You joined the PDP a few months before the governorship primary and emerged the winner of the contest. What was the magic that made you clinch the ticket?
Well, I don’t know about magic. I can say categorically that there was no magic. In my view, it was due to hard work put in by my team; more of whom were already in the PDP before our arrival. They saw in us the “can do” ability and the “can do” spirit and bought into it and decided to take it upon themselves to market our aspiration and vision among the existing members of the party. To use your word, that was what did the magic. Yes, we came into the party with our structure and fortunately with the help of those we met in the party at the ad hoc congress and because of our numerical strength, we were able to do well and that did the magic. We know that the victory we got during the primary was earned. I also owe our emergence to the signing of the new Electoral Act by President Muhammadu Buhari.
But, some critics have attributed your emergence to a godfather. How correct is that?
I don’t know about that. Everybody who plays politics in this country knows that there was a crisis within the ruling party in Lagos. We did that to a point that we created an implosion within the APC before crossing to the PDP. Before then, several political parties had approached us to join them. And because we understood that politics is a game of numbers, we decided to join the PDP because it has huge followership, since our goal is to win the election. And what we have been able to do over the years brought a lot of people towards our direction within the party where we were. Our work made a lot of people within the party look in our direction. For that reason, officials of the party at the national level and some governors had to come to receive us publicly into the party. This is not the first time you see a party structure would be welcoming a notable politician into their fold and it’s easy for anyone to call that whatever they want to call it. But, we know that our victory at the primary was hard-earned. In the PDP, I was the only candidate that toured the entire local governments three times before the primary between January and May, making our structure known and creating awareness, speaking to delegates and integrating our system and rebranding the party. All those I guess worked for us and I can tell you that nobody imposed me on anybody.
How have you been able to gather support at the grassroots across the state within this short period that you veered from the media space to politics?
It is normal that before you venture into any trade, you have to do your research very well. This is because research is at the foundation of prosperity in any business. You need to identify the needs of the people first, before talking about meeting those needs. If you’re able to do this, then, you are sure of success at the end of the day. For us, we saw that people want something else and they didn’t see a viable alternative; a person who will leave certainty for uncertainty because that’s what we did. Lagosians were looking for that person who is ready to risk it all. We are providing that alternative for the people. How? By first understudying the system in the PDP, the APC and others and having realized the issues involved, we were able to make provision for a viable alternative. We are providing an alternative by committing that unpardonable sin you cannot commit in the APC. That is, if you are a member of the APC, you must not have aspirations, especially wanting to be the governor. The day you attempt that, then, you are a goner. For us, we needed to do that first and the moment we did that, we knew we had sinned. From there, we knew we needed to get grassroots traction.
So, we took the battle to the powers that be in the party. Since then, they started taking us seriously. If you have been following us, you’ll know a lot of things we have done at the party. In 2019, we had to suspend some of our people from local governments across the state. During the local government elections, they started wooing our people for various positions. While the majority didn’t go, some others went, though we warned them not to go. Unfortunately, some of them that went didn’t get anything. Consequently, they were pushed out of the system and rendered irrelevant in the scheme of things politically. This year, somebody who was supposed to be our chairman for Lagos4Lagos started leaning towards their side and we warned him. But, he eventually left. Before he left, we fired him. The same person has now been abandoned; he is now trying to join the Labour Party. Now, as we speak, they are looking towards our side; I mean my local government. After we started the agitation, the party allocated slots for a senatorial ticket, commissioners and special advisers to some of its chieftains from the local government. This is a local government that you have never done anything for since the inception of this administration. When we started this agitation, they started giving our people offers as commissioners etc. This is to tell you that the government is responding and not just reacting to what we are doing.
Your movement, Lagos4Lagos, suggests that you are an indigene of Lagos. But, some observers say you are not from Lagos. What do you have to say to that?
Some have said I am from Kwara and others have called me so many names. The unfortunate thing about this rumour is that I am from a part of Lagos where you can’t just go and claim because it’s a small riverine village on both sides; we know ourselves within those villages. It is politics; it’s part of the game. If I am not from Lagos, what audacity do I have to float Lagos4Lagos? But, it is what it is.
