Lagos 2019: Anxiety over Ambode’s intentions as Tinubu speaks

Leading stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Lagos State are gathering today to take briefings from party leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu amidst apprehensions on the intentions of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode ahead of the forthcoming governorship election.
It was yet unclear as at press time yesterday if Tinubu, the undisputed leader of the party in Lagos, nay, the Southwest would dwell on the mutterings by some party leaders that Governor Ambode is halfhearted, if not, funding the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship campaign as payback for the way he was stopped from seeking a second term. Close associates of the outgoing governor, however, deny the claim and allege a conspiracy by the mainstream of the party to paint the governor black for whatever purpose. Governor Ambode’s associates say that despite collapsing his campaign structure into that of Sanwo-Olu and professing loyalty to the party that the outgoing governor is still held in suspicion over his intentions. It is also reported that the governor’s invitations to the Sanwo-Olu camp for harmonization of campaign had remained unheeded until last week. The mutterings and suspicions in the party follow the October primaries in which Sanwo-Olu, the anointed candidate of Tinubu and the mainstream of the party outwitted the incumbent governor for the party’s governorship ticket. It was the first time since the advent of the Fourth Republic, nay since the creation of the state that a sitting governor in the state would be denied a return ticket. Following the declaration of Sanwo-Olu as the party’s candidate, Governor Ambode had done a volte-face and openly endorsed him and pledged support for him and the party to win all elections in the state.