As Aero and Yayi slugs it out at the tribunal, here is Aero's views..

                                                                                              

                                                                       

Segun Adewale, popularly called Aeroland, is the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, senatorial candidate for Lagos West senatorial district. He spoke to selected journalists in Lagos  on his stolen mandate and how some people are sabotaging his effort to reclaim his mandate in court.Olusegun Ariyo provide the Excerpt!

There Was an allegation that You Where robbed what really happened? 

It’s clear, we have ten local governments in our senatorial district and I won election in eight local governments but Solomon Olamilekan known as yayi was declared paradoxically.

 As am talking to you now I got the Certified True Copy, CTC, of the result that shows that I won. I scored above 372,000 votes, yayi scored I think 292,000 or so but his original result was altered and yayi was given 428,000 literally and Yayi was returned. I have gone to Tribunal but as I’m talking to you now I’ve been frustrated by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, it seems they are working in pari-pasu with the APC. The essential result that we need, the CTC copy for all the local governments that we need in court I can’t get it.

 We called INEC, we have petitioned them severally but INEC will complain that it is the local government and local government EO will say that it is the SOD leader that is withholding the document.

My time is limited. It’s Tribunal, 21 days your case is thrown out that’s the point so, I’m frustrated because without the document there’s nothing anybody can do. Imagine Ifako Ijaye Local Government, the EO refuse to give us the document, Alimosho is the same, rather they will make available documents in places that I clearly won like Ojo, Amuwo-Odofin, Ajeromi-Ifelodu, Isolo and other local governments. All those areas there results are available.

We said ok, since APC said they won me in Mushin no problem let me have the document but the document is not available. Do you know what they did the other day, the previous day we got the document of Alimosho Local Government, we got the CTC copy which I spent a lot of money. After all the money that I spent they took the document to the legal officer for him to sign and bring back to me, do you know what the legal  officer said? That we should come back the next day, and where he didn’t  give us the CTC copy again. When we came back the next day, the legal  officer was now trying to make photocopy of a photocopied CTC copy.

By this time they have tippexed a photocopy and was now trying to make another photocopy from the photocopied one they have already tippexed to give to us. Ifako Ijaiye literately  did not give us anything, the EO refused to give us document for almost two months.

 When I got in touch with the woman who is the EO she said that all the documents are with the REC, when I got to the REC, he said no problem that they have the documents but that the woman who happened to be EO must be present to sign the document. So, since a month and half  that we have been trying to get that result?

 You rigged fine, the result was falsified no problem, but give me a copy let me go to court.

What role is your party the PDP playing here?

The party in Lagos per se, I’ll say right now is having challenges. You heard the story of the chairman of the party being removed, so we are having difficulty taking this problem to the party because right now the party is not really stable. Party members at the moment are on their own.

What efforts have you made to get this case known to INEC nationally?

I have no choice now, if we can’t get anything from INEC Lagos anytime soon, I’m taking the matter to Abuja because we have no choice. The problem we will have with Abuja INEC is that the result sent to those with card reader machine. The problem we have in my senatorial district during the presidential and National Assembly election is that over 50 per cent of voters voted manual and did not use the card reader machine. So, majority of the documents are here and not in Abuja.

 We have letters written to INEC, they will tell us we are going to see to it. There was one time we wrote and there was no response, but eventually they apologies and asked us to come and when we got there they made copies of the result of governorship election for us instead of the senatorial results.

My question here is, must everybody be a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC. There must be an opposition, somebody must be able to criticize the government. For instance in my own community, as Yayi is representing us, if I join APC who will now tell the people that Yayi is not performing or Lagos State government is not performing. That’s the reason when Yayi goes on TV campaigning, he’ll never mention the deplorable state of the senatorial district he wants to represent. Like Okokomaiko, Amuwo, Alimosho, Abaronje, even Oshodi. He’ll not talk about the area boys and girls leaving there or that the roads are bad. Let me tell you that now, that  it is on record that the 10 local governments in this senatorial district ,there is no public water, may be you have that only in Ikeja.

