Sanwo-Olu to shun debates with PDP candidate over violence

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State governor and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the state, has announced that he will no longer attend any debate where members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are to participate.

He described PDP members as agents of violence, apparently refering to a recent attack that reportedly occurred in Surulere area of Lagos on Friday.

While the PDP is accusing the APC)k of using thugs to attack supporters of its governorship candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran, better known as Jandor, the APC insists that it was Adediran’s thugs that unleashed violence on residents of the area.

Reacting to the incident in a statement on Saturday, Lagos commissioner for information, Gbenga Omotosho, said the state would not tolerate violence and being portrayed in a bad light.

He stated “We condemn this savagery that has portrayed our state, the safest in Nigeria, in a bad light. That is not who we are; we are civilised and cultured.

“Following advice from competent sources, including elders and respectable Lagosians, we will henceforth shun any forum that may require us being together with PDP and its agents of violence.

“Consequently, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu regrets to announce that he will not be participating at The Platform Governorship Debate of January 29, 2023.  

“The governor holds Pastor Poju Oyemade and The Covenant Nation Church family in high esteem and cherishes future opportunities to engage the congregation and render accounts of his stewardship to them as integral parts of the Lagos electorate.

“We will never be found in the company of those to whom the lives of innocent Lagosians mean nothing. Mr Sanwo-Olu won’t share a podium with them.”