Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), President Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) is the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State.
In this interview with select journalists in Lagos, he says Governor Segun Mimiko will not be helped by the incumbency factor, as the people are resolved to vote him out. Deputy Editor (News) ADENIYI ADESINA and Group Political Editor Bolade Omonijo were there.
How do you hope to successfully challenge the incumbency factor considering the performance of ACN in the 2011 general election which was not quite impressive in the state?
The performance of ACN in the last general election was actually determined by many factors. I concede that ACN did not do well in the election. But when you ask people, they will readily tell you that there was a belief that there was an understanding between the ACN and Labour Party. Many of those who voted Mimiko and Labour Party did so with the understanding that both parties are the same. But it was a matter of time before they all knew he was never part of them. In fact, he is PDP to the core and that is where he is going to end up at the end. So, we can all imagine the fortune of a party whose supporters went around with the assumption that both LP and ACN are the same.
But you cannot use that election to judge this one because many of the ACN members have returned to their base. The ACN has won over half of those who are in Labour and over half of those in PDP. So, I can tell you that ACN is quite formidable in Ondo State today, more than ever before.
When it comes to the issue of incumbency, I know he can out-smart all other parties put together when it comes to spending. He can spend in the rallies, campaign and giving people all sorts of things. This is because he is not spending his money but state fund. Obama cannot try it without going to jail. Cameron cannot try it. But in Nigeria, you can’t control it because there is no demarcation between an individual fund and the state fund. But we must know that the power of incumbency cannot match the resolve of the people. When people are determined, there is no amount of money you can spend to entice them. When the people were determined in Oyo, Akala left. When they were determined in Osun State, Oyinlola left and also in Ondo, when the people were determined, Agagu left for him. So, if he can oust Agagu who had all the support of the federal government at the time, so, who is Mimiko? We will run him out of Ondo State that I can assure you.
Considering the fact that you are from Ondo North, specifically, Owo which has smaller population, how do you hope to win votes from other senatorial districts of the state?
I am very sure that ACN as a party must have considered all these permutations before making a choice of a candidate from Owo. And I want to say categorically that no one is better placed than a candidate from Owo. In a state like ours, there are so many fallacies being dished out to the public and because you repeat, it seems to bring about some elements of truth. Of course, Akoko is an integral part of Ondo North Senatorial District and it has four local governments with 54 per cent voting population while Owo has two local governments areas with about 46 per cent voting strength. So, the figures are not determined by the numbers of local governments areas.
Secondly, the relationship between Owo and Akoko has always been that, if you rub my back, I will rub yours. Most times, when the governorship candidate comes from Owo, the senatorial candidate has always been from Akoko. The current senator representing Ondo North is Prof. Ajayi Borofice who hails from Akoko. He is a member of ACN. So, the choice of a governorship candidate from Owo is just to balance the relationship that has often existed between the two Today, Akoko people will say “we are sure that ACN will win Akoko but our problem is Owo.” So, the Akoko people are solidly behind ACN and they are supporting our candidature.
Concerning the central senatorial zone, with all apologies to my campaign director, that senatorial zone is like a pool. We have Owo people there and Akoko, people from the south senatorial zone among others. I remember we once joked that if you remove the population of other senatorial zone from Akure in particular, that is when they will know that there are more non-indigenes in Akure than the indigenes. Of course, the figure in central is large but it is not just for the indigenes of the senatorial zone, it also comprises those from other senatorial zones.
And when it comes to the South, yes, Olusola Oke is from the place and luckily for us, our deputy governorship candidate is also from the area and he belongs to the largest ethnic group there, I mean the Ikales who are much populated than the Ilaje where Oke hails from. So, when you look at it, you will discover that a lot of balancing is already in place. And again, Oke knows that the race is actually between two persons. I know PDP will eventually work with us. Of course, we have always worked together because we both have one agenda and that is to get Mimiko out of that seat. When we meet at rallies, we joke, drink together and we often tell each other that the important thing is that Mimiko leaves that seat.
