Adewale: George is killing Lagos PDP

Factional chairman of the Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Segun Adewale spoke with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE on the intra-party crisis, why this is likely to persist and his plan to take over the party secretariat.

The dispute over Lagos PDP chairmanship, what is it all about?

The last time we were fighting over the chairmanship of the Lagos PDP, we ended up resolving it through reconciliation by the national body. If you look at it very well, there was a judgment that sacked the Ali Modu Sherrif-led national executive. That judgment did not sack the Lagos State PDP chairman. So, those who took over merely wanted to control Lagos PDP. That is why we kept fighting over the party leadership in the state. When the national body resolved the problem on the Sherriff issue, it was an opportunity for Lagos PDP to right the wrong. Lagos is the only state where the PDP has not won governorship election. This is because of the leadership of Chief Bode George. He has never won election in his ward or local government, not to talk of the state. At the end of the day, the party’s performance is getting worse. This is because the same set of people has been the ones running the show in Lagos PDP. They collect billions of naira from the national body every four years and always fail to deliver during elections. They make money through the sale of forms for local government election and others elections which run into millions of naira. I am the only chairman that has ever won six councillorship seats for the party in local government election. At the time, Bode George took Lagos PDP to Labour Party (LP). If not for personal agenda, why would he not call me and address me like a son: Adewale you cannot be chairman, but for the sake of our party let us unite. I even went as far as calling Moshood Salvador and relinquished the chairmanship to him for the sake of our party during the council election.

Will the present battle resolve the problem?

My battle with some elements in the party is that my tenure will end in 2021. The election that brought me in was transparent. But, after so much fighting, the national leadership reconciled us; they said Bode George should still be the PDP leader. For crying out loud, must they continue to give him the chairmanship every time? Under him, the party has never won any election in Lagos. Leadership should be based on performance and merit. With the number of years he has spent in the party, what is his performance? He has never achieved anything; they collect billions of naira every four years and share the money. They are not interested in whether the PDP wins election or not. But, we don’t care; let them continue to collect the money. Things cannot continue this way, because Lagosians are tired. The PDP has put itself forward as opposition, yet they are not doing their job because they are aware that the people are really gullible. When South-south, Southeast people resident in Lagos vote for us, we waste their votes. These people are not compensated at the end of the day. The leadership of the PDP will not even call them to say we are sorry for trading your votes. I don’t want this thing to continue, that is why I am fighting. I stepped down for Salvador after the reconciliation; there was no congress because the man who would have conducted the congress died. It was agreed that Bode George should provide 50 per cent of executive composition, I take 10 per cent, Aduke Maina 20 per cent and Agbaje 20 per cent; that was what happened. But, I gave my 10 per cent to Bode George, because I have reconciled with him. I did that because I was sure the party will not win as long as Bode George was in control. I had to move to Ekiti State to contest election there.

So, what transpired in Ekiti?

In Ekiti, I met another Bode George in Ayo Fayose, who insisted I could not contest election under the PDP. He said I could not contest, because I came from Lagos. But, I told him that my father is from Ekiti. He maintained that it was only Eleka that will fly the banner of the PDP in the state. At the end of the day, I had to contest on the platform of the Action Democratic Party (ADP). But, immediately after the election, I returned to the PDP with some of the people that went with me to the ADP. When I came back I gave those who went with me N1 million and said it was part of my contribution to the campaign for Atiku. I want to say that the selection of Adegbola Dominic as the chairman of our party is against our constitution.

Is the PDP likely to overcome its challenge in Lagos?

The party is united against Bode George. I make bold to say that he cannot win his ward and I am ready to put one million naira, if he wins his ward and N100 million if he wins his local government. He is working for the APC. I want to say that the moment he produces the next chairman, I will personally lead the campaign to support the APC in any coming election, because he is not serving the interest of those voting PDP in Lagos. Even when those supporting the PDP are facing persecution, but the party has never come up with any statement to denounce such uncivilized conduct meted out to its supporters.

There has been accusations and counter accusations on why PDP failed in the 2019 governorship election…

I am not saying that I was told, I witnessed it. Dominic himself came out openly to say that we did not work for Jimi Agbaje, because he did not give us money. The issue of money is the reason why we have been losing elections in Lagos. The money they were expecting did not come to them directly, so they decided to frustrate the election efforts of Agbaje.  Agbaje on his part said I lost the election because they did not work for me. But, is that an excuse? He should have worked harder; his performance is getting poorer with each election. We must send Bode George on compulsory retirement. Let him collect all the billions and give us our freedom. I am making plans to seal the secretariat, because I am the authentic chairman.