The Short Reign of Ambode

Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode tenure as Lagos state governor will expire on May 29th, 2019 but it seems as if he is already out of office 8 months before the official hand over.

Ambode lost his bid for reelection in the state after he could not win his party, All Progressive Congress, gubernatorial ticket in the primaries. Babajide Sanwo-Olu won the primaries in what can be termed as a shameful defeat for the incumbent.

Although Ambode tried sabotaging his Sanwo-Olu’s chances before the primaries after the primaries he has been quiet and surprisingly Ambode didn’t decamp to another party to seek reelection. He even endorsed Sanwo-Olu.

Ambode is the first governor in Lagos state in the 4th republic that won’t be contesting at the poll for reelection. There have been several reports while he lost his reelection bid as an incumbent.

One of the reports is that he had disagreements with the National leader of APC and his godfather, Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu although the latter denied claiming that it is the leaders of the party that are against Ambode.

Another report claimed that he lost his reelection bid because he didn’t follow the party design and structure for the state.

It should be recalled that his predecessor, Babatunde Raji Fashola had the same issue when he wanted to seek for a second term in 2011 but he was backed by the party leaders and the masses. Fashola was having issues with Tinubu then and the national leader was against his reelection but some top party leaders and the masses supported Fashola for the good job he has done in the state.

Ambode, on the other hand, didn’t get this type of support, there are claims within the party that Ambode doesn’t respect the party leaders. There are also rumors that the incumbent was also having a silent dispute with his predecessor and was working hard to destroy Fashola’s Legacy in the state.

Ambode had his good side but there are too many bad tales about him and this is why he lost the support of his own party and couldn’t win in the primaries despite being an incumbent.

His tenure in Lagos state is regarded as the one in which Lagos state is the dirtiest, this is as a result of him scrapping Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) which was set up to keep Lagos clean. Ambode replaced LAWMA with Visionscape but the company couldn’t deliver in keeping Lagos state clean.

Things have gotten worse in Lagos state since the primaries as Ambode has abandoned the responsibilities of the state due to the fact that he knows he is not coming back.

The next governor of the state will either be Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressive Congress or Jimi Agbaje of the People’s Democratic Party.

How Ambode lost favor in the sight of the masses and his party leaders in less than 4 years in office should be a lesson to everyone who has political ambition.