Tag: Mimiko

Senator Ayo Akinyelure spokewith reporters on his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), his grudge with Governor Olusegun Mimiko and next year’s governorship poll with the crew of Newslinage in his Lagos residence last week on why he has decided to pitch his political tent with the All Progressives Congress. 

How would you describe the seventh National Assembly where you served last?

I represented Ondo Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly at the seventh assembly under Senator David Mark, the President of the Senate then. I got to the Senate through the platform of Labour Party (LP); I was democratically elected by the people of Ondo Central Senatorial District. The seventh assembly was a dynamic senate and by the grace of God, a lot of Bills were discussed and passed during the seventh assembly. As a senator representing Ondo Central Senatorial District, I made my positive impact to the people of Ondo Central Senatorial District. One of the celebrated Bills I sponsored was the “Dichotomy and Discrimination between HND and Bsc Certificates in the Public and Private Sector of Nigerian Economy”, this Bill passed through second reading in the Seventh Senate.

It was interesting because the seventh Assembly was full of many Nigerians that were democratically elected by their people, they were never bundled to the Senate by Political God Fatherism and they represented the interest of their people, particularly myself as a first term Senator.

I was made the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions; it is a Special Committee of the Senate that oversees and welcomes petitions from all the nooks and crannies of the whole Nigeria and the Petitions Committee, under my leadership made a very big difference in the lives of many Nigerians. Many Nigerians that were disengaged from service over the years were reinstated and by the grace of God that position assisted me to add value to my Constituency because I was able to sponsor more than four hundred and fifty two (452) graduates to the Federal Service through that particular Committee.

With all your laudable achievements while in the Senate, what do you think went wrong that made you lose the second term bid?

Well, I had said it earlier; I said there were some ‘coup’ plotters among the political class in Ondo Central Senatorial District who felt I was becoming too popular for them, but I believe that God’s time is the best; God has a purpose for the life of everybody. And after working against my second term bid, I still remain in the Party because my Governor has assumed the position of leadership in the party in the Southwest, though no adequate consultation with other stakeholders of the party, especially when you have a Senator and you are taking a decision to move from one political platform to another, there was no consultation until the final day, that means he believes that he can do it alone.

Despite all these things, we remain so loyal to him, especially myself but at the end of the day, they paid me back in bad coins, that is why I decided to part ways with them because my political future should not be tied to a particular person who doesn’t appreciate what I have been doing over seven years. If, for instance, as a Senator, you have a Governor who never consulted you when he wants to make political appointments, despite your loyalty; not even phone calls to ask for advice, he believes he can do it alone. All these I have witnessed over seven years now and yet, I decided to be so committed and loyal to them but at the end of the day, they paid me back in bad coins. I was never recognized at any point as a Political Stakeholder in Ondo Central.

When I realised this position, I decided that there is nothing wrong in choosing another political platform. Initially, I believed the people I had been working with and have so much loved, me but they never reciprocate the love I have for them and at a point I discovered that there was need to chose a new political platform and that is the need for my now going to All Progressives Congress (APC), with most of my followers and we are doing this without any problem, we are not quarreling with anybody and I have let them realize that we are not fighting anybody. In life, everyone has a destiny, God has destined me to become whatever I had become today; today, God has made Governor Olusegun Mimiko to became the Governor of Ondo State for two terms and we contributed to his success to be there and after getting there, he never reciprocated the gesture, he never realised that it is not his effort alone that made him to be Governor, he became Governor today through contributions from people like us but when he got there, he sees himself as ‘a boss’ that nobody can advice or consult people before he takes decisions. All well and good, we all know his term will expire next year and another political platform will have to install a new Governor in the State and by the grace of God, it will be APC and we are going to join hands to make that happen democratically under one man, one vote scenario.

What should people expect when you finally get to APC?

When a party wants to make a particular person a flag bearer to a political position they must know that he has the popularity, love of the people and a good political antecedent. So my political aspiration is that, I am going there to add value to the party, if I get there and they say Allover this is the ticket of the governor I will fly it, If they say this is the ticket for the Senate, I will fly it.

So, it is not a do or die affair and I am not desperate about any position, it’s only God that can destine you to be whatever you want to become. But I have a political agenda to go to any Political Party to add value to my People.  I have used the platform of Labour Party to serve the interest of my people in the Seventh Senate and they are all happy with me. However, the platform of PDP could not fly me to the Senate for second term because of the steps taken by Mr. Governor at the initial stage which was wrong.  Three months to last Presidential/National Assembly election, our Governor just woke up one day and said we are moving to PDP, whereas nobody was consulted at all, we decamped along with him based on our absolute loyalty to his leadership, but after decamping with him, it was quarrel and issues, we met on ground.  We met “I no go gree PDP” also known as “PDP Konigba”. We fought that battle for almost about two and half months to election; they were in court for almost two and half months to election. By the time we should start campaigning and organize ourselves for election we were in court, we couldn’t do anything because of loyalty, I followed him, I have the notion that the ‘boss is always right’. I never knew we were following him blindly. I believe ordinarily if you want to defect to other Political Party you have to consult all the leadership of your Party and even the leadership of the Party you are crossing to and you have to reach a consensus to identify the issues on ground, and how to take and share positions available.

These were never done by Mr. Governor because he believed we have done his own first and second term election for him and succeeded so, he doesn’t need to remember us National Assembly Stakeholders, who wanted to go for second term and we all lost the election gallantly because the members we met in PDP then resolved he cannot just come and become their boss without given political consideration to the people he met on ground. In fact, we were resolving issues when we were supposed to be campaigning for election.

Assuming we just stayed quietly in our Labour Party, I would be in the Senate by now as a ranking Senator and even as one of the Senate Leadership, either as a Minority or Deputy Minority Leader, representing the interest of the democratically enlightened good people of Ondo State. Such position is equivalent to being the Governor of a State, the power of appropriation vested on leadership of the Senate is enormous to add value to your State, and Mimiko didn’t even bother about it, because he has had his own second term already. If you look at his political followers today, there is no one he empowered to take over from him.

The people of Ondo State now  know that he is so unfair to us, even his Chief of Staff, Dr. Kola Ademujimi who has spent seven years in Government, how many people has he gotten jobs for in Idanre Kingdom? A self acclaimed ‘Igwe’ of Idanre Kingdom. Igwe title belongs to the Eastern part of Nigeria, so he (Dr. Ademujimi) is a foreigner in his own town. This same Chief of Staff to the Governor prevented the Owa of Idanre Kingdom, a first class paramount ruler from gaining access to see Mr. Governor in his office for seven years now. So, also he prevented all the Political elders from seeing Mr. Governor as well. These actions of his I considered unfair to Idanre people who supported Mr. Governor with overwhelming votes at election. These are some of the various issues I have with them; politics is about adding value to your people. When you are holding a position of leadership, or assuming a position of leadership or a political position, it is not you who took yourself there, it was the votes that Idanre people contributed to Mimiko that made him appoint him as his Chief of Staff.

 

He used to say that he is the one who took me to Senate and that is the point I have disagreed with him; he never got me to Senate, I fought for Senate ambition for nine and half years and within those years, Dr. Ademujimi never had a dime in my election, he only gives me bill that he is a Leader and that this is the amount we are going to spend for election, bring it and I will give him without any query on how it was spent.

That was how much I respected him and Mr. Governor but they never reciprocated the gesture, instead they were looking for my downfall. It was this same Ademujimi who said he saw my star as shinning in the Senate, yet they thought they want to disgrace me. I could remember vividly my first empowerment program that I organized for people in Ondo Central, the first of its kind, precisely on 12th of June 2012, Dr. Ademujimi mobilized thugs to disrupt it. Beneficiaries who were entitled to have cars, motorcycles, tailoring equipments etc were in disarray because they wanted to disgrace Allover, despite all their efforts to make me unpopular, I became more popular among my own people, it was also the same person (Ademujimi) who gave money to some thugs in Idanre to block and attack me in Alade and even threatened me not to come to IDANRE DAY but I have the privileged to call the Inspector General of Police in order to arrest them but if I arrest them and take them to Abuja, it is him who will go and beg Owa of Idanre Kingdom to plead with me to bring them back. I accepted all those embarrassment because I was in a ‘glass house’ and I should not throw stone. They were Jealous of my position that I am becoming too popular for them but they were not the one who created me, I have a purpose of coming to politics and that purpose is to add value to my people and that is why my agenda is SEED: Service to my People, Education, Enterprise and Development. That is what I have gone to implement at the Senate of 7th Assembly but they were never happy and I believed they are Joking because if you have good mind for your people God will certainly lift you up. So, we are going to another Political platform now and by the Grace of God, we are bringing to APC the political structures that normally win elections in Ondo State. During Mr. Governor’s second term election in those days, my colleagues in the Senate, from five States who were in Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) then said they were bringing money to come and take over Ondo State, I said ‘you people are Joking’, that we are still with Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, that ACN will not even come second, ACN will be in a distant third and that was the position, and they came third after the PDP.  At that time, people still love Mimiko; they love us because we were working for them. We delivered this state totally for him on a one-man, one-vote election. So it is that platform now we want to give to the APC. The engine room of Ondo state is Ondo central and Ondo State is moving to APC and when the engine of a vehicle leaves, the remaining one cannot move anywhere, so we want to move it to the APC free of charge for the sake of the people of Ondo State to have a positive change.

As being rumored, hope not Dr. Mimiko’s senatorial ambition in 2019 scuttled your own ambition in this last election?

You see, every political leader is very ambitious, although I have heard the rumour but I have never believed that they will scuttled my going back to the Senate because they believe that I will become their leader or more relevant politically, that once they leave office in 2017 I will still be in the Senate and therefore by 2019, I will become more powerful to be removed when they are no longer in power, but they never knew the level of my loyalty. In fact, I have had it in mind to give him (Dr. Mimiko) the chance and support him in 2019 if he chooses to go the Senate then, but despite my loyalty to Dr. Mimiko and Dr. Ademujimi they still have it in mind that this guy will be difficult to remove in 2019 and let us make him politically irrelevant now, but it was a wrong decision they took. Why don’t they wait for God’s time? That is the position and they have done their worse but their worse may be the best for me because, I have a clean mind towards all of them.

What is your advice to all your followers and members of your former party, PDP?

My Advice is that, let them shine their eyes, let them go to the grassroot and see what people are saying about this administration; this administration  is not like before again, people have changed their mind. Majority of the people in Ondo Central and Ondo State in general have resolved to go to APC and there is nothing anybody can do about it. It is the people that vote, we need to listen to the voice of the people. That is why I say this political platform is no longer popular for me to fly. I let Mr. Governor realize that people that surround him are his enemies; these people have turned the Governor’s back against those that love the governor, such as people like myself and Dr. Osunyikanmi. These are people that have been serving him with one mind. There are some political appointees in the Government House who turned governor’s deaf ears to those who loved him. Then, I told Mr. Governor that he should open his doors, it is not too late to make amends but now, it is very, very too late….

(Cuts–In) What if he calls you now?

No going back because Mr. Governor and his Chief of Staff have never related with me as a Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, despite he has been sharing appointments, he has never given me any slot as a Senator, but when I call him to let him know what people are saying, he started calling me to bring my list of appointment. Even some people he gave appointments in Idanre and other places rejected his appointment because it is belated. Majority of the people that worked for his ambition are all hungry now and he is in Government House there with his caucus, enjoying themselves but I believe God has a purpose for human existence. So my advice to my followers is that they should ‘shine their eyes’ and those who loved my leadership style should follow me. They should realize that we are not fighting anybody. I have always loved Mimiko as a human being because he is my brother but the fact remains that being my brother, if you don’t love me, the best thing is to find another platform and which I have done.  All my followers and leaders in Ondo Central, they are hungry because they were never patronized with any position or contract award. People were saying Iroko! Iroko!! Iroko!!! That was yesterday but today there is nothing like Iroko again because they are not happy with him again and I told him to reconcile with these people but he never headed to my advice.

When is your official declaration to APC?

The whole Nigeria will be notified soon. I have made a press statement that I am no longer in their party (PDP). I have resigned my membership from PDP that I was lured into joining because of loyalty. I am a Labour Party Senator and people loved that platform in Ondo State. The platform delivered Mimiko twice but due to his selfish ambition, he just carried us by force to join aggrieved PDP that LP has defeated down in over 7 elections conducted since assumption of office as Governor of Ondo State as a result PDP peop;e worked against us and we all failed election at that platform. Labour Party is a progressive party in Great Britain and for that fact, we are moving en-mass to another progressive platform that will earn us success in future elections in Ondo State, by the grace of God, I declared without any equivocation.

 

Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria

Long live Ondo State

Long live ‘APC for change’

 

 

Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice represents Ondo North Senatorial District in the National Assembly. In this interview with Deputy Editor, Nation’s Capital, Yomi Odunuga, the former Director-General of the country’s airspace agency and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology recalls the intrigues that almost cost him his seat over a suspicion that he was nursing a gubernatorial ambition. He also speaks on his desire to take over from the incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his relationship with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Excerpts:

How would you describe the transformation from the Director-General of a body like the National Space Research and Development Agency to the slippery political terrain with its intrigues?

