All is not well within the La­gos State chapter of the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) as the party’s governorship candidate, Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, is at daggers drawn with party elders in the state.

Stakeholders in the party are also worried that with the current situation, the PDP’s dream of winning the governorship election which has remained elusive since 1999 might just be a mirage or pipe-dream.

In January 2022, five PDP governors, Seyi Makinde (Oyo State); Okezie Ikpeazu, (Abia State); Udom Emman­uel (Akwa Ibom), Ifeanyi Ug­wuanyi (Enugu) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers) alongside the PDP National Chairman, Iy­orchia Ayu attended the rally where Jandor, a former chief­tain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was received into the PDP.

However, not a few were sur­prised on Tuesday when Wike, while speaking at a conference organised by the wives of La­gos State officials, said he is in support of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration because he is doing well. He also described Sanwo-Olu as a “friend who will be a sec­ond-term governor”.

According to credible sourc­es, in the party who spoke with Daily Independent, Jandor’s relationship with the PDP gov­ernors became strained on the day of his defection while that of the party elders has to do with the choice of his running mate which he was said to have unilaterally picked without any consultation.


A member of the State Working Committee who asked that his name be kept secret said Jandor never con­sulted anybody including Chief Olabode George, the apex leader of the party, before arriving at the choice of Funke Akindele as his running mate.

"I won’t lie to you all is not well within the party but we are trying to manage the situation. Honestly, others may be sur­prised but Governor Wike’s ac­tion didn’t come as a surprise to me because they have seen that he is not what he claims to be”.

"When he joined us from APC, he told the PDP gover­nors that he has 15 million supporters who are ready to come with him to PDP".

"On the day of the rally, the governors were shocked and kept asking ‘where is the 15 million mem­bers?’ I remembered Governor Seyi Makinde angrily saying that if they don’t finish the programme in 10 minutes, they will leave as they have other engagements. The governors were hugely disappointed.

“Now look at the issue of his running mate, Funke Akinde­le. Recently, Chief Olabode George granted an interview with News Central TV few days ago where he accused Jandor of lying to him on the issue of his running mate. He said after agreeing to work with Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, one of the gov­ernorship aspirants, Jandor reneged on his promises and informed the party leaders he has chosen Funke Akindele.

“He never consulted with the state executives of the party or any of the party leaders before choosing Funke Akindele. He only called the chairman of the Lagos PDP Elders Committee and former Minister of Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Dr. Bim­boOgunkelu, to come to his house that he wants to inform him of his choice of running mate.

“I learnt he also called Capt. Tunji Shelle, a former state chairman of the party to come to his house but he (Shelle) de­clined. It was when Ogunkelu went to his house that he (Jan­dor) announced that he has picked Funke Akindele as his running mate.

“You joined a party in Janu­ary 2022 and you are behaving as if you know more than those you met on ground. Little won­der he was having issues with the party leaders in his former party. We are trying to make things work but the truth is that all is not well at all and I don’t blame Wike.”

When contacted, Jandor said he picked Funke Akindele in exercising his constitutional right as the party’s governor­ship candidate. He also said he presented her to all the party leaders before she was unveiled to the public.

“I exercised my constitu­tional right in picking Funke Akindele and I presented her to all leaders of party before unveiling her publicly”.


Also speaking on the claim that he lied to the governors about the strength of his follow­ership in Lagos State, he said, “I am sure you covered the event of our crossing over to the PDP and you can tell what you saw there”.

“We have 151,000 members in Lagos4Lagos and we were only able to mobilise 40,000 to TBS for logistic reasons”.

Jandor also denied claims that he collected huge sums from the Adeleke family which he has refused to release to the party for mobilisation.

“Why would the Adelekes give me money? What for? I have only been to His Excel­lency, Ademola Adeleke, twice, once before his election and the second time during his elec­tion. So what should he have given me money for? Was it to campaign for him in Oshogbo where I do not have structure or to do what? So, I didn’t collect money from the Adelekes”, he said.

Acidosis:
PDP is such an unserious party especially given the way they've managed their party affairs in Lagos. People have always shown massive support for an opposition party like PDP in the state but the party has consistently failed to return the good gesture.

Fashola (in his first election) struggled to defeat PDP. Same with Ambode and Sanwo-Olu, all thanks to the people.

Many people are tired of Tinubu's hegemony and how the state has failed to open its books. You go about taxing people, including big and small industries yet fail to open your books for people to see what you do with their money. Nobody knows what is being spent in Alausa and for what purpose.

Years after Jonathan signed the FOI bill, we are still waiting for Lagos state to implement same at the state level, all because of one man's greed.

Acidosis:
PDP is such an unserious party especially given the way they've managed their party affairs in Lagos. People have always shown massive support for an opposition party like PDP in the state but the party has consistently failed to return the good gesture.

Fashola (in his first election) struggled to defeat PDP. Same with Ambode and Sanwo-Olu, all thanks to the people.

Many people are tired of Tinubu's hegemony and how the state has failed to open its books. You go about taxing people, including big and small industries yet fail to open your books for people to see what you do with their money. Nobody knows what is being spent in Alausa and for what purpose.

Years after Jonathan signed the FOI bill, we are still waiting for Lagos state to implement same at the state level, all because of one man's greed.

Acidosis:
PDP is such an unserious party especially given the way they've managed their party affairs in Lagos. People have always shown massive support for an opposition party like PDP in the state but the party has consistently failed to return the good gesture.

Fashola (in his first election) struggled to defeat PDP. Same with Ambode and Sanwo-Olu, all thanks to the people.

Many people are tired of Tinubu's hegemony and how the state has failed to open its books. You go about taxing people, including big and small industries yet fail to open your books for people to see what you do with their money. Nobody knows what is being spent in Alausa and for what purpose.

Years after Jonathan signed the FOI bill, we are still waiting for Lagos state to implement same at the state level, all because of one man's greed.