By Olusegun Olanrewaju
The door has been thrown open, once again, for the hot battle in the soul of Lagos in the coming 2023 elections. ‘Jandor’ is the sobriquet with which the Awori, Lagos-born former broadcast journalist-turned-’technocrat’ and businessman, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, is known and addressed, in matters extra-curricular.

Many aspirants are jostling for high-grade elective public offices in the ‘state of excellence’, top of which are legislative and executive positions, especially for the governorship and presidency, depending on their ‘sacrificial’ weight.

ThisNigeria tried to confirm the information that he is soon jumping into the furnace of the gubernatorial race, in a state considered to be the epicentre of simulating presidential warfare ahead of next year, no sooner had he left the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He did not answer, nor respond to SMS on phone.

Defection
A former staunch member of the APC, Adediran’s formal defection was held at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos, with fanfare and publicity blitz.

The occasion was graced by no fewer than six serving and some ex-governors, including one considered one of his prompters, former Kwara State governor and ex-President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki.

‘Jandor’, who leads a splinter movement in Lagos leadership caucus rooting for indigeneship-propelled front called Lagos4Lagos movement, later appeared on an Arise TV programme where he acknowledged that there is, indeed, “a serious move to take over Lagos from the APC”.

Noting that the ranks of the ruling party in Lagos have been broken, he became an instrumental weapon to dismember his former political terrain by sponsoring parallel congresses at the ward, local council, and state levels.

The congresses succeeded in reducing the ranks of the party’s loyalists.

Lagos4Lagos Movement was ably assisted in the balkanisation plan against the APC caucus led by National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos and the patriarch and grandmaster of the state’s politics, another state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who is still nursing a grudge at being denied a ‘deserved’ second term in office, after falling out with his former mentor.

Reasons
One of the reasons given by Jandor for defecting to the PDP was his professed displeasure about how the Governor Mai Mala-Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party handled the issues of the parallel ward, local government, and state congresses in Lagos APC, and alleged lack of fair play in the ruling party that has a near-total grasp of Lagos politics, “without giving other tendencies the free, fair and transparent opportunity to participate”.

He, therefore, joined the pro-Saraki forces in the opposition, “after exhausting all options to make the CECPC address the anomalies in the aftermath of the congresses”.

Meanwhile, there had also been insinuations that the Lagos4Lagos Movement had the sponsorship of the camp of former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, who is now the Minister of Works and Housing.

Fashola’s group was said to have been aggrieved with other members of the ‘Lagos APC family’, especially those that lost out in the political scheming that led to the denial of Ambode a second term ticket in 2019.

While there has been no categorical statement of collusion by some APC bigwigs in the ‘Absalom’s revolt’ in the Jandorisation of Lagos politics, some grassroots members of the party confided in ThisNigeria in the weekend that there was, indeed, those working against the interest of the party from within “lati da ibo nu” (to throw votes away).

This, sources said, might be the reason why despite the spirited moves by APC state spokesman, Seye Oladejo, to contain the rippling moves of ‘Jandor’ and his movement, “most members of the party have chosen to be silent or be prudent in their choice of words and comments”. “We are party men, we know the consequences,” a member told this newspaper on Friday in Lagos.

Ambode’s next moves have not been publicly articulated, but it is believed that Jandor will get massive financial support from many governors, and forces at the federal level who could chip in some logistics to back him up. There may, indeed, be a feeler to the latter trend. Recently, the reporter sighted one of the vehicles of the ‘Otoge’ (It’s enough) Movement, seeking to dethrone the ‘Tinubu legacy’ in Lagos politics, bearing the coat-of-arms of some unseen ‘powers-that-be’.

“For the Lagos PDP ticket, it will take God to stop Jandor from getting it so long as key PDP governors, who are now in charge of the party at the national level are with him,” a source was quoted to have said.

Jandor, it was further learnt may have broader shoulders to lean on in other aggrieved members of the APC, especially those who defected to APC from PDP in the past, but are yet to realise their desire.

