“I Would Have Defeated Sanwo-Olu If Not for the Obi Effect” – Jandor

Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has claimed that he would have won the 2023 Lagos State governorship election if not for the influence of Peter Obi’s presidential candidacy. Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television program, Jandor stated that the Labour Party’s unexpected surge in Lagos during the February 2023 presidential election altered the political landscape, ultimately working against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the governorship race held weeks later.

“The 2023 election came with this tsunami that nobody ever expected, and it was there for everybody to see,” he said. “Each time I address my people, I tell them: we did everything, but that wave came and swallowed the whole thing; nobody saw that coming.”

In the presidential election, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) secured 582,454 votes in Lagos, defeating All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu, who polled 572,606 votes. PDP’s Atiku Abubakar came third with 75,750 votes, while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) had 8,442. However, in the governorship election, Sanwo-Olu of the APC won with 762,134 votes, defeating LP’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who garnered 312,329 votes, while Jandor trailed behind with 62,449 votes.

Jandor expressed confidence that PDP had strong momentum before the presidential election, asserting that Sanwo-Olu avoided public debates with him. However, he believes that Obi’s victory in Lagos convinced many voters to back the Labour Party in the governorship race as well.

“The 2023 election came with its dynamics, and it was a two-horse race until the presidential election. If you look at what happened in the presidential election, Peter Obi came first (in Lagos), Asiwaju came second, and Atiku came third. The moment that happened, there was this belief that if we do this, we can get this state off XYZ. So, we were victims of that,” he explained.

Reflecting on his loss, Jandor stated, “I probably would have won the election” if not for the “Obi effect,” but added that he accepted the outcome as a sign that it wasn’t yet God’s time for him to become governor.

Jandor, who started his political journey with APC before breaking away with his *Lagos4Lagos Movement* in 2022, later joined the PDP and secured the party’s governorship ticket. However, he recently left the PDP, citing internal sabotage and lack of disciplinary action against party members engaged in anti-party activities.

Looking ahead to 2027, Jandor has not ruled out joining another political platform to pursue his governorship ambition.