President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met behind closed doors with the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja, barely 24 hours before the APC governorship primary for the state slated for Tuesday.
Tinubu and other critical stakeholders in the party in the state had adopted Babajide Sanwo-Olu as their preferred choice for the party’s governorship ticket despite the fact that the state governor had expressed his intention to seek re-election.
The party leader had accused Ambode of deviating from the development blueprint prepared for the state.
While confirming the meeting between Buhari and Tinubu, a source in the camp of the former Lagos State governor, however, said nothing has changed.
“You know that Asiwaju meets regularly with the President. They discuss party and the nation’s matters regularly. So there is nothing unusual about this meeting.”
When asked if Buhari had succeeded in resolving the matter, he replied, “What issue will be resolved when tomorrow (Tuesday) is primary? There is nothing to resolve. The people will elect their candidate at the primary on Tuesday.
Asiwaju is back in Lagos from Abuja. Everybody is preparing for the primary.”
Meanwhile, activist lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has challenged the APC to come clean on the image and personality of one of its governorship aspirants in Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Adegboruwa’s challenge followed the allegations by the governor, that Sanwo-Olu, who sought to unseat him, was unfit to govern Lagos State because he had a criminal record.
Ambode had during a world press conference on Sunday alleged that Sanwo-Olu was once arrested and detained in the United States of America for spending fake dollar bills at a nightclub.
Ambode added that his challenger had undergone rehabilitation at the Gbagada General Hospital and was therefore unfit for governance.
In a statement on Monday, Adegboruwa said Ambode’s allegations against Sanwo-Olu were too weighty to be ignored by the leadership of the APC, arguing that Nigerians deserved to know the true status of whoever would govern Lagos State.
“Nigerians and Lagosians, in particular, deserve to know the true status of anyone aspiring to public office; not just in relation to health, but also his preferences, his financial status and all other areas of common concern. It is not proper to just wish this away.
“The APC, as a party, owes a sacred duty of disclosure. A sitting governor will not just wake up one day and be throwing allegations of mental instability against his opponent, who he knows very well, just for the sake of winning an election.
“The import of any serious health challenge for any person aspiring to the position of the governor of the largest economy in Nigeria is that of capacity. It then raises the issue of a lame duck governor installed only as a figure head, but in truth not capable of governance.”