The Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State as elected Jimi Agbaje its governorship candidate for 2019 elections.
Agbaje was declared the winner governorship primary for Lagos State on Friday, after he polled 1,100 votes to defeat his rival Adedeji Doherty who polled 742 votes.
He will now jostle for the Lagos State governorship seat with Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The PDP candidate also contested in 2015 but lost to incumbent governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Agbaje, a pharmacist, polled 1,100 votes to defeat his rival, Adedeji Doherty, who had 742 votes in the party’s primary held in Ikeja, Lagos on Friday, which lasted about 30 hours.
He was the PDP candidate in the 2015 governorship election but lost to the current governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. It was believed in many circles that he was won the election but was manipulated out by the massive political apparatchik of the APC in Lagos state.
Ambode had earlier this week failed to get the ticket of his party, the All Progressives Congress, to seek re-election for a second term. He lost to Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the party’s primary.
Therefore, Agbaje will be contesting against the candidate of the ruling party, Sanwo-Olu, and those of other parties.
The Chairman of the five-man panel constituted by the PDP National Working Committee to oversee the primary, Senator Victor Oyofo, declared Agbaje as the party’s candidate and described the exercise as free and fair.
“By the powers conferred on me, I declare Chief Agbaje as the winner of the contest. I believe that he would be the next governor of Lagos State,” he said.
Agbaje, in his acceptance speech, vowed to defeat Sanwo-Olu and other contenders in the next election, saying the party would build on the successes it recorded in the 2015 governorship election.
Agbaje and the PDP lost to Ambode in the 2015 election with a margin of about 150,000, which was considered to be close as the former had 659,788 votes while the latter had 811,994.
“We recorded so much in 2015 and we have to build on it. I believe that was the reason why the party members decided to elect me again. And that gives me the confidence that we will win next year,” he said.
Agbaje, who noted that he was in the race to free Lagos State from an alleged disease affecting its growth, said, “There is a need for us to free Lagos from the disease that has affected it.
“In few weeks, I will be explaining that but the state is seriously infected by a disease. All other diseases that have affected the state were due to the symptoms of that disease.”
Doherty conceded defeat and assured Agbaje of his support ahead of the next election.
