Lagos Governorship: PDP’s Jimi Agbaje opposes Ambode’s impeachment

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos, Jimi Agbaje, has asked members of the House of Assembly and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) not to plunge the state into chaos over moves to impeach Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

Reacting to reports that lawmakers this week issued Ambode a seven-day ultimatum to defend his supposed inability to submit the 2019 budget to the House, Mr Agbaje sued for peace, saying the move was capable of jeopardising the smooth running of the state.

Mr Agbaje said: “Of course, the way Lagos politics has been structured over the last two decades, government actions are often dictated by open and covert objectives. That the legislators are hinging their action on the purported delay of the budget is simply a smokescreen for a very shameful undertone that the Honourable assembly members will not want to make open. They are yet to tell us their actual motivation for this superfluous move to shame the Governor.”

The governorship hopeful, who made this known in a statement issued by his Directorate of Media and Publicity on Thursday, added that the timing of the planned impeachment was wrong with elections just a few weeks away.

“I received the news of the impending impeachment of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode with a lot of reservation, especially with its timing and motive. This is just 19 or so days to the Federal elections and the governorship, a fortnight thereafter. So the natural questions to ask are: Why this haste? And what is the motive?” Mr Agbaje said.

He stated that although the Legislature reserved the right to perform oversight functions, “such a responsibility should not be abused. It should be carried out in a manner that places the citizens’ interest above any pecuniary benefit to a vested interest.”

Calling on Lagosians to note what he termed an unfolding tragicomedy, Mr Agbaje urged them to choose his party, PDP, as a viable alternative to the ruling APC that had proved incapable of putting its house in order.

He noted: “Governance has ground to a halt owing to the schism between the two arms of government, both of which are dominated by APC. From all indications and from the findings that I have conducted, the action of the lawmakers is nothing but self-serving as dictated to them by the cabal ruling the state.”

Mr Agbaje carpeted the state chapter of APC for allowing the schism between both the Executive and the Legislature to fester for this long, saying, residents had been made to bear the brunt.

“The situation, in which we Lagosians find ourselves, calls for prayers. But more than that, the people of the state should take the practical step of voting PDP into office as the viable alternative,” Mr Agbaje said.