2019: PANIC IN ASO ROCK AS TINUBU, AMBODE CLASH HEIGHTENS....APC Scared of Losing Lagos State

Ahead of the 2019 general elections in Nigeria, there seems to be am imminent clash between the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his political godson, Akinwunmi Ambode, incumbent governor of Lagos state.

Both, according to reports coming in from Lagos, are currently embroiled in a bitter power struggle over the elections in 2019.

Tinubu and his political godson are reportedly said to be engaged in a silent war over issues relating to Ambode’s effrontery at purging his inner cabinet which has many of Tinubu’s loyalists and also, on contract awarded by the state government.

To show his anger and prove that he is still in charge, the former governor and political godfather has opposed the re-election of Governor Ambode following what many have described as severe pressure from his loyalists which also includes the incumbent governor of Osun state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who is said to lead Tinubu’s political structure.

These loyalists, according to inside sources, have all threatened to dump the APC should Asiwaju allow Ambode get the ticket.

Following the pressure being mounted on him, Tinubu is said to have accepted Jide Sanwonolu who was presented to him as their choice for the 2019 governorship ticket of the party. Asiwaju, according to the inside source, is not associating himself with the developments and has refused to endorse the Governor or any other candidate publicly.

Tinubu’s insistence on the direct primaries as against the delegate system however, points to the fact that the party leader is attempting a coup and has raised the alarm bells in the Ambode camp.

Governor Ambode, according to findings, is said not to be going down without a fight, as reports filtered in that he is in talks with the opposition People’s Democratic Party, an allegation that his officials have denied.

To show who is actually in control of the affairs of the state government, the governor is reported to have lost grip of the machinery of the state following endorsement of Sanwonolu by the 57 Chairmen of the Local Government Areas in Lagos who were handpicked by Tinubu.

The recent feud in Lagos has become a source of concern and division in the Presidency. Though Tinubu is said to be highly esteemed by the Presidency, the APC is worried by the threat of losing a sitting state Governor ahead of the polls which is increasingly becoming a possibility as the Governor seems set to fight back.

A recent expose of Tinubu’s grand corruption in Lagos state by a whistleblower who was former Managing Director of his company, AlphaBeta, Dapo Apara has been described as an Ambode hatchet job. Another concern is that the revelation has put Buhari's war against corruption on the spotlight as citizens would be watching to see if the former Governor and National Leader of his party the APC would be investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the face of the overwhelming evidence presented in the petition.

However, investigations reveal that this is not the case as a faction of the party loyal to former Governor Babatunde Fashola, who is also an enemy of his predecessor, Tinubu has decided to strike and further the tensions between the two estranged bedfellows.

The Fashola camp which includes people like the AMCON chairman Muiz Banire are floating Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, a special adviser to Fashola and former commissioner of works under his regime to challenge Ambode and Tinubu's anointed candidate. This threatens to polarised the party further as the battle within the largest opposition state threatens to consume the party. While reclaiming the Presidency in 2019 remains Buhari's major headache, the crisis in Lagos, the most important state for the ruling party is only compounding that.


Additional reports culled from The Sheet