Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran

A Broadcaster Who Turned to Politics

Adediran is of Awori descent and an indigene of Badagry. He attended The Polytechnic, Ibadan, trained as a broadcaster and told an interviewer in 2021 that he had worked in broadcasting for 18 years; he also described consulting work for governments, including the Presidency, which he said showed him how government works. In that interview he said he had never held political office and described the Lagos4Lagos idea as something he had developed since 2014. He has also been described as an energy and communications consultant and as chairman of several companies; those claims come from his own profile and were not verified. His degrees and other qualifications could not be confirmed, so none are listed here.

Lagos4Lagos and the Jandor Foundation

He describes Lagos4Lagos as a political movement that began as a non-partisan effort to make Lagos work for all residents, and he leads it as “Lead Visioner.” Its members attended the 2026 launch of his support group alongside APC leaders, local government chairmen and traditional rulers. He has also used the Jandor Foundation for empowerment and community work.

The 2023 Governorship Race

He won the PDP’s Lagos governorship primary in May 2022, with the actress Funke Akindele as his running mate. In the March 18, 2023 election, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC polled 762,134 votes and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party 312,329, while Adediran came third with 62,449. He and his party challenged the result, and the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court dismissed the case in early 2024. On the Supreme Court ruling, which the court said concerned a pre-election matter that should not have gone before the tribunal, he congratulated Sanwo-Olu, said he was disappointed but ready to move on and thanked his supporters.

Leaving the PDP and Returning to the APC

He left the PDP in early March 2025, blaming anti-party activity by Lagos leaders, particularly Chief Bode George, whom he accused of driving every governorship candidate out of the party. He said he had consulted national PDP leaders, including Atiku Abubakar, and would have considered reversing the resignation if the problems were addressed. About a week after meeting Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, he announced on March 2025 that he was rejoining the APC after talks with Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila and Seyi Tinubu. He said winning elections was the party’s priority and that “we have resolved to love our future much more than we hate our past.” The accusations against the PDP leaders are his own and were not independently verified.

The 2027 Withdrawal

In October 2025, he said he would run for governor again and support whoever the APC picked. On April 29, 2026, he bought the APC expression of interest and nomination forms. On Thursday, April 30, after a meeting involving the party’s Governance Advisory Council, the President and Hamzat, and an official statement naming Hamzat as the preferred candidate, he withdrew. He said, “In line with our earlier position that we will align with the decision of the party and the President, I hereby announce my withdrawal from the governorship race,” and told supporters, “Do not be sorrowful. This is not a personal ambition but a shared vision.” He thanked supporters who had contributed to his form fee and pledged to work for Tinubu’s re-election and an APC win in Lagos.

Campaign Roles, September and October 2026

On September 18, 2026, the party named him a member of its Lagos advisory council for the 2027 campaign, announced in a statement by his spokesperson, Gbenga Ogunleye; the council also includes Sanwo-Olu and former governors Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode. A report in October carried the headline that he was targeting three million votes for Tinubu and Hamzat; that report could not be opened, so the figure is not treated as confirmed. At the October 23 launch of his group, Sanwo-Olu, represented by his chief of staff, praised the initiative, and the Lagos Assembly speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, and APC chairman Cornelius Ojelabi commended his effort to fold his structure into the party.

Timeline