Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 and 2019 elections, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has denied cross-carpeting to the ruling All Progressives Party (APC).
Laughing away the insinuations today when TheNewsGiant presented him with the rumours making the rounds on social media, Agbaje said, “People are saying, Emi l’okan to cross-carpet; but nothing like that.”
“Emi lokan,” in Yoruba, means, “It is my turn.”
The term gained popularity following the pre-APC primaries tirade of the former Governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to emphasise that after faithfully supporting President Muhammadu Buhari to the Nigerian presidency in 2015, everyone should rally round the Jagaban Borgu this time around.
Tinubu went on to emerge the APC Presidential Candidate last month at the party primaries last month.
However, Agbaje denied to TheNewsGiant that he had refused to follow the trail of of bigwigs (like Governor of Cross River State, Professor Ben Ayade, and others) who left PDP for APC.
“There is nothing to it. I never contemplated such a move,” he said. “Perhaps if it were another Presidential Candidate, it could even be imagined, but I can never work with Bola Tinubu.”
Acknowledging that the rumours had been making the rounds, he said a number of close friends, family and associates had directly been in touch with him to make enquiries.
“My phone too has been abuzz all week and my ear is even hot with calls,” he said. “Especially with Bola Tinubu as the party’s Presidential Candidate, it can never happen. There can be no move in that direction. Never! Never!”
On what may have triggered the rumours, Agbaje claimed ignorance.
He told TheNewsGiant, “Apparently, people just sit somewhere and concoct anything they want to imagine.”
The pharmacist who runs JayKay Pharmaceuticals was also the Lagos State Governorship Candidate of the Democratic People’s Alliance (DPA) in the 2011 elections.
He had left the Action Congress (AC) in 2011, after then Governor Tinubu singlehandedly anointed Babatunde Raji Fashola as his successor for the post over other contenders including Agbaje.
Source: TheNewsGiant
