– Buhari to intervene in favour of Ambode
A day after Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State officially declared his bid for a second term, there is a threat to impeach him.
The impeachment threat is not unconnected to an ongoing rift between him and APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The governor had on Monday obtained his expression of interest and nomination forms at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.
Quoting credible sources, TheCable, on Tuesday claimed that 57 council chairmen, who are fiercely loyal to Tinubu, have met and pledged their support to his preferred candidate, Jide Sanwo-Olu.
Ambode now faces the task of beating Sanwo-Olu and another APC stalwart, Obafemi Hamzat, in the primary.
Council chairmen are the most influential grassroots mobilisers under the direct primary system adopted by the APC to pick governorship candidates. Most members of the Lagos House of Assembly are also loyal to Tinubu.
“Meeting is over. Ambode is out. Jide Sanwo-Olu is the new governor of Lagos. All 57 local government chairmen have signed his form. It’s over,” it said.
The online paper further quoted an ally of Tinubu, James Odunmbaku, as saying “Sanwo-Olu is the incoming governor of Lagos.”
Sanwo-Olu, who has been suggested as Tinubu’s joker, served as a commissioner in the Babatunde Fashola administration. He is the current managing director of Lagos State Development and Property Development Corporation.
He reportedly picked up his form on Monday, just hours after Ambode picked up his at the APC headquarters in Abuja.
Credible sources informed TheCable that there is a threat to impeach Ambode if he does not drop his second term bid.
The paper had reported that the council chairmen loyal to Tinubu, had met and already pledged their support for Sanwo-Olu, who is believed to be Tinubu’s preferred choice, according to APC insiders.
Dele Momodu had also shared a video of Mandate Movement, a support group in the Lagos APC, declaring their support for Sanwo-Olu
Buhari to intervene in favour of Ambode
Meanwhile, there is a strong possibility that President Muhammadu Buhari may intervene to save Ambode in his battle to retain his position for a second tenure, according to The Boss.
The governor has come under fire in recent times to relinquish his position by forces loyal to the former governor of the state, culminating in his late picking of nomination and expression of interest forms of the party.
Consequently, stakeholders in the APC, sympathetic to the Ambode course are said to be prevailing on the President to intervene as soon as possible as he remains the last hope of the embattled governor to remain in office.
Sanwo-Olu has shown unequivocal interest to run for the governorship of the state on the platform of the APC. The Tinubu forces that shoot him out to the limelight of the governorship struggle said categorically that ‘Babajide Sanwoolu is the next governor of Lagos State’. They insisted that the Ambode era is gone, and settled, adding that Lagos is open for a new administration under the leadership of Sanwoolu.
The Tinubu Forces, who are insisting that Ambode must go, have given reasons for their decision including the allegation that the governor suddenly stopped showing respect for their leader, Tinubu, the political class and leaders of the party in the state. Again, they alleged that the Governor no longer listens to advice, neither does he pick calls of the associates as he had made his mind to run his own show alone.
“Ambode thinks that working on infrastructure is all there is to administration and governance. He has become arrogant and as such must be taught a lesson,” an insider who craves anonymity said.
However, investigations conducted by The Boss show that Ambode is still loved by the majority of Lagosians for having performed creditably. They said that he continued from where Tinubu and Mr. Babatunde Fashola left off, and has not derailed in making Lagos the smart city Tinubu initiated, and which Fashola also built upon.
In the same vein, party faithful have said that the way the APC is going, there is every tendency that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may take over Lagos through the backdoor.
The current impasse, according to a cross section of respondents to questions by The Boss, may be the reason behind Tinubu’s decision to use the direct system of election for their primaries – a system most APC governors have kicked against.
TheCable/Punch/The Boss
