“What Do You Really Want” Embattle Ambode Blasts Tinubu after Phone Call
Less than 2weeks to the All Progressives Congress primaries, the worsening relationship between the Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and his political benefactor, Bola Tinubu has nosedived even further.
From political obscurity, the APC leader, Bola Tinubu unleashed all his political machinery to see to the emergence of Ambode as Governor of Lagos state, Nigeria’s most populous city and commercial capital.
But from all indications, the relationship between both men has collapsed, seemingly irretrievably, lately and Tinubu’s appears to be backing Ambode’s rival, Babajide Sanwoolu, a 53-year-old former Commissioner in the state, leaving Ambode and his 2nd term ambition hanging in the balance.
One Tinubu loyalist recalls the moment The Jagaban made up his mind not to back Ambode for a second term.
“Ambode usually ends phone calls in a rude fashion. Only recently, he did it again, except that he actually forgot to end the call. He was on the phone with Tinubu and stopped talking abruptly, but forgot to end the call. He was now telling his aides that; ‘what does he (Tinubu) want again?
“Always disturbing me with calls. If he wants money, just give him. Nonsense money monger. If he wants two billion, give him four billion. The agbaya…I will retire him’…and on and on he went.
“He didn’t know that Tinubu was still listening on the other end of the line. Tinubu immediately put the phone on speaker mode and called us (his aides) to come listen to what the governor was saying. That was the day we all knew Ambode wouldn’t be getting Jagaban’s support for a second term”, the source said.
Another Tinubu loyalist corroborated this story. “The governor was apparently in a nite club on the day and probably got carried away”, Pulse was told.
Local government chairmen can’t reach Ambode
A handful of local government chairmen in Lagos who craved anonymity for this story that they could not see themselves backing a man who refused to share his phone numbers with them.
“None of us (57 local government chairmen) have our governor’s phone number. You can ask him or do your own findings. He refused to share his phone number with us. How can we back a man who doesn’t regard us? We want a governor we can talk to and that’s why we are going with Sanwoolu”, one local government chairman shared.
All efforts to independently verify these stories were unsuccessful as the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna and Commissioner for Information in Lagos, Kehinde Bamigbetan, were unavailable for comments as their phones were switched off as at the time of this report.
However, one of Tinubu’s aides, Muyiwa Gbadegesin, dismissed the Tinubu/Ambode phone call tale as a fabrication.
“No truth at all”, Gbadegesin said of the story in a terse text message to reporters enquiry.
As at the last check, Tinubu’s political structure in Lagos, ‘Mandate Group’, has endorsed Ambode’s challenger, Sanwoolu ahead of the governorship primary election.
The 57 local councils in Lagos have publicly thrown their weight behind Sanwoolu.
