Tag: Oke

Alliance for Democracy (AD) candidate in the November 26 Ondo State governorship election Chief Olusola Oke, in this interview with DAMISI OJO, speaks on his plans, chances and preparaions for the poll.

What inspired you to join the Ondo State governorship race?

I contested in 2012 to be governor. There were good reasons for me to contest then. These reasons have only multiplied, they have increased, expanded and therefore, so long as those conditions are still prevailing and multiplying, I will be failing in my responsibilities not to come out at this time.

And what are these? Ondo State is a state generously loved by God.If we look at the resources available to us, we should be leading; a shining example to others in Nigeria.

Ondo state has the largest rich human resources, they are all there but we are not doing well.

A critical assessment of Ondo State today would show that the people of Ondo State are poor. They are not poor in their heads but in their pockets. And I have come to appreciate that over time that poverty of the pocket could also affect the poverty of the head.

If you traverse the entire landscape of Ondo State today; you cannot find one industry that is producing anything. The concomitant effect of that is that employment cannot be generated anywhere. Government has come to a standstill in terms of the employment of its citizens.

How would you tackle these problems if voted into office?

We need to diversify our economy to be able to get our citizens engaged.

I believe that given the opportunity to be the governor of Ondo State, I can start to re-direct the development of the state. And the starting point will be to examine what is on ground. I already have the database on what is on ground; how do we utilize what we have to solve the problems confronting us? Look at the various industries mid-wifed by the last regime which are in different and varying stages of completion that were abandoned. For whatever justification, I do not share the view that those resources should be allowed to waste away. If they are completed, not only would they add value of their own that can be disposed off at anytime for consideration, they will help in solving the problem of unemployment; they will help in creating wealth for our people; they will help in adding value to the communities where they are situated.

I believe further that anyone who must lead Ondo State at this crucial period must have the fear of God, must be one that is well known to the people and that knows the length and breadth of the state, and I fit into these descriptions.

That is why I cannot relent until we sing a new song in Ondo State; until we have a new lease of life; until we have a new sense of direction; that is only when I can say okay, let others run. For now, it is a man that fits my description that Ondo State needs.

What feedback have you been getting from the people?

The aggregate opinion of the people of Ondo State is that  they want a change that will bring about creation of wealth.

The people want reduction in poverty level; they want job opportunities; they want infrastructural decay to be addressed. They want our schools to wear good look; they want the transport sector to be organized and less chaotic as it is today; they want the coastline resources to be developed and exploited. They want those abandoned industries to come back on stream. So the desire of the people of Ondo State fits into my dream, it fits into my manifestoe and we are on the same page as to the Ondo we desire and deserve.

How do you hope to achieve all of these lofty ideas and projects if elected?

We are not unaware that the economy is in bad shape and Ondo State is worse for it. And of course, it has to be so, when we had enough we never build a solid foundation for the future. Lagos State is said to be the fifth largest economy in Africa today because while there was abundance, preparation was made for the future. We didn’t prepare and now we have been caught unaware and therefore, we need a lot of vision to be able to bring about all the good things I have said.

First, the major problem is debt burden. I may not be able to be too specific but I am told and I readily believe that we are down with over N108billion indebtedness in Ondo State. That is a major challenge to the incoming government. But government liabilities are valid assets. Government assets and liabilities are valid assets; no government can take asset and run away from liabilities. But the way to manage it and reduce the effect on what we are doing is to go back to the negotiation table and reschedule some of those debts. Not in terms of the avoidance of liabilities but to give space so that the amount committed to servicing the debt can be reduced and whatever you get from there can be ploughed back to face the challenges of government.

Two, we have a lot of assets that are wasting away. The various industries or factories started by the last administration which were nearing completion in their different stages, we should do something urgently to complete them. And then we can bring in private investors, after proper evaluation. The truth of the matter is that despite the depreciation of those assets, the state of our economy, that is, the devaluation of Naira has also helped in enhancing their value; am sure today that if they valued, we will still have a lot of funds tied down there. We can bring in private investors, value and then ratio out the equity participation of the partners and that will leave some money for government to run. They are revenue generating ventures; government will be able to get tax from workers, from some of the facilities and help government to raise more money.

