Abdulazeez Adediran popularly known as Jandor, former member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the party undermined his chances of winning 2023 governorship election.
Gatekeepers News reports that he polled 62,449 votes during the election, coming after Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of Labour Party (LP) who garnered 312,329 votes. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of All Progressive Congress (APC) won the election with 762,134 votes.
Jandor resigned from PDP on Monday, March 3, 2025, citing indiscipline and anti-party activities within the party.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television program on Tuesday, Jandor said the PDP leadership at the national level sabotaged his campaign by falsely announcing his withdrawal from the race on the eve of the election.
He said, “I was disappointed by the PDP at the national level. Let me tell you what happened on the eve of the election.”
“The state party chairman of PDP in Lagos state issued a release speaking to a forced alliance that never happened and said that we had withdrawn from the race. We had not withdrawn from the race.”
“This was done to make sure that we did not go anywhere. And it’s not about me. They did this to Musiliu Obanikoro, Jimi Agbaje (twice) and Funsho Williams. It was not just about Jandor.”
“What they did was not just because it was Jandor. This has been their stock-in-trade.”
Jandor said his campaign had gained strong momentum before the election, but an unexpected shift in voter dynamics changed the outcome.
He added, “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 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.”
The politician further said he would consider joining any of the other political parties to realise his 2027 governorship dream.
He said, “APC is one of the 17 (parties) that is left. A coalition is coming in Nigeria. Other political parties are there. Labour Party is also an option, it is part of the 17, SDP is also there.”
“We have chosen this path; we are not deviating. It is only God that can determine who and when. This is the path that we have chosen.”
