•Ambode: campaign boosted

Governorship candidates of 10 opposition political parties in Lagos state on Friday dropped their ambitions to contest the April 11 governorship elections in the state.

The candidates in the presence of their party chairmen, however, declared their total support for Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

They also directed all their supporters to vote for Ambode during the governorship and State House of Assembly elections on April 11.

The parties and their candidates are: Accord Party (AP), Mr Adeshina Buruji; Independent Democrats (ID), Mr Obadia Akinola; Action Alliance (AA), Mr Ishola Aregbesola; and Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN)‎, Mr Babatunde Sarumi.

Others include the African People’s Alliance (APA), Mr Abiodun Oyegunle; KOWA Party, Mr Victor Adeniji; All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr Adeshina Olayokun; (NNPP), Mr Sesan Olatunde; the Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Mr Sylvester Eze and the Progressives People’s Alliance, Mrs Pauline Ojochide.

Mr Obadia Akinola, the governorship candidate of the Independent Democrats (ID), spoke on behalf of the other candidates at the declaration event in Lagos.

Akinola said that the decision was taken in the interests of the people of Lagos state.

“What we are saying is that we, the 10 undersigned governorship candidates, have shelved our individual gubernatorial ambitions and aspirations as we unanimously give our unwavering solidarity to work together with Ambode of the APC,” Akinola said.

He urged all their teeming supporters to vote for Ambode in the April 11 governorship elections in the state.

“By this, we enjoin all our teeming supporters across the state to take this declaration and sound it loud and clear that Ambode is the only candidate to take Lagos to the next level.

“We will be knocking our heads against a brick wall, if we fight against an obvious winning team,” Akinola said.