Lagos 2019: Fashola, Ambode draw battle line with Tinubu

• Minister relocates to Lagos
• Governor fortifies team

Incumbent Governor Akinwumi Ambode and former Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State have drawn the battle line with the All Progressives Congress, APC, national leader and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over the APC governorship ticket for the 2019 election in Lagos State. The two APC leaders in the state are challenging the authority of Tinubu as sole decider of who becomes the Governor of Lagos State. The challenge became somewhat inevitable in the preparations for the 2019 elections in the Lagos State when incumbent Governor Ambode was told to step down from contesting for second term while Tinubu was said to have endorsed and is sponsoring another governorship aspirant, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to succeed Ambode on the platform of APC in 2019.
Tinubu was said to have directed chairmen of the 57 local councils in Lagos State to support Sanwo-Olu for 2019 governor.
Ambode had deployed various political diplomatic channels to appeal to Tinubu, including getting President Muhammadu Buhari and several APC Governors to intervene and prevail on Tinubu but the Lagos godfather remained adamant on getting Ambode to quit after the first tenure.
The Governing Council of the APC in Lagos State at its consultation meeting resolved that interested governorship aspirants in the state are free to contest the party’s direct primary election on Sunday, September 30, 2018. The decision declared the battlefield for the APC governorship in Lagos.
Apparently, 377 APC Ward Chairman in Lagos under the aegis of Conference of Ward Chairmen had unanimously endorsed Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the governorship aspirant to support in the Saturday’s primary election.

National Daily gathered that the group is made of ward chairmen from all the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Authorities in Lagos State.

The endorsement took place at Martino’s Hall in Ikeja during a meeting between the governorship aspirant, Babajide Sanwo-olu, some leaders of the party and the grassroots mobilizers.

The Director General of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu Campaign Organization, BOSCO, Tayo Ayinde, had appealed to the chairmen to mobilize all party men and women in their individual wards to come out in large numbers and vote for Sanwo-Olu, former Special Adviser and Commissioner as APC governorship candidate on Saturday.

APC leader, Cardinal James Odumbaku, had enjoined members of the Conference that the Babjide Sanwo-Olu government will be a listening and an inclusive one, especially, for members of the party whose input will be paramount and will form part of decision making process.

The governorship aspirant, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, thanked all the entire Conference of Ward Chairmen in the State for the confidence reposed in him and promised not to disappoint them when he gets to power.

In the entire political configuration in the state, former Governor Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, had maintained silence. The Minister had, however, been working on his own political calculation. He is believed to be sponsoring another governorship aspirant, Obafemi Hamzat, a former Commissioner in the state, for the APC ticket. The minister had sponsored Hamzat in 2015 when Tinubu sponsored Ambode for the APC ticket.

In the contest for 2019 election ticket, Fashola is bringing up Hamzat to come in between Tinubu and Ambode for the APC governorship ticket. The Minster has since last weekend relocated from Abuja to Lagos for the Saturday battle.

Fashola is not saying anything but doing everything to upstage the APC leader, Tinubu who has firm control of the 57 council chairmen and APC leadership structure in the state. Fashola and his team which include former APC National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire, Honourable Funmilayo Tejuosho, and others, have since gone underground perfecting their strategies.

Ambode, had in a statement on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kehinde Bamigbetan, restated his readiness to contest the Sunday primary election, earlier scheduled for Saturday, September 29, 2018,
“As our great party approaches Saturday, September 29th, 2018, earmarked for the direct primary election to choose the candidate to fly our party’s gubernatorial flag at the next general election, I am happy to restate my commitment to participate in that process having procured and submitted my nomination form and having formally declared my intention to seek a second term to continue on the path of unprecedented growth and development that our State has witnessed since 2015,” Ambode had declared inter alia.
The statement added that the Governor in seeking re-election is approaching the founding fathers and teeming members of the party with a “grateful heart, open arms and a pledge to open and deeper attention to the concerns of this one, big family”.

Ambode encouraged APC members to come out en masse and vote peacefully in all the 20 Local Governments and 245 wards across the state.
Strengthening preparations for the battle on Sunday, the Ambode Campaign Organisation, ACO, conducted specialised training for 1960 polling staff that will serve as agents in all the 245 wards in the 20 Local government areas where the primary election will hold. The ACO was also inaugurated Coordinators and offices in the three senatorial districts in the state, with functional outposts across the 20 local governments.

The Directorate of Media and Strategy of ACO, in a statement on Thursday indicated that the agents have been selected and trained “to be the eyes and ears of Governor Ambode as the candidate of choice in the primary election.”

The Directorate declared that while being vigilant and uncompromising, the agents have been tutored to conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner as loyal members of the APC who want the best for the party and for democracy by ensuring that the best candidate emerges on a level playing ground.

Ambode’s supporters are boiling for action, insisting that the Governor deserves a second term in office in order to consolidate on his numerous landmark socio-infrastructural achievements in the past three and half years.

National Daily learnt that several interest groups in Lagos APC have endorsed Ambode for second term, declaring that his sterling performance and reconciliatory conduct should earn him the deserved second term in office.
Tinubu is rolling out the political machine of the Mandate group in Lagos State which he controls for the Sunday political war. Hamzat, riding on the political horse of Fashola, have link with the United Progressives group. Ambode relies on the incumbency powers at his behest.
The Ambode, Fashola challenge will redefine the power structure in Lagos politics or consolidate the status quo ante established by Tinubu at the end of the direct primary election on Sunday.