Even though he is being accused of secretly funding the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Jimi Agbaje, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Monday, publicly endorsed Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Ambode, with the State Deputy Governor, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, equally urged all aggrieved aspirants that contested different elective positions during the party’s primaries held between October 2 and 6 to support Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, for the 2019 governorship poll.
Ambode endorsed Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat on Monday at a stakeholders’ meeting held at the party’s secretariat, Ogba, where he officially presented them to thousands of party leaders for the March 2, 2019 governorship election.
Sequel to the governorship primaries that controversially produced Sanwo-Olu as the APC candidate on October 2, the allies of the APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu, had threatened Ambode with removal, citing the governor’s refusal to open up the state’s treasury to fund the forthcoming elections.
In a subtle threat at a plenary on October 22, the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, noted that Ambode’s action or inaction would determine whether the assembly would sack him or not.
But, the speaker had denied the allegations by the Solidarity Group of Nigeria (SGN) and a faction of APC, Lagos State, that it threatened the governor to open the treasury of the state to fund the governorship and legislative elections in 2019.
According to Thisday, the recent defection of the APC members to the PDP in Epe Division and consequent attack on Sanwo-Olu in the ancient town, revealed that there had been insinuation among the APC leaders that Ambode might be supporting the PDP governorship candidate.
In what party leaders described as true reconciliation of the stakeholders yesterday, Ambode publicly endorsed the candidatures of Sanwoolu and Hamzat for the forthcoming governorship, perhaps putting an end to insinuation among some Tinubu’s allies that Ambode might be funding the PDP candidate.
Among others, the meeting was attended by Tinubu, Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa; State APC Chairman, Alhaji Tunde Balogun; GAC members led by Prince Tajudeen Olusi; Chief Lanre Razak; Senator Ganiyu Solomon, Chief Kemi Nelson and Cardinal James Odumbaku.