Ogun State All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate Prof. David Bamgbose, spoke with SEYI ODEWALE on his plans for the state and other issues that he and his new party will direct the affairs of Ogun State come May 29.
How has your campaign been?
Our campaign journey has been so wonderful. I’m the candidate of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) The whole idea is that we are looking for a party that will match our vision. A party that will not just think of the money bags, a party that will look at programmes and individuals; a party that loves justice. You know one of the banes of the political parties in Nigeria is the consideration of presentation of candidates not based on the generality of interest or antecedents or things an individual has done in the past. Our experience is that two predominant factors played roles in the emergence of candidates, especially in the dominant parties. Of course APGA is the third dominant party in the country. But in all these dominant parties there is a lot of consideration on the emergence of candidates. It depends on how much can you spend? I can speak authoritatively that the processes of emerging as candidates of some parties have been monetised.
And APGA to you is not monetised?
No, definitely, it is not.
You are now speaking glowingly of APGA, but I remember when you were with Accord Party, you spoke in like manner…
No, no, no. You see our movement from Accord to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) was a kind of national action. The whole idea was that everyone in the opposition, especially in our state, must come together against the ruling party. So, everybody moved, even from the Labour Party into the PDP. Accord is a party that was not that monetised even though the idea was that the candidate would have to do a lot on his own. So, when we decided to come to the PDP, my focus was on the dominant party and the emergence of people from this party. Apart from the fact that there is a whole load of factors that may not necessary be because of the people when they are doing the consideration. My experience with APGA has been a little bit different on the strength of the fact that what you have and how much you can spend are not some of the predominant reasons for the emergence of candidates. If that was part of the requirements, someone like me may not get the party’s ticket.
Are you saying that the party is supporting your campaign financially?
Even if I’m not talking of serious financial support to me, they do it on programmes and the media. The other time we had a flag-off the national leadership of the party put it on the broadcast media and the newspapers without taking a kobo from me. They did that to promote the project. Not necessarily that they are the ones to do that, but they did it to support us. They have also given buses for campaigns.
Following your political progression of late, one may ask this question, what exactly are you looking for moving from one party to another. You have moved from Accord Party to the PDP and later to APGA and you may probably move from APGA to another party tomorrow, why this?
APGA is very definitive for us; we have berthed. I’m the party’s governorship candidate in Ogun State and after the elections it will still be my party.
Did you join APGA simply because you were robbed of the ticket in the PDP?
I want to go into its full explanation. My focus has been on a national party; a party that has a very big connection with the Federal Government, even though the manifestoes of parties are almost the same. So, that is why you would see that we were running around the PDP and its related political organisations. The movement to the PDP is basically because of the need to come together to confront the incumbent governor and make a change in our state, but the process of the emergence of the candidate of the PDP was not properly managed. If things had been done in a more transparent manner, some of us will still stay in the party. There was a primary election that was not authorised and quite a number of us boycotted the election on the instruction of the national executive of the party. Not only me, but nine of us boycotted the said election. They now turned around to uphold that same election, which they said was not monitored by them. What they told us initially was that the primaries were not monitored by them.
Did that amount to double standards by you?
Yes, that is why things felt apart and the centre could not hold. Quite a number of our people had to find their way out of the party. It was not only in Ogun State, it also happened in other states like Oyo. That is why people like Seyi Makinde and Alao Akala moved out. APGA is a party that was ready to give justice and I was approached…
Were you approached or you approached APGA?
I was approached. Definitely, when we looked at the party’s constitution and manifesto, we realised that it is a party we can move to, to actualise our dreams and aspirations. The change in Nigeria today needs passion and somebody with the drive. Things are at a level where every Nigerian must do the unusual.
Which is?
We must go out of our cocoon; our comfort zone in a way everybody would be motivated to contribute in changing the system. So, whatever opportunity and platform that we have in contributing to political space in making the required change, we must seize it. Apart from the fact that things are not done in transparent manner, one of the drive that I have was the urgency and the need to make sure that we contribute to making a difference in Ogun State and Nigeria at large. That is the drive for moving to APGA.
Since you moved to APGA, what has been the experience?
The response has been tremendous. I want to inform you authoritatively that APGA is in serious reckoning for the race.
You mean you can give the incumbent a run for his money?
Yes, the incumbent acknowledged it.
Is it the shift in the date of election that is giving you this confidence?
Of course, it gives us more time and gives more time to INEC to get its acts right. If you look at the percentage of collection of PVC in my state, it is worrisome. As at last Monday, it was 40 per cent and as at last Thursday, it was about 50.8 per cent of the actual registered voters. If the election had held, a lot of eligible voters would have been disenfranchised. So, apart from that larger opportunity, our campaign has more time to run its full course. But much more than that, is the response of the people. My candid experience is that people are looking for credible alternative. And if you refuse to give to them, you cannot blame them, because they must choose from what has been presented to them. If good people with good intention refused to do something, then wrong choice may be taken. We observed that from Ipokia to Ijebu Waterside, from Imeko to Ifo, all the four corners of the state, people are a yearning for a change.
You mean subscribe to the excuse given for the shift in polls, which some see as a way of helping someone’s ambition?
It was obvious and clear why the polls were shifted. I don’t know why insecurity was cited as the reason for shifting the polls. Like I told you, as sophisticated as this state is, less than 40 per cent of registered voters have collected their PVCs. How can you justify that? I wonder, what is the rocket science in the production and distribution of PVCs?
Was it because the cards were not produced or the people were not coming out to collect their PVCs?
If you look at it categorically, the first challenge was the production of those cards. As at the time that we were to have the election, quite a number of the cards were yet to be produced.
And you felt it was deliberate?
To me, the first question I’m going to ask is that what is the rocket science about card production and distribution? The second question is why must we wait till six months to the elections before starting the production of the cards?
