Human rights activist and Lagos based lawyer, Mr. Ebun-olu Adegboruwa, has warned the All Progressives Congress, APC, not to sweep under the carpet, the allegation made by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode against Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Sanwo-Olu is the only opponent Ambode has in the Lagos APC governorship primary.
He is currently being supported by chieftains of the party against Ambode.
At a press conference held in Lagos on Sunday, Ambode described Sanwo-Olu as unfit to govern Lagos State.
He alleged that apart from having a mental issue, he was arrested in the United States for spending fake dollars.
Sanwo-Olu has since denied the allegation saying Ambode was only engaging in character assassination.
But in a statement issued by Adegboruwa, he said there was need to ascertain the authenticity of the claim of Ambode against Sanwo-Olu.
“The allegations raised are weighty and serious, and we deserve to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Some other information have since emerged, indicating that indeed, all may not be well, in that regard.
“Nigerians and Lagosians in particular, deserve to know the true status of anyone aspiring to public office; not just in relation to health, but also his preferences, his financial status and all other areas of common concern. It is not proper to just wish this away,” he said.
The lawyer said the APC as a party owed it a duty to disclose the needed details, arguing that a sitting Governor would not just wake up one day and be throwing allegations of mental instability against his opponent, that he knows very well, just for the sake of winning an election.
Adegboruwa said the import of any serious health challenge for any person aspiring to the position of Governor of the largest economy in Nigeria was that of capacity, especially in the light of allegations of godfatherism, as the bane of politics in Lagos State.
“It then raises the issue of a lame duck governor, installed only as a figure head, but in truth not capable of governance,” he said.
The other point, he said, was a level playing field, for all contestants, in the primary election.
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He said it was alleged that the structure of the election was to produce a predetermined winner, to the extent that the incumbent governor and his aides and loyalists had no access cards to vote, in an election in which he is a major contestant.
“That is totally unacceptable,” he warned.
Adegboruwa stated further: “It behoves the APC as the ruling party of progressives, to show true leadership. It cannot continue to be enmeshed in serious allegations of vote manipulation, virtually in all elections in which it is involved.
“The latest report released by the team of observers raised by the NBA to monitor the Osun rerun election, is just too damning against the APC as a party, for it to move from Osun to Lagos, to be planning to conduct a sham primary election, so much that the said primary election has been shifted so many times, and there’s no guaranty even now, that it will hold soon.
“The leading figures in the APC today, have their own track records in the history of Nigeria, such that it is totally baffling that they are involved in the mysterious controversies that the party is currently enmeshed in.
“I therefore urge the party to come out clean and avail us with the true information concerning the status of all its candidates and ensure free, fair and credible primary elections.
“If what we witness now in the primary elections of the APC as a ruling party is anything to go by, then we can as well forget elections for 2019.”
