Luqmon
Oladeji Ajose is a Chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former
Chairman of Lagos Island Local Government.
In this interview, the politician opens up on various issues including the just concluded Ondo State governorship election, proposed constitutional review, call for national conference, Boko Haram insurgency, his tenure as Lagos Island Local Government boss under former governor Bola Tinubu whom he alleged frustrated some of his development projects in order not to outshine the state and his assessment of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashiola of Lagos State.
According to him Lagos State government is depriving local governments of their
legitimate and constitutional rights. In this interview, the politician opens up on various issues including the just concluded Ondo State governorship election, proposed constitutional review, call for national conference, Boko Haram insurgency, his tenure as Lagos Island Local Government boss under former governor Bola Tinubu whom he alleged frustrated some of his development projects in order not to outshine the state and his assessment of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashiola of Lagos State.
How do you see the just
concluded Ondo State governorship election won by Governor Olusegun Mimiko?
My opinion is that the Ondo people have spoken, the indication of the result is that they want Mimiko, the Iroko for another four years term. That is it.
What does that implies for Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which wants to spread its tentacles across South West?
As far as I'm concerned, ACN is not actually on ground. You will see that two of the South Western states- Ekiti and Osun, they became ACN controlled through the grace of former president of Court of Appeal which has been exposed.
That is why he is going through what is happening to him now. We hope that such situation will not repeat itself anymore, whereby people will use the back door to get to power. Not that their party won or people want them.
You will see that they are not even performing, look at places like Ogun and Oyo that they said they won during the last election. I am very sure if there is any opinion poll in those states now, they will want them crushed; people will want them out.
If you say ACN governments are not performing, what is your assessment of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State?
As far as I'm concerned, Babatunde Raji Fashola as an ACN governor is only doing better than what his predecessor did. What he is doing is not adequate. What Governor Fashola is doing does not commensurate with the revenue being generated by the state. In the first instance, we know how much that is being given to Lagos State government from the federation accounts.
We know that their internally fenerated revenue is over 0 billion naira monthly; so if you consider what is being done by this government and compare it with revenue generated, you will realize that they are not doing anything at all.
And not only that, the Lagos State Government is actually depriving the local
fovernments their egitimate and constitutional functions. For instance, the state government has usurped all the revenue generating points of the local governments; they have now cornered all the revenue which is supposed to be generated by the local governments.
Workers at various local governments no longer have work to do; some of them just go to the office and play while some don't even go to the office until pay day. Even the revenue accruable to the local governments from the federation accounts is being doctored by the Lagos State Government.
Not what is due to each local government is given to them y the state. As a result, most of the local governments have nothing to do; many of the workers just go to work, some don't even go, they only go and collect salary. That is why they do staff audit almost every quarter because it is only the salary that the local governments receive from the federation account.
So, what is good about ACN?
Nothing. It is the government of ACN that started increasing the cost of university education in the state. Jakande created Lagos State University (LASU) and it was free then. After Jakande it was the military; the military had all the opportunities to increase the fees but they didn't do it; they only asked students to be paying N500.
When Bola Tinubu got there in his first term, he didn't increase the fees, but in his second term, he increased the fees from N500 to N25, 000, can you imagine the percentage increase?
So, when Fashola got there, in his first term he did not touch it, but in his second term he increased it from N25,000 to a minimum of N250,000. Can you also imagine the percentage of that increase? ACN is not government of the people and they are not working for the people at all. They say ACN, ACN, ACN, what is good about that ACN? Nothing.
To me let them come and explain what they generate and how they spend it. Let the governor come out and tell us how much he made and what he has been able to do with it. There are abandon projects throughout Lagos State. Go to Kakawa Street you will see abandoned property of LASACO, Lagos State Assurance Company, the building is there for over 20 years now.
The ACN governments of Tinubu and Fashola do not even know that such building is there. They now embark on gigantic projects that they cannot finish in 10 years: projects like mass rail system and 10 lanes Badagry express road. How much do they need to complete that building at Kakawa? The AtN government is just merely a government of deceit that is not in the interest of the people.