How do you intend to relate with the federal government to attract dividends of democracy to the state?

That is why you need somebody like me who operated at that national level, who, therefore, will be able to leverage on his experience to synergies with other institutions; other government levels to be able to get the best for Ondo State.

What is important at this moment is to get a leader with vision, one with a sense of direction who must have a solid foundation at home upon which you want to leverage. Ondo state is part of Nigeria and good enough, I can say that with President Muhamamdu Buhari, we have a President whose politics is nationalistic and therefore the argument that I want to have a government that will not have access to the centre is not correct. Being isolate depends on the vision and direction of the leadership. I have operated at the centre for decades; therefore, I know where things happens there. It is to have the knowledge, the experience to be able to access what belongs to us; to be able to interact. Of course, I am not becoming governor of Ondo State to fight the federal government. Mine is to collaborate, to synergies with government agencies to get the best for Ondo State So what we get from there is not a question of which party you belong but a question of your vision, direction and the sincerity of purpose.

If the federal government is aware that you are running a transparent system, whatever is your right you get. Some of the time you don’t get what you are entitled to because our system are not transparent, it’s totally translucent so when they can’t see through what you are doing, even when you have a right there, you can’t access it. The moment you open your books and are accountable and transparent with what you are doing and able to assemble the egg heads in Ondo state together, you will access anything you are entitled to irrespective of whichever party you belong to.

In a nutshell, it all depends on the type of leadership in a state.

The excellence you see in Lagos was attained when it was under the suzerainty of the ACN not because it was part of the federal government controlled states. That foundation was laid a long time ago. So it’s a question of leadership really. What the leaders of Lagos state saw years ago which we didn’t see is to our chagrin today.

So if you have a man with vision, even regional collaboration would assist us to build a new Ondo State. I assure you that rather than being a minus, it will be a plus for us in Ondo State that the AD which had once ruled this state with great achievements is back on stream. Political party is just a platform to win election; performance in government is another thing entirely. It is the personality. An office is made up of the character of the man that is occupying it.

People have said that you are in the race to benefit from the crises rocking PDP and APC… What is your comment?

What is happening in the PDP and the APC as well is rather unfortunate. I am coming into this election not on the basis of calculation of crisis in any political party. I believe that I have the pedigree, my people know me, I have a vision, I have a sense of direction and I want to campaign on the basis of issues and things I can do for the people of Ondo State.

But if there is crisis within any party or all of the political parties, the advantage that I have is that I have traversed the entire political landscape across all the boundaries. So, if you are talking of the progressives, I have been there, if you are talking about a little to the right, a little to the left, I have been there also. And if you are talking about the extremes, I have also seen it all. So, I stand, even without internal crises, to benefit from these experiences over the years.

If you are talking about PDP there is no Who is Who that I don’t know and who do not know me. If you are talking about the APC, I have seen it all and therefore, I am bound to benefit from any crisis within these parties. But I am not one who will exploit any situation and therefore what is happening in PDP and even APC is to me regrettable and I urge them to find solutions to their problems. My direction is for the people of Ondo State, whether they are in PDP, whether they are in APC, whatever they are, provided they are citizens of Ondo State, I have a mission for them, I have a dream for them which I want to actualize by being their governor. Whatever good things that I hope to achieve in Ondo State when I assume as Governor is not going to be enjoyed by AD members alone but by all and sundry. If I put up a road, everybody will use it, ditto water and so on. So I am going to be the Governor of Ondo State and not governor of Alliance for Democracy.

How would you implement the free education programme you promised?

I believe wholeheartedly in free education. When I become governor, we will examine and review the prevailing situation in the state and frontally confront the challenges arising from this. Nothing should be done to take away whatever benefit we have at the moment. But we will be pragmatic about it, we wont do cosmetics; we won’t deceive our people; we won’t claim what we cannot do that we are going to do them.

How do you react to critics’ allegations that you are a desperate politician?

