Bola Tinubu, the all progressives congress, APC, National Leader, did not only initiate the idea of impeaching Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, but had also given a direct order to the relevant quarters to that effect.
This is according to a THISDAY report on Sunday, October 21, 2018, which said that “it appears there is no relief yet” for Governor Ambode “despite losing his re-election bid in the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the leadership of the party in the state has, allegedly, concluded plans to remove him from office to guarantee its victory in next year’s governorship election.”
According to THISDAY, “the impeachment plot had always been in the cooler as an alternative plan in the run up to the last primaries, it was played down as the leadership explored other options open to them.
“However, multiple sources from Ambode’s camp noted that the reports of an impeachment plan “are unfounded, baseless and without substance,” stressing that the governor has been working to ensure the victory of the APC and its candidate since the governorship primaries on September 29. One of the sources noted that there was no evidence to back the allegations of the hawks at Bourdillon, who were bent on throwing the state into another round of crisis, which he said, might be the strategy of the opposition parties to destabilise the APC.”
Continuing, the paper said: “With the first assignment, which was denying Ambode his re-election ticket, successfully prosecuted, stakeholders in the Lagos APC had allegedly put pressure on Tinubu to activate Plan B in their bid to finally get rid of the governor and whatever threat he might pose to the elections in the state next year.
“Sources in the party hinted that with the kind of money at his disposal and the control of the security architecture of the state, it would not be strategic to leave Ambode in office, when it was obvious that he was still unhappy with the humiliation he suffered during the primaries.
“This move was activated a few days ago, when Tinubu was said to have told a northern colleague of Ambode that there was no going back on his impeachment.
“Returning from the inauguration of the Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, in Ado Ekiti recently, Tinubu was said to have beckoned on a North-west governor, whose state has had dealings with Lagos lately to join him on his plane, in the course of which he hinted at the latest development in the state.
“He was said to have told the northern governor that certain stakeholders in the state were no longer comfortable with Ambode’s demeanor and that the governor’s recent moves showed that he would be unkind to the party during the coming elections, and therefore, their best bet would be to get rid of him as fast as possible.
“The impeachment move was further given credence to when at the weekend, the House of Assembly, without recourse to extant legal implications, ordered the 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, in the state to call the Private Sector Partnership, PSP, operators in their areas back to work for refuse clearing immediately, effectively displacing Visionscape, a company brought in by Ambode to clean refuse in the state.
“While the impeachment move against him has not been properly angled or anchored on anything tangible, there have been several side-talks on the many other reasons why his impeachment had become inevitable.
“Generally, there have been insinuations that Ambode might have some ulterior motives and might be thinking of playing the spoiler against his party, the APC, in the state for denying him a second term ticket, a suspicion the APC leadership claim to have on good authority.
“One reason the APC leaders are said to be moving against Ambode is that after promising to help fund the election of his successor-to-be, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, he made a U-turn and dismissed any such thing during a recent conversation with one of the contractors through whom the funding would have been made possible. This conversation with the said contractor was said to have been leaked to the APC leadership and other stakeholders, who then immediately related it to other suspicions they had since gathered about the governor.
“Besides, Ambode is said to have failed to show remorse to the party leadership and the political class over some of the grouses they had against his re-election. So the stakeholders are believed to be eager to activate the impeachment plot so that he would leave office without any entitlements.
“The next few weeks are expected to witness intense political intrigues, as the move to remove Ambode from office begins to crystalise.”
