The 2023 Lagos State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olajide Adediran, popularly called Jandor, has stated that the decline of the party cannot be solely blamed on Atiku Abubakar’s victory in the 2023 presidential primary.

Speaking in an interview on Channels TV on Sunday, Jandor, who recently returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC) argued that the stakeholders in the PDP can be quite controlling.

He acknowledged PDP’s democratic approach to selection but pointed to a crucial difference with the APC regarding “party supremacy.”

Jandor stated, “PDP give it to them, they can be very democratic when it come to selection choices which is good… but in PDP is the only party where I see leaders of the party telling followers don’t vote for that microphone because it wasn’t my choice.”

He explained that while Atiku won the open primary fairly, internal dissent and a lack of collective adherence to the party’s chosen candidate, unlike the APC, where “everybody will fall in line,” contributed to the PDP’s electoral performance.

Jandor emphasised that despite the fair process, the party failed to present a united front, with some key figures actively working against their candidate.