Former Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, has been handed a strategic role in Nigeria's governing All Progressives Congress (APC), three years after he was unceremoniously booted out of Alausa; and his second term bid blown to smithereens.
"Along with other notable and distinguished colleagues, I was today selected by our party, the All Progressives Congress, to be a member of the Contact and Strategy Committee. This is a call to serve the party and more importantly, our nation," Ambode shared in a tweet.
This was Ambode's first tweet since May 28, 2019.
Power play
Ambode had fallen out with godfather Bola Tinubu and other APC chieftains in Lagos before the Lagos governorship primary election.
Tinubu and other party heavyweights had backed Babajide Sanwo-Olu instead, leaving Ambode in the cold as he barked to nick for himself a second term in office.
Days before the APC governorship primary election in Lagos, Ambode staged a press conference where he called Sanwo-Olu all kinds of unprintable names--from a pretender who once sprayed fake dollar bills in a night club in the United States to an ex-convict, mentally deranged man who had to undergo rehabilitation to stay alive.
"Many things he said was beneath the dignity of our people and the exalted office he now holds. Perhaps the tension and anxiety of the moment got the better of him.
"If given a chance at cooler reflection of what he said, I am sure he would regret his descent into such low conduct”, Sanwo-Olu had said of Ambode's meltdown presser afterwards.
Ambode had also shunned Sanwo-Olu's inauguration/handover ceremony on May 29, 2019.
The ex-governor has shied away from public functions and political events since he was shoved out of office following a brutal power play that is still being referenced to this day.
There were rumours that President Buhari was going to hand him an ambassadorial or ministerial role, but those never materialised.
An APC senatorial ticket from Lagos was also kept away from him as he receded more and more into political obscurity.