Hamzat the Peace Maker

Segun James writes about moves by Lagos state Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat to resolve pocket of crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress in the state

It was an unexpected and spontaneous action, which happened during a scheduled meeting of party elders and leaders called to resolve the lingering crisis rocking the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Acme Road, Ikeja secretariat of the party. At the meeting, the Deputy Governor of Lagos, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat was allegedly attacked by politicians who were angered by how he was handling the crisis.

Hamzat pulled no rabbit from his political hat when he allegedly delivered his decision on the issues. The reaction of the people was said to be swift and spontaneous. That was not how Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the party would handle situations, the people cried as they allegedly tear into Hamzat and other leaders on the high table at the conference hall of the secretariat.

The situation would have gone bloody if the security agents attached to the Deputy Governor, including his Aide de Camp (ADC) had been inside the hall when the attack took place. It took the wit of the Deputy Governor to calm the situation and stopped the police and the Department of Security Service operatives from arresting the aggrieved political warriors. Hamzat had said that the attack was simply a party affair as he was whisked away from the venue.

What led to the attack on a Deputy Governor? What gave the attackers the audacity and why did they go so far? And what led to this? These are the questions agitating the minds of political leadership in the state.

It all started when a meeting of elders, leaders and aggrieved party members was called to resolve the issues that are threatening to tear the party apart in the state. At the time Hamzat was to enter the venue, hundreds of the party faithful were locked out of the venue by security operatives. Seeing that the situation may degenerate into a free-for-all, he was said to have ordered that the people be allowed into the secretariat premises even though they would not be allowed into the meeting’s venue. This somewhat calmed the agitated nerves.

But the situation changed at the conference hall when the leaders, including the Deputy Governor, were accused of imposing candidates who had not done anything for the party and people that are unpopular within the party. Instead of calming frayed nerves, the Deputy Governor was said to have told them to accept the party’s decision in good faith. That was when all hell broke loose during the protest.

THISDAY learnt that the most contentious were issues concerning Lagos Mainland Local Government. “The Local Government in question is Lagos Mainland LGA which has several important issues that need to be cleared and managed, so the “protest” was very normal to us, as party members, it was bound to happen once in a while, but the Deputy Governor was the main person that handled and calmed the situation and took them into the Party Secretariat.

The source was angry at the insinuation that Hamza was beaten up by protesters. “Who is arguing with You on “protest?” He queried. “Or what’s the goal post that shifted? I was there, the headline says “Deputy Governor beaten up.” Aggrieved members were called to a meeting, period. Who argued about “protest?” Protests are normal, the Deputy Governor was the one who handled the situation and told people to come into the secretariat and spoke to them. There was no attack on his person.”

Trying to debunk the report, the office of the Deputy Governor put out a statement that was signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Tunde Alao.

According to him, “the Office of the Deputy Governor wishes to state in unequivocal terms, for the attention of millions of readers that the report is untrue, mischievous, fake and unfounded.

“While we would not have joined issues with the originator of the story and his/her cohorts, we are compelled to write this piece due to the inaccuracies it conveyed; as the story was completely different and not a true reflection of what happened at the meeting. Also, we would not allow some quack bloggers and journalists with mischievous inclinations to bring the personality and name of the Deputy Governor to disrepute.

“It is important to state that truly, a meeting was called by the Party to discuss with all the party candidates, aspirants and party chairmen. The meeting which commenced earlier on that day was abruptly brought to a halt as suspected political miscreants who were supporters from one of the Local Governments took over the venue of the said meeting shutting out other members from accessing the meeting room.

“The Deputy Governor got to the Party Secretariat and with the support of his aides promptly calms frayed nerves and had a meeting with the aggrieved parties for over one hour; after which photographs were taken and everyone went about their business peaceful.

“The above narrative is exactly what happened at the Party Secretariat on Monday and was accurately reported by Vanguard on its online page with the caption, “APC Primaries: Hamzat Intervenes As Aggrieved Members Disrupt Truce Meeting In Lagos” and on page 29 of Nigerian Tribune of Tuesday, 26th July 2022. So, one wonders and we are indeed amazed where the writer got his/her own side of the misleading story or information that the Deputy Governor and others were ‘Thoroughly beaten up.’

“Truth must be said, this is a sad example of awful journalism and abuse of the social media space which we all must endeavor to do away with from our public discourse. We cannot have journalists cooking up stories without verifying and without a credible basis. To us, this story succeeded in exposing the unprofessional and unethical quality of the writer. In this specific case, he/she goofed.

“Let those who are interested in professional reports continue their good work and the crooked ones should stop their falsehood because it will come back to haunt them.”

Since the last primaries of the party, especially at the local government level, the party has been rocked by a crisis that is now threatening to derail the second-term aspiration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

It is well enough that the APC is facing a crisis at the national level because of the all Muslim presidential ticket of the party, but this was coming on the heels of the gubernatorial debacle in Osun state, a bad omen for the party in the run for the 2023 election.

A crisis at this time will only give the PDP an opportunity to make headway in the volatile political situation in the state.

Rebellion is in the air in Lagos APC and it is threatening to derail the well-ordered political system put in place by Tinubu. It is gathered that anger on the issues is not just directed at the Deputy Governor personally, but also at the Governor whom, the party at the grassroots considered aloof and distant.

Before now, issues such as these would have been handled directly by Tinubu or through the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) which was created to handle such problems. But with Tinubu now occupied with his presidential ambition and focused on his election; political leadership was handed over to Sanwo-Olu, who in turn asked his deputy to be in charge of all political issues. How he handles issues in the coming months will definitely determine the outcome of the governorship election in 2023.

According to a chieftain of the party who spoke on condition of anonymity, “time was when Tinubu was in charge. He would have nibbed the issues in the bud before it gets to the point of an attack on a leader of the party. But not anymore.”

He lamented that “with the leader now enmeshed in his own election wahala, the party may implode on the governor.”

Whether it was Tinubu’s presidential ambition or the fact that he held power for so long without grooming any successor, what is however agreed upon is that the APC in Lagos is in serious crisis and the outcome may be costly.

On a governance level, the past four years have seen a sharp contrast between Lagos and the recession-hit federal government and the rest of the country which are forever dependent on the allocations coming from the federal purse.

In the rough-and-tumble politics of Lagos, the woes are not all on one side. Despite the economic achievement of the state, it is suffering on the political front, no thanks to the unrelenting effort of  Olajide Adediran aka Jandor who has been capitalizing on the crisis within the APC.

Over the years, Tinubu had used the carrot and stick approach to effectively control the politics in the party and Lagos state. He had ensured that tens of millions worth of juicy incentives are passed to the political class to keep them quiet and perpetuate his anointed in power. Also, visible projects on water, land, food and other basic infrastructural development were embarked upon for the people to see in order to ensure their continued loyalty. The result of this is his effective control of the levers of power in the state.

But now that Tinubu is hoping to move up the political ladder, crisis has started to erupt. This is the situation as the race towards 2023 hots up.