The Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Lagos, Adediran Olajide aka Jandor, has accused the state government of complicity in the attack on the Labour Party supporters in the state.
Suspected hoodlums had earlier on Saturday attacked the LP supporters with machetes and other weapons as they were trying to make their way to Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos Island, venue of the party’s presidential campaign rally in the state.
He wrote: “The attack on Labour party supporters in Lagos today by suspected APC thugs is unacceptable and goes against the very essence of what a democratic society should stand for.
“We must continue to raise our voices and demand an end to this kind of behaviour. Political ideologies may differ, but violence has no place in our society. We deserve better!
“This type of violence is what we witnessed in most parts of local government areas visited during our ward-to-ward tour and to date, nothing has been done to curtail it or bring perpetrators to book.
“This shows that the present government is an accomplice to this behaviour because it favours their agenda to spread fear in the hearts of the people.
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“It was our expectation that the outgoing Chief Security Officer of the state would publicly condemn this attack and investigate these acts of violence, rather he chose to express his lack of capacity by alluding to security issues as excuse to avoiding public debate.
“Even more troubling were the attempts to intimidate residents of the LGAs we were visiting. Residents were instructed not to receive our campaign team and threatened with further violence if they disobeyed.
“They can deny all they want that they do not feel threatened by the awakening of people who demand a better life but the facts are clear, this is the end of their dynasty of hardship and terror. We will break Lagos free this year 2023.”
The Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos State, Dr Olajide Adediran, popularly called “Jandor” has expressed concern over alleged series of attacks on his team by suspected ruling All Progressives Congress, APC hoodlums during campaign tours in various parts of Lagos, saying he would not be intimidated despite the acts.
Jandor, however, called on President Muhamnadu Buhari and Inspector General of Police, IGP, Usman Akali Baba to live up to expectations and ensure a crisis-free campaign in the state.
He made the remarks at a world press conference over the continued attacks on the campaign team, yesterday, held in Alausa, Ikeja, and Lagos.
Jandor, however, vowed to continue with his ward-to-ward campaign ahead of the 2023 general elections without succumbing to any form of intimidation, threat and harassment, saying that Lagos must experience a breath of fresh air in 2023.
The conference was attended by the party chieftains, led by chairman, Phillip Aivodje. Others included market women who were victims of recent attacks, carried out by thugs.
Jandor, who made the call against the backdrop of a series of attacks on his campaign train and his deputy, Ms Funke Akindele, in recent times, since he flagged off his ward to ward campaign in October last year, however, commended the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, for doing his best to arrest the ugly situation.
This was just as he said it was about time the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, allow residents to make their choice in a democratic manner.
“He (Sanwo-Olu) should allow residents to decide who they want to rule them in the forthcoming governorship poll.
“On my part I will continue to do everything within the confined of law to do our campaign.
“It is about time the sitting governor allows the people of Lagos to have their choice of who they want as their governor in a democratic manner.
“I want to commend the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, he has been there to do what he can do arrest the ugly situation on ground.
“But we cannot but to call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector-General of Police to live up to expectation and their responsibilities to let us do our campaigns in Lagos without any form of attacks,” he pleaded.
Speaking on the series of attacks that had been unleased so far on his campaign train across the state, Jandor, accused the ruling party of not allowing PDP to have any visibility as it was denied use of billboards, access to public places, among others that made him to embark on ward to ward campaign.
He recalled that the first attack against his campaign team was in Badagry on October 23, the second day of his campaign to the area, saying it was followed by another one that took place in Agege, and followed by similar incident in Kosofe, where his deputy, Akindele was attacked and prevented from entering the fruit market by thugs, loyal to APC.
Others were also allegedly, prevented from gaining access to their shops as at the time of filling this report.
The PDP governorship candidate, who spoke on recent attack in Surulere area of the state, dissociated self from the crisis, against allegation by APC, saying that the ruling party was only trying “to turn things around to favour them.
“The next thing was in Surulere, the first day was okay for us.
“The second day I was in the mosque to pray, and as I stepped out of the mosque and I heard the attackers, they were asking where is Jandor, where is Jandor? They hijacked our vehicles and damaged them. The ruling party was only turning things around,” he said.
Jandor said 2023 was beyond him, but between the people of Lagos and the status quo, declaring that it was about time for residents to break the monopoly and elect with their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, a governor who is not answerable to the beck and calls of a godfather.
On the the governorship debate which was scheduled to hold on Sunday, boycotted by Governor Sanwo-Olu, Jandor said he was not surprised, saying: “What is your expectation of a governor who said he would not be seeking a re-election if he was not able to fix traffic gridlock in the state and a governor who met poverty rate at 4.2per cent but it’s now 8.5per cent?
Jandor said the excuse the governor gave which had to do with attacks and safety was not tenable as, according to him, it was him that was attacked and not the governor.
According to Jandor, “This speaks volume of Governor Sanwo-Olu as Chief Security Officer of the state as he cannot guarantee his own safety,”
He declared that he was prepared to feature at the debate which he said had been shifted for about four times in the past by Sanwo-Olu.
“It just worries me that the Chief Security Officer of a state is saying he is not safe, I am safe and I will go everywhere in Lagos.
“The debate wasn’t put together for me or Sanwo-Olu, it is for people of Lagos State. I will go, he has given me role of big brother to play. I will go because I want people of Lagos to listen to me and know what I want to offer. This 2023, they wouldn’t come again,” he added.
Also speaking, PDP Chairman in the state, Aivodji, condemned the incessant attacks on PDP members, saying similar incidents were happening in villages and hamlets across the state, stressing that PDP would not be intimidated.
He said the moment Jandor started his ward to ward campaign, the APC became jittery.
