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SEYE OLADEJO, LAGOS APC Publicity Secretary
How do you see the performance of Mr. President in the last three and a half years?
Fantastic, I had an opportunity, I think before the primaries, to have a one-on-one discussion with Mr. President. It was a rare opportunity. And I asked him a very pungent and direct question.
Why was he going for the presidency? And he said, okay, I’ll tell you. It was about legacy. It was about making a change.
It was about making a difference. It was about turning the country around for the better, making maximum use of the potentials of our nation. His response was emotional.
I could see the conviction. I could see the determination. I could see a president that was prepared for the presidency.
We had a couple of presidents that were never prepared for the office. He came on board at a very difficult time. The economy was virtually comatose.
And in government, having an opportunity to be in government is about taking decisions, at times very tough decisions, in order to change very dire situations. And if the president should be commended for anything at all, he should be commended for that courage to take those decisions that would lay a solid foundation for our growth, for our development as a nation. Mr. President has so far been able to run a government that has been inclusive.
Inclusive in terms of ensuring that no sector is left behind. In terms of the economy, in terms of education, in terms of EU development, in terms of women, in terms of infrastructure, we have a president who has turned the country to a massive construction site. You have massive projects across the country with no part of the country left behind.
And that says a lot about our economy. That says a lot about the impact, the multi-faceted impact of such projects across the country. Are there still challenges? There will always be challenges.
That’s why you always have a government. Are we on course to some of those challenges? We have commendations everywhere, from people that you can’t possibly persuade to say nice things about this government.
The Managing Director of World Bank, just revealed yesterday, she said she’s been using Nigeria as a reference for good governance and economic growth. We had Elon Musk express his own opinion that Nigeria is the sixth fastest, if I remember correctly. When the economists and the world are saying such positives, all those cannot be dismissed on the altar of opposition politics.
So it is very clear that the HR is right and can only be better if we continue to support Mr. President.
How do you always feel when you see negative comments in the media about the positive things the President does?
It’s like denying reality. I must confess to you, I become restless.
I’ve been openly challenged just limit yourself to Lagos politics. Why get involved in what’s happening at the national level? But I have no apologies.
I assure you, Asiwaju first and foremost belongs to us in Lagos. We literally lent him to the national level and we still have a duty to rally around him, to protect him. And we also have a duty to support the Abuja team and compliment what they are doing at that level.
Truth be told, I send you my releases at times late in the night that speaks to the fact that I get restless. I don’t want to go to bed without reacting to whatever deal, whatever wrong position the opposition is trying to put out there. I must react.
And most of the time, my best time when I react is at my breakfast table. I get a lot of inspiration when I’m having breakfast. Okay, this stuff, let’s react to it now.
So before you are going to breakfast between late at night in the morning, you have my release, a good time for people to go to rest. So I hardly let anything go. No, I don’t.
Even though I’ve had people tell me that, oh, you could overwhelm the media. Let the media decide when they are overwhelmed. But let me tell you, we’ve got into a state that media that we believe are literally hostile to us are now being compelled to use our stories, our reaction.
You are bigger in the media business. It’s about balancing. Even if you’re asking for the opposition, you also want to balance with the position of the ruling party.
So I hate to go to bed without reacting appropriately to whatever the opposition is trying to put out there.
Do you think the president is misunderstood most times? Or do you think it comes across as people being deliberately hostile?
I think our government needs to communicate more because people will be amazed if they are privy to a whole lot that this government is doing.
We will need to communicate more. We need to let our people have an understanding of what the president has been doing that’s making the difference. There hasn’t been a government in this country that has been able to touch virtually all areas of human endeavor.
Nobody’s been left behind. So I think we need to communicate more with the people. And I think we need to play less of bitter politics.
We need to also put across all those good things that Mr. President is doing. We have a president that means well. And if he told me that it’s all about legacy, it doesn’t come better than that.
What’s your prediction about 2027? How do you think things will play out as we move closer to elections?
Well, both at the State and National level. Let me just say as a matter of fact, let the elections come up tomorrow,
APC will come out tops and President Tinubu will win again and again. There’s no doubt about it. There’s nothing on ground to the contrary.
There’s no magic. Look, we’re in 2026. There’s no magic that’s going to happen.
When you look at the structure of the party, the organization, even as a ruling party, APC is busy reorganizing and reinventing itself. This way we’re going to conclude the re-election process. We’re already putting in place plans for congresses from the Ward to the local government to the state to the national level that will culminate in the national convention.
That speaks to a party that is organized. We’re going to accommodate everybody, those who have been in the party before now and those who are just coming on board. You don’t see all these organizations in other parties.
What you find is on a daily basis appeal in the newspapers for them to let Peace reign or who will be the VP or another one is saying Presidency or nothing. That’s not the way to go to battle with a ruling party that knows its onions. So we are very confident, inherently confident that we will save the course.
APC will win and there’s nothing to show otherwise. I’ve heard it said that having state governors does not guarantee electoral victory. But I’m very sure deep inside the leaders of the opposition party, they would rather want those state governors to be with them.
If they have no value, why are they so hard at their leaving? Let them put their house in order because we really want to have an interesting contest. But for now, if the election holds tomorrow. It’s going to be a mismatch.
People have also said that they’re scared of the possibility of one party situation because practically everybody is moving into APC. At the end of the day, they’re going to have one strong party.
It’s not going to happen. It’s a Constitutional matter. Our constitution makes room for a multi-party system.
So for that to happen, there must be some amendments and all of that. I mean, we have a whole number of parties already registered. I mean, no matter their strength and all of that.
I think rather than fear a one party system, we should be honest enough to admit that Mr. President is doing something to attract all those who are coming to the party. That the government at the center is doing a whole lot. Do you dismiss a government that is putting money in the hands of the state government and local government? It has not been so good.
And you think those governors will not want to support such a government at the center? I don’t believe that at any time we’re going to have a one party state. Maybe we’ll have one big party and a number of fringe parties. It’s still democracy.
Can it be said that it’s the APC that has weakened the opposition in Nigeria?
That is not true. They’re not as visible as APC is. You see, it’s not the business of APC to organize Opposition. That’s what they’re getting wrong.
If I’m the chairman of APC and all the governors are making overtures to me to join my party, I won’t say because I don’t want my party to be accused of weakening the opposition that they should not come. The more the merrier. I think the opposition party should pay more attention to what is going on within their party.
That’s the only way to play the game. To continue to shout about APC weakening their party, I think is a very weak argument. And it’s simply lazy, intellectually lazy for them.
