The shape that the battle for the Alausa Government House will take is gradually unfolding and not a few political pundits believe that one of the states that will record surprises in next year's election is Lagos. With an estimated population of about 18 million people and being the commercial nerve centre of the country, this state of aquatic splendor promises to be an interesting battle ground for the two leading political parties, All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

While Lagos has always been the jewel of leading parties since the return of democracy in 1999, it has remained in the firm grip of opposition parties. Even when all other South-west states fell from the grip of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) into the hands of the PDP in the 2003 general elections, Lagos was the only South-west state standing. And to attest to its strategic importance, it was from this state that a fierce political attack was launched on the other five South-west states under the control of the PDP in 2007 before four of them fell into the hands of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) - an offshoot of AD - which is one of the parties that metamorphosed into APC.

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