By Olasunkanmi Akoni
Oluseye Oladejo is the Publicity Secretary of Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, Oladejo speaks on insecurity, Operation Amotekun and de-registration of parties by the Independent National Electoral commission, INEC, among others. Excerpts:
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu initially didn’t speak on Amotekun. What happened?
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s position on the matter was very explicit. I think some people misunderstood the situation when some people went to make issue out of the silence of the APC National Leader on Amotekun.
A notable leader will not speak on an issue when it is still germinating; a leader will need to wait till the fullness of time before coming out and expressing an opinion. And you will notice that when he (Tinubu) eventually spoke, it was actually more or less everything he said they are using as a template to drive Amotekun; asking them to follow the rule of law, follow the procedure while asking stakeholders to be consistent about state security as there is no template for regional policing. Amotekun is a child of circumstance.
For various reasons, there are security challenges here and there and it has been agreed that the more localised our security system is, the better for us. Like people say, criminals are not ghosts, they live among the people. So, if the security apparatus will survive, it will involve a lot of local input.
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I believe all the governors in the South-West are united on the issue of Amotekun, it will augur well for security in the region. Amotekun personnel are not going to be in competition with other security agencies, their role is complementary.
There is the fear of Amotekun being used by governors as an instrument to fight opponents, herdsmen. Do you share such fear?
It is not true. We can all see the security challenges and, as long as the security challenges are there, there is absolute need for it. The main business of the governor is the security of lives and property. If there is upheaval out there, you won’t be here sitting down, you will rather stay in your house. So, it is going to be very difficult and almost impossible for anybody to really use Amotekun to settle personal scores. It has nothing with targeting any tribe or anyone; the main thing is to secure lives and property.
On the ability of Amotekun to perform
Security is everybody’s business. It is on paper that government should protect us but you also need to be concerned about your personal security and that starts from paying attention to little things, strange developments and strange faces in your neighbourhood.
This is the first time government in this region is officially putting in place something that we can call local security. In the past when we had Odua People’s Congress, OPC, it was not government project. It is possible that in the past, there could be other pockets of vigilante groups in some places but this is the first time it is really being formalised at the level of government providing the enablement for them to get the job done. It gives us cause for hope. It gives us cause to be able to have intelligence, share information.
What is important really as far as security is concerned is being proactive and not reactive.
It is always better to checkmate criminals before they strike. I think it is cheaper and there will be no need to record unnecessary losses.
There is cause to be hopeful and that will also be with the collaboration of the official security agencies across board working with Amotekun and other local security operatives.
A leader of Miyetti Allah said South-West should forget 2023 presidency if they decide to pursue Amotekun. What is your take on such statement coming from a group in the North?
Is Miyetti Allah the group that officially represents northern interests in Nigeria? Let me accord due respect to opinions of various groups about what should obtain in Nigeria but, at the same time, it will not be right to try to blackmail or arm-twist any region about what they have decided to do to protect themselves.
If Miyetti Allah has dismissed the apparent threat to the security of lives and property in the South-West by making those statements and turning it into politics, to say the least, it is unfortunate.
I think in fullness of time, all these issues will be addressed and I think it is a bit hasty to start paying attention to needless statements.
Recently, INEC announced deregistration of 74 political parties. What is your take?
The beauty of democracy is that whenever certain institution makes a certain move, you can always test that law or move in the law court and I think it is the just appropriate that some of the parties affected have gone to court to challenge INEC on the deregistration.
Let me also say we should not ignore and discountenance the reason INEC gave for the move. INEC is saying those parties have not been able to pull their weight.
The purpose of a political party is to organise themselves and try to see if they can contest to put people in positions and the requirements, according to INEC, are simple; they should be able to score 25 per cent of votes in a state during the presidential election, they should be able to score 25 per cent of votes in local and governorship elections, the party should have local government chairmen or councillors.
You will also agree with me that in the last elections, some of these parties didn’t even have presence; some of them didn’t have agents at polling booths.
The only thing they did was to make sure that we probably had the longest ballot paper in history. These parties too will really need to look at themselves holistically.
Are they playing that role? Some people out there just feel that they are interested in whatever INEC will dish out whenever election comes up.
Party politics is a serious business; it is not just a grandeur assignment that you will announce the existence of your party every four years and you are not really pulling your weight in any way. Be that as it may, the matter has been taken to court, let us be patient and wait for what the court will say about that.
What do you say about the allegation against INEC as the APC extension by the opposition?
I don’t know how they are going to reconcile that with the states APC lost and didn’t enjoy support from any quarters. There are states that we even won overwhelmingly like Zamfara and we ended up not forming government at any level there.
These arguments are not consistent with what is on ground. I also have to put it in record that anytime the opposition party wins at any level, especially at the Supreme Court, it is a rule of law at play; they celebrate to high heavens. But anytime it is the other way round, then democracy is under threat. We need to take ourselves seriously.
Do you agree with INEC that politicians should be held responsible for election violence in the country?
I think all the parties involved; political parties, INEC, security agencies and everybody have to play their roles. INEC should be seen to be an unbiased arbiter in the process of election, security agents should be seen not to be compromised and politicians should be seen not to be desperate for power.
If we are able to strike a balance across board, election violence will be reduced and perhaps we need to change our orientation too, parents should also learn to caution their kids. Election comes and goes; life goes on. The winner will form government; the loser will go home and plan for another day.
There is no reason and it doesn’t worth it for anybody’s blood to be shed for the sake of any election. I am totally against election violence. It is an aberration and it is not acceptable in any decent society. All the various agencies and everyone that has to do with election should be held responsible wherever there is violence in any election, not just political parties.
On the rejection of former Interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, as the Chairman of the party’s reconciliatory committee by some members
A party is a group of people who have agreed on principles to be together to try and fight for power. APC itself was a child of necessity and, if you look at the way APC came into inception, a lot of people; strange bedfellows, so to speak, came together.
Even if you have an association that is made up of descendant unions due to the fact that all of them are relatives from the same blood, there will still be the conflicts.
So these conflicts are not unexpected. Secondly, it also points to the fact that, as a party, APC, we need to manage our electoral success.
Managing electoral success is even more difficult than managing electoral failure. In electoral failure, you are already united in your failure; there is nothing to fight over. When there is success, that is time people will come with the issues of who plays what role before we were able to grab power from the former party.
My take is that we all need to give peace a chance. There have been efforts in the past about reconciliation; one led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the one by Senate President did not even take off; now this new one.
All the gladiators need to give peace a chance because the party will need to continue to consolidate on its success.
The party needs peace to deliver on our mandates to the electorate in the course of the election, so that we will able to organise ourselves towards future elections.
What is your assessment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration so far?
The administration is on course. There is no denial of the intellectual and institutional experience on those on board. A good number of the people making up the Lagos State government now have been around for quite sometime and they are bound to shine.
It also speaks to passion and excellence to deliver various programmes of government. The Lagos State master plan, which is all encompassing, is taking on board all those issues that have been around since the inception of democracy. So, there is every reason to be hopeful.
The blue light rail is back on board. Government is paying attention to the issue of transportation; there is more attention now as a result of the fallout of the partial ban and restriction on motorcycles and tricycles, and the rest of it. The waterways are being open up.
So, Lagosians should be rest assured that they have a government that is compassionate and determined to deliver on its mandate.
The post ‘People misunderstood Tinubu’s silence on Amotekun’ appeared first on Vanguard News.
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