Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor, has stated that he would have defeated Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the 2023 Lagos State governorship election if not for the strong support Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) received in the state.
Speaking on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, Jandor explained that the sudden rise of the LP in Lagos disrupted the political balance, making it tough for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to remain competitive.
“The 2023 election came with this tsunami that nobody ever expected, and it was there for everybody to see,” he said.
Jandor noted that after Peter Obi won the Lagos vote in the February 2023 presidential election, it changed the direction of the governorship race, which was held a few weeks later. He believes this shift played a key role in PDP’s poor performance.
In the final results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) secured victory with 762,134 votes. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of LP came second with 312,329 votes, while Jandor placed third with 62,449 votes.
The former PDP candidate claimed that before the presidential election, PDP was gaining ground and actively challenging the APC in Lagos.
“Before the 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; he even said he didn’t want to share a stage with me,” Jandor recalled.
He further noted that the election had different factors at play. Initially, the governorship race seemed to be between PDP and APC, but after the presidential election, many Lagos voters believed they could change the political leadership of the state by supporting the Labour Party.
“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.
Despite his loss, Jandor remains confident that without the “Obi effect,” he could have won. However, he believes the outcome was not yet in his favor.
Jandor, who started his political journey in APC before leading the Lagos4Lagos Movement and later joining PDP in 2022, recently left the party due to internal conflicts. He stated that PDP failed to address acts of disloyalty within its ranks, which also contributed to its struggles in the election.
