Atiku, Wike’s face-off not our concern, taking over Lagos our focus — Adediran

Agency reports,

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governorship Candidate in Lagos State, Dr. Olajide Adediran, popularly called Jandor, at a media briefing with newsmen on the official unveiling of his manifesto and campaign plans in Ikeja, at the weekend, spoke on why the PDP beat the All Progressives Congress, APC in the 2023 polls in Lagos among others.

On preparation for 2023 governorship poll. We are kicking off our political campaign across 245 political wards of the state on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 from Alimosho Local Government Area. And for things to really work in Lagos, we need a truly independent helmsman. We are ready to take over governance of Lagos State through a fair and successful democratic process that would be impactful on the lives of the downtrodden in various communities of the state.

Our administration will evolve quality services in all sectors of the economy. A free and compulsory education services to pupils at primary and secondary school levels will be ensured. Issues affecting the health sector in the state will be duly addressed among others.

The journey started over seven years ago, we have remained focused and steadfast in our quest to emancipate the people of Lagos from shackles of oppression implemented by a group of cabal in the state.

For the first time since 1999, we are going to have a popular Governor in Lagos. We are here to win, not to be on the ballot paper alone, which is why we left the All Progressives Congress, APC, to join the PDP.

The PDP in Lagos is new, and it is rooting for a win. It is a radical departure from the norm. We present to Lagos a breath of fresh air.

The solution is here, we believe we can do it better. The present administration has shown a lack of capacity and acumen to govern a populous state like Lagos.

It is time to birth a Lagos that is truly wealthy; that would reflect the humongous Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of over N50 billion monthly through a commensurate development. I’m confident of winning in the 2023 polls. I believe that it is possible.

His take on the crisis rocking the PDP national level viz-a-viz national leader, Bode George’s dwindling support for him

First, let me correct an impression, our leader, Chief Olabode George, never is not going to support Jandor. Second, the statement of our leader, even though, it touched on my character and integrity, I had already known even before venturing into politics that one of the things that is used to scare us away from joining this process is character or integrity assassination. I understand that such things come with the terrain.

However, what my leader did in that interview was to give credence to the fact that the next governor of Lagos is Dr. Olajide Adediran, who will be an independent governor by God’s grace

Chief Olabode is our leader in Lagos State and at the national level. We respect him, we love him, and for the very first time in the history of Lagos State, we are going to win Lagos for Bode George.

For us in Lagos, we are under the national, what we have chosen to do is to focus on our election in Lagos, which is the local politics.

Why would I leave the ticket of a better tomorrow for Lagosians, which they are waiting eagerly for and fight the battle of who is national chairman and who is not. If they remove Senator Iyorchia Ayu, will they replace me with him?

So, as far as we are concerned, both Governor Nyesom Wike and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s camps are our leaders. Both camps have given us assignment to do and the assignment is: ‘go and win your state,’ which is Lagos and that is what we are focusing on.

So, our national leader is playing national politics that is where he belongs. Do not forget that we have candidates for Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly, so we are focusing on our election. INEC will not change the date of election because we are having crisis. It is fixed and we must move on.

His vision for Lagos 2023 and beyond

This journey started exactly seven years ago, after a detailed appraisal of the performance of successive governments in the state from 1999. We are convinced that our state will fare better when well-meaning stakeholders graduate from armchair criticism of the systemic decadence to becoming active players by throwing their hats into the ring to salvage the state.

The experience of an average resident of Lagos state across the five IBILE divisions in the 20 Local Governments since the beginning of our nascent democracy left much to be desired. We can have it better; our lives could be much easier when altruism, transparent honesty, accountability, and empathy govern the conduct of public officeholders.

We are set to make Lagos work better in the interest of all residents by decentralizing development to all parts of the state and ensuring that the flow of the wealth of the state is redirected from the pockets of an individual to the benefit of all.

We are very intentional about our vision of birthing a true Mega City led by a servant leader who is truly independent and will not need a second level of approval before taking decisions. The power will truly reside with the people and not an individual pretending to be a demi-god.

We will make Lagos truly wealthy by giving a breath of fresh air in the area of Works and Infrastructure, Education and Environment, Aquaculture and ease of doing business, Law and Order, Transportation and Traffic management, Health and Housing, Youth and Women empowerment, and other critical areas of governance.

It is public knowledge that endemic corruption is one of the biggest problems stagnating the development of our state, we will bring on financial re-engineering through critical reforms that will fast-track operational processes and plug financial leakages in the public service.

We will hit the ground running.

We are bewildered that over 2 million of our children are out of school. We are pained to see our people suffer so much to access very basic healthcare services. We are ashamed of the poor state of infrastructure and the widening gap in infrastructure deficit. We are not comfortable that our State’s wealth is only on paper, nothing significant is on the ground to justify the humongous revenue generation, including our local and foreign borrowings to fund budget deficit, year on year.