Mr Mustapha said there was "no communication" between him and Mr Tinubu before his decision to contest.
A governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos, AbdulAhmed Mustapha, has said he is running for governor to bring "new ideas" into the administration of the state.
Mr Mustapha, 57, a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, spoke Monday at a media chat with journalists in Lagos.
He said his vision is to grow Lagos State at an exponential rate.
"Where Lagos State finds itself now is not different from where the city of New York was in the 70s, and that fierce urgency of now, no one needs to explain to us where we are as a nation."
A former assistant executive director in the City of New York, Mr Mustapha said his administration will put in place support systems that would allow Lagosians to achieve their objectives irrespective of their background.
"The time now calls for men of goodwill and ideas to be able to come to the table and bring in ideas that will lead to incredible growth, in the education sector, health sector, and infrastructure space," he added.
'New ideas'
Mr Mustapha said despite TETFUND's N500 billion run rate, the education sector still faces challenges.
He said he would take one percent from TETFUND and create a Higher Education and Health Financing Agency where they would crowdsource at least N3 trillion investment.
"65 per cent of the students in Lagos State are attending private schools," he said.
"That does not absolve us as a government of that responsibility to support them. So what do we plan to do?
"We categorise them. We give them access to capital, we encourage them to use 'share service infrastructure' so that at the end of the day, the output from those teachers, similar to what Edo is doing, the EdoBEST Programme, we'll be able to replicate that in the state."
For the health sector, Mr Mustapha said he would borrow a leaf from the City of New York's Hospital and Health Corporation of New York.
"In the case of Lagos, what can we do? We can say take the primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions in the state. These three entities are generating IGR, so we'll create what we call a healthcare fund.
"Mandatory contribution from the consolidated revenue fund will go into this fund. The good cause from lottery will go into this as well. So we're looking at nothing less than 20 - 30 billion.
"So we can build hospitals and get paid over 4 - 5 years. We can bring equipment leasing within 18 months. The money we will have hitherto used to buy one equipment, we can use it to lease 50 - 70.
"We will have biomedical centres in Lagos State Polytechnic and University to be able to provide first leverage charge. This will go a long way in ameliorating the sufferings of patients that are attending the hospitals in Lagos State."
He said he would also use the same strategy to assess N6 billion from UBEC annually into a Lagos State School Construction Authority and a Lagos State School Construction Fund.
"With this fund, we will be able to build 400 - 500 schools depending on the available investment that comes into this fund.
"So the UBEC fund will be supported by contribution from the good cause funding and also mandatory contribution from the consolidated revenue fund. You can imagine the exponential growth."
Party's endorsement
Before Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu bought his nomination forms, there had been rumours that APC power brokers in the state had drafted Mr Mustapha to succeed the governor; sparking memories of 2018 when Mr Sanwo-Olu replaced the then governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.
But the unanimous endorsement by the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), the Lagos APC apex leadership body, and Bola Tinubu, the party's leader, put paid to the rumours.
The endorsements notwithstanding, Mr Mustapha and another aspirant, Olawale Oluwo, a former commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, threw their hats into the ring.
Mr Mustapha said there was "no communication" between him and Mr Tinubu before his decision to contest.
He also dismissed claims he was an Ambode stooge, but noted that he has a relationship with Mr Ambode the same way he has with his other predecessors.
"The national leader gave me a job without even seeing me. He just saw my resume. Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola will not take no for an answer in ensuring that I come back to Nigeria and work for Lagos State.
"I was appointed a permanent secretary by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. I did work two years with the present administration before deciding to go and work on my own. Each of them I do have a relationship with in one form or the other."
'Open contest'
While endorsing Mr Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, for a second term in office, Mr Tinubu had also thrown the governorship primaries. The national leader said aspirants who are interested in running for governor should buy the forms and contest.
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"There will not be any favouritism in the primaries," said Mr Tinubu, a former governor now running for president.
"We want you to contest and test your popularity. Nobody will ask to step down for another aspirant. Let all aspirants mobilise their supporters; if you win, you win. If you lose, there will not be a refund of the nomination form."
Mr Mustapha said he picked the governorship forms because Mr Tinubu was "very explicit that all the positions are open and everybody is free to contest."
He noted that Mr Tinubu's endorsement of the governor was "just in recognition of the work they had done."
"The national leader is a democrat to the core. He is a man that is receptive to ideas and he will not be a party to stifling new ideas."
He maintained that his campaign is borne out of a vision of accelerating the growth and development of the state.
"The last thing that I will personally subscribe to is to be used by anyone to destroy and disrupt the good work that has been done, for which I have benefitted personally.
"Sometimes in life, it is a question of if you want it done, you do it yourself. We are throwing our hat in the ring because we believe we have ideas that will transform our state."
