Date: 2018-08-11

In this interview, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Dr Mike Omotosho, spoke to AHMED 'LATEEF in Ilorin during the week on his aspirations, alignment and realignment of forces, coalition of political parties and gale of defection characterising the nation's polity in recent times ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Why are you in Ilorin today?

We are meeting with the State Executive Council of the Labour Party. I came in to brief them as a National chairman on what is happening to our great party, the most viable alternative for Nigerians, the party of the workers.

Recently, some 39 political parties came together under Coalition of United Political Parties ahead of 2019 elections. Is Labour Party part of the group?

Absolutely not. Labour Party is not part of that coalition. As I speak to you today, Labour Party stands alone as an entity. If we have to go into coalition, which is not impossible, we will consult with our stakeholders before taking such decisions. Labour Party stands alone. About two or three weeks back, we sat together with the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and other workers' stakeholders to actually dissociate ourselves from the CUPP, because they did mention Labour Party as part of the partisan, we said no, Labour Party is not part of that coalition.

It's been rumoured that you are working with some political bigwigs behind the scenes. How true is this?

Absolutely not. I Mike Omotosho stand alone as a National Chairman of Labour Party as we speak today. If at any point in time we have to associate with anybody, there is nothing to work by proxy. He would associate with people based on the ideals that you believe in, and if the belief is in similar ideology with yours, automatically you can work with them, and there is nothing to hide. He would make it open.

That is why I said even as we are as Labour Party we are standing alone today, we may have cause to go into coalition but then we would ensure that there are agreements and then the ideal of Labour Party is protected, which is providing equal opportunity and social justice for everybody. So, in summary, I'm not working by proxy or even directly for anybody. I stand as Mike Omotosho, the National Chairman of the Labour Party.

The issue of National Chairman of your party has caused some disquiet in the polity. At the last coalition of parties, we have two different vibes. One is saying that it is in support of the coalition and you came out to say no. Where are we on this national leadership tussle of Labour Party?

The truth of the matter is that, it is all about semantics. There is ordinarily no tussle. It is just because of the pace of work and the bureaucracy in our system. We had a convention where all the delegates came in from the 36 States of the federation, merged with the National Executive Council, National Working Committee to elect me as a National Chairman.

Even INEC was present, they sent in a representative. The media was also present and it was beamed live to millions all over the world. So, we had a convention, and it was a very peaceful convention. The only snag that we had is that for one reason or the other, INEC left the name of the former Chairman on their website, and that is what is confusing the populace.

And we have appealed to INEC severally to please stop this, remove his name from the website so that people are not misled. And that exactly is what is causing the problem. Beside that, we don't have a problem. But we are working on the double to ensure that NLC, TUC persuade INEC to take off the former Chairman's name from the website, and then everybody would understand that there is truly no faction anymore.

Has INEC recognized your faction?

It has always been. Let me explain the process to you. INEC does not conduct election for political parties even though they conduct the general elections; but they monitor. And they were there to monitor my election, and they have a report to show. We even have a certified true copy of that report. Why they are not changing the name yet, I'm sure they know.

And that is why we are prevailing on the founding fathers of the Labour Party, the NLC, TUC, to make the INEC remove the former Chairman's name and then there wouldn't be any confusion again. That is the only confusion we are having for now.

What about the report that you are being used to destabilise the party?

That is totally impossible. And I would also go ahead to even explain to you that when we had issues and we even wanted to clarify, I was offered the Board of Trustees Chairman, so that we can move the party forward, and we accepted. But then because INEC has not removed the name from there, and then the former Chairman kept on using that avenue for untoward effect, then we had to cancel that arrangement again when the NLC persuaded me to pick up the Board of Trustees Chair.

So, I'm very opened, it is not about wanting to be Chairman now. I would love to be remembered for what I did when I was chairman, and not as being a former chairman. You know my pedigree, and I think it is important for you to be able to tell the world that you know my kind of person, my integrity. I have been Governor of Rotary over 23 States and the likes. If we are able to live by all of these ideals, life will be a lot better not just for ourselves but for everybody that we relate with.

Are you contesting for Presidency or Governor come 2019?

Well, nothing is impossible. People have asked me if I will be coming back to run for governorship of Kwara State. I said it is not impossible. As chairman, I can take a leave of absence, I can even resign from the position if I must run. But for now, let's ensure that we encourage credible people to come in.

My responsibility as the Labour Party National Chairman is to ensure that people who have integrity, who have credibility and who would abide by the ideals of the Labour Party come forth and then run for office, and we work with them to ensure that they win such positions. And when they win, we would now work with an agenda of security, family security, family education, family health and then family finances for everybody.

We keep talking about figures. The population is just about numbers. Until you break it down to the family level, that is the smallest economic unit. And I keep telling people, the moment you have a healthy family, you would have a wealthy nation, the moment you have a family that is self sustaining, you would have a formidable economy in the nation, and the moment you have a family that is secured, the nation itself would be safe.

Once you educate the family, they would in turn develop the nation. So, the focus should be on the family, and that is why we stand with the Labour Party. And you would notice in the Labour Party, our logo has the father, the mother and the child, which represents the family in the wheel of progress.

My people have been calling on me to come back and run for governorship of Kwara State, we are still looking at it.

Do you have a plan to adopt President Muhammadu Buhari as a consensus candidate in 2019 polls?

We do not have that ambition. However, it is not impossible. But when we are going to do that, we would consult with everybody, we wouldn't just take a unilateral decision. We would work in the progress. Whatever we would do would be for the progress of the masses. If we are going to have to do that, then we would need to come with terms that they would accept to, that would ensure we benefit the masses. Like I said, it is all about providing equal opportunity and social justice, which is the motto of the Labour Party.

What is your view on the gale of defection rocking political parties?

Defection is part of the polity but it is unfortunate. I know defection is inevitable but I expect people to put in as much as possible towards ensuring that they reconcile in-house first before they... It is like having a family. Your family members who do something wrong to you but if it is your family and you truly believe in them, you will want to rectify the wrongs within the family and stay there to make the family move well.

Now, if that fails, on a very serious note then can you truly defect from your family. That is the point. The reason defections are happening left, right and centre is because the political parties that we have now, do not have any clear cut ideology. That is where the problem is.

So, you see people in APC today becoming PDP tomorrow. PDP today becoming APC tomorrow. Because there is no clear cut ideology. Yes, they have all of these different ideologies on paper but in reality, they don't practice it. And that is why we in the Labour Party are saying this is what we believe in.

For us, it is all about the masses. It is about the woman selling soft drinks under the tree, it is about the man going around pushing a wheelbarrow. It is about the ordinary masses on the streets. And that is the ideology, that is what we are preaching to be able to provide equal opportunity for everybody, and then ensure that there is social justice.

So, if you believe in that, we would work with you. We are not averse to coalition. But we want to ensure that ordinary masses on the streets benefit from whatever decisions we take at the Labour Party

Should those who defected recently like Governors and Senators lose their positions based on their defections?

The constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria is very clear on that, and I'm sure the professionals would be able to explain that. We have had a lot of people defect in the past and they have not lost their positions because the Constitution provides a caveat for such happening. I'm sure the professionals would properly interpret the law really.

What is your own position on that. Should their seats be declared vacant since they were elected on political parties platforms?

I have answered it before. I said professionals would be able to interpret the law. I'm aware that under the law, when you defect, you lose your position. However, there are caveats. For instance, if your party is in crisis, you are allowed to defect without losing your position. So, it is professionals that would properly interpret the law itself.

But for me, I think people should do everything possible to ensure that they work out their differences first before they even begin to think of defecting to another party.