How do you intend to fund your campaign, considering that you are up against a party that has been in power for over 20 years?
It is going to be the same way we have been funding Lagos4Lagos for the past seven years and they were not able to shut us down. We have a huge following and we know how we task ourselves and we will continue to do that. Many think that you need to stockpile funds somewhere to get things done but they have forgotten that most times, you need more than money to accomplish some things. It is the vision you have that is driving you; it is community efforts.
What are your plans and visions for Lagos, if you eventually win?
The first thing is to change the face of governance in the state. It is to bring that breath of fresh air to Lagos. Change the face of governance through a tech-driven approach to governance. We can’t continue to do things the same way and expect different results. Yes, we need to ensure that the rule of law is upheld at all levels. Everybody, including government functionaries, must strictly abide by the law, not minding whose ox is gored. I must be able to take hard decisions in the interest of the generality of all Lagosians. I won’t be a governor that will spare individuals. We also want to bring equity and inclusiveness into governance. Take the case of the okada riders for instance, yes, all of us agree about the menace of Okada riders. But, whether we like it or not, they have one or two things they are contributing to the economy of the state. What we would have done differently is to sit with them to fashion out how we can jointly implement any ban on them. And if such a group of people remains in the economy without being properly engaged, they’ll be a threat to peaceful co-existence.
If you remember, the issue of the Okada ban started with former Governor Babatunde Fashola…
It is still the same approach to governance that we are talking about. Nobody is contesting the fact that they have become a menace. But, we are saying we need to keep every business, if we must have a vibrant economy. There must be equity, and there must be inclusiveness. The government is collecting money from these people after all. We would have handled that challenge differently. What are the alternatives the government has provided for those riders that have been displaced? Apart from inclusiveness, there must be accountability on the part of those who represent us. During the ‘EndSARs’ protest, the youths requested just five things and do you know that at a time, the government met all five? Even after the government responded positively and asked the youths to vacate the streets, many of them didn’t comply because they did not trust the government. We will come back and build that trust. For us to achieve that objective, there must be transparency.
The APC government has been engaging the people when it comes to development projects. Is that not what you’re talking about?
Why hasn’t the government brought an agreement endorsed by the people? I was part of that process from the onset.
Migration is a major problem that Lagos has to contend with. How do you intend to manage that challenge if you emerge as the governor of Lagos?
It can’t be controlled because the law of the land gives the people the right to freedom of movement. This is not restricted to our country; it is a West African law, so you can’t control it. What you can do is strengthen your borders by screening those who are coming in and deploying the necessary security apparatus there. You can’t stop anybody from coming to the state. Another thing you can do as a government is to decentralize development by spreading development across the state under the new town’s development scheme. This, if properly, fairly and transparently done, people won’t need to move across the states to get access to things because what they need is where they are.
A lot of people were angry because of the choice of Funke Akindele as your deputy governorship candidate. Why Akindele, a greenhorn in politics and not one of the grassroots politicians in your party?
Why not Funke Akindele? So many people have different narratives. We all agree that politics is a game of numbers. So, for those who are churning out some things about Funke Akindele, it shows they don’t even understand the person of my deputy governorship candidate. If they are still questioning how she will bring the numbers, start from your household; ask them who is more popular between Funke Akindele and the incumbent deputy governor.
Some celebrities have ventured into politics but they failed…
I don’t know who you are talking about. See, we are talking about a political party with structures. We are talking about somebody who has got the ticket to contest the general elections. The one you mentioned that failed was not elected as the candidate of the party; he was dropped at the primary. His popularity could not secure the party’s ticket for him, then what popularity are you talking about? Why do you think they are shopping for another candidate as a running mate? Is it not because of Funke Akindele’s emergence?
The APC has dominated politics in Lagos since the return to civil rule in 1999. How do you intend to help the PDP win next year’s governorship election in Lagos?
We are fielding candidates for all elective positions in next year’s general elections; the House of Assembly, the House of Representatives, the Senate and the governorship. We intend to win the entire seats, including the governorship. The election is still seven months away and we are prepared. I am sure we are prepared, judging by the calibre of our candidates. This is a new PDP; a new Lagos PDP and we have to do new things to get results.
