and with the emergence of candidates for the
various elective offices by the various political
parties running in the elections, OLAJIDE
OMOJOLOMOJU, examines the factors that
will play out in the expected battle royal for
the soul of Lagos State in the gubernatorial
election.
With the conclusion of almost all
primary elections for almost all elective
offices, the 2015 general elections,
scheduled for February 2015 has begun
to take shape.
Lagos State, popularly acclaimed to be the
commercial nerve centre of the federation is
not left out in the feverish preparation for the
February 2015 elections with the emergence
of gubernatorial candidates for the various
contending political parties which have
signified intention to take a shot at the
state's gubernatorial seat.
But majority stakeholders see two political
parties, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP
and the All Progressives Congress, APC, as
those in pole position to make any
meaningful impact in the election. APC, which
has been in power in the state since the
advent of the present democratic
dispensation, has consistently been in control
of the state, first as Alliance for Democracy,
AD, then later as Action Congress, AC and
Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN and now as
APC.
Also, the PDP, has consistently been trying to
take over the reins of government from the
ruling APC without success, always playing
second fiddle at every election in 1999, 2003,
2007 and 2011. However, with the
emergence of Akinwunmi Ambode, a retired
Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State civil
service and immediate past Accountant-
General of Lagos State as the gubernatorial
candidate of APC and Jimi Agbaje, a former
chairman of Lagos State branch of
Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, as the
gubernatorial candidate of the PDP, the race
to Alausa Government House, will be a royal
battle of wits.
This is without prejudice to the contentious
battle raging against Agbaje's emergence.
The question on the lips of every Lagosian
and stakeholders in the Centre of Excellence
Project is: who between Ambode and Agbaje
is in better stead to succeed the incumbent
Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, of the
ruling APC? Perhaps, a look at their
antecedents will give an insight into
providing probable answer to the million
dollar question.
Who is Akinwunmi Ambode?
Ambode was born on June 14, 1963 at Epe
General Hospital, Epe, Lagos State and began
his primary education at St. Jude's Primary
School, Ebute Meta, Lagos. He passed the
National Common Entrance in Primary 5 and
gained admission into Federal Government
College, Warri, where he made history
recording the second best result in the entire
West Africa in the Higher School Certificate,
HSC, Examinations in the Social Sciences in
1981.
He attended the prestigious University of
Lagos, from where he graduated with honours
in Accounting at the age of 21 in 1984. At 24,
he had become a member of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and
finished a Masters' degree in Accounting
specializing in Financial Management, also at
the University of Lagos, via a Federal
Government scholarship.
In 1998, he was awarded the United States'
Fullbright Scholarship for the Hubert H.
Humphrey Fellowsip program me at the
Boston University, in Massachusetts on Public
Leadership with emphasis on Finance and
Accouncing, as a result of his commitment to
public service.
Ambode began his career, all which he had
with Lagos State government at the Lagos
State Waste Disposal Board, Lagos State
Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, in
1985 as Accountant Grade II and joined the
Local Government Service in 1988, as
Assistant Council Treasurer, Badagry Local
Government.
Between 1991 and 1996, he worked in
various capacities as Auditor, Somolu Local
Government, Council Treasurer, Alimoso,
Somolu, Mushin and Ajeromi-Ifelodun local
government areas. In December, 1999, he
was transferred to the Lagos State
Government Civil Service and was appointed
acting Auditor General for Local Governments
in 2000, an appointment which was in 2001
confirmed by the Lagos State House of
Assembly in 2001, going down in history as
the as the youngest person to be appointed
Auditor General in Lagos State at the age of
37.
He became the Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of Finance in 2005 and was in 2006 given
additional responsibility as Accountant
General for Lagos State, thus putting him in
charge of all the state's financial activities.
Within this period, he chaired the Technical
Committee for the Lagos State Economic
Empowerment Development Strategy,
LASEEDS; organized the first ever National
Tax Retreat in the country in conjunction with
the Joint Tax Board/Federal Inland Revenue
Services in 2005; led the Implementation
Team on the restructured wages and salaries
payment system for over 3,000 staff of
LAWMA and revolutionised the Lagos State
Treasury Office and got the state budget to
perform at a remarkable 85 per cent annually.
Ambode voluntarily retired from the Lagos
State Civil Service in 2012 as the first ever
Permanent Secretary/ Accountant General to
do so and upon retirement, found
Brandsmiths Consulting Limited, a public
finance management consulting firm
providing public finance and management
consulting services to government at all
levels.
Ambode, a scholar, accountant, administrator
and astute leader with strong emotional
intelligence, is an alumnus of Wharton
Business School, Cranfield School of
Management, Cranfield, England; the
Institute of Management Development,
Lausanne, Switzerland; INSEAD, Singapore
and the Harvard Kennedy School of
Government, Boston, Massachusetts, USA,
among others.
He is also a stickler for high performance,
whose decisions are never based on race,
gender or religion, who is passionate about
Lagos, developing young leaders and
professionals and contributing to the society
from which he has gained so much He threw
his hat in the ring early in the year for the
race to govern the Centre of Excellence and
emerged gubernatorial candidate of the APC
from among 13 other aspirants in a primary
election held on Thursday, December 4 at the
Onikan Stadium, in Lagos.
Who is Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje?
Agbaje, popularly known as Jimi Agbaje, was
born on March 2, 1957, as second born and
first male child of five children. An alumnus of
the famous University of Ife, now Obafemi
Awolowo University, he founded his own
company, JAYKAY Pharmaceutical and
Chemical Company Limited in 1982, which he
ran till 2005, when he decided to go into
politics
Posted By David Aniemeka
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