Our party will handle who gets presidential ticket, says Lagos APC

Seye Oladejo is the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State. In this interview with KEHINDE OLATUNJI, he spoke on the party’s strength to retain power in the coming election. He also addressed speculations around the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s age, health status and other matters.
 
How do you intend to manage members contesting for various offices and prevent an implosion in APC?
IMPLOSION in APC is the wish of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition parties. Let me assure you that in Lagos State, we always have acrimonious primaries for good reasons. Despite the acrimony, we always put our house in order before the election and the coming election will not be different.

APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has visited President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him of his intention to vie for the party’s ticket. But Tinubu is still consulting…?
It is no longer his decision; it is our decision. It could, as well, be reported that Asiwaju would contest. He won’t say no to the large majority of people clamouring for him to run for the Presidency. It is not in his record to say no to people.

Lagos is Tinubu’s base, are you expecting the same support from every other state chapter of the party?
We are excited about Asiwaju’s aspiration. He is not being forced on us and he has not been thrown by circumstances to run for the office of the President. So, contrary to what some people would want to pick on, that he said, it is his lifelong ambition, I think that is something we should be happy about. As we speak, we have over 1,800 different groups across the country clamouring for Asiwaju’s candidature and for him to throw his hat into the ring for the presidential election.

Over time, Asiwaju has been a man of the people, and maybe, for a very long time, as he said, he knew the day would come when he would need people he had been able to help. People call him different names like kingmaker, godfather, Lion of Bourdillon, which were all creations of the media but he never calls himself any of these titles.

It is alleged in some quarters that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is interested in running for the Presidency. What is the feeling in APC, based on the perception that he has the support of President Muhammadu Buhari?
Let me admit that it is within the right of the Vice President to aspire. Naturally, as a politician, he has been in the saddle as a Vice President for the past six and half years, it is quite possible. It is also possible that he might not necessarily be a willing aspirant and for a reason best known to some people, who are trying to push him into the race. Be that as it may, I think our party will handle it and it might not just be the Vice President alone, there might also be other people gunning for the Presidency.
Some are of the view that Asiwaju has always been a godfather and he should remain a godfather rather than contesting for presidency?

Asiwaju never called himself a kingmaker. It is the creation of the media. That question amounts to why Asiwaju is ambitious. My own definition of life is a state of becoming. Today you are journalist, it won’t be forbidden for you to also be a business owner in the same media. Everybody has the right to aspire to be anything. It is within Asiwaju’s right for him to be President. He has paid his dues. The question you also ask is within the past few days that he made his intention known and not yet declared, how come the political space just changed and Asiwaju has become the talk of the town.

What is your reaction to some of the issues in the media about Tinubu’s age, health status and educational background?
I know that the opposition party has been feasting so much on that. It is very interesting that all the people in the opposition have access to Asiwaju’s medical records and they have all become an authority on his state of health. It is absurd and ridiculous. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined good health as a complete state of physical, psychological and social wellbeing. It doesn’t mean the absence of infirmity and diseases.

Let’s give Asiwaju some credit, when he had to go for surgery, it was in the public space; everybody knew about it and people literally turned London into a Mecca of sort daily. That is the hallmark of an honest leader; he is not hiding his medical situation from the people. He was at liberty to say it is his private business and really at this point in time, it remains his private business. He is a private citizen of Nigeria but it was in the public space. So, if he had to do surgery on his leg and they suddenly picked that up to a life-threatening situation, it is unfortunate, to say the least. You would also want to observe that since he came back from that trip, he has been everywhere; that has shown that he is healthy.

Talking about his age, for over one and half decades, Asiwaju has always celebrated his birthday with a colloquium and come March 29, Asiwaju will be 70 years old. It is as clear as that. They continue to give life to issues that have been dead and buried a long time ago, talking about his age, educational qualification and the rest of it and we know reasons for that, issues that came up when he became a governor, talking about the discrepancies as a result of some petitions from two anonymous petitioners. I said anonymous because when the Lagos State House of Assembly set up a committee to look at the issues, they invited the petitioners, but they didn’t show up. They went to the addresses of the petitioners; they didn’t see them. So they were anonymous. At that time, Tinubu was a sitting governor and it was only the House of Assembly that could constitutionally investigate the petition because he enjoyed immunity. The committee did a thorough job; invited all those involved and it was established that those were genuine errors committed by Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, who filled those forms on his behalf and it was established. The issue surrounding Asiwaju is simply bad politics.