Comrade Razaq Olokoba is the National President, Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG). In this interview with ADEBIYI ADEDPO, he predicts victory for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming general elections both in Lagos State and at the national level
How do you see Nigeria’s atmosphere towards the coming election
First and most, we have to congratulate Nigerians on the situation surrounding the coming election. If you look at the atmosphere now, you would be delighted that peace is reigning. In the previous elections, since 1999 till 2015, we have witnessed situations that had made the rest of the world laugh at us as uncivilised as per the kind of elections that we have held in term of credibility and the kind of violence that trailed the elections.
But this coming election is going to be the cheapest election we are going to hold in the history of Nigeria. What has come to play now is everybody praising the man in power, Muhammadu Buhari. This is because he has raised the consciousness of the people, both the youth and the old to realise that whether you vote or you don’t vote, democracy will go on. And the people that decide to vote would vote and determine your fate. By this, people now realise that it is important to participate in electoral processes without expecting money, gratifications or incentives from anybody. So, the consciousness is a welcome development.
And that is going to account for the coloration of the election and how the exercise would end. So, the coming election has the likelihood of being free, fair and credible. If you look at what the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has done, it promised to register 80 million voters. But now, it has registered over 84 million voters. That is highly impressive. The question you would ask is, the previous voters’ registrations, why were people not willing to come out? The answer is not far-fetched. It was because they had no confidence in the electoral process. This time, there is confidence in the electoral process. The government has showed indications that they have introduced a lot of facilities that would make the coming election credible. With what is on ground, snatching ballot boxes or stealing of ballot papers would not be productive. The ballot papers in Ikeja will be different from the ones in Badagry in terms of colour and serial numbers. Gradually, sanity is coming into our electoral process.
How would you assess the two major political parties on ground; All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?
The two strongest parties in Nigeria today are the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). However, as days pass by, PDP becomes weaker and weaker. And what might have been responsible for the party’s dwindling fortunes by every passing day? It is the track record. Looking at elections from 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, you would not be proud to be a Nigerian because of the quality of those elections. And who were the people responsible for those elections? The track record is what makes the people to discredit the PDP every day. And the more PDP becomes weaker, stronger the APC becomes.
For once, we are having our country back. We have a nation that we can call our own after the PDP’s failure. The APC under the leadership of Muhammadu Buhari has performed wonderfully. We have realised that during our life time, we can witness integrity and dignity in governance. We have realised that, during our life time, we can enjoy dividends of democracy. And that is going to inform the shape of things to come in the coming election.
What do you foresee as the likely outcome of the election?
There is every possibility that Buhari will win the coming election. The first 11 in the PDP, more than half of them have left the party. The remaining half is suffering from lukewarm attitude. While the last half has also suffered from thorough demoralisation. I don’t see PDP winning. I don’t see Atiku winning.
As far as I am concerned, if you look at economy under Buhari, you would realise that for the first time, we are building our economy with genuine indices. The previous indices of the PDP were fabrications. This is the time we are really building our economy and it is coming back to its feet.
The question people are asking is about the hardship. And I have a readymade answer for them. When Buhari was coming, I knew very well that anybody who assured that the rot in the Nigeria’s economy would be fixed in few months’ time, that person must be playing politics with my life. So, I braced up for the challenge and sacrifice for what we are witnessing today. The pace at which our economy is getting recovery, I knew that it is the pace the pain is going to go.
And I am shocked when our elites who are brilliant and intelligent fell for the blackmail from the politicians that our economy is not improving. I was shocked when they expected the economy to get back to normal in two or three months. I knew this was going to be the case, so, I didn’t fool myself. I know the process of recovery is technical. And the sophistication can only be achieved by the President who is sincere like Buhari. So, in the economy, I give Buhari excellent, not just ordinary pass mark.
If we want to segment by going into economy, security, value system, peace and fight against corruption, if we sum it up, what we would arrive at is that Buhari has performed excellently.
Going by your organisation’s name, has Buhari passed your Integrity Test?
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Yes, Buhari and his party have passed our integrity test. On so many occasions, we have assessed President Buhari and we came back to realise that he is a man of integrity. He is being celebrated all over the world for the fight against corruption. And local impression is that, for the first time, we are serious and committed to the fight against corruption. Corruption is becoming an ideology in Nigeria which people study to have the erroneous impression that in Nigeria, you cannot prosper unless you have access to public funds. And that, as a public officer, you cannot survive unless you deep your hands into the nation’s treasury. That was the popular impression the younger ones had. Buhari came and changed it. In Nigeria, we have seen the youth calling fraudsters their role models. We have seen youths, who had the impression that what we call corruption is actually a way of life the country. It was getting to that point. But Buhari came and redefined what is called integrity which was the other way in Nigeria.
