The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State during the 2023 general election, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday.
According to TheCable, the meeting, which was not publicly announced, reportedly took place between 2 pm and 4 pm.
News360 Info recalls that Jandor recently resigned from the PDP, citing “indiscipline and anti-party activities” within the party, but he has yet to disclose his next political move.
Jandor was previously a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) before defecting to the PDP to contest the Lagos governorship election.
However, his run was marred by internal party divisions and what he described as a betrayal by the PDP’s national leadership on the eve of the election.
He insisted that he “would have won” the election but for a “false claim of alliance” that allegedly misled PDP supporters into voting for another candidate.
During the 2023 governorship race, the incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC secured 762,134 votes, while Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party came second with 312,329 votes. Jandor finished in third place with 62,449 votes.
In his resignation letter from the PDP, he expressed disappointment in the party’s leadership, saying, “I am here before you today without a heavy heart and a clear conscience. We have dedicated ourselves to the ideals of democracy—both good governance and the pursuit of a better Lagos.
“However, it has become evident that the leadership of the PDP, both at the national and state levels, has failed to uphold its principles.”
He also hinted at a potential move to another party, stating, “We will consult widely with everybody and then take the decision to collapse our structure to another platform. The major thing now is that we have left the PDP.”
The details of Jandor’s meeting with Tinubu remain unclear, but sources within Aso Rock suggest it was a fence-mending move that could pave the way for his return to the APC or an alliance ahead of the 2027 general election.
Prior to his meeting with Tinubu, Jandor had also visited former Heads of State, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, in Minna, Niger State.
He later met with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and senior officials of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), fueling further speculation about his next political steps.
