The LGA/LCDA elections in Lagos State is fast approaching and political parties across the state are all ready for the battle field. But one issue that really generated a hot controversy was the seeming imposition of candidates by the All Progressives Congress, the ruling party in the state, The party leaders were alleged to have returned 18 former council bosses. This move was perceived as imposition. As an investigative news magazine, Sahara Weekly sought to speak with the Chairman of the APC in Lagos State, Chief Henry Ajomale who shed more lights on the scenario.
Excerpts:
The forthcoming election is around the corner and we know the ruling party is APC, what is your take on the Local Government elections in Lagos State come July 22, 2017?
No problem, like we always say, we are boys scouts, so we are ready. So it is not meeting us in an awkward position, we are the leading party, we are prepared and we have been expecting it, if we say we are not prepared we must be deceiving the people. We are prepared because we are confident.
Are you in agreement with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, if what we heard is true that he has conceded 18 local governments to be returned unopposed for some former LGA Chairmen?
It is not him alone that took the decision, it was the decision of the leadership of the party in Lagos. So what we thought was if you did a good job for three years, it is a learning process for one term, if the governors can go for two terms , why not the local Government so we thought experience counts so much, so by the time they spend three years, they are in the learning process and the time they are picking up should not be when we should say they should go, and if we can return the governors, house of representatives, house of assembly members, then why should we not return the local government chairmen that have learnt so much and can be put in practice, that is when the community can enjoy the and even if we train them for three years and we throw them out we have lost, at the time they are supposed to be exerting that experience, we are now training another person, and in three years you ask the person to go again so we thought it would be better to return those 18 that have not done two terms to have an insight of the experience to be used for the next four years, that time is when you can benefit from them, that is why they are returning. It is not an imposition.
Talking about imposition, rumours have it that leadership of the party are trying to impose some candidates in some areas of the state, is this true?
I do not understand what you mean by imposition, if the people decide to bring out one person without opposition, and they come on consensus, that this is the man we want, which election do you want to do again but we still subject them to acclamation, which is the normal process which is transparent. If by acclamation, they will still have to submit their votes into the ballot boxes and at the time we count it, there is no opposition, then that person is free to go but if there is any opposition, let that opposition also come out. In the traditional areas of Lagos, it is always rotating among the communities and if they renege on that promise among themselves, all of them will gang up against that person because it is not the turn of their area so we cannot impose on them, we don’t interfere with the traditional areas.
Let us talk about Governor Ambode’s two years in office, what is your assessment because people believe you handed him over to the godfathers?
Let us thank the Almighty God, at that time I told everybody that we were going to give them the best because they were like, can we find someone like Fashola?, I said yes they are so many and that we will give them the best of the best. During the primary, like 12 people came out but it is one person that will occupy the seat. If he finishes now, others are lining up to do the same thing and even better than what he has done. If you see what Akinwunmi Ambode has transformed Lagos into, it is the pride of everybody in Nigeria. Lagos is not the same again, someone travelled out for 7 years and they took him to Lekki when he got back, he was flabbergasted and could not comprehend what he saw in Lagos, is it the golden bridge or the development in Lekki, Lekki has become a city itself, cities are coming out of a cities and no state can beat this in Nigeria and because Lagos is a gateway, you have to be careful to make sure everything works. If they have allowed us to decentralize this electricity, Lagos would have been the first to stabilize the electricity in Nigeria because we have Egbin and Dangote is building a massive one in Lekki so we would have been the first and that is why we are saying if you want to achieve maximum benefit, whatever amount of money you are spending is a waste, Obasanjo spent about 3 trillion naira and he got nothing, decentralize it and allow each state to have their own dam and run it, that is what is going on in the United States of America.
For me, we believe there are two pending promises, which is the inclusion of the Igbos In Governor Ambode’s government and there is also the kind of massive carrying along of the Igbo traders, what is your say on this?
Honestly, I do not have any personal thing against the Igbos afterall they are my in-laws so I do not have anything against them, we are playing politics and it is a game of numbers, you must be able to support the government of the day but we were disappointed at the last election because they voted massively for their own, which is Jonathan. You have a host and we have to be honest to ourselves, if you are biting me behind, you do not expect me to have absolute confidence in you but anywhere you are, try to copy the tradition of that area, if I am not happy with you, you do not expect anything from me but if you are with me, there are responsible Igbo people in Lagos who are above board, those are the types but the traders, anywhere you ask them to go is where they go, that should not be, there are some people, suppose I pack my luggage to go and live in Anambra, nobody can question me because I have the freedom to do anything, but I must follow the rules of the state, you must support the government of that place, I cannot go there and be criticizing the government. We are pleading with our brothers, the Igbos, let them be part and parcel of us, we are all Nigerians and whatever you do, support the government of the day, that is when you can get anything. You must be able to show yourself that you support the government of the day. If you do not vote for me why should I vote for you, if my enemy has won the election, would you come to me? I’m appealing to them to join hands with us