposal saying he will go
ahead with the commissioning of the projects whether the
President showed up or not. The governor’s argument,
according to her is because the equipment are needed for
the security and protection of Lagosians and can’t be kept
somewhere unused till after Ramadan when the president
will be available. “There have been signs that the president
might not show up for the two days working visit. On
Sunday, the presidency called Governor Ambode informing
him of the inability of the president to come for the
scheduled trip. They then advised him to postpone it till
after Ramadan when the president will be available. But the
governor rejected the proposal saying he will go ahead with
the commissioning” . “The governor’s claim was that
majority of things that were expected to be commissioned
by Mr. President are security and safety gadgets for the
protection of lives of Lagosians, most especially those
equipments for LASEMA. Why should he keep those things
unused for two months because he wanted the president to
come and commission them? He insisted he will commission
those projects for immediate use because he places
premium on the safety of Lagosians” “When the governor
insisted on going ahead with the commissioning without the
president, the presidency in order to save their face, believed
that it will not speak well for the president not to show up
and didn’t send any representative. They then asked the
governor if he won’t mind if the Vice- President comes
around to commission the projects. The governor replied
that he is okay with that. That was when the VP was
hurriedly recalled from Guinea. As at Saturday and Sunday,
the vice- president was in Guinea on official assignment”.
“From the look of the VP, we knew he was extremely tired.
He arrived Nigeria on Sunday night. He came to Lagos for
the commissioning on Monday and he departed for Abuja
that same day. Now is travelling out of the country today
to Zambia” she said.
Controversy over Buhari’s Meeting with Amosun
While Vice- President, Yemi Osinbajo was commissioning the
projects on behalf of the president in Lagos, pictures
surfaced online showing a smiling President Buhari hosting
Ogun state governor, Ibikunle Amosun in the presidential
villa. This did not go down well with some Nigerians who
claimed it was a deliberate attempt to spite the Lagos state
governor. A former Commissioner in Lagos State who also
spoke with Independent attributed the blame to the media
team of the president whom he accused of making the
pictures public. He said “The media team of the president
is to blame for those pictures. They didn’t handle that
incident very well” . “If you go to social media, a lot of
people are wondering why they made public the pictures of
the president laughing with Governor Amosun, after telling
Nigerians that he had scheduling difficulties. Didn’t he
know that he will be hosting Governor Amosun before
accepting the invitation to come to Lagos for the
commissioning? Honestly, nobody knew what they set out to
achieve with those pictures but I believe the Governor
Ambode is not bothered” he said . When asked why the
pictures were made public by the presidency, our source
said the President holds Governor Ambode in the highest
esteem and will not do anything to belittle him. “Contrary to
impressions being created in the social media that the
presidency deliberately released the pictures of the President
playing host to Governor Amosun in order to spite the
Governor of Lagos State, nothing of such happened’. “ We
deliberately released those pictures for strategic reasons.
One of such reasons is to disprove the claim being bandied
around that the president is seriously indisposed. Some
even claimed that he suffered from partial stroke. The
pictures were released to prove to Nigerians that their
president is hale and hearty and in sound mind to provide
leadership for the nation”. “We will never do anything to
belittle His Excellency, the governor of Lagos State, a man
wie hold in the highest esteem. The president has assured
that he will be on ground to commission those landmark
projects after Ramadan, and God willing, nothing will change
that” he said.
Aside receiving Amosun, President Buhari, who was said to
have been in his office as early as 8:00 a.m. also received
briefing from at least three ministers. First were the Minister
of Environment, Amina Mohammed and her Minister of State,
Ibrahim Usman Jibril. He later had audience with the
Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige. Besides, the president was
physically present at the Villa mosque where he joined the
congregation for both 1:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. prayers
before he closed for the day and he did not show any sign
of ill health. Commenting on the development, Shehu said
“You can see that the man (President Buhari) has been in
the office performing his official functions. He has been
meeting with the ministers; he met with a governor; does he
look like somebody who is sick?” He noted that the media
report of the President’s alleged ear infection was the
handiwork of some people who he said had made up their
minds, not to see anything good coming from the Buhari’s
government. “What do you do when some people have
made up their minds not to see any good coming from the
President despite the good works he is doing, we have to
leave it to the people to decide for themselves” he said.
Amosun Denies Plot
However, Amosun has debunked rumours that he
masterminded the plot leading to Buhari’s jettisoning the
two days working visit to Lagos. One of the governor’s
aides who spoke with Independent said contrary to
impression being created by some individuals, the governor
actually made plans to attend the commissioning in Lagos. “
We have heard a lot of rumours. In fact, some even alleged
that the governor’s visit to President Buhari was to thank
him for abandoning the Lagos visit. The truth is that
Governor Amosun wanted to be at the commissioning in
Tafawa Balewa Square. He did he can to be there. In fact
all his aides were on ground to receive him. But we heard
he couldn’t make it because major roads were blocked by
security men” he said.