By Dapo Akinrefon
Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour contested the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State on the platform of the Labour Celebration, LP. On this interview, Rhodes-Vivour, fondly often called GRV, discusses the issues dealing with Nigeria, poor management, his experiences through the 2023 election, notably in Lagos State, and the way it’s negatively affecting the state’s residents. Excerpts:
Throughout your 2023 election marketing campaign, ethnicity was highlighted as a serious situation, and we at the moment are starting to see a repeat of this within the countdown to 2027…
The primary situation right here is that lots of people are being performed, and a few individuals are making the most of their lack of expertise of what’s really occurring. All of those individuals who whip up these agitations and push these ethnic narratives are simply there to distract Lagosians. It’s a traditional divide-and-conquer technique. If I get all of you to be hitting your head and preventing yourselves, you may by no means ask me about why I spent N2billion on air fresheners, or why I’m spending billions on consultancy, or speak about why an organization received the contract for the coastal street with out correct bidding. These ethnic narratives do two issues: One, the folks which might be supposed to return collectively and demand good governance, principally, the Yoruba and Igbo that make up the main inhabitants of Lagos State, at the moment are preventing themselves or arguing.
So, they can not come collectively to demand good governance. Secondly, they don’t seem to be speaking in regards to the points that actively matter to them. Give it some thought, on the finish of the day, what does the title of a avenue actually matter to you in comparison with how a lot a litre of petrol is or how tousled your drainage techniques are, or in comparison with the truth that none of those folks main us can ship their very own kids to the identical public colleges they attended once they have been a lot youthful, whereas they received strong training in these locations? All these leaders grew up with public faucets working, however at the moment, regardless of the billions spent, even the Lagos State Water Company has no water. My father has a home in Ikeja, and only a few buildings separate us and the water company. There was a time our borehole machine spoilt and so they introduced an enormous invoice simply to excavate the borehole and substitute it. In the meantime, we thought we’re neighbours to the Water Company, so why don’t we simply go and discuss to them and see if we are able to hook up with their water; we went there, and to our shock, they didn’t have water.
These are the problems that have an effect on us. If we had pipe-borne water in Lagos, first the problem with plastic air pollution will scale back drastically. Secondly, the cholera epidemic will scale back considerably, identical with numerous ailments which might be linked to not having clear water. As a substitute, these politicians sow discord so we are able to speak about issues that don’t have an effect on our lives.
So, it’s a technique, and I encourage Lagosians and Nigerians at massive to grasp and see by this technique. They’re taking part in a sport. After the entire election, we’ll return to dwelling our common lives till one other election cycle, however the struggling of dangerous governance follows us.
Some leaders of thought have been elevating issues in regards to the public outcry generated by avenue renaming, together with former governor Babatunde Fashola. What ought to the political leaders do to douse the stress?
Lagos is peculiar; there isn’t a different state like Lagos in Nigeria. The indigenes of Lagos are peculiar human beings, not as a result of they’re any much less Yoruba than their brothers that got here from Ife, however their exposures are completely different. These are teams of those who have been by no means conquered by Oyo or Ibadan or Ondo, or Abeokuta. They created their very own system to make sure peace between the Idejos and the Benin Empire. The Benin Empire created the ruling class; the Idejos have been the landowners, and so they lived in concord and peace. Already, you see the distinction in pondering; they got here to a compromise, and so they managed it and created a system. So, folks shouldn’t begin to twist our historical past and story. I give them an instance; Idewu Ojulari was the Oba of Lagos. When his council was offended with him and felt he was not doing issues correctly, this led to the Dosunmu and Kosoko wahala; they reported him to the Oba of Benin; they didn’t report him to the Alaafin, Ooni or Awujale.
The Oba of Benin despatched a cranium and a knife to the Oba of Lagos to decide on one. The following day he dedicated suicide as a result of a cranium meant to commit suicide, and a knife is like going to battle. These are documented details. For the longest time, all of the Obas of Lagos have been buried in Benin. That is the historical past behind Lagos that makes the indigenes, based mostly on their exposures, see issues otherwise. Lagos was a spot the place lots of people have been kidnapped and shipped overseas as slaves by the Badagry port. The Lagos elite then have been dealing the Europeans, particularly the Portuguese. That was one other degree of publicity, referring to the white man. Then the enslaved individuals who have been in a position to get their freedom got here again with their expertise, and numerous them settled in Lagos; that’s a 3rd sequence of publicity. Then colonialism got here, and you’ve got a scenario the place the governance of Nigeria was based mostly in Lagos, and you’ve got politicians coming from in all places to speak in regards to the issues of Nigeria in Lagos, which is a better degree of publicity. It turned the norm for indigenes to work together with folks from throughout Nigeria and also you had the combat for independence.
