 Hello and welcome to Plus Politics. I am better qualified to rule Lagos. Lagos' SDP Guba candidate, Kunle Utman, says ahead of governorship polls. And a boot party collapses structures in Lagos' southwest Nigeria, forms alliance with Labour Party. Once again, this is Plus Politics. My name is Nyam Gul Aghaji. Kunle Utman, who is the Social Democratic Party SDP Lagos' governorship candidate, last week promised to make water transportation effective if voted into office in 2023. This is said at an interactive session with political party candidates in Lagos. He says, among all other candidates running for the position of governor in Lagos, he is better qualified. We're now joined to discuss this tonight by Kunle Utman himself, governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party. Well, thank you for joining us on the show this evening, sir. OK, a lot of people are surprised because you have said the things that you are going to do if you are elected into office as governor. In the meantime, we've heard rumors. These are still rumors until we confirm from you that your party has collapsed structures and are joining the APC. How true is this? Well, I do think it's rumor. What has happened is the APC has given this supposed rumor a robust term of the fact that it is true. And that creates a lot of problem. Because first and foremost, we have not joined the APC in this election. And we can never, ever join the APC. And the reason why we can't join them is we believe that they are failed. Because, by the way, this one we know has failed to serve the people of Lagos state in the last four years. And we believe that its failure is such that anybody who associates with that political party in the forthcoming gubernatorial election is also going to have the stain on himself as a failure. And because the Social Democratic Party will know as a fact that we have the manpower, we have the competence, and we have the cerebral personalities to do the job. And we have a manifesto that is citizen-friendly, poised for a change. So we cannot be seen to associate with a failure. And why it is a failure is this announcement that we have joined them was made on their official platform. They have this platform, they call it Girls Focus, on WhatsApp. They are all there. Every one of them is there. They're putting government down. Even the government's one, I think, is there, is being administered by a young guy. It's them, it's called fact they do. And they always speak from this platform. So it's not a rumor. They have put us in a situation where it has become obligatory, imperative, that we must tell the world that we have nothing whatsoever in common with all PC in Lagos state, and it is not an option that we have. I spoke with the chairman of the party. I spoke with the national secretary. And we know that whoever or whatsoever they are doing their own, their own. It is fake news. And if a political party at this stage of election will engage in fake news, we can as well also say it is a fake political party that is determined to rubbish other people, to interfere in the politics of their party, and begin to go around and say they have joined us. Now, the PC in Lagos state is obliged to show us number one. Who are the members of SDP that joined them? Number one, because I am the official leader of the Social Democratic Party in Lagos state. Nothing happens in this state without my consent and information. What, I don't have any information. My consent was never sought, and I knew all our House of Assembly candidates, Kerry, Morifu, Eseri, Mises, Oshidi, the man in Ekbe, Olatuji, everyone of us were intact as a political party, including Fashi, Abin Bola, who is in Amuradofi. I have asked everybody. Nobody was part of this road arrangement. Now, the MPC must tell us one. The people, the document that was signed. Because if two parties come together, there must either be a memorandum of understanding between the two of them, or there must be a document. If they don't bring that out, then I actually feel sorry for them. That in their desperation to get this Babatunde Saulu elected, they are actually doing everything that is wrong. They are paying the travel ticket. They are paying the religious ticket. They are casing us in Lagos state. This is a place where all of us, we are very happy. The people man is happy here. The people man is, they are also men. All of us, we are believing together, we are intermarried. So what is this nonsense? That they have simply brought him because of re-election. Why did it was time to campaign and we are debating? Babatunde Saulu was everywhere. Following his political got further to Chatham also, clap. Why he was in England? Some organization organized the debate. Who are all there? Janda was there. I was there. Drachi was there. And he, Dickson was there. And the women was organized at four points by charity. But people said they were people. He never, ever attended any debate. We don't know what he wants to do for this thing. His 21 year project is a complete failure. He cannot start the brewery. His hospital signed a mess. The road signed a mess. The traffic did go everywhere. But he said he was going to tell us what is going to do to change the narrative. All we are adding is matching with this one. It's going to this church to campaign. This election is going to complete nonsense. OK, well, because of the showing from the last election, the presidential election, SDP didn't make such a huge impact. But the story could be different now. I'm asking, if you're not having an alliance with the APC, are you having any alliance with another political party? First and foremost, let me deal with the first part of your question. SDP didn't make any showing before we had no senator. We had no representative member. We have, it was just all of us, using our resources and the support of our friends to sustain the party. Now we have senators. Now we have also representative members in the two houses. So it's not a zero level, we have made progress. Number two, we are building a political