By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The All Progressives Congress, APC, Lagos State governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, says he is not a stooge of the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as being insinuated in some quarters.

He also cautioned Lagosians against giving their mandate to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Jimi Agbaje, who he said wants to experiment with Lagos as he has no experience in governance.

Ambode, in an interview with P.M.NEWS on Tuesday said his profile speaks for him and that he is more than qualified to become the governor of Lagos State, having been in the state’s public service for 27 years.

He said a lot of people have been asking him whether he is Tinubu’s stooge, but that his reply had always been that he is never a stooge to anybody.

“A lot of people have been asking me that question. You have gone through my profile, I am a competent person on my own. I have the capacity to be the governor of Lagos State. I have the character to be the governor of Lagos State. I have been serving Lagos and serving people for close to 30 years now. I have not known anything than serving people.

“So, if it is in terms of having a strong leader as the governor of Lagos State, I am qualified to be that person. Let us leave that aside, there is no issue about being a stooge; we must give credit to whom credit is due and we need to talk about it here. A true test of a good leader is when he is able to choose good successors and sacrifice himself to say that rather than being there, I will always find good successors to carry on with the vision of making Nigeria a prosperous country,” he said.

Ambode said credit must be given to Tinubu for always coming up with good successors that have done the nation proud in all aspects, adding that leaders such as Tinubu were scarce to come by in the nation.

“So, if we find in Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that leadership quality, which is so scarce in the political landscape, of being able to choose people, stand by them and support them, we must give him that credit. In 2007, against all odds, when he decided to stand by Governor Raji Fashola against other aspirants, we all cried out. We asked him ‘why will you do it?’ But he stood his ground because he knew what he saw. Eight years down the road, we are all -these same set of people who said Fashola was Tinubu’s stooge- crying and shouting, Fashola is the best thing that has ever happened to Nigeria.”

According to Ambode, Tinubu was the same man who stood by governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and that these states are better off now in terms of development than before these governors took over, because a good leader stood by them.

“The man has the knack to always choose good achievers and he will sacrifice himself. He is standing by Buhari now and Osinbajo. Nigerians are excited that this is an alternative to Jonathan. Let us give such leaders their due credit. But beyond that, I have that vision and leadership quality to take Lagos State to the next level. So we are nobody’s stooge,” he stated.

On the seeming threat posed by Agbaje to his governorship ambition, Ambode waved it aside, saying he believes with the support of the people, he would be elected governor on 28 February.

“There are 15 gubernatorial candidates contesting the coming governorship election in Lagos, according to INEC, and Jimi Agbaje happens to be one of them. There are 14 of them contesting against me. You will recall that during the primaries, there were 12 aspirants who contested against me and many did not give me any chance. But I came out victorious. This is not going to be different, but let us even narrow it down that the competition is between APC and PDP.

“Jimi Agbaje has been here for a while. I hear people say he has been in politics for the past 20 years, but here is a man who has never had any political appointment or has never had any political victory; here is a man who does not have structure, here is a man who is just up for experiment. Does he have the passion or is it just a motive?

“He has never had any major contribution to the upliftment of Lagos State, even in his political history. What has he really done that we can say this is his contribution to Lagos State? I have done that for 27 years and I am ready to do it for another four years,” he said.

Ambode said Agbaje had been moving from one party to the other and finally settled in a conservative party, PDP, to realise his ambition.

“This is a man that has moved from being a progressive to becoming a conservative. It is just too clear he moves from one political party to the other to seek his interest, not a passion to serve. For him, what matters is ‘I want to be a governor at all cost.’ He moved from APC to DPA, from DPA to PDP and from Afenifere. Afenifere is a progressive movement, so when you have somebody who is a progressive in Afenifere going to PDP, you start asking, is it about motive or is it his passion for Lagos? What are his credentials that he has done something for Lagos State or he just wants to become one of the gubernatorial aspirants? He is just one of those aspirants, he does not have a structure here,” he stated.

According to Ambode he is coming into governance because he has the passion to serve Lagos State, reiterating that he has toiled for 27 years to serve the people of the state.

“We are coming up because we have passion for Lagos State. I have toiled all my life, I spent all my career in Lagos State public service. I toiled in it for 27 years, I stood for Lagos State and I am standing for Lagos State. I am passionate about people and their issues; how do I help them? That is all I am about, I am here for people and people will choose us,” he said.

We hope so...

AMBODE

The Best Man For the Job..

