What is your assessment of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in the last one year? If Nigerians had not voted for us at the time they voted for us, Nigeria would have been bankrupt by now and there would have been crisis because the economy could not be managed. It is clear that we were been bamboozled by the former Minister of Finance, who kept lying to Nigerians that the economy was buoyant, good and best in Africa. But experience has shown clearly that past governments had not been sincere to Nigerians. And with what is going on now, if Nigeria did not come back to a new foundation; economic and social foundation and other things, Nigeria would have collapsed long time ago. The saviour is the fact that a government was pushed away and a new government was formed. Honestly to me, I know that whatever President Muhammadu Buhari is doing now is for the future of Nigeria. And I believe that having a little patient more for this government, Nigeria would be an Eldorado in near future. We have seen the massive looting of the economy of this country. We have seen how people mismanaged money that should have been used for development and converted public funds to private pockets. We have seen how people are wicked and only think about their pockets without thinking of this country. All these are coming out now and if we don’t clean up the rot that has been in existence in Nigeria for the past 16 years, there is no way we can lay a good foundation. But some Nigerians are of the view that the incumbent government has made things tougher as the common man can hardly live comfortably… It was not created by the new government rather the government is trying to do what it can to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians. You can’t do anything without Nigeria having the revenue and enough foreign exchange to be able to do what we expect the government to do. If the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had won the last presidential election, things would have been worse than what we have now. If PDP had won the election, the economy would have been worse and there is no way we couldn’t have been in trouble by now.

Why do you think so? Because there won’t have been any money and nobody would have accounted for all the money looted. There won’t have been returns from the looters to develop the economy of this country again. They would have gone free, and what would have happened to the common man. It was from the Goodluck Jonathan era that government could not pay the salaries of workers but it would have been worse than that. But some people believe what is important to Nigerians is more than the fight against corruption as what they are witnessing today is not the change All Progressives Congress (APC) government promised. They need to be patient because Rome was not build in a day. We are building a new structure because Nigeria, economically has been destroyed by the past government. The money they should have used for development was diverted into private pockets. The money they should have used for the Lagos- Ibadan expressway and Onitsha-Enugu road was embezzled and the present government is going to start with those projects again. If the past government had done those roads, would there be need for incumbent government to spend money on them again? That money would have been converted to another thing, which would have been of benefit to Nigerians. What did past governments do with all the money earmarked for capital projects? Did they carry out the capital projects? What happened to the money? Nigeria doesn’t just have money and that is why the present government is doing its best to recover all the stolen money. There is economic restructuring going on now and that is the only way we can get enough foreign exchange. Once the agricultural and the solid minerals sectors are booming to complement whatever we are getting from oil now, I have the feeling that Nigeria would be back to where she was before in the next two years if not better than what Nigeria used to be because we would have learnt our lessons.


Why the APC is trying to consolidate power, the PDP is preparing to send it packing in 2019. Do you see the opposition party achieving this? Honestly, I don’t see PDP existing by 2019. I don’t see it at all because by that time all the inadequacies of the PDP would have been exposed. They are still fighting themselves over a little money that was kept somewhere. By that time, they would have been exposed and Nigerians would be thanking God that APC came at the time it came. That is why this government is doing everything to cushion the effect of PDP inefficiency on the poor people of this country. In Lagos, salaries are being paid as and when due and in some other states. But a lot of states could not pay until the Federal Government came to their rescue. Can we continue like that? We must look inward, restrategise and restructure the economy of this country for us to move forward. It has happened in Britain, United States, France and most of the developed countries have experienced depression before. It is not new; we are just going through it. We should have gone through it more than four years ago but they have been patching things until it could not be patched again. Apart from the PDP going through leadership challenge at the moment, there is also rancour among APC leaders over control of the party’s structure… If people had been in opposition as long as we had been for 16 years and they come in with others who doesn’t seem to understand the ideology and what we stood for, certainly there would be some misgivings at the beginning. We have a manifesto that all of us wrote and sooner or later they will key into it. But those who are still carrying the idea of the PDP are part of us and there is no way overnight that they can forget that this is a new regime; a new beginning. It is not what they used to enjoy or benefit when they were there. Anybody that steals now knows what is going to happen. But with impunity, they looted Nigeria’s treasury money. You know that if you steal now, you will go to jail. There is no doubt about it. But the PDP had never done that. The only time they caught some people was during the banking reform and they did plea bargaining and collected money from some people and let them free. That should not have been. They should have created a precedent that people will learn from. That is what this government is all about. You cannot steal people’s money and get away with it. And once we can establish that, you will see what will happen in the next two years in this country. This country would have been turned around and be a proper and disciplined society, which we lacked during the PDP days.


