The Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Seye Oladejo, spoke with reporters on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s achievements, preparations for the February 26 national convention of the ruling party
APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu few weeks ago visited President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him about his decision to contest for president in 2023…
It is no longer his decision, it is our decision. It can as well be reported that Asiwaju will contest. He won’t say no to the large majority of people clamouring for him to run for the presidency. It is not in his style to say no to the people.
Lagos is Tinubu’s base, and it is expected that he will be fully supported. Are you expecting that kind of support from other chapters of the party?
Asiwaju is well-grounded and over time, he has built a lot of goodwill and bridges across the country and across various ethnic nationalities. Asiwaju has been the man of the people and maybe, for a very long time, as he said, he knew this day will come when he will need the various people he has been able to help. People call him different names like kingmaker, godfather, Lion of Bourdillon, which were all creations of the media. But, he never called himself any of those titles. We just know him as Asiwaju of Lagos, Jagaban Borgu, a former governor of Lagos and one-time senator; that is what we know him as. So, if at a time like this when we look at issues bothering on us as a nation, bothering on economy where he is well grounded, bothering on security, education, good healthcare, I think it is the right time for us to have a personality like Asiwaju for the presidency. We are very optimistic and it is going to be fun because the opposition will have their say, but people will have their way.
There is very strong indication that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is also interested in running for the presidency. What is the feeling in APC?
Let me admit that it is the within the right of the vice president to aspire too. Naturally, as a politician, he has been in the saddle as a vice president for the past six and half years. It is quite possible. It is also possible that he might not necessarily be a willing aspirant and for a reason best known to some people, they are trying to push him into the race. It is also in public space that a lot of people benefitted immensely from Asiwaju’s large-heartedness. When they call Asiwaju a kingmaker, I will call him a fisher of men and fisher of talents because through him, a whole lot of people have been able to fulfill their destiny. People that would have been largely obscure and just do their things wherever they belong being thrown into political visibility through him. They have been able to use him to gain political limelight. But be that as it may, I think appropriately, our party will handle it and it might not just be the vice president alone, there might also be other people who want to aspire. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a democrat. The more the merrier and I am sure with the various people that are also supporting Asiwaju, there is no reason for us to lose sleep over anyone’s aspiration, especially somebody who has not openly declared. We should commend Asiwaju Tinubu for the way he is approaching this race. First, he went to meet the incumbent president to announce his ambition to him that he intends to aspire for presidency. I think that is the way a gentleman should go about it and there are very few gentlemen in politics.
Don’t you think proliferation of aspirants from Southwest will affect the zone’s chances during the party’s presidential primary, if aspirants from other zones contest for the APC ticket?
We are looking at a situation whereby at the appropriate time, the presidency will be zoned. It is a matter of conscience, morality and principle. It is a matter of gentlemanly agreement at the inception of this party, that the presidency should come to the South and micro-zoned to the Southwest. Let me just say this. Asiwaju enjoys massive support in the North as we speak. The clamour is even louder in the North than any other zone in this country. So, whatever number of aspirants may come from the Southwest for the presidency, I don’t think it is going to change anything about our expectations.
Is zoning in the APC Constitution?
There are a lot of things that you don’t necessary have to put in the constitution of a party. But they are just things that you want to believe, that based on certain understanding, it will happen. I am not just having this conversation. A whole lot of prominent people in the party and in government, even those old enough has been able to make the situation very clear that zoning is the right and appropriate thing to do.
Some people are of the view that Asiwaju should remain a kingmaker…
Asiwaju never called himself a kingmaker. It is the creation and tone of the media. That question amounts to why Asiwaju is ambitious. My own definition of life is a state of becoming. Today you are journalists, it won’t be forbidden for you to also be business owners in the same media. Everybody has rights to aspire to be anything. It is within Asiwaju’s right for him to be President. He has paid his dues. The question you also ask is within the past few days, he has just made intention known and not yet declared. How come the political space just changed and Asiwaju has become the talk of the town? Don’t you think Asiwaju is giving a lot of people sleepless night?