Story for the Ifas'

Ambode you are on a looong thing. Tiifnubu want to use you to correct the slight mistake he made in choosing Fashola. Fashola at least for integrity sake dampened Tiifnubu's loot of Lagos treasury so this time around, he has brought you his former Acoountant general or finance commisioner or whatever to keep the conduit open. iro.

Its Agbaje, Agbaje, Agbaje, Agbaje and Agabje for Lagos 2015.

KwoiZabo:
Story for the Ifas'
Ambode you are on a looong thing. Tiifnubu want to use you to correct the slight mistake he made in choosing Fashola. Fashola at least for integrity sake dampened Tiifnubu's loot of Lagos treasury so this time around, he has brought you his former Acoountant general or finance commisioner or whatever to keep the conduit open. iro.
Its Agbaje, Agbaje, Agbaje, Agbaje and Agabje for Lagos 2015.

Nooo it's you and Agbajo that are on a longer thing.You just open your mouth and vomit rubbish,who says Ambode was Tinubu's erstwhile finance commisioner?you hear-say half-baked arm chair political commentator,why not go get you facts straight before you come expose your ignorance.The man said,and correctly so,that he was in public service for 27 years;meaning he was in public service even before Tinubu joined politics.So is it his fault that as he rose in the ranks,his paths crossed with Tinubu's in public service??I expect you to check his track record of performance and wide experience in public service,in fact that puts him in a better stead to be his own man than your vastly inexperienced Jimi Agbaje,who because of his inexperience,is bound to rely heavily on Bode George to tell him what to do,should Lagosians make the mistake of allowing him smell Alausa.Well I know that wont happen

Story for the gods

Lagosians are tired of Tinubu abs his stooges
Why is he denying his godfather?..... unrepentant liars.

ohwell:


On the seeming threat posed by Agbaje to his governorship ambition, Ambode waved it aside, saying he believes with the support of the people, he would be elected governor on 28 February.

“There are 15 gubernatorial candidates contesting the coming governorship election in Lagos, according to INEC, and Jimi Agbaje happens to be one of them. There are 14 of them contesting against me. You will recall that during the primaries, there were 12 aspirants who contested against me and many did not give me any chance. But I came out victorious. This is not going to be different, but let us even narrow it down that the competition is between APC and PDP.

[b]“Jimi Agbaje has been here for a while. I hear people say he has been in politics for the past 20 years, but here is a man who has never had any political appointment or has never had any political victory; here is a man who does not have structure, here is a man who is just up for experiment. Does he have the passion or is it just a motive?

“He has never had any major contribution to the upliftment of Lagos State, even in his political history. What has he really done that we can say this is his contribution to Lagos State? I have done that for 27 years and I am ready to do it for another four years,” he said.

Ambode said Agbaje had been moving from one party to the other and finally settled in a conservative party, PDP, to realise his ambition.

“This is a man that has moved from being a progressive to becoming a conservative. It is just too clear he moves from one political party to the other to seek his interest, not a passion to serve. For him, what matters is ‘I want to be a governor at all cost.’ He moved from APC to DPA, from DPA to PDP and from Afenifere. Afenifere is a progressive movement, so when you have somebody who is a progressive in Afenifere going to PDP, you start asking, is it about motive or is it his passion for Lagos? What are his credentials that he has done something for Lagos State or he just wants to become one of the gubernatorial aspirants? He is just one of those aspirants, he does not have a structure here,” he stated.

According to Ambode he is coming into governance because he has the passion to serve Lagos State, reiterating that he has toiled for 27 years to serve the people of the state.[/b]

“We are coming up because we have passion for Lagos State. I have toiled all my life, I spent all my career in Lagos State public service. I toiled in it for 27 years, I stood for Lagos State and I am standing for Lagos State. I am passionate about people and their issues; how do I help them? That is all I am about, I am here for people and people will choose us,” he said.

I love the bolded part so much as it truely puts the person and candidature of Agbaje in perspective,it shows that the man is just a political agbaya aka political ashewo aka political prostittute and a desperado,who only wants to be governor at all costs

Flets:
Story for the gods
Lagosians are tired of Tinubu abs his stooges
Why is he denying his godfather?..... unrepentant liars.

The gods are wise
Lagosians say no to ex-convicts and their candidates.

baptist101:


Nooo it's you and Agbajo that are on a longer thing.You just open your mouth and vomit rubbish,who says Ambode was Tinubu's erstwhile finance commisioner?you hear-say half-baked arm chair political commentator,why not go get you facts straight before you come expose your ignorance.The man said,and correctly so,that he was in public service for 27 years;meaning he was in public service even before Tinubu joined politics.So is it his fault that as he rose in the ranks,his paths crossed with Tinubu's in public service??I expect you to check his track record of performance and wide experience in public service,in fact that puts him in a better stead to be his own man than your vastly inexperienced Jimi Agbaje,who because of his inexperience,is bound to rely heavily on Bode George to tell him what to do,should Lagosians make the mistake of allowing him smell Alausa.Well I know that wont happen

finance commisioner or whatever, he served under the most corrupt govt. lagos ever had.