As a chieftain of PDP, how prepared is Lagos PDP to win 2015 elections?
Lagos State PDP is very much prepared for the 2015 elections, we are already putting our house in order and everybody is working in the interest of the party to win the elections. We are strategising by the day, so far so good. Apart from that, people of Lagos have seen that ACN is a government of deceit that is not interested in the welfare of the common man and it is government that is not in the interest of the people. People on their own already want a change and that change will bring in PDP government in Lagos State, come 2015.
Are you saying that all the reconciliatory moves within the party are fruitful?
Yes, reconciliation moves within the party are fruitful; we are one house pursuing one goal of winning 2015 elections.
Some stakeholders in the polity are calling for Sovereign National Conference as a way out of Nigeria problems. What is your take on this?
I don't believe in any Sovereign National Conference again since we have the national assembly in place. At the federal level, we have House of Representatives and the Senate while at the states level we have Houses of Assembly. I think that anybody that has any recommendation should forward it to the national assembly for consideration. Such views and recommendations can also be published in national newspapers. I think national conference is a waste of time and resources since we already have national assembly.
Some states are calling for regional integration and self determination, what is your view on this?
I believe Nigeria is not ripe for that. We should continue to maintain the unity of Nigeria.
What do you think should be the way out of Boko Haram insurgency in the country?
It is so unfortunate that a group of people have taken laws into their own hands by destroying lives and properties. They have wrecked so much havoc in the country, especially in the north.
The unfortunate thing is that the people behind this group are faceless, how can you dialogue with a faceless people or imaginary people. They are terrorists and suicide bombers. We know that in the south west, we can identify OPC with Gani Adams or Dr Fredrick Fasheun while in the east we can identify the similar group with the man called Umezuruike. In the same vein, the Arewa group has their own leaders that we can identify.
It is not the same thing with the Boko Haram; no one can easily identify their leaders, that is what is compounding the problem.
My opinion is that the Ondo people have spoken, the indication of the result is that they want Mimiko, the Iroko for another four years term. That is it.
What does that implies for Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which wants to spread its tentacles across South West?
As far as I'm concerned, ACN is not actually on ground. You will see that two of the South Western states- Ekiti and Osun, they became ACN controlled through the grace of former president of Court of Appeal which has been exposed.
That is why he is going through what is happening to him now. We hope that such situation will not repeat itself anymore, whereby people will use the back door to get to power. Not that their party won or people want them.
You will see that they are not even performing, look at places like Ogun and Oyo that they said they won during the last election. I am very sure if there is any opinion poll in those states now, they will want them crushed; people will want them out.
If you say ACN governments are not performing, what is your assessment of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State?
As far as I'm concerned, Babatunde Raji Fashola as an ACN governor is only doing better than what his predecessor did. What he is doing is not adequate. What Governor Fashola is doing does not commensurate with the revenue being generated by the state. In the first instance, we know how much that is being given to Lagos State government from the federation accounts.
We know that their internally fenerated revenue is over 0 billion naira monthly; so if you consider what is being done by this government and compare it with revenue generated, you will realize that they are not doing anything at all.
And not only that, the Lagos State Government is actually depriving the local
fovernments their egitimate and constitutional functions. For instance, the state government has usurped all the revenue generating points of the local governments; they have now cornered all the revenue which is supposed to be generated by the local governments.
Workers at various local governments no longer have work to do; some of them just go to the office and play while some don't even go to the office until pay day. Even the revenue accruable to the local governments from the federation accounts is being doctored by the Lagos State Government.
Not what is due to each local government is given to them y the state. As a result, most of the local governments have nothing to do; many of the workers just go to work, some don't even go, they only go and collect salary. That is why they do staff audit almost every quarter because it is only the salary that the local governments receive from the federation account.
So, what is good about ACN?
Nothing. It is the government of ACN that started increasing the cost of university education in the state. Jakande created Lagos State University (LASU) and it was free then. After Jakande it was the military; the military had all the opportunities to increase the fees but they didn't do it; they only asked students to be paying N500.
When Bola Tinubu got there in his first term, he didn't increase the fees, but in his second term, he increased the fees from N500 to N25, 000, can you imagine the percentage increase?
