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�Though I�m PDP, I can�t pretend that the non-release of LG funds is not affecting my people�
Prince Tunde Salau is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member in the House of Representatives from Lagos State. In this interview with THEOPHILUS ABBAH, he speaks on the face-off between the Lagos State Government and the Federal Government. Excerpts:
How has the recent peace meeting in Abuja among the factions of your party led to the resolution of the crisis in Lagos PDP?
The impact of the meeting has to do with the bringing to an end all the disagreements between friends. All the areas that the various factions have been unhappy about were trashed out, and we came to a kind of settlement that could bring about a more permanent and better arrangement that will put the party in a winning position for 2007 elections.
Now, I�m asking the question because there were lots of ill-feelings after the 2003 elections, that some people got appointments that ought to have been for some other persons. Were these things rectified?
The real issue was that after the 2003 elections, it was alleged that some key members of the party worked against the interest of the party. The action, we understand, all accrued from the primary election. You�ll recall that after the primary elections, we lost people like Chief Dapo Sarumi. People like him were shifting from the party, the rest that remained in the party were supposed to have work in the interest of the party. Instead, many worked against the party and that was what resulted into Chief Funso Williams losing that election. Lagosian voted overwhelmingly for the party, but somehow along the line, we had some people who deserted the party and worked against it. Many stakeholders worked for Tinubu. It was at our undoing that we allowed such a situation to develop to that point. Now that we are talking about reconciliation, we have to identify the individual strengths and give recognition that is due to individuals in the party.
It is our lack of efforts to get this sorted out before it was blown in our faces that made us to lose the election. After the election, people like Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, who would naturally have won a senatorial seat, lost and accusing fingers were pointed all over the place, that maybe some people who lost out in the primaries felt other people should not win at the polls. It resulted in Engineer Funso Williams losing the election. It resulted in Ogunlewe losing his senatorial seat, and a lot of people were very angry about that. It meant also that a lot of people, members in the party who would have been given political appointments from Lagos State could not get anything. That brought a kind of infighting into the party immediately after the election.
With the Abuja talks, do you think the infighting would end?
Efforts have been made to bring the warring factions together. When you look at the substance of the allegations, when you look very deeply into them, you will discover that the allegations presented in Abuja were based mainly on suspicions rather than substance, and this emanated from the disunity and distrust that came after the general elections. Ogunlewe is a peculiar person. He has his own kind of administration, he was a civil servant and so the kind of style, the civil service style, he brought into administration when he became the arrowhead of Lagos State was a bit strange to some persons. It might not be generally acceptable, but if, prior to that time it was as if every minute of the meeting held by the PDP in Lagos was leaked to either the press or the opposition party. That was why not everybody that mattered was taken into confidence. This got a lot of people angry.
It�s lack of this kind of avenue to express their opinions so that they would be carried along that brought about this kind of problem we had. I�m sure most factions have learnt their lessons, and it appears the leadership is now geared towards carrying everybody along. The arrowhead of Lagos PDP, Senator Ogunlewe has made some moves, which I believe will, eventually, lead to more co-operation and unity in the party.
One of the issues affecting Lagos State is the withholding of the Federal Allocations to local governments. The PDP is believed to have worked against the release of the funds. How do you think this issue can be solved?
You see, the issue we�re discussing about wouldn�t have arisen at all, if Tinubu has taken a kind of legal measures in his attempt to create new local government. It wasn�t like the PDP in Lagos State wanted teachers to suffer or local government staff to suffer. It is not in the interest of Lagosians or Tunde Salau for my people in Epe to suffer. In actual fact, we have been secretly advocating in one way or the other at The Presidency to ensure that these people do not suffer unduly, because of the confrontational attitude of a leader. But I�m sure in the very near future, an agreement will be worked out that will resolve the problem.
As a PDP elected lawmaker, don�t you think your people can be very angry with your party because of what is happening?
Yes, we have the fear that some people could be angry, especially some of them that are civil servants. There�s also the fear of losing the bulk of the people, but all this put together, I�m happy that Lagosians are very intelligent people. They would have realised that the whole cause of this problem is not President Olusegun Obasanjo; it�s not the PDP in Lagos State, but Governor Tinubu, who seems to be waging a war against the federal authorities.
Another issue that affects your party and Lagos State is the introduction of FERMA into Lagos highway. You know that LASTMA has been doing a commendable job, now the minister is bringing FERMA. This is creating a kind of face-off between the Lagos State government and the minister. Do you think this is justifiable?
The state government has to carry out it�s own constitutional or statutory obligation to its citizens. The Federal Ministry of Works has it�s own statutory obligations to the citizenry. I�ve been in government since 1983, during the time of Governor Gbolahan Mudasiru in Lagos State. I was in the Governor�s office with our arrowhead, Senator Ogunlewe and Funso Williams. That time, there was a kind of written agreement between the state and Federal Government that any federal road within the state automatically becomes the responsibility of the state government to rehabilitate. But, in this particular case, we have an embarrassing situation, where the Federal Government is being made to look stupid. Or, how do you interpret the situation where on every bad federal road in Lagos State, Tinubu puts an advert telling the people that this particular ditch is a Federal Government road and that it is not his responsibility to repair them. In the past, during the time of Akigbe and Gbolahan Mudasiru, they maintained federal roads in Lagos State and they were promptly paid. I recall that during the time of Akhigbe, he paid more than ten visits officially to the president, then President Ibrahim Babangida, just to beg him to assist in building that Third Mainland Bridge because he realised the importance of the bridge to the development of the state. It is the responsibility of the leadership of Lagos State to court the sympathy of Federal Government. That�s why we�ve had many federal establishments and federal parastatals in the state. But when you are indirectly trying to drive away the interests of the government, or you are making the government to look stupid, you are courting trouble.
Now, concerning FERMA, it did not come in order to antagonise Tinubu�s government, or to antagonise any parastatal of the state, but when you are now saying that you cannot take over the responsibility of the Federal Government and FG agency or ministry in its wisdom has now decided that, �if you cannot take over or discharge our duties for us, then we�ll do it ourselves. Now, ask your officials to get off the highways so we can do our duty as expected of us�. Because of such a decision, people are now complaining. LASTMA has a monthly revenue target that must go to their state coffers. A responsible agency that is supposed to see to the smooth flow of traffic in Lagos will not be given a monthly target. It�s just like Obasanjo asking the police to meet up a kind of monthly revenue target. Are they supposed to be making money? These people are supposed to see to the easy flow of traffic. Ogunlewe or the PDP in Lagos state are not interested in the face-off. Afterall, Ogunlewe is from Lagos State and I come from Lagos State as well, and many of us that are in Lagos State want to see a harmonous kind of relationship between government officials and the citizeny. So, there�s no way we can encourage the kind of situation that people are trying to imagine is happening. FERMA is not against the interest of the state. But this kind of thing, I think, is behind us now. We look forward to a kind of peaceful situation in Lagos State.
Sunday Punch, July 25, 2004
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The President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
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