There has been disquiet in Lagos, especially among the aspirants for the state governorship election in 2015 since Thursday when Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the most senior traditional ruler in the state, announced Akinwunmi Ambode, a former civil servant, as the endorsed replacement for Governor Babatunde Fashola.
Many of the aspirants are expressing anger, grumbling in the shadow concerning Akiolu’s action.
They all agree that as a traditional ruler, he was supposed to be seen as apolitical or even carry himself with some level of dignity instead of dabbling into politics and causing a political crisis.
Oba Rilwan Akiolu had on Thursday stirred a controversy with his declaration that Ambode was the chosen person to replace Governor Fashola. He said he was declaring him on behalf of the other elders of the state who had met and decided that he was the right man for the job.
Contenders for the governorship seat include the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who until now had been touted as the most qualified for the seat because he hails from the Epe area of the State.
Others are Senator Ganiu Olarenwaju Solomon, Obafemi Hamzat, Leke Pitan, a former Health Commissioner in the state, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, and a host of others.
An aide close to one of the aspirants, wondered why a revered monarch would come so low as to make public the candidate of his choice as an imposition on the state.
“I am not saying he should pick my person. What I am saying is he should have allowed a level playing ground for all the candidates. This is democracy and he should remember it is different from what obtains in the Nigeria police where he retired from to become a monarch.
“He should have blessed all the aspirants equally even if he has anyone he is interested in,” the aide said refusing that he be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
It was also learnt that Akiolu’s statement has been seen as an affront on the traditional seat in Ewekoro, Ogun state where Hamzat’s father is the traditional ruler.
Akiolu said at a book launch in honour of Ambode that Lagos would not allow someone whose father is a king in Ewekoro to rule over it.
Those who have questioned this statement have asked if those that have ruled Lagos before now are Lagosians.
An All Progressives Congress (APC) member close to Hamzat told Huhuonline.com on Saturday that the monarch only wanted to abuse the respect he had earned over time adding that declaring support for one person even before the party’s decision could destroy the APC and even affect the monarch.
“We know that many of those who have ruled Lagos are not Lagosians. Go to the State House of Assembly and find that many of the members are from other states like Kwara, Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti. Only very few of them are indigenes of Lagos. So who says a non-Lagosian cannot rule the state.
“Moreover, Hamzat has a link with the State and is very qualified for the job. The Oba should just maintain his peace and allow the party to take its decision.
“From the way it is now, if the party finally picks Ambode, everyone would say it had been said before. It won’t see any democratic action in the choice of the party for the position,” he said.
Another leader in the APC, Alhaji Ganiyu Kolajo Oseni, on Saturday also asked Oba Akiolu to stay out of politics and maintain his position as a public servant paid with
Oseni in an interview today told the Lagos monarch that he has no right to dabble into politics, being a public servant paid by the tax payers of the state.
He said being a traditional ruler, Akiolu is forbidden from openly picking a anyone as the governor in a democracy because he earns salary from the government.
Ambode is believed to be a favourite owing to his being a Christian. He is being considered, according to Huhuonline.com finding, to quell the complaint by some Lagosians that only Muslims have been ruling the state since 1999. The other contenders are Muslims.
He is also to be used to counter Hamzat, who was nominated by Fashola to take over from him because the party leadership does not feel comfortable with the governor following the problem with his predecessor, Bola Tinubu.
Apart from those in the APC, the PDP had also within the week slammed the traditional ruler warning him to abstain from partisan politics and respect himself.
