The incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu defeated Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode in the 2018 primary elections, preventing him from getting the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for a second term.
This was said during a Twitter Space on Sunday that was sponsored by the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (ABAT) Media Center and directed by Dele Alake, Director of Media and Communications of the Campaign Council of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the governing party’s presidential candidate.
Ambode is the only governor who has failed to get a second term ticket since democracy was restored in 1999.
According to reports, Ambode had a falling out with the Tinubu-controlled party’s leadership, which contributed to his loss in the direct governorship primary that year.
In answer to a question posed by the moderator on Twitter, Alake, a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy under Tinubu, clarified that Tinubu had not denied Ambode the vote for the second term.
He claims that Ambode participated in the primary with Sanwo-Olu and ultimately lost.
He said, “In a political competition, there must be supporters here and there. Yes, Fashola’s successor (Ambode) came into office, he was supported by Asiwaju as Asiwaju supported Fashola. But let me use this opportunity to clear one point, a misconception that Ambode wasn’t given a second term. It is not true.
“The governorship mandate is not for Asiwaju to give or take. It is for the people of Lagos State to give or to take or withdraw. Ambode was in office, for whatever reason he might have committed, of course he did commit gaps and faux pas but he also went through election. Maybe people have forgotten or they have selective amnesia, Ambode went through the political process and lost.
“Asiwaju did not take the ticket from him. He contested the primaries with Babajide Sanwo-Olu and lost. The primary was conducted in the open all over the state and the media covered it and it was shown everywhere. Why do people always succumb to such partisanship occasioned by blind prejudices.
“Yes it was Asiwaju’s right to support any candidate or aspirant, it is a natural phenomenon.”
He stated further that Sanwo-Olu emerged the same way Ambode was elected in 2014 among the array of other aspirants who are equally qualified.
“The current Deputy Governor contested and I remember more than 12 others contested with him. Ambode emerged the winner. So will all the others that lost now accuse Asiwaju of not giving them the ticket.
“Now fast forward to 2018, it was direct primary that was done in all the words and communities, designated centres and the man lost and Sanwo-Olu won. So will it be Asiwaju’s fault that he supported Sanwo-Olu or whatever. That’s the game of politics. So Ambode went through the political process. He was not denied. If he had been denied the opportunity to take part in the process, we could have said, ‘okay, he was denied.’”