 I’m the only one that can go on tv and tell the public that things are not well with our senatorial district. If I join APC I cannot criticize the government. People will tell you why don’t you join APC but my answer is must everybody be in APC? Must everybody serve Tinubu? That’s the point, so I’m frustrated because an election was won, the result is there is clear and somebody altered it and write something on it and said Yayi won. I said ok no problem give me my result it is my entitlement they refused. Even yayi  who was supposed to be in court, we went  to serve him, where the bailiff went to yayi’s house and unfortunately, they didn’t allow him to even drop the document, he went to his campaign office at Aceme the same thing happened they didn’t allow the bailiff to drop the document. Now the bailiff is trying to go to his office and paste the document like a notice.

All these they are doing it to buy time. That was what happened in 2011. I won the 2011 election and the result was not announced till today. I went to court and it was the same process and my case was thrown out of court because of time. Then I went to Appeal Court, then, Dr Banire, I’m saying it now file out of time. INEC didn’t file at all because they have no case because I won the election. I went to INEC and collected all the ballot paper and I brought the ballot paper before the judge showing that I scored 1, 110,000, yayi scored 43,000 while should  yayi win?. You know what they did?they decided to kill the case by making sure that the 21 days expired. When we now went to appeal, I tabled my case, Banire filled out of time, the judge said that by Wednesday they will give judgement, on the said Wednesday the judge could not give the judgement he said his partner should read the judgement; the case was adjourned indefinitely, since 2011 till now they’ve not called us.

Next point of action

I want people at the helm of affairs to call INEC Lagos to order. INEC chairman Attahiru Jega have to call them to order because I need my documents to go to court. You see the reason INEC is doing this is because it cannot come to court which is the new rule, it is only me and APC and I need my results to prove to the judge that I won the election but they refused. What I have with me is the summary, I need to have form EC8A, EC8B and EC8C and they refused to release it.

I have been trying my best to make the challenges I’m going through public, I’ve gone to Bond FM in Ikeja GRA here and the GM didn’t allow me to talk. They said I cannot just come on air and talk. I went to LTV, you know what happened there, after speaking a little, it was controlled interview, despite that fact, the Commissioner for Information lambasted the person that brought me, right now they didn’t allow me to talk on LTV. I was on Channels, the interview was midway and I was cut off. Even when I talk with some people in print media it is never published. These are the issues I’m going through. I think it is a deliberate thing, even you that are here I wish you all the best.  

Are you saying INEC is colluding with APC to frustrate you?

That is it. We are calling on both the outgoing President and the incoming President-elect whom we know to be a no-nonsense man, who will not condone corruption, if the change he is preaching is genuine it has to start now. We want him Muhammadu Buhari to look into this and call the same people that is preaching change and the INEC chairman to make sure that this case is looked into.

They keep on preaching change and integrity but common result was falsified in their favour, they refuse accepting court summon and they are talking about change. So, to me it’s a paradox, there is no change anywhere that is the point, it’s just fraud.

Even in Lagos as I’m talking to you now, local government election has been postponed indefinitely since last year September and nobody is talking about it.

   

In 2011 you didn’t carry your party along while challenging your mandate at the court, you appear to be doing same again this time, do you really think you do this battle in isolation of your party?

See, at the moment our party here in Lagos is in disarray but even as PDP or APC we are one Nigeria and truly, deep down in our hearts as PDP members we believe in Buhari and we know as the incoming President he will not condone nonsense. So we are putting this to the table of Buhari to look into this and ensure things are done right so that he is not surrounded by people who will soil his name and integrity.

 This is a broad day robbery how can they prove this? So, we are taking it to the integrity of the President-elect, we will put it to American Government and British Government for the world to see that even Buhari for what he is claiming to be couldn’t even put his house in order.

What will you say about the process of the last election?

I have seen a lot of people in my party essentially complaining about what really happened in the last election but for me personally we didn’t do badly. The reason I’m saying this, although my colleagues here will not agree but I believe that if you are contesting an election and almost all your generals left and you still score about short of three million votes from the person that won the election I don’t think you have done bad.

Apart from the generals you have PDP governors that left to APC and won their states for APC. About five of them it was only Amaechi that lost his state. So, what are we talking about, to me we haven’t don’t bad at all. To me we did well, the only problem we had was the implosion inside PDP, so PDP won the election for APC. APC didn’t win us, it was PDP who won the election for them. Even in Lagos after all the rigging the difference in presidential election was less than 160,000 votes. After all the rigging the difference between Ambode and Agbaje was less than 150,000 votes. On my own after they falsified the result the difference is 52,000 votes. This is despite the fact that they have been here for the last 16 years and they brought all the billions of naira.

