…Urges president’s re-election to actualise it
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Lagos state governorship election in 2023, Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was prepared to hand over leadership responsibilities to “a new wave of younger politicians, signalling a potential shift in Nigeria’s political landscape.”
Jandor said this Friday during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the Progressive Institute (TPI) in Abuja, noting that leadership issue “is currently the problem of Nigeria; hence all hands must be on deck to support Tinubu’s re-election to ensure passing the leadership baton to the next generation.”
He said, “That’s a leadership issue. It speaks a lot to leadership. When I had the opportunity of meeting with Mr. President before officially announcing my returning home, we spoke extensively. One of the things that I picked from our meeting has to do with his readiness to pass on the baton to the next generation.
“There is nothing all of us that are coming before him have to do now other than to see how we can support him, to ensure a very smooth transition of him passing the baton to the next generation.”
Jandor further expressed his collaboration with the Progressive Institute and hinted on his interest to contest in the 2027 elections on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), adding that the party would decide “who becomes its flag-bearer.”
He said further that, “It’s everybody’s right to aspire for whatever position they want to. I’ve got a constitutional right to do that, but my focus now is to see how we can get the man who is ready to pass on the baton to the next generation to get back to office.
“I’m not saying I’m not running. I’m running. Of course, it’s the party that will decide who will be the flag-bearer at the end of the day. But what I can assure you is that whoever the party settles for this time, they’re going to stay in and work for that person. So, that is something you have to take home. But again, the most important thing is not about the next election, it’s about the next generation.”
In his remarks, TPI’s Director-General, Dr. Olanrewaju Adebayo, emphasised the gaps in leadership structure of the country, adding that investment in leadership capacity was key in nipping “this in the bud.”
“Leadership capacity is the fundamental area that political parties are expected to pay attention to. We know that our country has faced a lot of challenges.
“The challenges are many but basically, they are results of gaps in terms of leadership, capacity and skills without investment in leadership capacity, the potentials cannot be realised, one of what we are doing is to develop the framework for achieving this,” he said.