Ogunlewe is a traitor –APC

Says, PDP is dead in Lagos
Former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, has been described as a betrayer who used his office as a minister to create confusion and crises in Lagos State.
Making these assertions while reacting to a recent interview where the former minister launched verbal attack on the All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the state APC spokesman, Engineer Joe Igbokwe, described Ogunlewe’s comments as rantings of a failed politician who is desperate to seek political relevance.
Igbokwe also described PDP as a dying political party in Lagos State, while adding that kudos should rather be given to Tinubu for laying a solid foundation upon which Governor Fashola is building an enduring legacy.
The APC spokesman also spoke on other national issues including the present state of insecurity, Jonathan and leadership of Nigeria among a host of others.  He spoke to TUNDE THOMAS Excerpts

How would you react to recent allegations by former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, that AC which later metamorphosed into ACN and now APC has been rigging elections in Lagos State in order to remain in power?
I’m not surprised by Ogunlewe’s outbursts. His claims and allegations should be seen as the rantings of a drowning man. Ogunlewe is in political wilderness, and oblivion, and he is just seeking relevance. He is not to be taken seriously.

The question you ask him is this, how is it possible for APC to rig elections when it is even the party Ogunlewe belonged to, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that is responsible for appointing electoral officials in INEC, an agency that is saddled with conducting elections in the country?
APC, the party in power in Lagos State, has been winning elections in the state since 1999 simply because of its welfarist programmes. APC is party of the people. It is a populist party, and this is why Lagosians have always been loyal to the party.
If elections are done over 100 times, APC will continue to trounce PDP. PDP is a party of strange bedfellows who lack ideological focus. Most of those people you see in PDP have no business to be in politics. They are political jobbers and contractors parading themselves as politicians and this is why Lagosians have always been rejecting the party.
Again, which party would have the like of Ogunlewe in its fold and achieve electoral success? Ogunlewe and his co-travellers in PDP are political neophytes. In actual fact I foresee PDP facing extinction in foreseeable future. The party is doomed.

But PDP recently vowed to retake Lagos in 2015 elections?
You make me laugh. PDP of all political parties boasting, who is going to take them serious? Let me tell you this as a matter of fact, PDP is dead in Lagos State. APC will use the 2015 poll to nail the political coffin of PDP in Lagos State. Since 1999 when APC came into power in Lagos State, it has been a success story.
The party provided able and dynamic leadership under Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Lagosians. Tinubu laid a good foundation upon which his successor who is the current governor of Lagos, Babatunde Raji Fashola, is consolidating.
Fashola has surpassed expectations of everybody including our political foes in PDP some of whom have been humble enough to acknowledge Fashola as an achiever of note.
Under Fashola’s leadership, Lagos is being gradually turned into a mega city. Other state governors including those from PDP controlled states have been coming to Lagos to learn one or two lessons in art of governance. Fashola has been a good role model for his other colleagues.

How would you react to the former minister’s claim that Tinubu did a lot of harm to Lagos, and that Lagos State suffered decay under him?
Ogunlewe should be seen as somebody who is drowning politically, and he is seeking those that will go down with him. Everybody knows that Tinubu laid the foundation of what we are seeing today. If the economy of Lagos State is booming today, the credit should go to Tinubu.
By the time Tinubu came to power in 1999, Lagos State was in ruins. Then he set up a 40-man committee to formulate a master plan to rescue Lagos. He drafted eminent Nigerians into this committee, and the members did a fantastic job which helped to restore Lagos State’s fading glory.
Ogunlewe didn’t know what he was talking about. He was making false allegations in order to score cheap political goals. It was Ogunlewe that actually tried to retard the progress of Lagos State. You remember how he betrayed the political party, AD, that elected him as a senator? When he got to Abuja, he abandoned the party for PDP. Ogunlewe is a betrayer, the 4th Mainland Bridge would have been completed now, but Ogunlewe sabotaged it.
Lagos State was able to get a Chinese firm under PPP arrangement to construct the bridge, but went to federal authorities to scuttle the project, claiming that the state government didn’t seek the approval of the Federal Government.
Again, to show you that Ogunlewe is an evil person, when he was Minister of Works, he set up FERMA as a body to confront LASTMA officials.
When Ogunlewe unleashed these FERMA officials on LASTMA personnel, a lot of people died. FERMA caused a lot of crises in Lagos State. It was also during Ogunlewe’s time as minister that several highways across the country collapsed in spite of the fact that he collected huge allocation of funds to make these highways motorable.
We know a lot about him. What is he talking about? He is not in the same class as Tinubu. When Ogunlewe and his master concocted their evil plots, accusing Tinubu of corruption and the former governor was dragged before the Code of Conduct Bureau, was Tinubu not eventually discharged and acquitted? Tinubu’s accusers were the ones that were put to shame. Ogunlewe is a betrayer who lacks moral authority to attack Tinubu.
Since he left office as a minister, he has been in political wilderness and he can never come back into limelight. Lagos State has been in the hands of the progressives, and that is the way it is going to be. The 15 years that APC has been in power in Lagos has not been years of waste. It has been years of tremendous progress, development and achievements.
Can we say the same of this country that has been under PDP leadership for 15 years? PDP leadership of this nation at the federal level in the last 15 years has been years of locust, years of waste and this is why our beloved nation is lying prostrate now. PDP has not only foisted bad leadership on Nigeria but the party has over the years caused economic and political ruin to this nation. PDP’s leadership years has been years of rot.
Lagos State is a centre of excellence while PDP, Ogunlewe’s party, has turned Nigeria into an object of mockery among other nations. Ogunlewe wants to be relevant in PDP and that is why he is abusing leaders in other political parties. He is seeking attention. He wants to satisfy his pay master.

How would you react to claims that your party has adopted a particular candidate favoured by former governor Bola Tinubu as APC’s candidate and Fashola’s successor for 2015 gubernatorial election?
Forget all manner of comments and allegations some individuals have been making against APC and Tinubu. APC is a party of democrats, and we are not a cult as some people want to portray us.
The party has not given the party’s ticket to any individual, and neither has Tinubu foisted any individual on the party.
We are going to conduct an open primary, and provide a level playing field for all the candidates. We are not like PDP which is a party of wolves. Nigerians should watch and wait. APC is going to be transparent and open in the process that will lead to the emergence of the party’s flagbearer in 2015 elections.
As for the statement credited to our royal father, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, as endorsing Akin Ambode as the next governor of Lagos, that is Kabiyesi’s personal opinion. We hold Oba Akiolu in high esteem. He was speaking as a royal father, and people should not persecute him, but as I said earlier, the party will provide a level playing field for all the aspirants before a final choice is made.
What is the way out of the present insecurity challenge facing the nation?
PDP should be held responsible. President Jonathan has not been providing dynamic leadership expected of somebody in his position, and this is why the nation needs a credible alternative.
APC is set to transform this nation if we are able to win the polls next year. PDP can’t do it. For 15 years, the party has been in charge, and Nigerians have been getting more and more impoverished. Nigerians want a change, and APC is that party that will wipe away the tears of Nigerians.
Jonathan is tired. He lacks the capacity to take Nigeria to the promised land. We need a new driver on the nation’s presidential seat.