The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Olajide Adediran has said he picked actress Funke Akindele as his running mate and not Jenifa, a character she played in the award-winning series Jenifa’s Dairy.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, said this when he appeared as a guest on the Arise TV programme, The Morning Show, on Wednesday.
“I have not picked that character called Suliyat, I’ve not picked that character called Jenifa.
“I’ve picked Funke Akindele who is an entrepreneur, who is a Lagosian, who has been able to grow her business from zero to the success it is today, who understands what it takes to put heads together.
“Even the ruling party calling us unserious because I picked somebody in that industry, once gave their ticket to Desmond Elliot in the same industry.
“But the main problem is the conspiracy of silence in the Nollywood industry,” he said.
Lagos Govt blocking our campaigns, posters – Jandor cries out
The Lagos PDP guber candidate, meanwhile, alleged that the Lagos State government was working in the background to prevent the party from executing its campaign plans.
Adediran alleged that the advert agencies contracted by the party had refunded the money paid to them, citing instructions from the state government.
He added that posters pasted by the PDP were allegedly removed by state-backed hoodlums in a bid to prevent the party from presenting its candidates and programmes to Lagosians.
The governorship candidate, however, said that plans are being put in place to ensure he sells his candidacy and that of his running mate, actress Funke Akindele, to Lagosian despite the alleged plot of the Lagos government.
“I know them. I was coming from them. We will not seat and fold our arms and be complaining. Why I have decided to bring this to the court of public opinion is to let people know what was going on. They cannot stop us from pasting posters. We will turn it to guerrilla warfare and we will begin to go out and paste our posters,” he said.
Explaining what had transpired, Adediran added, “The moment that of Afromedia happened in Falomo here, I placed a call through to the Lagos police commissioner myself and I said to him, ‘CP, this just happened. It was removed.’ We didn’t even know, we thought it was the hoodlums who removed it. It was after investigation that we realised that it was the state government, through LASAA that removed it. The company in question did say to us, ‘They have asked us not to take anything from you. We will refund your money.” Just like JCDecaux did refund our money.
“The next day I went to the office of the police commissioner with all our team and told him, ‘Look, if you don’t step in, we may be sitting on a keg of gun powder in Lagos. We will never be allowed to be put in the defensive.
“We will continue to paste our posters. Last week on the Third Mainland bridge, which is even a Federal Government road, our people put some A4 boards. They were removing it in broad daylight. After paying for all of these. We won’t allow this, we will find a way to put our campaign materials out there.
“It is our constitutional right to vie for this office. It is our constitutional right to let the people know that we are here and ready to do things differently. Engaging in such activities on their part meant that they know it’s doom for them already and that is why they are doing everything to make sure they stop us and we won’t allow it.”
2023: Why I joined ‘Jandor’ to fly Lagos PDP guber ticket – Funke Akindele
Meanwhile, the popular Nollywood actress has said the need to bring positive change to women, youth and children informed her decision to be running mate to the Lagos PDP guber candidate.
Akindele, who was unveiled by the Lagos state PDP at a carnival-like event that had the party’s candidates, leaders and members in attendance at Ikorodu, said her decision to join Adediran, popularly known as ‘Jandor’ was a huge sacrifice.
While expressing delight in the ticket, Akindele said she had abandoned her passion and carreer of 14 years in order to bring positive change to Lagos residents.
“Jandor has sacrificed a lot talking about young people passionately for over seven years to plan this project, abandoning his business to make a change in the state.
“So, I am going to put aside my career now, I am coming out for the women, the youths, we have talents in Nigeria, we need to explore what we have.
“We have both made sacrifices to join politics to bring positive changes to the people of Ikorodu and the state.
“We should build a state where our children can live rather than running and staying abroad.
” I am joining Jandor to bring a breath of fresh air to Ikorodu and Lagos,” she said.
Akindele, who noted that she initially ran away when nominated for the ticket, said God and the people promised to be behind her.
“I answered the call. We are the owners of Lagos, we will vote, win and rule the state.
“For the women, I am going there for you. For the youths and the children, I am there for you. We can do a lot for this state and country and make things work.
“We are youths, we can run, we have energy to fix Lagos state. For my Ikorodu people, I thank you, I will not put you to shame. PDP is taking over,” Akindele added.
Akindele said she joned the race to help tackle Infrastructural, health system and standard of education challenges in the state.