PDP will win Lagos guber poll in 2023 —Dosunmu

Former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Ade Dosunmu was the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 election in Lagos State. He believes the chances of the party are brighter to win in 2023. KUNLE ODEREMI brings some excerpts of the interview.

Why has the PDP not been able to win the   governorship election in Lagos since 1999?

There are several reasons responsible for that.  If you look at it from 1999 till now, you will discover that the PDP has made steady progress. You can’t compare the result of 1999 to that of 2003 up till the last election in 2019.  This shows that the PDP has been coming up stronger in an attempt to win election in Lagos State. It is not as if the result has been going down. The PDP has been showing strength over the years. It’s just that the effort has not culminated into victory. However, we are hoping that this time around, all things being equal, the PDP will be able to win the governorship election in Lagos.

But many often blame internal crisis for the defeat of the party over the years? 

By the nature of politics, it is the different amalgamation of interests from different backgrounds coming together for the purpose of winning an election or forming a government.  And for that reason, there must be some form of disagreements. But the most important thing is that, we disagree to agree.  So, crisis is not peculiar to the PDP; it exists in all political parties.  The All Progressives congress (APC) has its own crisis; it has a crisis of leadership; all sorts of crisis. Ditto the PDP.  However, the most important thing is the ability of the political parties to manage their crisis in such a way that it will not affect them or affect them at the point of election. That is why you will see the PDP, after congresses, talking about reconciliation. And that is ongoing. To a large extent, I don’t see any major crisis in the PDP; whether it is PDP national or PDP Lagos, there is no major crisis that cannot be resolved.

APC will be hoping to consolidate its grip on Lagos in the next elections. What king of winning formula does your party plans to adopted ahead of 2023, especially given the challenges facing the state?

There is no particular winning formula other than to come into the election with comprehensive programmes and strategies. And of course, you will agree with me that winning the 2023 elections, our strategy for doing that  will not be disclosed.  But I can tell you that we have our strategy for doing that and we are coming up stronger.  It is not going to be like in the past; it’s going to be different this time around.  Also, the fact that the APC has been in  power in Lagos State for 23 years is  a minus for the party. What have they got to show for it, considering the huge amount of money that has accrued to them over the past 22 years?  What is in Lagos that is commensurate with the type of resources that have passed through the hands of the APC government in Lagos?  This year’s budget alone is N1.7 trillion and at the end of the year, you won’t see anything to show that such budget has been spent in the state.  The people are not fools, and I know that they are watching keenly and I do know that Lagosians are asking questions.

 What is your opinion on the options of picking candidates: direct or indirect mode?

The options of picking candidates for elections should purely be at the discretion of parties. It is the parties that   produce the candidates and they should be able to come up with options that are suitable for them.  I don’t think it is the responsibility of the legislature or the National Assembly to choose the option for the parties.  Rather, I feel that they should have left that provision the way it was in the Electoral Act, where the parties were given options of direct or Indirect, instead of removing the indirect and adapting only the direct. The parties should be given the freedom to decide on which option to choose; which option to adopt during their primaries.  They should have left it and allow the parties to choose based on their own constitutions. That aspect does not need any amendment.  The whole process can heat up the polity and cause unnecessary distraction.

Do you see any prospect for the PDP to win the 2023 presidential election and why?

The prospect is very high now given the fact that Nigerians are now in a position to compare between the PDP period and the APC regime. It is obvious now that the PDP era is better in terms of how it was able to impact on the lives of Nigerians in the area of the level of inflation, the exchange rates, the pump price of fuel, and so on. These are things that have direct impacts on the lives of the people. So, I think that Nigerians are in a better position to decide now.  Even during the last election, it was not a wide margin.  You can see how close it was, talk less of now.  You know the last election was running against an incumbent; but now, the candidates that will emerge will likely be fresh candidates and there will be a level-playing field. There is no more incumbency. So, we believe that putting all these into consideration, and the realities staring Nigerians in the face now, they will be able to vote right.

What is your opinion on the seeming overbearing influence of governors in the directing affairs of parties?

The two major parties or the three parties that have governors, none of them is an exception.  The way the governors are overbearing in one party is the way they are in other parties. However, I won’t say that the governors are overbearing, rather, the fact that they are the highest political office holders of the parties in the various states and they also have the numbers .When they come together, they are so formidable: They have the numbers, they have the resources, and they also control the machinery of government in their respective states. Nobody can wish that away.  It’s a very formidable force. Maybe, that’s why you say they’re overbearing.  But to me, it is that formidable strength that they possess coming together.  Supposing the governors go in different directions, they won’t be as formidable as they are now.  I also think it’s good for our democracy for the governors to work in the same direction. It also helps to bring unity within the parties instead of the governors working in different directions.  You know they also have the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), which is like a clearing house for the governors. There, they exchange ideas, compare notes, and once issues are resolved at the forum, each of them go to their respective party platform and execute.  Thus, if the governors don’t work together; if they work at cross purposes, it is going to be more dangerous for the party. It is going to tear the parties apart.  It will be difficult for you to harmonise their interest.  If they work together, they can disagree to agree and that is good for the party.