Ministerial Snub: Ambode reacts to rumoured defection to PDP
Immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, has spoken on his rumoured plans to ditch the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speculations emanated from some quarters that Ambode, unhappy over his non-inclusion in the ministerial list President Muhammadu Buhari recently forwarded to the Senate for confirmation, decided to leave the party and seek solace in the main opposition in protest of his ill-treatment and marginalization in the APC.
Many political observers had thought that the ruling APC and the presidency would reward Ambode with a ministerial slot in compensation for losing his second term bid to current Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and supporting the party to victory in the elections in the state.
Despite picking two nominees from Lagos, Ambode’s name was conspicuously missing from the list.
Those picked were his predecessor and immediate past Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, and the Managing Director of Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora.
Ambode’s spokesperson, Habib Aruna, in a recent statement Monday night, debunked the rumours stressing that the information about his boss leaving the party was “totally untrue”.
While describing the development as an attempt to malign former Lagos number one, Aruna appealed to the public to disregard mischievous persons and their sponsors.
He said: “We enjoin the general public, particularly Lagosians to disregard the planted news by some faceless and mischievous individuals in some unknown blogs, who are hell-bent on creating an acrimonious situation, spreading fake news that the immediate past governor of Lagos State, HE. Akinwunmi Ambode has dumped the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) for the PDP.
“The news is fake. The former governor is firmly a member of APC, working in his own capacity to see that the progressive ideas and the next level agenda of President Buhari succeed”.
