Rotimi Akeredolu is a chieftain of the All Progressives Party (APC). He was the gubernatorial candidate of the then ACN in the last governorship election in Ondo State. The recently concluded general elections were particularly interesting in his state. Buhari had a landslide victory but the APC could not take over the state’s House of Assembly. In this interview with Femi Odere, the legal luminary shed light on why the party was unable to upset the PDP and other issues. Excerpts:
Nigerians‘ expectations for Buhari’s government are huge. How can these expectations be met vis-à-vis the reality on the ground based on the society’s socio-economic underpinnings?
There’s no doubting the fact that the people’s expectations are very high. And there are reasons for them to have very high hopes. They’ve invested in Buhari’s election and they want to reap the dividends of that investment in terms of good governance. But the reality on ground is clear to all of us that Buhari’s government might not be able to meet their expectations in the short run because of the plundering that have gone on for so long in our economy. We cannot run away from the fact that our finances today are at ground zero. Because of this, and short of a miracle, there’s not much that anybody can do. You need time to plug holes here and there and correct things. Things have really gone bad. I believe that when Buhari’s government comes to power, it will be honest with the people. Buhari’s government will show the Nigerian people the stark reality on ground and let them know that they’re going to work at these problems. But it will take time before they start reaping the work that we are going to do. The people would be able to see what the Buhari government will have to contend with before turning the country around. You can see that the price of oil—which is our primary income earner—is about half of what it used to be less than a year ago. Don’t forget that Buhari, who will come in May, must still operate a budget put in place by President Goodluck Jonathan. His own budget will not come on steam until this present one ends in December. The expectations are high. They will be met. But it cannot be in the short run.
Let me play the devil’s advocate here. Let’s assume that you’re the government and I am the Nigerian public. What if I tell you that you’re making another attempt to prepare me once again for another round of excuses that I have heard before from previous governments? What if I tell you that I am simply not ready for any more excuses? What will be your response?
My response will be to urge you to face the reality. Look, a destruction of 16 years cannot be mended in two years. It’s not possible. This destruction has gone on for many years. Anyone that tells you that you will get a reprieve in a year is not being frank with you. I will implore you to watch my lips and the things I am doing and see how I progress. For as long as I am being honest with you, for as long as you do not see me as saying one thing and doing a completely different thing, you see that I am transparent. It’s not that you see me amassing wealth. It’s not that you always see my hands in the till and feathering my own nest. If these are not the issues and you see me working at the problems honestly, I am sure you will appreciate it. It’s not just giving excuses.
I hope you’ll agree with me that the judiciary is as bad as the Nigerian nation. It’s not an institution that is completely devoid of societal vices. If we’re talking about corruption, the judiciary is also a repository of this vice. If we’re concerned about impunity, it also thrives in the judiciary. The rot in the government also has a comfortable home in the judiciary. Can the judiciary be reformed?
You do not divorce any institution from the society in which it operates. Unfortunately, a number of things that affects society also affect the judiciary. Yes, I agree that there’re lots of things that needs to be done about the judiciary. The first thing is for us to have introspection about our judicial system. We need to sit up, between whoever is appointed as the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Chief Judges of the various High Courts and the Bar Associations—most importantly—and say let us put a stop to all appointments. Let us sit down and have a stakeholders’ conference to discuss those things that are wrong with us.
We cannot talk about the judiciary and all its problems without talking about the legislative arm of government because it’s the laws that they make that the judiciary interprets. How do you rate the quality and effectiveness of the laws made by the legislative arm of government?
I pity the legislative arm of government. But I pity the Houses of Assembly more which are in most cases castrated by their various governors. They’re a pitiful sight. I pity the National Assembly because of all the inadequacies of the executive branch which are clear to all of us, they have concentrated more on oversight functions than on legislation. You hear them more when it comes to their oversight functions because they make noise about inviting some Director or Minister to do some explaining. That’s all they do. If you have a disciplined executive, there would not have been much running up and down in the name of doing oversight and looking for faults and so on. They would have had more opportunities of concentrating on legislation. Probably more than 70 percent of the bills that the National Assembly passed in 16 years are Executive bills. I do not see why any of our legislators should have anything less than two lawyers working for him or her. They must employ a minimum of two legislative assistants who’re lawyers, who would help in drafting and preparing bills for them.
The general elections in your home state were particularly interesting. Governor Mimiko was routed despite being Jonathan’s South-West coordinator in the presidential election. But the House of Assembly election was in the reverse. What happened?
The March 28th presidential election was principally and in all honesty propelled by Buhari’s name. People were ready to fight for a change and were committed to that change. They came all out to vote. They were going to fight intimidation and they did. So, they did it effectively because they were convinced that there must be change. The April 11th election was a different thing. You would find out that the turnout was low because the people did not feel too concerned about it. There was not much commitment like they had for Buhari’s election. That was what happened. More importantly, a lot of money was spent by the governor to turn the April 11th election in his favour. Since people did not come out much and they were not ready to fight and people were ready to take money, the House of Assembly election turned out the way it did. Money and lack of interest played a major role in the April 11th election. That was what caused the reversal. Again, let’s face it, contestants in the Assembly election are known in their communities. It then became who was the most popular in his community among the contestants from the various parties. These people were able to reach their own people in their own ways better than anybody could reach these same people for Buhari or Jonathan.
You were the gubernatorial candidate of the then ACN in the state’s election. That election was yours to lose because you and the party had a lot of momentum. People defected into your party. But suddenly, the election turned against you. In retrospect, what caused you to lose that election?
I do not agree with you that there were defections. There were people who came into the party mainly for a purpose and when they couldn’t realize their purpose they left. There were many who did not fully integrate into the party. They were neither here nor there. I have said it severally that ACN then made a big impact in that governorship election. Prior to that election, the party could not have scored 30,000 votes, but after those of us who’re stakeholders of the party in the state went round to canvass for votes we had well over 130,000 votes. To me, that was an improvement. It was a great improvement and we should not dismiss it with a wave of the hand. There’re mistakes made, no doubt. These were mistakes and miscalculations in terms of our preparation for the election. I want to believe that we did not properly accommodate our agents in that election. Our failure to do that left the polling booths open for the Labour Party to carry out their rigging. You needed people to man the polling booths. But the way we handled the preparations of our agents was nothing to write home about. Again, we were faced with what I would call modern day rigging—technologically speaking. This is a situation where they had injected into the voters’ register close to 160,000 voters and virtually those whose names were injected claimed to have voted because their names were ticked that they voted. But again our people are pauperized. Somebody said before the election that except there’s no poverty in the land that Labour would not win. Even in my polling unit, people were given N2, 000 to vote. It was a rigging done in collusion with INEC itself and there was nothing anybody could do.
The conventional wisdom adduced to your failure was that you’re not a professional politician. Now that another governorship election is drawing near in the state, is it safe to say that your participation in the race then was a one off or are you in this for the long haul?
I am in it for the long haul. I am not only going to run but I am going to win. I never had any doubt about the fact that I would be governor of Ondo State come 2017 and I have no doubt about it. The accusation then would no longer hold water. Nobody is a born politician. Because some people contested an election and won did not make them professional politicians. People came from various professional fields to contest for elections. That does not make them politicians. All of us have our first time. I have been in it for over four years now. So, that accusation would no longer be tenable. I think I am known. I think the people accept me. I know that with God on my side I am in it for the long haul. I will run and I am going to win.
