Adetokunbo Pearse, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has slammed Abdulazeez Adediran, the former governorship candidate of the party in Lagos, saying the politician was the architect of his defeat in the 2023 election.
Speaking during an interview on television on Friday, Pearse said Adediran, who is publicly known as Jandor, picked a comedian as the deputy governorship candidate after rejecting the advice of party leaders.
On Monday, Adediran quit the PDP, citing indiscipline and anti-party activities among members as reasons for his exit.
The former governorship candidate had alleged that the party pulled the rug from underneath his feet on the eve of the state’s gubernatorial poll.
He said Philip Aivoji, the Lagos chairman of PDP, released a statement declaring that the party has formed an alliance with another party for the governorship election.
Adediran finished third in the 2023 election with 62,449 votes, behind Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who secured 762,134 votes, while Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) was second with 312,329 votes.
Funke Akindele, a Nollywood superstar actress and producer was Jandor’s running mate.
Speaking on the issue, Pearse accused Adediran of isolating the Lagos PDP leaders after winning the party’s governorship ticket.
The PDP chieftain alleged that Adediran won the “fabricated” PDP governorship primary using the members of his Lagos4Lagos political group as delegates.
Pearse said Adediran was accepted by Lagos PDP leaders because he got the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
He added that after Adediran won the governorship primary, he was called by Bode George, a PDP chieftain, to allow party leaders to pick his running mate for the election.
He said Jandor declined the request of the party leaders and isolated them from his campaign.
“He did not win the primary election in the legal way. It was all a sham from the beginning. He came into the party, and six months later, he got the ticket,” Pearse said.
“Unfortunately, national leaders (of PDP) bought his lies.
“When he (Bode George) endorsed Jandor, he said, ‘now you are going to be our candidate; as we organise this primary, you consider Rhodes-Vivour as your deputy.’ Jandor accepted.
“It was on that basis that Bode George said, ‘let’s go; we will support you’.
“After he won the party primary, the party leaders approached him, particularly Bode George, and said, ‘let’s give you a deputy to balance the ticket if you don’t want Rhodes-Vivour’.
“He said no; he is going to choose his deputy. He did not even give them a chance to choose anybody.
“Jandor went and brought this comic actress and said she has thousands of followers on Facebook. That was the end of Jandor.
“When he is talking of betrayal from leaders, he caused it all. It is his fault.”