 platform of the People's Democratic Party PDP have called on the National Assembly to hasten their decision on the controversial Electoral Act Amendment Bill of 2021. Now the governors under the aegis of the PDP Governors Forum in their resolution advised the National Assembly to explore the option of sustaining Mr. Buhari's veto as a caution to the president from making similar moves in the future. Now President Muhammad Buhari had in December declined assent to the bill citing the direct primary clause and its cost implications on the country as his reasons. Well, joining us to discuss this and more is Badebo Rhodes Viva. He is a politician and a member of the People's Democratic Party here in Lagos State. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Great. So let's talk about the Electoral Act Bill, which is a front-bound issue. Everybody's talking about it. Veto don't veto. The National Assembly is saying they're gathering signatures to see if they can override Mr. President. The former INAG Chairman, Tahiru Jiga, who's also interested in running for office, is saying do not veto the presidency. We should allow it to, you know, take its course. But where do you stand on all of this? It's a mixture of things and it all depends on where your interest falls. Ideally, everybody is for electronic transmission. That part of it I've experienced how that can work in an election. During the Undo elections, we actually were able to collate results directly from the server and it actually reduces the amount of manipulation that can happen in the electoral process. Now, in relation to direct primaries, which is the other issue, it depends on where you fall. If you're a governor that has done all the work to have delegates on your side, you don't want direct primaries. If you're a politician that is probably at odds with your governor, you want to be able to have an opportunity to have direct primaries because you will not be arm-twisted by delegates who are already loyal to potentially the governor who's in control of the political structure. And that's why you see a lot of push from the House of Reps, from legislative arm, to push for direct primaries. And then there's also the factor that the president raised, which is the cost, not just to the government, but also the cost to the politician that's going to try to get a lot of people to vote. So again, like I said, it depends on where your interest falls. But for me, I think everybody is in accord on the idea that we must have electronic transmission of results directly from the polling unit. Well, I think it's come out to say that they're not going to fix the date for the election. They're not even going to roll out the calendar because they're not sure about the electoral act. So until the electoral act's bill is signed, they're not going to do that. So that obviously puts a spanner in the wheel of things. Secondly, the president, some people have accused him of being a product of direct primaries. But if these are the problems that we're facing in that act, why can't we delete some of those things, leave them for another time when we can deliberate on them so we can push the elections around the corner? Exactly. And that's my sentiment as well. I mean, for instance, there's nobody that's arguing against electronic transmission of results. So that's a no-brainer that should just go through. Anything that's holding that back should be left out for now. And you can decide on it later. We've seen how direct primaries have played out in elections, how it's being used to push out governors, and how it's not being used in certain situations where you pick and choose. So for me, that still has a lot of work, a lot of way to go. Parties need to have proper databases that they all agree is a database. We might even want to bring in electronic voting if we are doing direct primaries so people can feel that, you know, this is a free and fair process. So there's a lot that still has to be done in that regard. But INEC has actually developed the technology to have electronic transmission of results. As I said, as a last year joined you on two elections, they were already implementing these things. So if that can advance and deepen our democracy, we should definitely push that through. Let's bring it home to Lagos. Now, there's been a lot of calm in the Lagos PDP. We've not really had anything, you know, serious in the PDP in Lagos state. Now, but we have also seen that in the APC, we've seen, I see what you, you know, declared his interest to run for presidency. And that is obviously representing the Southwest, being that everybody's asking for a president from the South is one of the many. What does this mean for the People's Democratic Party in Lagos? I'm asking because recently the Lagos for Lagos group left the APC into the PDP. What does this translate to for you? The PDP has somewhat been in the background. I remember in the elections in 2015, of course again, the elections in 2019, we've not really seen the PDP push and shove. It looks like APC has been taking the day all over. What's the PDP doing to change all of that? I think that let's give some context to this, right? We had one of the most loved politicians under our umbrella, literally pun intended, that was murdered and killed like a chicken and nobody was brought to justice for this, right? This had a profound