Ambode Rescues ‘Cash Strapped’ LOC, As Access Bank Lagos City Marathon Holds

SUCCOR may have come for embattled members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the maiden Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, as Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was said to have given them a financial boost to host the event.

For days, the LOC members led by chairman of Lagos Sports Commission, Deji Tinubu, were said to be running from pillars to post looking for money to executive the much-talked about marathon race. A group of people who were expected to bring the marathon torch from Greece could not make the trip due to alleged poor financial position of the LOC, though one official said the people were denied permit.

Sensing trouble, Deji Tinubu was said to have cried to the Governor for financial assistance.

It was learnt yesterday that Ambode handed an undisclosed amount of money to the LOC on Thursday to save a ‘looming danger.’

But the Governor was said to have warned that the money should be spent judiciously and would be accounted for soon after the race. No member of the LOC was willing to speak on the situation yesterday.

The race will begin this morning from the National Stadium Surulere and will terminate at New Lagos (Eko Atlantic City), a distance of 42.195 km.

It was learnt that foreign athletes from the United States, England, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Bahrain, Cameroun and Rwanda are accommodated at Eko hotel, while the local ones stay in a hotel in Surulere.