08-16-2018, 10:37 AM
2019: N242.9b For INEC Is Ridiculous – Doherty
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[url=https://independent.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Engr-Adedeji-Doherty-.jpg]![[Image: Engr-Adedeji-Doherty--696x445.jpg]](https://independent.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Engr-Adedeji-Doherty--696x445.jpg)
Engr Adedeji Doherty
Engr Adedeji Doherty is a governorship aspirant in Lagos State on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with JOY ANIGBOGU, he speaks about his party’s readiness to take over the governorship seat in Lagos State and other issues. Excerpts:
The fortune of your party is soaring across the country with most of the defections in favour of your party but it looks like the party in Lagos is in disarray. What can you say about that?
I don’t think that we are in disarray but I agree that there are misinformation, dissatisfaction between some individuals but the issues are been handled within the party in a family way. Definitely there is always dissenting voices wherever you have a vibrant democracy going on within a political space like a political party like we have in Lagos. It does not mean that we are not worried about it. Our leaders are looking into it to see how they can resolve it amicably. I am sure that within the next one or two weeks there will be an end to whatever is going on now.
Do you think that your aspiration to the position of a governor is going to be easy considering the hold of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State?
There is nothing in life that is easy. It is strategy and not noise making that will make an aspirant win an election, commitment to the people and to God. Our strategy is good and we are putting up a team that is committed up to the polling units. We are going to rely on the votes of our people. We are going to also rely on the dissatisfaction that Lagosians have from this APC government. I think that is what is going to propel us towards winning position that we want. The religious bodies, organised private sector and the low income earners are aware of what they were not getting. The non – indigenes, the Ijaws, the Igbo people, the Hausa people and the Fulani people are all aware of what they are not getting. The youth, the women, the low income earners, the physically challenged are aware of what they are not getting or what should come to them in a State where the internally generated revenue and the money they get from federation account is close to N50 billion on a monthly basis. People are aware of the dilapidation in our educational system. People are not comfortable with the state of the transportation system, the roads that are in sorry state and even the health care system. The debt profile of Lagos State is close to N2 trillion. We are looking at a government that has promised so much but delivered little that is why we are very hopeful that when we come on board in 2019 we will change the narrative of governance in Lagos State.
The president of the Senate is under fire at the moment from APC as a result of his defection to PDP. What can you say about that?
The president of the Senate has the right to be in any party that he wishes to be in. There has already been precedent laid when the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal was the speaker of House of Representatives, he dumped our party in 2015 and moved to APC. It was seen as a glorious day for the APC not knowing that he same thing would come back to haunt them. What is good for the goose is sauce for the gander. I believe that if APC knows what it is doing it should put its acts together and say the correct thing. Put diplomacy in place rather than autocracy that Oshiomhole is following. It should have a human face and accept that Nigeria is bigger than any party or anybody and I am sure that will get APC and Oshiomhole on the right track.
How prepared is your party to maximise from the benefit of this defections?
Defections do not just come like that. The benefit of defection has been ongoing for a while. It is a plan that has been ongoing. It is work that has been going tirelessly for a long time. Tolerance is our watch word for today. For our party PDP it has been tolerance and acceptability. We are ready to share for the common good of the country and the party. People are ready to listen. It is in sharing that you support due process. I must tell you that 2019 general elections for us have been won 50 percent.
Do you think that the coalition of 34 parties is still relevant to PDP having gotten so many influential politicians already joined your party?
The big names that have joined us are as a result of the coalition. We have some people from APC, some from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and different political parties; it does not make much difference. The political parties that are joining us if they cannot get a place at the national level they can get a place in the State. If they cannot get a space in the senate, they can get a place in the House of Representatives or House of assembly and that is what we call a government of national unity and that is what PDP is doing right now.
We got information that some members of your party in Kwara State defected to APC, the moment Bukola Saraki joined your party. Can you react to that?
I think that information is only in the social media. The party discussed with the chairman of the party in Kwara State, if he has some misgivings it was not made public. Usually a lot of people do not like someone that would leave to come back and you give him a formidable position. Like I said earlier we are very tolerant now. What we want to achieve now is for us to win and we are doing everything possible to achieve that even if that means sacrificing different ambitions.
Do you agree with the view in some quarters that the N242.9 billion budgeted for the 2019 election is too huge?
That amount of money is indeed too much. We thought that this was included in the 2018 budget only for this government to come back and say they want to make a supplementary budget for it. It is ridiculous especially where you have the same government collecting Abacha’s loot of $316 million saying that they want to share it in cash to the poor. Who are the poor? How do you identify the poor? They are playing on the intelligence of the Nigerian people and they forgot that Nigerian people are very smart. They could be very patient but when they spark, they spark hard. They have continued to be deceptive in their presentations to the populace. What they are trying to do now is deception of the highest order.
Do you think that INEC can deliver in 2019?