traumatic effect on our party. We have a sitting king above Lagos threatening people that vote against the APC that they'll be drowning in Lagos. We have an NERTW that has been militarized and used as dogs to move not just election materials but to intimidate people, especially after the federal elections, close markets, suppress votes significantly. We saw it was broadcasting on live TV what happened in Ushudi solo in Okota people that lined up to queue the whole day. Their results were snatched and burnt in front of them. So there's significant voter oppression. So it had been unfair. So does this mean that the PDP is also being oppressed because of those things? Should that not make the PDP grow more muscle to be able to deal with this? These are the things that we're putting in place now, right? We have a situation where we're coming together. We're trying to push for more youth representation in the party, more youthful, vibrant politicians to come into the fold and run. We're embracing and creating a system where true democracy happens, which is why Lagos for Lagos will feel at home in the PDP because they know they'll be subjected to free and fair primary. And these are things we are putting in place to ensure that we have maximum voter engagement and voter turnout because regardless of all the things I've mentioned, you can only rig where you are popular or where there is voter apathy. As soon as the people decide that enough is enough and they're going to come out, there's nothing any structure can do about that. But Lagos, with due respect to all Lagotians, we saw what happened in the local government elections. Barely anyone came out for those elections. We also saw voter apathy in 2019 in Lagos. Many people didn't show up. I'm curious when you said you're trying to get more young people involved. What is the, I mean, you're not in the APC, but you could find out what the APC is doing that these young people are attracted to and they keep being allowed to, they allow themselves to be used, as you have said in your words, allegedly, as thugs and all of this. What do you have as a tool that can override that? Again, if the APC is bringing out these candidates as, for Presidency or maybe people who are interested in Governors, do you have people that can match them or even better than the candidates that they're going to be fielding, which will make the ordinary Lagotian who you say would say enough is enough, want to vote for them. And that's exactly what I mean. Where you have people that show capacity. Do you have those people? Yes, we do. I mean, a candidate emerges after the primaries, right? So there are a number of people that are coming out and showing interest all across the board. And that's what we're encouraging by creating a system that is free and fair. So if you feel that in the APC, you will not get a free chance, you can come to the PDP and try it, right? And also encouraging youth to get involved because there is a desire for youthful leadership now in Lagos, state in Nigeria as a whole. And that's what we've slashed cost of forms for people to come into the party. I mean, I was 35 when I ran for Senate in 2019. So it's not just talk. It's not just rhetoric. This is something that the party has embraced. And also we are actively creating a new voter demography. It will be a mistake to continue fishing in the same pond that the APC does because they've been in government for so long, they control LOMA, they control LASMA, they control all these institutions, even local governments, which have become apertures of the party, which have become rewards for loyal party members, even at local government level. And when you talk about voter apathy in local government elections, this is not just true to PDP or APCs across Nigeria. In PDP states, you see the same thing where PDP takes most of local government structure. So apart from El Rufai, who has done quite well in Kaduna and creating a proper system that allows for a proper local government election, it remains to be seen other states do that. So these are factors that need to be considered. But I can assure you that the PDP is coming together to ensure that we have proper representation that will get the people excited in 2020 because it's about the emotion and sentiment and people feeling like they're a stakeholder in this particular candidate. And they believe this candidate wants to win. That will allow votes to come out and leave their homes on that day. This is my personal opinion. I'm just curious. It seems to me like the voice of the PDP Lagos is stifled. I'll tell you what. Where was the PDP when the Leci Toll incident happened? What was the response? What was the push from the PDP? I mean, we're still here. We've still not been able to get justice for those people. I mean, we've seen the report from the Lagos state government and that's it. It's literally died with nobody's talking about it any longer. Where's the PDP in all of this? And you are supposed to be the opposition. So I think that if people have sort of gauged opposition based on the APC's rights to power, as to what opposition should be, which is propaganda and just hijacking everything, the NSAR's movement deliberately pushed away politicians deliberately. Even in the PDP, I participated fully in the NSAR's. I do not do that as a PDP potential candidate. I did that as a legion. I