Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State for the 2023 general election. In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he spoke on a number of issues, including his plan to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and what Atiku Abubakar’s presidential bid means for Nigeria. Excerpts:
Elections are around the corner. How ready are you for the governorship election in Lagos on March 11th?
We are ready, if we are not ready we would not be going everywhere, I think in the next few weeks we would have the governorship election, in a few days it would be the presidential election, we are very much ready.
The campaign climate has been volatile, as seen in attacks on your campaign train; observers are predicting that this may continue with intimidation and attacks on voters on election day in your stronghold. What is your take?
I think we have done a whole lot to tell them they can’t easily scare us off the street. We are making sure that we resist their attacks. We are making sure that we continue to do what we are supposed to do. It is their stock in trade, that is what they are known for, and everybody knows them, with that in this state, but for this election, we have the assurance of the security apparatus of the state and I am sure that they are up to the task and our people know that this is a make or mar election, they are ready to do the needful to make sure that they come all out to resist any form of harassment.
From your reading of the political space, does it seem to you that there are plans to frustrate the elections in order to achieve a predetermined outcome?
Well, I think it is unfortunate this government has come up with so much hardship on the people; it appears hardship is targeted at the people.
What worries me is that, in this country, we have seen our brothers and sisters at home for nine months under the ASUU strike, we never had governors coming together to say they want to protest to the President or compel the Minister of Education to do the needful or the presidency to do the needful. We have also had them in this country for the past three to six months now scarcity of fuel, we have never heard them or seen them coming together as units to condemn or call the GMD of NNPC or who is in charge to say let’s do something.
But at the same time, there is a policy of the government that is going to discourage vote buying. They are the ones shouting foul and suddenly, they turned themselves into the friend of the masses. This is the masses that you never saw when they were struggling and we do know it is because they have stockpiled these old naira notes. So, we just need to make it clear; what the poor are asking for is not that the old notes should continue; rather they are saying that they should make the new notes available to them, they are two different things. For those who are clamouring for the old notes, it is not the same thing, because the poor people don’t have the old notes at home; they live on daily earnings.
So, it is those people who have stockpiled the old notes, somewhere that they want to use that are complaining, running to court, and clamouring for extension, they are not fighting for the masses. What the CBN needs to do; is to ensure that they make the funds available for people to have access to them. I am sure that they are working on that. For me, it is three different things here and we understand what it is, we are ready to make sure we sacrifice this little time for us to have a breath of fresh air in Nigeria.
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There are reports that agents working for some politicians are collecting PVCs’ serial numbers of some people; how prepared are you to ensure that other parties do not play some games that could put you at a disadvantage position?
We have heard of such reports, and we are wondering what is the basis for that, we have even gone ahead to do a public announcement campaign telling people not to give their PVCs to anybody. If you see anybody indulging in this, it is just speaking to the fact that they are glittery; they are not popular because this election, especially in Lagos would be the first popularity test of the APC. It is an election they have not had before, and it is an unusual election for the parties who have not done well, there is a lot they should be afraid of. I have heard that it would not have an impact on our election.
Do you strongly agree with the INEC and security agencies that elections can successfully hold with the number of crises in the country? Or do you have any suggestions for the agencies?
We had similar things in 2015 and in 2019 we had elections. This pocket of incidents is not enough, but the most important thing is the expression of readiness by security agencies for the elections, even INEC said they are ready. So, if the electoral umpire said they are ready, we would also put ourselves out there. We are ready for this election.
You have been touring the wards in Lagos State; can you take to the bank the promises of the large crowds that welcomed you in those wards that they will indeed vote for you? How ready are you for the election?
Of course, because we are giving them something they have never seen before; visiting their wards, it has not been done before; they have not seen anybody who wants to be governor visiting them at the ward level, talking to them, listening to them. It is just like saying; this is the governor we know, this is the governor we have seen. This is different from others, who will just put themselves in one place and call somebody to come and sing for them and people dance and go back home. But we went to the people, we went everywhere to meet with people and discuss with them; from the religious body to artisan, everybody who are stakeholders to say, this is what we are bringing to the table. I am sure we are going to defeat them and they know it.
What is your take on the preparation for the 2023 polls and are you confident that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would conduct a credible election?
I am sure that INEC has shown the capacity and with the new technology it shows that they believe in the deployment of BVAS; those that are saying that they don’t believe in BVAS, I think it speaks to their character and person. If we have a technology that would give us a free and fair election why would anybody go against it? It has been tested and can be trusted. If you look at Anambra and Ekiti gubernatorial elections, for me more importantly, INEC has expressed readiness for these elections judging by all the heads of formations; the military, the police, and NSA. Even when the INEC chairman had concerns, his fears were allayed by the CBN governor, who said he would make the funds needed available to INEC. So, I don’t see any issue and I believe we are all ready for this election.