So, when Fashola got there, in his first term he did not touch it, but in his second term he increased it from N25,000 to a minimum of N250,000. Can you also imagine the percentage of that increase? ACN is not government of the people and they are not working for the people at all. They say ACN, ACN, ACN, what is good about that ACN? Nothing.
To me let them come and explain what they generate and how they spend it. Let the governor come out and tell us how much he made and what he has been able to do with it. There are abandon projects throughout Lagos State. Go to Kakawa Street you will see abandoned property of LASACO, Lagos State Assurance Company, the building is there for over 20 years now.
The ACN governments of Tinubu and Fashola do not even know that such building is there. They now embark on gigantic projects that they cannot finish in 10 years: projects like mass rail system and 10 lanes Badagry express road. How much do they need to complete that building at Kakawa? The AtN government is just merely a government of deceit that is not in the interest of the people.
As a chieftain of PDP, how prepared is Lagos PDP to win 2015 elections?
Lagos State PDP is very much prepared for the 2015 elections, we are already putting our house in order and everybody is working in the interest of the party to win the elections. We are strategising by the day, so far so good. Apart from that, people of Lagos have seen that ACN is a government of deceit that is not interested in the welfare of the common man and it is government that is not in the interest of the people. People on their own already want a change and that change will bring in PDP government in Lagos State, come 2015.
Are you saying that all the reconciliatory moves within the party are fruitful?
Yes, reconciliation moves within the party are fruitful; we are one house pursuing one goal of winning 2015 elections.
Some stakeholders in the polity are calling for Sovereign National Conference as a way out of Nigeria problems. What is your take on this?
I don't believe in any Sovereign National Conference again since we have the national assembly in place. At the federal level, we have House of Representatives and the Senate while at the states level we have Houses of Assembly. I think that anybody that has any recommendation should forward it to the national assembly for consideration. Such views and recommendations can also be published in national newspapers. I think national conference is a waste of time and resources since we already have national assembly.
Some states are calling for regional integration and self determination, what is your view on this?
I believe Nigeria is not ripe for that. We should continue to maintain the unity of Nigeria.
What do you think should be the way out of Boko Haram insurgency in the country?
It is so unfortunate that a group of people have taken laws into their own hands by destroying lives and properties. They have wrecked so much havoc in the country, especially in the north.
The unfortunate thing is that the people behind this group are faceless, how can you dialogue with a faceless people or imaginary people. They are terrorists and suicide bombers. We know that in the south west, we can identify OPC with Gani Adams or Dr Fredrick Fasheun while in the east we can identify the similar group with the man called Umezuruike. In the same vein, the Arewa group has their own leaders that we can identify.
It is not the same thing with the Boko Haram; no one can easily identify their leaders, that is what is compounding the problem.
If you are dialoguing, who are you dialoguing
with; no one can dialogue with an imaginary leader. Despite the efforts of JTF,
we are still recording incidences here and there in states like Borno, Niger,
Plateau and so on. My advice to Mr. President is to put in place, formidable
security structures nationwide to stem the tide of Boko Haram.
As the national assembly is planning to review the constitution, what areas do you want the lawmakers to look into critically?
I want the local governments to be autonomous; they should not be an apron of state governments. For us to have development we must have independent local governments.
The current arrangement encourages state governments to doctor funds meant for the local government from the federation accounts. In the same vein, with the current arrangement, local government chairmen have to take approval from the state governors before they can implement contracts that is above one million naira.
During my tenure as Chairman of Lagos Island Local Government, former governor Bola Tinubu tried to frustrate some of my projects. For instance I wanted to construct an ultra modern car park, the efforts which he frustrated. I went to the then Minister of Works for approval, Tinubu later approached the minister for the same purpose; he was told that I had earlier approached the ministry for approval.
He believe that if I carried out such projects I would outshine the state government. Also, I wanted to construct a housing estate where we would sell a three-bedroom flat for as low as N5m. My housing estate project was frustrated because former governor Bola Tinubu wanted to sell his own 3-bedroom flat for as much as N19 million.
