Breaking News……
Ahead Guber polls: Tinubu recalls Yayi to Lagos!
By AbdulRahman Ogunleye.
The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have recalled Senator Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi) back to Lagos to work on the re-election bid of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Inside sources close to Asiwaju revealed to NigerianEcho that Tinubu decided to recall Yayi because he was unhappy with the results posted by his party, All Progressive Congress (APC) in several parts of Lagos including Alimosho during the last Presidential polls. Lagos State hitherto believed ro be the political fiefdom of Asiwaju Tinubu fell into the hands of Labour Party (LP) during the last election. According to the source, the reverse suffered by the APC in Alimosho particularly rang a bell hence the action. Alimosho has the highest number of voters in Lagos and is believed to be the traditional stronghold of APC. However, that stranglehold was broken during the 25 February polls when LP defeated Asiwaju and APC in Alimosho by a wide margin.
Apparently Embarrassed by the below par performance of Lagos APC coupled with the threat by some aggrieved politicians to upset the agelong political dominance of the progressive in Lagos, Asiwaju reportedly relocated to Lagos some 10 days ago. On settling down, the former Lagos governor was said to have embarked on a comprehensive overview of what went wrong in the Presidential election and why it happened. He was also said to have put in place plans to forestall a reoccurrence. According to the source, one of the reasons why APC lost was due to the calibre of politicians who were saddled with the task of delivering the state. It was discovered that most of those left in charge of Lagos while Asiwaju was busy crisscrossing Nigeria in search of votes were not as deft as they prided themselves.Indeed the source called them ‘paperweights’
It was this reason that made Asiwaju to recall his heavyweight foot soldiers some of whom are already engaged elsewhere. According to the source, several members of the Tinubu political family were recalled. He listed them to include Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, former Nigeria’s Ambassador Musiliu Obanikoro as well as Senator Adeola Yayi among many others .
They were to be actively engaged in the effort to rescue Lagos from ‘ political vampires’ desirous of wrestling Lagos from the clutches of the progressives.
According to the source, those recalled are to meticulous plan on ensuring a resounding victory for the APC in next Saturday’s gubernatorial elections. Towards attaining this goal, they were said to have been told to commence immediate mobilisation and political re-engineering of the areas they are to oversee.
They are also expected to make peace where necessary and also make recommendation on how to avoid a repeat of February 25 humiliation of the APC in their area.
They are expected to brief Asiwaju daily and must report immediately if they encounter any problems. Interestingly, this unforeseen development was said to have thrown the camp of Governor Dapo Abiodun off balance as senator Adeola who just won the Ogun West Senate seat was penciled down to spearhead the reelection effort of the Governor in his senatorial district.
The source added that spirited effort to reverse the recall of Yayi to Lagos fell flat with Asiwaju as the governor was told to use other people for the election effort in Ogun west.
The source claimed that the President elect pointedly told Gov. Abiodun that Lagos State is far more important and strategic than any state in the South West to be toyed with and that All his trusted allies must be involved in the effort. As at the time of filing this report, NigerianEcho gathered that Governor Abiodun is thinking of putting in place a collegiate Leadership to steer his reelection effort in Ogun west. Recall that the candidate of the ADC, Barrister Biyi Otegbeye also known as BOT hails from Ilaro in Ogun west and commands a lot of following.
Yayi was expected to try to counter his influence but with the latest development, he might have been spared the political face-off that would have ensued.