Buhari would prepare a budget and present it to the parliament. Six, seven months, the parliamentarians would be dilly dallying on it. Buhari has made Nigerians now realise that we cannot continue to pay extra price for the people we are paying salary to do their job. That one alone stands him out among the previous leaders as a man of impeccable character that has passed our integrity test.
So with all the above mentioned qualities, you will agree with me that, Buhari as President deserves to come back for a second term in office to continue the good work he has started. A new guy in office would destroy the good work we have started to enjoy. So, as a group, we will continue to tell the people that the previous road that led to perfidy has been abandoned. The road that leads to prosperity is what Buhari is leading us through. And that is why we are going to support Buhari in the coming election with all our might and all our numerical strength.
Going by the way the Lagos Governor lost his seat to another party’s candidate; don’t you think that would have adverse effect on the APC in the state?
Let me quickly address democracy that has come to play in APC. What led to the fall of the sitting governor and the emergence of another party candidate is part of beauty of democracy. It is to show Nigerians that Lagos is going to be a leading example in Nigeria as far as democracy is concerned. The party said, your services are appreciated but Lagos State can move at a faster pace if Sanwo-Olu takes over. That is very significant and that is why other states should come and learn from Lagos that there is no need for violence in such processes.
In Lagos, democracy and election periods are festivals where your candidates and my candidates would put their manifestos side by side for people to choose. The candidate would debate to say they have better offers than others and so on. That is the essence of electoral processes. It should be a celebration where people would be happy listening to contestants speaking.
How would you think that Babajide Sanwo-Olu is a better replacement to Akinwumi Ambode in the Government House?
I follow Sanwo-Olu’s track record. I have read about his school days where he did well as a student. And as commissioner, he was superb. I have read and studied how he transformed from a private sector operator to a public officer without hitches. How he was able to marry the two and how he was able to strike the equilibrium. And in Nigeria today, there is always crisis in marrying private sector life with public sector’s life. This man has spent almost half of his life in private sector before moving to the public sector without problem.
But the way Sanwo Olu has navigated his marriage between the public and private sectors and it worked is highly impressive. And on the basis of that, I have also listened to many of his debates and the conclusion has been that Lagos is always lucky at all time. It was lucky to have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It was lucky to have Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), and now we are having Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu.
And what is responsible for this is, I think, the marriage of three factors. Lagosians are perpetually progressive voters, APC as a party is also a party that appreciates continuity and understands importance of sustaining government policies. And I think that is what is working for them. And that will also work for them next election. Since 1999, the tendency in power is the same tendency that has nominated Sanwo Olu, that has nominated Fashola and Tinubu. That same tendency would be difficult to defeat. I think APC as a party understands the Lagos political terrain better than any other parties in the state.
For PDP, there is no larger example for it in Nigeria. The only example was their 16 years and it was a fiasco, a calamity and a thing we don’t want to remember in our life again. So, that is what will rob off on the election in Lagos State. Many people have said that they would not allow PDP to rule any part of Nigeria again and they are working towards that.
Against this background, PDP would not get close to Sanwo Olu in this election. Lagosians that would decide know which basket they are going to put their eggs. And APC has the right candidate for the job. So, I am convinced with what we have done in Lagos that APC would win. We have gone to the riverine areas. We have educated the upcoming voters. I have led 70 civil society groups to engage Sanwo Olu. What we are trying to do is to interact with him. And on that spot, we had to endorse him. Our conclusion there was we don’t need to go far. We concluded that Sanwo Olu is the candidate we want for Modern Lagos. If Nigeria must be one of the 10 leading economies in the world, attention must be paid to Lagos which is the country’s economic nerve centre. So, Lagos should not be compromised and it should not be ruled by beginners.
I have envisaged that and I am convinced that Sanwo Olu will win the election.
What is your impression about and relationship with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu?
I have known Asiwaju Tinubu since National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) day when we were fighting the military. And we in the Civil Society groups worked with him and that was when he became the governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). We have always known him to be a pro-people personality and that is what has been going well for him.
My advice to him is that he should remain so and should not deviate. With that attitude, the sky is the limit for that man of the people.
