NEWS
APC orders Ambode to endorse Sanwoolu or be disgraced at primary election
Major stakeholders of the governing APC in Lagos are mounting enormous pressure on Lagos Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to drop out of the governorship race, endorse Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu as the party’s flagbearer ahead of the 2019 general poll, or risk disgrace at the primary election.
Ambode has fallen out of favour with APC godfather Bola Ahmed Tinubu and chieftains of the party in Lagos.
Sanwoolu, who served as Commissioner in the Tinubu and Babatunde Raji Fashola administrations respectively, has emerged favorite to nick the Lagos APC governorship ticket at the primary exercise slated for Saturday, September 29, 2018.
“We have told him (Ambode) to endorse Sanwoolu now that there is still time or be disgraced during the primary election. It’s his choice to make at the moment. If he doesn’t step aside, he may come third at the end of the primary behind Obafemi Hamzat”, a chieftain of Lagos APC told Press men on condition of anonymity.
Babajide Sanwoolu is Lagos APC favorite to unseat Ambode (Sanwoolu campaign )
All the 57 local council bosses in Lagos have since endorsed Sanwoolu to unseat Ambode. Tinubu’s grassroot group, Mandate Movement, has also thrown its weight behind Sanwoolu.
Ambode had purchased the N22.5 million governorship nomination form as he aims for a second term in office as leader of Nigeria’s commercial capital.
‘The ship has sailed’
“Everybody has left him now. I mean everyone that matters has abandoned the Ambode ship as we speak. Even his commissioners have deserted him. If he’s smart enough, he will realize that the ship has sailed and throw in the towel while there’s still time”, our source added.
Two other chieftains of the APC told Pressmen that Ambode became too arrogant for his own good and insulted stakeholders of the party at will.
“Imagine a governor who started calling Lagos money ‘my money’. None of us could reach him anymore. He refused to give us his phone numbers. The man became too arrogant. He even insulted Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Tinubu and other bosses of our party”, said one source.
Lagos Gov Ambode picks up his governorship nomination form on the day two other APC aspirants were picking theirs (@AkinwunmiAmbode/Twitter)Within the APC in Lagos, Ambode is now regarded as a pariah.