KwoiZabo:
finance commisioner or whatever, he served under the most corrupt govt. lagos ever had.

I think you're getting it twisted,Ambode was a permanent secretary,already at the peak of his career,when he was drafted to become accountant-general;so do you want to tell me that a man whose stellar qualities and administrative brilliance had been shining for so long that it was now noticed by the state chief excutive officer at the time,who now appointed him to tinker with the way Lagos does financial business and generates IGR,that such a man so passionate about Lagos should have turned down the offer and deny Lagos the opportunity to withness this great transformation we've seen over the yearsYour view indeed is myopic and is tantamount to standing logic on its head

Edited

Why are we hearing Agbaje name when mentioning Akinwunmi Ambode??Agbaje hasn't got a prayer against Ambode.Akin Ambode is the next governor of Lagos

Flets:

Why is he denying his godfather?..... unrepentant liars.

If by godfather,you mean his most influential supporter,then tell me who you prefer out of Tinubu and Bode George,hope you know that the foundation for the infrastructural development of Lagos you're seeing today was laid by Tinubu

oneplusone:


If by godfather,you mean his most influential supporter,then tell me who you prefer out of Tinubu and Bode George,hope you know that the foundation for the infrastructural development of Lagos you're seeing today was laid by Tinubu

Tinubu is the most corrupt Nigerian alive. His wife is the senator, the daughter is iyaloja, the two son-in-law are house of assembly and house of rep members. All the government properties in Ikoyi and VI have been assigned as Tinubu's private property. Every hotel in VI is owned by Tinubu... what business is he into?
He installs obas, HOA members and even LG chairmen.

He installed toll plazas and concessioned to his company. Tinubu's company manages Lagos IGR

Please what greater evil is this? Lagosians are literally slaves to Tinubu.

So no need asking that your question. .... only the devil can be worse than Tinubu.

Flets:

Tinubu is the most corrupt Nigerian alive. His wife is the senator, the daughter is iyaloja, the two son-in-law are house of assembly and house of rep members. All the government properties in Ikoyi and VI have been assigned as Tinubu's private property. Every hotel in VI is owned by Tinubu... what business is he into?
He installs obas, HOA members and even LG chairmen.
He installed toll plazas and concessioned to his company. Tinubu's company manages Lagos IGR
Please what greater evil is this? Lagosians are literally slaves to Tinubu.
So no need asking that your question. .... only the devil can be worse than Tinubu.

His wife is senator,bla bla bla
Yes go to America and see the Bushes,even Bill and Hilary Clinton. Their rights to contest is enshrined in the constitution as long as they are qualified to contest,you have the right to contest against them and stop them from getting to those offices.

That said,Akinwunmi Ambode has declared that he is nobody's stooge and I must inform you that Lagosians will rather vote for somebody Tinubu is rooting for than one that Bode George is rooting for

What a joke. Tell us another lie.

KwoiZabo:
Story for the Ifas'

Ambode you are on a looong thing. Tiifnubu want to use you to correct the slight mistake he made in choosing Fashola. Fashola at least for integrity sake dampened Tiifnubu's loot of Lagos treasury so this time around, he has brought you his former Acoountant general or finance commisioner or whatever to keep the conduit open. iro.

Its Agbaje, Agbaje, Agbaje, Agbaje and Agabje for Lagos 2015.

Is it that difficult for you to digest something logically and mentally?
If you don't know why you're existing why not commit suicide!
The man made a very clear insight but instead of you listening and make reasonable and rational comprehensible of that brilliant comment you're busy attacking the gentle man who offer himself for service.
Aren't you also old to be governor or is your mother still never stop been winch?

hedonistic:
What a joke. Tell us another lie.

Sorry,where is the joke.I don't see any comedian here except you want to tell us you are Ali Baba's protégé stooge

jaso1:

Is it that difficult for you to digest something logically and mentally?
If you don't know why you're existing why not commit suicide!

My guy you harsh ooo

jaso1:

The man made a very clear insight but instead of you listening and make reasonable and rational comprehensible of that brilliant comment you're busy attacking the gentle man who offer himself for service.
Aren't you also old to be governor or is your mother still never stop been winch?

Help me tell am o
Some people just cant be reasonable to save their own lives