From insiders information, if Governor Akinwumi Ambode will have a second term in office in Lagos, he would have to man up and decamp to the ADC or PDP, making it the first time a party outside the control of Bola Tinubu will be in charge of Lagos since 1999.
But the question now is, does Ambode have the guts?
Chances that Ambode will get his second term ticket dimmed further at the weekend following reports that the leadership of Lagos APC has resolved to see to his defeat in the direct primary, which will be held on September 25.
It was reliably gathered by Tribune that all efforts by the presidency to wade into the feud between the national leader of the party, Tinubu and Governor Ambode were not successful.
A source said both President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo may have given up on the fate of the governor.
“As things stand now, if he [Ambode] goes ahead for the primary, he will lose. And if he goes to another party to contest the coming election, his impeachment will be activated. That is the stage everything is now,” the very reliable source told Tribune.
However, as s a decoy, it was learnt close associates of Senator Tinubu have tabled stringent conditions before the embattled governor which he must meet before they could consider shifting ground on his re-election bid.
Although Tinubu is said to have repeatedly denied having any issues with the governor seeking re-election, his associates are believed to be speaking his mind.
A neutral political heavyweight in Lagos State who has issues with both Tinubu and Ambode but is currently being wooed by the governor told Tribune that at a meeting with Ambode’s emissaries, he was told that the conditions put forward by Tinubu’s core political group, the Mandate Movement, would render the governor a lame duck if he signed off on them for re-election purpose.
Governor asked to ‘sign undated resignation letter’
Chief of the conditions, the source alleged, is an undated resignation letter the governor must sign and release to the opposition elements and elders within the party which would be used to get rid of him if “he starts misbehaving again.”
To further weaken him, allegedly, he is to hands-off the nomination process of all the candidates of the party for the House of Assembly, a condition which would make his impeachment easy if he tried to repudiate the agreement and reject the undated resignation letter as being signed under duress.
With the thinking on the other side that a re-elected Ambode may move against the political interests of those resisting him now, another condition being allegedly put forward is that the governor must seek Tinubu’s consent and approval before major policy decisions are taken, and funding for major projects must also go along that line.
“Who does this? Why are they trying to disrespect this man (Ambode)? Is the governor a good leader? I tell you, he isn’t. I have told you some of the things he did personally to me. But he should be allowed to complete his eight years so as not to set a bad precedent. At least, nobody has accused him of not delivering on projects. I agree he has not done well with party leaders and members. The governor himself is surprised I could be sympathetic to his cause.
“All I ask is that we don’t set a bad precedent because you don’t know who will be caught in it tomorrow. It is Akin (Ambode) today. It can be anybody tomorrow. How can you think of making a full-grown man a lame duck for four years? Isn’t that wickedness?”
