JUST IN: Mass Protests Against Gov Ambode’s Impeachment Move

A group known as Lagos Peoples’ Assembly (LPA) comprising a coalition of civil society groups, concerned Lagos citizens have staged a mass protests against Lagos State House of Assembly move to impeach Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday.

They carried placards and banners with different inscriptions like:

“Ambode is a performing governor, we reject impeachment”, “Lagosians love Ambode for his good works”, “Let there be smooth transition”, “Enough of intimidation of Ambode”, Lagos APC should be careful, the election is around the corner”, “We say no to impeachment”.

Answering reporters questions, leader of LPA, Comrade Declan Ihekaire said

“we are not here to protest, we are here to show solidarity to Ambode and the entire Lagos Assembly that there is no basis for wanting to impeach His Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at this point in time.

“He is still a loyal party man and for that, he deserves no impeachment and moreover we are very close to electioneering period, we don’t want a situation where the opposition will capitalise and take over Lagos state”.

“we believe a synergy of Ambode, Sanwo-Olu and the House of Assembly will make a better Lagos.

“A division in the house will bring a break in the relationship, and Lagosians are watching and Nigerians are watching, we call on both the governor and Assembly to shield their swords and rather concentrate on the dire need to complete all the on-going infrastructural projects in the state”.

Ihekaire urged the Assembly to stop the impeachment plan “every politician wants to have 100 per cent, and if you have 80 per cent you are now scoring 60, you should question yourself, If you had 60 before and you are now scoring 80, it is a plus; so we are advocating for a plus because we want Lagos to be a better place for us all”.

Referring to the letter the group delivered to the Assembly, Ihekaire said “what we are saying in that letter is that they should please let Ambode be.

“As far as we are concerned, as at Wednesday we saw branded buses donated by Ambode to the party, we saw branded T-shirts donated to Sanwo-Olu campaign group by Ambode, we have watched Ambode make statements to say please go for my brother Sanwo-Olu and we are saying that oneness should not be scattered”, Ihekaire said.

Addressing the protesters on behalf of the speaker and Assembly, Majority Leader, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade who also received the protest letter from the group commended them for their peaceful conduct, saying democracy is all about protest.

He assured them that their letter will be presented to the whole House “as you have confidence in us, so we have confidence in you”, Agunbiade said.

Answering questions from reporters, Agunbiade said he appreciates the peaceful way they came to the Assembly,

“it is democracy, people must be involved in governance.

“It is our responsibility to make sure that we make laws and do other oversight functions and other things enshrined in the constitution; but the people also have a right to observe what we are doing and offer their opinion and their position and that is what they have done and we are going to look into the letter.

“We appreciate the fact that they say they have confidence in the House, we want to assure everybody that there is no crisis in Lagos, what is just happening is that the legislature is doing what it should in respect of other arms, people have the right to view it differently: this is democratic regime, there is freedom of expression, they have come to express themselves and we have told them we will definitely deliver the letter and the House will consider the content”, Agunbiade assured.

It would be recalled that on Tuesday, the Lagos Assembly passed a resolution calling on Governor Ambode to appear before it within one week to explain why he must spend from the 2019 budget which he has not laid before the House and that failure to appear within the stipulated time the House would commence the process to impeach him.