Islanders Magazine

APC Orders LG Chairmen To Rent 28,500 Persons At A Whooping N.1 Billion To Attend Akin Ambode’s Declaration For Lagos Guber Race

 

The desperation of the leadership of the APC in Lagos has moved them to compel all the 57 local government chairmen in the state to rent 500 persons from each council area to attend a controversial anointed governorship aspirant, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode’s declaration at the Onikan stadium in Lagos island by 10am today, Friday, bringing the total figure of rented crowd at the function to 28,500.
The candidacy of Ambode who has been established to be an indigene of Ondo state has generated so much controversy in Lagos politics as the 2015 elections approach. The alleged preference of APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Ambode has equally set him against the incumbent governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola who had forced Ambode out of his government in 2012 over alleged financial impropriety.
Concerned that the Ambode project is not getting the desired acceptability among the party members at the local level who prefer an indigene of the state to succeed Fashola in 2015, iReports-ng.com gathered that the party leadership had to compel the 57 council chairmen in the state to rent as many as 28,500 from their council areas to jam the venue and create the impression that the aspirant is popular.
The directive to rent the crowd was conveyed to the council chairmen in a text message sent to their telephone lines on Thursday. It reads: “Dear Chairman, directives from leadership that all chairmen MUST mobilise 500 people each from their LG/LCDA to MR AKIN AMBODE declaration to run as Governor of Lagos state under our great party (APC) at Onikan stadium penultimate week, 24/10/2014 by 10am. Please all chairmen MUST be in attendance.”
Aggrieved party sources told iReports-ng.com that the directive will cost tax payers a whooping N.1 billion or more because each local government has already voted N5million each for the event. It was also gathered that the cost could be more as the council chairmen also seize such opportunity to pad the figures up and fill their own pockets.

 

The opposition to Ambode’s aspiration widened in May after his claim to be an indigene of Epe in Lagos was exposed.   According to iReports-ng.com earlier reports, the heaps of lies piled up by Ambode over his claim to Lagos as his state of origin have continued to fall apart as a form filled by the aspirant while applying for a Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB’s direct entry admission into the University of Lagos in 1981 has further confirmed that he is indeed from Ondo state.

 

A copy of the form mailed to iReports-ng.com reveals that Ambode had in his application form number JAMB/DE.03 and registration number 646789 filled in his own handwriting that he is an indigene of Ondo state in the portion of the form which asks his state of origin. He indicated his contact address as 101 Lagos street, Ebute Metta and his date of birth as 14th June, 1963. He also filled University of Lagos as his first choice of school, University of Benin as second and Ahmadu Bello University as third choice with Accounting and Business Administration as his first and second choice of course of study respectively.

 

This exposure as a liar is coming on the heels of a revelation by the Edu family of Epe in Lagos east that the aspirant is not a member of the family as he has claimed. The Baale Buraimo Edu family which he claims to belong to in Epe had issue a statement last week to disown him. The family, in a release signed by both Alhaji M. Oladeinde Edu and Alhaji T. A. Edu, also insisted that Ambode hailed from Ilaje in Ese Odo area of Ondo State and not from Epe as he claimed.

 

According to the release, the family stated that the Baale Edu while alive had 22 wives and 38 children and challenged Ambode and his supporters to trace his side of the Edu family tree and name his mother among the 22 wives. According to them “We hereby bring it to the notice of all Lagosians that we have tried but could not trace where the said Akinwumi Ambode belongs in the family tree of Baale Buraimo Edu of Epe.

 

“At this juncture, we can categorically state here that in actual fact, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode was a son of Festus Akinwale Ambode, one of the teachers posted to Epe in the old Western Region; a native of Ilaje Ese Odo in the present day Ondo State.

 

“As a school teacher, the elder Ambode was very familiar and friendly with several Epe indigenes. The older Ambode came to Epe through the waterways. He came with his wife, Christianah Oluleye Ambode (nee Oresanya), who though initially did not stay with him which made the older Ambode marry a second wife, an Epe daughter, popularly called ‘Iya Vice from Poka, Epe.

 

“She was a food seller in Epe Grammar School. This development led to Akinwunmi Ambode’s mother who also hails from Ilaje Ese Odo in Ondo State to eventually relocate to Epe to stay with her husband,” the family said.

 

According to Edu family,  at death, Ambode’s father’s corpse was taken back to Ilaje, Ondo State for burial in line with the dictates of tradition and royalty as he was a prince, adding that, “The royalty from the kingdom came with the full royal insignia and ferried his remains back to Ilaje land for interment.

 

“With these facts stated above, it is a rude shock to the entire clan of the Edus in Epe that the said Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode is laying claims to being a clan of the Edus. We reject this linkage, both paternal and maternal, or even marital,” the family said.