LAGOS 2023: Afenifere Endorses Ambode’s Ally For Governorship Poll

LAGOS 2023: Afenifere Endorses Ambode’s Ally For Governorship Poll

by Victor Ndubuisi
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The Lagos State branch of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization Afenifere has endorsed the BOOT Party’s governorship candidate in the state, Wale Oluwo.

Tunde Onakoya, chairman of Afenifere in Lagos, stated on Wednesday that the group will “conquer” the tight grip of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu on Lagos through Oluwo’s candidacy.

Onakoya spoke at the inauguration of the Wale Oluwo Campaign Organization in Lagos’ Anthony neighborhood.

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“For us, we have been in politics for many years. The present presidential candidate of the APC (Tinubu) used to be a member of Afenifere, he came from the US (United States) and joined us and we know how much Afenifere contributed in raising him.

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“He has left us and has not replenished what he got from us. It is through Mr Oluwo that we are going to conquer him,” the Afenifere chieftain stated.

Lanre Anjolaiya, another Afenifere chieftain who also serves as the director general of the Oluwo campaign, stated that while the organisation remains dedicated to Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, Afenifere will support Oluwo in the 2023 Lagos governorship race.

Oluwo, a long-time supporter of ex-Lagos governor Akinwunmi Ambode, left the APC after protesting his exclusion from the party’s governorship primary on May 26, 2022. He eventually became a member of the BOOT Party and ran for governor of Lagos.

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Oluwo, a former Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources during the Ambode government, has promised to run against Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2023.

Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday, Oluwo said he already had the BOOT Party as a “backup plan” before the APC governorship primary at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in May because he knew the “antics” of the ruling party.

He said, “I am proudly Afenifere and I believe in the time-tested ethos and programmes of Afenifere, enunciated by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his subsequent successors under the philosophical caption of ‘Freedom for all and life more abundant’.”

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Oluwo vowed to “return the wealth of Lagos back to the people of Lagos” and “birth a fairer Lagos that creates opportunity for all, not just a few”, “reposition Lagos as an investment destination that is globally competitive”, amongst others.

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The BOOT Party governorship candidate stated that his campaign platform will be available in the following weeks. He also inaugurated the party’s “solution series,” which he said would address some of the biggest difficulties that Lagosians face, like as energy and transportation.

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Ambode is the only former governor of the state who served only one term since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999. Tinubu served as governor from 1999 to 2007, when he passed over to now-Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who served from 2007 to 2015.

Ambode took over in 2015, but lost his re-election bid in the APC primary in 2019 due to intra-party squabbles, with APC strongman in Lagos (Tinubu) reportedly favoring the incumbent governor (Sanwo-Olu) over Ambode.

Ambode has not been seen at political or social engagements with his predecessors, Tinubu and Fashola, since the conclusion of his single term in 2019. He has also been absent from occasions attended by the incumbent governor.

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The former governor has also been reserved when pictured at APC national events, such as in May 2021 when he was appointed deputy chairman of the ruling party’s Contact and Strategy Committee’s South-West sub-committee.

According to rumors, Ambode will run for the party’s governorship ticket alongside Sanwo-Olu in the May 2022 primary. Rather, his ally, Oluwo, entered the ring but was defeated by Sanwo-Olu.

Ambode, unlike Fashola and Sanwo-Olu, has not openly endorsed Tinubu’s 2023 presidential desire and has not been spotted at any political event associated with Tinubu’s aspiration for Aso Rock, but the months leading up to the February 2023 presidential election are still very pregnant.

 

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