A People’s Democratic Party chieftain in Lagos State, Ganiu Taofik, says the party is ready to receive Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu if indeed he wants to return to office in 2023. Taofik made this known in a chat with The PUNCH on Thursday.
The former PDP spokesman in Lagos said his party is a platform that gives Lagosians the best form of governance.
He said, “Recently, we had a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Olajide Adediran aka Jandol, decamp with his group, Lagos4Lagos, into the PDP. This is because they have confidence and they have seen that the PDP is a better platform.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu probably could have done 100 per cent more than he has done if he were not to be in the APC because it is a structural thing; the PDP in Lagos has a controlling leadership for sanity, morality and service delivery but what they have in the APC is a selfish leadership. That is why Governor Sanwo-Olu cannot do more than what he is doing.
“If Governor Sanwo-Olu is checking to have a ticket to recontest, we will give him the opportunity to contest the primary election in the PDP like every other aspirant. Everybody has a level playing field in the PDP, unlike the APC where nobody can become a councillor without the leader’s support.
“The PDP has a wide umbrella to cover every politician from the House of Assembly to the House of Representative and others.”
As political permutations earnestly begin ahead of the 2023 elections, there are indications that Sanwo-Olu wants to return for another four years.
“I think we are doing a very good job, I dare say so. I think the citizens know what it is they will be missing if they don’t let us continue to wrap up all the things we are doing,” Sanwo-Olu said in a recent interview when asked if he has any plan to throw his hat into the ring in the next election.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday, urged youths to get their Permanent Voters Cards ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Ambode was Lagos governor from 2015 to 2019 and had lost his reelection to Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the APC primary due to intra-party squabbles.
Both Ambode and Sanwo-Olu are constitutionally permitted to be in office for one more term of four years if the electorate so decide.
Source: Punch