I wanted to finance that project with loan from the bank and the collateral is the land on which we wanted to build the estate, which is traditionally owned by the local government. But we needed to regularise it by obtaining the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) which must be endorsed by the state governor. Tinubu refused to approve the C of O. Till today the C of O has not been issued and the project is still there unimplemented.
In the last local governments' election in Lagos State, PDP sprung surprises by allegedly wining in some local government areas like Ikoyi- Obalende, Yaba and Badagry. What is your view on this and what do you expect from the election petition tribunal?
That will tell you how democratically fraudulent ACN and its leaders are. For the first time that PDP would participate in election in all the local governments (LGs) and ocal council development areas (LCDAs) in the state, PDP actually won in more than half of all the LGs and LCDAs.
This was despite the fraudulent activities of ACN. Can you imagine that Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) Chairman, Hon. Justice Fatai A. Adeyinka (rtd.) announced winners of the election without announcing results? I wonder why a well respected retired Judge would allow himself to be used.
Leader of ACN, former governor Bola Tinubu must be checked democratically. He has amassed so much wealth to himself that he is now embarking on expansionist projects to win the entire South West for his party; the exercise that will end in futility.
Tinubu is now equating himself with Awolowo; he cannot be like Awolowo because Awolowo never coerced people into his party and he never stole the peoples' funds for his personal advantage.
People are now aware that ACN has nothing good to offer. In PDP, we believe in rule of law and I don't want to preempt the outcome of the tribunal and as a party that believe so much in the rule of law we are going to accept the verdict of the tribunal.
As the national assembly is planning to review the constitution, what areas do you want the lawmakers to look into critically?
I want the local governments to be autonomous; they should not be an apron of state governments. For us to have development we must have independent local governments.
The current arrangement encourages state governments to doctor funds meant for the local government from the federation accounts. In the same vein, with the current arrangement, local government chairmen have to take approval from the state governors before they can implement contracts that is above one million naira.
During my tenure as Chairman of Lagos Island Local Government, former governor Bola Tinubu tried to frustrate some of my projects. For instance I wanted to construct an ultra modern car park, the efforts which he frustrated. I went to the then Minister of Works for approval, Tinubu later approached the minister for the same purpose; he was told that I had earlier approached the ministry for approval.
He believe that if I carried out such projects I would outshine the state government. Also, I wanted to construct a housing estate where we would sell a three-bedroom flat for as low as N5m. My housing estate project was frustrated because former governor Bola Tinubu wanted to sell his own 3-bedroom flat for as much as N19 million.
I wanted to finance that project with loan from the bank and the collateral is the land on which we wanted to build the estate, which is traditionally owned by the local government. But we needed to regularise it by obtaining the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) which must be endorsed by the state governor. Tinubu refused to approve the C of O. Till today the C of O has not been issued and the project is still there unimplemented.
In the last local governments' election in Lagos State, PDP sprung surprises by allegedly wining in some local government areas like Ikoyi- Obalende, Yaba and Badagry. What is your view on this and what do you expect from the election petition tribunal?
That will tell you how democratically fraudulent ACN and its leaders are. For the first time that PDP would participate in election in all the local governments (LGs) and ocal council development areas (LCDAs) in the state, PDP actually won in more than half of all the LGs and LCDAs.
This was despite the fraudulent activities of ACN. Can you imagine that Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) Chairman, Hon. Justice Fatai A. Adeyinka (rtd.) announced winners of the election without announcing results? I wonder why a well respected retired Judge would allow himself to be used.
Leader of ACN, former governor Bola Tinubu must be checked democratically. He has amassed so much wealth to himself that he is now embarking on expansionist projects to win the entire South West for his party; the exercise that will end in futility.
Tinubu is now equating himself with Awolowo; he cannot be like Awolowo because Awolowo never coerced people into his party and he never stole the peoples' funds for his personal advantage.
People are now aware that ACN has nothing good to offer. In PDP, we believe in rule of law and I don't want to preempt the outcome of the tribunal and as a party that believe so much in the rule of law we are going to accept the verdict of the tribunal.
Source:
Compass
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