My mission for Lagos PDP — Carrena

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Femi Carrena, has indicated his interest in the chairmanship post of Lagos State chapter of the party. He speaks about his ambition and other issues of national interest, in this interview with some journalists. BOLA BADMUS brings excerpt:

Can you let us know why you are in this chairmanship race of Lagos PDP?

I decided to contest as the chairman of Lagos PDP because I realised that in Lagos, which is my immediate constituency, things are not moving well. So I cannot be operating at the national level when my house is on fire. My leaders in the state, Chief Bode George and Mrs Aduke Maina have factions and I don’t have faction, so I used my position as the head of the publicity of the caretaker committee in the state to unite the two leaders.

But moving forward, I realised that there is no cordial relationship between the supporters of the two leaders; people have come to me and say: unite the people and rescue the party. Some major stakeholders felt this is something I can do and 2019 is here, we want to reposition the party in Lagos State and put it in strong position.

The truth is that if you say the APC is not delivering and have failed the people, you must give them a strong alternative otherwise a man who is down will be ready to go down because he is down already.

But the PDP must be ready to be well positioned to take over power and give the people a choice. I have attempted serving the people as a governor in 2007. I contested in that election alongside Fashola, but it did not work and I think about it, if politicking is all about serving the people, I may as well go and serve as the chairman of my party because am passionate about my people.

Your party, PDP has always been factionalised in Lagos, what is the assurance that the crisis would not re occur?

Let me correct an impression, at the begining of this interview, I said the party was factionalised between two leaders, namely Bode George, who Salvador was representing and Mrs Aduke Maina who Segun Adewale is representing. But I said the two leaders have come together and are now united as one. When I am elected as the chairman of the party in Lagos, there would be no parallel executive and faction, there would not be any one saying I don’t agree with the result, there would be peace. I can assure you, there would be harmony. I can assure you that Lagosians would benefit from my chairmanship because I am passionate about my state.

What assurance do you have that you will emerge victorious in the coming party congress and become Lagos PDP chairman, considering other aspirants in the race?

There could be more than 10 aspirants in the race, but I am confident I am going to win. You have to have confidence and believe in yourself in what you are going to do. There is no aspirant that can downplay me. When I had contested for the position of governor 11 years ago, why would I be scary of the position of a chairman?

Experience is on my side and everybody knows what I can do, the party faithful know this.

What would be your priority if elected as chairman of the party?

My immediate focus if elected would be on true reconciliation, that is what we need even in Nigeria and within the party.  I would tour the state and meet with leaders even at the ward level and re-assure them that period of crisis is over, the dark period is over, and that we are back. I would try and unite everyone. We have a big job to do in the PDP because APC have been in power in Lagos State and are not delivering. Nigerians always think of what they can eat now, our people are suffering and we have to be well positioned as a party to gain power and change things. I can assure you that as chairman of the party in Lagos State, the people would feel my impact.

Record showed that the PDP performed badly in the last council polls, what is your reaction to this?

One of the things the National Assembly is trying to do is to give INEC the powers to conduct local government election so that all this  malpractices would end. What do you expect when the state conduct election? They would win everything, they say he who pays the piper dictates the tune. If a transparent election is conducted in the state, our party would win, and of course, we won several positions in the last general elections. The local government election is not an election that you can use to judge the performance of PDP.

But a lot of those who won positions in the said election on your party platform have since decamped to APC?

It is not a minus to the party, it is a disloyalty on the part of those that decamped. Disloyalty because Nigerians voted for them on a platform and for a reason, I don’t know what they had given them.

But it is a slap on their constituencies, those who voted them into office.

Talking about the coming National Convention of PDP, a lot of people think there should be a consensus arrangement among the chairmanship aspirants from the South West to avoid some form of crisis, what do yu think?

I agree that consensus would  reduce cost and stress and it gives you formidable power to face the opposition. I must agree the South West is the most endowed region, why are the chairmanship aspirants not stepping down, agreeing to consensus arrangements after all the efforts? It takes a lot to step down, and it is not common here, but I think it is a cultural thing. If they step down it may affect their family, friends, I think it is more of a cultural thing.

Personally, all of them are qualified and I am not speaking for them.

But when you look Chief Bode George, Professor Tunde Adeniran, they have seen it all, I think it is more cultural.

How true is the claim that the chairmanship slot was zoned to the entire South and not only to South West?

You must understand that PDP leads, others follow. The kind of campaign we are seeing for this chairmanship race has not been seen

before. The chairmanship was zoned to the South, the party expects the leaders to sit down and harmonise which region in the South the position would go. The South East had been there, the South South had been there as in acting capacity, it is only the South West that has not held that office before. Though Chief George was only there as deputy chairman, so they believe they should be given a chance.

Nigerians wanted a change and they’ve gotten what they bargained for under APC.

Let’s have your assessment of Buhari’s regime so far?

The people know he has disappointed them. The euphoria that greeted his assumption of office is no more there. They promised heaven and earth, that the dollar would be one naira and that they would give free food, have they implemented them now? Are they experienced? Nigerians have to realise that they have to ask questions. The change mantra was fake and Nigerians are poorer now, we have seen people dying everyday, poverty is increasing and nothing is working. Look at the dollar how, much did we meet it?

The regime said it has recorded phenomenal success in its anti-graft war, or what do you think?

The first mistake they did was that they wanted to fight corruption when the people in their party are corrupt, what is the assurance it would succeed when you know the problem of the country is corruption? But they have failed so far. What is happening is that when you decamp to the APC, your corruption investigation or charges would be dropped, you are no more corrupt. That is what is happening and everybody is watching, including the international community.

President Muhammadu Buhari is being urged to contest for second term come 2019, let’s have your view?

Buhari is welcomed into the race, but I would say let him do himself a favour and go and relax and enjoy his retirement. He is old enough to be my father. His party should also do him a favour and allow him to rest. l expect them to present someone young with the same Buhari mindset if they are sincere, but they are not.

Your party, PDP is still being blamed for the failure of this Buhari’s administration, how do you react to this accusation?

When you assumed office you hit the ground running with your plans, but this was not the case with Buhari. For more than six months, he did not appoint minister so those times were wasted and the result was the crisis we had, the recession. And you can see, he has failed.

When a government is in power for more than two years and is still blaming the previous administration, it shows ineptitude and being clueless. I am not saying some PDP people did not steal, but if you are still blaming us at this point, it means you have no clue. Are we responsible for the fall in the naira?

Buhari was not prepared for governance and he shot himself on the foot by refusing to appoint ministers on time.