Razaq Bamidele
When last year, a caucus within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State chapter, emerged under the leadership of a renowned journalist, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran popularly known as Jandor, there were mixed feelings towards the emergence. While some party members were apprehensive having viewed it as a wrong step because of the cancellation of mini caucuses within the party, some saw the development as a welcome idea. This second school of thought was of the conviction that, it would expand the party and boost its membership.
The eradication of caucuses within the party has earlier led to the death of the Unity Forum and the Mandate in the party. But when the Jandor group, christened Lagos4Lagos hit the ground running with membership swelling and popularity soaring, more members and even the leadership of the party were not comfortable seeing the dimension the Jandor’s group is operating. The group’s philanthropic gestures and empowerment programmes across the state have started endearing it to the hearts of more people in the state. This angle of operation made political observers suspect that the man at the centre of the political activities had something up his sleeves.
The activities of the group were in line with his policy statement that, the Movement is a strategically positioned Foundation, committed to building structures that offer hope to the indigent in our society and that it is around to restore hope where hope is missing.
“We are committed to human empowerment, sustainable mental growth, excellence, innovation, empathy, community service and creativity, the policy statement added.
And truly, it was not long that the founder and Lead Visioner, Olajide Adediran made his intention clear and unambiguous that he was out for a major surgical operation in the party to effect a change through his ambition to become the next governor in the state by 2023. With this declaration, not a few members of the mainstream of the party were alarmed as the development was pointing towards disrupting the status quo of reading the body language of the overall leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Interestingly however, Jandor did not give room for much guess work and suspense when he came out loud, bold and clear that, the end of godfatherism has come in the state.
While asserting that, “The end of godfatherism in Lagos has come,” he made bold to add that he “will be sworn-in as next governor in 2023 at the Tafawa Balewa Square.”
When, during the recent congress of the party, Jandor held a parallel arrangement, it then dawned on the party that, the new group meant business and not out to wait for the crumbs from anybody’s table.
From this point, the group has been put under watch and it was not long that insinuations, accusations and allegations were rife in the state that, Jandor was being sponsored by the former two-term governor of the state and current Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN).
But promptly, Adediran came out strongly to deny the Minister’s involvement in the project, telling the media that, “Fashola is not sponsoring my gubernatorial aspiration,” disclosing that, he (Jandor), was the one that went to him as far back as 2016 to intimate him with his future ambition to govern the state.
While confirming his commitment to the 2023n project, Adediran vowed that, even if the leadership of the party asks Fashola to prevail on him to back out, he would disobey politely with explanation, saying, presently, the Minister’s kobo is not in the project.
When the bubble bursts
The raging cold war eventually got to a peak when the Jandor group packed its bag and baggage and deflected to the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At this juncture, all the bottled up emotion then burst out like volcanic eruptions with accusation and counter-accusation from all the divides.
No sooner did the announcement of the defection hit the media than the war of confirmation and counter-confirmation raged on. Having strongly denied Fashola’s involvement in his governorship project, Jandor is still labelled as Fashola’s puppet.
An online media platform, the Liberation News hit the town with a news item captioned: “2023: As Expected, Jandor, Fashola’s agent, runs to PDP,” while the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Hon Seye Oladejo intoned, “Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish
The Liberation News wrote: “Fresh facts have emerged that the defection of Lagos All Progressives Congress (APC) factional group, code-named Lagos4Lagos, to opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is a case of conspiracy devoid of requisite political strength/clout.
“Top sources within the APC revealed to The LiberationNews that leader of Lagos4Lagos, Mr. Olajide Adediran, widely known as Jandor, was actually raised and empowered in Lagos by the Works and Housing Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, since his days as governor in the centre of excellence, to achieve a distracting political goal.
“The sources corroborated accusations that Fashola raised Jandor to challenge the authority of APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, with a view to bringing down the latter’s impervious political structure so as to dislodge him, albeit futilely.”
Still quoting on the ground of anonymity, the blog goes on thus: “The group’s name, Lagos4Lagos, was deliberately meant to be divisive, as it is aimed as saying only Lagos ancestral indigenes should be controlling Lagos politics and affairs. And to attempt to annihilate the status quo that created Fashola, Jandor and others in their fold.”