I don’t know so much about the chairman. I am still trying to study him but those under him definitely cannot lead us to the Promised Land. The president is going to run against somebody in the PDP and how can you take it if you are that person and you are going to run against someone whose cousin is working in INEC?. It means that you are putting the entire country in jeopardy. It means that you are not following the rule of law. It means that you are for somebody and not for the whole country.
https://independent.ng/2019-n242-9b-for-...s-doherty/
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[url=https://independent.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Engr-Adedeji-Doherty-.jpg]
Engr Adedeji Doherty Engr Adedeji Doherty is a governorship aspirant in Lagos State on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with JOY ANIGBOGU, he speaks about his party’s readiness to take over the governorship seat in Lagos State and other issues. Excerpts:
The fortune of your party is soaring across the country with most of the defections in favour of your party but it looks like the party in Lagos is in disarray. What can you say about that?
I don’t think that we are in disarray but I agree that there are misinformation, dissatisfaction between some individuals but the issues are been handled within the party in a family way. Definitely there is always dissenting voices wherever you have a vibrant democracy going on within a political space like a political party like we have in Lagos. It does not mean that we are not worried about it. Our leaders are looking into it to see how they can resolve it amicably. I am sure that within the next one or two weeks there will be an end to whatever is going on now.
Do you think that your aspiration to the position of a governor is going to be easy considering the hold of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State?
There is nothing in life that is easy. It is strategy and not noise making that will make an aspirant win an election, commitment to the people and to God. Our strategy is good and we are putting up a team that is committed up to the polling units. We are going to rely on the votes of our people. We are going to also rely on the dissatisfaction that Lagosians have from this APC government. I think that is what is going to propel us towards winning position that we want. The religious bodies, organised private sector and the low income earners are aware of what they were not getting. The non – indigenes, the Ijaws, the Igbo people, the Hausa people and the Fulani people are all aware of what they are not getting. The youth, the women, the low income earners, the physically challenged are aware of what they are not getting or what should come to them in a State where the internally generated revenue and the money they get from federation account is close to N50 billion on a monthly basis. People are aware of the dilapidation in our educational system. People are not comfortable with the state of the transportation system, the roads that are in sorry state and even the health care system. The debt profile of Lagos State is close to N2 trillion. We are looking at a government that has promised so much but delivered little that is why we are very hopeful that when we come on board in 2019 we will change the narrative of governance in Lagos State.
The president of the Senate is under fire at the moment from APC as a result of his defection to PDP. What can you say about that?
The president of the Senate has the right to be in any party that he wishes to be in. There has already been precedent laid when the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal was the speaker of House of Representatives, he dumped our party in 2015 and moved to APC. It was seen as a glorious day for the APC not knowing that he same thing would come back to haunt them. What is good for the goose is sauce for the gander. I believe that if APC knows what it is doing it should put its acts together and say the correct thing. Put diplomacy in place rather than autocracy that Oshiomhole is following. It should have a human face and accept that Nigeria is bigger than any party or anybody and I am sure that will get APC and Oshiomhole on the right track.
How prepared is your party to maximise from the benefit of this defections?
Defections do not just come like that. The benefit of defection has been ongoing for a while. It is a plan that has been ongoing. It is work that has been going tirelessly for a long time. Tolerance is our watch word for today. For our party PDP it has been tolerance and acceptability. We are ready to share for the common good of the country and the party. People are ready to listen. It is in sharing that you support due process. I must tell you that 2019 general elections for us have been won 50 percent.
Do you think that the coalition of 34 parties is still relevant to PDP having gotten so many influential politicians already joined your party?
The big names that have joined us are as a result of the coalition. We have some people from APC, some from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and different political parties; it does not make much difference. The political parties that are joining us if they cannot get a place at the national level they can get a place in the State. If they cannot get a space in the senate, they can get a place in the House of Representatives or House of assembly and that is what we call a government of national unity and that is what PDP is doing right now.
We got information that some members of your party in Kwara State defected to APC, the moment Bukola Saraki joined your party. Can you react to that?
I think that information is only in the social media. The party discussed with the chairman of the party in Kwara State, if he has some misgivings it was not made public. Usually a lot of people do not like someone that would leave to come back and you give him a formidable position. Like I said earlier we are very tolerant now. What we want to achieve now is for us to win and we are doing everything possible to achieve that even if that means sacrificing different ambitions.
Do you agree with the view in some quarters that the N242.9 billion budgeted for the 2019 election is too huge?
That amount of money is indeed too much. We thought that this was included in the 2018 budget only for this government to come back and say they want to make a supplementary budget for it. It is ridiculous especially where you have the same government collecting Abacha’s loot of $316 million saying that they want to share it in cash to the poor. Who are the poor? How do you identify the poor? They are playing on the intelligence of the Nigerian people and they forgot that Nigerian people are very smart. They could be very patient but when they spark, they spark hard. They have continued to be deceptive in their presentations to the populace. What they are trying to do now is deception of the highest order.
Do you think that INEC can deliver in 2019?
I don’t know so much about the chairman. I am still trying to study him but those under him definitely cannot lead us to the Promised Land. The president is going to run against somebody in the PDP and how can you take it if you are that person and you are going to run against someone whose cousin is working in INEC?. It means that you are putting the entire country in jeopardy. It means that you are not following the rule of law. It means that you are for somebody and not for the whole country.
https://independent.ng/2019-n242-9b-for-...s-doherty/