To me, it was very easy. I was serving the nation in the executive arm of government as the Director- General of National Space Research and Development Agency and after finishing my tenure, there were clamours for me to go into politics by my people. You know I am the Asiwaju of Akokoland and, of course, I thought that it was a noble request from my people and I should be humble enough to answer the call. Don’t forget that politics is at different levels. I have played university politics. At the university of Ibadan, I was the secretary of university congregation. I moved on to be the chairman of the business committee of the university senate. So, I have been in politics at that level and if you look at it, national politics is not quite different from other forms of politics, either at student union level, labour union level or at the Senate level. So, it was not very difficult for me to transit from being the Director-General of a space agency to playing my part in national politics.

You were in the Labour Party when you won the election to the senate, was there any godfather factor in your emergence?

No, I took my time to go into politics. Even when my poster was out as to my political ambition, I was not attached to any political party. I took my time to study the political parties. When I saw that the Labour Party was a new and progressive party, I decided to join the party and work with them. I had no godfather. Most of the people that formed Labour Party were young men. Governor Olusegun Mimiko is a very young man and most of his colleagues are people I interact with or people who were junior to me in age and education and some of them were even my students. So, the issue of godfatherism didn’t come up at all. Godfatherism can come in two ways: it comes either in the way of mentoring you or providing you with funds. In our case, we were even funding the party, so the issue of godfatherism did not even come in at all. I have been fortunate in the sense that I have related well with my community, with my people and even the ones in Abuja. I have been instrumental to the career development of many people from my place and the title of Asiwaju of Akoko land was in recognition of my contribution to the development of the community. You know Akoko is made of four local government areas with about 53 communities. With the Akoko people behind me and knowing full well that, in the history of senatorial elections in the Ondo Senatorial District which I belong to, Akoko only represented the Ondo North Senatorial District only once in the senate whereas in Ose and Owo, those two have represented Ondo North Senatorial District four times in the senate. So, Akoko people felt that we have four local governments and we have only had one representation whereas Ose and Owo, just two local governments have had four representations and that it was time we conceded that seat to Akoko people and so the Akoko people were in my support. The Ose people were in support of this philosophy and so it was not too much even though the PDP candidate, Dr. Bode Olajumoke, was from Ose. They gave me massive support and that made that dream a reality.

If that was the case, at what point did you decide to rebel against a party that you just spoke of in glowing terms? Or were you forced out of the party?

I was not forced out of the Labour Party. I think at a point in time, the governor felt I was ambitious and that I wanted to become governor and I was too popular. There were gossips, insinuations in the press and I took my time to tell him that ‘look, I am not interested in governorship as at now, and that he should not bother himself but he just wouldn’t believe. You know politicians are very suspicious of one another and certain things started happening and I was not happy to continue to relate to him the way we were relating and I also discovered that I was not safe; my security was becoming suspicious or questionable, so I decided to leave. It’s unfortunate and I don’t want to go into details of the treatment that was meted out to me. But one example would suffice. On a particular day like that, the governor invited us for a town hall meeting in Akure and I drove down from Abuja to attend that meeting. At the end of the meeting, I decided to pay him a courtesy call before going back to Abuja. When I got to the gate of the Government House, the Chief Security Adviser said I could not go in and I said, ‘look, you know me’ and he said; “yes, I know but you cannot go in and my decision is final because this is my constituency.”So, I said fine, I want to see the Deputy Governor. I went in and saw the deputy and I told him what happened. He was shocked. While I was narrating it to him, the Director of SSS, one Mr. Adeleke, called me and said, ‘Prof, where are you?’ I told him I was in Akure and he asked if I could come to Government House; I asked why he wanted me to come and he said they were aware of what happened at the gate and I said I was not coming. He pleaded with me to come and I left the deputy governor’s house to the governor’s house. At the governor’s house, it was just three of us, the director was apologising and I told him not to because he didn’t commit any offence. I said the CSO was rude to me and I wanted to know whether he was acting under the instruction of the governor or he acted on his own. Adeleke kept saying, ‘please it is not important, just forgive and forget’ and I told him that it was a simple thing, I said if he was acting on the instruction of the governor, no offence but he was acting on his own, then I take it as an offence and he should not apologise on his behalf. Governor Mimiko kept quiet all through. He did not say a word and so it occurred to me that he was behind it. He wanted to disgrace, embarrass me. There were other things that happened before then and I wanted him to deny this thing that I am making public. So, at that point, I said to myself, I think this party does not need me anymore. I went on my own volition to my leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and told him I wanted to join the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). He asked if I was sure and I said yes. So, we went to his room, we discussed and I told him everything that had happened. Although, almost a year earlier, he had asked me to come to ACN and I said no. So, that was how I moved to ACN and I don’t regret it.

