Why PDP’ll never rule Lagos –Tunde Salau

Hon Tunde Salau represented Epe Federal Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) be­tween 2003 and 2007 before defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In this interview with REMI ADEFU­LU, he declares that having tasted the two parties, the APC boasts of the appropriate vehicle for the actualisation of the Nigerian project. Excerpts:
Do you think your party is suf­ficiently prepared for 2015?
There are certain things about facing an election. The first thing is to do your home work thoroughly, getting yourself ready be­fore you put your manifesto and plans into action. So far, in Lagos State, we are faced now with conducting credible primaries for prospective aspirants, with a view to coming out with our best to face the general elec­tion. At the national level, we have so many aspirants contesting. The modality for pick­ing the candidates, through the modified pri­maries, was conceived by the elders of the party. The intention is to produce a candi­date that will be acceptable, somebody that has what it takes to deliver Nigeria from her current state of helplessness, a person who will be able to deliver the party’s manifesto as clearly anticipated. This is because at times when a candidate has a totally differ­ent idea, it brings about a situation where people get confused and they tend to shift the blame to the party. The most important is getting a candidate that is a thinker, a doer, somebody who knows what Nigeria needs at this juncture, somebody prepared to take on Nigeria’s problems without fear or favor. That is what Nigeria needs now.
APC parades notable presiden­tial aspirants, don’t you see this as a challenge?
You could see from the turnout at their outings, especially the rally of all rallies in Benin. You saw the massive turnout of Be­nin residents and the presidential hopefuls. You saw the way they chatted. It shows they have a good frame of mind. Somebody must be picked and that person must be credible, acceptable to the generality of aspirants. We can’t be equal. Naturally, when someone superior is picked, you kowtow and let go. There is a natural tendency that you would like to work with that person, you are full of good will and all that because you believe in that person. Whatever you have as solution, that person has same in terms of solving whatever problems or ills of the society. If a person emerges and the person is seen to be credible enough and representative enough of a fairly large number of constituents, I’m sure there won’t be any problem. The party is fully in charge of the situation. At the re­cently concluded constitution review meet­ings of the party, I can assure you all these things were taken care of. Look at the people APC currently parades. We have Atiku, Bu­hari, Kwankwaso and Tanbuwal. All these are very credible people. We are not talking about a wishy washy thing, we are talking about high grade, high caliber representa­tives. Believe me, they can face anybody anywhere, Jonathan inclusive in any elec­tion. All we are praying for is to have a cred­ible, open, fair and just election, so that at the end of the day, Nigerians can boast that the leaders we have produced came through our votes, not through rigging. That is why INEC must be extremely careful so that this election does not turn to something we never prayed for in this country. They predicted that Nigeria will break, Nigeria can never break, if the will of the people is seen to have manifested in terms of results declared when elections were concluded, when their wishes are seen to have manifested. When this does not happen, you are giving room for all kinds of chaos and all the things we don’t wish for in this country.
In picking APC’s presidential candidate, would you support con­sensus or primary?
(Takes a heavy breath) Hmm, the issue of consensus is democratic. Before, we used to have a system where you picked delegates from the various wards and constituencies. Sometimes, these delegates, may be about 10 come together and pick one out of them as a super delegate. Would you say that is not democratic? It is democratic. Some­times, there are various factors you bring into consideration when picking a candidate for the party. The candidate must represent the people, he must represent the party. These are aggregates you consider in pick­ing a candidate. Consensus is for people, not for machines. Consensus is the aggregate opinion from various party constituents. In­stead having a jamboree, that was why the party deemed it wise that may be it would be better to have a modified kind of primaries.
