The chairman of the Alliance for Democracy in Lagos State, Mr. Kola Ajayi, speaks about his party’s chances in the 2015 Lagos governorship election
Why didn’t your party participate in the 2011 general elections?
We presented candidates during the elections but we did not have a governorship candidate. We fielded candidates for the House of Representatives and the House of Assembly and this was because by the time we were given recognition, it was already late. So, we fielded candidates in Alimosho, Agege, Ajegunle, Kosofe and some other local governments because we got the nod to field candidates late. Continue..
So, will your party participate in the general elections in 2015?
Yes, in all elective positions. We will field candidates for the National Assembly positions and the state Houses of Assembly and governorship elections.
What are the chances of the AD winning any election given the fact that in Nigeria, money plays a big role in elections?
We have a very big chance. Since the crisis in the party, this is the first time in almost 10 years that we have had time to prepare for elections and that was why we participated in the Osun State governorship election. Our candidate was Senator Sunday Fajimi, who was an AD senator between 1999 and 2003 but for Lagos. For a very long time we did not have a secretariat but we now have one and many members have been coming. We have our structures in almost every local government.
But how will your party garner huge support without personalities like former governors Bola Tinubu and Bisi Akande who have since left your party?
Do they have any electoral value? Tinubu is gradually fading out if you look at it carefully. They were the cause of the crisis in our party. They were beneficiaries of the AD because they won elections on the platform of our party and they are still collecting pension on AD’s name. They were our greatest enemies because I see no reason why they should dump a party that made them for a new one and all what they are doing is just to ensure that the AD does not exist. So, it is better that they are no longer in our fold because we now have peace in the party. We might have minor crisis but it is manageable unlike when they were here. They suppressed the AD and gave people the impression that the AD is no longer existing but their leaving the AD does not mean that the AD is dead. There are still some people who have value that are in our party like Senator Sunday Fajimi. We can defeat APC and PDP.
In retrospect, what do you think cause the crisis in the AD?
It was just self-interest. For us to retain our position, we said we would work for the Presidency so the arrangement of the election was reversed. So, where governorship election should come first, they decided that the presidential election would take place first because they wanted to retain their position but they all lost their seats. Only one (Tinubu) survived.
The Oba of Lagos has endorsed an aspirant in the All Progressives Congress for governorship. How will you succeed despite such endorsement?
That is their usual practice. They always impose. The oba was acting out a script and we know the person who is speaking. That was why many left the AD then because this same set of people always want to impose candidates and for an elected person to be answerable to the people, you must allow people to choose the person rather than council chairmen and governor being answerable to the people that voted them into office, they are answerable to a particular person because the person that imposed them would have given them certain conditions and that is why we are not having good governance now
But how do you score the present government in Lagos?
I score it low. The only reason Governor Babatunde Fashola reduced the school fees of the Lagos State University was because his party lost the Ekiti State governorship election. They know that they are gradually fading out because of their elitist government. There are some schools in Lagos where pupils sit on the floor.
What of the beautification of Lagos?
We only see flowers on federal roads. But if you go to inner roads, there is no beautification. Go to Alimosho, Oshodi where there is no motorable road in Mafoluku. The health services are poor. If the health sector was good, why did Fashola take his father abroad for treatment when he fell ill before he died? Why is it that anytime Tinubu is ill, he goes abroad for treatment? The only road they constructed at Lekki, they set up tollgates there.
The Peoples Democratic Party has said it will form alliances in Lagos ahead of the governorship election. Is your party going to be part of this alliance?
