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By Sunday Ani
Former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State and Lagos West Senatorial aspirant in 2023 on the platform of PDP, Otunba Segun Adewale, a.k.a Aeroland, has said that his intention to go to the senate was to speak for hundreds of thousands of Lagosians whose lives have become meaningless due to poor leadership both at the state and national levels of governance.
In this interview with select journalists in his office last week, he spoke about his previous unsuccessful outings, why PDP has not won gubernatorial election in Lagos State since 1999, what should be done to reposition the party to be able to win elections in the state and at the national levels, and the country’s current security situation among others
Why do you want to represent the people of Lagos West Senatorial zone at the senate in 2023?
Actually, I am not so particular about any political position like before because politics is so complex, especially in Lagos State. This is a place where you would win an election and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would use the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the judiciary to steal your sweat. The reason I want to contest for the Lagos West Senatorial seat is because a lot of people are suffering in Lagos. There is no policy or law from the so-called parliamentarians that are representing us in Abuja or even here in Lagos that has to do with the welfare of citizens. There is none, so we are at the mercy of the economy and so many draconian laws. So, I thought that somebody should be a voice for the masses and the less privileged. Most of the people representing us collect allowances for their constituencies running into hundreds of millions of Naira every quarter, yet there is nothing to show for it. The one that stole my election the last time twice is now operating in Ogun State, while he got the opportunity to serve the people of Lagos West from Asiwaju. Right now, he is operating mostly in Ogun State. And I felt that there is a vacuum already, so we need to go in and fight so that we can get a good representation at the national level. It is not just sharing motorcycles to the people but equally coming up with policies that can affect the people positively in thousands and millions. The questions are: how can we bring the national presence to Lagos West senatorial zone? How can the people there feel the impact of the national government such that we will not rely totally on whatever the state government is giving out? Nobody is feeling the impact of the federal government in Lagos West; it is just as if when you are in Lagos, you are on your own. The other senatorial districts are trying but I am talking about people living in Lagos West – Ajegunle, Badagry and other areas within the senatorial zone. It is like they have been abandoned and that is the main reason I am joining the race again.
It was alleged that you were rigged out the last time you contested; how do you think you can prevent a recurrence of that ugly incident this time around?
If I have the opportunity of contesting this time around, I will ensure that I tidy up the collation centres because I was terribly rigged out at the collation centres, especially in Mushin, Ifako Ijaiye and Alimosho. None of our agents was there at the collation centres. That was how I lost.
Within the PDP, you are up against some forces that are in firm control of the delegates as fallout of the last party congress. How do you ensure that you get the delegates to your side?
I am at loggerheads with the Doherty group and the reason I am fighting is to make sure that we win the general election. People are suffering; it shouldn’t be about the PDP anymore but about the people of Lagos State and Nigerians at large. It shouldn’t be about us in Lagos PDP. I am fighting because I want us to do the right thing that will give us victory at the poll. But, they are fighting to grab the system to themselves because the system will give them the opportunity to make money. Doherty himself made a lot of money using his position as the chairman but I am looking beyond intra-party politics. I am looking at hundreds and millions of people that are now in penury. Several businesses have been lost because of this particular government. So, we need to change this government from the ward to local, state and federal government levels and that is why I aligned with the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, and Chief Bode George, that we should have a consensus so that it won’t be winner takes all. That will enable us to put all the positions on the table, and everybody comes together and we share amicably. So, if there are places where some people are not represented, we can look at it together but because they have the advantage during the defunct Uche Secondus-led PDP to garner delegates to their side, they insisted on going to the polls for an elective congress, which was what we did but it was inconclusive. Only about three positions were announced and the rest positions were not announced, which invalidated the whole process. So, if at the end of the day, the Abuja people decided to announce them as winners, that indirectly means that most of them will make millions of Naira, and some of them will start living in Ikoyi like their predecessors, but we will still lose the general election and the one in the state. Maybe, some legislators at the House of Representatives will win again; this is what is going to happen because PDP members will work against the interest of each other. In Alimosho alone, we have almost about 2000 polling units. So, in Lagos we should be talking about 20,000 polling units. If we are fighting each other, how will one group be able to provide 20,000 personnel to man the 20,000 polling units as agents? That means we have lost and that is why in most polling units in Lagos during the previous election, PDP didn’t have agents and that is why we have been losing the election every four years in Lagos. So, we have to come together; not only in producing the state excos, but also in producing the polling units’ agents. As I am talking to you now, PDP doesn’t have an operational office in Lagos and we want to win Lagos in 2023. As I said, if the foundation is destroyed, what can anybody do? That is why I am fighting. It might cost me my senatorial ticket but I don’t mind. I will be happy and ready to lose my senatorial ticket, if that will make us come together to win Lagos, produce more state assembly members, more house of representatives members and more senators. My interest is for the party to take over Lagos and Nigeria. So, if because I am fighting for us to come together to achieve that I lose my senatorial bid in the process, so be it.
In essence, what you are saying is that since the last congress was inconclusive, you are still expecting the national headquarters to intervene. Are you asking for cancellation?
