Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, a former gubernatorial hopeful in the Peoples’ Democratic Party, will officially announce his defection to the Labor Party (LP) “next week,” OHAFIA TV News has learned.

Rhodes-Vivour, one of the favorites to win the PDP’s gubernatorial nomination for the 2023 general election, dropped out of the race hours before the party’s primary.

His withdrawal, along with three other hopefuls, paved the way for the emergence of Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, as the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate.

A source close to Rhodes-Vivour, who preferred not to be named, said that the former candidate is leaving the PDP due to his dissatisfaction with internal party politics.

The source further said that Mr. Rhodes-Vivour’s defection is related to the way the PDP handled its gubernatorial primaries.

Some media reports also claimed that his discontent was due to Mr. Adediran’s refusal to appoint him as his running mate despite having the backing of all 20 party local government presidents in the state.

Mr. Rhodes-Vivour, 39, was the KOWA Party candidate in Ikeja in the 2017 local government elections in Lagos State.

He later joined the PDP and ran for the West Lagos senatorial ticket, narrowly losing to incumbent Senator Solomon Adeola of the APC with 243,516 votes to Adeola’s 323,817.

Ifagbemi Awamaridi, the president of LP in Lagos, said that he is not yet aware of Rhodes-Vivour’s decision to join his party.

“You know it has to come together from the district, and when it does, the district and local government presidents will be aware,” said Awamaridi, the LP’s gubernatorial candidate for 2023.

“Once he checks in with his ward, I’ll find out.

“Many people announce that they will join the party and if the person is a political novice, they will just charge money.”