Notwithstanding a series of abandonment of his campaign, the main opposition PDP governorship candidate for Lagos state Dr Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, says he’s still in the race to win.
This weekend there will be state governorship and legislative elections across Nigeria.
President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC is seen as the godfather of Lagos politics with his protege, Gov Jide Sanwo-olu up for re-election Saturday.
Both are actually non-indigenes of Lagos state.
This Lagos election is seen as an epic battle for the soul of the state, with indigenous Lagosians coalescing mostly around the opposition parties hoping to wrest the state from the political cartel of the godfather.
But the new kid on the block for the opposition is not Dr Adediran but MIT-trained Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party whose party defied all expectations and trounced the ruling APC in the February 25 presidential polls.
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PDP chieftains including Chief Bode George and Mrs Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele have tried working out an alliance between the opposition parties, but Adediran aka Jandor remains unconvinced.
“Lagos PDP is not in alliance with any political party, all Nigerians should vote for the PDP in the election. The rumour in some quarters that I stepped down for the candidate of another party is false”, he said in a hurriedly put-together press conference on Thursday.
“We are not in alliance with any political party. As the candidate of the party, I am not stepping down for anybody. No candidate has ever worked the way we have worked.
“We traversed everywhere in the state and this is a radical departure from what had been done in the past. Lagosians should take a critical look at all of us running for the office. That is why it is called a general election, it is no longer an intra-party election.”
Adediran and Rhodes-Vivour fell out when the former refused the counsel of party elders to pick the latter as his deputy. Vivour then left for the LP.
Thursday, Adediran’s close ally and DG of his campaign Dr Seye Dairo abandoned the campaign just days before Saturday’s election. He was later sighted at an event where PDP and their state officials were announcing the collapse of their party structure to support Rhodes-Vivour.
Yet Adediran insists, “We stood by our demands. We should look at the records of the contestants on their merits and take a decision”.
He said “Since 2016, alongside other colleagues of mine on this journey, we have been on the streets of Lagos creating awareness, doing everything and we have been consistent and focused.
“Of course, I have been noticing some cross-carpeting from the APC to the PDP and from Labour Party to the PDP and then to whatever. This is the season, which is why it is called the general election,” he said.
Sectarian violence and ethnic propaganda stirred up mostly by supporters of the ruling party have marred the period in the lead-up to the election amid fears of violent disruptions to the polls and possible record voters’ apathy.
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