Those who say this are either ignorant or being mischievous. Ignorant, because they fail to know that I have been in politics for over 31 years and I have been rock steady all these years. I was a little boy during the UPN days; I came to SDP and was there throughout its lifespan. I was in UNCP throughout its lifetime too. I came into PDP; I was there for 16 years. I rose through the ranks and I became a national officer of the party. I am no doubt a beneficiary of some of the achievements of that party.

People cannot close eyes to reality. At the time I had to leave PDP, it was expedient and I had no option than to do that. All of a sudden, people with ideologies that are incompatible with my dream and vision found their ways into the PDP and hijacked the leadership. It wasn’t partnership or patriotism; it was pure hijacking of the leadership.

And I found it difficult to operate in that kind of environment. For instance, I was the indisputable foremost leader of PDP after the demise of our leader, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, but all of a sudden, the only way I will know what was happening in the party will be via terse text messages sent by one small boy to me. I was totally vanquished within the party and all it required for me was to either get out of politics or find a new platform, so I left the PDP painfully because that was a party that I built over the years; I put everything into that party. And so, I challenge anyone who found himself in that circumstance that will believe that staying put and fighting, confronting the governor, fighting the system was the answer to it. I didn’t want to heat up the polity so I left quietly. In APC, the facts are still fresh in the memory for anybody not mischievous to have forgotten. I came into the party in April, I put in everything in terms of energy, resources, time to build that party and the party was built only for us to be assured and re-assured that free, fair, transparent, credible primaries will be conducted But you all saw what became of that primary. It was the most corrupted primary I have ever witnessed in my life. It was the most perverse primary that I have ever witnessed. Delegates’ tags were sold, and people that were not delegates were allowed to vote, there was no proper accreditation and in the middle of the night, the delegates’ list was substituted.  I lost over 250 delegates in the process and so the election was compromised.

The party has its own internal mechanism for redress, I followed the due process. The appeal committee constituted by the party came up with the report sustaining all the three legs of the three allegations that they were proved before the panel. The panel therefore nullified the election. The matter went before the National Working Committee of the APC and by a decision of 6 against 5, they uphold the report of the appeal committee. Regrettably, it is a party where majority will have its say and the minority will have its way. At the end of the day, it became clear that the party cannot give to Ondo State the desired change. If the foundation is wrong you cannot put a super structure on such a corrupted foundation and therefore I cannot be part of that perfidy.

What I was assuring the people of Ondo State was a true change, a change that is devoid of corruption, manipulation and all forms of deceits. So, when I was confronted with that kind of challenging situation and of course, based on the popular demand of the people of Ondo State that at this critical time, they need a man who has vision, who has idea, who has the fear of God, who they know and who knows them well. I have traversed the entire length and breath of Ondo State six times, I know all the nooks and crannies; I know their sufferings, I am part of it, for in my existence up till now, I have been in this geographical definition of Ondo State without an exit for six months and so I am partaker in their suffering, I share their pains and joy, their aspirations and hope and I believe that I have service to render to the people of Ondo State and I will be failing in my responsibilities at this time if I maintain culpable complacency when I can do something.

When there is a challenge like this that is when a man of valour, a man of courage step forward to take charge of the affairs of men.

The myriad of problems confronting Ondo State today, I believe I can confront and reduce the level of poverty. I can bring about the good old days in Ondo State because of my experience. Therefore, it was unavoidable in the circumstance for me to offer myself for service to the people of Ondo State.

If the people now talking love me so much, and if they are not mischievous, why didn’t they allow free and fair primary, why did they think they will do perfidy and get rewarded for it? Why are they crying about my exit if they love me so much? I have exited from that perfidy, to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Ondo State. Ondo state people own me, no party owns me, I belong to the people of Ondo State, I belong to no contraption that is brought out for the purpose of ripping up the people of Ondo State. I cannot be part of that smokescreen and I have come to the conclusion that the only way  is to seek a platform where I can offer myself directly to the people and let them decide who their next governor should be in character, the quality, the vision, the direction. Nobody can deprive me; it is my fundamental right to change association; to go into association, free exist, free entry.

