2023: Why Tinubu Cleared Coast for Sanwo-Olu to Seek Re-election

* How secret poll endorsed governor’s second term bid
Segun James

After months of apprehension and animated uncertainty, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and presidential hopeful, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has finally cleared the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to run for a second term, after result of a secret poll allegedly endorsed him as fit for re-election.

The poll result was said to have declared Sanwo-Olu as fit and popular, predicated also on stellar performance above average, was, according to sources, evidenced by physical infrastructure, interventions in governance and the governor’s quick delivery of leadership.

Apart from the poll, which was believed to have helped Sanwo-Olu’s case, a party source claimed, Tinubu also believed that the governor has done impressively well, despite all that he went through in four years and therefore believed that denying him re-election would have been utterly unfair and against democratic ethos.

In addition, THISDAY gathered that members of the Governors’ Advisory Council (GAC), the highest political decision-making body in the state, also shared the opinion that the governor deserved a second term after all that he had done in four years and had subsequently communicated their common position to the leader
Importantly, also, another source told THISDAY last night that, the APC national leader would not consciously set his own house on fire, since he too was seeking to be president, an assignment that would have taken him completely away from the local politics of Lagos.

In order words, the source explained that it would have been politically suicidal for Tinubu to want to be president and at the same time, seek to remove the governor of Lagos, two major undertakings that would have been too much to prosecute at the same time.

To that extent, THISDAY gathered that plans had been concluded for Sanwo-Olu to kick-off his re-election campaign at the national convention of the party slated to hold in Abuja this weekend.
This development, the source further explained, followed the clearance the Lagos governor, has received from Tinubu to proceed with his re-election plans and campaign, adding that the reason Sanwo-Olu has also kept everything relating to the campaign to his chest was, because the decision to unveil in Abuja during the convention was entirely his after the clearance.
“Yes, the coast is clear. But let’s get this straight. Tinubu has never been against Governor Sanwo-Olu’s re-election; he was not just talking. So, people started interpreting his silence to mean different things, including the fact that he might be considering dropping him. But in truth, the leader has never mooted that idea.
“Did you notice that even when certain names were dropped as possible replacement for the governor, the individuals on their own volitions came out to deny it, and not just that, many of them went on to affirm that the governor had done well and therefore, deserved re-election.

“Besides, Baba had his own way of verifying things, beyond what is available to the ordinary person. His personal checks confirmed that the governor should come back, given a credible election, thus, corroborating his own conviction and here we are today, it is sealed,” he said.

A source in the governor’s camp confirmed to THISDAY at the weekend that Sanwo-Olu already planned to come out with a bang this weekend, with all sorts of campaign memorabilia stored up ahead of the day, designed especially to complement Tinubu’s presidential bid.

According to the source, “It’s going to be a different kind of campaign. It is not for free that we are called Eko for show. That show is what is going to light up the venue and watch Lagos steal the show completely, not just for Sanwo-Olu, but also for the leader, who is going to be Nigeria’s president Insha Allah.”