Olawale Rhodes-Vivour, the father of the governorship candidate of the Labour party Gbadebo, says his son is not a supporter of the prescribed separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The lawyer stated this at a press conference on Wednesday in the Ikeja area of Lagos when he endorsed his son for poll, saying Gbadebo has character and is rugged to finish what he has started.
Olawale also said it is possible to “prevail against evil” if Lagosians come out en masse and vote his son.
“If we can see the writing on the wall that it is possible to prevail against evil, then please come out on the 11th of March and make it a resounding victory for all of us,” he said at the event well-attended by the Rhodes-Vivour family and chieftains of the pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere.
A former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Senator Kofo Bucknor-Akerele was also at the event.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared, come out on the 11th. We have put in place strategies,” the LP governorship candidate’s father said.
“We are going to be proactive and not reactive on the 11th because if we got 900,000 votes and you gave us 500,000 votes, even though we beat you, still affect the overall turnout of the situation.”
He said Nigerians have had enough and they just want normal, decent people in the position of power.
He said, “Gbadebo is my son. Gbadebo is not a politician; he is an activist. That is the core character of Gbadebo. When he came out of school, he was busy leading marches to the legislature, he was debating with the minister of agriculture.
“My son is rugged enough to finish what he started.
“Gbadebo, at heart, is just a good man because he reacts violently to anything negative.
“During his activism, he realised that it is difficult to change things as an activist and he decided to go back to school to have a Masters in Political Science.”
Olawale also distanced his son from the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). “Gbadebo have no time for IPOB. This boy is highly educated, highly driven. We can track is record everyday in Lagos. He has no time for IPOB. Even Obi himself has come out to say he doesn’t support IPOB.”
Aside from the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is seeking reelection under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rhodes-Vivour has his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Olajide Adediran aka Jandor to contend with in the exercise.
In the presidential election, LP’s Obi polled 582,454 votes in Lagos to trounce the flag bearer of the APC, Bola Tinubu who scored 572,606 votes.
In total, Obi won 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory but Tinubu scored the highest votes in total and was later on Wednesday announced the winner of the poll and Nigeria’s President-elect.
