Wale Oluwo, an associate of a former governor of Lagos
State, Akinwunmi Ambode, has submitted his N50m governorship form to the All
Progressives Congress.
He submitted his Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms
to the party on Wednesday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
Oluwo, who is the chairman of the Akinwunmi Ambode Campaign
Organisation, was the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources during
Ambode’s tenure as governor.
The APC aspirant vowed to defeat the incumbent governor,
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the APC governorship primary election later this month.
Speaking on Thursday, Oluwo said, “Lagos must
be free.”
So far, only two aspirants have submitted the party’s
governorship forms in Lagos — Sanwo-Olu and Oluwo.
The Governor’s Advisory Council, the highest decision-making
organ of the party headed by APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu, had mid-April endorsed
Sanwo-Olu for second term in 2023.
GAC had in 2018 kicked against the second term bid of
Ambode, which led to the emergence of Sanwo-Olu as the APC candidate in the
2019 governorship election in the state.
Ambode’s predecessors were in office for two consecutive terms.
They include Tinubu, who was governor between 1999 and 2007;
as well as current Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who was
governor from 2007 to 2015.
Since he left office in 2019, Ambode has been extremely
politically reserved. He also has not been seen at functions with any of his
predecessors or his successor.
Though political permutations have earnestly begun ahead of
the 2023 elections, Ambode has not declared his intention to run for second
term.
Asked whether he submitted the governorship forms on behalf
of Ambode, Oluwo told The PUNCH on Thursday that the forms were for himself and
not the ex-governor.
Asked further if Ambode would be running for any political
office in 2023, Oluwo said the ex-governor would speak on that himself.
In February, Ambode broke his political silence when he
thanked Lagosians for endorsing his contributions to the development of the
state.
The APC member also urged youths to get their Permanent
Voters Cards ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Amid controversy that Tinubu had dumped Sanwo-Olu for
another candidate, the APC chieftain had last week publicly endorsed the Lagos
governor and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, for second term.
The APC presidential aspirant, however, said no automatic
ticket for Sanwo-Olu.
Tinubu had said, “Aspirants who are showing interest in
positions from House of Assembly to the governorship, go and get your forms;
you are going to contest primaries. There will not be any favouritism in the
primaries.
“We want you to contest and test your popularity. Nobody
will ask to step down for another aspirant. Let all aspirants mobilise their
supporters; if you win, you win. If you lose, there will not be a refund of the
nomination form.”
But the Ambode camp in the party in the state has
consistently kicked against the imposition of candidates, saying neither GAC
nor Tinubu has such powers.
“GAC doesn’t have such powers. Ambode did well. We want to
be the driver of that change in Lagos,” Oluwo had said in a recent interview.
Groups within the APC in Lagos have persistently decried the
imposition of candidates by the powers that be. Last December, a major block
within the Lagos APC family, the Lagos4Lagos movement, dumped the ruling party
and joined the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Lead Visioner of Lagos4Lagos, Olajide Adediran, had said
APC does not have a level playing ground and added that the ruling party has a
list of persons who will become governors in the state against democratic
tenets.
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