Philip Aivoji, chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
Philip Aivoji, chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has expressed concerns over the current state of affairs in Nigeria, questioning whether the country is truly practising democracy. He also criticised the growing trend of politicians disregarding party leadership and resorting to legal battles against their own parties.
In this interview, he spoke on a number of issues in the polity. INIOBONG IWOK brings the excerpts:
What has been happening to the PDP in Lagos State; it seems the party has been quiet in recent times?
We are working quietly, maybe it is not known to press, which is my own style. We are working and preparing for the next local government elections in the state and the party is now more united in Lagos State. We are working underground, which is my own preoccupation now. On what is happening to the PDP at the national level, it has not been pleasant in some aspects and we are praying that those concerned would do what is right and protect the interest of the party.
The PDP governorship candidate in 2023, AbdulAzeez Olajide Adediran, Jandor, recently left your party and went back to the APC as he said that he has not been properly treated by your party, what is your comment on this?
What I have to say is that there is nothing that happened in the party that is not known to the public, how Jandor came to the party that within six months he was given the party’s governorship ticket right from Abuja. They gave him the ticket without carrying the state chapter along, maybe they saw what we did not see, but we still worked along with them. Incidentally, we discovered the kind of person he is, he is so arrogant and pompous, he did not believe in the party, he believed he could win the election on his own. We tried our best and we did all we could during the election, but he damaged his chances by so many actions and what he did.
For me, as a leader of the party in the state, I cannot join issues with somebody who came to the party and left the way he came. I wish him well wherever he is, people have been talking about it, even party members who know better than I do, saw him as an agent who came to destroy the party and left. He went back to the All Progressives Congress, where he came from. For me, whatever anyone does, or whatever we do in our private lives, posterity will judge everyone. Party will come and go, but we must think about our state, our country and the future of the country at large.
What we see in the nation generally is something to worry about. Looking at the judiciary, the legislature and even to the presidency, where lies the hope for people and how can we say that we are bringing about a good democracy or democratic practice.
So, a lot of things are going on in the country that are not so good, some things that we cannot even imagine that will happen in the world are happening in Nigeria.
Did you expect the exit of Jandor from the party or did it surprise you?
I was not surprised, his actions and behaviours showed that he could not work with the party, especially a party that has decorum, and pedigree.
With the way were groomed, we look at the party as being supreme. But party members nowadays just take party’s leaders to court anyhow. Some of us who have been in politics for some time in the days of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Social Democratic Party (SDP), National Republican Convention (NRC) and others are surprised with what we are witnessing now that we never expected could happen in politics. We will continue to do our best and see that everything gets better
Does it not bother you that your party has been around for a long time and yet it came third in Lagos State in the governorship election of 2023?
It has to do with the imposition of a candidate that I talked about earlier. Also, you know what happened was about this obidient movement. You can see that it was the worst outing of the PDP in the state, when Jandor was made the candidate of the party. But I will not cry over spilt milk, we will work for a better future.
How will that happen because people have talked about the fact that momentum should have been gathering by now. How prepared is your party as we move to another election year?
You should know that everything depends on what is going on at the national level of the PDP. Members of the party are few compared to millions of voters. We need to appeal to the electorate, but what is happening right now at the national level of the party is not helping the state chapters. I still believe that there is nothing that has a beginning that does not have an end. We pray and we are hopeful that all these national issues with people fighting themselves, committees being set up and people going to court would soon come to an end.
Some of us in the party are committed to it and we hope everything would get back to normal.
One of your leaders in the state is Bode George, as the state chairman of the party, what is your relationship with him?
We and all the leaders are together, I have taken several steps to bring everyone together and we have had several meetings. The relationship with all the leaders in the state has been cordial, it’s not about Chief Bode George, we are meeting with others too.
How prepared is your party for the local governments election in Lagos State and if you are contesting, will you contest in the local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs)?
We are contesting according to the judgment of the Supreme Court. We are working and we will not leave out anything. We are not boycotting the election.
What would be your assessment of the government of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the state, where do you think he has done well, and where do you want him to improve upon?
I want him to improve on education, especially in primary schools. He needs to go round and work on that. The foundation of a good education starts from primary school. When I assessed some students leaving primary schools to secondary schools, I discovered that it is not so good.
You see some of them not able to read, how are they going to cope. He needs to pay more attention to education. If we say it is APC that is there and that it does not concern us, we are all bearing the brunt now. My advice is that the state government should pay more attention to education.
The area I see that Governor Sanwo-Olu has done well is on security, he has been trying his best. Despite the fact that we have influx of people from other states and other countries in the state, the state is still secure. I cannot say much about the government, but my main thrust is how we can come up with a better alternative.
We have seen some coalitions at the federal levels and your presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has been having meetings with people from other parties, will you support a coalition of political parties in 2027?
I don’t bother myself about that, let it happen at the national level. We cannot talk about it in Lagos State because the coalition is still on the planning stage.
