The Lagos State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Jimi Agbaje, believes Lagosians are ready for a change and desperate to get away from the grip of “one or two persons”. He vowed that the party will emerge victorious at the polls next year and rescue the state from one-man rule.
Jimi Agbaje, speaking in Abuja on Tuesday when he visited the national headquarters of the party, he said Lagosians are ready for a change and desperate to get away from the grip of “one or two persons”. The man he’s referring to is believed to be Bola Tinubu, a former governor, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and acclaimed political godfather in Lagos who has handpicked two successive governors and is solidly behind Babajide Sanwo-Olu who’s Agbaje’s biggest opponent at next year’s polls.
While speaking in Abuja he said:
“This time round, we (PDP) intend to take over Lagos in 2019. The campaign for Lagos is set for us. It is clear to us in Lagos that what Lagosians are looking for is freedom from the vested interests that have gripped Lagos for nearly 20 years.
“We have a situation where it had been under the grip of one or two persons and we are tired of that.
“We believe Lagos is doing well compared to other states but it can do much better than is doing now but it is being crippled by vested interests.
“Things that could have been done differently are being done in a different manner and that is slowing down the progress and that is what the campaign is set against.
“Free Lagos campaign is a campaign that Lagos can be better and that the alternative can be a lot better than it is today.”
Agbaje then expressed his strong belief in the fact that Lagosians are confident in the PDP’s ability to transform the state, noting that a lot of people that voted for the party in the 2015 governorship election are still committed to voting for them. He said:
“There is a lot of confidence and don’t forget that in 2015 and irrespective of what happened, that votes we had in 2015 still remain intact. Those that voted for us are still there for us.
“The strategy is to expand that base in a way that we have every assurance that we are taking Lagos.”
Jimi Agbaje was a candidate in the last Lagos governorship election. He lost in 2015 to the current governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, by over 150,000 votes before also losing the national chairmanship of the PDP to Uche Secondus in 2017.
The battle to become the next Lagos governor in 2019 is primed to be a showdown between Sanwo-Olu, a former commissioner, and Agbaje.
