AMBODE BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS
AMBODE
BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS
Lagos
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode reportedly broke down in tears and he’s been in low
spirits since the day he picked up the APC governorship nomination form, a
source at the Lagos State Government House in Alausa disclosed to Pulse.
Mr.
Babajide Sanwoolu has emerged the handpicked candidate of APC kingmakers in
Lagos, and he’s been anointed the preferred candidate to unseat Ambode during a
primary election exercise slated for September 29, 2018.
Ambode
was very sure of a second term in office before a dizzying spate of events in
September made him sink into his office chair in agony, on occasion.
Two
former Commissioners in Lagos, Obafemi Hamzat and Sanwoolu, picked up their
respective nomination forms on the day Ambode was acquiring his, throwing the
race for Lagos government house open.
Ambode in a battle for
his life
The APC in Lagos will go with the direct primary system as opposed to the indirect primary system.
The APC in Lagos will go with the direct primary system as opposed to the indirect primary system.
In a
direct primary, all members of the party are allowed to choose flagbearers
ahead of general election. In an indirect primary, only select party delegates
are allowed to vote.
If
Ambode had been in the good books of godfather Bola Tinubu or other power
brokers in the APC, an indirect primary would have been settled for and he
would have been handed an automatic ticket.
“The
fact that they are making him go through the primaries with other aspirants in
a state like Lagos, shows you that they want to humiliate him”, Prince Abeng, a
political pundit, submitted.
One top
ranking official in Lagos State government set-up told Pulse that Ambode’s mood
swings are now more frequent than there have ever been and that the governor
isn’t holding back the tears.
“We saw
him shedding tears the other day. He even drove himself out of government
house, something he’s never done”, the source disclosed.
Pulse
was also told that Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike rang Ambode to offer him the PDP
governorship ticket in Lagos.
Pulse
has been unable to independently verify these stories from our sources, as
neither Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ambode, Abib Haruna nor Commissioner
for Information in Lagos, Kehinde Bamgbetan, picked up their phones.
An
email sent to Bamigbetan on the intrigues in the politics of Lagos APC, has
also not been replied, days after.
Moody
and dejected
One
aide in Alausa, the seat of government in Lagos, describes Ambode’s mood these
days as “crestfallen, somber and a tad dejected”.
When
Sanwoolu formally declared for Ambode’s seat on Sunday, September 16, 2018, all
of Tinubu’s loyalists in Lagos, including Senator Gbenga Ashafa who represents
Lagos East in the upper legislative chamber, were in the audience to cheer him
on with chants of “incoming, incoming!”
Sanwoolu
enjoys Tinubu’s backing and is being galvanized by the Mandate Movement—a
grassroot assemblage that answers to Tinubu.
All 57
council chairmen in Lagos have also endorsed Sanwoolu who promised to restore
work on a 25-year masterplan once he is elected.
Ambode
resumed duties as Lagos governor for a first term in office on May 29, 2015.
