Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National
Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the weekend spoke with reporters on national
issues in London. He was on his way to the Democratic Party’s Convention in the
United States. Excerpts:
On Ondo election
Miimiko is a traitor. We are going to defeat him
without rigging. He has betrayed others in the past. He got into the late Chief
Adebayo Adefarati’s executive council in 1999, betrayed him and moved to the
Peoples Democratic Pary (PDP). He later betrayed Olusegun Agagu and came
back.
He promised that within 30 days of his declaration when
we were fighting the case in the court, he would join Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) and after being sworn in, he started dilly-dallying. That is his
trait. He’s not principled; a person with character would not do that
definitely.
Adebanjo’s stone at ACN
We don’t know them in ACN and they have tried as much
as possible to work against us; it is not new. They were in PAC, they sold the
defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. They
came under the Democratic People Alliance (DPA), they failed, they went to bed
with Gbenga Daniel in Ogun State, they failed. They are still going to fail. I
don’t see what is Afenifere in that.
Lagos traffic law
What is anti-people in the law? The law is against
those who want to violate the traffic. For instance, if you smoke and the
cigarette light drops on you while you are driving, it can lead to an accident.
So, why not be patient till you get to where you are going. Why can’t they obey
simple law like in any other country.
The opposition parties who are criticising the law are
benefit of ideas. Governance is about ideas. The law is for safety and the
government has the responsibility to guarantee the safety of lives primarily,
then properties. So, you are saving lives and property.
A vehicle is an asset
People should learn to obey simple laws; it is for
their own good; it is not by government. If you are not in violation, no one
will arrest you. If you are in violation, no court will listen to you. And if
you don’t have money to defend yourself, the Office of the Public Defender is
there, established by the government for those who don’t have money. We should
clap for the government. Everybody wants the easy way out. Nigerians will
urinate even in the water they will drink.
We have to be civilised. Look at how clean this place
is.
The N5, 000 note
It is an indication of devaluation. It is not his own
problem. He is a banker for the entire nation. He keeps an eye on the economy
and comes up with policies. The problem that we have is that we are spending
what we don’t have. We are not managing our resources very well. If you are
losing over $6 billion in oil revenue to theft. If you are losing $6 billion to
$10 billion to subsidy theft, and if you’re spending 75 per cent of your budget
to service recurrent expenditure and you’re borrowing for no long term
activities and development that will sustain the nation on the long term, you
get devaluation and you’re seeing the effect of devaluation.
The economy is on reverse; it’s a yoyo economy. This
government is not serious; they don’t know what they are doing.