TheCable

Jimi Agbaje, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos state, says the plot to impeach Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of the state, is meant to intimidate him.

The state house of assembly had accused Ambode of incurring expenditure from the 2019 budget without presenting it to the assembly.

The lawmakers issued the governor a week ultimatum to explain his action, saying failure to do so could trigger impeachment proceedings against him.

But reacting in a statement, Agbaje said the move is capable of threatening the smooth running of the state.

He accused the lawmakers of using the delayed budget as an excuse to carry out a hidden motive, which according to him, was an act to shame the governor.

Agbaje was Ambode’s main rival in the 2015 election.

“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?” the statement read.

“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.

“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.”

The PDP candidate urged the people of the state to choose his party as the best alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: “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.”