Latest report indicates that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and incumbent Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola are not in good terms.
According to Punch newspaper report online, Tinubu was said to be angry with the Lagos State Governor as a result of the latter’s conduct before and during the just concluded APC governorship primary in the state.
It was disclosed that Tinubu became angry when Fashola initially told him that he did not have a particular candidate for the APC primary only to emerge much later with a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Olasupo Shahore, as his preferred candidate.
Reports had said that Akinwunmi Ambode, who polled 3,735 votes to emerge the party’s candidate for the February 2015 election, was Tinubu’s favourite.
Other aspirants who contested for the APC ticket are Sasore; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; a former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan; an incumbent Commissioner for Works, Obafemi Hamzat; a former aide to Tinubu, Tayo Ayinde; Adekunle Disu, Mr. Wahab Tokunbo, Olanrewaju Ope and a former Commissioner for Rural Affairs, Mr. Tola Kasali.
A source close to Tinubu informed that the APC chieftain was not only angry with Fashola, but was “disappointed in him.”
He stated that the Fashola had a right to have a candidate but what Tinubu wanted was to know his mind.
“But Fashola kept Tinubu guessing. He told him he did not have a candidate. Though there were signs and media reports that he was backing someone, but Tinubu could not be relying on media reports about the governor in a situation like this.
“In fact, Asiwaju told him that he had a candidate and sought the governor’s support for him. The governor said he had no candidate only for him to emerge with a candidate in the last minute. Asiwaju did not know where the governor stood.
“I believe with the outcome of the primary, the governor will have enough time to reflect,” the source said.
In a related development, reports say that there is a crack in the wall of the camp of disgruntled governorship aspirants as their voices were no longer united on their next action.
It was learnt that some of the defeated aspirants were already working on how to get themselves back into Tinubu’s good books.
The aspirants had earlier scheduled a press conference in Lagos on Thursday night immediately after the end of voting at the primary but the press conference was called off and rescheduled for Friday.
The conference was to hold at Protea Hotel, Lagos. But the meeting was called off again as none of the aspirants showed up as journalists waited for hours in vain on Friday.
But party sources said many of the aspirants had begun to court Tinubu afresh following their defeat at the primary.
One of the sources said, “There is nothing like association of aspirants. Now that a candidate has emerged, everybody is trying to realign. The primary has succeeded in separating the boys from the men.
“One of the governorship aspirants, Obafemi Hamzat, has to separate himself from the boys because he cannot be seen to be championing the cause of the boys,” the source said.
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