Agboola Ajayi is a former Deputy Governor of Ondo State under the late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. He is a former council chairman and ex-member of the House of Representatives. He contested for governor on the platform the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in 2020 but came third. He also contested in 2023 to represent Ondo South Senatorial District but lost to Senator Jimoh Ibrahim. In this interview, Ajayi says his interest in this year’s governorship election under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is because he wants to offer credible leadership. OSAGIE OTABOR reports
There has been mass exodus of politicians from PDP to the APC in Ondo State. Does it not bother you?
The issue of whether some people left PDP for APC is not a matter to be afraid of. The question is whether the state is governed rightly. Is it the best we can get for our people. We all know what is happening in this country. The current economic crisis is hitting everybody. It is not about defecting from one party to another. I have the capacity, I have the experience to run this state.
I understand how Ondo State can be govern and everybody will be happy. I understadn what we need to revive the economy of this state. I understand how to run the state without relying on federal government allocation. I can prove it to anybody. I understand where there is money in Ondo State. I understand how our elderly people can get what they are due for after retirement. I know how to engage the youths. I know how to secure the society and I know that the economy activity of Ondo is best in the construction of road to link the riverine areas. If we do that, we will decongest Lagos State. What they have in Lagos is a small portion of what we have in Ondo State. We have the longest coastline in the West Africa. We don’t need port Ondo for now. Private investors will come and do it. What we need is to construct road to the sea. Agagu started it. The road terminated at Ugbonla. By now that road would have been taken to Ayetoro. If that road has been constructed You will see more development and investors will invade Ondo State. Lagos State will be decongested. Somebody will come and build the Port. What is the business’s of Ondo to build seaport. We need the enabling environment for private investors to take over. We will continue to enjoy a safe economy. I want officially inform that I am interested on contesting for the governorship of Ondo under the PDP. The PDP is better than the APC. We cannot at this time fail our people. The press should enlighten the people to vote right. We knew how much was bag rice before and we know how much they are selling it now. We are tired. We need to change the system. We need to try another government. By the tine we put all the aspirants together, asked other aspirants their manifesto. I read that they want to establish another university in this state. Can we run about five universities? I want us to have a better Ondo State. We are not surprise seeing people drifting from one party to another. We must change the narrative by having a government that knows how to unlock potentials in the state. How do we make use of the natural virgin environment God has given to us. We will open our coastal areas in Ondo State. I will construct rail from the riverine to Kogi State to link the federal government rail. We have the money. Government is continous. I will revive all dead factories in the state liker the Oluwa glass factory. The raw materials are still there. We should be able to generate our electricity. I understand what can be done in Ondo to revive the state and make everybody busy.
You contested election for governor, you lost. You also lost the senatorial election last year to Jimoh Ibrahim. What magic are you doing this time?
You didn’t mention I contested many elections that I won. I have won many elections. I contested as a Ward chairman at a tender age, I won. I contested as a council chairman, I won. I contested for House of Representatives and I won. You cannot win all the time. If you do not loose and win election, you are not a politician. A politician is somebody who must have win and lost elections. There are many factors that determine victory in elections. When I contested in ZLP, I was a sitting Deputy Governor. I re-joined PDP and in just 21 days, I contested at the primary. I gave them a good show in the PDP primary. Everybody knows I was a force to be reckon with. I didn’t want to go to the ZLP. I knew it was going to be difficult for me because the ZLP has no structure in the state. They have only one member in the House of Assembly. I didn’t win the election but that does not mean people do not like me. I am a highly rated politician in this state. I cannot be more than the second highly rated politician in this state. Losing election made me a better politician. It is a lesson and I learnt one or two things from that race. Yes to many of you I lost the election but I won that race. The race was a battle for my political survival. In this history of this country, many things were done to remove me from office but it was unsuccessful. For the senatorial race, you should appreciate the crisis in the PDP then. From the national down to the Ward level there was crisis. Five of our Governors were not together with our presidential candidate and it affected my elections. The Tinubu factor contributed to many of us losing election in the Southwest. Take Asiwaju out of the race, everybody knows you cannot put me and Jimoh politically. He can have Havard degrees but when it comes to local politics, I know what I can bring back home. I know after one year, they will say if they know they would have voted for Agboola. They have started saying it now. I cannot be in the Senate and after one year, the electricity problem in Ondo South will be solved. It was the Tinubu factor that gave Jimoh Ibrahim victory. I declined going to the tribunal despite the documents that were brought to me. This governorship race is another election. You cannot be winning all the time, but I know I am going to win this time around.
Eyitayo Jegede is a factor in PDP. Can you defeat him this around?
