The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State, Dr. Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has said that but for the “Peter Obi effect”, he would have defeated the incumbent and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Jandor, who came third during the election in 2023, made the claim on a programme on Channels Television: “Politics Today,” on Tuesday.
He said: “The 2023 election came with this Tsunami that nobody ever expected and it was there for everybody to see,” he said, adding that after Peter Obi of the Labour Party won the February 2023 presidential election in Lagos State, the dynamics changed against the PDP for the governorship poll that was conducted two weeks after.
For the governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Sanwo-Olu as the winner, having polled a total of 762,134 votes, defeating LP’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who scored 312,329 votes, followed by Jandor with 62,449 votes.
Also Read:
- Obasanjo committed to Nigeria’s unity, Atiku celebrates ex-President at 88
- Saudi Arabian authorities decorate Katsina NSCDC Commandant with King’s Medal
- Abducted Catholic priest killed in Kaduna
- NAFDAC discovers rifles, seizes 50 trucks of fake drugs in Onitsha Market
- Sanwo-Olu to open Demurin Road, two others
At the presidential election, which was held earlier, Obi defeated APC’s Bola Tinubu in Lagos State.
Obi polled 582,454 votes to trounce Tinubu who scored 572,606 votes, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, who got 75,750 votes, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, who polled 8,442 votes.
However, Jandor said the election came with peculiar dynamics.
He said: “Before the February 25th general election, we were on the streets of Lagos and the ruling party was nowhere to be found.
“We had several debates and he (Sanwo-Olu) didn’t show up and he did say he didn’t want to share a stage with me.
“The 2023 election came with its dynamics, and it was a two-horse race until the presidential election.
“If you look at what happened in the presidential election, Peter Obi came first (in Lagos), Asiwaju came second, and Atiku came third.
“The moment that happened, there was this belief that if we do this, we can get this state off XYZ.
“So, we were victims of that.
“Each time I address my people, I tell them: look, we did everything but that wave came and swallowed the whole thing; nobody saw that coming.”
He said if not for the Peter Obi effect, “I probably would have won the election” at the governorship level, adding that he believed that it wasn’t God’s time yet for him to become Lagos governor at the time.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
