Nobody will use Amotekun to settle personal scores —Oladejo, ex-Lagos Commissioner

Oluseye Oladejo, the Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations during Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration, was the Special Adviser to his predecessor, Mr Babatunde Raji-Fashola. The new publicity secretary of the Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) speaks to journalists on Operation Amotekun, the ban on commercial motorcycles and tricycles in the state and other issues. BOLA BADMUS brings excerpts.

 

WHAT is your view on the issue regarding the disagreement over the nomination of a former governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and former Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Gbenga Aluko for the position of the APC deputy national chairman?

Some people are of the view that, for fairness sake and for the need to reorganise the APC in Oyo State, there is need for them to have a sense of belonging. We don’t have a governor in Oyo State; we only have two senators in the state. So, there is a need for a rallying point; a personality that will serve as a rallying point. How did the APC deputy national chairman (South) get to Ekiti State? Ekiti then was in the same position that Oyo is now. So, for the sake of balancing and in the overall interest of the party in the South-West, we just want to appeal to all the gladiators that there is nothing more than this argument. They should just allow Oyo to have a place of pride so that they will also be able to contribute to the party going forward.

 

How much hope do you have in Amotekun, considering the serious security situation in the south-West, coupled with the inability of the security agencies to solve the problems on ground?

Security is everybody’s business. It is on the paper that the government should protect us but you need to be concerned about your personal security and that starts from paying attention to little things, some strange development and strange faces in your neighborhood. All these could avert a potential and imminent danger if we pay attention to them. This is first time government in this region is officially putting in place something that we can call local security. In the past when we had the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), it was not a government project. It is possible that, in the past, there could be other pockets of vigilante groups in some places but this is the first time it is really being formalised at the level of government, providing the enablement for them to be able to get the job done. It gives us cause for hope. It gives us cause to be able to have intelligence, share information. What is important really for me, as far as security is concerned, is being proactive and not reactive. It is always better to checkmate criminals before they are able to strike. I think it is cheaper and there will be no need to record unnecessary losses. There is everything for us to be hopeful and that will also be with the collaboration of the official security agencies across board working with Amotekun and other local security operatives.

 

There are fears in some quarters that people might use Amotekun for their own personal interest and that the security outfit is an instrument to fight herdsmen in particular?

It is not true. We can all see the security challenges and as long as the security challenges are there, there is need for it (Amotekun). The main business of the governor is the security of lives and property of people, which he governs. Security is the pedestal on which there can be development; it is the pedestal on which we can talk about social infrastructure or any other things. If there is upheaval out there, you won’t be here sitting down; you will rather stay in your house or in your comfort zone. So, it is going to be very difficult and almost impossible for anybody to be able to really use Amotekun to settle personal scores. It has nothing to do with targeting any tribe or anyone; the main thing is to secure lives and property and the people in the various states in the South-West.

 

There was a serious concern when Amotekun was launched that the APC national leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, was apparently not in support but he later came out to express his view on the matter…

His position on the matter was very clear. I think some people misunderstood the situation; some people wanted to leverage on the silence of the national leader on Amotekun. A worthwhile leader will not speak up on an issue when it is still germinating; a leader will need to wait till the fullness of time before coming out and expressing an opinion. And you will notice that when he (Tinubu) eventually spoke, it is actually more or less everything he said they are using as a template to drive through Amotekun; asking them to follow the rule of law, follow the procedure, asking the Attorney- General not to heat up the polity and to meet the stakeholders, and equally asking the stakeholders to be consistent about state security, that there is no template for regional policing. Amotekun is a child of circumstance. For various reasons, there are lots of security challenges here and there and it has been identified that the more localised the security system is, the better for us. Like people would want to say; criminals are not ghosts; they live within the people. So, if the security apparatus will survive, it will involve a lot of local intake. I believe all the governors in South-West are united on the issue of Amotekun, it will augur well for security in the region. Amotekun personnel are not going to be in competition with other security agencies, their role is complementary.

 

The concern in some quarters is that the APC by now should have stopped complaining about 16 years of PDP in power, in view of the worsening security situation-led in the country under five years of the APC federal administration?

You need to decide on a way forward through to somewhere. You cannot dismiss the very first foundation, the fundamental dislocation of those past five seasons we are talking about. Are these issues being addressed? Yes they are. Are we doing enough? That is debatable. Are we thriving to address all these issues? Yes, we are. People still refer to the colonial era for some dislocation, combination and for some marriage of convenience, how much more the recent holocaust called the PDP.

 

What is your comment on the claim by a leader of Miyetti Allah that the South-West should forget 2023 presidency since they have decide to establish the security outfit, Amotekun?

Is Miyetti Allah the group that officially represents the northern interest in Nigeria? Let me accord due respect to opinions of various groups about what should obtain in the country but at the same time, it will not be right to try to blackmail or arm-twist any region about what they have decided to do to protect themselves. If Miyetti Allah has dismissed the apparent threats to the security of lives and properties in the South-West, making those statements and turning it into politics; to say the least, it is unfortunate. I think in fullness of time, all these issues will be addressed and I think it is a bit hasty to start paying attention to needless statement.

 

A lot of people are of the view that government has not taken Lagosians into consideration with the recent ban on commercial motorcycles, popularly called okada and tricycles (Keke Marwa). What is your take on this?

