No Automatic Ticket For Ambode If He Joins PDP, Says Ebenezer Babatope

A former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has said the Peoples Democratic Party will welcome former Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to the party if he decides to join.

Babatope, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP however said nobody would impose him on the party members as their governorship candidate.

Speaking in an interview with THE WHISTLER, Babatope, a political disciple of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, said the former governor would be made to go through the party primary election like other aspirants seeking to fly the flag of the party.

The former minister, who is from Ilesa in Osun State said whoever wins would be given the necessary support needed to win the state for the PDP.

Babatope said, “Ambode is welcome if he wants to join PDP. This is democracy and he has the freedom of association like everybody but I can’t ask people to go and vote for him. That is very difficult.

“It is for the people of Lagos State to decide who they want. But he can join our party, he is free to do that and we will welcome him warmly. Eveybody will be glad to have him.

“But we can’t impose him on others because that will be anti-democracy. If he joins and decides to contest, he will go through the primary election like other aspirants. Nobody will hinder him from doing that.

“But nobody has any power of compulsion to say go and vote for Ambode. Nobody can have that.”

A former spokesman for PDP in Lagos, Ganiu Taofik, has earlier said the party would welcome Ambode or any politicians willing to join the opposition party.

The former governor, who was stopped from contesting the 2019 governorship poll despite being the sitting governor had in a Facebook post on Tuesday urged the youth to go and get their permanent voter cards in preparation for the 2023 elections.

He wrote, “After all we have been through, God has been faithful. Thank you for the overwhelming endorsement of our modest contributions to the growth of Lagos.

” It can only get better for Lagos, and indeed Nigeria. The youth are coming. The power is in their hands. Go and get your Permanent Voter Card (PVC) ready. Your future is NOW!”