Many have wondered in
their raving minds: why would disbandment of Mandate Group (“MG”) come in
curious coincidence with the emergence of Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo as group’s
new Chairman. Some thus hold that it was a clear language of Tinubu’s resolve
to finally renounce his affiliation with political group, which had to come
with collateral damage to other similar groups. Interestingly, it has also been
cleared from a segment of media that in their ascription of the disbandment a
manifestation of festering cold war between Asiwaju Tinubu and Ogbeni
Abdul-Rauf Aregbsola, Enilolobo has featured transiently.
Civics
Journal herein presents the comprehensive facts from what should be rightly
described as the hearts of reliable sources that include ears to the ground of
‘Freedom House’. Indeed this narrative given in its characteristic historical
perspective affirms that this magazine saw it coming. It has also helped to clear
the seemingly mischief that put the whole scenario to a festering Tinubu/Aregbe
rift. These are the stories you are about to read thence
At
the countdown to the 68th birthday of the National Leader of All
progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Civics Journal received a three-man delegates of an Alimosho based
socio-political organization The
Custodians - at its virtual office. The mission was to submit two advert
graphics for the coming Asiwaju’s birthday.
Stating their bases for the proposed
patronage, the team-lead that craved anonymity “for now” began: “We learnt
authoritatively that your magazine is one of the favourite read of our leader,
Bola Tinubu”, putting it imperatively as a poser in need of affirmation to open
up a robust interaction that should ordinarily excite a business in receipt of
a new client.
“Besides”, the female member
interjected at a point, “We noticed you are also doing a great job with your Page 4 that makes the bridge between communities
and the Governor. It brings the community’s plight to the attention of
government.
“When I saw your publication of the collapsed
portion of the Ikotun-Egbe Road in front of Alibert, I considered it another
wasteful noise of the media on government’s deafness. But I was impressed when
you published the feedback that showed the road as mended after all.
“The same goes with information you
published as the Governor Sanwo-Olu’s responsive update on the plight of Idimu people
over the abandoned Gbeleyi Road project. We verified your report and found that
work could resume anytime from the month of May”.
“So”, the team-lead resumed, “we thought one
way we could support your organization to continue with these good jobs is
patronages like this”.
With the engagement snowballing into
thrilling discusses of local and national politics, Civics Journal chose to clear its curiosity about the proposed
advert.
“Would you mind giving us the idea
behind your placing these ads in proxy for these two Alimosho leaders?”
“We see it coming that Alimosho All
Progressives Congress (APC) will soon become one united family. Matters of party
caucuses will soon disappear”, he said.
“We are tracking that already; we
know your Apex Leader, Alhaji Enilolobo, is on top of that”.
“It goes beyond that! We are talking
of State matter now…”
Just a few weeks after, the news of Alhaji Adullahi
Enilolobo emerging as the new Chairman of the Mandate Group was celebrated
through a media advert sponsored by his Alimosho protégé camp, Ibora Group. This was besides those that
flew in the social media.
It turned out to be a time of double
celebration for the proud Oranmiyan young
turk because it coincided with his 51st-year birthday anniversary,
the age claim that turned controversial in the cave of Alimosho Progressives
since he declared 50 years last year. This was not necessarily because any other
fact was established in contrast to his declaration; but because ‘Eni’, as he’s
fondly called by his admirers, played his politics of youth identity with tactful
but contemptuous scorn for the hierarchy of age seniority.
He and ilk invented the title of ‘awon baba baba’ or ‘the babas’, not for the dignity of deserving
respect the title inspires in the concept of its Omoluabi’s phonological value; but for a subtle enthralling
embarrassment of the party elders he sought to confine to irrelevance at the
emerging signs of his leadership succession to the Osun bound Oranmiyan Symbol – Abdul-Rauf Aregbesola.