I am asking for outright cancellation and a round table meeting where we shall talk about a consensus and if that is not possible, then we go back to the polls again. If as terrible as APC is, even with implosion internally, it still has consensus, why can’t we do that in Lagos? If the PDP national can have a consensus during our national convention, what stops us from doing the same here in Lagos? But if all those fail, then we can go for elective congress; I don’t have a problem with that. I know that my decision to align with Makinde and Bode George for us to have consensus is giving the people that believe that they have the advantage over the delegates a nightmare such that some of them hate me so much. In fact, some of them would even prefer that the APC wins instead of me to win. So, that is how bad it is right now in PDP Lagos. I don’t know what they want. Even if we combine our efforts in Lagos PDP, we can’t even handle Tinubu. This is a man who single handedly produced Buhari as president and we want to fight him divided.
Why are some people fighting you in the PDP?
They are fighting me because I want all of us to be united to be able to win Lagos and Nigeria. Some of them believe that I am a traitor and all that. I just want everybody to come together so that we can win Lagos. Those who are fighting me are the real betrayers. I didn’t betray anybody; I just feel that we should come together. I feel we should harmonise and have a consensus. And if we decide that we don’t want consensus, then we go to the field and if we are defeated, then we will know that they are the majority.
Your party produced eight House of Assembly and five House of Representatives members in Lagos State in 2015. How do you want to reinvent that feat and even do more this time around because then, there was a Goodluck Jonathan factor, which is n longer there now?
I don’t think there was any Jonathan factor; it was my factor instead. People say it is a coincidence; if it is a coincidence what happened in 2019? We had eight House of Assembly members and five House of Representatives members in 2015. Some Reps members believe that I didn’t contribute but I know that I contributed. I worked tirelessly. In fact, we won all the seats in the 10 local government areas within the senatorial zones, but they gave us the ones they wanted; that is why till today INEC cannot give you the results of 2015 election in Lagos West. In 2019, I didn’t contest, so from the eight members of the House of Assembly, we had none; and from the five House of Representatives members, we had only two. So, it is not Jonathan or me per se, but all of us at that time worked together. We worked together as one. Atiku even worked more than Jonathan in terms of money released. We had enough money to win anything but what happened? Greater part of the money was stolen.
In 2015, when the federal might was at your beck and call, you couldn’t win Lagos; how do you think you can win now that your party is no longer at the federal level?
We didn’t win in 2015 because of what I have already said; there was no unity among us. We won in Lagos West because we were together. We produced about seven House of Assembly and five House of Representatives members in the zone because we worked together. And even the zones that share boundary with us benefited by winning some while those that didn’t share any boundary with us never won anything. So, we campaigned and worked together in Lagos West senatorial district. So, it is unity and cohesion in the party that I am fighting for now. I would rather lose the primary than to win and become a candidate and there is no party. We have to come together because if we don’t do that, we will be defeated no matter how much billion that is given to the party. We need at least two agents in each polling unit so that if one is compromised by the APC, the other one will say no. We need to call all the warring factions to come together. We are active when it comes to congress in PDP Lagos but when it comes to election, we are docile.
Does it mean that what the APC is saying that PDP does not exist in Lagos is true, considering the fact that since 1999, the PDP has been trying to win Lagos but it has not been able to achieve that?
PDP exists in Lagos within ourselves to grab position and power and get wealth through that position; that’s all. But, we do not exist for the people and that is why I am clamouring for us to come together and exist for ourselves and for the people. Since I joined the party, we have even been able to count ourselves; we can’t count our finances before and after elections. And even during elections, we can’t even count our votes. If we can’t count ourselves, our money and our votes; how do we want to win? So, the emphasis of a lot of people in PDP Lagos is on how to grab political power inside the PDP so as to make money; to hell with the general election. So, what I am saying is that we should come together. So, contrary to what you said, we have been winning the election in Lagos State but PDP members are the ones the APC has been using to truncate that electoral victory at the collation centres. I have won an election, where the collation agent representing me in Alimosho said I lost even when INEC said I won. And the result showed that we won. We have been winning all the while; PDP is the one losing to APC. And that is what we are about going into in 2023. I understand the game. I am not ready to lose again and that is why I am saying that we should work together. I collected the form because I still believe that before the main election, we will come together. I may lose the primary but if I lose, let the person that wins the primary also win at the general election; not just winning because you want to collect money from the presidential candidate.
What is your impression about the country’s current security situation, where no place seems to be safe anymore?
We all know the famous American intelligence prediction that Nigeria would disintegrate by 2015. Although Nigeria did not disintegrate physically, we all know that Nigeria has disintegrated; there is no nation anymore. We just need somebody to come and bring us together because right now, there is no nation. Check all the government agencies; none is working. Security is zero; economy is zero; in fact, everything has collapsed; out of control. There is no nation right now; it is all permutation.
If you are to meet President Buhari today, what would you tell him?
I will tell him to just resign. There is no need for me to tell him to do anything, but just to resign.
