APC NWC Declares Sanwo-Olu Winner Of Lagos Governorship Primary
Clement Ebri, the Chairman of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) sent to Lagos to observe the governorship primaries, has endorsed the result of the primaries held in the state yesterday, Tuesday October 2nd and declared Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the winner. Ebri had on the evening of Tuesday, cancelled the primaries saying there was no primary election in the state.
However, after much consultation with the National Chairman of the party Adams Oshiomhole in Abuja, Ebri was told to accept the results. This happened after Oshiomhole closed door meeting with President Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Ebri, it was learnt, signed the result of the election won by Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, some hours ago. Sanwo-Olu won the primary with 970,851 votes while Governor Akinwunmi Ambode got 72,901 votes. Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has now set an unwanted record as the first incumbent Lagos State governor to lose a primary election in the state. The race for the APC governorship ticket in the 2019 elections has been a proper Nollywood flick.
It had the right amount of controversy, intrigue, suspense, betrayal and drama. A couple of weeks ago when Babajide Sanwo-Olu declared interest in the governorship seat, few people took notice of him. But like a rolling stone, he gathered momentum. After getting the backing of APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, he then got the approval of local government chairmen, state and federal lawmakers, state commissioners, Femi Hamzat, who was a rival in the race, and just yesterday, the deputy governor of the state, Dr Idiat Adebule. Dr. Idiat Adegbule, abandoned her boss, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, and announced her support for Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the governorship primary.
Adebule told journalists at Ward A and D, in Iba Local Council Development Area of Lagos where she participated in the governorship primary of the APC, that she would endorse the candidate chosen by the party. The NWC’s turnaround remains baffling because they had announced on Tuesday that due process was not followed in the primary elections. Invalidating the earlier exercise said to have been held across the state, Chairman of the NWC panel, Mr. Clement Ebri, said the panel never authorised it and the modalities were not followed as scheduled. Briefing newsmen in Ikeja on the NWC’s position, Ebri said: “First and foremost, yesterday (Monday) we held a stakeholders’ meeting, certain submissions were made and on the basis of these submissions, I contacted the National Headquarters and they asked us to adjust the procedures in line with the provisions.
“Having done that, we now had to reach out to the party executives to submit lists that couldbe utilised for the purpose of posting officials to supervise the elections. Those lists only arrived at about an hour ago and so anything that was done without the lists that we wanted, because we wanted harmony and I told you, we are more interested in harmony than victory, so we had to wait for them.”
The APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomole speaking on Lagos state in Abuja after seeing the president, said that the National Working Committee was in charge of the Lagos primaries and that every situation has been put under control. The former Edo State Governor ruled out the possibility of honouring parallel results on the primaries from states, stressing that no matter how highly a member may be, he must subject himself to the Constitution of the party. On what he told the President about Lagos Primaries, he said, “All that is good to go on, direct primaries, and everything is being done to ensure that there is no violence, that it is very potent. Democracy doesn’t flourish with violence and Nigeria must begin to learn how to differ in opinion and in choice without fighting. At least something people have to acquire over time. And for me I am excited that if we can do it in Lagos, we can do it anywhere..
