As high-wired intrigues continue to play out in Lagos State over the incumbent governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode’s re-election bid, competent sources saturday revealed that a key segment of the party led by the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has asked the governor to stand down his second term bid or face impeachment. The threat to impeach the governor is an escalation of pressure being piled on him to drop his quest for second term.

A competent party source sympathetic to the governor, who demanded annonimity since he was not authorised to speak on the intrigues and power play currently playing out informed THISDAY yesterday, “they are threatening to impeach him should he refused to bow to their demand to withdraw. The incumbent governor, who is traditionally entitled to another term is being harassed and intimidated by Tinubu’s political machine to withdraw for their new man, even though the governor had agreed to subject himself to primary. They are boasting that they will direct the State House of Assembly to immediatly begin impeachment proceedings against him.”

The APC had initially insisted on conducting direct primary election to select its governorship candidate in the spirit of democracy. But it suddenly reversed itself, directing Ambode to withdraw from the contest to enable the party present Sanwo-Olu as the consensus candidate.

It also emerged yesterday via a statement from the Vice President’s office denying endorsing Sanwo-Olu. “It was while he was coming out of the GAC meeting that Mr. Sanwo-Olu and Mr. Hamzat took advantage of the VP’S presence to take the photos which are now being falsely paraded as proof of endorsement.

Party chieftains spoke with THISDAY yesterday in confidence on the drama that took place at the meeting of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) held Friday night. They disclosed that the APC leader threatened to impeach Ambode if the governor refused “to step down for Sanwo-Olu.” Ambode was said to have looked him squarely in the face and refused.

But Ambode Mandate Support Group condemned the call for the governor’s withdrawal as undemocratic. The group also reacted to the postponement of the APC governorship primary in the state, which has now been scheduled for October 1, saying they were confident that Ambode would fly the party’s flag in 2019 election as it has received overwhelming support from several quarters for him.

When THISDAY contacted Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Tunde Rahman, for his reaction to the threat to impeach the governor by Tinubu’s camp, he responded, saying he did not “have any comment to make.”

•Excerpted from a THISDAY report

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