The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has said debates over his Yoruba language ability and family background will not address the challenges confronting residents of the state.
Rhodes-Vivour stated this while responding to questions about criticisms from opponents over his ability to speak Yoruba and his family origin during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
The ADC candidate said while language and culture remained important, such issues should not distract from addressing the everyday problems facing Lagosians.
‘I have always said language, culture are extremely important and we will campaign when we need to campaign. But we need to address these issues that are affecting many Lagosians,’ he said.
Rhodes-Vivour argued that the focus of political discussions should be on issues affecting residents, including traffic and other challenges confronting the state.
He accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of shifting attention away from what he described as the major concerns of Lagosians.
‘And what I find with the APC is they strategically consistently make us major on the minors and we don’t deal with the real issues affecting Lagosians. So, in this campaign season I will always bring it back to the issues,’ he said.
The ADC candidate added that he would not allow questions about his background to distract him from his campaign message.
‘I am not going to allow any distractions, you can call me any name you like, lie about my family heritage and all of that, it is fine,’ he said.
‘My family, language, all of that is not going to change the situation that people are facing in traffic.’
Rhodes-Vivour, who came second in the 2023 Lagos governorship election on the platform of the Labour Party, said he remained confident that Lagosians would support his vision for the state.
He said he had remained consistent in his ideas on how to improve the quality of life of residents and described integrity as one of the differences between him and the ruling party.
‘I am not here to run a business, I am not here to run a company. I am here to impact maximally the quality of lives of Lagosians,’ he said.
The ADC candidate also said he would not engage in budget padding if elected, alleging that inflated figures appeared in some government budgets.
He cited examples of items he claimed were allegedly inflated, including a generator and an air freshener listed in previous budgets, while calling for greater focus on transparency in governance.
Rhodes-Vivour said his campaign was better prepared for the 2027 election than it was in 2023, adding that he would not be intimidated during the contest.