Recently, the governor alleged that illegal registration of voters is being carried out by your party and the INEC chairman also confirmed that illegal registration is going on in Ondo State though he refused to mention any party; what is your view on it?
Well, we are not in government. So, we couldn’t have been carrying out illegal registration of voters. ACN does not have the resources. We are not PDP and we are not controlling federal government. We are only controlling some states, so you will agree with me that this is a tissue of lies. So, who are the people doing the registration? Suspiciously, it should be the Labour Party. When the issue was raised, I remember INEC saying it was wrong for Ondo State government to be doing its biometric registration of the labour force at that point in time. I think that is where the suspicion came from.
The government has been there for almost four years, why has the biometric registration not taken place? So, why is it being carried out on the eve of the election? And it has also been discovered that some of those being captured are not even workers with the state government. But one thing I know is that such steps will be a futile exercise as there is no amount of rigging that will change the result of the election. INEC should be commended for what it did in Edo State and I have confidence that the result of Ondo election will be free and fair.
How do you feel, considering the fact that the incumbent governor was recently endorsed by prominent personalities like Dr Tunji Braithwaite, Dr Fredrick Fasehun and Mrs Ganiat Fawehinmi, among others?
Endorsements don’t win election. Who is Braithwaite in Ondo State politics? Nobody. Who is Fasehun in politics of Ondo State? Nobody. Yes, Ganiat Fawehinmi can ride on the goodwill of her husband, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. But I can tell you that if the husband were to be alive, he would have supported me. So, I will rather prefer having the spirit of the husband who is no more rather than that of the wife who is around.
Yes, when Chief Fawehinmi died, the governor gave him a befitting burial and we also know that he established a diagnostic centre which he named after him, even though it has just come to the notice of everybody that the centre is actually not funded by the state government but by some private investors and probably he has some interests in it.
Some people have suggested that you are not your own man…
I wish to place on record that I have always been my own man. The assumption in some quarters that I was hand-picked is not correct. I have served as Attorney General of Ondo State before and I know Ondo State very well. It is also instructive to point out that when I was a former president of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and I was championing a number of campaigns aimed at curbing government excesses, was anybody using us? So, all along, I have always been my own man at every given opportunity and at every point in time.
There is also a belief that your emergence elicited so much controversy that the party is yet to recover. How would you respond to this?
The process that produced me was fair because all the aspirants signed up to it; no exception. Every political party has its process of selection, which I believe is democratic enough. At the end of the day, some people, feel aggrieved, which I believe is normal. But we have continued to talk to them and most of them are now with us. If we have one or two who felt they must eventually go, there is nothing we can do about that. It is politics. It is personal ambition. If you chose to be governor and somebody offers you deputy governorship ticket and you go, that means you never wanted to be governor. So, for me, nobody can fault the process of my emergence, because it was thorough and we were all part of it. So, by and large, I believe the Action Congress of Nigeria that chose me has made the best choice for Ondo state ahead of the governorship election.
Your opponent, the incumbent governor, kick-started his campaign few weeks back and we all witnessed the mammoth crowd that graced the event at your home town, Owo; what will you say this portends for your chances?
The crowd you saw were people they brought from outside. People from Owo never came out. They brought in people from all the 18 local governments areas to Owo in many buses. People before us have said it, may be because the time has passed. We all know, crowd doesn’t vote. We are unperturbed because we know people are behind us. Even with the crowd that was brought to Owo, if you ask them to vote, we know that over 70 per cent of them will vote for us. You can bring people to rally. You can drive people to rally and you can more or less bribe people to come to a political campaign. They were more or less forcing people to come out. They are forcing civil servants while teachers were given numbers and at the end of the day, you gave them money. We have been out and we have seen crowd too, those who will attend rallies from 9 am till 11 pm without being given a kobo. Those are the real crowd. Those are the people we have. If you do your research in Owo, you will confirm what I’m saying and you will discover that the crowd was brought there.
