Governor Ambode Denies Working For Atiku Against Sanwo-Olu’s Election

Governor Ambode Denies Working For Atiku Against Sanwo-Olu’s Election

Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has denied reports claiming
he was working with the agents of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP
presidential candidate, to ensure that APC and its governorship
candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu lose in the March 9th election. There were
reports that the governor was using his close ally, Tokunbo Afikuyomi,
to campaign agaisnt Sanwo-Olu and APC. 

Governor Ambode in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary,
Habib Aruna, said that having publicly declared his acceptance of
the decision of the party on the party’s governorship primaries, he
would never take any action to undermine the prospects of the party in
the ongoing elections.

Recall that Ambode lost his re-election bid in a controversial
governorship primaries that held in the state last October thatsaw
Sanwo-Olu, the preferred candidate of APC National Chairman, Bola
Tinubu, winner of the primaries. Read the statement below

The statement reads: “The attention of the Lagos State Governor, Mr.
Akinwunmi Ambode, has been drawn to a report in today’s edition of The
Nation newspaper, Friday March 1, 2019. “Specifically, the contentious
report, which was published on the newspaper’s front page without any
by-line, insinuated that Governor Ambode might be working with an
opposition party through a former member of the Lagos State Executive
Council and Commissioner for Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr. Wale
Oluwo. “The report also attempted to hold the Governor responsible for
the alleged activities of Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi because he supported
the governor’s gubernatorial ambition during the primaries of the All
Progressives Congress in October 2018.

“The governor wishes to make it abundantly clear that, having
declared publicly his acceptance of the decision of the party on the
primaries, he has not and will never take any action to undermine the
prospects of the party in the on-going elections. “It is human to
aspire, and the capacity of each individual to manage the negative
outcomes of a legitimate aspiration differs. But that should never be
the basis to link His Excellency to whatever action of certain
individuals who might have shared his vision in the past but have
proceeded to pursue their own interests as adults and citizens without
any influence from or recourse to the governor.

“Governor Ambode’s decision to stand by the party that has given him
the platform to serve Lagosians meritoriously is based on the principle
of justice, responsibility and loyalty. “He has everything to gain from
the victory of the party’s candidate Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the
Governor of Lagos State on March 9, 2019, and he looks forward to
handing over the affairs of the state to the candidate of the APC come
May 29th. “It is therefore disturbing, unfair and sad that a respected 
medium such as The Nation, which enjoys the goodwill of members of our
party and is appropriately positioned to verify the falsehood of these
fictitious and sponsored hatchet job chose not to observe the
journalistic dictum of “if in doubt, leave out” in the breach.

“In this circumstance, His Excellency hereby makes use of his right
to a rejoinder and demands an apology for the unjustifiable aspersions
cast on his person by wrongly presenting him to right thinking members
of the public as a disloyal saboteur trying to frustrate his party’s
campaign and electoral victory. Nothing can be further from the truth.
“Governor Ambode has consistently appealed to those who sympathise with
him that the best way to express solidarity is to vote for the
candidates of the All Progressives Congress on Saturday March 9, 2019 in
order to ensure that his own legacy is preserved and the gains of the
past four years are improved upon  “As we move towards next Saturday’s
important election, Governor Ambode urges Lagosians and party faithful
not to allow fifth columnists pretending to be overzealous crusaders
frustrate our onerous efforts to take Lagos State to the next level.

“The governor says as he did in the run-up to last Saturday’s
presidential poll, he will leave no stone unturned and spare no effort
in ensuring that the party’s flag-bearer in the governorship election,
Mr. SanwoOlu and all the 40 APC candidates in the House of Assembly poll
are duly elected on Saturday March 9.