There is a belief in some quarters that thr Southeast should produce the next president, just like how it was done in 1999 when the Southwest was given the opportunity to produce president…
As a matter of fact, if PDP would want to lay any claim to integrity, fair play and justice, the PDP presidential ticket should be zoned to the Southeast. Since 1999, the Southeast has been very loyal and committed to the course of PDP. Until the likes of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State crossed over to APC and despite that, we can safely conclude that Southeast is a region for PDP.
I think if you have certain expectations as regard some high offices, it also behooves that we should play the right politics to be able to earn it. Power is never served a la carte. You earn it by working for it. So, if there is a party that should really by right consider the Southeast, it should be PDP. You will agree with me that in the Southwest, ably led by Asiwaju, contributed greatly to wrestling the power from the then ruling party. So, we would expect as a matter of right that the presidential ticket should be zoned to the Southwest. We have earned it.
What is your reaction to some of the issues in the media in relation to Asiwaju Tinubu’s source of wealth, age, health and educational background?
I know that the opposition party has been feasting so much on that. It is very interesting that all the people in the opposition have access to Asiwaju’s medical records and they have all become authority on his state of health. It is absurd and ridiculous. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined good health as a complete state of physical, psychological and social wellbeing. It doesn’t mean the absence of infirmity and diseases.
Let us give Asiwaju some credit. When he had to do surgery, it was in the public space; everybody knew about it and they literally turned London to a Mecca of sorts daily. That is the hallmark of a honest leader. He is not hiding his medical situation from the people. He was at liberty to say it is his private business and really at this point in time, it remains his private business. He is a private citizen of Nigeria, but it was in the public space. So, if he had to do surgery on his leg and they suddenly picked that up to a sort of life-threatening situation, it is unfortunate, to say the least. You would also want to observe that since he came back from that trip, he has been everywhere; that has shown that he is healthy.
You won’t find people that is over 50 years and you won’t find one little thing that they will need to pay attention to. I know some people will say that is not correct because I don’t’ have any; perhaps the person is not aware. He should create time to go and do a check-up. So, with the life of struggle and the sleepless nights, permanent stress that Asiwaju has gone through before the advent of democracy and after the advent of democracy; we are talking of a gentleman who has few hours of sleep in a day attending to various issues. When Asiwaju becomes the president, please, note it, he might probably be the healthiest president Nigeria has ever had.
What can you really say about Tinubu’s age…
Talking about his age, for over one and half decades, Asiwaju has always celebrated his birthday with a colloquium and come March 29, Asiwaju will be 70 years old. It is as clear as that. They continue to give life to issues that have been dead and buried long time ago, talking about his age, educational qualification and the rest of it. We know reasons for that; the issues that happened when he became a governor, talking about the discrepancies as a result of some petitions from two largely anonymous petitioners. I said anonymous because when the Lagos State House of Assembly set up a committee to look at the issue, they invited the petitioners; they didn’t show up. They went to the addresses of the petitioners; they didn’t see them. So, they were anonymous. As at that time, Asiwaju Tinubu was a sitting governor and it was only the House of Assembly that could constitutionally investigate the petition because he enjoyed immunity. The committee did a thorough job; invited all those involved and it was established that those were genuine errors committed by Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, who filled those forms on his behalf and it was established.
It is very simple. Who can become the President of Nigeria? A Nigerian, from 35 years old, a card-carrying member of a political party and must be sponsored by a political party. It is as a simple as that, unless somebody wants to tell me Asiwaju is not yet 35 years old. The issues surrounding Asiwaju is simply bad politics; that they want to play up those issues. And since then, he has been given a clean bill of health. Yes, he attended Richard Daley College and thereafter, Chicago State University where he got B.Sc in Business Administration, specialising in Accounting. So, this should put an end to the controversies. But, for all they care, they should continue to do whatever they like.
They talked about his source of wealth; Asiwaju’s wealth cannot be measured in monetary value; naira and kobo. I will rather measure his wealth with the goodwill he has all over the place by building men who are willing to play their parts at a time like this when they feel they should reciprocate his good gestures of some many years and these men are spread all over the world beyond Nigeria. When the time comes, you will see for yourselves. I think those in the opposition should just concentrate on marketing their candidate or aspirant rather than wasting precious time and resources on disparaging Asiwaju and desperately trying to pull him down.
