Oshiomhole says there is no crisis within Lagos APC as Ambode meets with Buhari in Abuja

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) chairman Adams Oshiomhole has waded into the crisis currently tearing apart the Lagos chapter of the party stating that the emergence of candidates vying for the governorship is nothing more than democracy in action.

Over the last week, Lagos State has been in turmoil as APC national leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu himself a former governor has  fallen out with Governor Akinwunmi Amdode and backed Babajide Sanwo-Olu, one of his protégés for governor. Last week, Mr Sanwo-Olu launched his campaign amid a lot of fanfare , with the full backing of the Tinubu machinery behind him.

Mr Sanwo-Olu, who is being backed by the Mandate Movement in the Lagos APC led by Asiwaju Tinubu, has already got the support of the 57 chairmen of the local governments, who are all beholden to the party leader. Despite this, however, Governor Ambode has refused to be intimidated, insisting that he will stand for a second term, creating a stalemate within the party.

Yesterday, Mr Oshiomhole declared that Governor Ambode was not in any way embattled over the contention for the governorship ticket of the party in the state. Speaking during a meeting the party’s governors, Mr Oshiomhole insisted that the Lagos State chapter of the party was in sound health, irrespective of any challenge against the governor.

Mr Oshiomhole said: “There is no APC governor that is embattled and because we are democratic, the best way to measure democracy is the presence of more than one person showing interest in an office. That does not make any other person embattled but of course, the media can create this impression that there is an earthquake in Lagos but there is no earthquake. I think our party in Lagos is at peace.

“At every level, I have seen people claiming that in one or two offices there was no opposition. In every other office, we have more than one candidate expressing interest and those people who are currently occupying those positions are not by reasons of those new expressions of interests, embattled."

This came as Governor Ambode met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja yesterday in what looked like a last ditch attempt to heal the rift between him and Asiwaju Tinubu.  After facing the APC screening committee in Abuja, Governor Ambode visited the presidential villa, where he met with President Buhari for about 20 minutes.