Following the gubernatorial primary results announced by the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, Chief Tunde Balogun, the incumbent state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has denied conceding defeat to his challenger, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Balogun had announced at the ACME Road, Ogba State Secretariat of the party on Tuesday that Sanwo-Olu polled 970,851 votes to defeat Ambode, who polled 72,901 votes.
This is just as the Chief Clement Ebri-led National Working Committee (NWC) Panel sent from Abuja to monitor the process distanced itself from the process that produced Sanwo-Olu.
After the announcement of the collated results from the 245 wards in the state, the governor was said to have conceded defeat to Sanwo-Olu, who is backed by the state leadership including former Governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
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However, the Ambode Campaign Organisation (ACO) has denied that the governor conceded defeat to his challenger.
In a statement, the ACO said that the governor could not have conceded defeat as the gubernatorial primary election that held did not follow due process.
The statement read in part, “There are guidelines and procedures which the NWC has insisted must be followed in conducting a credible poll. These include the usage of membership slips and membership cards by registered party members as well as the adoption of secret ballot system which protects the electorate.
“The NWC came from Abuja with sufficient ballot papers which are yet to be distributed. As a loyal and responsible party member and a democrat, Governor Ambode is guided by the process announced by the party and shall await the new date of the governorship primary.
“We urge all party members and our teeming supporters to remain calm and peaceful and to refuse to be intimidated. Governor Ambode is still very much in the race and is poised to win in order to continue the good works he has been doing in the last three and half years.”