Advisory Council Insists No Automatic Ticket For Ambode

—Says Gov Should Test Popularity At Primaries

Following its meeting on Saturday, Lagos Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) said Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State must go through the primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The discussion at the meeting centred on the trio of Governor Ambode, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Obafemi Hamzat, each hoping to be Lagos Governor in 2019, according to a source.

The source also said the Mandate Group were split in their opinion concerning the governor but the other members insisted that the Ambode must test his popularity at the primary election.

“They recommended that an eight-man committee be set up to look at the modalities for the primary election. That is where I think they may come up with plans that will favour the governor.

“Because of the issues at stake the governor has not really been mobilising his people and groups. The other groups have been doing that.

“I think it is fair for him to start mobilisation now because it is clear that they won’t give him automatic ticket. No one will give the governor APC ticket on a platter of gold like the other governors that governed the state that were endorsed by the leader and got the ticket,”revealed the source.

The reelection of Ambode in 2019 has been a topic of discourse in for some time, following the endorsement of Babajide Sanwo-Olu by the Mandate Movement, a group loyal to the national leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The issue came to a head when Sanwo-Olu, who is the Managing Director of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), decided to vie for the office of governor.

Critical stakeholders of the Lagos APC also reportedly deserted the governor’s camp and started endorsing Sanwo-Olu, making him a major challenger of the governor for the APC ticket, even as all appeal to Tinubu to support the governor for a second term in office have reportedly proved abortive.

The APC primary polls are scheduled to take place on September 28, 2018, if the decision taken by the GAC, who met at Tinubu’s residence in Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, is anything to rely upon.

The governor and leaders of the party across the three Senatorial Districts of the state make up the members of the Council, with Tinubu as Chairman.

Others are:Dr. Olorunfemi Bashorun, Senator Anthony Adefuye, Prof. Tunde Samuel, Chief Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi and Cardinal James Odumbaku.