Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State and Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees member, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, in this interview with MAYOWA SAMUEL, examines the performance of the All Progressives Congress government in Lagos State and at the federal level. She equally expresses her reservation at the ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to contest the 2023 Presidential Election on the platform of the APC. Excerpts:
In 2002, you resigned as the Lagos State Deputy Governor when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was the governor. Since then, we have had governors Babatunde Fashola, Akinwunmi Ambode and Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Would you say that their performances have translated to progress for the state in your own judgement?
Well, I can’t see any progress in Lagos State. The health facilities, the roads are in a terrible state. The housing for the masses, we haven’t seen. So, I don’t know what progress there has been.
But last year alone, Governor Sanwo-Olu commissioned housing estates in Igando, Ibeshe, Ikate and Sangotedo. Doesn’t that prove your statement wrong?
How many housing facilities did he commission and was it his own doing or was it the ones that were started by his predecessors? We don’t even know.
In November last year, you said it is time to replicate the ‘O toge’ movement in Lagos to rescue the state from the ruling APC in 2023. This rendition sounds similar to previous songs by the PDP in the build up to every election. How certain are you that this rescue mission, in the name of ‘O toge’ will turn out differently and eventually see the light of day?
As we say it, O toge, means “Enough is Enough”. So, I think if you go around Lagos, you will find out that people have had enough of the APC in Lagos.
“There are so many things about Tinubu that don’t make him a credible candidate, like this age discrepancy. We don’t know who his parents are, we don’t know his age, and we don’t know how he acquired his wealth. These are things that matter when you are choosing somebody who is going to govern this country”
What does the PDP need to do to take over power from the APC in Lagos in 2023?
We are going to try and make sure that the elections in Lagos are free and fair, that elections in Lagos State are not rigged, that’s what we are going to do. We’ve watched on television how people snatched ballot boxes. This kind of thing must stop and we are going to make sure that it stops.
How will your plan materialise since the incumbent administration has control over the security, the judiciary and the rest?
There is a thing called peoples power, and like I said, people are fed up with what is happening, people are fed up with the APC government. We are waiting for them, let them try and they will see how peoples power will defeat them this time. They say you can fool some people some of the time but you can’t fool all the people all of the time.
The PDP is not free of challenges, just like the other political parties in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos State where it was unable to conclude its congress after gunshots were heard at the venue among many other issues. Do you think the PDP will be able to surmount these challenges well enough to wrestle power from the APC in Lagos in 2023?
First of all, I’d like to go back to the so-called challenges in the PDP. I’m not sure whether it was PDP members that fired the shots that scattered the congress; I was part of the congress. Things were going on smoothly, accreditation was going on when a shot was fired and you know when people heard the shots, they all scampered for safety.
There were allegations that Chief Bode George had a hand in the disruption of the state congress while other people think otherwise. Do you have an idea of who perpetuated this?
The person who fired the shot was arrested by the police and certainly had nothing to do with Chief Bode George. But if you heard the shot, you will know it was one of these local pistols, not an automatic gun, it was not like an explosion.
Certainly, I have no doubt that it was not Chief Olabode George’s escort that fired the shot because I think he had even left the venue before the shot was fired.
Bola Tinubu, your former principal, recently declared his intention to run for the Nigerian presidency. As his former deputy, do you think he is qualified for the aspired position?
First of all, let me put it this way. Anybody has the right to vie for the presidency of Nigeria but it is up to us to examine the antecedents of whoever wants to run for the presidency of Nigeria, to know whether he is a fit and proper person to run for such a post.
What is your own submission?
In my own submission, I do not believe that Tinubu is a fit and proper person to run for the presidency of Nigeria. The reasons are obvious, we have been reading it, and we are not even sure who he is. From the allegations about him being involved with drugs, to allegations that his company is the one collecting, is it 15 percent of the total revenue of Lagos State? There are so many things that do not make for a credible candidate in him.
What actually led to your resignation as his deputy governor in 2002?
What led to my resignation is what is happening now because the disagreement we had was that he wanted to take over the AD (Alliance for Democracy) from the leaders of the party because at that time, he said he wanted to be Vice President to Atiku Abubakar who was not even a member of our party at that time and I refused to join him in the escapade, therefore, I became his enemy. All those who went along with him became his bosom friends, the people who went against him in that escapade became his enemies.
Then as Deputy Governor, it was rumoured that Tinubu refused to put you into use. Was that assertion right?
Yes, he didn’t put me into use simply because I was not ready to follow the path which he had chosen.
It is believed in many quarters that the son of the older sister of Bola Tinubu is the present governor of Osun State, who is now 67 years, while Tinubu claims to be 69 years old. What’s your view about this age discrepancy about Tinubu’s?
That’s why I’ve said that there are so many things about Tinubu that won’t make him a credible candidate, like this age discrepancy. We don’t know who his parents are, we don’t know his age, and we don’t know how he acquired his wealth. These are things that matter when you are choosing somebody who is going to govern this country.
Director-General of the Tinubu Support Management Council, Abdulmumin Jibrin, evaded questions from journalists about Tinubu’s source of wealth and his age discrepancy, stating that “emphasis should be on the candidate’s pedigree and what he has achieved.” How do you see such a statement from him?
First of all, I will have to look at his past, what was he able to do when he was governor of Lagos State for eight years?