We fought against 67 LCDA administrators, they have about House of Representatives members, 28 House of Assembly members so what are we talking about. So we have not done poorly. They rigged the election, but for peace to reign that was the reason why President Goodluck Jonathan accepted the result.

If you remove Kano alone that’s the end. How can, about three million people registered and three million people voted, no voided votes, nobody was sick, traveled or relocated? So, for peace to reign that was why PDP decided to allow them to have it. While jubilating about six APC members died in the North now you can imagine what would have happened if they lost the election. That’s why I keep telling my colleagues that you don’t need to go to APC because PDP won the election for the APC. The reason PDP governors who won the election did what they did is South-North dichotomy, the North have got political power the South economic power.

Now, the economic and political power have been in the South almost since return to democracy since 1999 and they told Jonathan to step aside for a Northerner to be the president that was the only reason why PDP imploded. So, we won for APC, they should know they are not popular, 2.5million votes is not significant, in 2011 we won with about 12.8million votes.

But people argue 2011 has inflated figures unlike 2015 which had card reader?

Ok accepted there was inflated result in 2011, what about 2015? If Kano alone in 2015 had  three million registered voters what was the difference? The 2.5million votes they won us with is not significant. I’m saying that contrary to the saying that the people that worked with President Jonathan didn’t try, they tried, thought Mu’zu has his own problem, but I’m talking about generally, if the election was rigged in favour of the APC. Card reader machine, I was the one on Channels tv saying that the card reader machine was a fraud at the end of the day what happened, it didn’t work.

After they called from Abuja that if the card reader didn’t work that people should vote manually 2pm of the same day of election, with that alone the election aught to be cancelled but Jonathan allowed it to go. Meanwhile, in 2011 when about less than five per cent of particular area could not get electoral materials it was postponed till a week but this one, it was allowed to continue because Jonathan felt that any attempt to shift the election again there will be problem. Jega, APC and many people said card reader will work. I voted manually around 4:30. A lot of people who wanted to vote in some areas didn’t even see their names. I had an interview on that same day with AIT and said even if I win this election which I know I did that I wouldn’t even mind having a re-run because the election was free but not fair. I said it on AIT on that same day.

I went to talk to my people that nobody should leave to join APC because the PDP is still intact, look in 2019 any attempt for us to bring a Northerner as our presidential candidate that’s the end, the block vote in the North will be divided. Let me tell you even the two governors in the North who stayed back in the PDP voted and showed their cards that they voted for APC. The two of them also won their states for APC. When you add those two states plus the other four that will be six, remove just two states from the difference APC won us with, you discover they didn’t win the election. It was PDP that won the election for them. But because our President is a peace loving President who wants peace to reign, you know he keeps on saying that his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.

I didn’t really understand until when I saw Kano result, I mean it was impossible for you to have such figure and the President didn’t say anything. He allowed everything to be, so if the President didn’t say anything we the followers have nothing to say for peace to reign in Nigeria. Don’t also forget that the Americans predicted that in 2015 Nigeria will be no more, that’s the reason he allowed it to go. APC didn’t win the election. Forget rigging or not the difference of two million five was not significant for APC to win.

The difference of election between APC and South West was not up to 500,000.

What we are saying is if the President had led a good example by conceding victory to Buhari in good faith, let Buhari not sit back and allow daylight robbery to be done to the good people of Lagos State. A certified true copy from INEC in our senatorial district showed yayi scoring 294612 which was stroked out and replaced with 429875, how can they explain it? Now we are lodging a forensic inquiry into this and we are calling on the President-elect to leave everything aside and call for forensic inquiry into this, this will make the good people of Lagos West senatorial district see him as an agent of change as they claim. We want him to call on yayi to allow court serve him notice and meet us in court if he truly won the election.

Are you  seeing Buhari bringing any change?

You see even if they bring an angel to come and rule Nigeria, it’s going to be the same. See the problem of Nigeria are Nigerians. We are the problem of Nigerians, there is no right, what has the President got to do with that?. People want to make money at all cost we don’t love one another, so it has to start from me and you, your staff, neighbor and that’s why I said that we have to have a reorientation where we can say ok let me love my neighbor. Let’s talk about America, every form of immorality is there in America, they don’t pray the way we pray but one thing about them is that they love each other. That’s why things get better there; things cannot get better in Nigeria until when we start loving ourselves.