The ‘candidate’ may also be eyeing the massive votes of other ethnic nationalities in Lagos, especially the Igbo to gain a better foothold.

Powers behind the deluge
Party faithful told our correspondent at the weekend that the plot to shed Tinubu’s alleged totalitarian hold on the APC which culminated in ensuring victory for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections were ably powered by former Vice President and serial presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, ex-governor/Senate President Bukola Saraki, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, among others.

Quoting ‘credible sources’ a Nigerian daily, The Guardian, reported that before Jandor was approached by PDP stakeholders to defect, Saraki and foot soldiers of Atiku, led by broadcast media mogul, Raymond Dokpesi, had held a series of conspiratorial consultations with some APC and PDP stakeholders, “particularly those that have business interests in Lagos on how the state could be taken while Tinubu is busy pursuing his presidential ambition at the centre”.

According to the report, it was in one of those meetings that the Lagos4Lagos Movement platform was dissected, analysed, and considered to be the most viable for the project to take over Lagos. “It was also in one of the meetings they resolved that the only way for Jandor to appear on the ballot box in 2023 is to move to PDP,” he added.

The cat with nine lives that Tinubu seems to be cast, has survived several political coups against his leadership of the APC in Lagos. But it was held in top circles that Jandor is not just coming into the PDP to take advantage of the party’s platform, he also has a value to add to PDP, including the fact that he will have sponsors among PDP, APC governors, and PDP, APC stakeholders, who would settle for anything whatsoever to take Lagos from the national leader since 1999.

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It is also not clear if some elements in the APC national level and some South-West APC leaders are not working underground in support of Jandor.

Former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Olabode George, is also allegedly keyed into the Jandor/PDP project through Makinde to unseat Tinubu in Lagos. George has been embroiled in a long-term war to unseat Tinubu in Lagos.

The ‘Jandor’ challenge
When Lagos4Lagos Movement on December 4, 2021, was declared as one of the aggrieved groups in the Lagos State chapter of the APC, to defect to the PDP in the presence of Saraki, and three seating senators from Kogi and Kwara states,

It was summed up by political watchers as a threat to Tinubu’s political empire. But beyond being seen as a flash in the pan. Not anymore, others now say.

But some observers have also conveyed the view that what seems to be Adediran’s ‘straight jump from the frying pan’ would not end up in the proverbial frying pan.

Lagos PDP financial constraints
From The corners of financial security, the Lagos4Lagos Movement, party followers say may find it difficult in their new court. “They seem to forget that the PDP, like it presently is, is a dead and broke party,” Kasali Mustapha, an APC member said, adding, “Recall that a court recently sacked the Lagos PDP from its secretariat over inability to pay rent.”

Earlier reports had said that the PDP had been ejected from its Lagos State secretariat located at Adekunle Fajuyi Way, Ikeja, over unpaid rent.

Armed mobile police officers and a court bailiff were seen during the incident week affecting the execution order.

“The exercise took over two hours, as properties in the building were forcefully evacuated. It attracted the attention of the public as they watched officers throw away properties belonging to the party.

Meanwhile, the movement is currently reeling in the wake of the sudden death, on Tuesday, of one of its prominent backers, Princess Adenrele Adeniran-Ogunsanya, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG). The 74-year-old ex-SSG Jandor’s eulogy of the deceased, watchers say, has eventually thrown open the door that Lagos State and APC columnists indeed worked for him

In the statement in Lagos by his Press Secretary, Kazeem Bakare, Jandour had said he received the sad news of the death of Adeniran-Ogunsanya with shock.

Describing her death as painful beyond words, Adediran said the ‘motherly role’ the Ikorodu-born politician played in driving the mission of the Lagos4Lagos Movement remained invaluable.

He also lauded the late SSG, who served the Fashola government between 2007 and 2011, as “a great pillar of support and encouragement” to him and members of the movement.

