A fast-paced plot is unfolding in the Lagos State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to sack embattled Governor Akinwunmi Ambode before the expiration of his single term on 29 May, 2018, Saturday Tribune learnt from both pro and anti-impeachment groups in the state.
The plot, which is now at an advanced stage, according to sources on both sides of the divide, is mainly being hatched by the elite in the party but being sold to the rank and file as a last-minute solution to feared defeat of the party in next year’s governorship election.
Factional chairman of the state chapter of the party, Mr Fuad Oki, has warned the House of Assembly to drop its threat to impeach Governor Ambode or it would incur the wrath of Lagosians.
Also, a Lagos-based civil rights movement, Save Lagos Group (SLG), said it had concluded arrangements to picket the House of Assembly next week over what it termed illegal impeachment process against Ambode, warning the Hon. Mudashiru Obasa-led Assembly against being used by those it called selfish individuals to impeach the governor.
One major weapon to get the public to the pro-impeachment side, according to findings, is the raging issue of heaps of refuse in the state, which has become a major talking point with the House of Assembly directing the restricted PSP operators to resume work all over the state.
The state is contracted to Visionscape for major refuse disposal engagements, while the PSP operators who hitherto had the entire space to themselves are now restricted in their operations.
The “sacking” of the PSP operators had been a major contentious policy issue for the Ambode administration.
On Thursday, the state legislature ordered the local service providers back to work, including areas where they had been barred by the state environmental laws, passed by the assembly.
A top source in the dogfight told Saturday Tribune that the discontent of residents of the state over the challenged capacity of Visionscape to handle the refuse business is now being explored by the party elite to push their agenda through.
It was learnt that after the appearance of the commissioners summoned by the state assembly, the lawmakers would launch an investigation into the payment allegedly made to Visionscape on the order of the governor, after the assembly had pronounced the foreign firm a ghost.
