The most undemocratic people in Nigeria are in APC – Dr. Pearse
Posted by admin | 10 years ago | 4,030 times
DR GABRIEL Adetokunbo Pearse is aspiring to become the next governor of Lagos State if allowed to fly the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State. Dr Pearse, who teaches philosophy at the University of Lagos, visited Vanguard Corporate office in Lagos and explained why he is in the race. Excerpts:
By Dapo Akinrefon
What is the inspiration behind your governorship aspiration?
My interest in politics is simply an opportunity for me to use the educational training and professional experience to do all I can to help the under-privileged and to help the development of my state and to develop human capacity in my state to the best. That is my interest in politics and that is why I joined the race.
If I may ask, your background, you have crisscrossed party and partisan lines in Lagos and the United States. Are you a man of no fixed political orientation?
I am a man of no fixed political ideology, because political ideologies are just words, they don’t mean anything if you do not intend to help the development of the people. For me, whether you are democrat or a republican in the United States, what is the bottom line, what are you in this for, and that is why I have not taken a position that I will live and die a democrat or a republican.
In Nigeria for instance, the Action Congress of Nigeria, now the APC will tell you that they are the liberal party, that they are the progressives, and yet we all know that the most undemocratic people in this country are the people in this so-called progressive party.
So, that is why it is not in the interest of anybody to hold anyone down with one ideology because the fact of the matter is it is what you do with the position you have, wherever you find yourself that is most important. Are we going to say that people in the APC have more integrity than those in the PDP? No, you have to take people for who they are as individuals, and see what they stand for, that is the way I look at politics.
How strong is your political base, and have you been tested in the Nigerian politics, have you held any elective position before now?
As for the political base, I am a member of the PDP. I have been an official member of the party since 2006. The reason why I have been in several parties is because I have tested them and now I tell you something, what is going on now in the PDP is impressive. Now, we have a president, the leader of the party who does not impose, who believes in elections.
The problem we had in the past, why we were unhappy with the PDP was because we had a leader at the national level who was hardly anything different from what we have now in the APC leadership. Where they impose, when you win an election, they bring another person and impose them.
You mean Obasanjo?
Well, if you say so, you have said it. That is the person that discouraged us from working within the party because of what we experienced with imposition. We don’t have that now, and we are very happy working as members of the PDP.
What about your structure?
Well, let me tell you my experience, then you will understand that there is no way I won’t have a structure. I was invited in 2006 after the death of the late Funsho Williams to be the campaign manager for his wife, whom Obasanjo, our President at that time said was his candidate.
I did my job very well and with what we had, we were able to win the primaries. So, you can see where I am coming from in terms of my political experience. We won the primaries and we had to go for re-run and you know we won the re-run also.
That is my experience as a politician. I am basically a political strategist and a campaign organiser. I don’t lose elections. I did it for many years in the United States and I have done it here also. In 1992, I was the Director of Operations for Lagos State Campaign for Adamu Ciroma for President of Nigeria.
So, that is the kind of background that I bring into politics. I have never run for office here, but I have been involved in so many campaigns. Also, when we left the PDP in 2007, after we had been robbed and we came into the APC, I also worked as a consultant for Babatunde Raji Fashola. So, when you see the campaigns going in such a way and we demolish all the opposition, it is because people like me are doing the work. So, if I am going to do this for myself, you can imagine that I am going to do a good job.
You also need a deep pocket, are you sure you are ready?
I am ready. I know what it takes, I know how to get the money, and I know that I have everything that I need to win this election. First, I am sure you appreciate that for me to have gone this far, whereby I have been consulting for the last one year, meetings upon meetings, events upon events, it involves money. I have been able to carry myself to this point and I know what it takes to go forward, we are ready. I tell you something, another advantage, if you look at the way it should be, could be said to be a great advantage.
One of the issues raised about Lagos PDP is that their house is not in order, how do you react to this?
It’ s not true at all. A lot of it is uninformed.
Source: vanguard
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