You and some leaders of the PDP in Lagos have been accused of sell-out, which adversely affected the performance of your governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje, in the just concluded election. What is your reaction to this?
I did not work against the interest of the PDP, but that does not mean that I should work for someone who does not need me. I will not work for someone who does not need me. We brought Jimi Agbaje into the party (in 2015) and we thought that we were going to work together as a family, friends and brothers. I personally championed bringing him in and everybody accepted him and we worked for him. We toiled day and night; we showered him with love, affection and used all our lean resources to give him maximum support to win the party’s ticket which (Ambassador) Musliu Obanikoro would have taken at that time without any sweat.
We saw Agbaje as a gentleman, but looks could be very deceptive. I do not want to start qualifying someone I once loved from my heart until I discovered the kind of character he is. Elder statesmen in Yoruba land intervened in the matter because they saw it coming. I was the chairman of the party then and I know what it is to run a party. Someone just joined the party a few months before the 2015 elections and we did our best. After the governorship election, he went to contest the national chairmanship of the party. Was that right? When we were campaigning for Chief Bode George for the party’s chairmanship slot, we called Agbaje to several meetings; we did not know he had his own agenda. Respect is reciprocal. He succeeded in taking away the chairmanship position from the South-West. Read more
