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Chidi Obineche
Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Basorun was the Secretary to the Lagos State Government under Lateef Jakande in the Second Republic. He was also the pioneer chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999. Today, he is one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos state and an inner member of Ahmed Tinubu’s political family.
He speaks on the Tinubu’s dynasty and the quest for senate president by the South- East, among other national issues.
What are your general impressions about the just concluded elections in the country?
Except those who want us to look at the elections outside the normal Nigerian context, then the elections could be judged differently. The elections took place in Nigeria and in the Nigerian way. That is the best we can get. I would rather say there were a lot of improvements. I voted and I observed so much from my vantage position. I stayed somewhere under a tree after voting to observe things for myself. Everyone was coming and voting peacefully and going unhindered without any harassments or pressure. Unlike in 2015 elections, when the card readers were creating a lot of problems, this time around there were no such things. If the majority of polling units in Nigeria operated like this, then we have made progress. Let me add that foreigners write things that mislead people. One Campbell wrote, and they say he was a former United States of America (USA) Ambassador to Nigeria. Among other things, he wrote that one of the things he saw was that the president did not campaign. This is the only president I know that covered the 36 states and Abuja in a heavy- loaded campaign in record time. This obviously is part of the untruth to discredit the election and when falsehood takes the centre stage in observations, then the issue of bias or who is telling the story becomes important.
Let us talk about Lagos State which is your fortress. There were ugly incidents of harassments and intimidation of non- indigenes in some parts of the state…
(Cuts in) Do you have any evidence to that effect?
It was widely reported.
There were no such things here.
I am talking of the strongholds of the non- indigenes, especially the Igbo.
Well, that was the allegation. (Laughter)
It is obvious that a political dynasty or power house has been effectively implanted in Lagos. It is called the Tinubu Dynasty. It has been in place now for 20 years. Do you believe that ‘o to ge’( enough is enough) the type that swept away the Saraki Dynasty in Kwara will occur in Lagos in future?
Before I come to your question, I want to react to your earlier question on the intimidation of non- indigenes in Lagos State. It never happened. I don’t believe it. Rather, I would say that those who are non- indigenes, who are with us here, have not treated us well. Some of them went away to vote at home. They live and work here and the economy of this state is shared mutually. They should have stayed here not by force, but to cast their votes for the party of their choice. The issue of intimidation maybe was a localised matter.
But the constitution says people can stay and vote where they live?
Many of them left. Those of them who stayed back voted against the party that is running the affairs of the state.
Is it mandatory that they must vote for the party running the government in the state?
I had said they should have waited to vote for a party of their choice. It is not compulsory. Now, back to the dynasty you’re talking about. It is a paradox. It is a paradox in the sense that it is a situation which will continue to exist in any situation you find yourself. Times come, times go. This is his time. Yes. He came in 1999 and became the first governor under the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and completed his constitutional eight years in power. The leaders he had were not in any positions, like the late Abraham Adesanya, Dawodu and many others like that. So, after eight years, somehow, he became the leader of the party. He had no senior, unlike in other states. I approve of his own style. But see the time Igbinedion was there in Edo as governor, Tony Anenih was there, and somebody was saying that Igbinedion was the leader of the party in Edo State. Was that true and practicable? Look at the time Dariye was in Plateau as governor, and Solomon Lar was in the same party. Dariye could not have been leader of the party in the state when Lar was alive and active. Impossible! The situation Tinubu found himself here afforded him that opportunity. In Akwa Ibom, where Obong Victor Attah became governor in 1999, he became the leader of the party in the state because there was nobody senior to him in the party around. Whether it was by plan or coincidence, Tinubu has carried all those involved along. He has been running an inclusive agenda. Take the case of this governor Ambode that was stopped from going for a second term and replaced; he called a meeting of the leaders of the party and reported to the meeting, that to him, the man should go. To some of us, the reasons he gave were not really enough. But then, it was the party sitting down (18 of us) and a decision must be made dispassionately. Some of us pussy- footed. But today, I will say he was right, having looked at other governing parameters.
So you’re emphatic that Tinubu is riding on inclusiveness, unlike the Imo and Akwa Ibom cases where the governors sought to impose their preferred son- in-laws and met stiff resistance?
