Sixty-nine candidates of the PDP for the 2023 general elections in Lagos on Sunday evening held a closed-door meeting at the Sheraton Hotels in Ikeja.

The meeting, which started at about 8:00 p.m., had in attendance the governorship candidate Olajide Adediran, deputy governorship candidate Funke Akindele, the three senatorial candidates, 24 house of representatives candidates, 40 house of assembly candidates and party leaders.

Before the meeting, Mr Adediran told journalists that it would be the second gathering of party chieftains and the candidates after the PDP primaries.

“Today, we have come together here to tell the whole world that PDP in Lagos state is ready to take over power come 2023. This is the second of this meeting where all candidates of the party will be coming together, strategising and mapping out methods by which we are going to take over the mantle of leadership of the state,” Mr Adediran explained.

He added, “We are not just a party that you used to know. This is new Lagos PDP, a rebranded one poised for winning. We have 69 of us that are going to be on the ballot for both the national and the state elections.”

Mr Adediran, the convener of Lagos4Lagos Movement, said the party and all its candidates were mindful of the yearnings of the people of Lagos “and had taken time to study their requests.”

According to him, out of the 69 PDP candidates in Lagos, 23 per cent are below 40, 41 per cent below 50, and only 36 are above 50.

“If we win the election, we will decentralise development to the hinterlands and not concentrating development in the city centre. For us, the 69 of us here, we have decided to work together and go to the polls with a single purpose of making the wealth of Lagos state work for its people,” Mr Adediran stated. The 69 of us have decided to say enough is enough. We are not joking, we know what Lagos residents want and we will do everything humanly possible to ensure victory.”

(NAN)