Following the agitation of many opinion moulders in Lagos State, that
the next governor of the state should be a Christian, the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) has resolved to field a Christian as its candidate in the 2015
governorship election.
Mr. Jimi Agbaje, who recently joined the party, is most likely to
benefit from this arrangement.
Revealing this in an interview, a leader of the party in the state,
Alhaji Abdulrazak Rafiu Adisa, said, “since the people of Lagos State are
angling for a Christian governor, it will be foolhardy for us to insist on
fielding a non-Christian.”
He added that the national leadership of the party had thrown its weight
behind the move as a result of the party’s determination to take over the
state, adding that Mr. Jimi Agbaje stood a good chance of emerging as the
party’s standard bearer.
He said, “the leadership of the party is looking in the direction of Mr.
Jimi Agbaje as the party’s flagbearer in the governorship election. He is a
Christian and enjoys immense grassroots support.”
Adisa explained that the choice of Agbaje was the outcome of an
independent survey carried out by the national leadership of the party from
Abuja on who among the contenders Lagosians would prefer for the job.
“At the end of the survey carried out among party supporters and even
non-PDP members in the state, the national leadership of the party discovered
that the hope of taking the state from the ruling All Progressives Congress
(APC) lies in fielding Jimi Agbaje,” he said.
Adisa, who had worked with Governor BabatundeFashola of Lagos State as a
personal staff before defecting to the PDP, said both Muslims and Christians in
the party were united in fielding a Christian candidate.
“For us, the choice of Agbaje is easy. If the party had thrown the
contest open to adherent of all faithful, may be it would have been difficult.
But since we decided to field a Christian, zeroing in on Agbaje was quite easy
because of his pedigree and his popularity among the populace,” he said.
Adisa said the leadership of the party would roll the structure of the
party out in favour of Agbaje to ensure his emergence in the primaries.
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Politics