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There’s danger of one-party state but...
Mr. Ladipo Johnson is a stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and
the party’s candidate for Surulere Federal Constituency I during last year’s
general elections. Although the Alliance for Democracy (AD) made a clean sweep
of the elective offices at stake during the last polls, Mr. Johnson, a former
president, Lagos State University (LASU) Students Union predicts that his party
would avenge that defeat in 2007. He spoke with Deputy Political Editor,
THOMAS IMONIKHE. Excerpts:
Recently the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
National Working Committee (NWC) intervened in the protracted crisis which
engulfed its Lagos State chapter. Has peace returned to Lagos PDP?
We’ve had problems in the party for a very
long time. When you have a party that is very popular and is growing even
stronger within the state, you will have people with diverse interests and once
that happens, you will always find people who will be at logger heads especially
with the leadership. Be that as it may, it hasn’t really, we thank God, derailed
the party. The party is still waxing strong. Now the decision of the national
secretariat of the party to step into the problems that we have in Lagos was
welcome and I dare say that since that has occurred, things have settled down. I
am not sure whether or not the aggrieved parties or those who were placed on
suspension have been reinstated but at least the framework is there on ground
and they always say, we disagree to agree.
I pray that we will forge a common front
and move forward from this point because we believe that we have a programme to
move Lagos State forward once we are allowed to control the state by the
electorate. So I believe that settlement has occurred, it may take sometime to
manifest but I am positive that we will be going into the 2007 elections a
united and strong party.
There are strong indications that Lagos
PDP will be fielding a candidate for the national chairmanship of the party
during the national convention next year. Who are you presenting for the
position and what are you doing to ensure that your candidate emerges
victorious?
The PDP is a national party and we in
Lagos who are members of the PDP have always argued that we must take Lagos
State into the mainstream of this country so that we can benefit adequately from
the centre. Since the South West has had two consecutive terms at the presidency
and it is most unlikely that the we will be producing the next president, we
however feel that it is important that we remain an integral part of the party
at the centre and towards that, it is no secret that people have speculated and
rightly so that may be the national chairmanship of the party will be coming
down to the South-West. We believe that the South-West has people with the
brains and the knowhow to further steer the ship of the PDP towards 2007 and
beyond. So I will not know directly what the South West has decided on, whether
it has decided at its caucus to go for any particular post. But I believe that a
consensus would be reached soon as to which position we should contest for and
when this zoning is being done, I believe that the South West would be in the
forefront because our zone has credible people and people with the right mix of
political aggression to move the party as a whole forward. So, I feel we will
get there and there will be a consensus on the issue.
The PDP is already controlling 28 out of
the 36 states and you are predicting victory for your party in Lagos State in
2007. Are you bothered that Nigeria is moving towards a one-party state?
Let me first say that yes, it seems that
it is going to be a one-party state or we are moving towards that. But that is a
natural thing at this stage. The reason I say that is this: the other major
parties are sectional parties ab initio. The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)
is sitting in the core North and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) is just popular
in the South West. They have not made any positive attempts, yes they made
nominal attempts to integrate with other sections of the country. On the
contrary, the PDP spent time doing that even after the first elections in 1999
when the South West voted massively for the AD. The PDP, because President
Olusegun Obasanjo had to deliver his zone, spent time working on the South West,
campaigning in the South West and was able to deliver the zone during last
year’s general election.
Now the dangers of a one-party state we
all know. But I always say that Nigerians being what we are, even if there is
one party, it will still be a factionalised party. There will always be
disagreement in such a party. But there is a greater danger if we do not let
things happen and evolve naturally.
Once there is conscious efforts, to stop
people who are gravitating towards one-party and make sure that this doesn’t
happen, that is not democratic. But I believe strongly that even if it seems
that the PDP is waxing stronger, that the people are going to the PDP and there
is a danger of the country becoming a one-party state, I believe it will not get
to that state, I believe that the PDP may lose some states come next elections
as I also believe, we will gain some states. For instance, I know we will gain
Lagos State by the grace of God.
So yes, there is the danger of a one-party
state but as I said, with the nature of Nigerians being what we are, you will
find that it is very unlikely that we will have a one-party state and even if we
have one in name you will find that it would be a factionalised party.
Why are you confident that the PDP will
win Lagos State in 2007?
The basis of my confidence is in the
hardwork we have put in at the grassroots level and in the uncoordinated way in
which the state has been run for several years now. Lagos State is in so much
debts at the moment. Yes, Nigeria is in debts, and we are all complaining but
Lagos State used to be at the forefront of other states but it’s no longer is. I
believe that we made certain mistakes towards the 2003 general elections. If
not, Lagos State would have been a PDP controlled state today. Part of the
mistakes is what caused the so-called peace meeting which took place in Abuja
that we spoke about earlier because certain people in the party were said to
have sold out. But be that as it may, if you look at the percentage difference
of growth in the votes the PDP got from 1999 to 2003, you know that it has been
moving up and I sincerely believe that the take over as it were would be
complete. Just as an aside to President Obasanjo’s statement a few weeks back,
that Lagos State is going to be a PDP controlled state in 2007 and people said
that he had no right to say so, that why should he say such a thing. But the
President of the country also belongs to a political party. He has every right
to say that his party will win this state, it’s all political talk and that will
happen and Governor Bola Tinubu has the right to say no, you are not going to
win it, we are going to hold on to it.
The people have seen that it is better to
be in the main stream. If you go to Ogun State and other South-Western states,
you will see the rate at which those states are improving at the moment,
especially in terms of infrastructure, and that is not obtainable in Lagos
State. There are certain things that the governor of Lagos State has tried to do
or is trying to do that are good, don’t get me wrong. But if he is putting it
across in a wrong way due to the fact that he is coming from a different
political party, I think Lagos State will suffer. He has some ideas that are
good but they should be channelled properly. And when you have a party caucus,
be you a president, a governor, or Senate president you go back to your party
and your party caucus will tell you that this thing must be done. I am speaking
as a Lagosian. If Lagos State belongs to the caucus at the centre, it would have
achieved a lot.
It has been alleged that the recent face-off between
Governor Tinubu and the Works Minister, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe as well as the
stoppage of federal allocation to Lagos State councils are part of the plot by
PDP to "capture" the state. Why is your party bent on taking Lagos in 2007?
Clearly put, the allegations are quite
baseless. Regarding the allocation to the local governments that was stopped by
the presidency, it isn’t the AD state only because it affected some PDP states
as well. I believe that it is within the purview of Mr. President to say that
look, I don’t think that you have followed every step in the constitution in
your creating XYZ local governments, and since I am accountable at the end of
the day, I am not giving you money because the names of the councils I am
supposed to allocate money to, you have changed them. And since they are not in
the constitution, I would need the Supreme Court’s interpretation to know
whether I should released funds to these councils. This money is not being spent
by the president, it is being kept for the affected local governments and as
soon as the Supreme Court decides the matter then the funds should be released
either to the old 20 councils or the new 57 local government areas in Lagos
State.
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