…As Tokunbo Afikuyomi Betrays Tinubu, Urges Ambode to be ”His own Man”
By The New Diplomat Political Intelligence Desk
As the momentum towards 2019 general elections gathers steam, indications have emerged that the once very cordial and smooth political ties between a National Leader of the All Progressives Congress(APC) and former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State has been threatened by political intrigues and ambitious plots by actors believed to be less than sincere in their dealings with both Tinubu and Ambode respectively.
Sources confided in The New Diplomat Political Intelligence Desk that the main cause of the alleged differences in position between former Governor Tinubu and current Governor Ambode stems from alleged political differences over who should be the Lagos State Chairman of the APC during the recently concluded Party primaries. Investigations reveal that while Tinubu preferred the current sworn-in Chairman, Chief Tunde Balogun, the Governor was reportedly being prevailed upon by Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi to look in another direction and be “his own man” and stop taking political direction from Tinubu.
Indications emerged that Ambode who initially gave Afikuyomi listening ears was to later beat a tactical retreat, sensing that pursuing a different political line of thought different from Tinubu’s was a needless political gamble, which he was not prepared to undertake in the jostle towards 2019 General elections.
Said an insider: ” I can confidently tell you that it was Senator Afikuyomi that sold the idea to the Governor initially to start thinking of his own political ideas. In fact, Afikuyomi wanted Ambode to push for a State Party Chairman different from that person sponsored by Tinubu. He was urging him on to contemplate so many other steps..But words quickly reached Tinubu. Even as I speak to you, the cordiality and smooth relationship is no longer the same. Trust has been breached not minding the fact that the Governor quickly dumped Afikuyomi’s ideas to be his own man.”
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It would be recalled that the battle for Lagos State between Ambode of APC and Jimi Agbaje, the Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in the 2015 governorship polls in Lagos State was most fierce and competitive with so much air of political uncertainty hanging in the air over who would be the winner of the polls. At the end, Amobode had triumphed over Agbaje, who had put up a strong political showing, mainly on account of Tinubu’s political dexterity and overwhelming political influence in Lagos Politics and other states in the South West, especially Oyo and Osun where his key associates hold fort as governors.
APC insiders in Lagos, are however at a loss, as to why Afikuyomi would undertake such a dangerous political move rather than staying in what they called “the original family.”
