Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Aderemi Oseni, an engineer, is a household in Oyo State due to his philanthropy. In this interview with TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO, the lawmaker, representing Ibarapa East/Ido Constituency, offered insight into the politics of 2027, the infrastructural projects being executed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as the tasks before the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State.
As Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on FERMA, how will you assess the ongoing road projects embarked by this present administration?
The road infrastructure projects are not just commendable, but quite daring and impressive. With the state of our economy at the time President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office, he was able to embark on the development of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway and Ibadan-Ilesha-Akure-Benin Highway, among others. And the execution of these projects is progressing steadily. This is no doubt audacious, and we must commend Mr. President for taking such bold moves. Because of my oversight responsibilities, I have been to these project sites, whether in the South-east or North-east, South-south or the North-central, South-west to the North-west to evaluate the quality and stage of these road project execution. Honestly, it is impressive and massive. The projects, especially those legacy projects of the president, are creating a good number of jobs for our young people nationwide. In terms of quality, the projects are of international standards. When you look at all these legacy projects, we should be proud of what this government is doing. You can never rule out the impact the projects already have and will continue to have on our people across the federation.
Contrary to your view, these projects have been eliciting criticism from different quarters. Does your explanation suggest that those criticising these projects are out of point?
The opposition forces are completely out of point. That does not mean we are not receptive to public criticisms. Democracy thrives on criticism. But when they criticise, such criticisms must be constructive. And the critics should be able to come up with credible alternatives in their criticism. But critics lack the ability to present credible alternatives. Such an approach is not just adversarial to democracy, but also destructive. Honestly speaking, the progress President Tinubu has recorded since he assumed office is obviously next to none. In terms of service delivery, no administration has been able to take the bull by the horn the way this president did. The Bible says when the righteous is in the position of authority, people will rejoice. Unlike the way it has been floating from left to right, foreign exchange has been relatively stable. Our fiscal space too is more promising than anytime in our recent history. The Tax Reform Act, 2025 will further strengthen the country’s fiscal space. When you look at all our debt profile before now, he has sufficiently written off the majority of it. In return, that singular effort has turned around our economy. No administration has been able to achieve this feat since the Fourth Republic. This shows that President Tinubu actually knows where the shoes are pinching his people. That is basically how and why you really need to commend the president for the bold decisions he has been taking to turn around our economy. What the critics are saying do not reflect the good works the president has been doing. The joy we are experiencing will continue to grow over time.
Before 2023, you were among Nigerians that campaigned and supported the presidential election of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What informed your decision then? Will you still do the same for him in 2027?
I am a living witness to how Asiwaju (Tinubu) transformed Lagos State when he was the Governor of the state. Like now, he encountered diverse constraints, but his administration significantly reformed. He came up with the development plan for the state. He also re-engineered the state’s fiscal environment. That is similar to what he is doing as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I knew all these because the headquarters of my business is in Lagos. The Renewed Hope he adopted as his campaign mantra did not start when he aspired to be President. He started it right from Lagos State when he was the governor. At different times, I told my friends that former Governor Babatunde Fashola, SAN recorded good success during his administration because Asiwaju laid a solid foundation for the people of Lagos State. The same thing applied to former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who built on this foundation with speed. The current Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu is now building on the same foundation. With this evidence, it was natural for me to support his presidential aspiration. With all sense of modesty, I donated the head office of the South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA) in Oyo State. Given his records as the Governor of Lagos State, I strongly believed that Asiwaju was the most ideal and qualified among candidates that contested the 2023 presidential election. As a member of South-west APC, the ultimate goal that we had at that time was to market Asiwaju and ensure a landslide at the poll. That was exactly what we got.
Ahead of 2027, Oyo APC is still divided. What are the stakeholders doing to bring factions together and ensure President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election?
