Adeniyi Adegbonmire is a governorship aspirant in Ondo State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He spoke with reporters in Lagos on his plans for the state. Excerpts:
What is your motivation for joining the Ondo State governorship race?
Quite apart from Lagos, the richest Southwestern state, in terms of mineral resources, human capital and opportunities is Ondo. Ondo has no basis for not paying salaries, if its resources are being properly managed and properly deployed and unfortunately, we have not done that and my attitude to it is that government must be run like a business, but a business that does not make profit, because if you go into governance and say you want to make profit, then, you never going to do anything but you must run it like a business; in other words in effective and efficient manner in the sense that every five kobo that you put to it there is a goal to be achieved. Effectively in the sense that you ensure that whatever you do is geared towards development.
Let take, for example; I have looked at Ondo State; what have we done in the last six, seven years? We have taken money from FAC because we are an oil-producing state. so, we rely heavily on derivation. That is what we have been spending. What is the IGR of Ondo State? It can’t even pay salaries. But, does Ondo State have the potential to do so? The answer is yes. We have got oil, we got bitumen, we have got cocoa, we got timber, we got cashew, we got cassava; name any cash crop; it grows in Ondo State.
So, why has anybody not sat down to say how do I generate enough IGR so that, at least, from your IGR, you are able to pay your salaries? And what comes from FAC is for development purposes and that is what Lagos State is doing. What you should be doing is to sit back and look for opportunities to increase revenue.
How do you intend to go about the party primary?
Even if in the APC we have 100 aspirants, there will just be one governor. And why does the APC have so many? It is because it is the platform that offers an alternative. For me, there are only two parties that can present candidates in Ondo State and they are the PDP and the APC. The PDP is shut. And why do I say so? It is because whoever will run on the platform of the PDP must have the backing of the present governor, except we are deceiving ourselves. The only platform that is open is the APC. So, you have people coming to it. My duty is to sell myself to the delegates that I have what it takes to win victory for the party.
What do you consider as your selling points?
I am in the APC, not because of any personal gains, but because I believe in the ideology that the APC preaches for which I have always subscribed to. Then, I bring youth into governance. And like I said, governance must be run like an efficient company, but one that is not geared towards making profit and people of my age think government should be run that way.
What is your take on zoning as being projected by some aspirants?
Coming to the issue of zoning, my party has said several times that there will be no zoning, that everybody should go into the primary. This issue of zoning, I have always said it is a latter day introduction into the political space of Ondo State. If there was zoning in Ondo State, some of the people who were governors would not have been governors. People to agitate it should be the South and the Central, but I don’t believe in that. My party said no zoning. Let the best person win.
Do you think you have the chance to win?
My answer is yes.
Why?
Like I said before, I bring youth, to the race. I don’t have baggage and I come from an exceedingly respected political family. My father was a politician from 1952. You ask people who have interacted with me as a lawyer, I am straightforward person and I am very honest, even if I say it myself. I have also gone round the state and I don’t know any aspirant that is not taking Adeniyi Adegbonmire seriously.
Who is your godfather figure?
My godfather is God himself because with God all things are possible. That is my answer to that.
What is your relationship with the leadership of the party and do you really trust the leadership of the party?
I am sure all of you have followed the Republican primary. They say Donald Trump is the presumed party candidate. The party leaders say we don’t want Donald Trump and they have been working against him openly.
Any aspirant that says he is disengaging himself from the party leadership is not a party man and it is a dangerous trend because where you have a governor that doesn’t believe in the party supremacy, it would be difficult to pull back such governor when errors are being committed. So, I subscribe to party leadership.