Former governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Dr Rotimi Olulana speaks with BOLA BADMUS on issues of national interest as the country approaches the 2023 general election.
As a chieftain and former governorship candidate of LP, what is the latest development in the party ahead of the 2023 general election?
Thank you, let me be sincere with you, I am fully back in LP, because I can see light at the end of the tunnel via the new presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi and his running mate. I observe that if we can have these kinds of leaders in this country, there would be a change in the country. I believe that by the time these two individuals get to that office, there would be a positive change. Right now, nearly all our youths are running away from the land to other countries, even to other African countries, not only to Europe or America, because they are looking for jobs, as there are no job opportunities for them here. President Buhari has destroyed every segment of our society. Nothing is working. Even the power sector has collapsed. Where is the light? When you talk of job opportunities for the youths, they are not available. You talk of security, it is at zero level. So nothing is working. Even right now, they are taking loans. The Federal Government is taking loans to pay workers, so we have gotten to the last point. If we continue this way, I don’t see any reason why there can be success, except this man and his team are sent off from that office. As far as I am concerned, Buhari has destroyed Nigeria.
Are you saying that none of Buhari’s promises to Nigerians has been fulfilled?
If you know of anyone that he has fulfilled, you can tell me. I have never seen any promise he made that was fulfilled. I have never seen it.
For your presidential candidate, Peter Obi, there have been talks that he has supporters just on social media and that social media people don’t vote, but only shout. To what extent do you think he has the support of real Nigerian voters?
You see, what the people are saying is in one way correct. I am a politician and I understand the logic in politics. Politics starts from the base, from the home, from the ward level, even from zonal level in your ward to that very ward level to the constituency level, and from constituency to the local government level. And right from the local government to the state level, and from the state to the Federal level. That is the organogram of the hierarchy in politics. And if you don’t have the background, which they call the structure, as I have stated, you are nowhere. But I want to tell you, in Nigeria today, the real structure is me and you. It’s human being.
What is a structure? A structure entails having your representatives in every booth. Some wards may have between seven and 20 booths. You must be able to have your representatives in those wards. That means, in every booth, you must have your representatives, because if you don’t have them there, even if the whole of that village or zone voted for you, they can give you any results. You can have about 1000 votes, but they will record like 10 votes for you. This is because, it is those that are there that know what is going on there. And don’t forget, the criminals, who call themselves politicians in our society, put money inside loafs of bread and give it to those who are representing them in each of the polling booths where the election is taking place.
But for Obi, I believe the youths, the educated class and the professionals in Nigerian society today know that he is the best candidate, and they will vote for him.
There have been reports that Obi has been visiting some Nigerian leaders, including former presidents. How well do you think his candidacy has been sold to these leaders?
You will be surprised, because right now, we have been pushed to the wall. The present crop of political leaders in the country, most especially those that are in government now, have pushed Nigerians to the wall, and we all know that if care is not taken, this country will go into disarray. We are getting to that level.
But looking at the leaders Obi has been visiting, you can see that even their body language tells you that they want him in that seat, because they know that other political parties, most especially the two main political parties, are headed by wrong people. They are led by wrong people that have milked this country dry. They are the people who put us in this present shame. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the one that destroyed the country before the All Progressives Congress (APC) came to take the leadership from them. Is it easy to defeat an incumbent? It is because PDP is not good. They foisted bad governance on Nigerians and this made APC to take over power from them. But the APC that we have in power now is the worst, and you can see that some people are even saying, let us go back to Jonathan and bring him back.
So if you listen to what the society is becoming and at the security system of the country, you will see that we are at zero level. So we need a change and this change can only come from well enlightened people who are committed to the progress and success of Nigeria. Those are the people that can lead Nigeria now, not APC and PDP.
What is the true position of the LP in Lagos State, because from the reports we are reading, it appears the party is unsettled with claims that it has no particular chairman and governorship candidate right now?
I am sorry I cannot lie to you. I will tell the truth. I too, am not happy with what I met in the leadership of the party in Lagos State. I am not happy, but I want to tell you that every segment of our society is made up of the citizens. So we in LP are trying now to bring everybody together, and that is my mission.
It is first and foremost to bring everybody together, then look for the best among us to lead the party. My consideration is to see that LP succeeds in Lagos. We have members all over the place, but if there is no understanding and unity, there is no way one can make headway, because it is people that make what we call structure.
