Segun James
As the race for the 2023 general election hots up, thousands of members of the Lagos4Lagos Movement of the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Olajide Adediran (Jandor) yesterday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The defectors, including leaders and coordinators of the governorship campaign team of the candidate of the PDP, were received into the APC by the state’s Deputy Governor, Dr Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, the state party chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi and members of the state Executive Council at the party secretariat yesterday.
Receiving the new members, Hamzat said it’s a thing of pleasure to welcome the defectors to the Lagos APC.
“I am very happy not because I am welcoming you back into the party but because there is no society that is good without good leaders and people of good intentions.
“This is the time for Nigeria to have the right leadership. Tinubu has an eye for talent and that is what we need in the country.”
“In welcoming you I must say you have made the right decision by joining the Progressives.”
Earlier in his remark, Ojelabi described the defection as a step in the right direction.
He said: “They have realised it is time to take the right decision and join the winning team. Thank you for finding it necessary to return to the progressive family and be part of the process of developing Lagos state. You have taken the right decision because this is your party and the right party that has contributed in no small measure to the development of the state.
“This is the only state that has achieved nothing less than 85 per cent of budget performance every year. The only selling point of the opposition is that the electorate should vote for the Aworis but I say the Aworis are for the APC because our party is the only party that has given Aworis opportunities to serve under the state. I urge us to use our votes as our investments for the betterment of Lagos State and for all Nigerians.”
Leader of the defected Team Jandor, Mr. Idowu Daramola said the lack of accountability and transparency on the part of Jandor was the reason for their defection.
He said: “We came together to support Jandor because we believed he had a vision but what we met on ground was not what we thought. The journey started when Kunle Dabiri introduced Jandor to me in the United States of America.
“We contributed a lot of money for his campaign. We raised funds for the PDP governorship form he collected and we have been funding him non-stop since then. When he wanted to defect from APC to PDP, we were behind his defection.
“But things changed when the chairman of the party emerged from Ojo Local Government. This was when we felt it is time to leave the party for the PDP. We raised N18 million for his defection to PDP.
“The ticket of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu presidential ticket changed the narrations. It was at this time I called other members that it is time we move. This is a generational change. I felt this is the time for all Yoruba to think twice and support Tinubu presidency and the second-term bid of Babajide Sanwo-Olu. It’s time for us to go back and do the right thing.
“If you have a leader that is not accountable to his people then the group is destined for destruction.
“When Jandor picked his deputy we were not notified. He chose his deputy all by himself without consulting us. For this, we said we are returning to the APC.”
Coordinator, Diaspora for Jandor in South Africa and the Southern region, Hon Tunde Kazeem, said: “We have been supporting Jandor since his declaration for the governorship seat. For some of us here, the majority of this crowd are from the PDP. When Dabiri came up with this idea of defection citing a lack of transparency and accountability to the donors as the reason, we reasoned along. Jandor is not someone we can entrust the state to. We are pleased that you have welcomed us home. I feel at home already.”
Women leader, Lagos4Lagos, Mrs Jumoke Fakoya said: “I have been with Jandor for three years but today we are here to declare our support for the progressives. We are from Ikorodu Central. We declare with all our members for Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu and other candidates of our new Party.”
Reacting to the gale of defection, Lagos PDP governorship candidate, Dr Olajide Adediran, in a statement signed by the Head, Media & Communications, Jandor4Governor Campaign Organization, Gbenga Ogunleye, described the defection of 5,000 members of his Lagos4Lagos movement as false claim.
He said: “We read with amusement a report of a false claim made by the outgoing APC-led state government that 5,000 supporters of the Lagos PDP governorship candidate, Dr Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor) are billed to join the APC. The consistently inconsistent drowning Lagos APC who at several times claimed Jandor has no followers of his is now staging a fake defectors rally calling it the defection of members of the same Man they called an apprentice politician.”
