The Leader of the Lagos4Lagos Movement, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, on Monday purchased the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nomination and expression of interest forms for the 2023 Lagos State governorship election.
Adediran, speaking with newsmen shortly after buying the nomination forms at the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja, said he was in the race to win and run a government that would impact the masses.
The philanthropist said his team had been strategizing for the race for the past seven years to take over Lagos and return it to the people.
“What Lagos needs right now is that breath of fresh air, and that is what I represent. A breath of fresh air in the sense that I haven’t been appointed before.
“I have not been elected before. I have been on the sideline, watching and studying the situation and whatever you see us doing today, I want to tell you, it’s a result of thorough research on how to play the game.
“That is why we consider ourselves in a very advantaged position to winning the state of Lagos for PDP. And this is largely due to the amount of work that we have put into this.
“We know it is not just going to be a tea party to win Lagos from those that have held onto power for the past two decades.
“This is why we devised our strategy of starting early, that strategy of long-term planning,” he said.
Adediran believed that his defection alongside his supporters on Jan. 21 from the All Progressives Congress (APC) fold to the PDP would help the opposition party to secure the needed percentage of votes to claim Lagos State.
He said that the defection of his team to PDP which had been 34 and 36 percent in every election would bring the 20 percent the PDP needed to cross that threshold.
“Everybody in Lagos is just waiting for us to be on the ballot. The moment that happened, then you can rest assured that on May 29, 2023, I will be sworn in as the governor,” he said.
Adediran said that, if elected, he would manage the resources of Lagos to make it visible on the streets for people to see, while also making education to be compulsory.
“You see Lagos State Government pays lip service to primary education. It is not enough to say come to school don’t pay. If you understand what that means.
“We are going to do a free and compulsory primary education, free and compulsory. You can’t make it compulsory if you have not provided all those little things that will make your children stay back home.
“You don’t have any excuse not to send these children to school.”
Adediran, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Core Media Group, including Core Television, said if his ambition was actualized it would not affect his philanthropic gesture.
“This is a call to service, I understand clearly. That is something that we have been doing effortlessly before now with my own means and resources.
“Rest assured that we are ready to put in our best and make sure that the wealth of Lagos is seen on the streets of Lagos, is felt by the people of Lagos.
“So for us with ambition, we intend to take that wealth away from the pockets of an individual put it to use for the benefit of everybody living and working and paying taxes in Lagos.