The movement was nonetheless moved in the identical Lagos. It’s these exposures that made the indigenes of Lagos create the surroundings that welcomed the entire of Nigeria and which made it the industrial capital of the nation. So, the explanation many of those legacies are being eroded at the moment is that Lagosians will not be on the helm of affairs. Go and have a look at the folks distorting the Lagos legacy; they don’t carry this story; their grandfathers haven’t handed down these values. You already know, they are saying you both use a head or a leg to enter Lagos. Lots of people used legs to enter Lagos and there’s nothing improper with that however the worth system and publicity of Lagos is what they’re tampering with. The indigenes of Lagos, from the Awori to the Egun, to the Saros, to the Bini and the Tapas are welcoming folks.
Will you say the result of the 2023 presidential election in Lagos might have been the set off, with President Bola Tinubu shedding his stronghold to Peter Obi?
The 2023 presidential election in Lagos might have been the set off with President Bola Tinubu shedding his stronghold to Peter Obi? This isn’t the primary president we have now who’s Yoruba. We’ve got had Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Was anyone doing any of those on the time? However for one man’s ambition, they’ll go to any size to only divide and dehumanise residents. We have to see previous these distractions. These politicians ought to come and inform us what they’ve achieved with the sources of the state for over 20 years. It isn’t in regards to the final election however the technique of 1 man. President Tinubu was not campaigning when Jimi Agbaje was contesting and so they have been calling him Jimi Chukwu and that he would be the governor of the south-easterners. When you query or stand as much as problem the hegemony of Bola Tinubu, the very first thing they assault is your Yorubaness. You may have a titan just like the late Chief Ayo Adebanjo; as a result of he supported any person else within the final election, you have been questioning his heritage. Identical with Chief Obasanjo, a person who delivered the very best performing economic system on this Fourth Republic, as a result of he didn’t assist you, we began listening to tales that his father was Igbo. When folks don’t have a imaginative and prescient to promote, they promote divisions. The humorous factor is that it’s not about proper or improper; it’s about equity and justice. A Dosunmu can not go and be governor in Ogun State even with Lagos being a Yoruba land and part of the South- West.
The indigenes of Lagos can not go and be senators and even native authorities chairmen in Osun, Ondo, or Ekiti. It may well by no means occur; the way in which you could have a James Faleke representing Ikeja, then go and run for governor in Kogi State, or you could have Senator Olamilekan Yayi, who was serving Lagos West, then switched to turn out to be Senator for Ogun West. It’s not reciprocal and but it’s the identical Yoruba we’re talking.
Speaking in regards to the opposition, the African Democratic Congress, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour contested the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State on the platform of the Labour Celebration, LP.
On this interview, Rhodes-Vivour, fondly often called GRV, discusses the issues dealing with Nigeria, poor management, his experiences through the 2023 election, notably in Lagos State, and the way it’s negatively affecting the state’s residents. Excerpts: ADC, appears to be the gorgeous bride of the opposition. Are you additionally considering crossing over? For me, for the longest time, I’ve made it clear that the one solution to face the All Progressives Congress, APC, is by forming a coalition. There isn’t any group that may face Bola Tinubu by itself. You noticed how tightly contested the 2023 elections have been and in case you are honest, you will note that there was an try by former President Muhammadu Buhari to conduct a free and honest election; there was a real try to make sure that the election won’t be monetised. Now, that’s not going to be the case in 2027.
We’re seeing an enormous amount of cash borrowed by this administration. You may’t see what they’re utilizing the cash for; numerous these funds will are available to monetise this election. So, we’d like a coalition and we can not afford to divide the opposition.
Dividing the opposition isn’t just in votes, it’s in concepts and technique. While you add Peter Obi’s votes to Atiku Abubakar’s votes, they defeat Tinubu’s votes by virtually 5 million votes. This is the reason we’d like a coalition. My hope is that motive will prevail and we might be capable of get an opposition that Nigerians can really purchase into, not only a part of the nation, as a result of the struggling and results of dangerous governance is shared by the entire nation, not only a part of the nation. The coalition is a mirrored image of the brand new kind of politics we have now come into. There was a time when it was not a lot in regards to the particular person; it was in regards to the celebration. In case you have a strong celebration, there are strong males on the bottom in each state. They are going to be just right for you and ship however what Peter Obi has proven is a brand new kind of politics that’s reflecting a brand new kind of Nigeria the place the voters is wanting on the particular person and never the celebration.
So, is that your subsequent vacation spot?
Sure. The coalition has adopted ADC as its celebration for 2027. So, whether or not you’re from PDP, APC or SDP, ADC is the celebration we have now adopted. ADC has been adopted by the leaders of the coalition. I don’t see that altering any time quickly. I feel even when different events are registered, they’ll be introduced into the coalition.
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