Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday expressed his readiness to participate in Saturday’s direct primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the state to choose the party’s flagbearer for the 2019 governorship election.

The governor said in seeking re-election, he was approaching the founding fathers and teeming members of the party with a “grateful heart, open arms and a pledge to open and deepen attention to the concerns of this one, big family”.

According to a statement issued by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, Ambode said he was restating his readiness for the primaries in line with the choice of the party in Lagos State and the validation given to the direct primary preference by the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC).

“As our great party approaches Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018 earmarked for the direct primary election to choose the candidate to fly our party’s gubernatorial flag at the next general election, I am happy to restate my commitment to participate in that process, having procured and submitted my nomination form and having formally declared my intention to seek a second term to continue on the path of unprecedented growth and development that our state has witnessed since 2015,” Ambode said.

Ambode further expressed his profound gratitude to the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, party elders and executives, GAC members, all APC members and Lagosians for their support, understanding and prayers which he said have assisted him in redefining the concept of greatness.

The statement said that a return of the party’s ticket to Ambode would guarantee the stability of the state’s growing economy, ensure the continuation of the growth and development it has witnessed over time and ensure that the opposition does not take root in the state.

He also congratulated his co-contestants for their courage and commitment to the party, urging party faithful in the state to come out en masse and vote peacefully in all the 20 local governments and 245 wards where the elections have been scheduled to take place.

Recall that Mr Jide Sanwo-Olu, the Managing Director of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) and Dr. Femi Hamzat, a former Commissioner for Works are also in the race to clinch the governorship ticket of the party in the state.