Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has declared his intention to join the 2027 governorship race in Lagos.
Rhodes-Vivour, popularly known as GRV participated in the governorship race in 2023 under the Lagos Party but lost to the incumbent, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, he said he wouldn’t give up on actualising his ambition to be Lagos State Governor.
He, however, didn’t indicate if he would still use the LP platform or contest under another political party.
“By God’s grace, yes,” he confirmed when asked if he would join the 2027 governorship race in Lagos State.
“I believe that if all parties do not come together, it is going to be a waste of time running in 2027 because there is a full state capture happening in this country now.
“We cannot afford for the opposition to be separate. For now, my job is to ensure that I have a strong party – Labour Party.”
During the programme, he weighed in on some reforms embarked upon by President Bola Tinubu upon assuming office in May 2023.
Tinubu has been criticised for abolishing a longstanding fuel subsidy and floating the naira currency shortly after he took office.
A proposed tax reform has also exposed regional tensions between the country’s predominantly Muslim north and Christian south.
Nigeria is currently suffering one of its worst economic crises in decades with inflation reaching 34.6 percent in November. Tinubu said he expects this to drop to 15 percent in 2025.
But Rhodes-Vivour claimed cronies of the President and government officials were the beneficiaries of Tinubu’s reforms, rather than the ordinary Nigerians.
“The people are experiencing unprecedented hardship. Today, over 70 per cent of people’s income is spent on transportation and food. They have not even started to think about how they can afford accommodation.
“We have a situation where there is a culture of wastefulness, extravagance that does not reflect the dire economic situation that the same President is pushing out that needs to be reformed.
“The only people that seem to be benefitting from these reforms are maybe the bankers, the people in government and the President’s friends. How many Nigerians can say they are benefitting from any reform any reform right now?,” he queried.