did that as a Nigerian. I did that as a young man. So there are many people that did that. You have our leaders actually, but the George has been talking everywhere about these things, right? I speak about it all the time. Many people in the party speak about it, but we did not hijack or try to hijack it to make it a PDP thing because that would have taken away not just relevance. Well, I don't think legions on Nigerians would want it to be a PDP thing, but they just wouldn't it have been better if your voices were heard enough, loud enough on this issue? But it seemed like you lost your voice. I will beg to differ on that. I think it depends on how, because for me, being in the party and watching and seeing what people are saying, what I have been saying, what leaders have been saying, we did make noise about it. We did. I mean, from the highest level of leadership in our party to young people that want to be councillors or House of Rep members, I mean, nobody was just quiet. I don't agree with that. Going forward, I mean, you just saw, we were talking to the Secretary of the Northern Elders Forum on the issue of insecurity and of course, other issues are rising and they have said they've passed a vote of no confidence on Mr. President. And going forward, what plans do the PDP have, and not just in Lagos State, but of course, you can speak for Lagos State, going forward to deal with the insecurity, the disobedience to rule of law. Many people would say that the PDP and the ABC are cut from the same cloth and that there's not a lot to expect from the PDP. But would you beg to differ and why? I mean, I beg to differ. If you look at the extent of violence and how it has been normalized, the rate of kidnapping, banditry from 2015 when PDP left office to now, I'm sure you'd agree it has grown on an astronomical rate. Also, this is also tied into unemployment. You look at the unemployment figures and how that is going up. You look at inflation. You look at the value of our currency. All these things come together to create a very big social problem. All kidnappers and bandits were not always kidnappers and bandits. Some people just did not have a choice in the sense that, you know, maybe they had their farms, herdsmen took over, nothing has been done. Now they can't plant things so they've gone into banditry or kidnapping or many, many things, many, many options. But this is a big social problem. And you have a situation where our military for a long time failed at actually achieving their goals. And these people were retired and made ambassadors, right? So the military chiefs, you mean not the military? Military chiefs, yeah, the military chiefs who were retired and made ambassadors. So almost reward for failure, clear failure, because you can see how many local governments you have lost over time, right? So for me, I feel that the PPP coming in, right, is going to be more holistic in their planning, in their strategy, cutting out waste, ensuring that corruption in the military is tamed. I need to understand that I almost feel that what happened in 2015 was necessary for our party to correct itself. And I also feel that, you know, it's not right to leave a political party or politicians unchecked for so long. And that's the same thing that's happening in Lagos City with the APC. The more politicians get away with things, the worse it becomes. So the people have a role. Is it two-way streets? The people have a role to ensure that there are consequences to bad governance and their benefits to good governance. Oh, well, I want to say thank you to you, Mr. Rhodes, for being part of the conversation. It's always a pleasure to have a young person talk politics with me. Well, thank you all for staying with us. We leave you with Nigerians telling us what region they think the president should come from. Even though a lot of people are saying we should be looking for a person who is most competent. But that's it on Plus Politics. I'm Mary Annakan. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good evening. South is, South is, because that is our turn. We're supposed to have a president for the next election. We understand. Because when you check everything, how the country is going, how the presidents are, where the presidents are coming, the religions, and you believe that's where I'm saying that the president will come supposed to be. I don't care about that. It's just a good person. A good person. That's all. I think God is the one that have a financing. And secondly, we need a God-fearing person in this nation of Nigeria. Eastern parts. It's fair enough. It's fair enough to come from the Eastern parts. Or I don't know if Yoruba should be the western, right? Okay, because we are tired of the North side of the people who really know us. And then we also want something like let's say let them give a chance of younger persons instead of this old old man. Okay, the number is coming out now. For me, I don't think he's okay. The decision is from Cabals. Where they want. That's where they want. But of course, if you look at it, you see that the rotation they are doing is not balanced. Since after war, they say Yoruba people will not rule them. That's something they make. Understand on it. So if I have to say Yoruba people have a chance to rule. But sometimes they deny them not to rule the country. What are we going to do? Nothing.