•Gov hopefuls vow to reject Ambode
FOLLOWING the crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State over the alleged endorsement of a former Accountant-General of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode, as its governorship candidate, the national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu, has summoned all the 16 governorship aspirants in the party.
The meeting, Sunday Tribune checks revealed, will take place today at his Bourdillon residence.
An aspirant confirmed the summons to Sunday Tribune, but remained undecided over his attendance and participation.
The meeting is fixed for 8.00 p.m., according to findings.
Tension is already building ahead of the said meeting, considering that Ambode is generally seen as Tinubu’s anointed for the party’s ticket.
A party source disclosed that the main agenda would be the crisis over the governorship ticket, particularly the troubling report that chieftains of the party, who are aggrieved over the alleged endorsement of Ambode, have opened talks with opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Aspirants who are considering a boycott of the meeting claimed that Tinubu had lost the moral right to play the elder statesman’s role among the governorship hopefuls, due to his alleged partisanship and bias in Ambode’s favour.
As of last night, aspirants who have formed a coalition against Ambode’s alleged endorsement had not resolved on either of participation or boycott.
A frontline aspirant confirmed his planned participation, but stated that “anything can happen at the meeting. If the meeting was called to further Ambode’s project, maybe that is where the whole thing would scatter. If that is where the whole thing would blow into an open crisis, so be it; enough of imposition.”
Sunday Tribune, however, learnt that Tinubu may use the meeting to denounce his alleged support for Ambode and profess his support for all the aspirants.
“It is likely he will disown Ambode in the presence of everyone tomorrow (today). But that would give nobody any comfort,” a party source disclosed.
With the festering crisis over the governorship ticket, it was learnt that it is likely Tinubu would ask all the aspirants to sit and look at the possibility of picking one of them as consensus candidate.
An aspirant who is not against all aspirants making a common choice amongst them was confident Ambode would be a long-shot, if the process is tilted that way.
Source: Tribune
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