The State Executive Committee (SEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State, has assured the 2023 PDP Governorship Candidate, Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran, who recently returned to the ruling party, that he will not regret coming to the party.
By Adeyemi Adeleye
The State Executive Committee (SEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State, has assured the 2023 PDP Governorship Candidate, Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran, who recently returned to the ruling party, that he will not regret coming to the party.
The State APC Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, gave the assurance on Tuesday,when Adediran (popularly known as Jandor), led his Lagos4Lagos team to the state party secretariat to officially meet the party’s executive committee.
Stating that the party was large enough to accommodate Adediran and his supporters, Ojelabi said that Adediran would forever be grateful for returning into the APC family, as a foundation member.
Welcoming Adediran back to APC, the Chairman said: ” We were together, driving this party and growing this party before, it was just a matter of conviction that led to what happened.
“Realising that he (Adediran ) has a role to play as an indigene of the state now that we approach the 2027 general elections, he has decided to be part of us.
“We can see the calibre of people that accompanied him, I actually restricted the number, and to us, it s a welcome development to have Jandor back home.
“I want to assure you that you have taken the right step. This is your party.
“I am pretty sure that the step taken today April 29, won’t be regretted. We have accepted his reunion into the party. I bet you, you won’t regret the step taken.,”,he said.
Ojelabi, accompanied by members of the APC state exco, said that the party had put machinery in place to re-integrate Adediran and accommodate his structure in APC.
Describing Adediran’s return to APC as historic, the chairman said he first got the hint off his return from the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the party would soon schedule a stakeholders’ meeting to announce to the entire APC members that Adediran and his followers had become full members of APC.
Earlier , Adediran said: “After my resignation from PDP and announcement of joining the APC, today is my very first official visit to the party secretariat to meet the state executive committee.
“We have come to brief Mr Chairman of the plan for the mass declaration and official movement into the APC in our usual manner, which we are going to announce very soon.
“This is not our declaration proper, this is just to come and formally inform you of our decision to return home and to the APC family. We are happy to come back to the winning family.
“We have come to join our numerical strength to that of the existing party strength to ensure that we keep winning for Nigerians.
“Our focus is to see how we can dismantle all the gang up in the name of coalition against Mr President and work to return back as President of Nigeria in 2027.”
On his political ambition, Adediran said that he would continue to exercise his constitutional rights in all elections.
He said that he had not come to the party to fight for positions or to dislodge anyone, but to ensure APC continues to win both at the centre and at the state level.
The politician promised to support the party’s candidates for elective positions in 2027.
“We are ready to submit ourselves to the party’s constitution,” he said.
Urging Nigerians, particularly Lagos residents to keep hope alive, Adediran called for support for President Bola Tinubu and Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Adediran resigned from the PDP on March 3, citing indiscipline and betrayal by party leaders.
Adediran, who leads the Lagos4Lagos Movement and was once an APC governorship aspirant, defected to the PDP from APC in 2022. (NAN)