APC governors don’t want LG autonomy for selfish reasons – Akinlude

Chief Willie Akinlude is a former Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State.  In this interview with ADEWALE AJAYI, Akinlude who was also an ex- Chairman of Mushin Local Government speaks of the implication of All Progressives Congress (APC)’s threat that all the executive bills should be blocked, why local government has performed below expectation in the country and the consequence of PDP crisis, among other issues.

Sometimes ago, the chairman of PDP said that the party would rule Nigeria for 60 years, but going by the crisis that has engulfed the party from across the countrfy, do you think this will also be realistic?
In Yoruba land, they say when two people go into their closet and come out frowning, that means they have engaged in serious discussion but if they come out laughing, it shows they are not serious. It is obvious that at a particular time, there must be a trying period and a party as big as the PDP cannot be an exception.

Do you think PDP can still bounce back bearing in mind that some governors and some members of the National Assembly have left the party?
I believe PDP will come out of the crisis stronger, as some are leaving PDP others are coming into it, there are some people who are so entrenched in the party that will not like to leave the party. Although it is unfortunate that some people left the party, they have also forgotten that the party made them and by their action, they have disappointed the party but that notwithstanding PDP will come out of the crisis stronger.

Part of the demands of the aggrieved members of the PDP was that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur should be removed as the party National chairman and now Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu is the National Chairman of the party, do you think the change can make those who had left the party  to come back?
Well, the way the national chairman started, he started well. He needs to study the situation of things in the party and come up with the idea of how to make the party stronger and so far so good, I think he is doing a very good job. He needs to consult a lot of stakeholders in the party and he needs to meet with the aggrieved people and dialogue with them.

It is believed that part of the reasons that triggered the crisis is the plan of the President to seek a second term in office and that some of the aggrieved members are either interested in running for the presidency or they have anointed candidate for the race. In your own opinion, should the president jettison his ambition for a second term or what do you think should be the way out?

The president has just spent one term and he is entitled to go for a second term. Moreso, I don’t think it is possible for Jonathan to solve Nigeria’s problems in a term. If he has interest in going for a second term, I don’t see anything wrong in that, it is a matter of an ambition and determination of what he wants to do for the country and so far so good, he has tried his best to ensure Nigeria remains united despite the Boko Haram insurgence, issue of kidnapping and all that. The nation still remains united. He also ensured there is availability of petroleum products, we don’t queue at petrol stations to buy fuel, that is a credit to him, and it shows we can still move forward, and by the grace of God we will move forward.
Though, there are some saboteurs sabotaging effort of the president by drawing back the hands of the clock, I believe these are the people creating problem for the country. President Jonathan alone cannot do the job of solving Nigeria problems, he is just the leader but with his determination to make electricity supply stable, I think if that is done, Nigerians will be happy about that and it will improve the economy. If he has ambition to go for a second term, he should be encouraged because if a new person should come on board, he will  have to start some of the programmes he has initiated a fresh and that may slow down  the development.

There is the feeling that the president has not performed up to the expectation of Nigerians, in your view, how will you assess the president’s performance so far?
I will give him 60 percent on the fact that we still remain united as a country.  He also ensured steady supply of petroleum products, there was a time we queued for days to get petroleum products which led to weakening of the economy even the fact that we can move about freely is an achievement.

2015 general election is very near and there are threats from many quarters, Asari Dokubo said that if Jonathan is not re-elected, the Ijaws would make Nigeria ungovernable, and some northerners are also threatening that if Jonathan is re-elected, they will make the country ungovernable, don’t you think all these threats may lead to crisis which may be difficult to manage?
They said so in 2011 when Jonathan was seeking election that they will make the country ungovernable if he emerges the president and that was responsible for the increase in the activities of Boko Haram. From this explanation, you can see some people never have the interest of the country at heart. No matter the situation, any Nigerian from any part of the country is free to contest, it is left for the electorate to vote him or vote against him. Look at what happened in America, if you trace the history of Barak Obama, he is from Kenya and despite his African background, he was elected American President. But here when a Nigerian is seeking public office, you deny him because he is from one tribe. It is not the birth right of anybody to rule Nigeria, if any Nigerian seeks public office, allow him; the electorate will determine his/her fate. If some people have decided to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan, that will not help the country, it will draw us back.
As for APC’s threat, what has the party done? Tthey are having their own problem, even when they have not started anything, no position for them to contest for right now and they have started having problem. As for PDP, it is a very big family, so occasionally, we may have this misunderstanding, it is normal in any political setting. But the most important thing is that we should be objective in our criticism and we must ensure  there is sincerity of purpose and it must be guided by the interest of country.