Considering the fact that the governorship election is close by and your major opponent is a sitting governor, what do you think can make him lose the election?
Let me say emphatically that Mimiko has already lost the election. He can never win any election in Ondo State and that is why he is running from pillar to post. This is because he knows quite well that he has lost the forthcoming election.
How?
If you have a government that has nothing as achievement in four years, how do you expect people to vote for such government? In four years, he started one or two roads, none is completed. And I have said while I was campaigning that he can never complete any of those roads because I will be the one to complete them. I’m standing on that. Again, you have a government where the army of unemployed has increased and many of these unemployed are voters. How do you expect those people to vote for government that does not provide them with jobs?
So, you are saying the crowd does not represent the strength of the party?
Many of those you see in their rallies were there because they are forced. Some, out of inducement and some are there for sight-seeing. Some go there to collect vests and money. In the heart of the Ondo State people, Mimiko is out already. You can stay here in Lagos, watch television and start to imagine how we are going to defeat him because of the crowd you see. But I don’t have any doubt in my mind that he is going to lose. And if we are to look at it critically again, are the people of Ondo State foolish? They are not.
Oba Adesida Road has been there all the while, with street lights on it and then you remove them and put other ones. At what cost? There is no project today that he can commission except for the markets which are responsibilities of the local governments. And this is someone who has refused to conduct election at local government levels. And the markets, nobody is even going there. Just drive through Ondo State and you will see that there are no people in those markets. Some people have refused to go to the markets because they believe they are more or less rituals stuff. Of course, I don’t believe in such any way because they don’t mean anything to me.
What about the town halls?
The other one, you force people to go and be building town halls. What has the state government got to do with the building of town halls? What are the people there to do? These are what people could raise money among themselves to build. And in fact, some of these town halls are already collapsing. In Opete for instance, a side of the town hall wall has collapsed. So, the government has not achieved anything, except hardship. The economy is grounded. How do you expect people to retain it? You need to go to the state, the whole place is dry. There is no money. That is the reality people of the state are facing and many people who are not there don’t know. And that’s the reason we are confident we are going to win.
Specifically, what are your programmes for the people of the state?
We have told the people of Ondo State that we have a five-cardinal programme. This includes education, technology, agriculture, entrepreneurship and infrastructure. I have told them that I have absolute commitment to the rural areas and our farmers will have cause to smile and that is why they are with me.
As part of other things we will do when we get there, we will improve our IGR. This not going to be by tax but by ensuring we increase the number of places where we generate money into the coffers of the state government. And I’m very sure many people will be happy to pay their taxes. On the issue of surplus bitumen in the state, even if it is too much for just a state, about six to seven states can come together and run a company that will take care of it. We will jointly invest in it and we will still make our money because we are going to involve other people there. Our investment will be larger and investors will be happy to participate.
Share with us your programmes for education?
Education will take the chunk of our resources when we get there. This is because it will be made free from primary to secondary level. At university level, we will give scholarships. But such scholarship will not be limited to those who have Second Class (Upper) because that is what is obtainable now and I think it is not right. You may not be brilliant and your parents may not have the means to sponsor your education.
Also we will ensure that bursaries are paid when due to indigent students. We will also support those who are in law schools and it will be more than the N25, 000 they are being given now.
The role of first ladies has been abused in recent times; if you eventually emerge, what role will your wife be playing?
It’s quite unfortunate that my wife is not here. But I can tell you that I’m married to a person that is highly political. She is somebody who does not believe in wasting people’s resources. So, we are going to have a first lady who is not going to waste people’s resources. I know that for sure. She runs a non-governmental organisation that addresses women issues. She is the President of Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BECAN). She already has an idea of what to do. It is not that when she gets there that she will start thinking of what to do. I’m sure her programme may include “let us all jug for a week. Let’s have breast cancer examination for all women”, among others.
