Will Labour Party, ‘a new dolphin’ break Lagos Gubernatorial polls record?

One beautiful day, the calm sea of Lagos was disturbed by the sudden appearance of a new dolphin [Labour Party]. The dolphin was unlike any other dolphins that had ever been seen in the Lagos sea. Some described it as bigger, stronger, and more majestic [having defeated an old dolphin in a battle on February 25] than any other dolphins. 

As soon as it appeared, the other dolphins became uneasy, sensing that something was not right. The dolphin began to make its presence felt by circling and letting out a series of loud clicks and whistles. The old dolphins could tell that this new arrival had no intentions of being friendly. It had come to take over their domain and become the leader. 

The new dolphin’s actions soon made it clear that it was not going to back down. It began to challenge the other dolphins, using its size and strength to dominate them.

 

A queue of voters (Photo credit: NRTC Library)

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This new dolphin is Labour Party (LP) and the old dolphins are the All Progressive Congress (APC) and other thirteen [13] political parties jostling for Lagos governor seats.

On Wednesday 29th of February, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi as the winner of Lagos State polls with 582,454 votes to defeat Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, who scored 572, 606.

Peter Obi (Photo credit: NRTC Library)

According to INEC, the accredited voters for the Lagos election were 1,347,152, a state where Mr. Tinubu has a lot of political control and influence.

ALSO READ: INEC announces postponement of gubernatorial election

NRTC findings revealed that the politics of Lagos State has been dominated by the All Progressives Congress since 1999 when Bola Tinubu became the first democratically elected governor of the state. 

Tinubu rule from 29th of May, 1999 to 29 May 2007 under the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and was succeeded by Mr. Babatunde Fashola, his chief of staff.

Fashola succeeded his principal and assumed office from 29, May 2007 to 29 May 2015 under the umbrella of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). 

After Fashola, a financial consultant and civil servant for 27 years, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode was brought by Tinubu to become the next governor. He won the primary and the gubernatorial election to become the first elected governor under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr. Ambode resumed office on 29 May 2015 and left on 29 May 2019 after losing the party primary to Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Our research shows that the zagging relationships between Mr. Ambode and Tinubu contributed to his primary loss. 

With the influence of Tinubu [Nigeria’s President-elect], Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu won the APC primary election and eventually became the Governor. Mr. Sanwo-Olu resumed office on 29 May 2019 and he is currently recontesting for the second term under APC.

Formed in February 2013, APC  is the result of a merger of Nigeria’s three largest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) along with a breakaway faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP – a faction of then ruling People’s Democratic Party.

Fight between two Lions 

Before the birth of APC in 2013, the battle for the Governor seat in Alausa, Ikeja had been between Tinubu influence parties and the People’s Democratic Party founded in 1998.

Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State (Photo credit: NRTC Library)

The battle had lasted for twenty-four [24] years and the main opposition PDP couldn’t break the jinx. Tinubu, popularly known as ‘Jagaban’ had been the main decider of the next governor in Lagos — anybody he raised his hand to would eventually emerge.

We can say Lagosians have ultimate respect for Tinubu, perhaps for his eight years of milestone achievements.

Will the new dolphin show its power on Saturday? 

Since the Labour Party had defeated Tinubu in his domain, Nigerians have concluded that the same history will repeat itself comes the gubernatorial election slated to hold on 18th of March, 2023.

Lagos was made up of celebrities who are major supporters of LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi in the just concluded presidential election. As many of these celebrities threw their support for Obi, many are keen they will do the same for the governorship candidate of the party, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour. 

However, Nigerians most especially Lagosians believed that Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu will emerge as a winner no matter what for his work in Lagos for the past three years. This was the assurance the APC had last two weeks before they were shocked by the electric wire of LP. 

The 40-year-old LP candidate is keen on winning with a project to free Lagos from the shackle hold of tyranny.

Mr. Rhodes-Vivour said new Lagos would be born on Saturday as Nigerian youths are ready to take over governance and have their dream country materialize.

He let out that when emerged he would work on a project that will lift the lives of millions of Lagosians up and in turn lift the lives of many Nigerians.

While assuring of a better life, Mr. Rhodes-Vivour said he’ll build a Lagos where the inner roads will work, and people will have quality healthcare, water, and quality public education, not one where parents keep struggling to find how to pay school fees for their children to go to private school.

Mr. Rhodes-Vivour wasn’t the only candidate promising better Lagos, same goes for PDP candidate, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran and his deputy Funke Akindele.

Similarly, Mr. Sanwo-Olu was not left out in the journey to make Lagos better as well as the other twelve candidates. 

Will Mr. Rhodes-Vivour break the record?

His party presidential candidate had broken the record by winning Lagos State and the focus is now centered on him (Mr. Rhodes-Vivour) to pull the same weight to win Lagos State and become a record breaker like the two greatest of all time in football.

Mr. Rhodes-Vivour, Labour Party Candidate (Photo credit: NRTC Library)

As the polls are approaching, Nigerians, mostly the Obedient, are confident of their candidate’s victory across the states that had their elections on Saturday, having won some representative and senatorial seats.

With Mr. Rhodes-Vivour’s architecture plans for Lagos, will he emerge to execute them? This will be decided by 7,060,195 registered voters on Saturday, 18th of March, 2023.