Fashola
Minister of Power, Works and Housing and former Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Monday, March 25, 2019, said had he pursued an intention to install his own choice of successor in 2015, no one would have opposed such move.
Speaking during a one on one interview session with the anchor of Your View, on Television Continental (TVC), Morayo Afolabi-Brown and monitored by Thepledge, the former Lagos State governor revealed that going by the fact that he occupied the office as governor at that time, he had the capacity to choose his successor, however, it was not a move he was attracted to.
He said he also had to submit to the will of the party after the keenly contested primaries produced the incumbent Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, as the flagbearer for the party.
In the run up to the 2015, Fashola had tabled his then Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, as his preferred successor. But an ancestral obstacle linking Hamzat’s father, a chieftain of the party in the State who later became an Oba in the Ewekoro area of Ogun State put paid to his ambition.
Seeing the red flag on Hamzat, Fashola also made a last minute move to push his then Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Supo Sasore, SAN, as his candidate, but also failed with Akinwunmi Ambode emerging victorious.
Fashola said: “If I wanted to install my own successor, no one would have been able to stop me, but it wasn’t an attractive venture to me at that time. So, with the outcome of the primaries of our party, everyone had to rally round and support the candidate.”
He added that his disposition was justified as some incumbent governors that attempted such move in the run up to the 2019 elections, against the will of their parties, failed in such move.
Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, had attempted to install their preferred successors and both failed at it during the March 9 governorship elections in their respective States.
Asked about his relationship with the incumbent Governor since he left office, Fashola said he already had a clear understanding of what his role would be after his eight years elapsed as Governor of the State.
“I’ve looked at succession models across the world and some of the things that I saw, perhaps, a sense of empire-hood, if there is such a word, but it was always clear to me that the period of my tenure as Governor was a period of a public trust.
“Clearly defined; a four year term, subject to renewal of another four years and no more. It was very clear to me that I don’t owe the State and the only thing I could become was a senior citizen after that office and that is what I chose.
“Now, as a senior citizen, the experience, the only thing I could offer the Governor was advice, if he sought it and it was always going to be how to thread with care if your advice is not solicited. Your time is up, go quietly into the night, you’re interfering,” he said.
He frowned at situations where former leaders attempt to impose their opinions on their successors, saying that it was a model that was uncommon across the world.
“If your help or advice is needed, then you intervene. Because we have seen some models, people writing letters, telling their successors how to govern, you don’t do that, it’s not a kingdom, it’s a public trust, your time is up. If you have advice, there are back channels for dealing with that and we must copy successful models.
“When last did you see David Cameron telling Theresa May how to manage Brexit? He led the vote. When last did you see Barak Obama telling Donald Trump how to govern? How many times did Nelson Mandela interfere in the day to day running in South Africa?”
Asked about the decision of the party to deny Governor Ambode a second term on the basis of not submitting to the whims and caprices of the party, Fashola said though he was minimally involved in the decision, it was difficult to separate government policies and the political implications it could have.
“I think people must also understand that policies have political consequences and the political parties are more perceptive than perhaps members of the pubic give them credit for; they have an intelligence unit feeling the pulse and what they would like to see in the next election, that’s as much I think is useful for our conversation because I really didn’t get involved at that level in the goings on as I was busy in Abuja,” he said.
He, however, expressed concern that the office of the governor should be desecrated as a result of political disagreement with the person who occupies the office.
“One of the things that I was concerned about was that whatever happened, we must look beyond the occupier of the office to the office. That is the office that great Nigerians, some of my very illustrious predecessors, held. From Mobolaji Johnson, the very first governor, albeit unelected; that was the office that Europeans like Sir Gilbert Carter, John Glover held.
“That is the office that Alhaji Lateef Jakande held, that is the office that Micheal Otedola held, Bola Tinubu held, so nothing must be done to desecrate that office and whatever differences you have with the holder of the office, the office itself is our big masquerade and holders come and go and they leave the shroud of the masquerade intact. That was the role I tried to play and as I said earlier, it’s a term of four years subject to the discretion whether he gets another term.”
On his perceived ambition to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari come 2023, Fashola was quick to debunk the report, saying there was no plan to that effect.
“Again, I am giving you the yardstick from which to proceed; if you didn’t hear from me, it didn’t happen. I don’t deal with surreptitious things, I am driven by clear convictions on what I think is right and I deal with them,” he ended.


– The Pledge