People would appreciate that for 31 years, I have been in politics, I have never changed platform. These are compelling circumstances that I have to respond to as a politician and as a man that has a date with history.

There is this apprehension among the electorate that there are plans to rig the election with federal might by the ruling APC?

It is not the people that are scared but the politician that are scaring them by saying that if it is only one vote that is cast, they will be declared as winner.

This is ridiculous; our electoral process has grown over time with the introduction and insistent on the use of card readers, and how much of manipulations can anybody do? I laugh at politicians who believe that this is APC primaries which they can rig with ease. We are talking of election and so this threat of “we will rig and win at all cost” is a misplaced one. I am busy campaigning out there, while they are in the comfort of their homes and offices threatening the people that they will rig.

People that want to rig election must be ready for the consequences of such. But this election is not available for rigging. Power now resides with the people; they will determine who they want. When you delude yourself believing that you can do as you like and shut the gates of mercy to mankind, the consequences are there for you.

I have examined the electoral regulations, I have examined what happened elsewhere and I have not seen how the issue of federal might has come to play.

And we have a President; we must give it to him, who does not believe in this rigging his party members are preaching.

Those who believe in snatching boxes, they should know that that belong to the past; those who think that results can be manufactured for them to write and announce will face the consequence.

I am relying on the strength of the people of the Ondo State for this election, that is why till the last day, I will relate with them. Let them come out and cast their vote and let somebody come and attempt to manipulate it. They are jokers, the concept of federal might doesn’t exist anywhere; it is an illusion.

There has been a series of intrigues, as the campaign for the November 26 governorship election in Ondo State gathers momentum. With the crisis rocking the two major parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), attention is shifting to the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Chief Olusola Oke. Correspondent DAMISI OJO looks at his chances.

AT the outset, no one gave Chief Olusola Oke, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) flag bearer in the November 26 governorship election, much chance of winning the contest. But, the crises rocking the two major parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) – may have worked in his favour, as the electorate may have no other choice but to vote for the AD candidate, to put an end to the involvement of political godfathers in Ondo politics. Oke said his determination to contest was necessitated by the injustice perpetrated by some leaders of the APC during the September 3 governorship primary.

With the hullabaloo that greeted the primary, which was marred with allegations of fraud and the inability of the party leadership to resolve the issue amicably, the party may have shot itself in the foot. The party was initially tipped to win the contest, but the misunderstanding that arose from the primary compelled Oke to dump the platform. Other major contenders, particularly Olusegun Abraham and Senator Ajayi Boroffice, may have elected to remain in the fold, but disagreement over the outcome of the primary has cast a long shadow over the campaign for the election. Abraham in particular has expressly stated that he and his supporters would not back the APC candidate in the contest. The APC, which was expected to be the beneficiary of those opposed to the style of leadership of the Olusegun Mimiko-led administration, failed to rise to the occasion with the crisis that marred its primary.

For the ruling PDP, the division appears to be deeper. At the onset, the campaign of the factional candidate, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, was riding on the crest wave of the support he enjoys from the Mimiko administration and he appeared unbeatable. But, the crisis in the party appears to have put paid to its ambition to retain the state. The division in the state chapter started when Mimiko rejoined the party from the Labour Party (LP). This was compounded by the crisis at the national level.

The old members of the party, which is labeled the ‘Konigba faction’ felt it was pay-back time, because they had been sidelined by Mimiko, teamed up with the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction at the national level to deal a heavy blow to the ambition of the other group to retain power in the state. The court ruling that recognised business mogul, Chief Jimoh Ibrahim, as the authentic flag bearer of the party, was the last straw that broke the back of the Mimiko-led group. It compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to substitute Jegede’s name with that of Ibrahim, as the candidate of the PDP for the election.

Following this development, the Mimiko-led group’s campaign for the election came to a standstill, while the ‘Konigba faction’ where Ibrahim emerged at a parallel primary in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has been making feeble attempts to get its acts together and move on with preparations for the election. Observers believe the group may not be able to make much impact in the November 26 contest, without the backing of the Mimiko-led group, which controls the party structure across the state.

