Hon. Ranti Adebisi is the Chairman of the Ekiti State Local Government Service Commission. The All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial aspirant in Ekiti North District spoke with EMMANUEL OLADESU and RAYMOND MORDI on his ambition, the transition in Ekiti and implications for the APC’s future.
Why do you want to go to the Senate?
Ekiti North Senatorial District comprises of 11 councils. It used to be five local governments, but with the creation of additional Local Council Development Areas, the number has increased to 11. Ekiti North Senatorial District also comprises of two federal constituencies-the Oye-Ikole Federal Constituency I and Moba-Ido/Osi-Ilejemeje Federal constituency II. Currently, the incumbent senator is from Ido/Osi Local Government and we have never had a senator from Ikole Local Government, which is where I come from. Ikole local Government is the largest the local governments in the senatorial district. The last senator from that area was in the 1950s, which was before I was born. Apart from the fact it is our turn to produce the next senator, I believe that I am a grassroots person and I have worked diligently well. I have been a progressive since I came into politics. I was once a governorship aspirant in the state; I contested for the governorship with the incumbent governor at the primary level. The moment Dr. Kayode Fayemi was picked as the party’s candidate, other aspirants defected to other political parties. I was the only governorship aspirant that remained in the party, out of the 16 of us that contested.
What is the greatest problem facing the people of your constituency?
It is lack of good representation. In spite of the various levels of representation, Tip O’Neill, former United States Speaker, said all politics are local. That is, you have to come down to the grassroots. What we have now, is what I would call an elitist representation that does not really work with the people. We have a senator in the Red Chamber that is very articulate, like an average Ekiti man. When you have a senator representing the people who only appears during the electioneering season, then, it is no longer representation.
We are lacking a lot of federal presence in our senatorial district. I’m hoping that with my exposure, and with the level of interaction that I would be able to create at the national level, I would be able to bring federal presence.
The result of the June 21 governorship election shocked many Nigerians. Are you not afraid of a bandwagon effect in next year’s elections?
There is nothing like bandwagon effect in Ekiti right now. Yes, the result was very shocking, but I’m on ground. That is one of the reasons why we’re asking for a level-playing field for all aspirants to come out, if they are sure of themselves. For me, my popularity cuts across political parties. I’m a household name in Ekiti State. When it comes to what happened on June 21, many people are thinking it was against our party, the APC. But, it is not necessarily so. Governor Kayode Fayemi has performed creditably well, in terms of infrastructural development. We were hearing all these new coinages such as stomach infrastructure. It’s an insult to Ekiti people and those of us in the APC believe that we still have a firm grip of the political terrain in that state and we are not afraid of contesting. There is nothing like bandwagon effect in Ekiti politics. The politics in Ekiti now is the politics of personality. Ayodele Fayose won the election not because he belonged to the PDP. He supposedly won the election because he could identify with the grassroots. Many people have been questioning why our governor conceded the election. We are actually working on our party congress right now. You will be surprised to see the overwhelming enthusiasm from our members. You may be forced to ask, is this a party that just lost an election? But, I would tell you that we never believed we lost an election. We lost the election on technical grounds, which we are going to unravel in the next few weeks.
How would APC members, including those holding offices, work harmoniously with a governor who is from another party?
We are all stakeholders in Ekiti project. Our political system is evolving. Gradually, we would start maturing in our democratic process. For instance, the office that I hold presently, the chairman, Ekiti Local Government Service Commission, has tenure. That means I’m not going with the governor on October 16. Don’t forget, we have a majority in the House of Assembly, which has 25 APC members to one PDP member. So, it might be an opportunity for us to test the constitution. For those of us in the various commissions in Ekiti State, whose tenure has not expired, I believe we can work with the incoming administration because what matters is Ekiti; we are all stakeholders. We would have to work with each other, whether we like it or not.
What is the assurance that some members of the House of Assembly would not defect to the PDP?
Well, I will give them the benefit of doubt. It is true, even when there is no crisis; people are defecting on daily basis in Nigeria. It is part of the teething problems we are having in our democratic process. Gradually, things would start changing, but the various parties in the country need to start working on ideological principles. That way, we would begin to see the difference between the APC and the PDP, and the progressives and the conservatives. The way things are now, you will see many progressives in the PDP and many conservative elements in the APC. Very soon, water would find its level.
What have you done to deserve the position of a senator?
Well, in my senatorial district, even beyond my senatorial district, I have done so much, working with the grassroots, helping the jobless people and assisting those people who have problem paying their tuition fees. I’m a software engineer by profession. I have trained many people in the areas of developing software programmes. With my performance in the local government system, I have made a mark. When I came on board, the whole system was in shambles. My workers see me as the man who has come to revive the system. I pride myself as the only chairman since the creation of Ekiti State that has always been in his office every day. Most of the previous chairmen were coming on part-time basis, even though they were full-time chairmen. Within 15 months, I have been able to clear the backlog of promotion arrears for 10 years. I conducted promotion examinations that people refused to participate in before I came in. Now, when I call for promotion examinations, my workers are happy. Do you know what I did to accomplish that? Before I set the promotion examination, I usually give them what I would call a seminar, prepare materials for them. The essence of the examination is not to fail them. It is test their ability to understand what is going on, the changes that are taking place within the system. Today, we have conducted more than three promotion exams within a span of 15 months, to clear the backlog. You know, Ekiti is a civil service state. We have also been able to clear the backlog of people waiting for advancement; you know when go for further studies, they expect to be elevated after their studies. We had serious crisis with the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), but today we have cordial relationship with them because of my intervention. Even with the meagre resources available to us, I introduced in-house trainings; on a monthly basis, we conduct two trainings. We have sent some of them on overseas training, which is something that has not happened before. So, we have built the confidence of the workers; people now come to work. We have eradicated ghost workers in the local government system in the state. Currently, what we are working on after the creation of the new LCDAs is the deployment of staff. Within two/three weeks of their creation, we have been able to deploy staff to the new councils. This is because we want it to stay because it is the yearnings and aspirations of Ekiti people. We have equally reached out to the communities, to make sure that these councils survive because the local government system is the closest to the people. We have made sure that the communities have taken ownership of these councils, by donating buildings, materials and money, so that they can augment whatever resources the government has for the take-off of these councils. These are some of the things that I have been able to do that has given me the confidence that I can give a good representation to my people and my party at the national level.
