Attacks on PDP members will not stop Lagos APC’s defeat – Chairman

Mr. Phillip Aivoji, Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in Lagos State, speaks with VICTOR AYENI on attacks on the party members by crooks and the general assessment of the political atmosphere in the state ahead of the 2023 polls

What is your overall assessment of the 2023 election campaign in the state?

My general assessment is that people already support our candidate because the All Progressives Congress has nothing to offer. They have been in power, but instead of improving the economy, everything is collapsing. There is insecurity and banditry everywhere.

And you know, instead of young people being productive, they have turned our young people into crooks on the street for so many years, collecting money with sticks in their hands. You can see where the state has become at the moment. So what we need is a government that serves the people and takes them out of this poverty.

Those youths are also human children, and they are supposed to be paid and responsible citizens, but the power and principalities that have held the Lagos State by its neck for 24 years are behind most of these atrocities because they want to stay in power.

They don’t care if people die; they don’t care if they suffer, what they want is power, forgetting that power is transient. But my own assessment is that we are ready to go to the election, and we are ready to win. What we hear is that they are trying to manipulate and disrupt some areas. There are several violent areas in Lagos State. Speaking of Oshodi-Isolo, Lagos Island and other areas. So we are ready to work and we will continue to improve to encourage people to vote peacefully.

This is the first election I’ve heard will be held properly if the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System works to limit the manipulations of these evil leaders. We’re going to win by the grace of God; we are not going into battle with the mindset of defeat. I know that the people are on our side, and God is on our side, so our victory is certain.

There have been reports of physical attacks on the candidate for governor, Olajide Adediran, and his deputy, Funke Akindele. A PDP leader, Olaniyi Akinyemi, was also attacked by thugs in Ikota, and there was the recent incident in Surulere. What measures has the party taken so far regarding these gangster attacks?

Other than reporting to law enforcement, what steps can we take? We cannot take the law into our hands. That’s why we want good government. Lagos has never been like this. If you remember the days of the Social Democratic Party and the Republican National Convention, we could disagree and insult each other. Soon you will see people from SDP and NRC sitting and eating together.

But when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu came to power, his instruction to the people was “mutilate them, break their limbs.” No power is offered to him; you must seize it by force. This is why people are afraid to tell the truth, and we need people who stand for the truth.

There have been incessant attacks not only on us but also on other residents. They threaten people and say, “If you don’t support us, we won’t allow you to sell your market.” Market women cry to us and we tell them, “Just vote them out.” That’s the solution. Otherwise, this outrage will continue. This is a government that doesn’t view elections as if you don’t win today, you can win tomorrow, no; they see it as a means to maintain power.

It is alleged that the gangsters who carried out wanton attacks and property destruction in Surulere were sponsored by the APC. Is this your point of view?

Would the PDP clearly attack itself? It is not possible. Am I going to campaign and then sponsor attacks against myself? But you know what happens; Surulere is the area of ​​the current Speaker of the House of Representatives (Femi Gbajabiamila). They have been in power for so many years and want to stay there. That’s what’s going on.

Since the security services are not alert to their responsibilities, what else can we do? Nevertheless, we want these elections to be peaceful and non-violent. You see, what they are trying to do is suppress us, intimidate our people and demoralize our candidates, which we will not allow. All these things we do are not just for us; we want society to change for the better. We want a better Nigeria and a brighter future.

Growing up, we grew up in a peaceful environment, there was common sense and everything was going well. Why should we leave society as it is and allow these anomalies to continue? That is why some of us are still in politics – not for ourselves, but to make society better than how we came to know it. Right-thinking politicians should take this into account, not just to stay in power.

In the past, people said whether they voted or not, they already knew who they were going to give it to, but thank goodness things are changing now. People want to vote, but they are still oppressed. Despite the collection of permanent voter cards, many people are denied the right to vote. Some people go to the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission and find that their PVCs are missing. But we are not daunted or discouraged, and the reason is that we will prevail.

The Lagos State Police Command once issued a statement saying that the cases of these attacks had not been reported to the agency but would be investigated. Have the perpetrators of the violence been exposed and have the results of the investigation been made available to you?

Who is conducting the investigation – is it the party that is going to do it or the police? What are they investigating? It is our job to report these cases; it’s up to them to investigate them.

There are reports that some people, allegedly sponsored by the ruling party, have removed and damaged PDP posters and banners across the state. How true are these?

These are not rumours. We have reported this several times. Our gubernatorial candidate has been on the air talking about this and how other parties are being targeted as well. This has been going on for a while and that’s obvious. So we have resorted to visiting departments and unit levels from house to house. Now they want to stop us from doing it, but they can’t stop us, they can only try.

According to one school of thought, the PDP’s candidate for governor, Adediran, is not strong enough as an opposition to trump the incumbent APC government. What is your reaction to that?

Why will they say he is not strong enough? He is a young man and he is energetic. He moves from department to department and still tours. This has given them a headache, so they want to stop him. He does everything he should to win. He’s trying his best.

All they will say is that he doesn’t have bullion vans full of money, he has people with him. I always tell people you may have all the money, but we have the people and we have God that we rely on, so if someone says they are not prepared, it’s wrong.

That’s why he travels to the base, the market, the villages, the river areas and literally everywhere, to make sure we keep working and don’t rest until we win.

With the latest ruling of the Osun State Tribunal, would you say that the 2023 elections will be free and fair?

We are all studying what happened in Osun State. People voted, and it was clear that that was the voice of the people. I won’t say much because Governor Ademola Adeleke has appealed. There are some lessons to be learned from this, one of which is that you cannot undo the victory of the people. It is not possible.

Reports from previous elections have shown that less than five percent of the population of Lagos determine who emerges as governor. What initiatives has your party taken to reduce voter apathy in the state?

If other parties did what the PDP does, voter apathy would diminish. We encourage people to vote, and to reduce voter apathy, politicians should discourage all these physical attacks, because no one wants to lose his or her life for casting his or her vote.

It’s like former president Goodluck Jonathan said, his presidency is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. That’s how we should look at it. If you kill the people who vote for you and you get there, what are you going to do? The blood of those people will always haunt you. No matter how long they think they are enjoying themselves, they will not know peace. That’s why I feel sorry for them because they don’t know what they’re doing. They are killing themselves and their own generations not yet born.

We don’t need violence; you bring your idea, I will bring mine, and parties draw their plans, and those whose ideas the people want will win. That’s the way it should be, instead of constantly keeping people in service and manipulating results. There will come a time when people will say, “Enough is enough.” This is the time we are in and that is why the opposition does not want people to fight for their rights.

The other way we reduce voter apathy is by assuring voters that their safety is guaranteed and by making them realize that when they vote correctly, they are voting for their future, for economic development and for the right policies.

Unfortunately, most of these so-called leaders don’t understand what power is, like the one who says, “When I sleep, Lagos goes to sleep.” Is that what we want to sell to the entire nation? A single person who has taken over Lagos, taken over land ownership and wants to take over the people’s conscience and freedom. When the Israelites were in slavery, God raised Moses for them. We too will soon arrive in our promised land.