Could you highlight your plans in key sectors across Lagos that will improve its socio-economic state and move people out of poverty?
We have spoken about the problems confronting Lagos, which have not been solved with their so-called experience in the last 24 years; traffic is still there, the flood that ravaged Lagos often is still there; we have about 2 million out–of–school children in Lagos. These are things we would tackle. Lagos’ poverty rate today is 8.5 percent, from 4. 5 percent when Sanwo-Olu assumed office, similarly Lagos’ unemployment rate today is 37.1 percent from 14.6 percent when he took over. We have over 1.8 million Lagosians with no jobs; this speaks volumes of something despite the huge amount that he has expanded in terms of budget for that number of years and nothing appreciable to show for it. So, these are things that we are going to change. We are coming to the birth of Lagos which is wealth in trust, as against the current one which is only wealth on paper, we only hear that Lagos makes so much money monthly, but we can’t see the money. We want to take Lagos money from that individual pocket and put it in the streets of Lagos, it is about time that Lagos works for everyone who is living in the state, irrespective of where you are from.
This is what we want to do. When we come into the office the first thing we would do is to drastically reduce the number of these out-of-school children by going into partnership with private schools, churches, and mosques and see how many of them we can spread across to get this done. These are things that we want to do. We would also control traffic in Lagos, we have identified 12 splash points across Lagos where we have identified that we don’t require infrastructural renewal or construction of new roads, but a strong will of the government that would come and enforce the law. I mean a governor that would be Lagos State for real, I am not one that a man will call and be pushing him about. Through that way, we would govern this state, irrespective of whose ox is gored and with the fear of God.
Nigerians are dissatisfied with the state of affairs after APC’s eight years in power, why are Atiku and the PDP the better alternative?
Of course, if you look at Atiku Abubakar as a person, he is somebody that would be a business-like president, because you can identify what he has done in his private life in terms of business, the education sector, the manufacturing sector, this speaks volume to a man who is going to run an economy and if you listen to him; this man said that when he is elected, he is going to set aside $10billion to tackle women and youth empowerment and they asked him; where is he going to get the money from, and he said, he is going to sell the moribund refineries and implement the plan. The moribund refineries, if he gets $10 billion, you know what that would do? It is going to address poverty issues and women empowerment, he is going to address insecurity and the company that has brought this $10 billion, he is not going to leave it like that, and he would set aside another $5 billion to resuscitate it. That money also comes back to our economy to generate employment, and by the time it is done, it would be open for business, and you would see the multiplying effect of this one policy. This is a man that is ready and has practical solutions to the problems confronting us. So, Atiku Abubakar is very ready to lead Nigeria and we believe, PDP is the right government because you remember when PDP was in government between 1999-2015, we were able to hold phones in our hands before then everybody would climb the pole to cut telephone wires. You can see that for eight years of this current government, there is nothing to point out, nothing just hardship; it is time we give PDP a chance.
How would Atiku’s RESET agenda go in uplifting the economic condition of Nigerians and alleviating poverty and unemployment in Nigeria?
I just gave an example of what one policy would do. It would address the poverty rate, and insecurity and create jobs for people. The RESET agenda has a lot of things there; restructuring which is saying that power should be devolved to the state so that all the challenges we have in constitutional matters that are inside the exclusive list of the concurrent can then find their way to the state. So, with that, the state can take decisions on those things, which is a practical solution to solving our problems. We need to practice true federalism to ensure all the states can stand on their feet and do something without coming to the centre. That is a practical solution. Atiku has an agenda with an acronym that is pointing at every sector of our economy; he is the best man for the job.
Some people say there would be opposition from Northern federal lawmakers who dominate the National Assembly to his restructuring agenda. What is your take?
That is not the issue, I think some people just call the world restructuring and don’t know what it means. Which state would not want to have its police? Which state would not want to have autonomy for its local government? So, this is what restructuring really means, this is what devolving power to the state really means. If you have a National Assembly and put this in front of them, I don’t think anybody would say no. He means business and he would get support everywhere.
How would the South West benefit from the Atiku presidency, especially in terms of uplifting the socio-economic condition of the people in the region?
When you raised $10 billion, the money would be shared among the states, that is to say, the issues would be tackled at the state level.
Don’t forget Atiku is the only nationalist on that ballot, which has played national politics before, and is still playing national politics. He has relations everywhere across the country.
How would Atiku’s pledge to devolve power aid the economic growth and prosperity of Lagos?
You saw the hypocrisy of APC saying Lagos was not given special status, now they are in office for eight years, even as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, what have they done to make sure that Lagos is given a special status? They don’t mean well for us in Lagos.