So when he so declared 50 years, what the
lots of party members had for poser song was: “so growing old could be fanciful
for Enilolobo after all?” Some also wondered in other corners: that “so it’s
not a curse to be an elder after all?” As some observers posited amidst all
this, the murmuring was for him to appreciate aging as existentiality of life
that keeps the cycle of nature in the perfect adage of the Yoruba that says Odo mode a dagbalagba, agbalagba a darugbo –
the young shall attain adulthood as adult grows to aged.
 |
| The flag of Mandate Group now flies in Alimosho at Enilolobo reidential axis |
My observation about this is that Enilolobo
has manifest humility that may have been overwhelmed by the power exuberances
of his rallying aides and hangers on that rather helped to push this prank too
far. Therefore, he is only taking responsibility for his failure to rein in
their excesses.
By and large, Enilolobo is aging gracefully
through the profession of politics he chose for a career, having risen to the
apex leadership of Alimosho Progressives in the over two decades of this Fourth
Republic. An objective evaluation of his leadership’s success or failure story
is a matter of an imperative review of the electoral fortunes of Alimosho both in
the general and local government elections since 2011 to be precise.
However, this cannot be wholesome without a
comprehensive bar chart of the electoral results Alimosho have returned in
values to the sustained reigns of the progressives in Lagos State from the
beginning. This should take cognizance of Alimosho’s Monica as “Tinubu Country”,
which originated from the precedence of its contributions of massive, quality
and victory determinant votes from the outset that dates back to the era of
Tinubu’s senatorial election victory in the time of Social Democratic Party
(SDP) of the Third Republic. But all this is a narrative outside the scope of
this thesis.
Coming from the brief digression, it was unfortunate
that his tenure as Chairman of the Mandate Group would be short lived with a mysterious
life span of about one month. On Tuesday, June 9, 2020, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, embracing
the advisory consensus of the Lagos State Governorship Advisory Council (GAC),
was caused to renounce his appellation with the group. Suffice that this came
as GAC disbanded the three major political caucuses of the Lagos Progressives –
the old school Justice Forum (JF) the supposedly new millennium Mandate Group
(MG) and the later day Ideal Group.
Issued as it’s communiqué from the meeting in
which the Asiwaju was also in attendance, GAC resolved among others that: “All
factions like JF and MG are inimical to unity and are hereby permanently
disbanded and prohibited within the party.
“Party members should no longer make use of
these factions or their names with regard to future party business and
activities.
“To continue to hold meetings in the name of
these groups or to continue to promote such associations will amount to a
violation of this resolution.
“Any violation of this decision is subject to
party discipline, including suspension and expulsion. The party remains
supreme!”
The Council also went further to explain that
the step became imperative in order to solidify the cohesive bonding of the party
members at this time.
It said: “If we allow factionalisation, we
not only weaken the party; soon, those who should see each other as brothers
and sisters in the same party will view each other with increasing enmity as
rivals instead of members of the same political family.
“Permanent party factions have often breached
the spirit, letter and value history of the party because they only serve
merely as vehicles to foster and advance ambitions at expense of party
cohesion.
“The Council therefore resolved that while there
is a tendency to form such groups in a party, such groups should not be allowed
to become permanent identifications that could rival the primary identification
as party member”.
Curiously, the coincidence of disbanding MG et
al at incipient of Enilolobo’s leadership mandate has been raising posers and
insinuations about the possible motive of GAC. A section of the media
insinuated it to be the latent cold war between Tinubu and Rauf Aregbesola
coming to the open. They therefore described it as Tinubu’s move to check the
growing influence of Aregbesola which, to them, the formidable structure of MG
symbolises today.
Reacting to these insinuations severally, the
duo denied any rift or chess board game of politicking between them. They said
it was a figment of their imaginations.
Asiwaju Tinubu, through his Media
Adviser, Tunde Rahman, said he remained ideological leader of the political
family in which the former Osun State governor remained a strong and loyal
member.
Rahman said: “Asiwaju Tinubu remains
Ogbeni Aregbesola’s leader. The former Governor of Osun State has been
unswervingly and wholly committed to the progressive ideology of the Tinubu
political family. There is no war, cold or hot, between them. There has never
been and there will never be. Asiwaju believes in him and he believes in the
APC leader.
“Our political family remains strong
and we are staying focused in our commitment to building and maintaining a
cohesive political party”.
On his part, Ogbeni Aregbesola said
his loyalty to Tinubu remained total, claiming that he knew the source of the
mischief.
He said: “I remain committed to my
mentor… They even said I have presidential ambition; (that is) false!”
But both Aljazeera
News and The Guardian yet
believed otherwise. They rather insisted that “analysts within and outside the
party are still convinced there are more to the GAC’s decision that goes beyond
the denials”.
Giving its reasons for the perceived rifts, The Guardian cited the 2016 governorship
primary in the Ondo State Chapter as the origin. It published that “During the
primary, Tinubu openly expressed his preference for Mr. Segun Abraham, while
Aregbesola and some strong members of Mandate Group pitched their tents with a
former legal Adviser of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusola Oke, who
had defected to APC. Tinubu was not really happy and comfortable (when his
candidate lost and It) was painful to Tinubu to the extent of accusing the
national chairman of corruption, which he put in a statement to the media”.
For another reason the newspaper could be deemed
to seemingly present as Tinubu’s vengeance, it cited the Osun State 2018
governorship election that produced Gboyega Oyetola as the governor. It said
Oyetola was not Aregbesola’s preferred candidate. ” But (he) not only bowed to
Tinubu’s preference for Oyetola, he also worked for APC to retain control of
the state without exposing his displeasure”.
The publication reads further, “the
relationship between Aregbesola, Tinubu and Oyetola worsened… (particularly
when) Governor Oyetola, with the support of Tinubu, nominated a candidate other
than Aregbesola as the ministerial nominee from Osun.
“(And) having realised how he was being
rendered politically defenseless and irrelevant in Osun by his successor,
Aregbesola was said to have chosen to return to his Lagos base and the Mandate
Group for the 2023 battle ahead. (In other words), as part of his effort to
re-launch himself, Aregebsola recently revamped the Mandate Group, a core support
group that helped Tinubu secure a second term in 2003. He appointed one of
his boys, Abdullahi Enilolobo, as the new chairman of MG, while he elevated
Cardinal James Odumbaku to the position of apex leader” - Parenthesis mine.
Some political pundits in the know however observed
that The Guardian and the like appeared to use their piecemeal knowledge of
curious coincidences to build a wholesome fallacy of virtual fact for the manipulation
of public mind into buying imaginary fact for wholesome reality of life.
And in complementarily observatory fact, granted
that this essayist acknowledges the purported split of interests in the Osun
2019 governorship election without being deemed buying into it; what should
make this angle interesting and rationally conclusive is that The Guardian writer also acknowledges
that Aregbesola rather submitted to the wish of his leader. This should bespeak
his (Argbe’s) Omoluab’s instinct of
evergreen gratefulness to what the Yoruba would metaphorically describe as Orisun – the source – which remains the
strong distinguishing peculiarity of the political character of mainstream progressives’
lineage of the Yoruba nation among her peers in the contemporary Nigerian democracy.
The Ondo angle was more of a
spectacle of the forces of Abuja cabal’s untoward drive for a brash change of
Southwest’s political leadership through a deliberate plot to annihilate
Tinubu’s political relevance.
That game revolved around the tripod
structure of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation now
standing trial for ‘grass-cutter’ corruption case, Lawal Babachir, and the late
Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, for the plotters in the
presidency; and the former APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, as
the hatchet man in the party structure.
To bring Aregbe into this mix as
incendiary for the spark of the imaginary cold war in discourse is to literally
hold him in absolute treacherous force against Tinubu.
Indeed, it should be helpful for The Guardian author’s enlightenment that
the ‘Ilori’ factor in the Oke’s support group in that election may have
informed the misguided belief of Aregbesola’s support because Bola Ilori is the
Ondo-based Aregbesola’s protégé that had been part of Alimosho’s political
value exports to other states of the federation. Suffice that there were more to
the Ondo election than meet the eye and that should be clear from the enduring
crisis rocking the State’s APC since the Abuja Force, through Oyegun, wrought
that incompatible parties to form the Akeredolu government.
