The return of the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections, Abdul-Azeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has drawn the ire of his former party.
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Lagos State chapter of the PDP has blasted Adediran, who announced his return to APC at a news conference on Monday in Lagos.
The former PDP flagbearer, who was the leader of the influential Lagos4Lagos Movement, had announced his resignation from the PDP on March 3, 2025, citing a lack of discipline in the party and betrayal by its leaders.
He was a mole
The Deputy Chairman of the PDP in Lagos, Tai Benedict, in his reaction to the defection on Monday, said Jandor was never “our own” and was allegedly planted by the APC to destabilise the PDP.
Benedict said, “He was never our own. He was an agent sent to our party to destroy our party. The very first time I saw him, I told him to explain – that you are an agent of the APC, sent to our party because they knew we had a bright chance to win that election.
“Although he denied it, eventually, I was vindicated. This was somebody who came to the party, and the first thing he did was to start accusing the leaders and the next thing he did was to disorganise a united party to the national level until he got the ticket of our party from the back.
“You know, it’s very unfortunate, very unfortunate. We have never had it so badly. But all I have to say is we thank God. We’re okay with his exit.
“He came, he singularly picked his running mate. It has never happened. He said because Funke (Akindele) had over three million followers on Instagram, that will make his victory (at the 2023 governorship poll) easier. But we had only 62,000 votes.”
“For me, I thank God that he has left our party. It’s not a good thing to lose membership in parties, I quite agree with that. It’s not good to lose your members to other parties but there are some members that if they leave, you’ll be happy. One of such members is Jandor.”
Jandor has only traced his roots back home – APC
In another development, the APC in the state has welcomed Jandor, describing him as a vibrant young man who only traced his roots back home.
Seye Oladejo, the party’s publicity secretary, told newsmen in an interview on Monday that APC was ready to work with Jandor.
“Like all politicians, Jandor came to the party with ambition. At the time, that could be realised quickly on the platform of the conservatives, which has been rejected at the polls several times by the people of Lagos.
“So, now that he’s back, we’re happy to work with him. We appreciate the fact that Lagos has been better and safer in the hands of the progressives, who have enjoyed uninterrupted trust and confidence from the people.
“We believe in our party that there is sufficient opportunity for him, like many others, to contribute his quota to the continual success of our government and growth of our party,” Oladejo said.
He said the party was expecting more politicians to defect to the APC.
“In the days ahead, we’re expecting more decamps as we approach the next election.”
Dismissing the PDP’s claim that the APC planted Jandor to destablise the opposition, Oladejo said, “It shows how inept in ideas this so-called opposition is.”
“We’re talking about a party that’s perpetually in crisis. We’re talking about a party that can’t organise itself, and they want to govern. The electorates in Lagos are informed, they are sophisticated.
“They’re just looking for excuses to justify their incompetence, and the fact that they’re incapable of mobilising whatever modicum of support they have for election victory.”
