Muiz Banire, a lone voice fighting imposition in APC

OLUSESAN LAOYE |

The controversy generated by the July 22, 2017 Local Government Election held in Lagos state, has continued afterward as things have gone from bad to worse for the once close political friends. For the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, this development may be an indication of possible implosion and internal revolt against a tradition that has been so ruthlessly effective but loathed by all. The bone of contention is the imposition of candidates by the party leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Although the camps of the APC National leader Ahmed Bola Tinubu are happy for carrying the day, those who were opposed to the result and the manner the election was conducted are still oiling their guns to fight what they described as injustice meted to them.
The election has further widened the gulf between the leaders of the aggrieved groups and Tinubu who was accused of sidelining the proper process for the conduct of the election to pave ways for his men who overwhelmed the oppositions and those against him in the APC.
Among the leaders of those who have been challenging his authority in the APC and in Lagos state is the National Legal Adviser of the APC, Dr. Muiz Banire, who stood his grounds against the modalities and procedures used by the APC in selecting the candidates for the election.
Although, the attack which Banire launched on Tinubu, was not only as a result of the last local government election, there had been strong animosity between them since 2014, when the contest for the governorship seat in Lagos state began for the 2015 election in which Banire was interested and was tipped by political analysts as the best bet to clinch the ticket of the APC.
The National legal adviser of the APC had before the last governorship election been very close to Tinubu, and was regarded as one of his confidants. But events later indicated that his former boss whom he worked with for eight years as commissioner, never wanted him as the governor of the state but preferred Akinwumi Ambode, the incumbent governor of the state to succeed the now Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola.
At this stage it downed on Banire that Tinubu only used him and others who are Lagosians to stabilize himself in power. However, Tinubu’s hands were forced to choice Ambode, a Christian, which could have been against his earlier calculations.
The action of Tinubu in this regard jolted him and at a stage, he had to openly confront him on the ways he has been imposing his will on the party members without allowing the rule of law and the constitution of the party to prevail.
Immediately after the governorship election, Banire distanced himself from Tinubu and the crisis between them became glaring. Banire then faced his legal practice and refused to dabble in politics. But at the heat of the preparations for the last Local government election in the state, he decided not to sit idle and allow things as usual for those who would not want equity, fair play and justice to prevail. He rose up and as a lone voice in the wilderness challenged the selection process of the candidates of the party for the election.
As the cold war between him and the leadership of his party worsened, he to petition the chairman of the Party in Lagos state, Chief Henry Ajomale, against the procedure adopted for the conduct of the primary which centralized the venue contravened the constitution of the party and as the chief Legal adviser of the APC he would not be in Lagos where he is a stake holder to allow such an anomaly to perpetrated.
In the letter to Ajomale he stated that in as much as he would not want to insinuate that the procedure adopted was aimed at rigging the primary to favour some aspirants, what he wanted was that, transparency and fairness should be exhibited in the conduct of the primaries so that the exercise would not be in futility.
What eventually occurred at the Teslim Balogun Stadium venue of the centralized primaries vindicated Banire as there was pandemonium which led to serious fracas. People at the event scampered for safety but Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi who was the chairman of the electoral committee was not lucky. The aggrieved party members mobbed and manhandled him. It took the intervention of the police to free him from the irate party members.
The aggrieved party members who were not yet done with their protests took it to their respective local governments and the state party secretariat. Some of them also went to the governor’s office and the House of Assembly to lodge their displeasure towards the way the primaries were conducted.
In order not to allow the situation to totally disbilise the party at that stage, Governor Ambode, the speaker of the state House of Assembly and other notable members of the party who were not partisans in the matter had to intervene and adopted some give and take before partial normalcy was restored for the election to be held.
One major issue which angered the leadership of the APC against Banire was the suit instituted by one Hakeem Abolaji Saka against the APC and the State electoral commission where he sought a relief of a Lagos High court to declare that no primary was held at his Local government Odiolowo. His relief was granted and this further infuriated the APC leadership who argued that the suit had the backing of Banire, saying that if not for the fact that he Banire provided both moral and legal backing in the case, it could not have gone the way it did.
Although Banire denied being instrumental to the suit,, but for the fact that he was at the hearing to testify in his capacity as the Chief legal adviser of the APC and informed the court that the party in Lagos state did not obey the party constitution which stipulates that primaries could only be held through delegates election and not by imposition, adding that the national body of the party had also warned that the the Lagos state chapter of the party should allow internal democracy to prevail, but the warnings were not heeded.
The case eventually led to open confrontations between Chief Ajomale and Banire who bluntly told Ajomale that what he did was in line with the party’s constitution, and he could not be in Lagos as a stakeholder to allow illegality as the National Legal adviser to the party. The party leadership, however was not pleased with the action of Banire and is now said to be instrumental to the opposition now rising in Mushin and Odiolowo, his major political strong hold for ages. Candidates sponsored against him are now calling for his suspension from the party, claiming that he is engaging in anti-party activities.
The leader of the group calling for his expulsion from the party, one Mr. Femi Matins, alleged that Banire made some defamatory statements capable of causing disaffections in the party. Matins in a petition directed to the chairman of the party, Ajomale, the Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly Mudashiru Obasa, the National leader, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and other stake holders in the party, accused him of working against party interest .
Some of Banire’s supporters indicated that their mentor is facing the barrage of attacks because he is the only person who challenged the authority of the powers that be in the state. They said that the allegation of forgery against him was cooked up for him to be removed as the National Legal adviser of the APC.
A group which Banire is a member, the United Action for Change, has eulogized him for his boldness to stand up for the truth in the face of intimidation. The deputy convener of the group, Kunle Adegoke, also condemned the purported suspension of Banire by the APC chapter in Mushin Local government., adding that this was part of the plans by the party’s power-brokers to intimidate ”the man of truth”
Banire has come out to condemn all the allegations against him, saying that they were planned to frustrate him out of the APC but no one can do that as far as he is concerned in Lagos State. He said he still stand by his action and that he would continue to ensure that justice is done to everyone in the APC as long as he remains the Chief national legal Adviser of the party.
On his suspension by those he described as organized touts in Mushin, he said that those who sent them are not abreast with the constitution of the party as no local wing of the party has the power to suspend a national officer. He pointed out that the constitutional amendment of the party would end some of the atrocities being committed by some party leaders who are bent on ruining the party for their own selfish interests.