With this state of affairs, all eyes are on the AD and its governorship candidate, to reap from the division in the two parties. Indeed, Oke’s candidacy appears to have injected live into the hitherto comatose party. Almost overnight, a party that had been comatose received a breath of life and its popularity has continued to soar by the day.

This development has thus put paid to the prediction that the election will be a two-horse race between the PDP and the APC. With this, a third but formidable force has thus joined the fray.

Though, there are still many gladiators in the race in other smaller political parties, but observers are of the view that they are mere lackeys in the hands of the outgoing Governor Mimiko, who was said to have surreptitiously sponsored them to serve as booster for the political aspiration of his protégé before he ran into foul weather.

Such observers say Oke has what it takes to win the Ondo election. When he joined the APC shortly after last year’s presidential election, he brought glamour to the party. He proved himself to be an astute politician. The legal practitioner did not come to the APC alone, but had joined the fold with a galaxy of his political associates and many former top government functionaries.

His political structure he built across the 18 local government areas during the 2012 election, when he flew the flag of the PDP, is still intact. With his humility and generosity, he has garnered more support from wards, local governments and at the state level.

In the last three weeks, his campaign train has been traversing the nooks and crannies of the state. Oke is believed to be one of the closest lieutenants of the late Governor Olusegun Agagu.

Having paid his dues, he is seen as the most experienced amongst those contesting for the position. According to PDP sources, owing to the differences between them politically, Mimiko would prefer another candidate but Oke to succeed him. The sources said Mimiko had blocked Oke’s appointment as the National Secretary of the PDP and that he had also prevented him from being inaugurated as the Chairman of a plum national agency, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) by President Goodluck Jonathan. These moves, they added, facilitated his being hounded out of the PDP last year. Oke was then, according to the sources, the de-facto leader of the party, after the demise of Agagu.

Mimiko is alleged to be making frantic efforts to stop Oke through other means, should his efforts at getting the Appeal Court to restore Jegede’s name as the PDP candidate fail. One of the sources said: “Indeed, there is a grand plot on the table to ensure that he (Mimiko) works with the APC to ensure that Oke never get to the exalted office. For the APC, the Oke bashing and heckling have become a pastime of sorts.

“The Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, through the Chairman, Media and Publicity, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi, has stated severally that Olusola Oke remains the major manifesto of the APC, since he came into the race under the AD platform. It had urged the Rotimi Akeredolu Campaign Organisation to face its internal crisis and the tainted mandate it carries, rather than bellyaching about Chief Oke.”

Indeed, the AD had only last Tuesday cried out over a sinister plan by the APC and some unnamed cabal in the Presidency to stop Oke from contesting, because they are not comfortable with his raising profile and popularity with the electorate. It had stated that while its candidate was busy campaigning round the state, Akeredolu has been mooning over plans to use the federal might to rig the election or stop him, if that failed.

The Director-General of the Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, Mr Bola Ilori, had at a recent press conference in Akure, cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari over the existence of a cabal within his government hell bent to stop him from contesting at all cost. He fingered two serving ministers, namely the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and the Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Kayode Fayemi, as well as Governors of Jigawa, Ogun and Kaduna, Badaru Abubakar, Ibikunle Amosun and Nasir El-Rufai respectively, as coordinating the dastardly plan to stop Oke at all cost, by resorting to underhand methods.

Ilori said: “This plot to stop Chief Oke from contesting the election is simply to clear the way for their protégé, Rotimi Akeredolu.  The plan of these people was to prevent Oke from contesting the election, because their candidate, Akeredolu, is not in contention, having lost relevance with the people. Thus, they are resorting to underhand tactics to stop him.

“We are aware of the pedigree of President Buhari, his uprightness and his zero tolerance to dirty tricks to secure advantage over other people; even against his avowed antagonists. But the cabal is using the paraphernalia of the Federal Government with impunity to get unsavoury advantage thus tainting his good works.

