‘We Will Rule Lagos State For 35 More Years’ – APC

In an interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, talks about political issues in the state

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as fraudulent, the court ruling which reaffirmed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s victory at the poll.
– Is it true that your party bribed the judiciary?
– Did the PDP have any evidence to present before the tribunal in the first place?
– Are theysaying they won the election?
– Are they newcomers in Lagos?
– Were they even on the ground in the first place?
Yes, they worked hard to win Lagos with the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme fraud which they used in manipulating unemployed youths. Money was extorted from the youths and they are worse off today. We saw the PDP using an outlawed organisation like the Oodua People’s Congress, among others. We saw them tearing our posters and damaging billboards. We saw their contestants in Alimosho and Agege brandishing guns and shooting. This was their hard work.

We saw the money that former President Goodluck Jonathan brought to Lagos when he relocated here briefly before the elections. He gave out dollars and pounds. So, these were the things they did to win Lagos. Politics goes beyond this. Lagos PDP thought Jonathan would win and after winning, they would use soldiers and the police to intimidate us and chase us out but when Jonathan lost, even my kinsmen, who were supporting the PDP before, started running to Bourdillon (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s home). So, the PDP is not being truthful. If Goodluck Jonathan had won that election, the OPC would have taken over. God, in his infinite mercies, helped us. Now, the PDP has lost Abuja and has also lost Lagos and that is why they are throwing tantrums.

We in the Lagos APC are even angry that the PDP came so close to defeating us in the last election but we will never allow this again. We will rule them for the next 30 to 35 years because the people of Lagos will be impressed with our hard work.

The PDP says Governor Ambode has already started going after its supporters, especially the traders in Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market.

That is not true. Ambode is a Christian and he does not have that kind of character. He never demolished the market. We in the Igbo Conscience Group will hold a meeting with the traders and the Chairman of the Mushin Local Government Council. It is a local government matter and the traders had had an agreement with the local government to rebuild the market. Agreements were made and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed and the traders had been given ample notice. The market needs a facelift because it is an eyesore. Apart from the warehouses inside the market, there are wooden structures outside the market. Is that the kind of place where you want your customers from Europe to visit? The government wants the market to conform to the megacity project. So, the government did not illegally demolish anything.