TO say that Lagos State is a microcosm of Nigeria is to say the obvious. Virtually everything that takes place in the larger Nigerian nation has its replica in Lagos State. This is more so in the area of politics where the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) is being given hard tackles by the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in much the same way the PDP is being tackled by the APC at the national level where the roles are reversed.

Just as there has been a rash of carpet crossing across the two major parties at the national level, Lagos has witnessed a similar trend with some moving from the opposition to the ruling party in search of better fortunes while others have jumped out of the ruling party to the opposition for various reasons.

But in Lagos, there is a dimension to the politics of carpet crossing that is not as intense at the national level as it appears to be in the state. That dimension has to do with allegation by some politicians against others who have crossed from some other parties that they are moles sent in to spy for their former parties. This trend is more endemic in the Lagos State chapter of the PDP where the allegation that one of the gubernatorial aspirants on the platform of the party, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, is an APC mole planted in the PDP to diminish the fortunes of the party at the forthcoming elections. This assertion is spreading like wild fire and appears to command some credibility.

Any close observer of the politics of Lagos State would agree that Mr. Agbaje is not the only politician that has defected to PDP. In fact, after the 1999 election when founding members of the PDP in the state like Dapo Sarumi were the front runners for the party’s gubernatorial ticket, subsequent elections have always had defectors from the ruling party (in its various shapes and names ranging from AD to ACN and now APC) as front runners. The late Engr. Funsho Williams was one such. The situation has never arisen where any one of the defectors from the ruling party who became a front runner for the PDP’s ticket was accused of being a mole in the party. The questions that arise from this are: Why is Mr. Agbaje being tagged as an APC mole in the PDP? And why do people seem to believe that the allegation is true?

Though Mr. Agbaje himself has denied the allegation and explained that his wide network of contacts and good relationship with top members of the APC in the state does not mean loyalty to that party, his body language and conciliatory attitude towards the leadership of the Lagos APC tends to belie his position. There are also serious allegations which Agbaje himself has not denied, which is that he usually holds meetings with Tinubu and other APC topshots in Tinubu’s residence at Bourdillon in Ikoyi, Lagos. What could they be discussing? Is it not strange that a so-called PDP man would be fraternizing in the night with the APC, a party he claims he wants to unseat?   Is that the reason he is comfortable with the state government and rarely condemns any of the actions of the APC-led administration, which Lagosians view as anti people?

Politics without bitterness

It is true that Mr. Agbaje claims to be an apostle of politics without bitterness, but a situation where an aspirant for the gubernatorial ticket of an opposition party does not see anything wrong with the government of the ruling party that he intends to unseat and is always very careful not to say anything that could offend the sensibilities of the members of that party shows that there could still be some very powerful link between the man and the state government. This also implies one or two things. Firstly, it could mean that his heart and mind is really with the APC, being a former member of the ACN which was one of the legacy parties that metamorphosed into the APC.   Or, secondly and more seriously, it could be that he is a mole, an infiltrator sent to damage the PDP, the greatest threat to the ruling APC in the forthcoming election.

One does not need to look very hard to see examples of politicians who carpet-crossed and became very bitter critics of their former parties only to cross back to those parties after they had won election on the platform of their new parties. Mr. Agbaje could be seen in that light, just that he could not afford to adopt a similar style of criticising the APC and its leaders and still find the courage to go back after winning election on the platform of another party without doing grave damage to the image of an urbane politician that he claims to have. His conciliatory stance towards the APC and its leaders may just be his way of safeguarding his reputation in the event that he has to beat a retreat back to the APC.

Though Mr. Agbaje appears to be a good gubernatorial hopeful with some political capital, PDP Lagos must ensure that it does not make the mistake of fielding a candidate who will deliver PDP very cheap to the APC in 2015. Where trust is lacking in politics, betrayal is not impossible.

By Aliyu Mohammed sent this piece from Lagos.