Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has claimed that he would have emerged victorious over Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the 2023 Lagos State governorship election if not for the “Peter Obi effect.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate explained that the unexpected wave of support for Labour Party’s Peter Obi during the February 2023 presidential election altered the dynamics of the gubernatorial race.
“The 2023 election came with this tsunami that nobody ever expected and it was there for everybody to see,” Jandor said. He noted that Obi’s triumph over the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos significantly impacted his own chances in the governorship poll held weeks later.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Sanwo-Olu of the APC won the governorship election with 762,134 votes, while Labour Party’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour secured 312,329 votes. Jandor finished third with 62,449 votes.
In contrast, during the presidential election, Obi defeated APC’s Bola Tinubu in Lagos by polling 582,454 votes against Tinubu’s 572,606. PDP’s Atiku Abubakar came third with 75,750 votes, while NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso garnered 8,442 votes.
Jandor lamented how the political landscape shifted after the presidential poll.
“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,” he said.
“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 further asserted that if not for Obi’s influence, “I probably would have won the election,” but ultimately accepted that it was not yet his time to govern Lagos.
Jandor, who started his political journey with the APC before defecting to the PDP in 2022, recently left the PDP, citing internal sabotage.
“We were waiting to see if the party at the national level governed by the constitution of the party would look into the provisions of that constitution and say that for engaging in anti-party activities openly, this is the sanction.
“We waited patiently for two years and see whether that would happen, instead of that, the same person was appointed Vice Chairman, Disciplinary Committee by the national,” he said.
Looking ahead to 2027, Jandor hinted at joining another political party to pursue his governorship ambition.
