{"id":32460,"date":"2014-10-24T12:04:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T11:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=32460"},"modified":"2014-10-24T12:07:40","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T11:07:40","slug":"lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/","title":{"rendered":"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1414148363894_1704\" class=\"message content\" style=\"color: #000000;\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1414148363894_1793\" class=\"base-card \" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1414148363894_2084\" class=\"base-card-body\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1414148363894_1794\" class=\"msg-body inner  undoreset\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" tabindex=\"0\">The shape of things to come in the All Progressives&#8217; Congress (APC) primaries\u00a0has emerged with national leader of the party Senator Bola Tinubu ordering council chairmen in Lagos State to support his anointed candidate for the governorship race, Mr. Akin Ambode.A retired permanent secretary and auditor-general of the state, Ambode was billed to formally declare his intention to run for the governorship of the state Friday morning.Ahead of the event, a text message ordered all the council chairmen to &#8220;mobilise&#8221; 500 person each from the 57\u00a0 councils.<\/p>\n<p>At a conservative cost of N5000 per head, the cost of renting 28,500 persons for the few hours&#8217; event\u00a0 is over N1.4 billion of Lagos tax payers&#8217; money.<\/p>\n<p>The SMS message, said to have been issued on Tinubu&#8217;s directive, read;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dear chairman,directives frm leadership that all chairmen MUST mobilise 500 people each frm there LG\/LCDA to MR.AKIN AMBODE declaration to run as Governor of Lagos State under our great party (APC) @ Onikan stadium tomorrow 24\/10\/2014 by 10am.pls all chairmen MUST be in attendance. Regards&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Pointblanknews.com gathered that aside renting over 28,000 persons, moving 57 council chairmen and their aides to and from the venue, the MCs, musical groups,\u00a0 banners, refreshment, among other logistics, are expected to bring the cost of the event to at least N2.5 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Tinubu&#8217;s relationship with Ambode reportedly began &#8220;long time ago&#8221;, but drew public attention in 2005 when the former, as governor, appointed the governorship aspirant Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance.<\/p>\n<p>A few months later, in February, 2006, Tinubu asked Ambode to double as the Accountant-General of the state.<\/p>\n<p>Ambode was said to have been particularly helpful to his boss when the then president Olusegun Obasanjo seized funds due the state in the wake of the controversy generated by Tinubu&#8217;s creation of 37 additional councils.<\/p>\n<p>50-year old Ambode was also said to have particularly endeared himself to Tinubu by helping to increase internally generated revenue in Lagos State from a paltry N600 million to over N6 billion monthly.<\/p>\n<p>Ambode&#8217;s candidacy, however is not without controversy.<\/p>\n<p>Ambode, a christian,\u00a0 claims to be from Epe, in the eastern senatorial district.<\/p>\n<p>Critics swear Ambode is from Ondo State, but was born in Epe, in 1963.<br \/>\nThe aspirant had reportedly in past documents listed Ondo as his state of origin.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, Ambode made history as the first Permanent secretary in Nigerian history to voluntarily retire from service. However, there is the allegation that he was forced out by Governor Raji Fashola over allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Fashola is said to be uncomfortable with Ambode&#8217;s relationship with Tinubu and his governorship ambition. He is believed to be backing his<br \/>\nCommissioner for Works, Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s event, according to certain APC leaders in the state, &#8220;is a show by Tinubu to send a powerful to doubting Thomases that this is my anointed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Aside the late Sir Michael Otedola, whose tenure was terminated by General Sani Abacha&#8217;s coup of 1993,\u00a0 two men who have governed Lagos since 1999- Tinubu and Fashola- are Muslims.<\/p>\n<p>Aside Ambode, all the major aspirants from Lagos East, an area favoured by zoning, -Senator Ganiyu Solomon, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa and Speaker of State Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji.<br \/>\nSent from my BlackBerry\u00ae wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"base-card-clear\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"base-card-footer\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The shape of things to come in the All Progressives&#8217; Congress (APC) primaries\u00a0has emerged with national leader of the party Senator Bola Tinubu ordering council chairmen in Lagos State to&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The shape of things to come in the All Progressives&#8217; Congress (APC) primaries\u00a0has emerged with national leader of the party Senator Bola Tinubu ordering council chairmen in Lagos State to&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-24T11:04:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-24T11:07:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-24T11:04:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-24T11:07:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/\"},\"wordCount\":548,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Exclusive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/\",\"name\":\"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-24T11:04:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-24T11:07:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode - Pointblank News","og_description":"The shape of things to come in the All Progressives&#8217; Congress (APC) primaries\u00a0has emerged with national leader of the party Senator Bola Tinubu ordering council chairmen in Lagos State to&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2014-10-24T11:04:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-24T11:07:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode","datePublished":"2014-10-24T11:04:32+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-24T11:07:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/"},"wordCount":548,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg","articleSection":["Exclusive"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/","name":"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-24T11:04:32+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-24T11:07:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ambode.jpg","width":750,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/lagos-2015-tinubu-orders-council-chairmen-rent-crowd-ambode\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lagos 2015: Tinubu Orders Council Chairmen to Rent Crowd for Ambode"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}