They have invited us but that can’t work. In 2011, because we could not field a governorship candidate, we worked for one of their candidates and we even supported President Goodluck Jonathan but what did we gain from them? And you can even trace the genesis of the AD crisis to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. So, as for Lagos State, we will field candidates next year. There won’t be any partnership or alliance. What do you want me to tell our supporters? Do you want us to tell them “when you want to vote for governor, vote for the PDP and then for the House of Assembly, vote AD?” It does not make sense and if we accept that, then we are not doing the party well. And I am sure that if there is peace in the PDP in other states, I doubt if they will have peace in Lagos because they are always involved in one crisis or the other, particularly when it comes to their governorship primary. In 2011, Adeseye Ogunlewe was knocked out while Bode George and his candidate had their way. This time around, I have been hearing that one person that has been ordained by the President belongs to the Ogunlewe group so if you look at the reactions, you will realise some are even kicking against his candidature. So, why should we join such a party? So, we will field a strong candidate
Does the AD have grass roots support?
We have but we don’t want to blow our trumpet now. We are doing gradual mobilisation. When you look at the population of Lagos, the number of registered voters and the number of people that vote, you will discover a huge gap. The total number of votes that Fashola got in 2011 was less than two million whereas the number of registered voters in Lagos is about six million so what happened to the rest? We need to reach out to them because we politicians don’t know more than inducing voters with rice and stipends. So, we want to target people that are not too political.
Having scored this administration low, what plan does the AD have for Lagosians?
We are well known in the South-West and we have a root. Forget about the Social Democratic Party, it does not have MKO Abiola’s roots but it is creation of the military and it has been proscribed. The same thing for the Unity Party of Nigeria. Nigerians have a habit of naming their party after great personalities. But the UPN is not a direct descendant of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The proper root is the Action Group then UPN then AD. The UPN and the SDP are dead parties now, they are only trying to associate with dead heroes. The AD is known for gainful employment and free education, good health care. We will not burden people with multiple taxation as is done now. That is the cause of inflation.
Are you saying the AD will change the policies of the current Lagos government?
We are not saying that. We will make use of the policies that we know are beneficial to the masses and the one that is anti-people will be jettisoned.
The APC has entrenched itself in every sector of Lagos. How does the AD plan to penetrate this structure before 2015?
I am happy that during election, the Federal Government deploys a large number of security agents. I hope they do the same in Lagos because the likes of Kick Against Indiscipline brigade are used during elections. These agencies that are being run by the state government are not loved by the masses and it will work against them.
But the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority was established by the AD administration of Tinubu?
I was one of the first commanders of KAI. It was created to compensate some of us who were in the Alliance Youth Congress because we were loyal to Tinubu. I was made an area commander and was posted to Ladipo. We were not paid salaries but we were encouraged to extort money from members of the public. Four Mobile Policemen were attached to my unit and one day, when I went out to monitor my boys, I discovered how they were extorting money from innocent members of the public. I told my boys not to arrest people but should sensitise people on the dangers of crossing the expressway but what they usually did was to wear plain clothes and hide so that when someone is crossing the road, they arrest the person and extort money from them and street hawkers and traders contribute and give as much as N250, 000 to KAI commanders. KAI officials arrest pedestrians crossing expressways that don’t even have pedestrian bridges. So, one day, I just decided to leave the job because they cause hardship for the people. The common misconception is that people are seeing the PDP as an alternative to the APC but is there a difference between the two parties? Is there a difference between six and half a dozen? Is there a difference between the Federal Government and the APC? So, we want to be an alternative to these parties
You spoke about Obasanjo contributing to the crisis in the AD. Can you explain?
He capitalised on the greed of AD governors. They went to Obasanjo and promised to help increase his popularity in the South-West and promised to help garner support for him on the condition that he would help them win a second term. And that time there was a serious problem between former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Obasanjo and the governors capitalised on that. I remember that Tinubu even organised a six million-man rally at the National Stadium and publicly said he would give Obasanjo six million votes and the leadership of the Afenifere kicked against it. This was because in 1999, the first election was the local government and then the House of Assembly and governorship election while the presidential election was the last but the thing was turned around in 2003 and the presidential election took place first and immediately Obasanjo won the election, he turned around to canvass for the PDP. That was how we lost because the likes of former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba, Lam-Adesina of Oyo and Tinubu caused the crisis because they were the ones that went to make a deal with Obasanjo.
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