Factional APC leader endorses Agbaje ahead of 2019 elections

A former factional leader of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos state, Fouad Oki and his supporters have endorsed the Peoples’ Democratic Party candidate, Jimi Agbaje, for the governorship race in the state.

Fouad, an ardent supporter of former governor of Lagos state who is now Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola, dumped the APC few months ago for Accord Party along with his supporters.

The former APC members had accused the leadership of the party in the state of imposition and high-handedness.

At a press briefing in Lagos on Thursday, chieftains of Accord Party announced the endorsement of Agbaje, asking members of the party to work with him to unseat the ruling APC.

Joseph Beckley, governorship candidate of Accord Party in Lagos, said his decision to concede to Agbaje was in the interest of the party and to take the state to a better place.

Agbaje, who was present at the meeting which held at Airport Hotel in Ikeja, thanked the key politicians.

He said Beckley accepted to concede to him because he saw a larger picture ahead and he knew it was a man with better chances that could solve the problems at hand.

“Beckley has magnanimously stepped down for me so that Accord can endorse me as their candidate for governor of Lagos state in 2019,” Agbaje said.

“It takes a man of character to have run for an office, got the ticket and to accept that there is a larger picture to look at, that there is a more serious problem on ground and that to overcome it, he has agreed to step down for a person with a better chance.

“I accept with humility the honour you have granted to us. We shall get to the government house and serve our people better than the way they are being served today. The freedom train is on the move. There’s still room in the train and it’s time to move on. It’s time for freedom for Lagos. We will get there in 2019.”

In the course of his campaign, Agbaje has been engaged in heated exchanges with not just Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his APC rival, but also Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the ruling party.

Agbaje had once said he was determined to set Lagosians free from Tinubu, to which Tinubu taunted him that those talking of freedom should take up apprenticeship in vulcanising but Agbaje fired back, saying: “Pharaoh, let my people go”.