We have met at the party level. We looked at the conventional arrangement in Ondo State vis a vis how it affected our party. We concluded that the next governorship candidate should come from Ondo South. Ondo South should produce pur candidate in the PDP. We have endorsed it but that will not stop anybody from exercising his fundamental human right. He is free to contest. Nobody will stop anybody from contesting election. Consensus is a fine idea but it is the aspirants that will agree. Jegede can contest. He is free to run but the PDP has said the position should go to Ondo South. It does not have to whether Atiku is supporting this or that. Atiku was out presidential candidate. He will also have to listen to what the people are saying. He cannot determine who gets PDP ticket. Jegede contested the primary twice and he won. PDP is an organised party. We do not debate whether it is direct or indirect. The time table is out and we will follow it to the letter. PDP is a transparent and organised system that will produce the best. Nobody can influence or manipulate the system.
Crisis between the governor and deputy is not new in Ondo. What lessons have you learnt and how are you going to apply it if you emerge victorious?
I will win the PDP primary. I will be the candidate of the PDP. Selection of Deputy Governor is not an individual affair. The party will be involved. We will look at so many options. I can never fight my Deputy because of my experience. The reason Governors fight their Deputies is because they do not feel secure with their deputies. The word peradventure is what is making them to fight their Deputies. They feel that this person wants them to die so as to take over. The first thing to do is to reduce the Deputy Governor to nothing. When you reduce your Deputy Governor to nothing, you forgot that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. You will see a Chief of Staff more powerful than the Deputy Governor. The girlfriend of a Governor or son will be more powerful than a Deputy Governor. I was the first person thay cried out in Ondo. I never said Akeredolu did this or that. What I said was that this government is that of a father, mother and son and this cannot be right. There are many times we will discuss in Exco but the story will change. If I am a Governor, my Deputy will be very busy. When Agagu was Governor of this state, his Deputy was in charge of five Ministries. I was a local government Chairman then. We were reporting to the Deputy Governor. We had no need to see the Governor. When I was Deputy Governor, I understand no port folio. The only thing they could not take away was the Boundary Commission. If it was issue of money, I was only having access to N13m monthly as. Deputy Governor. It was nothing to me. The money will go round all my staff. Before I became Deputy Governor, I was a big boy in my little way. I knew how much money I had before I became Deputy Governor. When they wanted to probe my account, they did not see anything. There were many times I returned money to the treasury and got my receipt of I didn’t embark on a planned trip again.The stories of Deputy Governor and Governor mostly are cuased by the Governors who are not deep in politics. They will come and fabricate stories for them. They will say things that do not exist. Akeredolu is mot alive but i can tell you he applogised to me more than three times after investigating some issues. They would have said so many things about me. My Deputy will be fully engage and he will be assign a role to make him busy. The two of them ran together. It cannot be right for a Governor to be running a state without a Deputy Governor but Governors in Nigeria can successfully run a state without a Deputy Governor. They have reduced that office to a certain level. I will not advice anybody to accept to be Deputy to somebody who is not a politician and has never been in the system before. If the Governor is a politician and has been in the system as well as understand what it takes to keep everybody busy, then no problem.
Do you think consensus arrangement will work out as planned?
Consensus can work if all the aspirants agree to it. If one said no, then, there is no consensus. All of us must agree without a dissenting voice. It is too early because we do not know those who will eventually contest the primary. When the party starts selling forms you know the real aspirants. Let us wait and see how many persons will obtain the form.
What will happened if you lose the primary?
I am above 50 and not desperate. I am a comfortable man. People get agitated and protested because of injustice. People will not promote injustice.
I think the PDP will promote transparency. They will not compromise. Once I enter and loose out in a transparent manner, I will support who emerged the candidate. If it is not transparent we will protest. Protest does not mean we will move out of the party.
What advice do you have for young politicians?
In this state, I can only contest to be Governor. I have done politics to a level that I now receive pension. If I die, I will be given state burial. Young politicians should not compromise what they have in them. I started politics at a tender age. I was not a graduate then. The younger politicians should believe in themselves and not putting money first. When I contested as a local government Chairman, the top politicians then were against my ambition. Late Agagu was a Minister but the leaders were against me. I insisted a transparent primary must be conducted. I refused to step down despite pressure. I told them to allow me.to contest the primary. I didn’t have money. They conducted the primary four times and I won in all of them. The last one was done in Akure. They didn’t allow me to come to the venue but I still won. After I won, I made up my mind to deliver on electoral promises to prove the leaders wrong. The youths should not be eroded with money. There is no integrity in Ondo politics again. There is compromise everywhere.
