According to Muraina Taiwo, a member of Lagos State’s Governance Advisory Council (GAC), the purported disagreement between Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and President Bola Tinubu has been settled.
In an interview conducted over the phone on Sunday, Taiwo told Punch that the miscommunication was finally resolved.
All of their claims have been settled by God. We are now united in Lagos State as a result of Tinubu, the father, drawing his son Sanwo-Olu closer and the son hugging his father.
“It just appeared that way, but now that we are in the meeting, God has done it,” he remarked.
APC leader and former governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, also offered his opinion, stating that party leaders had been making a concerted effort to patch up the rift between the two leaders.
“An elder like me is not supposed to tell you what we are doing. We will not remain silent and let the situation worsen out of control, though.
After all, I have a hand in the problems in Lagos and Rivers. All will be well, we are telling the country,” Osoba stated.
Following much conjecture on the President’s aloof attitude toward Sanwo-Olu during his most recent trip to Lagos, the reconciliation was made.
Videos showing Tinubu purportedly ignoring Sanwo-Olu during greetings at the May 31 inauguration of the 30-kilometer section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway went viral on social media.
The governor’s absence from the 27-kilometer Lekki Deep Seaport Road’s commissioning two days prior added to worries about a tense relationship.
Unusually for official state ceremonies, Obafemi Hamzat, Sanwo-Olu’s deputy, attended the ceremony but did not speak on behalf of the state.
To make matters worse, Sanwo-Olu was in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to welcome Governor Umo Eno into the APC, rather than Lagos for the President’s Sallah celebrations.
A deepening split was suggested by images of Mudashiru Obasa, the speaker of the Lagos Assembly, prostrating in front of Tinubu in Lagos that went viral on Saturday.
But on Sunday, Bayo Onanuga, the president’s media aide, posted a group photo of Tinubu with Obasa, Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat, and GAC members on X, implying that everything will back to normal.
The rift, according to people familiar with the Lagos political system, precedes the recent Nigerian Assembly incident in which Obasa was briefly ousted as speaker before being reinstated.
Tinubu’s resentment grew, according to a source who spoke to Punch, amid claims that Sanwo-Olu contributed to Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential campaign. The Presidency and Atiku’s camp have vehemently refuted the charges.
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According to the source, “it is established that there is a rift (between the governor and the president).” As far as I could tell, it was because Sanwo-Olu was alleged to have donated funds to Atiku during his campaign.
Remember how Sanwo-Olu once went to the court to ask for a ban on the EFCC’s investigation into him? The day after, Sanwo-Olu denied it.
The governor’s move, he claimed, was the result of a troubled relationship.
The source went on to say that the Obasa’s problem is simply the final straw.
The Presidency, Atiku, and the EFCC have all denied the allegations, despite the fact that certain sources suggested Sanwo-Olu and Atiku had financial ties.
Atiku referred to it as a “baseless smear campaign” through Paul Ibe, his media adviser.
There were rumors in 2024 that Sanwo-Olu had sued the EFCC to stop a potential post-tenure arrest. However, the allegation was rejected by Lagos State’s Attorney General, Lawal Pedro (SAN).
Additionally, the EFCC denied that Atiku or Sanwo-Olu were connected in any way to its ongoing case against Aisha Achimugu, a socialite who was made sought for suspected money laundering.
