With 10 days to the August 9 gubernatorial election in Osun State, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Dr. Kunle Oyeyemi, has expressed confidence that the poll would not end up like the June 21 poll in Ekiti. He spoke with ADESOJI ADENIYI.
How would you describe the decision of Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State to concede victory to his opponent in the just concluded governorship poll whereas his party is challenging the election in court?
I think that immediately Fayemi came out to concede to Fayose, the first thing that occurred to me was that his announcement was too quick and too soon. And that time I was wondering whether he had consulted with the party, both at the state and national levels before he conceded victory. I would have thought that somebody like him would have widely consulted before he took a position that look like a terminal decision. So, I think it was too soon and I am not surprised by the position of the party at this point in time which suggests that there was no consultation between Fayemi and the party, otherwise the party would not have backed out or withdraw any support they gave him to go ahead and concede. It was too soon and I don’t think the election was as free as people say it was.
What is your thinking on the cry in some quarters that the election was militarized and over policed?
I think I can understand where they are coming from, from peace-keeping perspective, attempting to keep peace during the election. But there is a clear difference between keeping peace and intimidating voters. I think it has gone beyond the level of keeping the peace. It seemed to me that they have used the soldiers to intimidate people. I may even assume that this would have affected the number of people that would have voted on that day, whether on the side of Fayose or Fayemi.
Could it be said that preventing some All Progressives Congress governors and national leaders from participating in a mega rally of the party two days to the election had a negative impact on the poll as some would want the people to believe?
That actually support the point I made early on. If the ordinary citizens see the treatment the military and the police gave dignitaries like governors and others on that day you can imagine what they would think the police and the military would do to them. So, that might be the reason for some people not to come out to vote. This might have affected the election in some ways, though some people said the turnout was large and encouraging but regardless of what the turnout was we cannot say it has not reduced the number that ought to participate in the poll.
It is generally accepted that Fayemi performed well yet he lost the election, does it mean performance could no longer guarantee re-election of political office holders?
I think this is pointing to a serious problem in our polity. And this is the more reason why the APC in particular needs to study critically this case. The reason why I said so is that if this had happened in another state and not Ekiti I would probably have looked at it differently. Ekiti State is known to be populated by educated people. People that are expected to have the capacity to separate sentiments from substance. I don’t see Ekiti throwing away somebody who has delivered all his electoral promises, that has been adjudged and acknowledged to be a performer, for somebody else simply because some are saying that other was popular. But remember that this same person was once in office and was thrown out because people were not satisfied with him. And if he was popular as we are being made to believe how come he lost the senatorial election in 2011? And this was even a small election. Why was the popularity they now claim he has not there in 2011? And if it is true that he was more popular than Fayemi, does the margin truly reflect the popularity? I still strongly believe that the result of the election did not reflect Fayose’s acclaimed popularity. I think it was something else beyond what the ordinary eyes could see. And this is the area in which I think this election need to be studied because one cannot just take it on the face value and conclude that the election was free, fair and transparent.
Still on the result of the Ekiti election, would you say an average eligible voter is informed enough to know what to look for in candidates before casting his vote?
In terms of percentage of literacy in the country I think Ekiti tops the list. So if you want people to make informed decisions you expect this more from Ekiti State. If you expect voters to vote objectively, put sentiments aside, you should expect more of that in Ekiti State. But unfortunately, this election did not reflect that. And this is one of the reasons why I think the votes do not reflect the wish of the people. I think the election had a lot to do with scientific rigging that I may not be able to substantiate readily. And this is giving us the concern that we cannot afford to go to sleep and assume that the INEC has achieved the standard to expect in future elections. And with this I am a bit worried because I don’t want this to affect the Osun State governorship election. I don’t want the APC to go to sleep and believe that the INEC has reached a satisfactory standard, to believe that things will go well during the election. I know Osun is different from Ekiti but I still don’t want the APC in Osun to go to sleep. The people of Osun should not allow what happen in Ekiti to happen in their state.
All the same, do you see the bandwagon effect of what happened in Ekiti repeating itself in Osun governorship poll on August 9?
I think it is too simplistic for people to say there are a whole lot of similarities between Osun and Ekiti States. I think the area where people see similarity is because the two states are under the APC. Also, the people consider the two governors to be performing governors. But beyond these similarities, I think the two states have distinct characteristics. A good example is to look at their voting patterns in 2011 election, where Osun was the only state in the South West that voted for Nuhu Ribadu while other states voted for Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential poll. More than this, Ekiti State is more or else homogeneous in nature, but Osun State is a little diverse in the sense that it looks more like Ondo than Ekiti. There are so many ethnic groups in Osun like Oyo, Ijesa, Igbomina, Ife and so on, just as there are Ilaje, Ikale, Ijaw, Akoko and so on in Ondo. But Ekiti is homogenous; every part of the state is Ekiti. In Osun State theses different ethnic groups do not go the same direction. So it is not easy to compare Ekiti and Osun in this regard. And more over, the last Ekiti election has energised some people in Osun. It has made a lot of people to be more determined, vigilant and ready to return to their base to do a thorough home work. I know there are some who are also demoralised as result of the last Ekiti election because it was taken for granted that the APC would win the poll. But a lot more people are more determined to ensure that the Osun election does not go the Ekiti way.
What is your opinion on Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s allegation that the Federal Government was plotting to cripple Osun state financially ahead of the August 9 poll in order to pitch the people against his government?
I think the Federal Government already has a pattern of doing that. The reason why it is critical to Osun State alone is because the state has an election coming up which is very close by. And any attempt to displease the citizens of the state, especially workers can make them turn their anger towards the state government and this is what the Federal Government thinks will be an advantage for the PDP. I will recall the reason for Chief Bisi Akande losing the 2003 election which bordered on issue of the civil servants. The workers turned the anger on Akande and he was made to lose his re-election bid. I think it is the same card that the Federal Government wants to play now, pitch the workers and people against Aregbesola when he is no longer able to meet some of his obligations to them. They know if they can make people and the workers to be angry with Aregbesola they can definitely take their anger to the polling boots during the election.
And knowing that Aregbesola runs a people oriented programmes, the Federal Government deliberately is delaying the payment of the statutory allocation to the state to make it tough for him to make people smile.
Don’t you see the Aregbesola being in dilemma because some keeps saying he does not make the politicians happy by not sharing the fund as it used to be but rather he embarks on massive developmental projects?
This is a very serious issue. So, assuming the government decided to be sharing whatever little money it has among the party supporters as against continuing with revitalising the decayed or nonexistent infrastructure that has now ushered in new development to the benefit of the people, I think it would be a mistake for government to do that. There can never be any amount of money to be shared among the political elite that would be enough. The more, the government share for them the more they demand. So I think the most reasonable thing is what Aregbesola has done by improving the lot of the majority which shows that he is working in the best interest of the people and this should not be a sin but a source of strength to count in a positive way for him.
As the August 9 poll approaches, it seems the Aregbesola administration is constrained to enforce some of the traffic, environmental and other laws in order not to incur the wrath of the people. What is the implication of this?
No, this is not true. This government will not shy away from enforcing any of its laws under any guise. Anyone that may want to challenge the government by committing crimes and think it will get way should have a re-think. Whoever commits crimes deliberately and think government would not enforce the relevant laws will have himself to blame.
