LWe used to talk regularly. So, when Dele Alake called, I thought it was one of those regular calls. But this time around, he called to inform me of a ‘big job’. ‘Dapo, I have gotten you a big job’, he said. I chuckled because I didn’t understand. In the first place, we never spoke about me looking for a job, let alone a big job. Secondly, I never thought of leaving my lecturing job in LASU for any other one. ‘Dele, what kind of job is that?, I asked. ‘Commissioner for Information’, he replied. I became confused because that position was held by my friend, Opeyemi Bamidele.
I didn’t expect Fashola to drop Opeyemi Bamidele from his cabinet. And also, I am always very careful taking over a friend’s job no matter the attraction or temptation. ‘Dele, what happened to Opeyemi’? He told me. That’s not for public consumption. ‘Dele, is Oga aware of this arrangement because you should know that I won’t accept any appointment from Tunde without Oga’s consent’, I inquired. ‘Yes, Dapo. It was an agreement between the three of us’, he said. He wanted me to send my CV to him. I asked him when I should send it. ‘As soon as now’, he replied. ‘Dele, that wouldn’t be possible because I am in Ibadan as I am talking to you. There is no way I can get it to you now. Though I am about leaving Ibadan now, I am going to my house in Camp. I am not coming straight to Lagos’, I informed him. Anyway, we agreed that I should give it to his secretary the following day.
That was very convenient for me. His office and my apartment are in the same building in Marwa Gardens, Ikeja. As soon as I got home that same day, I knelt down to pray this prayer: ‘God, my friend is talking to me about a big job. If you agree with this, let it work but if you don’t agree with it, please do otherwise’. I left it like that. I gave the CV to the secretary the following day. Eventually, the list of appointees was released and my name was not there. Till date , I never asked Dele what happened nor did he tell me. It never affected our friendship.
I was in the midst of this political gridlock when Senior died. As a public servant who served his state meritoriously since 1955 when he joined J. N. Zarpas, which later became Lagos Municipal Transport Service (LMTS) when the Town Council took over all its assets in 1958, I wrote the Governor (Fashola) to inform him of my father’s death. The letter was written mid May 2011. I didn’t request for anything. It was a courteous notification. My siblings and I gave Emmanuel Abiodun Thomas (a.k.a Senior) a befitting burial. It was a carnival-like three-day burial ceremony with the whole of Surulere standing still for one of its most glamorous socialites. My father’s social life was very inspiring. He was a prominent Lagosian who had friends from all parts of the country. Most of his friends were movers and shakers of the society. Some of them included Chief Ernest Shonekan, former Head of Interim National Government; Oba Bayo Adejumo, a Patron of the Island Club; Chief Debo Akande, a legal luminary; Chief Victor Odofin-Bello; and Ìdòwú Ladipo, owner of Motel Bonanza. Others were the Derby brothers, the Benjamin brothers and the Browns. They were all members of the Monday Club which they founded in Lagos Island in 1955 before relocating to Surulere in 1956. They were using my house as their base. Almost two months after the burial, the Governor sent me N 1 million and I showed my appreciation via a letter.
However, our face-off continued. As soon as Fashola got the second term, he reduced his visits to Bourdillon and decided to consolidate his own political group with the aim of raising a successor for his seat. He was not ready to allow Oga dictate who would succeed him. The initial information filtering into town was that he wanted to use Obafemi Hamzat. Meanwhile, I had got the information from Alake that Oga was considering going into national politics but no timeline was set. I didn’t bother to confirm from Oga because Alake remains a credible source when it comes to Asiwaju. This development was different from what Oga told us when he was about to complete his tenure in 2007. His plan was to help his friend, Abubakar Atiku become the President of the country. In short, his plan was to become a godfather or playmaker in national politics. That was why he came up with the Nuhu Ribadu-Fola Adéọlá pairing. I think he probably changed his mind when he saw that Abubakar Atiku was not a good product to market not only in the South West but in Nigeria as a whole. On learning about this latest development, I thought it was important for all of us, his boys, including Fashola, to help consolidate his base so that his case wouldn’t be like that of Olusegun Obasanjo, who won the Presidency without winning in his polling booth, let alone in Ogun State, his own base.
But judging from Fashola’s actions and behaviour, he was not ready to be on the same page with us. He wanted to choose his own successor and form a parallel power bloc in Lagos State that would regularly compete power with Tinubu. While we were going on with our plans, Fashola too was mapping out his own countermeasures.
