Tunde Daramola is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State and member of the party’s presidential campaign council in the state. In this exclusive interview with Iniobong Iwok, he spoke on the 2023 polls and the party’s chances. Excerpts:
The general election is close, what is your take on INEC preparation?
Talk is cheap, but I want to believe that the INEC chairman is serious and wants to leave a lasting legacy for free election.
I think it was only recently that he and the CBN governor gave assurance that money would be available for logistical purposes, and that there is no need to panic.
As such I want to believe INEC is prepared and recently he said they have moved more than eighty per cent of logistics to various locations. I don’t see why we should panic.
Why we should worry about is political misadventures which are in the form of destabilisation by the political gladiators. Lately, President Buhari launched state of the Art equipment to the Police to forestall crisis in the elections, which may be perpetuated by politicians.
What is the chance of your party in this election?
Elections were held in the past, but we have discovered that we have never had free and fair elections. Elections have always been stolen, Bola Tinubu also attest to that when he went to Chatham house in London. Tinubu said it is grab and snatch.
Elections in Lagos have always been stolen by Tibubu and his cohorts, whether it is in ACN, AD or APC and for the first time it is the same APC.
The APC that is trying to be good, versus the APC that is trying to be bad; but if you go by what Buhari has said and what INEC has been saying, that every vote counts, our chances are very bright. What has been happening before is voter apathy occasioned by stolen mandate.
People have always felt that their votes would not count and have refused to come out and vote. You can imagine five million registered voters in Lagos, but on election day, only one million or so would vote.
Now that people have been assured that their votes would count, our chances are bright. It would be a victory for PDP nationally and in Lagos.
What is your take on the chances of Atiku Abubakar?
Atiku would win the presidential election because Nigerians are desirous of someone to rescue the country. I believe Atiku has shown he is capable of rescuing Nigeria from the mess it is now.
Are you not afraid Atiku’s inability to resolve a dispute with the five governors may affect his chances?
We should stop talking about the five governors’ crisis, we should talk about Wike, the big masquerade who has been unable to come out and support his presidential candidate.
I am surprised, because he is behaving like a coward, if he is not afraid, let him come out and tell us his preferred presidential candidate and campaign for him.
The fact that you said five; there are no more five governors has been reduced to Wike alone, just him Wike alone.
You have this sore loser who has refused to accept defeat and is running helter-shelter creating confusion for himself, if he is supporting Bola Tinubu, let him come out and say. There is a rumour that Tinubu has given him a lot of money.
So, I would not be surprised that he has joined the APC governor to sue the federal government.
But Ayu could have resigned to save the situation. Don’t you think so?
Forget about Ayu resigning, the problem of Ayu is beyond that, Ayu as tenure; Atiku did not bring Ayu to be chairman, it was the same Wike who is playing offence and he found himself stranded in the middle of the field.
He removed his countryman, Secondus thinking his removal would automatically place the candidature of PDP to the South, his fellow G5 members, Ortom was the chairman and in their wisdom instead of zoning it to the South they threw it open. Why they threw it open is a question Ortom too has to answer.
What is the purpose of throwing it open and asking Ayu to resign when it was the same Wike that backed Ayu earlier after removing Secondus?
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There is nowhere in the constitution of PDP that says, when you win a primary you have been elected. It is when Atiku wins that Ayu can step down as chairman of PDP, so his successor can come from the South.
If G5 governors have any integrity they should be fighting for the South East to produce the President and not for Wike, Jonathan is from Wike zone.
What is your take on the chances of the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Lagos?
Jandor campaigns well and his chances are bright. I mean for the first time you can see how frightening the incumbent governor is now.
Every part of Lagos is littered with posters, if it was on the day of hit and run they would not be bothered, but now they are glittery of the PDP candidate.
They are also glittery with the Labour Party wave because in the past it was easy for them to compromise PDP agents, but now it is going to be difficult to compromise PDP’s agents.
But Bode George is not supporting him, is that not a setback for PDP?
Bode George is with Wike, if he is with Wike, we have to search Bode George properly if he is going to go with Wike to APC, that is the next question for the leader to answer. Is he going to allow himself to be played by Wike? We would wait and see.