You moved to the ACN and all hell was let loose. There was a move to remove you from the Senate because you were said to have flouted the rule as there was no internal crisis in the Labour Party when you decamped. How did you survive that plot?

First, there was internal crisis. There were two factions in Ondo and anybody denying this is not being honest to themselves. When the issue got to the Senate, the party wrote directly to the President of Senate, Senator David Mark, and he sent it to the Ethics and Privileges Committee, which was a wrong procedure. They ought to have brought it back to the Senate, somebody will read it from the Senate and from there, it is now referred to Ethics and Privileges Committee. Mark did not do that. What was going on behind the scene was that Mark had asked me to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because Labour Party and PDP were allies. He said ‘you either go back to Labour Party or you come to PDP.’ I told him I did not come to the Senate on my own, I had a mandate and my mandate was for me to go to ACN, so I cannot go to the two parties he mentioned and he said ‘no, no, I have made up my mind.’ Right there in my presence and his chief of staff, he called Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and said ‘one of my senators will be coming to you. He wants to declare for the PDP.’ So, I laughed and then the following day, I went to Tukur’s office and when he received me, he said ‘I have been told that you want to come to PDP’ and I said I did not say so. I said the Senate President said I should see him to discuss the matter. I now asked him a question. I said I left Labour Party because there was factionalisation in the party. Now, which faction of the PDP do I decamp to in Ondo State? Is it Mimiko’s PDP which is called Gbasigbe or is it Agagu’s PDP? Then he said, ‘don’t worry, we are going to reconcile everybody and I said, ‘Sir, when you have reconciled everybody, then I will think of coming back but as at now, I don’t think I can come.’ So, I left. I think the President of Senate was expecting me to come and announce at the Senate the following week that I have decamped to PDP which I didn’t do. So, I think that angered him and he asked the committee to bring the report, he presented it and he wanted somebody to second it, that’s according to the rule of the Senate. Senator Lanleyin from Oyo State was asked to second but he refused and said the petition was not properly brought before the Senate and he was not going to second it. That became an issue and I think that was the end of the report. There were underground manoeuvrings but I survived them all. I am happy that I concluded the tenure. Some opponents were so sure that I was going to be kicked out of the Senate. There were people who were rejoicing because they spent a lot of money. My governor spent a lot of money to get me out of senate but he did not succeed.

When you wanted to contest for the Senate under the Labour Party, did you consult Governor Mimiko then?

Well, I was new in politics. I didn’t see any reason why I had to consult him. My people said I should run for the Senate and it’s my people who will vote for me not the governor and I was not looking for money. In fact, he was not in support of my candidacy. He preferred another candidate who was his friend, Dr. Olu Agunloye.

Before then, Asiwaju had asked me to join the ACN but I told him I wanted to remain in labour but that I would consider that option if I find it difficult with the Labour Party. Asiwaju assured that I was not going to be given the ticket, you know he has very intelligent mercenary and he knew as at that time that Mimiko did not want to give me the ticket. It was that day that Mimiko called me and said I should come to Ondo town that he wanted to see me. So, I got to Ondo early because Mimiko said I should be there by 10. By five minutes to 10, I was there and he said, ‘you know you are my friend, you supported me when I was contesting; you supported me when I was in court. So, I have made up my mind that you will get the senate ticket.’ I told him that I had thought we were going for primaries and that my friend, Agunloye had been working and he said I should not worry. He said Dr. Agunloye would go to the House of Representatives and that he would announce it within the week. So, I thanked him. I thought it was going to be a long meeting but by 10.05, we drove back to Akure and that was how the issue of my senate ticket came about. Well, I am grateful to him because he saved me a lot of problems and extra spending during the primaries. So, I thank him for that but then, we are both helping each other because if I had decided to leave Labour Party at that point and go to the ACN, I would have won the election because the Akoko people were behind me and they wanted that seat for Akoko.

At what point did your alleged gubernatorial ambition start affecting the relationship?

Honestly, I don’t know but I started hearing rumour about the governor not being happy with me. I said, look, I don’t have any gubernatorial ambition. If I have it, I will say so but I don’t and I thought I was very close to him because I attended all his functions. I thought I was relating with him very well but I realised I was not in his inner cabinet because I was not part of the group that formed the party; so, I was mindful of that and I didn’t want to overstep my bounds. When the rumour became louder, I had to tell him that I was not after his seat and that anybody saying it is just saying it to cause confusion between the two of us and it became very bad.

Soon, Ondo will be going to the poll to elect a new governor, do you have gubernatorial ambition now?