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SEYE OLADEJO, LAGOS APC Publicity Secretary
Seye Oladejo was 60 a few days ago and he celebrated it at his Lagos home. It was well attended by a lot of politicians who came to celebrate with this brilliant Lagos APC chieftain, who is the Publicity Secretary of the party. A lot of distinguish personalities graced the Thanksgiving reception he held.
Shortly after the celebration, City People sat with him at his house to talk about life as a politician and how he sees the countdown to 2027 elections.
Below are excerpts of the interview.
Let’s talk about your role as the spokesperson of Lagos APC. How easy has it been for you?
It has been very challenging.
When I came on board, the Gentlemen of the press and a number of our friends in the media criticised me by saying, this guy is not part of the media, and they just made him Publicity Secretary. What they should be told is that I had a stint in the media. First, my first degree prepared me for this.
I had a first-degree in English studies, and that exposed us to a lot of things.
Talking about Communication it is about putting work together, knowing the right thing to say at the right time, and so many areas of human endeavor. When I left school, I had a stint with The Guardian, and then Daily Times of Nigeria, Times Leisure Service, we were the organizers of Miss Nigeria, Fashion Designer of the Year. So I had a bit of stint in the media.
So when I got the assignment to be the spokesman of the party, I knew I had to be adaptable. Everything I’ve done so far, previously, have not been related. From being the Secretary to Local Government, and then later Chairman, two different roles.
And later, Special Advisor to the governor on Commerce and Industry, a different turf entirely. And then later, Commissioner for Special Duties and Government Relations, where I virtually supervised emergency services in Lagos. And now, Spokesman of the party.
You will struggle to really relate all those roles. But it simply means that, as a graduate, you have to be adaptable. At every given time, you’ll be surrounded with Technocrats, people who have the know-how, and you also have to be able to do the right thing at the right time.
It is extremely challenging to be the Spokesman for the ruling party. The Opposition has the advantage. And most of the time, they get sympathy too.
Because the opposition will always bring out those things they consider to be abnormalities, not too good to the public, or false sentiments, and all of that. But as a spokesman for the ruling party, you want to control those narratives. You want to have the last say on everything.
You have to be hope and dream, and truth be told, I have people working for me who draw my attention to very important and germane burning issues. I know you have to relate. Thankfully, after running that office for just a few months now, our colleagues have come to accept that, it’s like this guy is a right fit into that position.
And like they say, the rest is history. And most recently, the opposition have had me to contend with, with a whole lot of issues they are raising in the name of politics, even though we know that most of those issues bother on not being patriotic, it’s just raising issues for issues they can play opposition politics. So we’re also giving it to them the way they are giving it to us.
It’s interesting. It’s challenging, but I have a personal principle, whatever role, whatever opportunity, let it be on record that you put in your very best and just leave the rest and move on.
Someone has another time to come and do a better job.
On a daily basis, you issue press releases that are very strong. Why did you decide to adopt that method?
You see, my personal philosophy about the office of responsibility of the party, as the ruling party, we don’t have to be on the defensive.
We need to highlight on a regular basis. There are days I usually throw out releases like 2 and at times I overwhelm my friends in the media because the Opposition, they don’t sleep. And look, if it rains heavily, in Lagos, they believe the ruling party is responsible for it.
I just have to be up and doing. And point out some of those points with the best possible language on some of the issues they raise. For instance, if the opposition celebrates Terrorism in Nigeria, or they are selective in their reaction, or they are protective of some terrorist activities, and we have to say, it’s like, okay, terrorist in my area is acceptable, when some other area is not acceptable.
You struggle to reconcile all of that. And you question their patriotism. And you want to really tell people: What are you going to govern if the country is set on fire? So the idea is you must have the back of the opposition to the wall at all times. You challenge them. I’ve challenged them in so many areas.
I’ve challenged the democratic credentials of some of their top players. They have not been able to react to that because that’s the ultimate.
We also need to know that as a ruling party, our selling point remains what we’ve been able to do differently. What hope we are giving to the common man. What the opposition can only do is to give promises.
Those promises you can’t take to the bank. They’re untested and they might just be mere promises for the sake of getting the confidence of the voters. And the voters know better.
When you talk about tested and trusted leaders who have been weather-beaten and have been around for long, there is no opposition that can really challenge us as far as that’s concerned. And you must ease your releases from the position of confidence, from the position of articulation and conviction. And of course, people will buy into that.
You know, they will interrogate all those issues and all of that, but you have to be up and doing. And that also means that you have to be vast in so many things. If you’re going to be discussing education, healthcare, security, and you have to know a bit of so many topics, so many sectors for you to be able to do a good job as ultimate party.
How do you see the opposition in Lagos state?
Is there any opposition in Lagos State. I am just looking at it. Traditionally, when the election comes, you see them coming alive again. And actually, you’ll notice I’ve been reacting to a lot of national issues not Lagosians.
That speaks volumes about a weakened opposition in my state, which will be my primary assignment. So I’ve been able to have the leeway, the comfort, to now take my role further onto the national level. And that’s not untoward anyway.
It’s not out of the way. It’s the same party. We are the ruling party.
We do respect the opposition. I think they gave up too soon. And we also need to thank the people of Lagos for believing in the progressive party.
They’ve been trying to hype their pyrrhic victory during the last presidential election, but they couldn’t sustain it. We had the governorship election a few days later, and they lost woefully to the incumbent governor, Governor Babajide Sonwolu. So the Opposition will come around during the coming elections.
They’ll try to reorganize and all of that, but they will still make their political water loo because the Lagos people believe in us. They have seen the fact that it makes sense for us to have a continuity because that has been able to engender continuity in terms of progress and a whole lot of achievements. That has made Lagos a model for development in the entire nation, and nobody can compare with that.
How do you assess Opposition at the national level?
They are not in opposition to the ruling party. They’re are in opposition to themselves, literally, so to say. I can’t wait for them to have their presidential primaries.
It’s an opposition where everybody wants to lead, where they virtually beg themselves that we’re in the same party. We don’t want to attack that leader. We are yet to do so, and let me also say, the fact that the opposition is in disarray itself is a threat to our democracy.
It is good for Democracy to have a vibrant opposition. They will tell you that they hold the ruling party responsible for the confusion in their party. That’s lazy.
That’s lazy politics. Do you blame your neighbor for conflicts in your own homestead as the head of the family? That means you are not worthy of that title, head of the family. If you are not capable of putting your party in order, you’re not capable of forming a government.
You can’t run a government. A government is a place where you face all sorts of challenges, unpredictable. Who could have predicted the COVID-19 scourge when it came up? So our people need to sit back, be innovative, be creative, be decisive, get on top of that.
So if the Opposition could not even organize a party, their political party, how can the electorate trust them with a mandate? So the opposition, seriously, is not a threat. We’re not going to have these elections and the social media on pages of newspapers. Election is the real thing.
We have the election, people will vote, and everything indicates the victory of APC come 2027.
But they also say that APC is the biggest challenge they have in terms of making sure that they are not organized enough to give APC the opportunity.
I think the biggest challenge they have is the experience and the political sagacity of Mr. President, who has been able to do so much to attract bigwigs in the opposition to the ruling party.
And that is not unheard of. They are not being coerced. When President Olusegun Obasanjo was there, virtually everybody moved to PDP.
At that time, Democracy was not threatened then. But if the bigwigs, the state governors in the opposition now see that the President is doing so much that they will need to come on board to support him, that cannot be an aberration and it’s not illegal. So they should be able to convince their members to work together in unison to ensure that they give the next election a good shot.
But from my indications, it’s like they gave up so early.
