Lagos guber: 2019 budget and Ambode’s battle for continuous relevance

It has been predicted on many fronts that the 2019 elections in Nigeria was going to be an interesting one by all standards, but those who made those predictions may not even have factored Lagos State into the equation, however, recent developments are beginning to prove that if the election across the country is going to be interesting, that of Lagos will be super interesting.
The governorship election in Lagos is going to be like none that has ever happened in the centre of excellence, that is if recent developments in the state are to be reckoned with.
To start with, for the first time in the recent history of Lagos State, an incumbent governor of the state is going to watch the election from the sidelines without an opportunity to contest for a second term, as the powers that be successfully edged him out and gave his ticket to another person.
When Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was elected Lagos State governor against all odds in 2015, he immediately hit the ground running and within a short period of time he was able to stamp his presence on many fronts, that people started speculating that his re-election when the time comes was only going to be a mere formality, but that was not to be as events towards the party primary of his political party the All Progressives Congress (APC) showed that he has fallen out with many leaders of his party and therefore no longer enjoy their backing.
Ambode was eventually humiliated at a primary where his opponent and now anointed candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu defeated him in a landslide victory.
Shortly before the primary was a rumour that there was move to impeach Ambode by the state House of Assembly, ostensibly with support from above, but that never happened, ever since then however, the rumour mills has not rested, this is more so as there seem to be no love lost between the state legislature and the governor who is seen by many of them as blocking their legitimate entitlement.
There is no need pretending about the fact that there exist a frosty relationship between the executive and the legislative arms of government in Lagos State in recent time. What many do not contemplate is whether the two arms of government would be mature enough to ensure their differences do not affect the process of governance and the general wellbeing of lagosians at large.
It all started during the July 22 Local Government Election in 2017,when the governor who allegedly was intent on building his own political structure in the state was said to have sponsored candidates against the wish of some party leaders, including lawmakers who believed they should be the ones to determine who gets what in their own constituencies, especially to secure their own political future.
Though Ambode did not really succeed at installing his men as council Chairmen, he however went further to hand over list of people to be appointed as supervisory councillors to the elected chairmen of the 20 LG and the 37 LCDAs. Some LGs chairmen honoured his list while others like Alimosho (which is still largely being controlled by Ogbeni Rauf Aregebsole, former governor of Osun state) , Agege LG (controlled by the Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa’s own constituency) and Kosofe LG (a constituency where the right hand man of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC Lagos East Senatorial candidate ,Hon Bayo Osiniwo, aka, Pepper represents), threw Ambode’s list to the dustbin.
The governor allegedly was angry at such development and subsequently decided to punish those LGs and LCDAs who went ahead to appoint their supervisory councillors in defiance to his wish by allegedly confiscating their allocation for 3 months. It took the intervention of the party leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for him to back down.
According to a source from the State House, Tinubu had told Ambode to release their allocation and learn to concede certain things to some people ‘because you cannot win all in politics”, he further allegedly asked the governor to leave politics and face governance.
It was after the resolution of this that he was able to go before the House to present the 2018 budget, though late in December 2017.
To get back at him through the 2018 budget, the House moved all monies allegedly planted at budget sub- heads under different MDAs, which were not convincingly defended during budget defence to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning’s, which means the governor cannot touch those funds without coming back to the House for budget reordering, otherwise, that would amount to misappropriation of funds, an impeachable offence under the law.
Ordinarily, the House would overlook those low hanging fruits that could easily be plucked when the going was good, even when they discovered that the funds were planted by the governor to finance the Lagos City Bus Transport project, the House insisted the project had not been approved by them and cannot be funded under any guise.
The governor it was learnt in retaliation also stopped the executive and legislative parley which comes up on quarterly basis. A forum through which the two arms of government dialogue and plan for the state, while the two parties also “smile home”.