Don’t you foresee some members in APC dumping the party to pitch tent with the PDP or form another party ahead of 2019 general elections? The constitution is very clear; there is freedom of association. So, they have the right to do that. Whether the people will believe in them is a different thing. Everybody has the right to form an association and right to go anywhere they want but the fact still remains that you will consider one or two things before you decide to go and join any association. As we are going now, I don’t see why people will like to vote for any other party in the next elections than the APC.

So you are confident that no party can defeat APC in 2019? I don’t think so and I don’t belief so because we are going the right way. Nigerians should be patient. We were not in government for 16 years; we were only in government for one year. We need the cooperation of Nigerians and patience to see where this government is going. In the next one year, they can decide whether they are going to continue to support this government or to vote for another party. To us, we have the confidence that we are doing everything possible to ensure that every Nigerian is proud of this government. This is what we are aiming at but at the moment we are in trouble; every Nigerian knows that we are in trouble but it was not the creation of the APC. It was the creation of the opposition party, which was in government then. We didn’t create it; ours is to ensure that we are in government and we must do everything to fulfil the promises made to Nigerians. We did not say we are going to do it in one year; that was why the people voted for APC for four years and we have not even spent half of it and some people have started agitating. We are happy that majority of Nigerians understand where this government is heading to.

Are you saying that it is unfair to judge the APC administration within its one year in office? It is very unfair. When our party came in, there were millions of young graduates without jobs. Was electricity working when we came in? Was there adequate water? Were the roads motorable? A lot of money was earmarked for road construction yet there are accidents here and there. We spent over N3 trillion during the PDP regime to look for light that never was. Where did the money go to?

How would you assess the Akinwunmi Ambode government in Lagos State in the last one year? People don’t need a magic glass to see what is going on in all spheres of human endeavours; education, health, roads, infrastructure and light. Every street now is getting illuminated. We have not seen that before. In terms of security, it is safer to live in Lagos State than any other state in Nigeria because the governor has spent so much money on security and the police have been encouraged and they are working very well in other to allow people to close their two eyes while sleeping. Development has been going on gradually from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to Babatunde Fashola and from Fashola to the new governor, and in the last one year people have seen what has happened. The construction of the Fourth Mainland Bridge will start in the next three months and it going to last for three years and that would solve a lot of traffic problems in Lagos State and bring economic development because time wasted is money wasted. We believe that a lot of things have been done. A lot of people are parking their cars now and riding on air-conditioned BRT buses. The common man can now enter an air- conditioned bus. Is that not progress? Also, 114 roads are being constructed right now; two in each of the 57 councils in the state. So, a lot of things are going on in Lagos that the governor must be commended for what is going on and I am sure the people of Lagos are also happy with what is going on in the state.

How prepared is your party for the local government poll in the state? Honestly, we are prepared anytime. We are like the Boys Scouts; ever ready. If they call for the election tomorrow, we are ready to go on. Don’t you see the PDP as a treat to APC? Where is PDP? I don’t know them. They have never defeated us before and it won’t be now that we are at the federal level.

But the PDP won five House of Representatives and eight state Assembly seats during last general elections… We knew what happened. During the last elections, the president spent more than 400 days in Lagos; inviting all the chiefs and giving them money. With the money that came to Lagos during last elections, there is no way we could have won elections if not for the support of the people of Lagos who were behind us.

https://newtelegraphonline.com/dont-see-pdp-existing-2019-ajomale/

Ode

APC really need this self-induced assurance. One wonders if it's the multiplier effect of poverty, hunger, high cost of goods, insecurity, etc, brought upon Nigerians that APC is celebrating. Come 2019, such a disastrous party like APC will be bury with no trace at all.

What about Jonathan?

He should not be a free man by 2016. Patience should be sending food to him with Prison clearance.

Deluded fella. APC is sure the one disappearing BEFORE 2019.

QuotaSystem:
All the signs are pointing to that fact.

The drowning weasels can kick and scream as much as they want, but the real power brokers of the party are taking back control as the iPods look on powerlessly.

Sai Modu Sheriff.

SAS, represents the so called "IPODS". The so called founding fathers represent your hausa-fulani mallams A̶̲̥̅̊Ω̴̩̩̩̥D̶̲̥̅̊ the Yorubas.

QuotaSystem:
All the signs are pointing to that fact.

The drowning weasels can kick and scream as much as they want, but the real power brokers of the party are taking back control as the iPods look on powerlessly.

Sai Modu Sheriff.

u always complain bout ipods...abeg wetin dem do u?

The opposition (PDP) must not die. We don't want a one party state.