How would you react to the allegation that Asiwaju Tinubu is corrupt?
Subjecting Asiwaju to trial on social media and regular media would not work in anyway. We all recall the sensational Code of Conduct Bureau trial; he got a clean bill of health. So, trying to label Asiwaju as been corrupt and all of that, I will leave it for Asiwaju to decide on the appropriate action to take at the appropriate time. But I think deliberately, as a statesman with a large heart, he has deliberately decided to ignore all these accusations.
You will also recall that the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said several times that they investigated Lagos State severally and even brought on board FBI and they couldn’t find anything. And in all the PDP’s years of misrule and with all the powers they wielded, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the rest of them couldn’t find anything against Asiwaju. I think they should just let the man rest. I will advise the opposition to be more creative. Nigerians are getting bored of the same stories they tell every time elections are getting close. And maybe, there is an ailment that afflicts them every four years. So, they should just look for a final solution to that.
When is Nigeria likely to hear from Asiwaju Tinubu about his plans for Nigeria?
As we speak, Asiwaju has not addressed the media as an aspirant for the presidential ticket of the APC. Let me tell you, Asiwaju will run a very robust campaign based on issues, policy statement and everything Nigerians will want to hear from a well-grounded presidential candidate and I can also assure you that his manifestos are still in the works. The manifesto will address various issues. We just need to wait until he declares and all those things will be in the public space and it will be well know to everybody.
What makes you think the opposition against Asiwaju is not even within your party?
I said opposition without and within. I think they should just summon courage as expected of a party and bring their aspirant to the open so that we would also cross-examine them and look at their credentials rather than facing Asiwaju. All the years of PDP with all the power they weilded, they couldn’t have found anything against Asiwaju. I think they should just let the matter rest. I will also advise the opposition to be more creative.
How seamless will the February 26 APC national convention be?
We are very hopeful that it will be seamless. As the ruling party, I am of the opinion that we should have managed our success better. We should have been more focused on the business of governance and achieving cohesion within the party rather than being distracted by the politics of the next election. It is the politics of the next election that has remained an aberration and has become a clog in the wheel of having a successful national convention. So, we will pray and hope that the February 26 date will remain sacrosanct; that it will hold and the party would be able to move on from there. Let me just assure you, thereafter, we believe our party should be able to put its house in order and retain power.
Will Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu get a second term?
For the governorship election, you know that at the appropriate time, our party, the leadership and of course, the membership will decide the direction we have to go. As we speak now, Mr. Governor is doing very well.
How would you assess the Sanwo-Olu administration so far? Do you think his achievement is enough to give him second term?
Governor Sanwo-Olu has exceeded expectations. The way he took over should not be lost on us. A lot of things were not working the way it should work; the issue of environment, infrastructural deficit and a whole lots of things. He came on board to tackle some unusual situations; a situation like the COVID-19 pandemic. Lagos remains the epicenter; COVID is not over yet and we should not be carried away, although we were told that it has come to live with us. He performed brilliantly handling that pandemic. That was widely acknowledged everywhere and it became a template for how government should handle that kind of situation and he has not used that as an excuse anyway.
Of course, couple with that is EndSARS protest that we found eventually was largely more political than just been spontaneous. And he hasn’t used that as an excuse not to perform. He has also kept faith. He has shown to us, unlike most other governors, that he is going to complete projects of his predecessors and which he has been doing by commissioning them. He has kept faith with the THEMES agenda, which is all-encompassing-transportation, health care, education, technology, tourism and the rest of it.
As a party, we are happy with the governor. We are supporting him to finish strongly, deliver on all those projects he has embarked on. He has done very well in the transport sector. We are all aware of the commissioned rail project and before the end of his tenure, that would change the face of Lagos and the face of transportation in the state. It will save very important manpower, which has implication for the economy of the state and by extension, the economy of the country. So, we have no regret that we gave the party ticket to someone like Governor Sanwo-Olu. We are expecting that he is going to fulfill all his promises and finish strongly.
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