structure. We are building a party from scratch, right? And by the time we finish this election, we also believe that a couple of governors will emerge. Let's go straight to my home to us. There was once a Sarumi and Balajiobi problem with this state and an Othedela emerge. Maybe we are looking at an Othedela arrangement because the first curve that these APCs engage in shows that the chances of them winning this election is a little bit small. Now let's go to the presidential election. Yes, it's also an APC problem. They lost Wofu in Lagos state. If the elected president who says Lagos is my home, he has been saying this for a long time. And we have been saying, you know, if Balajiobi was in Lagos state and his party lost in Lagos state, then they have a problem. And that is why they are engaged in this political frenzy that at all costs, they must win. So what are they doing? They are chanting war songs everywhere. These numbers were for me, if they don't join to war song, they are chanting religious songs. No, let it be a level playing ground. For us in the APC, we are convinced beyond doubt. APCO, SDP. The Social Democratic Party, we are convinced. APC can never, ever be convinced. We are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that number one, we have selected very good people to participate in this election. We are not everywhere. We are not in the four, 40 house of assembly seats. But the ones we are going to contest, they are good people. They are nice people. They are cerebral people. This is number one. Number two, we believe they have to clean up man. You know to clean up man, right? That is me. Is a fit and proper person to govern the state. And I have displayed it. In terms of my cerebral powers and the debates, everybody says Kule, you are simply excellent. So for me, I am not desperate. Power belongs to the people. What democracy means is a government of the people, for the people, by the people. On Saturday, the people of legacy, whether Igbo, whether Yoruba, whether outside, whether Kanoori will go to the polls. And they will vote. At the end of the day, we have to respect the decision of the people. There is going to be mass youth participation, which will allow the electoral process to go through. So only we will not be the first governor in Lagos State to spend one time. I've talked about the fashion line, we do two times. And but one time. So only maybe you will join the one time people. And even when the political both father attempted to remove fashion line, the people came around and said no, you can't. Because it was popular. The only reason why this man is running around and lying everywhere. And he asked the media team that is putting forth wrong information is to the public is because he has performed go fully. Sangra's market, he didn't do it until I started shouting, Sangra, Sangra, they're building it now. And we got here, he didn't do anything there. Committing in Lagos is a traffic problem. And four years ago, when he was going to be sworn in as governor, he entirely preceded the debate. He promised, if I don't solve the traffic in Lagos State, I will not be justified to be governor anymore. He has not done anything. So he's asked my card to make sure that it goes back to Diabu Emushi, where it comes from, and allow us to breathe. But he would say that the rail lines have come up? No, it doesn't come up. The rail line come up means that the trains will move, my friend. It will move. Have you ever entered that train? The only train we enter is the one that belongs to National Railways Corporation. It's not a rail line, it's a mono line. And this mono line started by a fashion line, eight years. And by the four years, 12, himself four, 16, CMS, two mile two, disaster of a gold. I'm not going to explain on this project. Okay, well, you said you did well in the debate. Yes, you really did well in the debate, but it goes beyond doing well in the debate. What are the antecedents that people will look at to sequelae with man is a good person to rule Lagos. Check the profile. I don't want to be, I want to be humble, but in my humility, I'm obliged to reveal certain information. In 1995, I was in the ING government, Interim National Government of Unisonico, as the personal assistant to the Honorable Minister of Transportation. Then after I proceeded as the personal assistant to the Honorable Minister of Power and Steel, I returned to legal practice after that and I was called upon during that period to be part of a team that drew up the planning law and regulation for legal state. And the purpose of that regulation is that building should be made up. And it is interesting. I don't want to repeat it. That Mr. Babaji D'Souwulu was the vice chairman of this committee. General Rees was the chairman. General Rees was the gentleman that built Cooperative Villa. I'm sure you are there. There is a solo manager who did me a good job. Nice man, he was there. Professor Kredeli, he was there. I did, you know, was there. You are people from Ministry of Justice and we sat for almost two years looking holistically at the problem of buildings in Lego State. And we put in place a legislation whereby buildings will never ever fall. Interestingly, and by way of a complete turnaround, when Babaji D'Souwulu at Minister of the State for so many years, buildings have not stopped collapsing. He is tenured as being Christian as the governor of collapsing buildings. But buildings were collapsing before he came. I'm sure you can tell me the one that collapsed. But the one I know that I'm telling you, 21-story building collapsed. It has never happened in Nigeria before, 21. And those buildings were paid for in dollars. We later discovered the buildings were never in short. Those people, it was a colossal loss. The man who was in charge, he died in the building. We don't have information. The deputy governor came out and he said to us it was 21 stories that was approved. The man who was in charge of the ASA, it was 16. So believe me, since 21 came down, seven came down in Omuru, five