Disquiet grows within Lagos State APC as Tinubu asks Aregbesola to form Sanwoolu's cabinet

CONSTERNATION is growing within the ranks of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after party leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu asked former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola to begin forming the cabinet of the incoming administration.

One March 9, Babajide Sanwoolu was elected as the Lagos State governor and he is due to be sworn-in on May 29 when he will be taking over from incumbent Akinwunmi Ambode. Mr Sanwoolu was heavily backed by APC national leader Asiwaju Tinubu who is regarded as being in control and it is thought that only his nominees will be appointed into the cabinet.

Asiwaju Tinubu, however, is reported to have presidential ambitions in 2023, so no longer has the time for Lagos matters and as such as asked his nephew Governor Aregbesola to take over the process. Governor Aregbesola, who served as a commissioner in Asiwaju Tinubu's cabinet when he was Lagos State governor between 1999 and 2007, is the son of his elder sister and the two of them are very close.

Having left office in Osun State in November last year, governor Aregbesola has now moved back to Lagos and has been made the de facto leader of APC in the state. However, this is not going down well with rank and file party members who campaigned for Mr Sanwoolu and now find themselves out in the cold with their positions usurped by an outsider.

Particularly irked are the members of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), which was set up to ensure Mr Sanwoolu beat Governor Ambode in the APC primaries and then got elected.  It is believed that they have even asked one of their senior members Chief Tajudeen Olusi to compile a counter list to that of Governor Aregbesola.

One GAC member said: "The one said to be compiling list of commissioners, special advisers and special assistants for Jide Sanwoolu and Femi Hamzat has no shame. If he has any, he will not come to Lagos to be pulling a weight he can’t pull in the state where he was governor for eight years. Can he go to Osun and be nominating commissioners for the governor, despite the Tribunal crisis they are facing there?"

“I knew from beginning this is how it would turn out, the moment they decided to stop Ambode from seeking a second term. What saddens most about what is playing out now, is that the number one and two Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat who will be accountable to the people of the state, are also not involved in picking those who will work on the mandate given them."

However, one close Tinubu associate asked what kind of weight his colleagues could pull when they were all selected and nominated to the GAC by Asiwaju Tinubu. He added that they owed their positions on the committee to his goodwill and had pledged to support Mr Sanwoolu and his deputy Femi Hamzat.

He added: “Those kicking in GAC are not facing reality as they should know that Aregbesola is Asiwaju and Asiwaju is Aregbesola. They should know that whatever Aregbesola is doing is being done by Asiwaju and the same Asiwaju is responsible for how all of them got to GAC.

"Asiwaju is GAC, GAC is Asiwaju and those fighting within GAC, their agitation is of no value as the moment they give a slot or two special assistants or advisers to them, you won’t hear their noise again. We wait to see how it plays out."