“When they noticed that Olusola Oke was becoming popular and that their protégé is lagging behind in the build up to the election, they have resorted to series of underhand tactics to get him out of the race, thus leaving the APC candidate as the sole major candidate in the election, having decimated the Ondo PDP. First, was the attempt to award a N10 billion contract without due process to Akeredolu’s community and plough back N7 billion out of it into his election; money which would be used to rig the election.

“Also, they have tried severally to compromise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ondo State, without success, given the media altercations between the APC and INEC of recent. Next, they have surreptitiously instigated the AD’s Legal Adviser, a man who is not a candidate in the election, to institute a suit in court. While we are not against this action, since it is the fundamental right of anybody to resort to the court as an arbiter, but we have credible information from a meeting held by members of the cabal last week in Abuja, where they boasted that they will ensure that the judge who will sit on the matter would be compromised to give an exparte injunction against Chief Olusola Oke.”

This, Ilori added, “amounts to double” speak from top officials of a government noted for its uprightness.  He said: “When you accuse judges as being corrupt and you did indeed move against some of them, isn’t it an irony that members of the same government are the ones boasting of compromising a judge that would sit on the matter in Court? Such is the desperation of these cabal who are hell-bent on tainting your administration’s reputation, he regretted.

“But their best joker, which has been lent credence to by the words of Akeredolu and his minders in the last couple of day, is the ploy to instigate the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to invite and possibly detain Oke days before the election over phantom allegations. Chief Olusola Oke has been severally investigated and cleared by the anti-graft agency of any financial impropriety, but of recent, they have been putting a lot of pressure on the commission to harass him, with a view to making him look as if he is guilty; a development which is far from the truth.”

The Director-General wondered why this renewed onslaught against Oke now that the election is less than two weeks away. He added: “But we are abreast of their tricks and we want to express our absolute confidence that he had nothing to fear from any anti-graft agency, having left office on a clean slate 12 years ago and having been cleared severally too.

“We also want to quickly tell his traducers that Olusola Oke was a part-time member of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with no executive powers and he was never involved in any untoward activities while in office. The allegations against him are mere tissues of lies. We are aware of their evil plots to perpetrate perfidy in Ondo State during the election and the people are watching them keenly. We want to appeal to Mr. President to please be aware of this grand plot to harass Chief Olusola Oke, distract him from meeting the people in his campaign tours and possibly to get him disqualified through unsavory means.

“We are aware of the details of all the nocturnal meeting they have been holding. It is not a new ploy and we are abreast of it. It happened few days to the APC primary when this same Rotimi Akeredolu wrote a petition against him in which his tissues of lies were later exposed all to get him disqualified, because he knows that he is but a mere babe in politics and cannot win the election.

“Now, they have started again, putting pressure on INEC, the security agencies and by resorting to compromising the judiciary and lately to use the EFCC to restrain and frustrate him, but by the grace of God, they will fail. But, Chief Oke is not deterred. If they like, let them dare the will of God, the consequences await them. Our people in Ondo State are watching them keenly and in the fullness of time, they will get their rewards in full if they don’t desist.

“We hope that the evil cabal will not take our peaceful nature for cowardice. Let it be on record that if the cabal remains hell-bent on pushing ahead with their unholy agenda, the Ondo State people have never been historically shy of resisting the devil in whatever form it may manifest. We want to commend Mr. President for his zero tolerance to perfidy and we urge him to please save our souls in Ondo State from those who say the masses shall not be allowed to live and do their things in peace.”

By and large, with the present development, the race to the Ondo State Government House, on the Alagbaka hill is almost a done deal. Speaking on Oke, the former Commissioner for Transport, Otunba Omoniyi Omodara, who is an ardent supporter of the AD governorship candidate, said: “I have known Chief Oke for close to two decades now, specifically when I served as a commissioner under him, when he was the Chairman, OSOPADEC.”

According to him, during this period, Oke displayed rare exemplary leadership qualities.

Omodara said: “Oke is a detribalised person, a team player, selfless and focused. He is the best for Ondo State at this particular time, because he knows this state more than others.”

The former commissioner said: “Oke has lived with the Ondo residents, unlike the imported candidates and surrogates parading the streets as governorship candidates, he has been tested and found okay. In essence, Oke is okay”