The executive legislative row got more dirty as year 2018 progressed , At this point, many of the lawmakers already got wind of the likelihood of him (Ambode) not securing a second term ticket, so they were ready to call his bluff.
The battle line was finally drawn when 36 out of the 40 lawmakers signed in support of Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s candidature, against Governor Akinwumi Ambode, before the party’s primary election.
The same House that was full of Ambode ‘s praise singers before then began to pick holes in every of his administrative style.
The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa ,earlier in that year 2018 at a stakeholders/media parlay disowned the company introduced by Ambode (Vision-Scape) to take over refuse collection from Lagos Waste Management Authority ( LAWMA), Obasa said at that meeting that Vision-Scape was a ghost and not known to law of Lagos State.

This is despite that the House had amended the environmental laws of the state to accommodate Vision-Scape when the going was good.
As a follow-up to that, the State House of Assembly sometimes in October last year directed the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state to reactivate the Private Sector Partnership (PSP) operators in their areas to remove waste indiscriminately disposed.
This followed an Urgent Matter of Public Importance raised by Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti-Osa Constitueny 1) on heaps of refuse scattered all over the state.
Speaker Mudahsiru Obasa emphasised that the Lagos State Government does not know about Vision-Scape, stating that there are three arms of government which includes legislative, executive and judiciary, and that the state government ought to have consulted the House on Vision-Scape before they started operation.
“We insist that we don’t know anything about Vision-Scape because we were not consulted before they started work.
“We once wrote the Commissioner for Finance, Hon. Akinyemi Ashade not to pay Vision-Scape again and he should return any money he paid to them after our instruction to the coffers of the state government. We will get to that, when the time comes, but we have to do the needful now,” Obasa said in a rather hash tone.
This was the level of frosty relationship until now, when against the annual culture of budget presentation before the fiscal year that the Lagos State Government is known for, nothing has been done till now. The delay in the 2019 budget presentation is still being explained away through bulk passing by the two arms of government.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Olusegun Banjo on Wednesday 2nd of January said the 2019 Budget proposal was already in the State House of Assembly.
Banjo in a statement said that the budget proposal of N852.317 billion was forwarded by the governor to the House via a letter and that the budget was to have been read before the House on Dec. 24, 2018.
The Commissioner said Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode had sent verbal information to present the budget on December 24, after the state Executive Council approval on Dec. 19.
According to him, the presentation did not take place as the House was on recess and could not form a quorum.
He said in order to meet the traditional presentation, a formal letter with the proposed budget attached, was sent to the House on Dec. 28.

“It is expected that when the House reconvenes, the Speaker will inform members of the content of the budget proposal sent by the governor and take necessary action,” he said.
In reaction to this however, members of the Assembly decided to clear the air on news making rounds in the state alleging they were responsible for the delay in the passage of the year 2019 budget.
Rt. Hon. Obasa, during the plenary session of the House on Thursday 10th of January said that there is no reason for anybody to shift blame on the Parliament over the late presentation of the budget for year 2019, saying the House is always ready to receive and pass the budget if done properly.
According to him, a letter was sent to the House through a correspondence dated 28th December, 2018 which is a total deviation from the norm of the House, a situation whereby the Governor comes to the hallowed chamber to present the budget to the lawmakers.
“We are representing the interest of our people and we will always do that. We have no resentment or bad blood; we are ready to receive the budget when the Executive is ready. The head of the Executive must be ready to perform his constitutional duties in this regard as stated in section 121 chapter 1 of the constitution,” he said.
The usual procedure is that before the governor presents the budget, there is usually a bilateral meeting between the Executive and the Parliament where issues on budget provisions and needs of Lagosians are discussed and then the budget is presented. But the governor who would not want to sit to discuss with his “political enemies” on any issue for now, especially when he is not going to be the one to operate the budget, seem to care less about such meeting.
