The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has taken a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party’s Lagos governorship candidate, Abdulazeez Adediran—known as Jandor—claiming he lacks the experience needed to govern the state. The former Lagos governor made the remarks in a video posted on Twitter by the state’s chief press secretary, Gboyega Akosile, on Thursday. Fashola, speaking at the formal launch of the “10,000 foot soldiers” campaign for the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu and Governor Babajide Sanwo‑Olu, said, “I did that job for eight years. Part of what helped me was that I was chief of staff to a governor. I saw it up‑close, but even then that was not enough. So just following a governor, being a cameraman, watching me for eight years, you (Jandor) think you will now be a governor? You are not ready.” He added that Jandor should attend the party’s leadership school and noted that while advertisements highlight Lagos’s ₦51 billion generation, they ignore the influx of emigrants from elsewhere.
Jandor responded that the APC was under pressure, questioning “what it is with Fashola and cameras lately.” He described the current period as one of “calumnies” and suggested the APC was trying to sell its “unenviable records” to Lagos’s discerning electorate. While insisting there was nothing untoward about being a cameraman, Jandor apologized to “hordes of cameramen” who might feel smeared by Fashola’s comment, emphasizing that his role had been as a Reportorial and Editorial Executive with the Lagos State Broadcasting Service, not as a cameraman. He quipped, “I really don’t know what it is with my Oga (boss) and cameras lately…this reminds me of that famous missing camera he magically found at Lekki toll gate, the scene of the #EndSARS massacre.” Despite the criticism, Jandor said he still respects Fashola as his former boss and remains confident that “we will break Lagos free and my boss, Fashola, will be proud of our achievements.”
During the same programme, Fashola urged APC members to canvass vigorously and vote for the party. Governor Sanwo‑Olu echoed this call, praising Tinubu’s credentials and asserting that Lagos would deliver the largest vote for the APC. “I want to thank our Minister and all those who have worked with him, especially his 10,000 foot soldiers. The five million votes will come out. Tinubu is the best for Nigeria. Nobody has a credential like Tinubu to become President, that is why we truly believe in him. We will deliver the largest number for our presidential candidate,” he said.
Comments are closed for this story.