Funsho Ologunde is the Lagos Southwest vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he spoke on the state party and other national issues. Excerpts:
What is your reaction to the recent defection of some members of the APC to the main opposition People’s Democratic Party?
The defection is not new to us, his body language says it all, and the Governor of Kwara State is an appendage of Bukola Saraki, that is why both of them made the announcement at the same time.
But part of the reasons for their defection was that they were alleged to have been forced out of the party?
That is not true; a wife who packs out of her matrimonial home must find a reason to justify her action.
The excuse by Saraki and the other defecting lawmakers cannot be taken seriously; on the other hand, the Senate president has been making the governance of the country difficult for the current administration. There has never been a period in this country when the Senate has been this antagonistic of the government in my memory. He is always looking for an opportunity to create problems for the government.
You don’t believe the administration is witch-hunting him?
I don’t agree to that he is being with-hunted or was witch-hunted. Look at the issue of the Code of Conduct Bureau; there were allegations against him; and he has gone through it and was acquitted.
On the issue of being summoned by the police in the Offa robbery case, nobody is saying that he was the part of the robbers that invaded the banks; what they are saying is that; when Saraki went to visit the Olofa of Offa to pay a condolence visit following the robbery; one of the boys that was arrested was found with him and went with him on that visit or how would you explain that? In a decent society that is enough for him to resign his position.
What about the allegation by opposition politicians that they are being targeted by anti-graft agencies?
What about the ex-governors, who were recently jailed and are members of the APC? The PDP keeps talking about the few people who are their members who have been found wanting, it is because they were in power, and it is left for us as Nigerians not to get carried away by this; I think Nigerians are wise enough to know the truth.
Are the recent defections from the APC not a major dent on the party’s chances in the 2019 elections?
Saraki is one person and the governor of Kwara is another person; and they are two people. They have their supporters and the president has his supporters too, especially when you talk about Kwara State.
Buhari has done a lot of things to make life better for Nigerians since he assumed office. Nigerians would see that the country would vote for Buhari because of what he has done. Ahmed and Saraki leaving does not mean that Nigerians in kwara would not vote for Buhari.
If Saraki is a candidate then you could be worried, and if he is not a candidate, the coast is clear for Buhari to garner votes.
The popular opinion out there is that Buhari has not justified the mandate given to him?
The Nigerians you are talking about are those engaged in negative campaigns and it is engineered by the PDP. What was Buhari’ promised? Security; is there anybody that would say Nigeria is not better secured? He also promised to transform the economy? Are there any Nigerians that would say the economy is not better managed than he met it?
Such people can never say anything good, even if he lays down his life.
Are you satisfied with the President’s handling of the current killings in the country?
It is malicious to say he is not doing anything about the killings; across the country, basically every country is afraid of the activities and have been talking about the of Fulani herdsmen.
People have criticised the Ecowas free protocol that was signed, which allowed free movement of rearers and their cattle from one point to the other in the region without restriction.
But before somebody who is your brother can kill you because of farm land, these killer-herdsmen came into the country and they are killing and going without caring who is involved because they have no relations here.
How do you react to the recent crisis in Lagos APC, resulting in parallel state congresses?
The Fouad Oki group is not a faction; it is a delegate group. It is not a faction; for any group to wake up and say they are a faction in the party in the state does not mean what they are saying is true.
We are looking at the clandestine group. They had a plan to destabilise the party; they could not hold a ward congress, local government congress, yet they gather somewhere that they are holding a state congress. So, saying that they had state congress was just a fantasy.
But they had their grievances; they alleged they were being marginalised?
That is a lie; I was the chairman of the state technical support team that worked for the local government committee support.
Nobody came to me to say that he or she was side-lined, that he was stopped from contesting or even to the campaign team that came from Abuja.
So, it is the figments of their imagination that some leaders were using the name of Tinubu or that they were not allowed to participate in the state congress.
What happened was that they bought the forms and cloned them among themselves and they were then selling these among themselves.
But Oki is a former vice chairman of the party in the state and a chieftain; don’t you think he must have genuine reasons to complain?
It is not; there is no basis for what he has been saying around. There is no basis. As far as I am concerned he did not at anytime complain on any issue one on one, or in writing, with the former chairman of the party in Lagos State, Henry Ajomale. What has happened is that the proliferation of social media has made it possible for irrelevant people to create the impression that they are important.
Has the state executive made any move for reconciliation?
We don’t know the issues, it is only when you know the issues that you can settle or you would just be making that person important. Oki is my friend, this is the APC secretariat in the state; if he walks in here I would ask him; why have you been saying all these things?
Why is it that the state APC has not deemed it necessary to advise the governor about the refuse crisis in the state?
There is no way a human being can walk that his head would no shake; what is important is relatively not his fault; I am aware that he is doing his best, I mean doing something about it. Whether the party advised him or not does not matter; I am sure it will be over soon.
