Lagos, under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has continued to sustain the winning habit of the All Progressives Congress as exemplified with the recent council elections, writes Vanessa Obioha

Since the return of Nigeria to civilian administration and birth of Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999, Lagos State has remained one of the few states in the country being run by same political structure. Lagos State has never left the path of the progressive politics at both the state and local government levels.

The first governor in the Fourth Republic, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu came into power under the auspices of Alliance for Democracy (AD), which later changed to Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Through this political transition, the party’s focus on bottom up developmental initiatives did not change. The Local Government Council administration was at the centre of every action plan. This accounted for the creation of 37 more Local Councils Development Areas by the Bola Tinubu administration aimed at bringing governance closer to the grassroots people.

The development continued under the All Progressives Congress (APC), which came into being in 2014 after the merger by the ACN, Congress for Political Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Two years after, the ruling party swept the 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) chairmanship seats and also won 370 out of the 377 councillorship seats during the 2017 council elections in the State. Same feat was repeated during the election that produced the incumbent Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the fourth governor of Lagos State in the present Fourth Republic.

Governor Sanwo-Olu is also guarding the ‘legacy’ jealously as his emergence as governor has strengthened the ruling party in Lagos State, making it an acceptable party to Lagosians due to his developmental strides in the last two years. Sanwo-Olu’s for a ‘Greater Lagos’ vision, which he is already bringing to life through the THEMES developmental agenda has been a blessing to the political fold.

Governor Sanwo-Olu has shown leadership in Lagos State by delivering dividends of democracy and good governance to citizens of the State since his assumption into office on May 29, 2019. His achievements have earned him recognitions and awards locally and nationally as one of the best performing governors in Nigeria. Last Saturday’s landslide victory of APC in the State local government elections across the 57 councils and 377 wards did not surprise millions of Lagosians. It was a testament of the developmental strides of Governor Sanwo-Olu, which has made the All Progressives Congress the best option for the residents.

The July 24 local government elections produced smiles and tears, losers and winners, heroes and villains as well as additional feathers to the political caps of some politicians and political gladiators at state, local government and ward levels. One of those who got a notch in their belt after the keenly contested election was Governor Sanwo-Olu for successfully continuing the legacy of the ruling party by sweeping all seats during election.

Also, the election was adjudged to be one of the freest and fairest. There was no single report of breakdown of law and order, ballot box snatching, fighting and others vices associated with elections of that magnitude.

As the number one citizen in Lagos State, a lot was expected from Governor Sanwo-Olu as many entrusted him to deliver for his party. As a seasoned administrator and manager of human and resources, the Governor never disappointed in sweeping victories for Lagos APC during last Saturday council polls. He was fully involved in the party’s electioneering as he joined thousands of party chieftains and members in presenting APC flag to chairmanship candidates at the party’s secretariat on Sunday July 18.

Speaking at the handing over of party flags to the 57 chairmanship candidates ahead of the elections, Governor Sanwo-Olu charged them to replicate the political victories of the party being witnessed across the country in the poll.

He said the party’s current successes across the country, culminating in the mass defections of political top echelons to the party showed the acceptance of the party by the people.

The governor added that the local government is a critical arm of government, saying “We have three tiers of government and everybody has their roles and responsibilities. But as a state government, we will continue to ensure that our development agenda is spread across the state and because we own all the local governments we will ensure it is reflective in all local governments and that is what we are doing.

“So, what we expect from them is to key into our agenda. So that when they come in, they can also hit the ground running in all the wards that we have. We expect them to start work immediately. The state government will carry out some projects in the wards but we expect complimentary roles from these chairmen; we expect them to compliment that and do more.”

After the event, Governor Sanwo-Olu didn’t go to sleep; he worked more and talked less to ensure that the ruling party continues its dominance in Lagos politics. Given the fact that he walks his talk, he rolled out the strategic framework with leaders and members of the party, dotted his ‘I’ and crossed the ‘t’, mapped out his strategies and capitalised on the strength of the party across the 57 councils of the state to ensure that APC won in all polling units.

Without any iota of doubt, the laudable performance and the developmental strides of Governor Sanwo-Olu contributed to the landslide victories of APC in the 57 councils and 377 wards. ‘Sanwo-Eko’ as the Governor is popularly called by politicians in Lagos State has done his best to satisfy the different class of people in the state as his projects which cut across the nooks and crannies of the state touched both the rich and the poor, especially at the local level. There is no ward among the 377 wards in Lagos State that has not benefitted from the Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration, as the Midas touch of the governor cut across all strata in the state.

Undoubtedly, the input and influence of Sanwo-Olu and his determination to work with other stakeholders in the party across the 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs was an added advantage to APC’s victory in the last council polls as the party leaders and members irrespective of their differences worked together towards winning the hearts of the electorate for APC in the state.

The outcome of the Lagos State local government elections has clearly redefined any narration about the political acumen and strategy of Governor Sanwo-Olu as a performing governor and good manager of party politics. Without any shred of doubt, the achievements recorded by APC during Sanwo-Olu’s tenure would be replicated in future elections.