The hush talk about all not being well in the Lagos State of the All Progressives Congress, APC is becoming obvious by the day as the National Legal Adviser of the party, Muiz Banire has warned that the party may lose the 2015 governorship election in the state if it decided to impose a candidate on the people. In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Banire said the chances of the party winning the governorship election in 2015 were not bright because of the things going on in the party.
“To be candid, I am unable to say what it will be like because of what is presently going on within the party. My only hope is that we are able to be transparent, fair and just in the nomination process. Once we are able to do that, I will consider it very bright. But if otherwise, I’m not too sure what that will portend for us. “There is a tendency of imposition on the people. And a lot of people are out to resist it. And party members too appear to be on the same plane with those that are leading the struggle against the imposition of candidate. So I believe that it does not signal anything that is good for all of us”. Reacting to a statement credited to a leader of the party that the imposition method is working since the candidates are delivering, Banire wondered which of the candidates is a product of imposition. “Well, if it has worked, the first question one (would) want to ask such a person, particularly if you are referring to Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu), his own emergence was not as a result of hand picking in 1998, go and ask him. We had direct primaries all over Lagos. And BRF (Babatunde Fashola) will tell you that he is not a product of single-handed imposition, and you can confirm from him. I’m quoting him now. At least we still had primaries all over, some people didn’t participate ultimately, some that felt aggrieved, they left and he had a field day in 2007. “So I did not know where that person would have gotten such an impression from. But let’s even assume that to be, the truth of the matter is that it is no more fashionable now, even if he had been doing it before. Secondly, this is a new party, and you recall our slogan is ‘change,’ that we are trying to do away with all those untoward things like lack of internal democracy. So I believe that it must not even be allowed to happen now, even if it had been happening in the past. It is not progressive. And if anybody claims to be progressive, he must not be seen to be advocating that kind of backdoor emergence of candidates”. Speaking further, Banire warned that if things are not corrected, APC may lose many of its members to the Peoples Democratic Party. “To be candid, I foresee it. The level of frustration is so much within the system. Most of the people that I have come across that have struggled within the party seem to be frustrated already. In fact, it has taken my intervention to arrest largely the drift of people to the opposition party. And I believe that if you are giving them assurance you must be able to secure that assurance to the last, because if you fail, then you may not be able to control anybody. It could happen, more so that the PDP is advancing seriously against us in the state. So I do not believe that we should play to their hands at all”. The three term Lagos Commissioner described the “imposition camp” as an extreme minority in the party, who only have access to free funds. “If you put that aside, it’s not that it’s anything extraordinary that is being worshiped in any one of them”. He accused some leaders of the party in the state of not creating a level playing field for all the aspirants to operate, saying those who are supposed to do that are the ones undermining the process. “Unfortunately for us, some of our leaders that are supposed to be participants in this process of creating a level playing field are the people that are also trying to also undermine it, that is the sad thing about it. Because leaders must struggle to create a level playing ground for all of them to go into the contest. But we have seen a situation where resources, collective resources of the people and the party, is being used to mould a particular candidate.
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