Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s political career might be on the rocks after President Bola Tinubu received information that the Lagos governor has allegedly piped public funds to arch-opponents of the ruling party, Peoples Gazette learnt this week.
Mr Tinubu immediately saw betrayal after a security report indicated to the president that anti-graft agents found funds from Mr Sanwo-Olu’s ally Aisha Achimugu had somehow reached Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, the powerful leaders of Nigeria’s two main opposition groups.
A dispositive estimate of how much was involved and the timeline of its distribution remained fuzzy as of Tuesday afternoon, but operatives believed more particulars would still be discovered justifying supplemental briefing to the president, who was already blown away by what he heard, multiple officials said.
“The president was furious and felt betrayed when he was informed that this actually happened,” a top administration official directly briefed on the matter told The Gazette this week. “He has absorbed deceptive political tactics all his life, but he was uncharacteristically hurt by this one.”
Spokespersons for Messrs Obi and Abubakar stonewalled The Gazette’s attempts to obtain their reactions to the unfolding political pantomime, which could potentially muddle Mr Sanwo-Olu’s ability to complete his tenure in Lagos, maintain his relationship with the president and advance his career beyond 2027.
The Gazette heard an investigation was expanded into how Ms Achimugu might have funded Messrs Obi and Abubakar around the 2023 elections after she was identified as a key smurfer for Mr Sanwo-Olu.
“The agents didn’t stop at identifying how the woman was helping the Lagos governor move money abroad; they also tried to understand how she might have moved money within the country,” an official said. “That was how they found she delivered some money to two opposition leaders after the presidential election.”
Officials said Ms Achimugu might have distributed the money after the election as part of a compromise to aid Mr Sanwo-Olu’s reelection after the sensational defeat of Mr Tinubu in Lagos.
Messrs Abubakar and Obi ran second and third in the February 2023 election, allowing Mr Tinubu to win the presidency with just 36 per cent of the vote. Mr Abubakar scored 29 per cent on his main opposition Peoples Democratic Party platform; while Mr Obi scored 25 per cent under Labour Party.
The top opposition figures have separately but consistently resisted Mr Tinubu’s social and economic policies, highlighting their detriment to the nation’s over 200 million population in regular statements.
“They should’ve known that the president has informants everywhere,” another official familiar with the matter said. “And Governor Sanwo-Olu especially should have known that there was no way he could get away with being in bed with the opposition figures who have sworn to undermine the president at every turn.”
Mr Sanwo-Olu, a hitherto obscure politician even in Lagos circles, was elected Lagos governor in 2019 after Mr Tinubu, who has maintained an absolute grip on Lagos politics since 1999, felt slighted by Akinwunmi Ambode and coordinated his removal from office after just one term.
The salacious details, which The Gazette has not independently corroborated, emerged as part of an ongoing corruption probe of Ms Achimugu, who could not be reached for comments for this story.
A presidential spokesman said the State House would not comment on developing topics provided as part of routine confidential security rundowns to the president. Repeated calls to Mr Sanwo-Olu and his spokesman rang through.
An aide to Mr Sanwo-Olu feared his reported sexual relationship with Ms Achimugu, despite being married, may be too much to bear for the president, who was already irritated by the governor’s role in Mudashiru Obasa’s impeachment in January.
“Please remember that the governor was already facing a serious battle for his role in the impeachment and his failure to quickly rally the lawmakers to bring back Mr Obasa after your paper reported that the president has asked them to commence reinstatement,” the aide said under anonymity to avoid being targeted by the governor. “Now it looks like he has landed in yet another trouble so soon.”
The official said the erstwhile police commissioner was summarily removed from the highly-courted deployment because Aso Rock believed he worked with Mr Sanwo-Olu during Mr Obasa’s short-lived impeachment.
“The commissioner has already been punished,” the official said. “Which is why the governor’s recent blunders are giving some of us working with him sleepless nights.”
(Peoples Gazette)