Lagos govt reacts
However, in an earlier statement by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, spoke on the Surulere attack and the reason why Governor Sanwo-Olu’s boycott of the debate.
Will never condone violence
The statement by Omotoso read in part: “The Lagos State Government has noted the flood of comments sparked by the shocking video of a group of thugs shooting in broad daylight in Surulere.
“Security agencies are investigating the video, which has gone viral on the social media. We believe they will fish out and prosecute the evil actors, who are believed to be henchmen of the opposition PDP.
“We condemn this savagery that has portrayed our state, the safest in Nigeria, in a bad light. That is not who we are; we are civilized and cultured.
“Following advice from competent sources, including elders and respectable Lagosians, we will henceforth shun any forum that may require us being together with PDP and its agents of violence.
“Consequently, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu regrets to announce that he will not be participating at The Platform Governorship Debate of January 29, 2023.
“The Governor holds Pastor Poju Oyemade and the Covenant Christian Church family in high esteem and cherishes future opportunities to engage the congregation and render accounts of his stewardship to them as integral parts of the Lagos electorate.
“We will never be found in the company of those to whom the lives of innocent Lagosians mean nothing. Mr. Sanwo-Olu won’t share a podium with them.”
The 2023 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor has vowed to end what he described as the 24-year monopoly of a former governor of the state, Bola Tinubu.
“We will come in and do things differently. The problem of Lagos is that we have one head thinking for the state of Lagos for the past 24 years,” Jandor said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
The PDP governorship candidate in Lagos also accused Tinubu, the 2023 presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of removing “performing governors” in the state.
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Jandor said though former governor Babatunde Fashola survived an attempt to remove him in 2011 and returned for second term, his successor, Akinwunmi Ambode couldn’t survive a plot that saw him removed after a single term in 2019.
He promised to decentralise developments across the 20 local government areas of the state if elected in the forthcoming polls.
“In our very first year in office, we will do a whole lot across Lagos. We need to decentralise development. Everybody comes to the centre for greener pastures but if you give the development where they are, they will actually stay there.
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“We will do a whole lot because we will be coming in as independent government; the one not tied to the apron string of anybody and that will allow us to make Lagos wealth that we only hear now work for Lagos,” he said.
Jandor lamented what he described as hegemony and monopoly of the state by Tinubu, who was Lagos governor after Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
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“The problem is this monopoly that we need to break. If we have a governor that is independent, we won’t have this problem and that is what we represent,” he said.
Jandor also slammed the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu over “failure” to allegedly utilise the resources of the state to improve the education, health and transport sectors.
“A government with these resources and the statistics still not speaking to the resources shows failure and the reason is not farfetched; there is a monopoly that we need to break and allow fresh ideas and new thinking. Until we do this, we will continue to have the same report and this cosmetic of people saying they are working,” he said.
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In December 2021, Jandor, the leader of the Lagos4Lagos movement within the APC in Lagos dumped the ruling party with his followers and was received into the PDP by former Senate President, Bukola Saraki. He would later get the PDP governorship ticket in the state.
Where Is Ambode? Since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, Ambode is the only former governor of Lagos who was in office for a single term. Tinubu was governor between 1999 and 2007 before he handed over to Fashola, who is now the Minister of Works and Housing, was in office as governor from 2007 to 2015.
Ambode took over in 2015 but lost his re-election at the primary level in the 2019 electioneering process due to intra-party squabbles as APC strongman in Lagos (Tinubu) was reported to have favoured Sanwo-Olu.
Sanwo-Olu clinched the party’s ticket and won the 2019 governorship election and has again secured APC’s ticket for his re-election in the 2023 polls.
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Since he ended his single term in 2019, Ambode has not been seen at political or social functions with his predecessors – Tinubu and Fashola. He has also not been seen at events with the incumbent governor.
The former governor has also been reticent at the few times he was pictured at APC events at the national level like in May 2021 when he was appointed the deputy chairman of the South-West sub-committee of the Contact and Strategy Committee of the ruling party.
There were reports that Ambode would contest the party’s governorship ticket with Sanwo-Olu at the primary in May 2022. Rather, his ally, Wale Oluwo, threw his hat in the ring but lost to Sanwo-Olu.
Unlike Fashola and Sanwo-Olu, Ambode has not publicly endorsed Tinubu’s 2023 presidential ambition and has not been seen at any political event linked with Tinubu’s aspiration for Aso Rock but the weeks ahead of the February 25 presidential poll are still much very pregnant
The Campaign train of the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party – PDP in Lagos State, Dr. AbdulAzeez Olajide Adediran (JANDOR) was attacked on Sunday.
The incident occur around 6:30 pm, while they were returning from a visitation to members of the party at the Ikoga Junction area of Badagry Local Government by APC-sponsored thugs.
Several members of the entourage of JANDOR and pressmen were attacked and as at the time of this press statement, one of the journalists was in critical condition in an undisclosed hospital, while others are being treated.
“You will recall that our party raised concern over the threat to use sponsored thugs to attack the campaign programs of our Gubernatorial candidate Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran-JANDOR recently.
“We would like to state categorically that this will not deter the determination of our candidate to campaign for the next election and win the election come March 11, 2023.
“We hereby call on the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State and the Area Commander of Police in the Badagry Division to do everything possible to fish out those behind the attack and necessary disciplinary actions taken against them to forestall such occurrences in the future.
“This will instill confidence in our members that they will be protected during this campaign period,” the statement read.
We also warn “those that are hell-bent on causing trouble or planning to disrupt the campaign and elections that we would not fold our arms and watch as we will resist all forms of intimidation.”
Signed:
Hon. Hakeem Amode
Lagos State PDP Publicity Secretary
Chairman, Media & Publicity Team for JANDORFunke 2023 Campaign Council
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