Yes, to a large extent. His successor, Fashola was his Chief of Staff. He probably would have watched him over time and concluded that he will be a good material. And Fashola did not disappoint.
But he wanted to remove him at some point?
The leaders in the party said no. I was myself involved, and we settled the matter. Maybe, if Ambode had opened the door to the leaders, we would have known about the disagreement between him and Tinubu. He never brought the matter to the table or to our attention. So, Tinubu, on every matter carried along the leaders and it works for him. In most cases, he will not impose his view. He will ask for consensus. In most cases he took the advice from the consensus to take a decision. That is why he has not run into trouble with the leadership. Not that the leadership has been cowed. No. That is the impression some people have. No. Take the current case for instance; I wouldn’t say he was smart because smart people are those who cheat. I will rather say he was clever. When he was bringing Sanwo-Olu, he brought along his deputy, Hamzat to us. In the sitting was Hamzat’s father, a commissioner under Lateef Jakande. One of us in the sitting was the deputy governor’s nominee’s father and we had to accord one of us that honour. For me personally, he was my colleague in Jakande’ s cabinet. Only two of us are left now. The others have died, apart from Jakande and two of us. Perhaps, it was cheering to have one of our children moving up, and I was particularly happy about that. Not necessarily about hating Ambode. But the point is that Ambode’s ouster was not Tinubu’s single man’s decision. He was able to convince the leadership of the party in Lagos State. So the dynasty, is what some people will put as ‘Turn by turn Nigeria Limited’ we were looking for an Awo. Awo could not make it. Buhari is an Awo now; to an extent. Awo was a great intellectual.
Is Buhari a great intellectual?
Awo was a great intellectual and he also believed in integrity. Buhari, by all standards, one cannot call him a great intellectual. But he has a clean bill in terms of integrity. What Nigeria needs today is integrity. Prof Muoghalu of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) in the last elections has everything but he didn’t succeed in becoming president. Buhari is the man who is not going to start acquiring and acquiring material things while in government. The situation Nigeria is in today is that most people go into government either as governors or anything to make money. It takes somebody with a clean mindset to go into government and shun vulgar acquisition of wealth. There was an EFCC case the other day involving Fayose and we heard that a witness in the case, someone who was involved in giving money to him had died. Is that the kind of thing we should be hearing? It is actually that we want somebody who will close his eyes to such things and say no, it cannot go on. If he intensifies this fight against corruption in the next four years, Nigeria will be better. That is why he needs our support.
Apart from integrity, what other things do you think he should bring on board now?
Take the case of the 30, 000 minimum wage. If I were him, I will act the way Awo taught us. I will just close my eyes and make a broadcast and seal it. What is the value of 30,000 in Nigeria today? I will summon my advisers and get their inputs on how to raise money to pay it. Look at some governors who are kicking against it claiming they have no money, but they have fleets of bullet- proof cars with so many private investments in Nigeria and abroad.
And that brings us to the issue of the conduct of governors in Nigeria today. How do you rate them?
I have said it before. They behave like gods. This 30,000 minimum wage proposal, you won’t be surprised if they call a meeting tomorrow and say the governors cannot pay. Is it their money to pay? Look at the various funds like Paris Club refund, what have they been doing with it? The task before Buhari is how to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. It is a gargantuan task. I have made this proposal at different fora before. If it is possible, Buhari should not renew oil blocks. The oil blocks should be allocated to the 36 state governments and the monitoring should be located in the office of the vice- president who is in charge of the economy. Then, there must be a law specifically directed at controlling the spending of that money. If you just leave the oil block money to the governors, it will be spending spree. Ita Enang, who is Senior Special Assistant to the president on National Assembly Affairs, said four years ago that one oil block fetches N4billion every day. Whether it is true or not, I don’t know. But that was his claim. If that is not true, I believe something substantial comes out of an oil block daily. Then why are we allocating it to individuals and they use the proceeds to fight the government?
The South- East geo- political zone is struggling to get the seat of senate president ceded to them by your party. How do you look at it?
It is legitimate. It is not just a question of giving it to them; let somebody from the South-East begin to work now. They should begin to seek support of the various groups and zones. From what I have observed since 2003, anybody seeking for the presidency or even senate presidency must have the backing of the North.
