Tinubu Supports Sanwo-Olu’s Second Term Bid

The APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the entire members of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressive Congress, (APC), have openly endorsed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term bid.

Tinubu physically raised the hands of Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Hamzat in approval of their bid to continue in office beyond 2023 at the party’s stakeholders’ meeting held at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in Alausa on Friday.

This development puts an end to all rumours making the rounds with respect to the recent endorsement of Sanwo-Olu for a second term by the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) to rest.

Tinubu’s endorsement of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat has also ended the rumours in some quarters, particularly by some online news platforms few days ago that the APC National Leader, Tinubu had dumped Sanwo-Olu for a former Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Civil Service, Mustapha Olorunfemi.

Tinubu posited that the Governor and his deputy have built an unbreakable team to raise the bar of excellence in governance and service delivery in the State, with visible achievements and progress to show for their efforts.

According to him, this has earned the Governor and his deputy the opportunity to return for a second term, and not a blank endorsement which many politicians sought.

Tinubu, a presidential aspirant on APC platform, affirmed that Lagos under Sanwo-Olu’s leadership had remained a State of pride for residents and other Nigerians who crave responsive governance and progress.

In his words:  “We have a brilliant Governor at the helm of affairs, who is supported by his deputy to build an unbreakable team that has raised the bar of excellence in governance in Lagos. I specially thank Dr. Hamzat, who has been a very good assistant and a pillar of support to the Governor.

“Sanwo-Olu with Hamzat has raised an impenetrable team. I commend both of you and all members of the cabinet. You have all done wonderfully well and I must say that I am very proud of you.”

The raising of Sanwo-Olu’s hand by Tinubu was heralded by a motion moved by the Vice Chairman of APC (Lagos East), Hon. Saidat Oladunjoye, for open endorsement of the Governor by the party’s leadership.

The motion was then seconded by a member representing Alimosho Constituency in the House of Assembly, Hon. Kehinde Joseph and received a unanimous approval from all stakeholders present at the meeting.

Tinubu, however, assured that the party in Lagos would not prevent any candidate vying for any position from testing their strength at the primaries, stressing that all candidates that would be fielded by the party across elective positions must go through a delegate electoral system.

Tinubu urged all aspirants who are showing interest in positions from House of Assembly to governorship to go and get their forms and be prepared to contest primaries because there will not be any favouritism in the primaries.

“We want you to contest and test your popularity. Nobody will ask to step down for another aspirant. Let all aspirants mobilise their supporters; if you win, you win. If you lose, there will not be a refund of the nomination form,” he emphasized.

Tinubu tasked all leaders holding the party structure at the local government level to rise above their challenges and work with the community leaders in their respective councils to mobilise for the APC victory at the general election.

Accordingly, he directed that there should be resolution of all grievances and disagreements causing disaffection among party members ahead of the primaries, noting that division would not bring any good to party candidates standing for election.

Governor Sanwo-Olu informed the stakeholders at the meeting that Asiwaju Tinubu paid the 50 Million fee for APC Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for his second term bid.

“Asiwaju Tinubu is a generous man and he is doing a lot for people. He paid for my APC nomination and expression of interest forms to run for the second term,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Sanwo-Olu applauded Tinubu for his guidance and commended the GAC leaders for standing by his government despite personal attacks they suffered from those the Governor referred to as “wayward children” who turned against the party elders after benefiting from them.

Sanwo-Olu stated further that it was time for the party members across all levels to foster cohesion and work for the APC’s success in the State and at the Federal level respectively.