He is also not unaware of the pent up anger against him by the lawmakers for not extending the ‘’hand of fellowship’’ to them during the Christmas period, like one of them who spoke with our correspondent said when he asked why the governor has not come to present the budget, he responded, “don’t mind him, he is afraid of coming here, and we are waiting for him, the man didn’t do well at all, you won’t believe he didn’t give us anything for this Christmas, we are waiting for him, because either he likes it not he must come to present the budget before the House, all those ‘I have sent the budget before the House’, he is just wasting his time, he is still coming here, that one that members will be posing beside him to take pictures before, he will just come and go, nobody will reckon with him” the lawmaker said in a friendly chat with our correspondent.
Another report has it that the governor wanted to present the budget quietly without the usual ceremony of inviting party members with singing and dancing accompanying a typical budget presentation in Lagos, or what is the point gathering together the party members who do not want you for a second term for the purpose of budget presentation
There are however, insinuations that the bulk passing between the two arms of government may likely end on Monday as the governor is said to be prepared to come before the House for the proper laying of the budget. Whether or not this will happen on Monday, we are waiting to see.
However, the none presentation of the budget is also said to be brewing another fire, as some top members of the psarty are believed to be angry with the governor, accusing him of deliberately delaying the budget presentation so that it will not be passed on time for there to be money to prosecute the election in the state, while on the other hand allegedly pumping money into the campaign of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
It was alleged by those who do not want Ambode to remain on the governorship seat that despite acknowledging that he understood that only God gives power to whoever He wishes, he has been working against the choice of the people in the governorship contest.
According to them he has decided and started acting it out the process of undermining his own party and that of Mr. Sanwo-Olu and is now actively funding Mr. Jimi Agbaje of the PDP.
They further alleged that up till today, Ambode has given Agbaje close to 2.35 Billion Naira. These sums they alleged were given in staggered stages. It started with 90 Million, 250 Million, 250 Million, 1 billion transferred through Access Bank. Another 350 Million was given on the day that APC rally was disrupted.
The last sum was brought by Mr. Steve Ayorinde to a house in Ikoyi owned by Mr. Dewumi Ogunsanya at McPherson Street. The first three sums of 90, 250, 250 installments were brought by Mr. Bunmi Ariyo, a noted assistant of Mr. Ambode.
Akinwumi Ambode is said to be determined to undermine the will of the people by assuring Mr. Agbaje of PDP that they can rig the election for his party provided he will allow him, Ambode to control his government and look away from his alleged atrocities.
As a result of this development, a move is again said to be in the offing to convince the leaders of the party on why Ambode must be impeached by the state Assembly, though the leaders are said not to be buying it because of the implication of impeaching a governor so close an election.
One of the alleged prime movers of this is Mr. Mobolaji Sanusi, Managing Director, Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA).
It is alleged that Sanusi who in cohort with a few implacable elements within and outside of Lagos State government is hell bent on destroying Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Sanusi has denied any involvement in any such plot, saying he could never betray his principal.
In a statement debunking the allegation, Sanusi said: “It is ridiculous and laughable that some disgruntled elements wherever can sit on quicksand to concoct this spurious accusation. They have failed, ab initio in this satanical, ill conceived plot.
“I remain a loyal appointee of His Excellency, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State. The detractors are looking for relevance where they’ll get none and their plot to divide the APC in the state has failed abysmally.
“I am too ingrained in how to make LASAA an enviable institution in the past three years and to also make an appreciable impact in the governance of Lagos than to be detracted by the handiwork of proponents of fake news that we’re all trying to remove from our social media hemisphere. I remain loyal to my principal,” he said.
It is believed that despite the approach that may be employed from any quarter to pretend that all is well with the Lagos State APC family, it is only a matter of time before the truth will come forth. Quote
We are representing the interest of our people and we will always do that. We have no resentment or bad blood; we are ready to receive the budget when the Executive is ready. The head of the Executive must be ready to perform his constitutional duties in this regard as stated in section 121 chapter 1 of the constitution Patrick Okohue