The truth is hard to bear most times. But at the end of the day, you will enjoy it. I am not aware of any division in Oyo APC. As a business person and political leader in the state, I cannot see any division in the rank of Oyo APC. However, we may have disagreements here or there on issues that affect our party. Such disagreements are not unusual in politics. But that does not suggest that we are divided. Rather, we are one political family, rooting for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027 and the unity of Nigeria. As a chapter, we are committed to promoting his Renewed Hope Agenda beyond what we already knew. That is why somebody like me is committed to popularising the achievements of the Tinubu administration. I have taken it even beyond the level of our party. I have also set up a movement of Oyo people to start a person-to-person and house-to-house campaign for the re-election of the president. We call it the Remi Oseni Committee of Friends (ROCOF), a purely non-ethnic and non-religious group that will champion Tinubu’s re-election in Oyo State. That structure is in place already. We deploy it when that time comes. Already, I have over 200,000 members of this movement in 33 local government areas of the state. Besides, about six weeks ago, I inaugurated what we call “The Gatekeepers”, also in all the 33 local government areas. I rolled out my six-point agenda for this movement. Our ultimate goal is to deliver along with prominent and responsible party members in Oyo State. We are not at cross-purpose with my political movement. We are simply working to complement the efforts of the APC and ensure a landslide for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027. ROCOF, as a movement, is already in the forefront to deliver Oyo State for the president. If I am able to mobilise over 200,000 within six weeks, I am sure I will hit my target of mobilising at least 500,000 people to midwife the re-election of the president in 2027 before the end of this year.
President Tinubu recently announced the reconstruction of the Ibadan-Ilesha-Akure-Benin Highway. From your oversight functions, has the project commenced? If it has commenced, what is the stage of reconstruction?
Like Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the president is committed to reconstructing the Ibadan-Ilesha-Akure-Benin Highway. It is a highly strategic road infrastructure that connects five or six states. The states along the corridor include Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Edo. Aside, Delta and Ekiti will also benefit tremendously from this project, both directly and indirectly. Given its potential to create massive jobs and boost the economies of states along this corridor, no administration will de-prioritise that kind of project. This shows that President Tinubu has a policy of prioritising people-centric projects and programmes. Let me be very objective, the success of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be a blessing to Nigeria at large. It is an economic road that will be used by all Nigerians. The highway will connect Lagos to Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom. This is huge. The previous administrations struggled to reconstruct the East-West Highway. No significant progress was recorded until President Tinubu came on board. When I say blessing, I really mean the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is a blessing to us as a federation of over 230 million. The Ibadan-Ilesha-Akure-Benin Highway that everybody has been using to connect Abuja from Ibadan has been in a deplorable situation. It is one of the areas where I have long been advocating for government intervention. My advocacy is simply based on the need to reconstruct all our existing roads nationwide in order to boost our domestic economy. I am happy that the president is now doing it. The impact of all these road infrastructure projects will be felt across all the strata of this federation. As said earlier, work is in progress on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Work has commenced on the Ibadan-Ilesha-Akure-Benin Highway. You may not see much site work now. But a lot is going on. The federal government may not be able to complete the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as expected due to difficult terrain. Once we are able to complete the Ibadan-Ilesa-Akure-Benin Highway, it will bring huge relief for the commuters across the federation. I travelled on this road almost every month to see the progress that we are making across the country. But our challenge again is for us to fix the road section between Owo and Lokoja. Once those areas are properly addressed, no one will complain again. Then, traveling from Lagos to Abuja will no longer be a challenge.
Opposition parties have formed a coalition against President Bola Ahmed ahead of 2027. With this coalition, is his re-election not threatened?
In every democracy, opposition is a critical element that defines both politics and governance. For me, the recent coalition of opposition parties is in line with democratic practice. However, we are not threatened at all by what they are doing. First, this administration is undertaking key reforms that will make Nigeria a prosperous nation if we push it through. It is a matter of time. We will all see that President Tinubu means well for Nigerians. Second, the coalition has not come up with credible alternatives. If they think President Tinubu is not governing right, they should bring forward what they will do differently. But they have failed to offer Nigerians credible alternatives. Nigerians are not fools. They are intelligent people who are looking for credible alternatives. Third, the coalition comprises diverse interests that have been tested in different capacities at the national and state levels. But they all failed the people. After they betrayed public trust at one point or the other, what do they want to offer now? As for us in the APC, we are not threatened by the coalition of opposition parties. We are confident of victory in 2027. Our record of achievements will speak for us, and the electorate will cast their ballots based on what we have done. The truth is it will be misleading to say that the so-called coalition is not making noise. But there is a difference between noise that is result-oriented and noise that is purely attention-seeking. For me, they are a group of people making noise to gain some attention. As a one-time formidable opposition party, APC offered Nigerians credible alternatives. We also complained with the strength of our people-centric policies and programmes. And we earned public trust and won the 2015 presidential election. Some of them were in our fold then. They knew how we leveraged our position as the leading opposition party to defeat the ruling party. They know they are not serious at all. We are waiting for them in 2027. God willing, many of them will join us very soon.
