PDP Ready To Kill To Win Lagos ..Joe Igbokwe (The Punch Interview)

The Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, Joe Igbokwe, in this interview with BAYO AKINLOYE, alleges that the Peoples Democratic Party is using thugs in the state to foment trouble in a bid to wrest power from the ruling party in 2015

The Peoples Democratic Party has accused your party, the All Progressives Congress, of carrying out violent attacks against its members in Lagos State. How true is that?

The PDP members are the ones who perpetrate violence. Just consider the last time President Goodluck Jonathan came to Lagos for a rally; on that occasion, one of our staunch loyalists, Alhaji Azeez Asake, was killed. The suspected killers were later identified as PDP thugs. Their violent acts are unacceptable. Also, consider the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose; he is an example of what to expect, in terms of violent activities by the PDP. Even when he had yet to become a governor, he already started breaking the law; making policy statements, nullifying a curfew imposed by a sitting governor of the APC. Who is violent? Who is lawless here?

We know that the PDP has always been training thugs and they parade these ones as highway patrol personnel in Lagos. Go to the old toll gate, you will see them receiving training under the guise of the Subsidy Re-Investment Empowerment Programme. The PDP thugs’ violence in Lagos in recent time is a dangerous sign staring us in the face. What the PDP thugs and their patrons don’t realise is that nobody needs to die because of politics. It is even sadder when you realise that at the end of the day, those who usually lose their lives in this violence are ordinary people. We don’t need to kill people for the sake of power. It is frightening that nationwide, anything the PDP touches turns to ashes. Does the party think it is through violence it is going to win the 2015 presidential election?

Desperation is written all over the party’s activities. But, note: APC members are not cowards. Though we don’t have the police or other security forces at our disposal, we can deal with the PDP’s violence. We are not violent; we deal with ideas. Why should we be violent when we don’t have security backup? The PDP does. However, these perpetrators of lawlessness should know that they do not have a monopoly of violence.

Does the Lagos APC have political thugs?

I have just told you we are not violent people in the APC. Although, that does not mean we will continue to take anything the PDP throws at us. There is a limit to which the PDP can go with its violence. If we are pushed to the wall, we will fight back. Violence cannot give them Lagos; it’s ideas. They should play according to the rules. If the police can’t protect us, we will find a way to defend ourselves. Nobody has a monopoly of violence. The PDP cannot intimidate APC fans by inflicting maximum pain on the people. APC supporters are not violent. The PDP has demonstrated its appetite for lawlessness with Fayose, breaking the law in broad daylight, asking the people of Ekiti State to disobey the curfew by a legitimate, sitting governor. And nobody is saying anything against him; the police couldn’t even call him to order. Obviously, impunity belongs to the PDP.

Are you claiming that the PDP is the only party with thugs?

The people in the PDP are desperate people. Their action is even beyond desperation; it is tending toward the destruction of anything good in the opposition. They want to use all means possible to take over Lagos State. They want to use the police, the Army and the secret service. The way they are going, if possible, they will like to take over the Independent National Electoral Commission and get it to prepare election results ahead of 2015 elections. But, this is Lagos. We will not allow them. We did not allow them in Osun State. We will not allow them here in Lagos; even if they bring in all the security forces, APC members will not be intimidated or subjugated.

With pockets of violence by thugs alleged to be members of the APC and the PDP in Lagos, what is your advice to members of your party?

They should be resilient. They should continue to play politics as decent people. We want to win arguments through robust debates; we don’t need to die to enjoy dividends of democracy. We have to be alive to do that. The PDP is ready to kill — they are desperate to pull down Lagos State in order to conquer it. They want to rule Nigeria for 60 years. Knowing that they can’t take over Lagos, they are ready to do anything. Our members should remain calm in the face of their provocation. The PDP is like a drowning man trying to clutch to anything to keep afloat. They are ready to create monumental damage. Nevertheless, let them not try to provoke us beyond what we can bear.

What do you make of the statement by the Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, that the APC can’t hold on to Lagos much longer?

Talk is cheap. We don’t believe in merely talking. He is a desperate man; he can’t be trusted. Right now, in Ondo State, the leaders of the Labour Party are crying over the way he treated them. He pretended to be in the Labour Party all along, but now, he has shown his true colour by returning to where he really belongs. This is a fact of history that many seem to have forgotten: Lagos has never fallen into the hands of the conservatives; it is always ruled by the progressives. The PDP has failed. You can’t equate their empty words with something.

You seem to suggest that the security operatives are complicit in the violence allegedly carried out by PDP thugs. Why?

The police, I must say, have to do their job the way it should be done. I think the biggest problem of the security forces is that they have become the property of the President and his party — the PDP. They use the security operatives to suppress the opposition. But the police are meant to defend and protect the people, not the PDP. Security forces must understand that they are being paid by the masses with their tax. They should not allow themselves to be used by political parties—they should be neutral.

In view of recent violent clashes between your party and the PDP, how prepared is Lagos APC ahead of the 2015 governorship election?

We will do our best. We are the party of ideas. We want to bring about change; it is all about common sense. We are talking about ideas and how to rebuild the nation; how to restore international confidence in our country. Our plan is to do things differently. And we have to be alive to do this. We eschew violence. We just want the police to protect innocent citizens and nip any violent act in the bud. We need to be provided a level playing ground. We don’t need intimidation and violence against our people. We are pleading with the security forces to do their work legitimately. The PDP has failed. The world is watching; 2015 elections are critical to the survival of this country.

Source: The Punch