“Ambode’s issue is beyond me as a party leader”- Tinubu
As results start to trickle in from the ongoing primaries of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos, the party chieftain and former governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has distanced himself from the crisis the incumbent governor Akinwunmi Ambode is experiencing.
From results seen so far, Babajide Sanwo-Olu appears to be leading Ambode among the votes cast by the party faithful. Tinubu who cast his own vote in Alausa where Ambode got only four votes against Sanwo-Olu’s 960, denied that he was behind the move to remove Ambode from office.
Speaking to newsmen, Tinubu said: “Whatever is happening now I have to submit myself to the party members. People want to participate in what is happening and we have to let that happen. It is even beyond me as a leader.”
He however described as an insult, the insinuation from some quarters that he fell out with his erstwhile protege.
“I will regard that as an insult. I brought Ambode to the people, he was a civil servant under me. He performed very well as a civil servant. And when he showed interest in politics after leadership courses in Harvard and others we gave him the opportunity and we presented him to the party and the party accepted him. So, if the party now says they want either a change or they want to reaffirm his governorship through an open system, we have to abide that. If they elect him today, so be it. You see, you will remain relevant as a leader if you once in a while submit yourself to what the people want. We can’t call ourselves democrats if we don’t respect the will of the people,”