Thus the Enilolobo
Nexus
All
this notwithstanding, connecting the banning of party caucuses in Lagos APC to
the insinuated Tinubu/Aregbe feuds could as well make sense of fact to those that
may have the privileged knowledge of two materials that connect to the person of
Aregbesola in the matters of Lagos politics. The first is the status of
Enilolobo as Aregbesola’s highly favoured political protégé. The second is that
this rift may have being seemingly foretold as festering to those who may have encountered
the related allegations Hon Adelabu Onibiyo fired against Aregbesola in the third
quarter of 2018.
Starting from the rear, Onibiyo then accused
Aregbesola of plotting to hijack political leadership from Tinubu. The media
reported him to have said: “Aregbe manipulated his way to become who he is
today and still have ambition to supplant and surpass Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and
Chief Obafemi Awolowo through his manipulations. (He also) quipped that he was
sure Asiwaju (now) has his own lamentation of Aregbesola because of his nature
of trusting people, but he (Tinubu) may not say it out as an elderly leader”.
Of course, Aregbesola ignored Onibiyo’s
insinuations as the ranting of an ant. He specifically directed his aide’s
never to dignify Onibiyo’s claims with any reply. And from the third eyes of independent
observers as captured by this writer, it was gathered that those who knew the
political pedigree of Onibiyo could understand Aregbesola in this regard.
In his book on the political history of Alimosho,
R.A Jimoh describes Onibiyo as “a political corpse resurrected by Aregbe”. He goes
further thus: “But going by a Yoruba adage that says efin ni’ wa – that character is like smoke; the character of
Onibiyo’s flamboyant arrogance of empty pride would yet return him to his
previous political ghost status, interring him six feet deeper beneath the
earth crust of the progressives’ landscape to confine him to political oblivion.
This happened so when Aregbe exasperatedly had enough of his behavioural
incongruity with the members and leaders of the Alimosho Progressives Cave”.
Besides, some observers that claimed to have
subjected the Onibiyo’s allegations to conscientious evaluation posited that
some of the claims lacked common sense of political facts. They noted that Aregbesola
was a cut above his (Onibiyo’s) bandied treachery and mundane reasoning of the insinuated
naivety. But dwelling into details here will be tangential to the focus of this
story.
That takes us to the connection of Enilolobo to
the Tinubu’s resolve to renounce affiliation with MG, but being purported to
mean the manifestation of Aregbe/Tinubu’s cold feud. Interestingly, this nexus
may yet appear as an oxymoron of factual falsehood. And when this is fully
dissected, it may also reveal as much an ignorance-induced parody of the
factual part.
 |
| Alhaji Balogun (akak Baba Eleran) bullied and blackmailed with economic sanztion to join MG |
It is a fact that Enilobo owes a lot to
Aregbesola for his political fortune in which the relationship traverses the
origin and evolution of MG. But he could not have been a dreadful factor of
Aregbe’s arsenal to jolt Asiwaju, to wit, the body of GAC in the manner
purportedly so insinuated by the media. Since Aregbesola cuts his political edge in
Lagos in the bosom of Tinubu’s leadership, he understands the State’s political
terrain as far more complicated than the media’s straight jacket readings. This
thus ratifies the falsehood leg of the oxymoron to be the insinuation that
Enilolobo became the MG’s Chairman in order to reposition the group for
Aregbesola’s move against Tinubu.
The factual leg however is that Tinubu could
have decided to put end to the political reap off that is long standing in his
name in Lagos State. And no caucus among the three is guilty of this than solely
the MG. It has grown in leap and bound, sustaining its strength on coercion of
party members with deceptive rote that any affiliation with any other political
group outside MG is an established treachery against Tinubu.
If this were not to be so everywhere across
the State, politicians across all party lines believed it is the tool of
oppression with which Enilolobo’s leadership administers the Alimosho
Progressives Cave. Ironically, it may surprise many to know from this piece
that this style is a sharp contrast to the all-inclusive policy with which
Aregbe built the Alimosho-One-House with the formation of ‘G18’ after
harmonization of the 23 political caucuses in the Local Government to three
groups – Maiyegun, Millennium and The Ambassador.
Maiyegun, the largest caucus, would later momentarily
transform into Alimosho Democrats in transition to becoming the Alimosho Chapter
of the Mandate Group.