came down building collapsing every. And you see this man, for me, considering the amount of revenue that comes into this state, the amount of revenue, internally generated revenue. And considering what is received from the center, we don't have a business having this kind of state. Our water transportation is almost zero. When Jack O'Day was there, he did better. He had the Tafaji Ferry, which was there on the water. It will commit you, if you had a good ferry service, the commuting time of two Lagos CMS and a papa who is not more than 15 minutes, you don't have to be on the road at all. If you have a functional ferry service, you can also do the same thing with Badagri. You don't have to come through all these first tax beyond the road. You need to think outside the box. There are places in the world, more than 15 years ago, I was in Amsterdam, I entered the ferry, it's called Ulysses. It's a three-day ferry on there, it's a car park, you drive your car, you can sit down there between Dublin and London. It's, there are many ferries everywhere. I've done my investigation. My friends and I, we have looked at it because I do a lot of maritime work. And we know that there are ferries everywhere in the world we can repair, we can fix, turn around and bring it to our waterways. So that if you are moving from CMS to Equalogy, you don't have to be on the road. If you are going from Equalogy to Egeda, you don't have to be on the road. If you are going to Badagri, you don't have to be on the road. What does that, the Lagos is not a landlocked state. It's a state that is blessed with water everywhere. And that is the reason why we see the customs and everybody, we are a generating revenue state for the further government of Nigeria. At a point, the internally generated revenue of Lagos state was that of party states of Nigeria. One small state, party states combined. So we don't have any reason for us to be in this state other than the fact that we are very corrupt officials of governments. They look aside, they didn't do what they have to do. If everybody will have to end their own pay. And the existence of this company, they call Alphabeta. Alphabeta belongs to one of them that has consistently because the collective revenue of the Afro government, we don't have any business with Alphabeta. For example, executive order O1 or post-signal company, that's useless contract. Okay, well, okay. Maybe that is part of the question I'm going to ask you now. Because when you talk about corruption, it's like it's an establishment, it's something, it's an institution that no one man can abolish. How do you intend to fight this corruption that is bedeviling Lagos state? The word corruption itself has different meanings and dosages. Depends on the way you want to apply it. So I am now speaking specifically of the corruption in a range in the bureaucracy. I'm not defining corruption everywhere. I'm limiting this word in the supply times by way of juxtaposition to corruption in government. If everybody did what they ought to do. If a man who is going to approve the building plan knows that he has to approve it, you don't start building until you have your approval. If the people who are supposed to inspect floor by floor they do their job, things should be okay. My brother, if the money we are getting in the state is going to be applied for the benefit of the state, we are going to get somewhere. We have this problem with local government. Lagos state government is one of the states that is leading opposition to local government autonomy. Now what is the reason for that? The constitution is clear, we are a tripartite government. The further the state and the local government and our location should go directly to each. The further it takes its own, the state take their own, local government shall have their money directly. Why is it going through the executive? Is it an abnormality? So it has to be corrected. There are things that we are doing in this state that is not making the state grow. We are the last man, very corrupt organization, last man. How will you get these people to turn around and not be corrupt? The people that you say are corrupt are making these things the way they are because you can't be everywhere at the same time. You see, the bureaucracy does not assume that one man is going to govern everywhere. What the bureaucracy tells you is that that's a functional system. The man who has the bureaucracy in the ministry is not the commissioner as it were. It's a political appointee. It's the permanent secretary. And it is assumed that he's well grounded in the bureaucracy. He knows what to do. So what do we do? We also ensure that we have a retraining system. A retraining system. whereby each person should understand that we are paid to do a certain job. The way government works, if you are given a contract, there is already factored into that contract, your profit margin, if you did it best. But you find people, they do surely jobs, they work. In lucky, they have been removing the permanent stones on the road now for like four, five times. Who did that job initially? That didn't do it well. So we must have a corporate responsibility system. Whereby we have a sense of accountability. The bureaucracy can be more refined. We can also do a rewarding system. We can also encourage people. If you did X, Y, and Z, we are going to do so and so. We can also look at the possibility of recalibrating the salaries of the civil servants and giving them enhancement. What we have in the system now, in Lagos State and in most parts of this country, it's just a bureaucracy that is dysfunctional. UNI now will live in Nigeria. Today, I've not seen Naira for the last seven days. I've not seen it at all. I don't have cash. People are standing, they can't go to work. And that is because we have the system of a president and a civilian governor who don't understand the basic rules of macroeconomics. You don't do this. In other countries, there will be real problems. Well, not at all. You go to the bank, the bank is not open. You go