PDP says it is confident of beating Sanwoolu black and blue in Lagos come next year's elections

MEMBERS of the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed delight at the recent division within the All Progressives Congress (APC) saying they are confident of beating Babajide Sanwoolu hands down at the next election.

Earlier this week, members of the Lagos State chapter of the APC went to the polls to select their gubernatorial candidate and in an overwhelming victory, Mr Sanwoolu secured 970,851 votes  compared with 72,901 for incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. Consequently, Mr Sanwoolu has been declared as the APC governorship candidate who will fly the flag in next February's elections.

Governor Ambode has already congratulated Mr Sanwoolu and promised to work with him for the victory of the APC at the elections and to ensure there was a smooth handover. However, Gani Taofik, the publicity secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the PDP, said the emergence of Mr Sanwoolu would facilitate an victory for his party.

Mr Taofik said he was confident that the PDP would beat Mr Sanwoolu and the APC black and blue. He added that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the APC, rejected the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, for a second term in office because of alleged disagreement in the sharing of the state’s resources.

“We don’t see Sanwoolu as a threat at all in the forthcoming governorship election. In fact, we will beat him and the APC black and blue.

"Our candidate will win him hands down because we know that the only reason why he has been presented is to be used as a conduit pipe to siphon Lagos money. It is obvious and in the public domain that the disagreement between Tinubu and Ambode is because of the sharing of Lagos resources.

"While one insisted that he must continue to get his percentage, the other said that it cannot continue and he wants development. So, I think Sanwoolu’s emergence has made our job very easy, we will beat him black and blue,” Mr Taofik added.

After two postponements, the APC primaries held on Tuesday, involving delegates from 377 wards across 20 local governments, in which every card-carrying member of the party was eligible to vote. In an unprecedented split within the party, the APC was divided into two bitter camps, with one faction backing Governor Ambode and another created by Asiwaju Tinubu supporting Mr Sanwoolu.