 We will rescue Lagos, says PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Olagide Adediran, and controversies mark APC's primaries ahead of the local government elections. This is Plus Politics, I am Mary Anacor. Abdulaziz Olagide Adediran, the People's Democratic Party PDP governorship candidate, in Lagos State has said he would focus on taking development to the inner parts of the state and give priority to education in order to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state if elected as governor in 2023. Now the governorship candidate argued that for more than two decades now Lagos has had only one governor, asking that it is time that the state gets the second governor. Jando is the main challenger to the candidates of the ruling or progressive congress APC and incumbent Lagos state governor Barajideh Somolou in 2023 election. Now he defeated from, he defected from the APC to the PDP last year after complaining of marginalization in the party. Well joining us to discuss this and his plans for Lagos State is Bhinga Ghunlaye, he's a spokesman for Jando humanitarian campaign council. Thank you so much Mr. Ghunlaye for joining us. Yeah thank you so much, thank you for having me. Great, let's start by looking at the momentum that the Jando campaign is gathering if there be any. Now we also know that the dust has settled on who he picked as his running mate and now Lagosians are looking to see how the PDP is gathering momentum. So let's talk, has there been a blueprint out yet on how the campaign and of course what the plans of your governorship candidate is for Lagos State? Thank you so much, there is, of course there is a manifesto of the party and the plans of the gubernatorial candidate of a party Dr. Abdullah says, which of course we will review and present to the public very shortly but you know from day one Jando has never kept anyone in the dark as regards his program for legacy. His intention is to offer a breadth of pressure and turn around governance in the state. You know what we have had in the last 23 years is obvious, even the blind could see that this is not the best that our state could have and so it's excellent as Dr. Abdullah says the legendary Jando is focusing on all the areas of governance to make life better for the people of Lagos State and like you mentioned they have great passion for taking development around Lagos State. Lagos State is not just about Ikui or the Highland or a part of Ikeja, it's about the entire divisions of the state, it's about making Lagosians feel the wealth beyond caring but to physically enjoy development and so that is what the manifesto we speak to regarding provision of housing for Lagosians across the five divisions regarding provision of quality education across the five divisions regarding I mean roads and maintenance and then rehabilitation of roads and opening of new roads across the five divisions ensuring that we enhance healthcare delivery across the five divisions so that wherever you are whether you are in Badakli or in Efe or in Kuru Dhu or in Ikui or Victoria Highland or in Banana Highland you know for sure that you are in Lagos and there will be no need for people to unnecessarily migrate within the state just to area where they feel that there is concentration of development so very shortly there will be a public presentation of the manifesto of Jando. Let's talk about the challenges that lie ahead of Adediran and his campaign. Like I said at the beginning the dust has settled on him picking a movie star and a female business mogul as his running mate but now let's talk about the nitty-gritties. What are the challenges that you hope to surmount with this campaign? Now you've talked about roads and you've talked about you know infrastructural development now many people would say that there are so many things that the APC government has done but what are those things that you think that you need to first tackle if you were given the opportunity to become you know the ruling party? What are the first phases of things that you should apply yourself to? Well thank you so much. A section of the populace in Lagos state may allude to the fact that the APC government haven't been in power for 23 years has done a bit of things but if you look around you will see a huge gap between what should be and what is existing. Look at the issue of road that we mentioned. Where are the roads in Lagos? These are just reality. Go to the interland, go around Lagos. What you just need is a few hours of rest and you will only be able to move around Lagos. Recently a video is going viral regarding the experience of people around the Juleki look government. Precisely over the years they have been having this challenge that whenever there is a little rain there will be too much gridlock within that axis and it's not limited to them. Come around now just as we speak now, move around Lagos that you see and you see the challenge, you see the terrible state of infrastructure in Lagos state. Now Jando is bringing a human face to governance. He is a Lugosian and he knows the state like the back of his hand and so we are going to correct right from this scratch the deficiency that we have observed in the area of governance is a major concern to Jando and number one principally is that even the governor of the state will not take decision on his own. He needs a second level of approval that is the first thing to correct. No matter how good a governor could be as long as he is from APC he will be unable to perform because there is a power behind the scene that dictates what you What do you mean by there is a power behind the scene? What power are you making reference to and who could discuss it? Because it is obvious that there is a godfather, there is a godfather in Lagos state who dictates how Lagos should be wrong. The same godfather that that that that worked with Pashola, the same godfather that insisted that Ambo Day must succeed. Pashola, the same godfather that pulled out Ambo Day out of the system, the same godfather that have put us into the problem we are having now by forcing the the the clueless and inept government of Sao Wulu on Lagos state. It is it is common knowledge, it is a public knowledge that the great problem of Lagos state is beyond bringing a good candidate for APC. It is about bringing a man who can hit the ground running, who will see where he needs to attend to the needs of the people and then we go ahead and do it without just really waiting for an approver. Okay. Alright, let's talk about some allegations that your governorship candidates made recently. He talked about the fact that in fact he accused the Lagos state government of pulling down campaign posters. He also accused the Lagos state signage and advertisement agency. He allegedly said that they threatened two companies that he was using for his campaign posters to bring down those posters. Now of course you know that the Lagos state government has come up to deny these claims but I ask you why would the Lagos state government knowing that Lagos is of course a cosmopolitan city and of course a state that is not necessarily just a state for a certain group of people. It's a state for everyone. Why would the Lagos state government want to do that and tell companies to take down posters of a different political party other than this? Oh, you know that the Lagos state government is G3. The opposition has never been these are ready to raise the power from APC. I am a member of the People's Democratic Party for years and I know that every election year with the alternative, the better alternative to Lagosians have never been this intentional. We have never been this deliberate. General has brought a breath of fresh air to the PDP as presented to the voting public as the better alternative and the ruling party is feeling the heat and so the best way they feel they could meet this in default is to stop the APDP from having visibility. It's just as simple as that and it's because they have such a country and you know it's not like pulling us to Lagos CPC. They did the same thing in the last election. They did not allow the Lagos state to have visibility. They even stopped the party from using the state-owned stadium for its campaign the party had to go to the road so the campaign for what happened that all these shenanigans did not stop the will of the people so whatever APC in Lagos state tries to do we are to nothing. The people have made up their mind that they are changing this government and so it is obvious that APC felt that visibility by the outdoor and other channels, media channels is what we give the PDP the strength but it is beyond that. It is about the resolution of Lagosian, it's about the readiness of the electorate, it's about the willingness of the people to change this government and for the first time have an independent governor, have a governor who they can really call their own governor, a governor they elected, a governor that they can bring them flee to and a governor that will not just rush out over them. The governor that knows that they have both hands and will be very concerned what they want for time and you know that is what APC would not want to happen. Unfortunately it's over. It is over, we are just counting days for this government of the APC to leave the position. You can bet that. Let me take you back a bit. You keep talking about the breath of fresh air that your candidate is bringing to Lagos. What constitutes of this breath of fresh air? What exactly is this breath of fresh air? Literally break it down for us because I'm guessing and I'm hoping that I'm speaking for Lagotians. This is no longer a time for rhetorics but Lagotians want to see something different so if they want to see something different is this slogan enough or anything for them to go by? Thank you. This is beyond sloganeering. It is about a change in Lagos. Now, average Nigerian believe Lagos is a very rich state and we always felt it that we have a high GR of over 50 billion every month so Lagos is rich, Lagos is wealthy but please you will agree with me that when you enter into the city of Lagos you cannot feel the wealth. You cannot see the wealth of Lagos. Now go to other cities you can compare Lagos with go to Dubai. You need nobody to tell you Dubai is a wealthy city because the state of infrastructure speaks to it. Now come to Lagos what do you see? Do you see a wealthy city? Now this is a this is part of the breath of fresh air we talk about doing things differently. Go to our education sector. A state like Lagos generating over 600 billion in IGR in a year not to talk of federal allocation and other areas of revenue that comes to the state. You as a Lagotian or a resident of Lagos will you be proud to take any of your children to public school? You will not. You will not. If you have a choice you will prefer to go for private hospitals when you have an health need. It's because you do not have the confidence in the provision of healthcare services done by the government. Sometime ago you know we have issues with the doctors in Lagos complaining about their remuneration. Go to all the hospitals the state phone hospitals and the general hospitals. What do you see? You see they have to stop. The people have left because of the poor welfare condition of the workers. Wherever you go in Lagos look at the drainage system. Look at the road infrastructure. Look at the situation of things in Lagos point to one area of Lagos that distinguishes the state from other states in Nigeria. You have little or not to show for the wealth of Lagos. So the breadth of pressure is making Lagos look feel wealthy. Making Lagotians enjoy the wealth of Lagos. Lagos is truly wealthy but this wealth is in the hand of few people. You are aware of what goes into the hand of Alphabeta every month. You are aware of the resources of Lagos that some individuals have cornered. You are aware of properties that belong to Lagos that have been cornered by individuals. You are aware of what goes to individual pockets from views and taxes of the people. Things will be done differently. There will be breadth of pressure in every area of our life. And most especially you are going to have a governor who is your governor and not an appendage or a lieutenant of an individual sitting in his corner controlling the state. Quickly in a few words I'd like for you to tell us what your plans are for security in Lagos. Now the Lagos state government as we know has banned Okada for security reasons. But then there are also those who are calling for clearing of under the bridges etc etc. What is the Jandoah campaign going to do in terms of security that the Lagos state government has not already done or to better upon what they're doing right now? Yes Jandoah has said it over and over that securing the state cannot be left with the government alone. We need to engage the people and that is why there are a native approach to security of Lagos state. You are familiar with this state and you know that there are black spots around Lagos and there are individual group of people we know that have influence within these black spots and what have you. Government we engage key opinion leaders and influence here people, influence us so to say, in securing Lagos. Now we're going to ensure that community policing that is being agitated for nationwide which we have plans with the people that the current Lagos state government but hope it has been done along party lines and having sentiment without necessarily occupying labor would guard. Number two, one thing critical security is to ensure that there is provision of job and people's means of livelihood is it's protected. Now at the volume of Okada riders we have a Lagos in the transport sector look at the volume and we wake up one day and then we begin to pull these people out of business by taking their means of livelihood as much as we ensure that security of life and property is a priority to our government. We will also ensure that we will not take the means of livelihood of people without providing an alternative without providing an alternative because and out of his business you are already exposing him to crime you are giving him and giving him no alternative than to consider crime and so what you say by taking Okada off the road would not be comparable to more problem you have had it to the security issue so therefore there will be engagement proper engagement of the people regarding this area these are residents of Lagos. Okay let me quickly talk about let me quickly talk about something that recently happened that your candidate got flak for now he and his running mate recently visited owners of auctioned vehicles now according to the Lagos state government these are traffic offenders these are people who have committed a crime against the state and these people's vehicles were taken or impounded they didn't show up to pick those vehicles and those vehicles were auctioned of course these are consequences for actions that have already been clearly stated as criminal but then the flak that your candidate is getting for visiting these people the government is saying that he's looking for cheap votes so I'm wondering why did Jando visit those people whose vehicles were auctioned did he not know that these people had committed offenses against the state thank you very much last Thursday that is 15th September 134 impounded vehicles were auctioned by the Lagos state government and as negotiations mean all what this we saw it on hair and two individuals among the 134 people cried for help they told all their stories told negotiations their stories now these two people had serious challenges now Latin Colaco who was one of the 134 had a potential and he was sick gave his acclaimed, he gave his boss here to a mechanic who drove one way and the boss was confiscated but from his I mean from sick from his sick bed it came to the point of auctioning to appeal to government and he appealed to the court of public opinion of course they have violated traffic rules. Unduke Osinachi is the second guy he was arrested for flying one way he was in prison at Badagri prison for three months while he was in prison his three-year-old daughter fell sick and died two weeks ago he was released haven't spent three months in prison and he got wind of the auctioning of his vehicle which he got on air for chase and is yet to pay and he came there thinking he would be able to get the vehicle back but this was auctioned for 450,000 naira now these two individuals were shown it was viral on the social media calling for help now Jando has not gone to these people to condone indiscipline and he said it over and over and over again but you look there is something with look these people has appealed to negotiate these people has called for help the first thing Jando did at Mushi when he got to Mr. Alachi Kolapo is to want to lampoon him again that how could you have allowed that to be done but whatever you have done you have been punished but we cannot allow you to remain hopeless we need to offer you hope you have made a mistake and you have been punished which will not allow your means of livelihood to go because especially the man was even still on medication as at the time we visited him the same thing with Osinachi Osinachi and the mother in other area of Lagos plead for negotiations to come to their rescue he still have a standing to play on that bus and he has lost his daughter and is calling for help look we are not closing our eyes to the fact that they have violated traffic rules and they have been punished but should we allow them to go into depression should we not offer help to people who need help even state government offer but if what you're saying is anything to go by if you're offering some form of soccer to these two people what happens to the rest of them if you are if Jando is doing this for two people why can't he do that I mean is he ready to do that for the others because again the truth is it remains that these people committed an offense and they had to go down for it now according to the government these vehicles were not reclaimed and hence the reason why they were auctioned off so where were they when these vehicles were asked to be reclaimed so again I appreciate the fact that he's trying to do good but if you must do good to two why can't you extend the extend the same good to the others who also committed a crime and they have done their time and their cars are also I'm sure to listen to everybody's story they all have a story don't you know no no can you get it we said 134 people were involved we had it on the social media on record these two individuals a man of over 50 years crying like baby sticking for help Osinachi is a young guy of maybe about 40 years very about crying that he has lost his child these are the two people that cried for help seeking for assistance from negotiations it is on record Jando was not looking around for 134 people who have violated traffic offense no he was not even interested in condoning that he will never do that I can recollect he said it on head your colleagues media men were there that looked when I imagine as governor that's Jando he said when he imagine as governor may 29 2023 he will ensure that traffic offender punished so he has no sympathy for you for committing offense and for being punished for you have cried for help your means of livelihood is lost there's need to take care of you you see have your children to take care of so there's need to ameliorate your condition and so those two people cried for help and Jando helped them and look in addition to this the government of Jando we punish offenders but we not take the means of people's livelihood that is clear and every obnoxious law that does not care whether people perish as long as you want to govern will be reviewed that is clear it is clear negotiations need government with human faith the Jando government will not hesitate to take hard decisions to make sure that they take run properly but it will also accommodate the people because it is in government for the people it is the government of the people and so as much as we ensure order and the legal egalitarianism we will also ensure there is empathy empathy and that is what some will lose government lacks that is what this government lacks you will just shut down a market just because some feel individual about late government regulations not minding that there are thousands of people whose livelihood is attached to what they make daily from the market that is that is wicked that is insensitive and look go and check the number of people who are found capable of these offenses belongs to the downloading members of the public their cronies would never be treated this way please you are aware that a building collapsed in victoria island recently and 60 people died in that building the chairman of the agency in charge of these said it to the public that the owner of that property refused to obey the law on three occasions they sealed that building for this fellow who owns that this this crony of government who owns that property violated the law of the land see today nothing has been done we do not know that individual nobody cares to know because he's a fat pig he's a fat cow but if it is a it is an average negotiation you will want him dead and buried no then don't we not do that then don't we ensure that equality before the law is what we practice the rule of law is fine but everybody will be equal before the law we will not we will not use like armor to treat the poor why we will pamper the rich no all right all right because we're almost out of time i want to ask you some questions let's talk about the internal democracy in the pdp right now the pdp has gone against the apc over the years and they've never really been able to win that battle what has changed and what gives you that you know trust and hope that you can surmount this this particular one come 2023 again your your president your governorship candidate is a bigger pardon is a former apc member what exactly does he have that would make him win this election again we know that there had been some frayed nerves within your party have those nerves been calmed has there been a reconciliation whatsoever and finally this is a three-pronged question that's because we're running out of time there's a position that we hear that the pdp in Lagos or jandaws segment of the party seemed to have differed with the governor of or your state on the situation of iu that's the chairman of the party the national chairman the southern caucus of the pdp has been asking for iu to step down but i do hear that you have disagreed with governor mac inday on the resignation of iu can you explain to us why that is all right thank you so much what has changed in Lagos this time around is that there is an implosion in the apc jandaw is the convener of the Lagos for Lagos movement one of the pillars of the pillar structure of the apc in Lagos and so jandaw leaving apc to come to pdp it's like taking a quarter of the strength of apc in Lagos into pdp and you are aware that over the years after the election year pdp will score up to 30 to 40 percent of the vote in every election though we know apc reeks the election for this time around we have about 25 percent of the strength of apc in Lagos joining with the 40 percent of pdp to have the majority now kukia gendales factor is also coming into it and now please permit me to correct there is no jandaw faction or jandaw faction in Lagos pdp Lagos pdp is united Lagos pdp well i'll tell you why i asked that because chief body george who is a a senior and eldest statesman within the pdp is one of those who are asking that the the national chairman steps down resigns so that and and he said this is in the interest of the party but then it looks like but it looks like some section of the party seems to differ on this particular matter hence my question look um the issue of uh the call for designation of our national chairman is not a Lagos politics look it is it is beyond Lagos state and those far dr. Abdulaziz olagide aded iran jandaw does not take side on this matter at all likewise key leaders of the party Lagos state chief olago de george is not a Lagos leader of pdp he is a national leader so when he speaks he speaks to the interests of the southwest or some people are imperceptible and you see in that is the beauty of pdp pdp is not draconian pdp is not it is a party of the people you are allowed to hold your view the majority are allowed to have their way and the minority they are safe and that is the beauty of pdp and so there is no division as far as the party is concerned every individual have their own view on why the national man should remain or should you leave but what everybody has unitedly agreed to is that the former president is the most qualified and competent candidate for the 2023 presidential election and by the grace of god is going to win and all the party leaders including chief olago de george including governor yes on wiki including governor maki de shei maki de and all other party leaders will unite to ensure attiku is elected and that is what is most important whatever you are hearing is just internal party politics it's just about interest and it is it has nothing to do with faction or division the chairman of legacy the p is honorific philip i boji everybody agrees with him the party candidate is jandall dr abdelaziz olaji the other day you know everybody agrees to it are you still there it's a good day i think that we lost that conversation we'll take a quick break when we come back we'll be wrapping things up stay with us it's two plus politics and we have been speaking on the jandall campaign of cosky banister or campaign here in legos which is of the legos day people's democratic party bingal gunlaya is the spokesperson of that campaign now mr gunlaya before we went on that break you are still trying to tell us about um what your party is or the the position of your candidates on what's on the issues of the national um chairman being asked to resign now you're saying that your candidate is sitting on the fence on this particular matter i wonder why there is even no fence as regards this matter what i have generally said was that it is not an issue it is just about in in interest of individuals and but but but the southern caucus the southern caucus of the people's democratic party also consists of the southwest and like i said um if this is something that bothers around the interest of the people in the south which also means legos state why should your candidate say well it's a national matter shouldn't concern me what is the interest of the south look there is no consensus so far as regards what the interest of the south is but but but what is important is that the people's democratic party in southwest Nigeria is interested in winning the election in 2023 and please note whether what whatever side of the divide anyone belongs the the interest is to win some people feel that if the southwest has the national chairmanship it brightens our chances of winning some people the other side feels that if you remove the chairman now if we affect our interests of winning so you can see that we are on the same page our interest is about winning the election and that is the concern of dr. Abdulaziz or like you did you know we need to win the election come 2023 at the federal level and in legos state and that is our primary objective for now and that is our focus what we will not stop anyone who have interest to express themselves that is the beauty of pdp and you see that some individuals came up to say look don't distract fact by a best president that people back at former best president because the campaign is getting into food swing look at his visit to legos look at the massive reception look at the love he has been shown across country look at the the volume of people coming into the pdp in the northern Nigeria look at the massive support is also getting in the south look he has won the election even before the election day we are only counting day and that is what is important to us as a party but we will not shut all that down if this happened in a pc you know what we have to they will victimize everyone who does not agree with the opinion of the godfather they will want to take them out of the party for pdp we being democratic we allow people to have their say so our interest is to win the election and we will continue to accommodate every interest and tendencies to make sure that we are united and we prosecute the 2023 election as a united fund and that is what is important to us give us few weeks all this is usually about designation or no designation we fizzle out only one thing will be important how do we continue to convince the Nigerian electorate that pdp is the government in waiting pdp is the alternative the best credible alternative how do we continue to to to to retain the good will we enjoy just as we continue to motion these people to keep up a line that the few months that we still need to endure these innet and clueless government of ppc is worth waiting because the light that is at the end of the tunnel is motivating enough that Nigeria will be better and Lagos we give a sign of relief when the government of Jandu Dr Abdul Aziz for Nigeria to debut is in store come may 29 2023 great even though we know that the campaigns have not started in earnest as everybody is looking and waiting for the 28th of this month but it we know that the there's a responsibility for political parties not just INIC not just the national orientation agency which is half past dead to have some level of voter education mostly this audience is on political parties you're the ones who are asking for votes how much voter education is the people's democratic party undertaking again there has been this pvc drive on social media for people to go and register now that the registration is done INIC is cleaning up these registers is there any push by political parties including your political party for people to go pick up this pvc because we know you and I know that that is the only way they can actually get gain access to voting and voting for whoever they decide to vote for what is the pdp doing in that regard we have a system in place why the continuous voters registration was on of course we mobilized massively our members and most especially members of the public who over the years have lost interest in voting especially in Lagos state we ensured that they were mobilized to register and get their pvc the volume of legations who have never voted before that register within that period are quite quite significant so and we are sure that come 2023 February and March they will vote the pdp now what we do now we have 245 words political words in Lagos state and our structure is spread across all the world to the zone to the polling unit in Lagos state and so we ensure we are working around to ensure that everyone will register who are party members get their pvc and then we are going taking it down door to door to non-party members who are the majority the non-party members are the majority so we are taking this we are taking the evangelism down to them that the fastest of this exercise has been completed now is the second phase go collect your pvc and we continue to do that until the campaign pick up and even during the campaign we will continue to still remind them and of course we follow up data by data street by street house by house person by person to ensure that the right thing is done look it is a big deal that Lagos must be free it is a big deal that Lagos must be rescued no the negotiations cannot afford another four years of this this calamity i'm sorry i can't i can't imagine negotiations passing through this agony again no it will not happen and from the feedback from the force of the people that we have felt people are participating change they are willing they are ready and they have their ability and their ability is their pvc so look the apc are counting days they know that their end has come the end of this dynasty i think that Lagosians would that will be left to Lagosians to decide campaigns have not started yet but i want to say thank you bengal gulay is the spokesperson jan dogg renitaro campaign council for Lagos states people's democratic party thank you so much for speaking with us thank you so much i appreciate you thank you plus pv all right well that's it on the show tonight but before i go i will give you my take stay with us now according to the philosopher plato no system of government can be perfect as long as humans are part of that system that same can be said for any man made system now when it comes to political systems however democracy is the strongest option that we have it promises the respect of every individual's voice and self-governance with the people bringing more important being more important i beg your pardon than the leaders unfortunately the spotlight that democratic system shines on our leaders only seems to offer their worst sides in a system that requires party politics to offer us choices in leaders our applicants to the most important jobs in the country only ever demonstrate the most selfish and egotistical sides to their nature they constantly fail to even reach a consensus on their own candidates they're incapable of even following their own party constitutions or even the rally for a common cause of the party now when such people seeking to represent our interests cannot rise above you know their own personal greed to put party over self glorification how can we ever hope that they can put our country over themselves i'm mary anacone thank you for watching have a good evening