The Lagos4Lagos Movement is currently rocked in crisis over a N100 million gift, allegedly offered to its Chairman, Prince Sunday Ajayi, by a presidential aspirant in the State.
Ajayi was said to have collected the alleged sum to infiltrate and destabilise the movement ahead of the 2023 governorship election in the State.
While Ajayi has denied the allegation, Convener of the Movement, Dr Abdul Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has fired him.
Jandor, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant for Lagos State in the 2023 election, in a statement, described Ajayi as a double agent in the Movement.
He said he was left with no choice than to approve the recommendation of the Apex body of the Movement to boot Ajayi out as chairman, following allegations of serial improprieties including the alleged N100m inducement to incite members to return to the APC.
THEWILL recalls that Jandor, the lead visioner of the Lagos4Lagos Movement, a splinter group of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), had on January 21, 2022, joined the PDP, over alleged imposition of candidates by the ruling party.
A source in the Movement said Jandor’s defection from the ruling party has resulted into a beehive of positive activities within the PDP, strongly signifying that the clouds are gathering in favor of the opposition party as they set to oust the APC in Lagos come 2023.TrendingAnxiety As FG Takes Terrorism Financiers to Court
The source said series of plans have been hatched by the APC to ensure Jandor does not appear on the ballot paper for the State governorship election next year.
One of these plots, the source alleged, is the infiltration of his top team, of which Prince Ajayi was a vital member, adding that besides the bribery allegation, Ajayi is also alleged to have been holding secret meetings with emissaries of the APC and had commenced a botched mission to cajole members of the movement to return to APC.
Jandor noted that many who were conversant with Ajayi’s ways were less surprised that the embattled former chairman of the Movement allegedly “sold out since he has the trait of selling out to highest political bidders.”
Jandor, however, says he is unruffled by the development as he has prepared himself to expect anything.
“This is not the first attempt by the ruling APC to infiltrate our ranks and I don’t expect it will be the last. We are well prepared for possible uncanny events such as this, we won’t be distracted from our focus, we will keep on keeping on till we achieve our goal of rescuing Lagos from their stranglehold come 2023″, he said.
Meanwhile, Ajayi has dismissed the allegations as spurious and malicious.
In his reaction, Ajayi, in a statement on Wednesday denied that he was sacked.
He maintained that his withdrawal from the Lagos4Lagos Movement was due to Jandor’s questionable character and draconian lifestyle, adding that his life had been full of controversies.
“My attention has been drawn to a malicious statement by Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor), claiming that I collected N100 million from Bola Tinubu.
“For the records, I, Hon. Prince Sunday Ajayi, withdrew from the activities of Lagos4Lagos because of the questionable character and draconian lifestyle of Jandor.
“For someone to accuse me of collecting money from a man I have not spoken to or interacted with in the last 3 years shows his level of shallowness and confusion”, Ajayi said.
Ajayi, who said he was warned many times before joining Jandor’s camp, alleged that he usually fought anyone who would oppose his style and actions.
He described Jandor as a lair and urged the Lagos PDP to be careful of Jandor if the party intended to get it right.
“I dare Jandor to show proof of receipt of such transaction between me and Tinubu, failure upon which I will have no choice, but to institute a legal action against him.
“For clarity, Jandor’s latest action is borne out of the frustration he has met in his fruitless quest to get a PDP ticket that was already placed out of his reach from the word go.
“It’s better for him to come out clean on how his arrogant lifestyle has led 70 percent of the movement to leave Lagos4Lagos”, he added.