People are touting that there were all these blueprints that he put forward when he was governor, well, we know the state of Lagos now. If the blueprint has led to the shambles in Lagos State, is that the blueprint we are going to use to govern Nigeria? So, we should be asking this question. I watched that programme and Jibrin did not want to answer the pertinent question, he was trying to avoid it. A man is saying that he is going to be able to, do what? He has not said what he thinks he’s going to be able to do. Is it the security situation, the economic situation, the failing education system, the failing health system? I’m sure Jibrin is being paid handsomely for doing the job he’s doing, so he has no choice but to say the things he’s saying.
What are your thoughts on President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the electoral act amendment bill and his excuses about direct primaries?
I think it was a grave error on his part not to have signed that bill. We have had direct primaries before, what was Option A4 that we used during the time of Professor Humphrey Nwosu? That was a direct primary, so why did President Buhari refusing to sign? I can only assume that he is refusing to sign because of course, the indirect primary is a corrupt move of selecting candidates which is easily corruptible and I believe that the APC is a party that wants to continue in that corrupt mode of primaries.
Last December, the National Assembly failed to override President Buhari despite their initial threat to do so. Do you think members are scared of being victimised or it is because the National Assembly has more APC members?
Well, I have always criticised the makeup of our parliament for the simple reason that the delineation of constituencies as it is presently done, favours one part of the country, and that’s why we have just one group in the upper chamber and in the lower chamber, that is why we are calling for restructuring.
The South East is claiming it is its turn to rule the country. Parts of the North are saying they are entitled to four more years because President Yar’Adua did not complete his four-year tenure. The North Central is also claiming it is its turn because no democratically elected president has ever emerged from that region. What’s your position regarding zoning?
I think zoning, in a multi-ethnic region like Nigeria and for everybody to feel like they are a part of this creation, is very essential. It is quite true, the South East has not yet produced the president over the current political dispensation, therefore, I think they have every right to be calling for that now that they want to produce the next president and I think it’s up to them to come out and canvass for support from all the other parts of the country.
There is this fear that if someone from the South East is given the opportunity to govern the country, it will give them an opportunity to actualise their Biafra agenda. Do you ascribe to this fear?
I don’t subscribe to this fear at all. Most easterners that I know are not interested in Biafra. They are more interested in having a more peaceful life, to be able to carry out their businesses, send their children to school, receive good health services, good educational services, have good roads, and good facilities in their areas. So, I don’t see any fear at all.
The IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu has been under the custody of the security agents for months now. The Federal Government was also after Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) before his eventual arrest and detention in Benin Republic. Both men are agitating for their separate region’s sovereignty from Nigeria. What do you think can be done to resolve the issue?
“The only plan I have is to see that the PDP government wins Lagos State and also that it wins at the centre, so that at least, we can have some sanity in the governance of this country”
This issue can only be sorted out when you restructure this country. Without restructuring, people will agitate because they feel that they are not being treated fairly and if you feel you are not getting what you ought to be getting somewhere, you will find a way to go somewhere else, and this is what is happening. Therefore, we should restructure the country into a more fair federation. Until we do that, we will be going from crisis to crisis in this country.
What are your political plans for 2023?
You can call me an elder statesperson, so I have no political plans myself. The only plan I have is to see that the PDP wins Lagos State and forms the government here and also that it wins at the centre, so that at least, we can have some sanity in the governance of this country.
Thirty-eight year old Khadijah Okunnu-Lamidi recently declared her intention to run for president. As of now, she is the first and only woman to have declared for the position. Several women have in the past failed in this quest. How do you see her chances, considering the challenges women face in this regard?
I think the number one challenge women face is of course male chauvinism. The second challenge of course is finances. Women find it difficult to raise the kind of finance that is necessary to run a campaign. That is what stands against them.
How do you think women can surmount this?
We can surmount this by women appealing to women to support such women, and also to do the sort of thing that I think Obama did where he said no amount was too small. If you have N10, donate it. If we can organise something like that, I think women will be able to move forward.
This suggestion you just gave was once adopted by a former female presidential candidate, Oby Ezekwesili ahead of the 2019 presidential election. After all the donations from people, both men and women, she stepped down, and none of the donations was returned or accounted for. With such an experience do you think people will be interested in doing the same for another woman presidential candidate?
Just because one woman did not carry through on her ambition, doesn’t mean another woman cannot do what she wants to do.
This administration has just about one year and four months left, and with so much insecurity in the country which President Buhari has been unable to solve. Do you have any suggestions you would like to proffer that can tackle this insecurity?
I don’t believe this government is capable of fighting insecurity but I do believe that it is the Northern people themselves who have to get together and fight insecurity in their region. They have to decide that they are not going to put up with this insecurity anymore and find ways to fight it. They have the Joint Task Force in the North, but they have to beef it up so that every village in the North is ready and waiting for these people. When these people know they cannot just go to any village to attack and they will be met force with force, I’m sure they will see them gradually withdrawing and laying down their arms. The Northerners are the ones suffering insecurity the most, I know there is insecurity in the South also but it’s not up to what is in the North. So, it’s up to the Northerners to say look, we’ve had enough and come together to fight it.
The ordinary people need to deal with this, if you don’t, your people, women, children will continue to be killed, your houses will be burnt, and much more.
