Ambode: Tinubu Consults Governor’s Advisory Council Today

• Body’s decision final on gov’s fate

Gboyega Akinsanmi

Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode will today know the fate of his bid for a second term of office as the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, meets with the state’s highest advisory political organ, Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), this afternoon in Lagos to discuss the matter.

Ambode’s political future has been in limbo since Tinubu’s powerful political machine, the Mandate Movement, threw up the Managing Director of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to challenge the governor at the party’s primary scheduled for Tuesday.

Also in the race, is another strong contender, former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, a godson of the national leader, who has the backing of an equally powerful group, the Justice Forum.
The governor’s travail had attracted the intervention of the presidency and some governors, including Oyo State’s Senator Abiola Ajimobi that pleaded for reprieve for him.

But faced with a possible mutiny by his foot soldiers, Tinubu insisted that Ambode should test his popularity at the direct primary contest for the party’s ticket, saying he no longer wants to be accused of imposing anyone on the party.

THISDAY was told last night that the party’s national leader, however, shifted some ground on Monday by agreeing to refer the matter to the GAC, the body that advises the governor and the party leader on matters of state as well issues that concern the party.

Barring any hiccup, the meeting is expected to hold today at 4pm, if, according to a reliable THISDAY source, Tinubu returns this morning from Osogbo, the Osun State capital, where he had joined President Muhammadu Buhari and other party leaders to hold a final campaign rally for the APC candidate in next Saturday’s governorship election, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
THISDAY sources said the decision of the council, being the highest advisory body in the state, would be final on the matter. And it would be Tinubu’s final consultation.

The membership of the council, made up of the governor and leaders of the party across the three senatorial districts of the state, with Tinubu as chairman, include, Dr. Olorunfemi Bashorun; Senator Anthony Adefuye, Prof. Tunde Samuel, Chief Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi and Cardinal James Odumbaku.

The council, THISDAY learnt, had handled similar naughty issues in the past, including the controversy over the attempt by the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Executive Committee to elongate its tenure as well as the mode of primary for the selection of the party’s candidates for the general elections slated for the first quarter of next year.