Lagos APC declares Sanwo-Olu winner of governorship primaries

An All Progressives Congress governorship aspirant in Lagos Babajide Sanwo-Olu has defeated the state’s governor Akinwunmi Ambode to emerge the party’s governorship candidate in the next general elections.

The state chairman of the party, Tunji Balogun, announced the outcome of the poll at Lagos APC headquarters Ogba, Ikeja, on Tuesday night.

Sanwoolu emerged winner with 970,851 votes while incumbent governor of the state polled a total of 72,901 votes.

Although, a national working committee panel on the election had declared the election null and void as a result of the open ballot mode used.

However, Balogun disagreed with the chairman of the Clement Ebri, saying the election was fair.

“We were preparing for the election on the 1st of October before the cancellation was announced. The same thing was done again today but we were in the queue for the most part of the day and I have observed that the elections have been free fair and transparent,” Balogun said.

“It is my pleasure and delight to announce the result of the election conducted in all the wards of Lagos state. The results are as follows Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, 72,901 votes. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 970,851 votes,” he added

Prior to the primary, Ambode told a world press conference on Sunday afternoon that Sanwo-Olu was unfit for the office governor, claiming that his opponent has been arrested and detained in the United States for passing fake dollars as the original.

He also accused the former Lagos state commissioner of Commerce and Industry of being a drug addict who had undergone rehabilitation at a Lagos State-owned general hospital.

“This particular aspirant is somebody that has been arrested for spending fake dollars in a nightclub in America, and he has been detained for months,” Ambode said.

“He doesn’t have the competence to do what he is being propelled to do. This is somebody that has gone for rehabilitation before. The records are there at the Gbagada General Hospital.”

But Sanwo-Olu said in a statement that none of the governor’s claims was true and claimed Ambode was aware that he travelled to the United States in August. He said he would not have been able to do so if he truly had committed the crime.

“That the governor claimed that I underwent some unidentified type of rehabilitation at the Gbagada General Hospital was also shameless and untrue,” Sanwo-Olu added.

Sanwo-Olu was however endorsed by state’s lawmakers, chairmen of local councils and Ambode’s estranged godfather and APC’s national leader Bola Tinubu.

Although Ambode insisted that there was no”rift” with Tinubu, the former Lagos State governor said the governor was no longer capable of moving the state forward.