Dapo Akinrefon, Charles Kumolu and Gbenga Oke
10 October 2008
Many have predicted an easy ride for the Action Congress, AC, in tomorrow's local government polls.
In this interview, AC's Publicity Secretary, Mr Joe Igbokwe declared that the party is in a better shape. He also revealed the genesis of the alleged crisis adding that Senator Bola Tinubu remains a pillar in AC. Igbokwe also spoke on other issues.
The build-up to the local government election is heating up. Infact it appears to be more tensed in the AC. And many have attributed this gloomy political mood to the intimidating influence of AC leaders. Can you tell us the untold story of the crisis in AC?
There is no crisis in AC. You have to get it clear that what many might call crisis is not crisis. Rather we are practicing healthy intra-party politics. We have twenty local governments and thirty seven development councils. We also have over one thousand two hundred people who are seeking elective positions.
All these people want to achieve their ambitions whereas they out-numbered the positions. I think the peculiarity of Lagos made this number huge. And Lagos being the hub of all activities in Nigeria, most aspirants are so tied to their ambitions. Some local governments in Lagos are bigger than some states. From the on set we made our requirements clear. And we made it known that an average aspirant must be a Higher National Diploma, HND, holder.
Of course we know that some of them may not posses such qualification. But it was meant to have competent people in elective positions. And from there, we got to the screening stage. We structured all these to reflect the true democracy that we practice. What I am saying is that is some areas we employed consensus in order to avert crisis.
And this was done with the consent of the party. We also created avenue for women to emerge along the united nation's stipulated percentage. We also did it to reflect our commitment to gender equality. It was also done to help these women who has paid their dues for the party. These women helped the party in difficult times and it is our responsibility to pay them back now because if we allowed the to compete with the men, they may not be able to make it.
We also asked them to check themselves to know if they can't make it. Some who were convinced that they would not came and collected the money they paid. We applied wisdom in places we anticipated crisis. We opted for consensus in some areas.
So endorsements or consensus is not new to party politics. It happens everywhere in the world. Even during the US presidential primaries, we saw endorsements. That shows that it is healthy in a democracy.
We expected all the grumbles which is certain in a democratic setting. People are free to express their mind on what they feel did not go their way. People can not say that we have crisis. What we have are just pockets of protests from those who felt they did not emerge candidates. But their time will come. Democracy is a continuous process.
And there is always hope and platform for every body. What happened at the end of the primaries is a democratic process. For instance, the person we chose in Ikorodu was rejected and we had to look for anther acceptable candidate.
That is to show you how the people's voice is respected in the party. We had sleepless nights trying to make sure that we have a competent team for the elections. No party would play with it's chances in any election. So we can't afford to crumble the solid structures that were built by our great party leaders.
What people claim is happening in AC cannot be compared to what we saw after the governorship primaries. You knew how twelve out of thirteen aspirants ganged up against the party. We were able to handle it well. All these things happen in other parties, but the way it is handled is very important.
But I can assure you that we have committed leaders in all partes of this state who are putting in their best to ensure that we sweep the polls.
Are you telling us that these party leaders that some of your party members have demonised are not sinking the party in Lagos?
Our leaders have worked and still working in the interest of the party ahead the polls. Their efforts are geared towards having a landslide victory at the polls. I don't think the decisions they took are stupid because they are tested democrats. Some of these people knew they were not going anywhere, but they are insisting on pulling the party down.
That can not work. Besides we have a sound internal democracy. There is no crisis in this party, what people may call crisis is pockets of protests. And that is gone. I bet you, we will come out victorious at the elections.
But there are situations were frontline candidates have alleged that anointed candidates were imposed on them. Even supporters of these candidates attested to this?
Who are the front line candidates? Tell me who they are and I will tell you the popular candidates.
Whether supporters or not, we know how crowds are rented by some people. And that creates the impression that such aspirants have strong support base.
Some have threatened to leave the party. And many believe that it might affect AC's chances at the elections. Don't you think your party must put its house in order to avoid losing members to the opposition especially the PDP?
We have seen it before. We had it ahead the gubernatorial elections and we managed it well. We have managed some who were more difficult. So we are not bothered because our structure is very solid. Every thing in Lagos is AC.
We told the difficult ones that is not a must to remain in the party. But it does not mean that we don't give members the opportunity to express their grievances on issues. They have to know that AC is not about persons rather we are concerned on how to always present competent leaders..
Opposition parties have expressed fears on the composition of Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, LASIEC. They have alleged over time that AC would use LASIEC to rig the elections. So, does your party have the intention of using LASIEC to steal votes?
The problem with some of these parties accusing us is that they lack structure in Lagos.
That is why these claims are wrong. It is difficult to deceive other Nigerians and not people from Lagos state. The opposition can not deceive Lagosians who voted for AC and will still do that. Where are the opposition if I may ask? Is it PDP, ANPP and others. For the PDP, their house is on fire and I think they have to put their house in order.
Lagos PDP is enmeshed in crisis while others exists on pages of newspapers. Instead of criticizing the government critically, they are trying to cause confusion by saying that Lagos AC is in crisis. What they would have been doing is to solve the crisis they have and prepare for the elections. With due respect to the media, I would say that you make some of these parties important in Lagos. Go to their secretariats, you will not find life there.
Yet they make people to believe that they are on ground. I want them to go the polls and test their popularity. They have the liberty to complain because this is a democracy but they must not overheat the polity.
Why I asked this question is that they have alleged that AC is not providing a level playing ground. And it is also believed that the crisis will affect your chances at the polls?
If they say so, it is wrong but they can not compete with our popularity in Lagos. We have told them to see how Lagos can grow from the angle of an opposition. We do things according to the peculiarity of Lagos. People have to understand that being in charge of Lagos state is like being in charge of the whole country. So we must do things that will serve the interest of Lagosians and not interest of the so-called opposition.
We are conscious of the strategic status of Lagos in the eyes of Nigerians. We are not going to the polls to win hundred percent because it would not be good for our image. You know if we sweep the polls, they will say that we rigged the elections.
I don't want a situation where we will not have opposition. As democrats, we must allow the opposition to make there inputs because democracy without opposition is dictatorship. But I am still convinced that our popularity will give us victory.
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