CHIEF Ishola Filani is the South West caretaker
committee chairman of the People’s Democratic
Party, PDP. In this interview with Vanguard, Chief
Filani lampooned former Deputy National Chairman,
South, of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, describing
him as the major problem of the party who has singularly impeded the party’s chances of election
victory in Lagos State. Excerpts: By DAPO AKINREFON How far has the PDP gone in settling differences
within the party in the Southwest? We actually set up a six- member committee per state
and I must confess that I am very impressed with the
outcome of their exercise. When their report was
submitted to us, we also set up a review committee
under the chairmanship of Professor Femi Okubanjo. They have come up with their report, but one thing
that is interesting is that even without the report, the
kind of appeal and discussions that members of that
committee had with stakeholders in each state, you
will discover that there has been a lot of improvement
in all the states particularly in Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ogun. I am also happy that the National Working
Committee and the new reconciliation committee
under Governor Seriake Dickson adopted our position. The matter in Ekiti has been settled and everybody is
now living in peace. In addition, the Ekiti State chapter
was made to understand that their executive has no
right to set up a reconciliation committee because it is
only the NWC that has the power to do it and at the
appropriate time. They will set that in motion if it is the best thing to do in the circumstance. In Lagos State, we had reports that their congresses
were not the best and we do not know what the
status of the delegates from Lagos State is now until
we hear a pronouncement from the NWC. But the state
chairman recently addressed a press conference
where he said the state chapter had no issues with the congress. I am not aware of that but what we are
aware of is that there are nine states and Lagos is one
of the nine states (with issues).
I am not concluding on anything but all I am saying is
that it is because of those nine states that we are now
repeating the convention to correct the anomaly. So, I
do not see where one state will be singled out. The
only problem we have in Lagos is leadership problem. What do you mean?
A situation where the leadership in Lagos State has
not been responding to the hopes and aspirations of
the members of the party. We held elections in 1999
PDP lost, we held in 2003, the PDP lost, we held in
2007, the PDP lost, we held in 2011, still the PDP lost under the same leadership. That is why we have all these problems and
everybody in Lagos is complaining. Everybody is
saying please come and assist us. We could win
elections in Lagos State because it could have been
the easiest state for us to win because of the fact that
it is a state that comprises of every ethnic group in Nigeria but we have not been able to win because of
bad leadership. That is as far as Lagos State is
concerned. How can that be corrected?
The only way you can correct that is to sensitize the
people, review their leadership strategy and
structure. Strategize it by reviewing the structure of
the leadership which can only be done by the Lagos
State PDP. We hope and pray that the scale on their eyes will be removed in the name of God so that they
can come together and get a leadership that will be
acceptable to all of them. All other states are in order. There cannot but be one problem or the other in a
party like the PDP that is democratic in nature. We are
not the kind of party that has somebody commanding
us from the top; everything you have to do in the PDP
has to be discussed and accepted before it is
implemented. You talked about the absence of leadership in Lagos
PDP, but Chief George has always been seen as the
leader, how do you reconcile that? You see it is a system that is wrong, it is system that is
autocratic and that is why we are having problems. What is responsible for the rift between you and Chief
Bode George? Bode is a drowning man and he is just looking for
anybody either to save him from getting drowned or
drown with him. That is why he is mentioning all kinds
of names, in one form or the other. Bode’s grouse
against us is he is saying that because we are
caretaker committee, we cannot contest. Let him supply to us the context of the law or rule of law or
any instrument whatsoever that says we cannot
contest. Prophet of doom
I have better cause now to sympathise with him and
what Bode requires not to drown completely is prayer
and I will continue to pray for him. Do you think the PDP stands a chance to win elections
in Osun and Ekiti states in 2014 with the coming on
board of the All Progressives Congress? The APC is not a party even though they have now
been registered as one political party. They are a
conglomeration of distinct political parties with distinct
ideologies and principles, they will continue to exist
within that party as individual parties and I am not a
prophet of doom but one thing I want you to understand is that by the time they want to start their
nominations in Ekiti and Osun states, it is then you will
see that they are all kinds of people who just want to
oppose the PDP which has 23 states. You can see that it is only 10 governors that came
together to form the APC. At the end of the day,
alignment has never worked in Nigeria. The time has
come to reveal the lies and get our people out of
oppression. All these statements will be justified
because the APC is not a threat to us.

Word

Sincere 9gerian and Jonathan still celebrate Bode George as a leader in PDP. He is the Campaign Chairman for Jonathan in SW.