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Politics is like a wild beast. The more you think you know of it, the less you really know. Truth be told, does one really ever know with politics?
While the Social Media Elite (crusaderhotnews ) in Benin were busy at it this morning, as usual, dissecting, analysing politics, some in utter naivety, the ones who really decide who get to take charge of governance were there at the polling units to vote in candidates with the upper hand of taking charge of the executive and legislative positions.
Stunned to see the numbers out, the enthusiasm for the occasion, the dedication to the party and the willingness to forgo everything else for the day. The irony was not lost on me - driving out of an Estate where a serving Commissioner and the Legislator representing the Constituency in the State Assembly reside, which does not have a single polling point, even for the General elections, into the thousands on the other side of town who decide what becomes of life even for those sequestered away in pretend-comfort.
Politics - those to vote to govern are out there, exposed to the elements, the elite-analysts are busy with their phones pretending to be of relevance in the scheme of things.
The first shock of the day was the women at the School gate analysing Lagos politics, reeling off their fingers the sins of the man - his Epelisation of the civil service, the sack of some civil servants, and all that. I could not get it. simply walked away.
I have followed politics - intensely too, for as long as I can remember. I have studied the subject - formally and informally for decades. But I must confess, I have not seen, heard or read anything remotely close to what is playing out as the Ambode saga in Lagos. I do not understand this overnight orphanisation of Akinwunmi Ambode. I have never seen anything like it.
I have written about the principle of not forgetting the base, keeping the base happy, not forgetting the power of influence and all that. I have written about the intersection between policy and politics. I have heard from insiders and outsiders about the many political and non-political sins of the man. I have heard people talk about him having not been accessible. They have alleged arrogance and all that. But, still I do not get it.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing explains this orphanisation of the man, for me. Not his sins, his mistakes, the atrocious ill-advised and poorly managed 'Press Conference' explains this for me. Nothing explains how a man, a sitting Governor, can be left standing all alone - with almost his whole team gone, the entire college of elected officials on the other side, party members at the grassroots and the leadership all lost. I doubt that the APC in Lagos has ever been this united, with erstwhile enemies coming together for this cause of getting one man out.
It is almost unreal. Touching. Sad. It is a phenomenon lacking in explanation to me. It is almost mystical. The manner of the ill-wind, the way it has caught on. The manner in which the adulation of yesterday and rain of endorsements have petered out is beyond belief. People now outdoing themselves to chronicle his sins.
I had the privilege to visit the man with a group of Leaders sometime back. He was decent, respectful and responsive. All I hear about him sounds pretty strange.
Some have cited lack of performance. I do not agree that he has done poorly. I remember writing here, advising him, when he started out, of a need to be himself and not try to be like someone else, as I saw him striving to be then. Soon, he stepped out on his own. I saw and applauded what I saw about his decisive move to take development beyond the areas the predecessor had placed emphasis. I saw the wisdom and necessity of his 'inclusive' agenda which saw him starting massive infrastructure upgrade in Alimosho. Even the One-Lagos fiesta was infused with that spirit of inclusion which saw the concert being taken to the 5 divisions of Lagos.
On the Refuse Disposal scheme, I wrote here about the vision as I saw, the need for a renewal of the model, critiqued the plan and argued here that it be given a chance, citing the deliberate misinformation and sabotage by the PSP operators to frustrate the project.
The irony is that one perennial single-track fellow who lost the capacity to read to understand to the indoctrination of the West, who accused me then of speaking as a paid agent of government is the same one accusing me again of a position on the Ambode matter he has assumed as mine.
Of course, there is the place of politics that we have dealt with extensively here. It is a delicate and complicated game. I just cannot understand how it is that the man can so poorly play the game that he would lose everyone overnight.
Still, I wish this would have turned out differently. Whatever the sins of the man, I wish the party leadership had found a way around this for some resolution, rather than what has played out.
There is something odd about what has played out. Never seen ordinary party members so fired up, so energised, so united for a cause. It will be difficult for the leadership to move in a different direction, a sit does appear that the Leader has bought himself a new life by aligning with what seems a popular choice, for some strange reason, among party members.
Who knows how the pendulum might yet swing, even as the party members, the ones who really vote, seem energised?
How the leaders deal with the fallout of this fallout is left to be seen.
Politics is like a wild beast. You can hardly successfully tame it. The orphanisation of Ambode is one which calls for deep study and sober reflection.
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