With open heart, extreme tolerance and
justice of equity, ‘The Young’, as Aregbesola was fondly called, managed the G18
built on this structural tripod. But no sooner Aregbe bequitted the leadership
to Enilolobo, as some party members posited, things began to fall apart in simile
of accession of a slave to the throne of the community of his enslavement. As
some put it, “he simply had his eyes on the ball of whatever material value he
makes of his leadership era today”. Thus so, as they claimed, every dissenting
voice to his ambition being pursued on an obvious autocratic order would, in
his own judgment, become a stand against Tinubu and anti-Aregbe tendency.
As a matter of fact that could make this a
creed of the progressives’ cave, the ‘MG’s anthem became the sole political sound
bite of the party just to be quite intimidating enough for the purpose:
On your
mandate we shall stand (x2) Bola! On your mandate (x2)
On your
mandate we shall stand.
Some observers of political events believed
it was on account of this and others that Her Excellency, Hon Joke Orelope-Adefulire
as the visage of Justice Forum in Alimosho decided to severe relationship with
the apex body – G18.
And swiftly too, they noted further, Enilolobo
equally moved to declare her a persona
non grata in the Alimosho politics. Thus so, as majority of party faithful
so claimed, “it became forbidden for any ‘true’ party member to associate with
her. As such, majority of party members could not tap into the leadership values
of Orelope as a Commissioner and latter Deputy Governorship member of the State
Cabinet that Tinubu wisely and generously gave Alimosho in the administration
of Governor Raji Fashola to compensate for its large demography and electoral
values in the 2003 and 2007 general elections”.
However, as this author gathered from the
Freedom House, Tinubu was unoblivious of all these happenings in his local
government of pride. He simply refused to make any undue interference to avoid
a breach of honour accorded Aregbesola in right of control over Alimosho, “even
though he knew many of Eni’s deeds were not to the consent of Aregbesola”, as
the source put it.It went further: “The only time Asiwaju decided
to intervene directly was when one local council chairman in one of the LCDAs
in Alimosho cried to him that the so called Enilolobo wanted to deny him his due
right of second term in office. And I think they were two like that because
there was also a similar case from Agege side at the time”.
On matters of the dwindling electoral fortune
of Alimosho, the source said if one understood politics as an exercise with
anticipated objective results in terms of what you deliver at the time of
election, it could not have been difficult for Asiwaju to evaluate and verify
the complaint of politics of exclusiveness in Alimosho that had been rife
against Enilolobo.
He said: “what you can expect to see if such
complaints were true is to look if you could see any backlash of that manifesting
as serial decline of the electoral values of Alimosho.
“This is what seems to be the case since the
presidential election 2011. And you know, this can never escape the interest of
Asiwaju. His scope of political sphere may have become national, he will tell
you all politics is local and it is the election that tells your strength in
your local sphere. So he keeps tabs of what goes on in all local governments
across the State. He uses election results to gauge the political mood of each
of them.”
According to him, all this is not to say the
party caucuses were disbanded because Enilolobo became the Chairman of MG and neither
does it say it’s not a pre-emptive move to check mediocre from straying into
such state’s structural leadership and give room for chicanery to permeate the
structures of Lagos progressives at the state level.
Explaining this, he noted that at due time,
caucuses are meant to be reconciled at a round table for power sharing. It is
nevertheless hard to reconcile one to the fact that Tinubu would sit to preside
over such meeting where Enilolobo would seat in leadership of such a state’s
caucus.
The source added: “To understand my point
clearly as free from any malicious motive or having anything personal against
the person in question, after all I do not belong to Alimosho; it could have
been a different ball game altogether if Enilolobo were to be a former State Cabinet
member not below the rank of a commissioner or a Senator of the Federal Republic.
This would have given his profile an established testimonial of befitting
credentials for participating in such ambience of inner meeting where the
person of Asiwaju presides”.
The source advised Alimosho to “use the new
development close rank and brace up for the task ahead in the face of emerging
signs of the Ancient time Afonja’s treacherous experience making a repeat of
history.