When the modalities are out, it will enjoy the support of APC card carrying members because we have our style of doing things, a style that does not promote rancor. It does not give room for mud slinging. Look at PDP, they are faced with their problems. Be­lieve me , the problems are not small. They have never been able to manage their mem­bers. Everybody is on his own. In the PDP boat, you have about one million captains. That is why they will never win Lagos State. What makes a party thick is not because it occupies the Federal Government, it’s what they represent. What they offer the people. What people see them to be. Are these seri­ous people? No, they are not. In Lagos State, they can’t even manage a local government, talk less of managing a state.
I know what the party entails especially as regards Lagos. They are not people to be worried about. They have showed that they don’t have the attribute to govern Lagos. They are not organised; they are not people of repute. I don’t think they have done anything cred­ible or worthy of mention. Meanwhile, in the APC we have a record of performance. Asiwaju did extremely well, handed over to Fashola who did extremely well too. It is a big challenge. It’s a big challenge to who­ever is coming in to take over from Fashola. By the grace of God, it’s going to be an­other APC governor. Between Tinubu and Fashola, we have seen a century worth of development. I’m talking of something un­precedented in the history of Lagos since its creation. Look at all the various infrastruc­tural development, look at all the areas you never thought you could get access to.
Roads are being constructed on a daily basis, drain­ages are been built and many more. All these are happening in a state that half of it was virtually sinking as at 1996/97 due to failed infrastructure. Some parts of Somolu and others were virtually cut off from the rest of the world. Some of these areas are where the majority of the people are living; Iyana Ipaja, Command, Idimu, new Idimu, Ejigbo, Ikotun, Abaranje, Ijegun were virtually cut off from civilization because hitherto there were no good roads. The best roads you can boast of now in Lagos now transverse LASU to Iyana Ipaja, and that is where the masses live. This is not an elitist government, and that is not saying the elites are forgotten. Development is taking place simultaneously across the state.
There is a lot of discontent in APC in Lagos over 2015 guber poll, won’t this be a challenge?
I have never seen a party where you don’t have aspiration and I’ve never seen a party where people are not passionate about their aspiration. Once you have a passion for your aspiration, some heat must be gener­ated. What is happening in the party now is overblown. There is no hitch, no rancor. People have been orderly. I’ve not heard of threats in the APC. What is happening is that people are more aware politically. People want to beat the achievements of Tinubu and Fashola, so there is healthy competition in APC. We don’t turn ourselves into punching bags. Whoever emerges at the end of the day believe me, will be acceptable to all. Why people like us believe in APC is because it is service – oriented party. It’s a party that’s fully committed. Fashola hardly sleeps, I know this for a fact. It’s about Lagos. Once you start something good, you will want to be seen to be carrying on that good work throughout, so that you are being seen to have delivered on your party manifesto. You would have been seen to have carried out the proposal you presented to people. I can as­sure you that there won’t be problems. At the end of the day, somebody would emerge and that person will be acceptable.
How do you then react to the al­legations that you are supporting Senator Obanikoro of PDP?
(Takes a deep breath and laughs) It’s laughable. We don’t share the same politi­cal ideology. We will never do because I’m more of the progressive bent. Events of 2007 will readily tell everybody that we are not in the same political camp. The issue of moving to PDP is zero. I’m fully committed to my party, APC and I believe we are winning this election hundred percent. I’ve been working assiduously just like other leaders towards presenting a better candidate who will deliv­er more than Fashola. Whoever named me among those behind Obanikoro must have reasons for doing so. For the records, some days ago I was at a meeting attended by the former speaker of the House of Assembly, Jokotola Pelumi and a governorship aspir­ant, Dr. Leke Pitan which was at the party’s elders meeting at Eredo Local Council De­velopment Area, where I presented 40 mega phones to various wards and even gave them half a million naira to enable them mobilize for voters registration exercise. I’m not one of them and I will never be one of them. To Koro, I say go and have some one else to do your job for you, I’m not in that kind of cat­egory.
Do you think the APC can man­age the fallout of the party prima­ries?
There must be fallout at every primary. People have aspirations and people must have passion to fuel that aspiration. I’m not contesting, no election should be taken as do or die affair.