Why we think Tinubu is being sidelined – Lagos APC chairman
Chief Henry Oladele Ajomale is the chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a core loyalist of the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. In this interview he spoke on the #IStandWithTinubu rally held recently in Lagos, the crisis in the party and why Asiwaju is angry with the party’s leadership. not the party. They wrote to me that they would end the rally at the party secretariat and we had to receive them since they are members of our party. When they came, they said they were having this solidarity walk because of the way they are treating our leader. And we could not listen to them commending the efforts of our leader without making some reciprocal response to their gesture, after all they spent their money and time to get to that stage, having realised the tremendous contributions of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to democracy in this country. At the same time, they thought the efforts of the national leader of the APC had not been recognised by the leadership of the party and the government.
Recently, some supporters, loyalists and fans of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu took to the streets of Lagos State to rally support for the national leader of the APC. You were also seen addressing the rally. What was the rationale behind it?
Let me put this thing in its right perspective. The party was not involved in it at all. However, as members of the party, they wanted to have some solidarity or walk with Asiwaju. They were those who love him. The young ones who appreciate what he has done for this country were the ones who organised this rally, Without the efforts of Tinubu and his loyalists and supporters during the 2015 elections, I don’t believe we can be where we are as a ruling party.
In essence, the Lagos State APC subscribes fully to the concern raised by these people?
Yes, we do. It is true because we were also concerned about many of the issues they raised, which we considered to be correct.
What are those issues?
Asiwaju has been left out and marginalised, he has been somehow taken out of the caucus of the party and its leadership. And we believe it should not be so, having considered the tremendous contributions he made to the success of the APC in the last elections.
Apart from the fact that the vice president came from his camp, Asiwaju Tinubu actually made inputs in most of the federal appointments. So what do you mean by saying that he has been marginalised?
After the 2015 elections, the leadership of the party should have been able to implement the reason why we emerged, having spent time, money and energy to ensure victory. Unfortunately, when our cause was realised, decisions were taken behind him. As a result of this, those who did not even partake in the struggle are now the beneficiaries. This is the major problem and we feel it is wrong.
How best do you think he can be carried along?
The wife of the president said clearly that this thing could be settled. Maybe Mr. President did not realise it, but somebody who is his flesh is now pointing out to him that things are not going right. If the president had not thought about it, I think somebody has now come out boldly and truthfully to tell him the truth.
Are you also saying that President Buhari has been hijacked by certain individuals?
Exactly, I agree with the wife of the president.
A lot of people believe that Tinubu has unfettered access to Mr. President. Could it be that members of the so-called cabal are trying to block him?
What we are saying is that some people want to ensure that the man is not as close to the president as he should, so that he would not have the opportunity to advise him properly. They would tell Mr. President things that are difficult to believe. Our leader has unabridged access to him and they felt it’s not in their own interest. As you know, the campaigns are over and they believe it is time to share the booty and nobody should be an obstacle to their interests.
Do you think the president is losing grip of the party?
I think so. I think the party has been hijacked, or Mr. President is concentrating so much on governance without watching the party. That is where the problem is. When you say you have programmes, the platform on which you became president should not be abandoned. The party should keep on reminding him of our promises during the campaigns. We must follow our promises strictly.
President Buhari is trying as much as possible, but there are other issues that can stimulate the economy. A lot of people will not want him to do anything that would be against their interest; that is why they are shouting. People will understand it better if the leadership of the party are carried along, after all, they are the ones who formulated the policies of the party; hence you cannot implement them in isolation. There is the need to win the support of the people along that line.
We have a lot of disaffection among key stakeholders, such that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Asiwaju Tinubu are calling for the resignation of the national chairman, John Adigie-Oyegun. How do you think the party can put its house in order?
That is exactly what we are saying. Before Asiwaju called for the resignation of the national chairman of the party, he would have seen certain things that were going wrong. There is the need to implement the manifestoes and programmes of the party. It is necessary to always remind Mr. President of our promises to the people.
But people are saying that Asiwaju called for the resignation of the chairman because he refused to do his bidding in the Ondo State APC governorship primary election.
Do you think Asiwaju would ask the national chairman to resign because of that? There must have been other issues bothering the minds of a lot of people before the national leader came to that conclusion.
Let us talk about the Lagos APC. For over a decade now, you have been a leader, from the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and APC, and you have been able to manage the parties to victory, how has it been?
I did not win the elections alone. The people were confident that we had good programmes. Our victories depended on our programmes and the performance of our flag-bearers. Asiwaju laid the foundation for the development of Lagos State. Without any ambiguity, I think Lagos is the best state in this country today. I want someone to challenge that. Once we are able to satisfy the yearnings of our people, they will always stand by us because they have confidence that we are able to keep our promises.
All our governors, including the present one, have performed to the satisfaction of the people of Lagos State. The present governor has done so well that before his first tenure ends, I believe the people of Lagos would come out to beg him to come back for a second term.