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Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says the ongoing relationship between his party and the New-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is never aimed at subjugating the Yoruba to the North, as many people have speculated. To him, the alignment is geared towards salvaging the nation from mis-governance of the past 14 years. He spoke to Seye Olumide and Wole Oyebade.
IN the light of several members of the House of Representatives crossing over to the APC, what is the likelihood of some senators also defection to the opposition?
The mood in the Senate is not any different from what was witnessed in the House of Representatives; and to confirm this, we only have to wait till we resume to see what is going to happen. To my knowledge, at least 22 senators from the PDP will be moving to the APC.
I’m not too sure about the numbers because so many things would have come in before that ultimate decision is made.
But as at the last count, we’ve been able to pinpoint 22 of the PDP senators and what that means is that there is every likelihood that the APC will hold majority just like what we are witnessing in the House of Representatives. We are hoping very much that, that is what will happen when we resume.
Do you share the sentiment, which some Nigerians, particularly the Yoruba, have raised on the APC’s current romance with caucuses of the PDP, like the G-7 Governors, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Sarakis, some retired military generals and others as an attempt to sell the Southwest cheaply to the North?
First and foremost, the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), as it were then, was not a Yoruba party. So, to that extent, whoever is nursing that fear, I would say it’s misplaced.
The APC, as currently constituted, is a national party and I’m sure that our leaders, when they started on this move, wanted the whole nation to feel what we are seeing now: that you could not align the party to any ethnic or religious, or regional group. And they are achieving that.
At the end of the day, you will see that the APC is that party that truly represents the entire multi-religious and multi-ethnic nature of Nigeria.
What do you think the rebel-governors of the PDP stand to bring to the APC?
I would not want to call them rebel-governors; I would want to call them progressive-minded governors because they saw that what their party was putting forward to the Nigerian people would not save this nation.
They dared to be bold, called off the bluff of party leadership of the PDP to move to the right place, move to where the people of Nigeria are clamouring will be the rescue team. And that is the party, APC.
If you ask me, I will tell you that the only hope Nigerians have, giving Nigerians the urge to continue, to still want to see 2014, the urge to want to vote come 2015, is the coming on board of all into the APC. There is no doubt about it.
An average Nigerian is seeing hope in that party. And I pray that when that time comes, this country will be saved, by the force, movement and collective efforts that Nigerians are making at present to ensure that the power is taken from the centre by the APC that is supposed to do the right thing, and that will do the right thing.
Do you have governorship ambition in 2015 in Lagos State?
The issue is not about me having a governorship ambition. I am a disciplined and committed party member of the APC and all that I seek and crave for is good governance.
I beg to say that my ambition is to see a vibrant Lagos State where the living conditions of the citizen are improved; where education, health and other social infrastructure are in order.
I know you would have expected to hear from me whether I would run or not; that is not the utmost for now. What is paramount is to allow the process of good governance in Lagos State to continue, while we, the repository of the people’s mandate and trust, are expected to remain focused and be committed to legitimate public service.
We all knew how Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former governor and a national leader of the APC, met Lagos in 1999 and how he worked assiduously to transform the state from what it was then, and the template he was able to put in place, which Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, who is popularly called ‘The Actualiser’, is building on. We are a party with focus, agenda and discipline.
Can you point out some of your achievements as the senator?
Of course, there are so many even though I am not a ranking senator; I’m a first-term senator. But if you look at the last three years that I have served as the senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you would have confirmed that out of the 109 senators in the upper chamber, I’ve done my best for the people that I represent in terms of constituency projects.
By the grace of God, being a citizen of Lagos with functional and strategic experience in both public and private sectors, I had played a leadership role as the Executive Secretary and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands of Lagos State, Nigeria for almost a decade before I was elected a Senator in April 2011.
I trained in Morgan State University, Maryland, and later at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the USA.
Since I joined the 7th Session of the National Assembly on June 6, 2011, I have raised or co-raised several bills and motions, including a Language Bill, Income Tax Holiday Bill, Treaty (Amendment) Bill, Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill, National Directorate of Employment (Amendment) Bill, Harmful Waste (Amendment) Bill, Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill and Minerals and Minerals (Amendment) Bill.
I also moved motions on the Deteriorating Services of GSM Providers and the Imminent Collapse of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos.
I co-sponsored many Bills and Motions with other senators on the floor of the Senate among which are: the Social Housing Bill; Prohibition of Same Sex Marriage Bill; and the Lagos State Special Economic Assistance Bill.
The Motions include those on Lagos Flood; Solution to Terrorism in Nigeria and Creation of Unemployment Data and Job Centres in the country.
I am the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development and a member of the Senate Committee on Gas Resources, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs and Senate Committee on Senate Services.
I served as the secretary of the defunct ACN now APC Senate Caucus at the National Assembly.
I was instrumental to the execution of Federal Constituency Projects worth over N573 million in my senatorial district between June 2011 and December 2013.
There is a subtle agitation that it is the turn of Lagos East senatorial district, where you come from, to produce the next governor in 2015, isn’t it?
There is a formula on ground and that is tilting towards the Lagos East senatorial district where I’m presently representing as the Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
If that is the case, definitely, the situation has changed.
Obviously, since 1999, other districts have produced a governor except the Lagos East. It would be the pride of the people of the area to produce a governor.
The leadership of the party is not insensitive to that quest. Whoever the cap fits from that district would wear it when the time comes. All I know is there are credible, qualified and sophisticated people in that district who can rule Lagos.
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