Describing the LiberationNews submission as a great lie from the pith of hell, the Lagos4Lagos, through the Press Secretary to the Lead Visioner, Kazeem Bakare, stated the reason for the deflection, asserting that, movement to the PDP was borne out of the love to “subject our aspiration to the wish of the generality of Lagosians as against the mood of an individual”
According to the statement, “Lead Visioner, Lagos4Lagos Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor) has stated that his recent decision to pitch tent with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was fuelled by a desire to test his popularity through a fair contest,” and not ready to stay in an association which penchant for undemocratic practices are legend.
At a radio programme on 99.3 Nigeria Info, Daily Digest, Jandor was quoted to have also declared that, “Our decision to join the PDP was motivated by our desire to subject our aspiration to the wish of the generality of Lagosians as against the mood of an individual. In the APC, if you are not in somebody’s good book, you are going nowhere. That played out when we had the ward, L.G.A and state congresses.”
Speaking on consensus arrangement, Adediran was reported to have condemned the way the APC goes about it, saying that the constitutional provision for consensus is usually observed in the breach by Lagos APC.
“If you are talking about consensus, all the tendencies in the party would have to sit down and agree on a sharing formula. But in a situation where they didn’t even call us. Besides, if you want to do a consensus and you have a dissenting voice, the next thing will be for you to go for an elective congress. If you can beat the person, you go to the field to demonstrate that.
“If the APC had allowed us to go into an elective congress, we would have accepted the outcome. In the PDP, we are going to submit ourselves to a fair contest along with other aspirants from our movement and other groups/aspirants within the PDP. If any of our aspirants or those from other candidates win or lose in a fair contest, so be it”.
On his ability to match the party and its members Naira for Naira, Jandor was quoted as saying, “It’s not about Naira and Kobo. Let them bring their money on that day. Our people are ready to collect the money and do the needful. They have done all sorts to talk to us. What we have told ourselves is that the moment they offer us money to drop this ambition, it means they know we can win”.
However, the State Chapter of the APC described Adediran’s assumption as laughable reminding him that the PDP he ran to with his team is a born failure, saying, the party has “failure is in the DNA of Lagos PDP.”
The party in a statement from its Publicity Secretary, Seye Oladejo said that losing elections is in the DNA of the Lagos Chapter of the PDP, asserting that, “the defection of Lagos4Lagos Movement, to the PDP, cannot change the main opposition’s misfortune in the state.”
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria later, Oladejo said, “there is nothing that is going to happen that will change the fortune of the PDP because they have always lost in the state as it is in their DNA and so, they will lose again.”
Exuding confidence and expressing optimism, the party’s spokesman declared that, Jandor and his co-travellers are moving to nothing, telling them that, “we will meet at the poll and I can assure them, they will not win a single ward in Lagos State.”
Saraki, Makinde, Bode George’s angle
Going by the body language of the immediate past President of the Senate and former two terms governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki, his eyes are suspected to be on the Aso Villa in 2023. Against this background, political observers are of the view that, expectedly, he would want to extend his tentacles across the nation. Courting a splinter group from the Lagos APC, the pundits believe, is a strategic move from a master planner.
On the part of Jandor, it is like a case of photosynthesis in Science whereby the plants tilt towards where there is light. Janitor must have realised that anybody with presidential aspirations would be ready to sponsor or at least, assist nd support other aspirants that can add electoral value to his ambition since democracy is a game of numbers.
However, on the part of the former Deputy National Chairman (South), of the party, Chief Olabode George, apart from getting old, he is not seen as capable of contesting for anything and thus may not be keen on throwing his resources around as he used to do in the past.
And more importantly, since Jandor abhor godfatherism like a plague, he is not likely to run away from a supposed godfather in Lagos and run to another in the same Lagos. Observers are of the belief that, even if Saraki is seen as another godfather, it will be on the basis of give and take since both partners have something very common on the political horizon in the country.
On the issue at hand, the Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde is very relevant being the only PDP governor in the South-West geo-political zone of the country. Apart from being the highest political elective office holder in the zone, he would also want to have a governor colleague in the region.
Reports have it that he was excited about the Lagos situation to the extent that he was quoted as getting prepared to be part of the defection programme whenever it comes up.
The occasion, the analysts say, would bring to the fore, the position of Chief Olabode George in the whole scenario.
