A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Ambassador Abayomi Mumuni, has confirmed that he would contest for the ticket of the Lagos Central Senatorial District ahead of the 2019 general election.
The seat is currently occupied by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of APC national leader, Bola Tinubu.
Although the lawmaker has not formally declared intention to return to the upper chamber, there are claims that many of her supporters including some party leaders have endorsed her re-election bid for third term in the Senate.
Speaking on the purported endorsement, Mumuni accused the leadership of the defunct ACN leaders in the APC of not respecting the merger agreement which they signed before the 2015 general election.
On his ambition, Mumuni stated that he believed he could have defeated Senator Tinubu in 2011 if he hadn’t jettisoned it for gubernatorial ambition in the interest of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said, “But I changed my intention because there was no governorship candidate for the defunct CPC in the South West, except Barrister Shittu in Oyo State.
“With me, we were the only two CPC gubernatorial candidates that supported President Buhari’s bid to become Nigeria’s President. My withdrawal from the senatorial election gave Asiwaju’s wife an edge in the election.
“My mandate has always been the Lagos Central Senatorial District, which is my constituency. I am a son of the soil. I contested against Obanikoro and Ade Dosumu in 2003 and 2007.
“Come 2019, there is no two ways to it, I am going to contest against her and I shall defeat her in primary. Even if I didn’t get the ticket, we’ll go back to CPC and I still defeat her.”
Some weeks ago, Mumuni petitioned the Tinubu-led APC Reconciliatory Committee over the lingering internal crisis rocking the party in Lagos State.
In a two-page petition titled, “Re: Appeal for Justice, Fairness and Equitable Participation in the Administration of All Progressives Congress(APC) and in the Government of Lagos State by Members of the Party”, he expressed displeasure over what he described as marginalization of defunct CPC members.
According to Mumuni, they were abandoned after the 2015 election which saw the emergence of APC at the state and national levels.
His letter read in part: “For instance, there is no member of the defunct CPC in the State or Local Government Executive of the APC.
“There is also no member of the old CPC in the APC in the Senate, House of Representatives or House of Assembly of the State, or who has been appointed as a commissioner in the cabinet of the Lagos State Government.”
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