By Admin
Former Minister of Works and Housing, Adeseye Ogunlewe, has said planning is the key point needed by a political party to win in a state or in the country during elections, adding that one must also have the conviction to win, and without it, then such party cannot win.
Ogunlewe, made this known during an interview with Sunday PUNCH, according to him, “Planning. by planning, I mean the conviction to win. If you don’t have the conviction that your party can win then you cannot win; it has to do with your state of your mind. If we want to win an election, what must we do?
“One, we must accommodate all members of the party; all the tendencies. Whether you oppose me, you like me as a leader or you don’t, it should not matter in an election.
“Two; you must have the right candidate; the candidate that must be loved by all. Not a candidate that half will work for and the other half will work against. Three; you must have the money and the money must be invested properly and not converted for personal use. Given that the money is meant for a purpose, once you deviate from that purpose you will lose the election.
“Also of importance are your manifesto and personality. The person who is leading you; what is his pedigree; where is his own community; where is he going to vote; can he win in that community? This is because when there is no assurance that the leader will deliver his ward or local government area, that party can never win. It is like contributing to a common purse.
“In politics that is how to win. That means if you are from Alimosho Local Government, another person is from Ikorodu and another from Epe, what is their respective contribution from their local governments to enable us to win the election? So, if you don’t have the commitment, forget it. You can never win an election without the commitment to win; you would only be wasting your time.”
Ogunlewe, who was a former member of the People Democratic Party (PDP), but now at the All Progressives Congress (APC), was believed to have defected because he was broke and needed state patronage, but stated that he had never been broke before and will never get to that level of seeking for state patronage.
“I have never been a contractor. I don’t have a company. I don’t get any patronage from anybody. I’m a civil servant to the core. I grew up in the civil service, so where will I get a company to use to seek for a contract? People will talk but ask them for proof. I have held enviable positions in this country; that can never make me broke.
“I was the Permanent Secretary for Land and Housing and Survey from 1986 for at least three years. All the lands at Victoria Island, I shared them. Talk of Victoria Garden City and Dolphin, I built them. The Housing Scheme at Ebute Metta, I built them. I built the 10,000 Housing Scheme in Lagos State under (the late Lateef) Jakande. All these houses tagged ‘Jakande Houses’ I built them. I built the roads; I built the schools.
“How can somebody that has gone through that ever become broke in his life? So, apart from me having the opportunity to have properties, I have extensive goodwill. Do I want to build a new house or buy a new car? Somebody that is broke will have no house, but if you have a house you cannot be broke.”
Also, when asked about what he think about the killings going on under the present administration, and being under the same political party.
He said, “Anybody that is in Nigeria now and doesn’t have a father and a mother should not answer that kind of question”.
The former Minister, when reacting to accusations of Buhari not having certificates, and Tinubu also being alleged of not having certificates by Bode George, and being in same party that maybe presenting those without certificates as its presidential candidates.
“Why are we in a hurry? If the man fills the form and he inputs a certificate there; tell him to bring the certificate. If he doesn’t have then we can talk. But I know he has a certificate; Bode George is new to this struggle. We started the struggle. He doesn’t know about the struggle at all. Bode George is new to Lagos State politics. He doesn’t know anything.
“It is not true that Tinubu doesn’t have a certificate. He went to the University of Chicago but there were so many other things he didn’t have which he included in the form. So, he is not going to be stupid now and fill those things on his form again. He has the certificate. I have a copy. All these things Bode George is saying, he doesn’t know about this struggle at all.
“How can you say somebody who worked at Mobil, who was our senatorial candidate in Social Democratic Party doesn’t have a certificate? Where was Bode George then? These are new politicians. How did he go to the Senate then?”,he asked.
