Why APC is leading in Lagos

Contrary to President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment last week in Abuja that Lagos will be a ‘battle ground’ between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), the elections, in spite of few hitches showed that Lagosians voted for a  change of government at the centre.  People started to troop out […]

Contrary to President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment last week in Abuja that Lagos will be a ‘battle ground’ between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), the elections, in spite of few hitches showed that Lagosians voted for a  change of government at the centre.  
People started to troop out of their residences as early as 6am, particularly those who have moved away from where they registered to other part of the city.
Those who voted close to where they live were out on queue before 8: am and for accreditation. There was a large turnout of voters all over the state because in some places in the suburb of Lagos like Abule-Egba, Agege, Alagbado, Ikorodu axis and Badagry area, people in the neighbourhood  were calling on one another to go to the polling booths together and vote.  
In some places like Ifako-Ijaiye, Ogba, Ikeja, Iyana-Ipaja up to Ojokoro area, it started raining after elections started and, despite the heavy downpour, voters at the mentioned places waited on the queue to cast their votes.
In Surulere, Polling Unit 002 where Governor Babatunde Fashola cast his vote and at the VGC recreational centre where Prof. Yemi Osinbajo cast his vote, voters queued under the scorching sun to cast their votes. Osinbajo waited at the recreational centre for almost two hours awaiting arrival of INEC officials to carry out his accreditation processes and Fashola queued in the scorching sun for one-and-half hour, waiting for his turn to cast his vote.
Prior to the elections, APC has engaged in campaign of issues rather than picking on individuals. The PDP governorship candidate in the state, Mr. Jimi Agbaje also engaged in campaign of issues but, the obvious challenges before Nigerians, joblessness of millions of Nigerians, irregular power supply and high electricity bills, failure of the PDP-led federal government to rescue over 200 Chibok girls, the expansion of Boko Haram in the North-east and so many other challenges that were hammered on during APC campaigns contributed to the failure of PDP to win Lagos.
Two things worked and will still continue to work for APC  in  Lagos State. First, the leaders have been in control in the state since 1999 when they came on board under Alliance for Democracy (AD) platform before they metamorphosed into AC, ACN and now APC. The group, led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who was the state governor between 1999-2007, has succeeded in building a strong political structure across the state up to the wards of the 57 local councils in the state.
The influence of Governor Fashola who was Tinubu’s successor in office also contributed. He has built on Tinubu’s legacies to the admiration of Lagosians and stands out as one of the performing governors in the current dispensation, making APC attractive to the residents.      
In addition, Tinubu and Fashola led effective campaign rallies as against PDP strategy.  Where APC embarked on open rally across each local government in Lagos, PDP embarked on ordinary town hall meetings where only PDP members attended. It was later, after intervention of the Presidency that PDP in Lagos embarked on open campaign rally.
The victory of APC in Lagos did not come easy. The party worked for it and derived sympathy from members of the public over PDP’s decision to malign APC leaders, particularly Buhari. Jonathan’s last minutes numerous visits to Lagos during the six weeks postponement of the general elections where it was alleged the president gave out foreign currency to various groups and associations was the ‘major error’ committed by PDP in Lagos.
APC hammered on this allegation for days and failure of the Presidency to refute the allegation, coupled with the multi-billion naira contract extended to Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) were seen by Lagosians as one of the desperate moves by PDP to win Lagos and people in the state did not like the development as it unfolded.
PDP’s opposition to the use of card reader also contributed immensely to the party’s failure in Lagos. They know that PDP supported the idea of card reader at initial stage and argue that the federal government released money to INEC for the purchase of the machine but expressed surprise that the ruling party later turned around to condemn the use of the machine. This, they suspect, may be a ploy to rig the elections.