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By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Chief Henry Ajomale had been a strong political ally of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu before he served as the chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State.
In this interview, he speaks about the presidential ambition of the national leader of the party and why power shift arrangement to the South must be respected.
This is another season of politics. Would you say that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has done enough to go back to the electorate to demand for their mandate again in 2023?
APC has tried its possible best, but the problem is that the rot that has been created by the previous government is too enormous. The economy was on a free-fall before this administration came in. From 2015 to date, Nigeria has gone into economic recession thrice. But it is not only in Nigeria, it affected every economy of the world, including the United States. Before we got there, we had envisaged that every promise we made would be fulfilled without knowing the implication of what was on the ground. It was when we got there that we saw the enormity of the rot on ground. In six years, we should have solved the problems, but it is only a miracle that can solve the problem of this country because as you are trying to overcome one another problem, another one is coming up. Take the issue of Boko Haram, for instance, when the administration confronted the insurgency, no one had envisaged that the issue of terrorists would come up. I agree that we wasted time in nipping the thing in the bud, which is why it has escalated to what it is today. It was the responsibility of the police to handle the bandits, but because of sophisticated weapons they continued to acquire, they could not curtail them, which is why the government now decided to declare them as terrorists. If they had identified the bandits as terrorists, they would have confronted them head on with the involvement of the military. At this point, we cannot just elect someone who doesn’t understand the economic or social problems of this nation. What was the population of Lagos when we took over in 1999 and now? If not because we were looking that the demographics and at the same time pumping money here in Lagos, we would not have been able to cope with the exodus of people into the state. This government is trying. I don’t know whether their best is good enough. But I think they are trying their best to cope with the situation.
The APC has not made a categorical statement yet about power shift. But what we have seen is a growing number of aspirants who want to contest the presidential ticket of the party for the 2023 general elections. What is your take on power shift because some people are saying that the best is only good for the country?
The best can be found anywhere. It can be in the North, it can be in the South. But don’t let us forget that since the advent of this Republic in 1999, there has always been power shift. It has become a convention irrespective of political parties. When former President Goodluck Jonathan was there, we picked a Northerner because that was our own rotational arrangement. We did not say because he was not an APC man that we would pick someone else from the South. Since the North has taken its turn, the South will take the next step. To us in APC, power shift is sacrosanct. What PDP does with its own ticket is not my business. You cannot change the goal post in the middle of the match. So, the presidency must come to the South, I don’t care from which part of the country the person comes from because you can get the best of the best from any part of the South. It is not the turn of the North. In our own party, we will respect that. If because of one or two persons, the PDP is trying to play funny, that is their own business. But everybody knows that it is the Northerner that is there now, and it cannot be the North again. In the last election, we had two Northerners-Atiku and Buhari. The two leading political parties left it for them. Now that it has come to the turn of the South, what sort of logic are you going to put forward by saying that the slot should be thrown open? Why didn’t we throw it open in 2015? Some people are trying to be mischievous. They should give the slot to the South; I don’t care whether it goes to an Igbo man or an Ibibio.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared his intention to run for the presidency. But quite intriguingly, some of the names being touted as possible contenders are members of his political camp. What kind of scenario are you expecting to play out here?
As far as I am concerned, the sky is big enough to accommodate everybody. It is a matter of fundamental human right. There are so many people who have declared their intensions and it is their right to do so. You can’t stop anybody from contesting. It is only at the primary stage we will see who the winner is. Only the best will triumph. And from what I have seen so far, I have not seen anybody that will match Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I have worked with him for many years and I know the type of person he is. I know how his brain works and his interest for this country. He is a true Nigerian and whatever he does he always puts Nigeria first. He wants Nigeria to be the best in Africa. And it is doable; it only depends on the person in the saddle. If he can be successful in Lagos which is mini-Nigeria, he can turn around the economy of Nigeria. It is the foundation he built when he was in the saddle that other governors are building on in Lagos. We can beat South Africa to the second position because God has blessed this country, but we are lacking in leadership. This is the time Nigeria will come out of its problems stronger with the type of leadership we are going to have in 2023. I have no doubt in my mind that given the opportunity; he will turn the country around. He co-founded this party with Buhari. Nobody told me that because I was involved. I am one of the founding fathers of this party. I was one of those who negotiated for the formation of this party and I know the role Asiwaju played in the coalition. We should pay him back now.
Was there truly a gentleman agreement that he would take over from Buhari?
Look, he would have been the vice president to Buhari, but he sacrificed his own interest. He said APC could not win on the basis of Muslim-Muslim ticket; otherwise, he would have been the vice president. The era of Muslim/Muslim ticket has gone because the Christians will not open their eyes to vote for Muslim-Muslim candidate. If he had wanted to be the president at that time, he would have been; after all, Buhari had contested three times without winning. So, let us give credit to those who deserve it. If you have anything against him that cannot be explained, it is a different thing. He is a fighter that can turn things around in this country.
It is not impossible that President Buhari may have soft spot for one person or the other who will be his successor. Are you confident that there will be a level playing field for everybody during the primary?
That I will study, but I don’t know yet. It is too quick to judge. Let’s wait and see.
Can Asiwaju win the ticket given a transparent process?
There is no doubt about it that Asiwaju will win, if the process is transparent because I know his goodwill all over Nigeria. He has been accepted everywhere including, Zamfara, Sokoto, Taraba, Kano and many other places. If you see the enormity of the crowd that followed him when he went to Zamfara State recently to pay a condolence visit to the governor, you will be shocked. He just went to consult with Oba of Ijebu Ode, if you see the crowd that came out, you will not believe it. I have no doubt in mind that people will give him their mandate. If Asiwaju wins the ticket, I have no doubt in my mind that he will win the 2023 election. When he won the governorship election in 1999, I know how many investors he brought to Lagos from the US. That has never been done before. That is the testimony of the potentials of his goodwill that he can use for Nigeria. And that is why many people are afraid of his candidature and they want to do everything to blackmail him.
Following the recent defection of members of Lagos4Lagos group to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), do you think APC can still win election in Lagos?
How many people left with him? We have not even seen the difference between what we were before they left and what we are now. In fact, quite a lot of those who went with him are back in APC. To us, it is bye-bye to bad rubbish. If you have an ambition and your ambition has beclouded your loyalty to the party, you can go to anywhere. It is the election that will determine who is who in Lagos State. He will lose his Ojo Local Government.
Bode George has said so many unprintable words about Tinubu. What do you think is the reason for his bitterness?
The problem is that he sees Asiwaju as his stumbling block. There is nothing more than that because they have never been in the same political party. He has always been in the PDP, and we have been in the progressive camp. It doesn’t matter whether we have changed our names several times; we have remained on the progressive line. Bode George has never seen anything good about the government in Lagos. When he is sleeping, he sees Asiwaju. When he is dreaming, he sees Asiwaju. When he goes to toilet, he will see Asiwaju. Asiwaju has become an albatross to Bode George. But we cannot rely on the judgment of only one man. So, to me, he is irrelevant.
From what you have said earlier, Asiwaju sacrificed his interest to make Prof Yemi Osinbajo the vice president that he is today. But you cannot pre-empt the rumour milling around that the man himself is interested in the presidential race.
(Cuts in)…Like I told you, the sky is big enough to accommodate everybody. It is his fundamental right to come out if he wants to. Nobody can stop him from coming out to contest, if he decides to. But it is only the primary that will judge.