There was a general understanding among the fathers and founders of the party that the position of governor would be zoned to the East comprising Ibeju-Lekki, Epe, Kosofe, Ikorodu. The second agreement was that for the purpose of fairness , the next Governor should be a Christian. This was based on the fact that the moslems had been at the helm of affairs for the past 16 years. Knowing that Oga may have been behind these new directives, people like Leke Pitan, Akinwunmi Ambode, Tayo Kasali, Gbenga Ashafa and Adeyemi Ikuforiji (East) began holding different caucus meetings in readiness for who was likely to be chosen by Tinubu . Others who also declared their intentions were Muiz Banire and Ganiyu Solomon (West).
I couldn’t resist the temptation of being active in this new dispensation. I belonged to the Ashafa group comprising people like Bisi Adegbuyi, Abiodun Osi-Efa, Gboyega Okegbenro, Gbenga Badejo, Dimeji Mako, Bosun Jeje and Isiaka Babalola. We had held several meetings at different locations forming different working groups to stand as Ad-Hoc Committees for the various activities we had planned to do the moment we received signals from Oga. I had the option of joining any of the groups because I was very close to all of them. I decided to be in the Ashafa group because the two of us were very close. Sometime in April 2014, we were holding a meeting of the Group when Ashafa walked in to inform us that he was just coming from Bourdillon. He was summoned to Bourdillon by Oga simply to inform him that he should go and dismantle his group as he had no plan to support or sponsor him for the gubernatorial election. He further told Ashafa that he had his candidate already. According to Ashafa, Asiwaju did not disclose the name of his candidate to him.
After extensive deliberations, I was mandated to find out from Asiwaju who the candidate was so that we could work together with him. I promised to do that and revert to the house. The following day, I was at Bourdillon to talk to Oga about this ‘mysterious’ candidate. It was a busy day for him as dignitaries were coming in and going out. There was the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, with his usual large entourage. Anyway, I was able to have a private discussion with Oga on the so-called candidate. Initially, he didn’t want to disclose the name of the person but I told him that it was for my syndicated column. According to him, he didn’t want the kind of crisis that attended his choice of Fashola when the politicians accused him of circumventing the political class for a technocrat. This time around, he didn’t want to disclose the name publicly to avoid a reoccurrence. I knew immediately he was backing Ambode because he was the only technocrat among them. I assured him that I would handle it with privileged maturity and professional efficiency. We also discussed how to manage some of the interested aspirants who had been vociferous in their public outings. I volunteered to talk to Solomon and Banire. At least, I believed that we were close enough.
The first task was how to put it across to party members and the public who were yet to know Asiwaju’s pick out of the pack. Two, how to avoid direct disclosure that could provoke vehemence from the politicians. Then three, how to talk to the aggrieved aspirants. Oga had talked to those he could talk to but he wanted me to talk to these two- Solomon and Banire. Writing the article in a way that it would not cause disaffection among all the aspirants was like writing a professional exam on Communication Strategy. I began a tactical disclosure from the title of the article: “BRF’s Successor: Is Ambode the Final Choice”? Then, I opened up declaratively in the intro:
‘It appears the choice has been made. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) now has a potential successor with whom he has some issues. The Christians seem to have had their say and their way. The politicians appear to have lost again to the technocrats. Akinwumi Ambode, a Christian and a former accountant -general in Lagos State is not your typical professional politician. He can only boast of one or two years post-resignation political experience’.
I was becoming blatantly authoritative. So, I needed to camouflage my source in the cassock of ignorance. I wrote: ‘The “Oracle of Bourdillon”, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is watching the unfolding drama of selection with keen interest. Tinubu does not talk much when it comes to choosing his anointed. His body language is enough. He does not like to be predictable when it comes to his choice. He knows how to get the message across to his “structure”. And they know how to decode message(s) especially when it comes to “Oga, tálá ma dibo fún (Asiwaju, who are we voting for?)”‘.
