Forty-four-year-old Olajide Adediran, aka Jandor, emerged the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State months after he dumped the All Progressives Congress. The Lead Visioner, Lagos4Lagos Movement, tells KAYODE OYERO how he was able to pull the feat and his mission to take control of Lagos from the grip of ex-governor Bola Tinubu
What does your victory at the PDP governorship primary mean to you?
It is a victory for the party and victory for the people of Lagos. It is a victory for all those who we represent in Lagos.
Some candidates withdrew hours to the primary on Wednesday. Was their withdrawal part of a consensus arrangement?
That was not consensus; if it was consensus, I am sure nobody would be running with me, but after several withdrawals, we had just one person who ran with me. It was not a consensus arrangement. We had meetings twice and those who withdrew believed that we should put our best foot forward and I am a beneficiary of that. That was what transpired, not consensus. A consensus arrangement would mean that all of them withdrew and left me in the race. We were six in the race, but Olanrewaju Jim-Kamal, Adedeji Doherty, Ade Dosunmu and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour withdrew, while David Kolawole contested with me.
Have the other aspirants reached out to you?
Yes, I have also reached out to them. We’ve spoken.
As a leader of the Lagos4Lagos movement, you moved from the All Progressives Congress to the PDP in January. How were you able to get the governorship ticket of the PDP within such a short time?
The leadership of the party saw believability in what we brought in and they saw that at this point, the best thing was for them to support us. Also, members of the party at the grassroots agree with us across the 245 wards. Because politics is local, in a situation whereby you are a PDP member and you know a particular APC member within your ward who normally gives you a problem during elections, but who then decides to leave the party to join you in the PDP, you can’t disregard his contributions, because it means victory for your party. We enjoyed this everywhere.
The only place where we encountered a setback before that election was from those who said we couldn’t come to take their home and you can’t take that away from them. But after the primaries, we will resolve all our issues. We had a lot before the primaries and all that but we will resolve all the issues. Though I am hearing now that one of those who ran with me is heading for the NNPP, that is not a problem; it is a constitutional right, which nobody can fight anybody for. The PDP in Lagos has come to stay and we have many Lagosians, who are now looking at us with a second eye and saying let’s look at it again, and trust me in 2023, we are going to deliver the state for the people of Lagos State.
By next year, it will make it 24 years that the other camp (AD, AC, ACN and APC) has been ruling the state, while the PDP hasn’t had a chance. Do you think you can break the jinx now?
Yes; if you look at the number of years that the opposition has been in power, it is the same number of years that a child will be leaving a higher institution to go and look for something else to do. So, we are at the terminal point of the APC-led government in Lagos State; 2023 is the terminal point for the APC. The PDP is coming. We have never had it so good in the PDP. Lagos is leaning towards the PDP and in 2023, we will give the APC a run for their money.
Are you working on some sort of alliance with other smaller parties?
Absolutely. We’ve had other political parties trying to see how we can work together. They have come even long before now to tell us that irrespective of where we came from, they were ready to align with us. There are about four of them that are aligning with our interest, because our aspiration is the same thing: how to we rescue Lagos from those that have held it by the jugular for over 20 years.