The Lagos State Traffic Law that imposed this partial restriction was passed in 2012; so it is not a new law. The Sanwo-Olu government is only trying to implement the law passed by the previous administration. The main explanation given by the government for this partial ban is the issue of security of lives and properties. Anytime a government gives a reason for taking certain action or passing certain law as it pertains to the issue of security of lives and properties, it is weighty and loaded. You will agree with me that at that level of governance, the government is in the business of balancing issues, development and occurrences within the system in order not to throw the citizens into panic. We cannot dismiss the issue of menace of motorcycle (okada) and tricycles (Keke Marwa) riders in our state; we cannot close our eyes to have a flow of insurgency, terrorism, kidnapping to our state.

A few days ago, former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, during an event on insecurity, tagged: ‘Checkmating Organised Crimes,’ held in Lagos, gave out a piece of information that there was a plan to bomb Lagos in 2013 and that they intercepted 17 suitcases of explosives. I was a member of that cabinet but he didn’t share that information with us at that level. That should tell you that even a governor need to manage information. If he had churned out that information, just imagine the panic. So we could not really identify the exigencies that forced the hands of government to implement that law now. Even despite that, government has shown compassion and understanding because the law itself says there should be a total ban, but it is now partial restriction; that shows understanding on part of the government. But the risks are there and we all know these risks. We are all aware of the influx of the okada riders to Lagos from states where they were earlier banned, and the sky didn’t fall when they were banned in Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Zamfara, Edo, Rivers and Abuja. So when they were banned, most of them just put their bikes on trucks and trailers and moved to Lagos in droves having nowhere to sleep, having no place they can call their own. Some of them at night sleep on their okadas, sleep in kiosks and under bridges. All those things have implications to our security and environment. No responsible government will watch all these things happen and close their eyes.

It will also interest you to know that if a motorcycle is impounded about noon in this state by the security agencies, before the end of the day, the okada man would have a brand new okada. What does that tell you? It speaks to having funds from somewhere. The average okada man cannot have his motorcycle seized and just walk to a store to pick a new one; this is sponsorship. How do you reconcile the fact that a motorcycle rider would leave wherever he calls his abode in the morning with dagger in one pocket and a short gun in other? How do you reconcile the fact that there were some protests by okada riders to Apapa Local Government Area and the next thing we saw was that they burnt down the local government office? All these are germane issues that members of the public need to take on board and juxtapose them with the temporary dislocation and discomfort that this partial restriction is causing.

 

Some people are of the view that government should have provided a kind of palliatives for the citizens before implementing the ban as Lagosians now have to trek long distances daily to attend to their various businesses.

I agree but we should also be mindful of what could have informed the decision of government and the exigencies. Is it possible that government is trying to manage some sensitive information available about apparent and imminent threats to lives and properties of Lagosians? It is a painful decision, no doubt about that but it is better to take difficult and hard decisions because if at the end of the day something terrible had happened, we will still blame government for allowing things to happen. There are the developments that we citizens might not be privy to but someone at the level of government would know if these threats are real and we will needs to do something. Governance itself especially between the governor and the governed is a social contract. By virtue of voting him into power, we have consented certain power to him; that on our behalf, go ahead and take decision on our wellbeing, welfare and security, among others. That is exactly what we are doing now and I want to appeal that we shouldn’t allow our emotions to boil over this and people should not because of this politicise the good intentions of government.

 

The former Interim national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande was recently appointed to head a committee to resolve conflicts in the party. But, some voices have kicked against his nomination. What is your opinion on the issue?

A party is a group of people who have agreed on a common consensus and principles to be together to try and fight for power. APC itself was a child of necessity and if you look at the way APC came into inception, a lot of people; strange bedfellows so to speak came together. Even if you have an association that is made up of descendant union due to the fact that all of them are relatives from the same blood, there will still be the conflicts. So these conflicts are not unexpected. Secondly, it also points to the fact that as a party, APC, we need to manage our electoral success. For me, managing electoral success is even more difficult than managing electoral failure. In electoral failure, you are already united in your failure; there is nothing to fight over. When there is success that is time people will come with the issues of who play what roles before we were able to annex power from the former party. My take is that we all need to give peace a chance. There have been efforts in the past about reconciliation; one led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the other one by Senate President did not even take off; now this new one. All the gladiators need to give peace a chance because the party will need to continue to consolidate on its success. The party needs peace for us to be able to deliver on our mandates to the electorate in the course of the election, so that we will able to organise ourselves towards future elections.

 

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been taking up the ruling party on some issues. Why is the APC becoming jittery?

As far as I know, the PDP is on life support generally and even worse in Lagos. Tell me who the key players are in the Lagos PDP now? Majority of the key players, the leadership and followership are moving in droves to the ruling party. They have seen the light; they have seen clearly now that for decades to come, there is no selling points. Can Nigerians easily forget the 16 years of locust when they looted our common patrimony with nothing to show for it? At a time when the price of oil went as high as $100 per barrel, there was nothing to show for it. Lagosians and Nigerians won’t forget that in a hurry. There are still problems but the problems are being addressed, but the problems should not be these enormous if they had done the needful when they had power and resources. Resources available then are not available now. So I don’t see any magic and nobody should really pay attention to the unnecessary distractions from PDP in Lagos State.

 

Some have alleged that the INEC is working with APC resulting in the opposition parties losing confidence and trust in the electoral body?

I don’t know how they are going to reconcile that with the states APC lost and didn’t enjoy support from any quarters. There are states that we even won overwhelmingly like Zamfara and we ended up not forming government at any level. These arguments are not consistent with what is on ground. I also have to put it in record that anytime the opposition party wins at any level, especially at the Supreme Court, it is a rule of law at play; they celebrate to high heavens. But anytime it is the other way round, then democracy is under threat. We need to take ourselves seriously.