Just to test sudo, does “sudo ls” work, or does that command deny using ls via sudo?
Also, I want to mention that changing the GPIO is actually talking to a driver. If you have the incorrect GPIO device, or if that device belongs to a different carrier board or module layout, then the alternate driver would likely refuse. Make sure the rule or change you are using goes with the module and carrier board (for example, a third party carrier board with the same module would probably require a different device tree and a different GPIO designation to do the same thing).