I believed that with this, I was able to exercise some discretion on open declaration. However, following what Alake told me about Oga’s greater political objective, which I diplomatically confirmed from Oga himself on the day we had the discussion, I wrote with a veiled revelation on the greater political project: ‘If Christians see Ambode’s choice as a victory, they should not be reluctant to pay a price for this victory when those, nay, he that chose Ambode requires their alliance in achieving a greater political dream’. As usual, it was a syndicated piece sent to the following Nigerian newspapers: The Nation on Sunday, ThisDay, The Sun, PM News, The News, Vanguard and Western Post . They, aside PM News , were all meant to publish it same day, Sunday, 4 May 2014.
But something happened the day before that. I was at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, representing Ashafa at an event when I received a call from my friend and colleague, Festus Eriye, the Editor, The Nation on Sunday around 5 pm. ‘Lacuna (that’s what he calls me), we won’t be able to publish your article tomorrow. The MD said we should drop it until further notice’, he disclosed. I was very angry . I left the event immediately I finished receiving the call. I put a call through to the MD, Victor Ifijeh, my friend and colleague of 35 years. ‘Dapo, how now’? His voice came on the line. I wanted to scream but I cautioned myself because Victor and I had come a long way in journalism. After calming down, I replied: ‘I am not good Victor. I understand you dropped my piece for tomorrow. May I know why? By the way, are you for us or you are for Tunde’? ‘Dapo, please calm down. I just wanted to act on the side of caution. On Wednesday, Sunday Dare issued a press statement stating that Asiwaju has no candidate. Now, you are saying that Asiwaju has endorsed Ambode. So, one has to be very careful here’, he clarified. ‘Okay Victor, I have calmed down. I am sure you have known me with Asiwaju for more than two decades, since the time of Dapo Sarumi. So, by now, you should know that I will never attribute anything to Oga if he has not said so. Yes, Sunday Dare is doing his job but I am managing a crisis. Victor, I didn’t want to tell you before but because you are my friend, I will do that. Please go ahead and use it. Oga has endorsed Ambode. I am in charge of everything trust me. I don’t want a situation where other papers will carry the story and our own paper will not use it. It will escalate the tension in the party and give unnecessary advantage to BRF and his gang. I don’t want anything that will create the impression that you are on Tunde’s side’, I submitted. ‘Okay Dapo. We will use it tomorrow’, he assured me. The following day, all the papers carried the story and there was no peace again in the opposing camp.
On the issue of talking to Solomon and Banire, I was able to have an extensive discussion with Solomon in his office at Omole. He is a fantastic guy who has tremendous respect for Asiwaju. He was able to reason with me on the need to have a Christian governor after two moslems had occupied the seat. But he wanted the primary process to be followed. He didn’t want any imposition of candidate. As for Banire, he was not ready to discuss anything with me and I respected his decision and position. Oga was very impressed with the way I handled everything.
Rattled by our approach and strategic planning, our opponents started spreading fake news that Oga has withdrawn his support for Ambode. It was a strong propaganda. It almost worked for them but we remained undaunted and focused. All the same, I decided to see Oga in order to confirm if it was true or not. As I entered Bourdillon on that Sunday, I saw a crowd in the living room. Thirty minutes after my arrival, Oga was still in his office with his visitor. I became curious to know who was with Oga in his office for that long. It was then I was told it was the In-coming (meaning Ambode). By the time he came out of Oga’s office and saw me, he came to hug me. He thanked me profusely for the article. According to him, he had been looking for how to convince party members that he was the one Oga had chosen. Nobody believed him because they thought Oga wouldn’t support a technocrat again because of what Fashola was doing. But the moment they read my article, the reaction had been overwhelming. People who didn’t accept him before the article had been patronising him since the article came out. He said the moment they saw that it was written by Dapo Thomas, they all concluded that Oga was the one talking. I was forced to tell him why I had come to see Oga. ‘Dapo, it’s all lies. Oga has not withdrawn his support for me. You can see that I just came out of Oga’s office. Oga just told me to go on with my mobilisation’, he explained. ‘I understand Akin but since I am here already, let me ask Oga by myself’, i said. Eventually, I saw Oga and he told me in Yorubá: ‘Ibi ti mo dúró sí ni mo dúró sí (I have not changed my mind. My position still stands)’.
The return of my supervisor, Prof. Adigun Agbaje, from his long sabbatical leave facilitated my doctoral defence. From nowhere, the streets of Lagos were littered with the posters of one Supo Shasore, believed to be BRF’s candidate……..Yet, we (Tinubu/Ambode group) defeated them in the party primary…
All the details will be in the concluding part of my diary by the grace of God.
