Governorship Debate: “Sanwo-Olu won’t share podium” with Jandor

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who is seeking re-election said he will not share the podium with his main opponent, Abdulazeez ‘Jandor’ Adediran of the PDP, after violence erupted in the Surulere region of the state, officials said.

Gbenga Omotosho, the information commissioner, in a statement on Friday, said the governor will not be in the debate to give an account of his stewardship and talk to the electorate on his plans for the next four years because of the PDP sponsored violence. ‘ which happened on Friday.

The debate was organized by The Platform Nigeria, a medium founded by Poju Oyemade, who is also the Senior Pastor and founder of The Covenant Nation.

According to the committee, “this debate is for determine the most able to manage the 5th largest economy.

The show will be telecast live on DSTV and ChannelsTV at 6pm

The reason for the absence of Sanwo-Olu

“According to the advice of competent sources, including elders and respected Lagosians, we will shun any forum that would require us to side with the PDP and its agents of violence,” the statement read.

“Consequently, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu regrets to announce that he will not participate in the Platform Governor Debate on January 29, 2023.

“The governor holds Pastor Poju Oyemade and the Covenant Christian Church family in high esteem and appreciates future opportunities to join the congregation and give a stewardship account to them as an integral part of the Lagos electorate.

“We will not meet with the worthless innocent Lagosians. Mr. Sanwo-Olu will not share the podium with them.

Violence

In a video making the rounds, some 12 thugs are seen shooting in the neighborhood around noon. One of them was holding an axe.

A few seconds into the one-minute video, the car – Sienna, which appears to be the gubernatorial campaign car of the PDP candidate, entered and one of the gunpersons opened the front seat and kept a bag in it.

“This is in front of my shop. Jesus! I couldn’t even go out to close the shop. Oh my world!” the store owner who secretly took the video said.

debate

The state government said security agencies in the country are investigating the video and “they will fish out and prosecute the evil actors, who are believed to be henchmen of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

“We condemn this barbarism which reflects our country, the safest in Nigeria, in a bad way. That is not who we are; we are civilized and cultured.”

Mr. Sanwo-Olu, Mr. Adediran, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labor Party and 15 others are vying for the governorship seat in the March 11 election.

Many times, the PDP governorship candidate has shouted whose campaign team was attacked by hoodlums allegedly sponsored by APC.

PDP reacted

Reacting to the development, Hakeem Amode, PDP state publicity secretary said in a statement on Saturday that “It is an act of cowardice to use Friday’s attack as an excuse to avoid a debate with Jandor.”

The PDP said the governor refused to appear in the debate to “save his face from embarrassment during the debate.”

The party said the violence was orchestrated by the APC before Mr. Adediran’s campaign team arrived in the local government area.

Mr. Adediran is on a campaign tour of several wards and people at the grassroots level in the state.

“A responsible government that really cares about the people should have received a briefing on the incident to know that it was thugs of the party who attacked the campaign convoy of our gubernatorial candidate,” the PDP said.