to the bank, you cannot go inside the bank. What kind of country is this one? So we need to actually tell ourselves that we are operating governance at the level of the subhumans. And that's where anywhere we go in the world, we are subjected to these people, these are bad people. We are not bad people. We're very good people, cerebral. We can think, we write books. We are professors, we are lawyers. We are good media people. So what we are having is a fake version of what we are. So we need to evolve an educational system. Do you know in this country, they don't treat history more in schools? If you don't know the history of your people, how then do you understand what your grandfather's did for the development of your country? So there's so many things that have taken place that we all must now look at it and see if we don't have hospitals. When this new president, when he went out there, he would go to Europe. People would start visiting him there. The one that has just been elected. The one that is there now, the same thing applies. Even when the vice president had issues with his health, he didn't go to general hospital. He went to one Agibota Hospital in Hedja where you enter the places as if you're in England. We must develop our health system in such a way that we are part of what we are. I have never, ever been for health treatment anywhere in the world except in Lagos. Whenever I was here, I'd go to a hospital, if I'm not there, I'd go to Air Force Hospital. If not, I'd go to Lute. I have cats of all these people. In the last few years, whatever option I have and if I become governor of Lagos State and I'm done, if anybody takes me anywhere in this country, my ghost will be chasing me all over the place. Okay, because our time is up. Let's try to round off in the shortest possible time. What are the first three things that you will do if you are elected into office? I will reform last man. I will reform last man. I will employ more people and I will make it a human traffic friendly organization. Because with that, I will be able to decongest the world. I will crave for them and eat our shit system so that at every point in time, the traffic will move. There's some areas in Lagos that they have traffic gridlock almost the whole day. So we need to look at those areas. VGC, Ococo, Michael, Ocoro do, but there are certain areas we will need to look at and we will employ people. Most of us will develop our agriculture. You need these fish we eat. Agriculture, fish agriculture shows now that you don't have to actually go into the sea because you have a system now whereby you can have a tank system and you can actually build the fish. I will encourage our young people, our youth to engage in that agriculture. I will provide for them small, medium scale industries facilities that they can actually use to start this business and they can make money for themselves. They can be self-employed. And more importantly, I will correct the mistake that this administration has made and they are making. They have this university mentality. Do you understand? That whenever it goes to school, it must go to university. It is complete nonsense. It's wrong. Because you see polytechnic education offers a different education than the university. So people can go to the polytechnic, there will be a genius, there will be accountants and they will be very, very successful. And also more importantly, this question of collapsing colleges of education into university is also something that they have not well thought out. Because the colleges of education, they're actually there to train teachers. Teachers who will serve in the schools. They are professional teachers. They get their NCE. Later they may want to get other degrees. But we don't have to make every institution university. And more importantly, like I said the education system, the schools are not, the schools are, they don't have teachers, they don't have pupils. So I will encourage our teachers and whoever does well in this country. In my state, especially the doctors, they are going to have a special scholarship scheme. During this time, we are going to ensure that we have more people in science. We are going to be training them from the hospital. And you see, if you go to the one I wrote there, there used to be a nursing hospital. A nursing hospital. They are huge. If you go there now, we will be surprised. They have allocated it to themselves. It has become their campaign office. How does any government do that? The School of Nursing is located there to feed the general hospital. The nurses, they stay there, they go to the hospital. But Saweru and his political godfather, they have turned it into campaign office. They brought it down. So me, I will again revoke that license. That's the of, oh, I paid the School of Nursing back. Okay, we've been hearing from them. Wait a minute. No, no, no. I know there is a lot more to say, but we can always only wish you good luck on Saturday. Thank you very much. When the polls are open for voting for the people of Lagos State. We've been listening to Kunle Utman, who is the Social Democratic Party, SDP Lagos Governorship Candidate. And he has promised a lot of things. Everything lies in the hands of the people. Saturday is another day for election. Go out and vote for your choice. If he's the one, then choose him. If he's someone else, let's hope for a better Lagos than what we have right now. We'd like to say thank you to you, Mr. Utman, for coming on the show. And we are, like I said, we wish you well. I reciprocate your gesture. I'm grateful for this opportunity. And like I said, the Social Democratic Party will contest this election. Let the people decide. And we'll see if that emerges. We'll shake his hands, or they will shake our hands. And we hope for a better Lagos in the next four years. Thank you very much. All right, we thank you for staying with us. We take a short break now. And when we return, we will be taking a look at the boot party and plans for Lagos ahead of the governorship elections. Stay with us.