Less than 48 hours to the 2023 governorship election, leader of Lagos chapter of Labour Party have endorsed the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who will be contesting on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), for a second term, abandoning the LP flagbearer, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
They said that their decision to endorse Sanwo-Olu over their party’s authentic governorship candidate was due to the ill-treatment they received from Rhodes-Vivour who was handed the LP ticket.
The leaders stressed that they were not leaving the party but the step was taken to ensure that Labour Party does not make the same mistake that was made during the primaries held recently, and to ensure that the youths were not led into mistakes that could affect their future in the state.
The dozens of members led by the former governorship aspirant, Moshood Salvador, endorsed the APC gubernatorial standard-bearer on Thursday during a meeting held in the Surulere Local Government area of the state.
Aside from Salvador, other leaders of the party that have decided to collapse their structure or Sanwo-Olu were the Director General, Lagos LP campaign council, Shola Taiwo; Deputy Director-General for Lagos East LP campaign council, Akinwande Saheed; House of Representatives candidate for Alimosho Federal Constituency, Oyindolapo Omotayo.
Announcing the leaders’ decision before the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, the LP former governorship aspirant, Salvador, who described the LP candidate as one too young to lead over 20 million people, said that Lagos is too big to go into the hands of rookies.
He stated that residents should vote for those that would do the needful for the development and growth of Lagos considering that the commercial capital o the country remains a big fish that must not fall into wrong hands.
According to him, the economy and well-being of Lagosians cannot be toyed with saying candidates should be voted for based on merit and credibility.
“Lagos must not be given to inexperienced leaders to toy with. Lagos is important to all Nigerians. We are voting for a candidate that has character and quality regardless of party affiliation. And this is the doctrine that we were taught and complying with the directives of the Presidential candidate, Peter Obi”, he added.
He accused the Labour Party candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour has no regard for the leadership of the party and could allegedly be a disaster if given an opportunity to rule Lagos.
Salvador assured that APC will receive maximum votes from over 350,000 members of the Labour Party during the March 18th Elections.
Accepting their endorsement, Hamzat, who appealed to residents of the state to pardon their mistakes, assured that they would surely make amends and introduce policies that could address the peoples’ needs.
.The deputy governor also urged the youths to upgrade their skills to boost their capacity to contribute their quota to the socioeconomic development of the country.
According to him, it will not augur well to vote people into office based on emotions and the challenge before the nation and many others is the scarcity of resources.
Additional reports Vanguard, NAN