The Majority Leader, Lagos State House of Assembly, Sanai Agunbiade has described the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode as a man of honour for his display of sportsmanship after failing to win the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket for the 2019 election.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that Ambode lost the ticket to Mr Babajide Sanwo-olu at the APC’s primary election in the state.
Agunbiade, representing Ikorodu Constituency I in the Assembly, told newsmen in Lagos that Ambode had followed a path of honour, which according to him, is exemplary to other politicians.
“The incumbent governor, in his democratic disposition, came out and accepted the result, with a pledge to support the winner.
“In Nigeria, what we play is party politics, for anybody to contest election, you must be sponsored by stakeholders of your party. It is a party thing.
“He (Ambode) is a man of honour and he followed the path of honour. He is exemplary.
“It shows that people should go into contests with the mind that you either lose or win, and if you lose, you must not let hell loose, because we must accept the decision of the people and the party.
“It is people with shallow mind that want to say at all cost they must fight; you cannot fight a system and win,’’ the third-term lawmaker said.
According to him, if anyone contests election in his party and loses, the party is still his, and he must stay with the party. The lawmaker said that those who were aggrieved with the outcome of the primaries should not take laws into their hands but follow legitimate means of protest.
“Crisis is an ill wind that blows no one any good; definitely there will be casualties. We must know that life must continue, a society cannot be grounded because of personal ambitions that hit the rock.
“I want to commend the governor for that display of maturity and being a party man; he accepted the result as it is,’’ Agunbiade said.
According to him, there is no contest that losers smile home because they have put a lot into it — preparations, consultations, money, energy and other things.
The lawmaker, who noted that no system was perfect, said it was normal for people to be aggrieved, but the party would find a way to reconcile people.
“Our party will do reconciliation at appropriate time and put all hands and heads together to ensure that our party moves on,” he said. Agunbiade said that members must not rock the boat because they did not get what they want.
“At times the best man does not win the race,’’ he said. The lawmaker, appraising the APC’s use of direct primaries to elect the party’s flagbearers in the 2019 election, described the process as most transparent and democratic because it allowed all party members to participate.
On the postponement of the House resumption, Agunbiade said the Assembly had powers to regulate its sittings, explaining that members were busy with primaries to revalidate and reinvigorate their mandates.
