His name is Alhaji Abdullahi Ayinde Enilolobo. But his admirers usually call him Enny, a shortened and somewhat funky form of his surname, Enilolobo. He is an astute politician in Lagos State. But his political base where he looms large over the landscape like a collosus is Alimosho area of the state. Alimosho is in Lagos West. Enny is a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC), and they refer and defer to him as the APC Apex Leader in Alimosho. But what is so special about this man?
Well, the truth is, if anyone would become the Governor in Lagos State, just like Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu did in 2019, such an aspirant would need strongly, the support of Enny. How and why? You would soon find out in this piece. And to start with, the political importance of Enilolobo which is the product of his close bond with the former Commissioner for Works in Lagos State, former Governor of Osun State, and currently, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregesola, needs to be brought to the fore.
Aregbesola’s political base in Lagos while he was the Commissioner for Works in the state during the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the Governor, was and still remains Alimosho. While in office as the Commissioner, Aregbesola cultivated a number of protégés into his inner political circle and one of them was the youthful Enilolobo. And for being very loyal and trust-worthy amongst the ardent followers of Aregbesola, when the call to serve as the Governor of Osun State beckoned on “Oranmiyan”, being the political brand name Aregbesola used to run for election in Osun, he handed over the control of Alimosho, to Enilolobo. And that was the beginning of Enny’s rise to relevance.
For 8 years that Aregbesola was away, politically, from Lagos governing Osun State between 2011 and 2019, Enilolobo was the eye of Aregbesola in Alimosho. Enilolobo would constantly shuttle between Lagos and Osun to brief his boss on every political developments in his domain. And that was how within 8 years, his sphere of influence grew across the length and breadth of Alimosho, because no one would become anything politically in the district without first winning Enny to their side. Even, according to reports, if some Smart Alecs tried to play smart and by-passed Enny by going straight to meet Aregbesola in Oshogbo where the Governor’s Office is located for political favour, Aregbesola would still seek audience with his trusted protégé before deciding on their matter.
Now, what is the significance of Alimosho to the political landscape in Lagos State? You must have been wondering. Alimosho as a Local Government Area (LGA) used to be the biggest and most populous LGA in Lagos State, until when Tinubu created 37 more Local Councils out of the 20 LGAs in the state when he was the Governor. Hence, Alimosho LGA was broken into six consisting of Alimosho LGA, Agbado/Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Igando-Ikotun LCDA, Egbe-Idimu LCDA, Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA and Mosan-Okunola LCDA.
Due to the large number of residents that Alimosho can boast of when brought together as one LGA based on how it is still recognized by the Federal Government– the Federal Government still considers Lagos as having 20 LGAs, not 57 LGAs and LCDAs– the votes from Alimosho always determine where the pendulum would swing in terms of who becomes the Governor of Lagos State at every election year. And that is one of the reasons they call Alimosho “Tinubu Country” being very strategic to determining the fate of aspirants to the office of the Governor in the state just like Tinubu is critical to deciding who becomes the aspirant on his own.
And so, it is not unusual for politicians in Alimosho whenever they are having meetings to first pay tribute to Tinubu, whether he is attending the meeting or not. Whoever has witnessed a political meeting in Alimosho should be familiar with this special anthem. “On your mandate we shall stand, on your mandate we shall stand, on your mandate, Bola (Tinubu), on your mandate, Bola (Tinubu), On your mandate we shall stand”. Everyone at the meeting stands when the anthem is about to be sang, placed their right hands on their chests and looks straight forward at nothing. May be looking at an imaginary Tinubu.
And talking about “Mandate” which is a refrain in the anthem, it was also the name of the, hitherto, most powerful political group in Lagos State which was always in the forefront of determining who became what in the state. As a matter of fact, the campaign to remove the immediate past governor of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode from office after just a term, reportedly started from the Mandate Group which had its nucleus in Alimosho. And consequently, the campaign to also replace him with the sitting Governor, Sanwo-Olu, was also kick-started by the Mandate Group, according to reports.
It would be recalled that Enilolobo recently became the Chairman of the Mandate Group before political groupings was shortly after, proscribed by Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), the group of political leaders in Lagos APC. And the real reason for the proscription according to people in the know, was to curtail the influence of Enilolobo who many political rivals within same APC consider Aregbesola’s boy. Because without proscribing the group pronto, dictating the political pace of things in the state would have been totally put in the hands of Enny, and by extension, Aregbesola, which could be suicidal to the political careers of those who may not be in their good book. Hence, proscribung the other political group in the state, Justice Forum, alongside was said to only be a collateral damage, as the Mandate Group about to be led by Enny was believed to be the target par se.
But interestingly, the proscription has not really done any damage to the political influence and clout of Enilolobo as he still remains the Apex political leader in Alimosho which makes him indispensable to many ambitious politicians in the state. And he has been strategic enough on his own part not to have run for any political office despite his overwhelming influence where it matters. He would rather remain a Kingmaker rather than vie for Kingship. Just like some would say in Yoruba that, “Eni ti on pin ipo kii du’po” ( Who ever is in charge of sharing positions should not compete for any position).
Remember that Enilolobo was the Director of Mobilization to the Sanwo-Olu Independent Campaign Group (ICG) in the build up to the 2019 Gubernatorial Election in the state which made him a key figure in delivering the votes that ushered in the Governor. And the current Organising Secretary of the APC in Lagos State, was formerly the Youth Leader of the party in the state. And without doubt, the 51 year old consummate politician has become a big force to reckon with by anyone who wants to govern Lagos State in the future. Since such a person must perform well during election in Alimosho, and Enny controls what happens there.
