Accused of disloyalty, sources say reprieve may have come the way of Lagos governor
How the relationship went sour
Multiple sources confirmed last night that the largely unspoken but deep rift between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his acolyte, Lagos governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, may have been settled with intervention of the powerful Governance Advisory Council, GAC, of Lagos State.
KTH.ng was informed that key members of GAC, the most strategic and influential political advisory group in the state, met with Tinubu, with Sanwo-Olu in attendance.
The meeting, reportedly took place Sunday at the private residence of the President in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he has been holding court since the Sallah break.
The fairly large meeting reportedly had in attendance the Chairman of the GAC, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi, other members, mostly top politicians of Lagos origin. The Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa; and Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Obafemi Kadiri, who are not traditionally members of the GAC, were present at the meeting.
Other members of the GAC present were said to include former Lagos West Senator, Ganiyu Solomon, and former Minister of State, Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.
Sources said Olusi led the discussions, with a plea that the President should forgive the governor without going into the details of the rift in front of the large meeting; a request the President graciously acquiesced to and pronounced the rift settled.
Insiders recall that the rift had, on the surface, resulted in an open snub of Sanwo-Olu by Tinubu, who determinedly side-stepped shaking hands with him at the commissioning of federal projects in Lagos last week.
The governor’s name was also reportedly redacted from the list of dignitaries when Tinubu arrived through the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos State, for the 50th anniversary of the Economic Community of West African States and the Sallah holiday.
The rift may have had consequences deeper than the public snub elsewhere, with those in a position to know accusing Governor Sanwo-Olu of walking the two sides of the street during the 2023 election season, with the result that while he easily won his own reelection bid, the President suffered an embarrassing loss in his traditional stronghold.
Though vigorously denied, discreet investigations reportedly showed that Lagos election funds may have found their way into opposition pockets during that election season, seeming to suggest that while Sanwo-Olu looked out for his own interests, he may have left the President’s back wide open, with Tinubu’s consequent loss of Lagos.
The money trail was said to have led to a nexus between an Abuja socialite and a well-known opposition politician (both names withheld). But sources close to the socialite claim that she only dipped into the election funds placed at their disposal to offset an existing debt to the opposition politician, and not because she intended to overtly fund his campaign. Significantly, the opposition politician, like Tinubu, also lost Lagos to Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
But it was the ex-cathedra removal of Lagos Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, by forces loyal to, and marshalled by Sanwa-Olu, without the express approval of President Tinubu, the undisputed generalissimo of Lagos politics, that threatened to spell the end of the road for the governor’s political career.
While sources claim that the governor had generally broached the issue of Speaker Obasa’s growing strong-headedness with the president on several occasions, never did the president give an express nod to his ouster. Significantly, Obasa was returned to his position as expeditiously as he lost it when the president indicated his displeasure at the turn of events.
However, in what appears to indicate a firm thawing of relations between the president and governor, Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, released in the wee hours of Monday, pictures of Sanwaolu’s visit with the leadership of the GAC with the caption: “President Tinubu; Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in a group picture with The Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), the highest decision-making body of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos.”
Speaking after the meeting on Sunday, Sanwo-Olu denied any split between him and the president. He told the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA: “Did you see any discord? There is none. There are people that believe that they are more Catholic than the Pope. There are things that you see people that cry more than the bereaved.
“Father and son are things we will always ensure that we clear. It’s nothing at all. He’s my father, he’s my leader. And we are grateful that he has given us audience today to come in and say hello to him.”