As the second tenure of Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), gradually comes to an end, those aspiring to succeed him under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the state, are going spiritual with a view to becoming the choice of the party.
Checks by Daily Sun revealed that the party’s leadership is considering two major criteria as qualities of the would-be successor of Fashola, who is unarguably believed to have upped governance ante not only in Lagos but across the country.
The criteria, according to a source close to the party’s ACME Road secretariat include high intelligence quotient and track record of performance that can convince the leadership that the aspirant can surpass Fashola’s performance when elected governor.
Against this background, all the aspirants for the Alausa Government House on the platform of the APC in 2015, besides keeping touch with their godfathers are also going spiritual to become the party’s anointed candidate.
Daily Sun can authoritatively reveal that not a few Muslim governorship aspirants spent some days in Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj (Umrah) during the just concluded Ramadan fast to seek the face of God in the gubernatorial project, just as they also keep in touch with their religious leaders on their ambition.
As the Muslim aspirants are seeking spiritual intervention, their Christian counterparts, investigations revealed, are also in close contact with their spiritual mentors in various highbrow worship centres within the state and beyond.
Religious leaders from both the Islamic and Christian folds were said to be highly involved in the governorship project as the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and several Islamic organizations have also embarked on internal screening of would-be candidate for the Alausa seat.
Daily Sun gathered that while the leadership of CAN already have two governorship materials in mind, the Islamic bodies are internally screening at least three prominent Muslim governorship hopefuls for the coveted seat.
The CAN’s choices for now, a source close to the body confided in Daily Sun, are a governorship candidate that came third in the 2007 election in the state and a former commissioner in the state, who though a Christian, has Muslim background. He was said to have declined succeeding former Governor Bola Tinubu, in whose cabinet he served in a ministry that has to do with finance, budget and economy.
On the Muslim side, a cleric, who preferred anonymity confirmed to Daily Sun that about four prominent likely aspirants were on the list of the Conference of Islamic Organization (CIO).
They include a serving commissioner, who is an expert in technology; a serving senator who has been in the National Assembly for the third term running and a former commissioner, who is an interim executive officer of the APC.
When contacted, the spokesman of the APC in the state, Chief Joe Igbokwe confirmed that the party had commenced thinking about who would succeed Fashola the very day he was sworn-in for his second term in office.
He admitted that “the performance indices of Fashola has given us a great challenge on the search for his successor.”
Igbokwe, however, boasted that “our great party has more than enough materials that are eminently qualified to be governor in 2015,” stressing that “we have hundreds of them, both Christians and Muslims, lined up for the job.”
THE SUN
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