By The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos has been engulfed in a fresh crisis following the decision of its governorship candidate, Olajide Adediran popularly known as ‘Jandor’ to name Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele as his running mate for the 2023 elections.
The Ikorodu-born actress confirmed her nomination on Tuesday, bringing an end to weeks of speculations. The decision of the opposition party to settle for Akindele is said to have been inspired by the agelong agitations by stakeholders of the ancient town over the exclusion of Ikorodu in top positions in the state. Interestingly, the Ikorodu monarch had denied claims that the mother of the actress is related to him.
Though she is a political greenhorn, her successful acting career and popularity are what Jandor intends to leverage. She is also from Lagos East senatorial district, just as the incumbent deputy governor, Obafemi Hamzat.
As mixed reactions continue to trail Akindele’s selection as the PDP deputy governorship candidate in Lagos, BlackBox Nigeria learnt that a section of the party is against the choice of the recently-divorced movie star. This brewing crisis, according to our sources, is likely to hurt the chances of the PDP at defeating the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the polls next year.
The genesis of the crisis is connected to Jandor’s refusal to pick Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour as his running mate despite the latter’s endorsement by the PDP chairmen in the 20 local governments in Lagos. Rhodes-Vivour, who was the party’s senatorial candidate for Lagos West in 2019, had contested for the guber ticket. He, however, withdrew from the race to back Jandor on the agreement that he will be named deputy governorship candidate, though they are both from the same senatorial district.
When news broke out that Akindele was being considered for Jandor’s running mate, party members loyal to Rhodes-Vivour reportedly kicked against the decision, as they felt the guber candidate — who defected from the APC — has hijacked the Lagos PDP.
Meanwhile, Rhodes-Vivour, according to recent reports, is considering defecting to the Labour Party (LP). Though the politician has maintained silence over the development, insiders tell BlackBox Nigeria that he is seriously interested in leaving the PDP to pursue his gubernatorial bid and the LP offers him a better platform with the mass following that the party enjoys from tech-savvy young people because of its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
With the fresh crisis rocking the Lagos PDP, many Lagosians will be keenly observing the main opposition party and its longtime quest to end the APC hegemony in the state.
