From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Rasheed Teslim-Balogun, son of legendary footballer and coach, Tesilimi Balogun, fondly called ‘Thunder’, has joined the 2023 governorship race in Lagos State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, directly opposite National Stadium, was named after his father by the Lagos State Government. His father got the nickname, ‘Thunder’, because of his power strikes on football pitch.
Teslim-Balogun, an engineer, in the first week of 2022, had visited the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the PDP, Taofeek Arapaja, and the party’s National Vice Chairman (South West), Soji Adagunodo, who said he has what it takes to take the commercial capital of Nigeria to greater heights.
The duo of Arapaja and Adagunodo played host to him in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to further consolidate on the expected electoral victories for PDP in the off-season governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun state, this year, as well as governorship elections in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo in 2023, apart from the one of Ondo that will hold in 2024.
The governorship aspirant, however, expressed confidence in the ability of the PDP, saying the party would excel in the coming elections across South West.