The problem of Boko Haram insurgence has been on for a while, what do you think can be done to reduce the problem?
We are not in a war situation but the way these people go about killing innocent people led to the declaration of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The Boko Haram people killing innocent ones are not alone, they get support from somewhere, how come they have access to sophisticated weapons that worth millions of Naira and they say the Boko Haram members are poor people. They are not poor people the way I see it, I believe with the change of Service Chiefs and with new strategy, the activities of Boko Haram members will be reduced.

You have been a local government chairman before, though under a military regime. If you compare local government administration then to what it is now, will you say local government administration is well managed now?
During the time I was the local government chairman, it was better than now because nobody was deducting from funds meant for local government. What the state government harped on that time was that each local government area should have a project it would execute in a year and the state governor and the commissioners needed to supervise that project but this time around, we were made to understand that state government deducts from local government allocation and use it for other purposes in spite of the money they collect on their own. This time around, local government chairmen are so free, they don’t supervise them, they are not doing anything, there is need to supervise them and know the project they are embarking on. The constitution recognises 20 local government areas in Lagos State. With   this 20 local government areas, if each of the council decides to execute at least two projects in their local government in a year that is 40 projects in a year, not to talk of the additional 37 Local Council Development Areas, that means we will have 114 projects in a year and the local governments are integral part of the state. If there is development in all the local governments, then there is development in every part of the state.
I don’t know what the states are doing to improve local government administration, most of the council chairmen will not be happy about the situation of things but they can’t speak up because they are afraid they will be removed unceremoniously. If people really want the local government administration to live up to expectation, there should be autonomy for local government administration.

House of Representatives sometimes lent its support for local government autonomy despite APC’s campaign against it. But after that resolution, nothing was heard about it and with this development; don’t you think there is a connivance to frustrate granting autonomy to local government?
That has just shown you what the APC has in stock. What I mean by this is that, they think they can be deducting money from the local government revenue and continue that way. From the experience we had in the South West, we can see that they have been deducting from the local government revenue. If not so, why did they not support autonomy for the local government? At the local government level, we have a lot of responsible people managing local government affairs, they can perform up to expectation if given the chance to function, the state should allow local government to survive and perform because it is the closest tier of government to the people. If there is any disaster in any community, before the state commissioner visits the community, the local government chairman must have registered its presence.

One observes that in virtually all states of the federation the party in power in the state always  clears all the seats at the local government despite that the party is not popular in some local government area, is this not endangering the survival of democracy because in those places the people may want a change?
As a way of rectifying  it, it is better  the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  be saddled with conducting election into the local government areas because it seems the State Electoral Commission is easily influenced. Take the last local government election held in Lagos State, our party PDP won in Badagry and Eti Osa local government areas but we were robbed of the victory.

APC recently directed its members in the National Assembly to block all executive bills; do you think that the directive is in the interest of democracy?
I can assure you that what they are doing will boomerang; they want to create problem for Nigeria and not for Jonathan. If they fail to approve the budget, is the budget meant for Jonathan? No, it is for the entire country for the party to issue such a directive, the party is trying to show the stuff it is made of, even before winning election at the national level. I believe the party will realise its mistake soon and apologise to Nigerians.

The excuse the party gave for taking that decision was to protest the alleged culture of impunity going on in Rivers State, and that budget passed in the past did not have impact on the lives of Nigerians, what is your reaction to that?
Well, many Nigerians keep quiet because they have not felt the impact of the directive but when things get tough, they will be able to reason and agree that APC is their enemy that wants to inflict more pain on them. The issue of Rivers State can be resolved through dialogue, the Inspector General of Police cannot be threatened to remove Commissioner of Police in a state. If a commissioner of police is removed just like that, it shows there is a serious indictment on him and he has defended his action that he was posted to the state to save lives and property but the governor of the state wanted him to do different thing.

You are the Vice Chairman of publicity committee of Yoruba Unity Forum, what are the activities of the forum?
Yoruba Unity Forum is concerned about pursuing the interest of the Yoruba in every part of the country, from national level and ensure the Yoruba interest is well taken care of. On the lopsidedness in making federal appointment by excluding Yoruba from key position, we visited the President on that, and there were changes. We deserve fair treatment in sharing political position.

Leaders of PDP in Lagos State have always talked about winning the governorship seat in 2015 but from all indications it shows the party is not prepared for the challenges, how will you react to that?
There is the impression that the governor of Lagos State is working but if PDP takes over governance in the state, people will observe a lot of development, we will introduce what is called community government, that means we will have nothing less than 245 community government that will bring governance closer to the people and members of the community will be involved in that administration with that kind of idea the people will show interest.
I can assure you that with that kind of idea, people will change and support PDP, everybody will have their input and there are other strategies I can’t disclose now.