New Telegraph

PDP’ll restore Lagos’ excellence after victory in 2023 –Party chairman, Olabode Philips

The newly elected chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Aivoji Olabode Philips has promised to restore the lost glory of the party in the state. Philips, who went round the 245 wards in the state prior to his election, wants to calm frayed nerves and reposition the party for better performance in the coming elections. He speaks with Oladipupo Awo jobi in an interview. Excerpts…

As the new Chairman of the PDP in Lagos State, what are your plans for the party?

My plan is how the PDP would win Lagos State. My plans are grassroots oriented. We are going to work, I don’t believe in rigging elections. I believe in working to win elections, which was why when I came out, I went round all the wards and local governments in the state to ensure that we secure victory and change the mindset of the members of the PDP that you have to work to win and not to sit down in the comfort of your office, your house or your room and begin to imagine that one plus one will always be two.

I have told the delegates and party leaders that from day one we are going to make sure that the grassroots, where votes would come from, would be the centre of our activities and we are going to launch “operation win your unit,” throughout the state.

I am going to tour the 245 wards in the state and make sure that people are trained and they understand how to work hard and win. Number two, I want to make sure that I call all those that have felt disappointed in the party together because of the leadership role and so on and bring them back so that everyone would be on board to work together to win. Also, I want to consult all the leaders to let us work together as a family. When we work as a team, we will surely win. We want to show discipline, commitment to the party and we want to show them the way we were taught in the days of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) that the party is supreme and that no individual is bigger than the party. As the state chairman, I just have the opportunity to lead the party in the state.

There is no master-servant relationship in politics as far as I am concerned. We are all together to work for the success of the party. There are so many programmes we need to do, but I just have to carry the leaders and my exco members along and we will agree before I bring out any plan.

But the PDP has never won Lagos State in the past…

…That is why I’m out to win this time around.

Do you think the PDP has all it takes to win the state because people are saying that the party is not one and that the APC is in the grassroots with all the LGs and LCDAs chairmen, house of assembly members, all the members of the House of Reps and even the Senate…

…That is not true. Let me put it in the right perspective: in 2015, we won six seats in the Federal House of Representatives, and eight seats in the state house of assembly. But all the PDP members of the state house of assembly defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). We just laboured for them and they left our party. That is why we need a new mindset, reengineering and understanding of how a party works. We are starting that before they collect forms, we are going to work on all the aspirants. Their nominations would have to be decided at the local governments levels. No aspirant would be decided at the state level. I have told them to go and meet their people and if they know he or she can win election they should do it through the process of congress. We are going to limit the number of people that would collect forms by the grace of God, He would give us the wisdom to do that. I’m a leader in my division and we know how we do it. During the last local governments elections in the state, I worked it out in such a way that only one person collected the councillorship form in each of the wards. How did I do it, I called the leaders from the wards, they looked at all of them, let us screen them, let us know those who are capable and we would streamline them to two or three and we can talk to others and they all agreed voluntarily. But that does not mean that there would be no primaries, it is not sacrosanct, we are going to do that to reduce the number of aspirants. If you do that and you feel that there should still be a congress to elect candidates, then it must be free and fair for all. So, the method we are going to use is based on relationship, love and showing that we are committed to win. Some people are out for the governorship election, when they cannot even win their local governments. In the UPN and SDP days, even in the PDP, the late Engineer Funsho Williams never lost Lagos Mainland till he died. That is the kind of politics we want to play. If you know you can come out as an aspirant get the support of your people and work with them, that will encourage others to support you not because you have some money and you want to contest. We are going to make them work, there is no free ticket anywhere, they must work. I have told all of them to go to the grassroots to work and earn the support of the people, that of the electorate and you can be sure that when the congress is conducted it would be free, credible and fair. I will not support anyone against another because I want to win the state. In a nutshell, we are good to go, we are calling all those who didn’t have opportunity to be members of the exco at the congress join hands with us. I am telling them that everyone of us will be on board. People like Niyi Adams and others are working together with us, same goes for all the other aspirants except Fawole, I have tried his number, but it is not going through, but I know I will get in touch with him and we are going to work together. No one will be left out.

Are you saying that the PDP will win Lagos State in 2023?

We have been winning the state, there is no time that we have not won, but the other people have perfected their rigging. You can ask the question, why is it that upon the population that we have in Lagos State there is no time we have a total vote of three million. It is because the APC work with those who are registered, you see them compiling so many voters cards and blocking genuine voters. This has to be addressed. I noticed that during the time of former president Goodluck Jonathan because I was the field officer in-charge of Lagos then during the 2015 general elections. I am conversant with the grassroots, we are going to try our best and win freely not by rigging or manipulation once we have the control of the people. You cannot rig the majority out once they are ready to protect their votes. The figure cannot be changed and with the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into Law, we will make use of every opportunity we have and be on the side of the people.

What will your party do better if it wins Lagos State in the next election?

For instance, there will be a paradigm shift. In the days of the UPN, they had four cardinal programmes, education and others. We are going to touch those things that touch the hearts and the needs of the people. Education, food production and other important things are parts of them. We are endowed with resources, but the way they use them in the state is so sad. As a former commissioner I know what we were worth before I left, but everything has gone to the hands of one man and that is very bad.

That is why we are going to work hard as a party and bring back the lost glory of Lagos State. Lagos should be for those who reside in Lagos, not those who are not indigenes. We have some non-indigenes, who a r e even more Lagosian than some South West people, who don’t have interest in Lagos itself. I am talking of those who are committed, who want Lagos State to prosper in all areas, those who want the state to excel.

We want to bring the excellence back. What do we have to show since 1999, is it road that they constructed, or the public school that have become dilapidated? Go to Lagos State public schools, some students are still sitting on the floor upon the billions of naira we get from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and so on. They are not interested in serving the people, politics is about service. Most of them are just about how they will better themselves and oppress others, they bring them to nothing so that they will always run to them to get something from them. That is wickedness, we are going to stop that and we are going to make sure that we put people first.

The people will be number one because we will not administer governance over sticks or stones. How I understand politics is that it is for service, all my life has been for service. I love serving people to the best of my ability. So, I’m ready, the party is good to go, with my newly elected exco, we will work together. There are so many leaders, who have left the party, now we are having them back. It will shock you if I tell you that all the former state chairmen of the party are back in the party due to the pleasant development. We are going to bring back all the ministers, who left the party for one reason or the other. Not that they went to the APC, but they were not happy with the way things were going. We want to bring reward system, people who have suffered for the party and there is no reward for them or recognition. These are the things we would bring together to encourage everybody to work in unity and in one spirit. I believe as God has given me victory in the congress, He would give us victory in the general election in Lagos State and even at the federal level.

The southern governors said that power should shift to the south at the federal level, one wonders if your party would stick to this…

…What we believe in is the best for the country. You cannot just say because somebody is coming from the South West and the person has not delivered, he did not deliver even when he was governor or as a former governor, he just wants to take everything from the South West to his pocket and you think that we will open our eyes and let such person be the president. We will not support such a person, we will go with our party. Whoever wins in the party during the primaries is the person we will go along with, no sentiment at all. We just want the best for the country and whoever gets there we will get our fair share from the federation. The PDP is organised, you saw how our convention went. Even the recent congress we had in the state was peaceful, we are good to go.

Read Previous

TAOFEEK JOLAOSHO: We need government’s support to improve hospitality business

Read Next

Nigerian society not friendly to women in politics –Alli-Macaulay

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *