LASG lost focus after 2011

The Democratic Peoples Alliance governorship candidate during the 2007 election in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, who has declared his intention to run again on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, recently fielded questions during his tour of Local Government Areas in the state. ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, who was there, reports

In 2007, you ran in the governorship race on the platform of the DPA. Why did you defect to the PDP? Is it because of your governorship ambition?

I was a member of the DPA until 2010 when I left and did not run again. In 2011, the DPA merged with other parties and formed the SDMP (Social Democratic Mega Party) but I never joined the SDMP so I had no party until late 2011. At that time, after the present governor won a second term, his government started to lose focus and the question that came was “what would happen next?” “Which party can fight this ruling party?” And it was clear to us at that time that the only party that could fight the ruling party was the PDP because it is a national party and would have the backing at the national level. But the PDP had a problem which was that it was not united. You know, in strategy and in everything you do, you must put the future in mind. So, for some of us, we looked at it and said well, the PDP was the only hope in removing this ruling party but we had to solve the problem of infighting. People in the PDP for 16 years know that when I joined the party at that time, I would have no choice but to have joined one faction or the other but if I did that, it would be a big problem for my own ambition if I wanted to run. So, it was clear that I needed to join the party because I am aware that there are regulations that you must have been in the party for a minimum of two years if you want to run for an elected office even though there is a provision for waiver and so I joined the party quietly.

With the division in the PDP, how do you expect to defeat the APC?

After joining the PDP, the next job was how to bring together the different factions. I will not take 100 per cent credit for bringing about reconciliation in the party but even if it is one per cent, I can say that I also contributed to the reconciliation in the party. You know you can never reach 100 per cent reconciliation. So, we reached about 80 to 90 per cent reconciliation.

The other issue was if you want to win as a party in Lagos, it is important that we have one major opposition which is the ruling party. And so the next job was to ensure that the other parties that they can use to fight the PDP would have to be carried along. So we were working closely also with the Labour Party. We have been talking with APGA (All Progressives Grand Alliance) that let there be a Lagos agenda that whoever we pick as governor, it is important that we have only one major candidate to fight the ruling party and I can say that today, we are winning in that direction. When that is done and achieved, then you can now come out and say this is now a viable platform to win and then Jimi Agbaje will say publicly that it is time.

There is news around town that some party leaders are planning to manipulate the primaries and impose you as the candidate.

When people talk about primaries, don’t forget, I was in the Action Congress (now part of All Progressives Congress) and the reason I left the party was because they did not allow primaries. That is the only reason I left. So, anybody that says that Jimi Agbaje will be a product of imposition has missed the point. Even in the DPA, after I had left the AC, we had primaries and if you remember those that contested in the primaries in the DPA, they were not small people. In fact, we probably had the toughest primaries in Lagos State in 2007. So, I did primaries and let me say that I am the last person that will ask for imposition

If you fail to win the primaries, will you leave the PDP or work together with the winner?

I am ready for primaries and all I ask for is that the primaries should be free and fair. Once the primary is free and fair, if I win, I will take all the others along with me and if I lose, I will accept my fate. When there is a primary that is done properly and you lose, who are you fighting? There is nobody to fight. You accept your position. Even Governor Kayode Fayemi that lost a major election, when he saw that it was free and fair, he had to accept but what he did after that was pressure from the party but I mean people went out and they voted. There was no fight and it was bloodless and you say you want to fight, who are you fighting? So, if we do primaries then the winner will be supported so I want to you to believe that I have no problem with primaries.

Why are you running against the APC when you are said to be a major contractor for the Lagos State Government and supplier of drugs to state hospitals?

You know in politics everything works. Maybe also, it is a good time for me to mention because some people have been saying that it is Jimi Agbaje that supplies all the medicine in Lagos State. Quote me today, Jimi Agbaje is not a government contractor, I do not do business with the Federal Government and I do not do business with the state government. So anybody that tells you that all the medicine in Lagos is being supplied by Jimi Agbaje is also telling you a very big lie.