And if you are talking of structure, I can tell you we have structure in Lagos. The only thing now is that we need more hands to make success and that can only come when there is unity among party members. And that is what I am concentrating on to bring everybody together.
Now, HonourableMoshood Salvador, former Chairman of Lagos PDP before moving over to APC, has now crossed over to the LP as the party’s governorship candidate for the 2023 poll, but recent report is saying he is not flying the LP flag, but another person is doing so. What’s the true position?
Yes, I can tell you confidently that somebody else’s name is with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) right now and that name may be final, and it may not be final. We are still working on it, because INEC has a deadline for submission and change of candidates. So anything can still happen. I am not ruling it out. I am going to tell you this, LP in Lagos State is going to give the best candidate at the end of the day to run the election by the grace of God.
It was said that a recent meeting of LP in Lagos State had in attendance former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Is that true?
Obasanjo is a father of this nation, and the meeting he attended was not LP meeting, which was held at the party secretariat and not in a private place or a hotel. If one or two people are with him and people used that to say he attended a meeting of LP, for me, I can’t say that. I can meet you anywhere. He didn’t come to the party secretariat. There is nothing like that. But I know that he met some party leaders. That’s all I can say.
And you don’t know what they discussed?
Well, I was not at the meeting.
People say Obi has been a former governor of Anambra State, but never impacted the state with any legacy project and was only able to save money, which he never used for the development of the state. What is your reaction?
Do you believe that?
We need your reaction to it.
I am just telling you, because the records are there. The man did well in the state and the records are there. I am ready to give you the records for you to go through. Are you going to tell me about the transformation of that state in the transportation sector? Are you going to tell me about the educational system, the transformation in that sector? This is a man who has done a lot of tremendous things in that state, and that is why you see people coming out, saying it. I am not from that state, or its residents. I am a Lagosian, not a liar or a deceiver.
And when Obi was the governor of the state, I was not in the state. I can’t remember how many times I visited the state then. So I don’t really know what took place there, but the report that I have today is evidence that this man is the best for Nigeria now. I am confident to tell you that. We are working day and night to see that he succeeds. And if you look at his resume, you will be convinced that the man is well lettered. He knows his onions. He knows what he is doing. He has the potential to lead any dying country like Nigeria to the right path.
Ahead of 2023, do you think INEC will improve on the election held this year and earn commendations by making Nigerians’ votes count in view of President Buhari’s vow that the coming general election will be free, fair and credible?
Very good, I believe in what Buhari said, and I will tell you the reason. You can see that my brother in Osun, Governor GboyegaOyetola, was planning to go to court concerning the state election, but which court? Immediately INEC announced the winner of that election, the following day, the Commander-In-Chief congratulated the winner, even though he is from the opposition party. That is a signal to you and me that Buhari will be sincere.
Then when you look at the electoral process, the machines and all that they are using, you can see that if we can continue in this sense, there will be free, fair and credible elections in 2023. It is just that Nigerian leaders cannot be trusted, which is another thing.
The crop of leaders we have in Nigeria today don’t care. Whether you win or not, they would look for one thing or the other to take the matter to court, so that they can go and bribe judges to favour them. I know some leaders like that, and they are still living and contesting. We have to be all alert in this country, if we want the success of the 2023 election, but I know that nobody can succeed like before to overturn any election, nobody can succeed doing that.
What is your reaction to the claim by terrorists that they are after President Buhari, Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai and some prominent Nigerians?
It is shocking to even hear that, and it is giving me some signal that this government is not sincere. Yes, this government is not sincere. Are you aware that these terrorists attacked Buhari’s convoy in Katsina? That is the convoy of the president and Commander- In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. And the same Commander- In-Chief that people are accusing of handling the security situation in the country with kid gloves by not giving the military the wherewithal and a marching order to go straight ahead to execute their assignments against these insurgents.
The body language of the president is so, because the people involved are Fulani. So if you look at it, why can’t they be bold enough? Imagine the government arrested some terrorists sometimes ago and retrained them, calling them repentant terrorists. What kind of repentance? Who is fooling who? So to me, I think the government is trying to hand it over to the insurgents and we are watching. We are watching, because I know it will not happen. It will not hold, not in Nigeria.
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