“She stood decidedly by the movement at a time when it was dangerous and unfashionable to associate with us. Mama Jandor, as she was fondly
called, remained unequivocal on her stance against the oppressors of the vulnerable residents of Lagos.

“I have lost a mother, an encourager, a confidant, and a foremost believer in our cause to birth a Lagos that works for all,” Adediran said.

He noted that the Lagos4Lagos women wing would miss her motherly role and support.

He said: “How do I quantify the huge vacuum her death will create? She was a colossus, an amiable fighter who rallied our women and provided support without asking for anything.

“On behalf of the members of the Lagos4Lagos Movement, the apex body, which she diligently served as the Chairperson until her death, I want to express our condolences to her immediate family, political family in Ikorodu and Lagos at large. Adenrele was one of the leaders of the Lagos4Lagos Movement whose members recently defected to the PDP from the ruling APC.”

Character sketch
Apart from the reporter’s careful note of his rather dismissive and edgy communication tendency, especially on phone, a party member paints a picture of Adediran, a former journalist now a businessman and politician. “He is very bold, and always being pushed forward. That was how he later became popular. Now, that is why he was hijacked by another
force.”

Jandor is a 44-year-old, considered a new breed politician of the younger generation. But sentiments have been raised against Jandor, especially on his perceived capacity to confront the political machinery of Tinubu, who is himself enmeshed in some high-profile issues regarding financial integrity. “Now that he has crossed to the opposition, there is the likelihood that the party will deal with him squarely like opposition as from now,” a prominent party source said.

Whatever the case, it has been stated that the chances of Jandor and his movement in Lagos “would be determined by how the national headquarters of APC addresses the crises it had across the country on or before 2023”.

Meanwhile, despite the issues serenading Jandor’s defection to PDP, there have been back-and-forth arguments as to the political fortunes of the APC leader’s structure. While some believe that the structure is still strong and intact, others feel it has been ruptured.

Some consider the Lagos PDP structure as being too fragile to support Jandor’s ambition in 2023. However, it is also said in some columns that Tinubu has a lot of grip and influence in the Lagos PDP “and if it comes to dispensing money to fund Lagos politics and election, it would be near impossible for the likes of Atiku, Saraki, and others to outspend APC in Lagos”.

“The national leader will push as many members of the PDP as from now as he did before ahead of the 2023 elections just to sustain his grip on the state,” a Lagos APC member was quoted to have said.

Field report
Some members of the mainstream movement in the ruling APC in the Ikorodu division in Lagos State gave a low down of the situation of things in the Tinubu camp, as well as national politics.

One of them who spoke at the residence of the recently deceased stalwart of the party and a tested grassroots mobiliser and ex-local council legislator at Anibaba-Ikorodu on Friday, Alhaji Musbau Adesegun Olufowora, party activist, Ahmed Oladosu, said, on behalf of other members, and ahead of a meeting:

(On the Lagos 4 Lagos Movement), they were members of the APC fold before, but maybe because they had no opportunities, they were waiting for greener pastures, by way of tickets, especially the governorship.

“But the sad thing they didn’t realise is that you are running away from a godfather, but you will still meet another godfather where you have gone (the PDP). Adediran, or whoever he is called, I don’t know much about him, but whom we all know as Jandor, is being sponsored. We know that some didn’t follow him to the new party- PDP. His masters were those who were friends with Tinubu.”

Taking chances
A civil servant, who spoke to This Nigeria, but his name is secured,said of Jandor/Tinubu quests for Lagos: “There is no chance for anyone who has left the Tinubu structure in Lagos politics. Not that they are the most popular in Lagos, but the constituencies on the ground in Lagos have been captured by the Tinubu group.

“But if new delineation of constituencies is done in Lagos, people have better chances. Many are disenfranchised in Lagos as a result of their inability to vote. The Lagos 4 Lagos Movement cannot wrest power from Tinubu. They are still on the ground.”