The former Director-General of the Amosun Campaign Organisation, Chief Bode Mustapha, is the Bobagunwa of Egbaland, a close ally of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and a former National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party. In this interview with ASSISTANT EDITOR, Bola Olajuwon, he spoke on why Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the All Progressives Congress (APC) won in the state and his relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and how he joined the APC. He said the APC will defeat PDP at the tribunal.
As the Director-General of the Amosun Campaign Organisation, what is your comment on the success of the APC in the general election, especially in Ogun State?
I think that came about because we had a governor who was performing. It’s like a salesman who has a good product to sell, and when you have a good product to market, it makes the job easy. Secondly, our campaign was grassroots-based, not elitist. We campaigned in 236 wards and over 300 different locations to showcase what we have done and present what we would do in the rural areas, to show that development has started in the urban areas and is moving to the rural areas. So, that made the difference in the campaign.
I can also tell you that even some of the House of Assembly seats that we lost, we found out that there were over-voting and manipulations. As such, we are challenging some of them at the tribunal and we are sure we are going to win. Although with the new electoral law, there would be no possibility of declaring anybody as the winner. We will have to go for election again and that will also include the Ogun East Senatorial District.
We are dealing with a person called Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who knows exactly what he wants to do from day one when he came into the office, and has been following that to the letter. Just like he knows what he wants to do over the next four years, to turn Ogun State into an Eldorado. So, the campaign was not too much of a difficult for us, because we had a good product to sell.
Initially, did you have any fear that the governor might not win with the hurdle posed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?
I never had any fear. The reason being that Amosun came in 2011 as a grassroots man; people wanted him. Of course, you would not try to discountenance the Chief Olusegun Osoba factor. But then, by time Amosun became governor, he became his own man. He was delivering on dividends of democracy and his promises to the electorate. The fact that he was delivering, I have no fear at all that he would win.
How do you think the state can leverage on the APC victory for the overall development of the state?
First of all, for the last four years, the governor has been practically squeezing water out of stone to create development. Just like China, because of their population and to keep their people in work, developmental projects are always ongoing. Because that is when the dealer in cement will sell, the carpenter will work, the artisans will work, the masons will work, the supplier of sand will supply and the supplier of granite will be in business. Development has a way of creating a multiplier effect on the entire population and society. Don’t forget that for the last 18 months or thereabouts, what was coming from the Federation Account was not even enough to pay salaries and wages in Ogun State. But with his ingenuity, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state rose from about N600 to N700 million in a month to about N6 billion. He is responsible for the developmental project he is doing. Now, he has his other plans. He has just signed an agreement for inter and intra rail system. The reason is simple: if there is no rail system in transportation, how do farmers bring their wares to the market? I remembered that maybe six to seven years ago, I went to a place called Guangzhou in China; it took us about six hours to get there from Shanghai. Two years ago, I went to the same place. It took us two and an half hours. What happened? They have provided a train system that went over large expanse of water. When you have transportation, rural integration and rural development becomes a gain. I am sure that with a rail system in place, Governor Amosun will turn Ogun State into an Eldorado. I have no doubt in my mind about that.
Having achieved your set objectives as the head of the campaign organisation, what is your next line of action?
I have a project I am running, I have my office. I will go back to my business. I am into consultancy and mining, and this takes a lot of my time. I am already in my business.
Do you have any fear about the PDP winning at the tribunal?
No way. Why should I have any fear, the minority will always have a say and the majority will have their way. They are going to tribunal in exercise of their fundamental human rights and we are also going to the tribunal on the senatorial seat in Ogun East. By the time we all come back from the tribunal, we would know who has rigged and who has not rigged. We welcome the development, because once we win at the tribunal for the governorship, we will win the petition on the senatorial election. It will show that the APC won squarely in Ogun State. If not for rigging and manipulation, we won’t have lost Ogun East Senatorial District. We welcome that development.
What is your hope from the tribunal?
We would win. In the case of Ogun East, once we win at the tribunal, we would be told to go back for election for a re-run and we would win.
But sir, you are seen as Obasanjo faithful and a former PDP member. How do you see your transformation from a PDP member into APC faithful and Amosun Campaign’s director-general?
Well, first of all, like I always say to people, my political party is Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. So, if you found me in APC, there must have been a reason for me going to the party. Why would I continue to stay with the PDP in which I was maltreated and injustice was meted out on me? I won at the convention, as the National Secretary of the party; I was nominated, I was voted for and some people went to procure a court judgment to favour the person who did not even obtain nomination form for the office of the National Auditor. I made appeal to the leader of the party, and he turned deaf ears. And I said to myself, what am I doing in a party where injustice is the order of the day? Remember, the same thing was done also to Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, as National Secretary. The three of us, including former Governor Segun Oni, they called us Obasanjo boys, and we are proud to be Obasanjo boys and we remain Obasanjo boys for life. So, we have to move on. We started the New PDP with other members who didn’t like what was happening. But they used the powers of government to hunt us all over the place, and we thought of what next to do. Then, we joined the APC. Whether we were of any value while in PDP, it has come out glaringly. At that time, I used to have one slogan I reiterated to everybody. It was a very interesting Yoruba phrase, which says kato kini, kato rini, odabo oja (translating to: We shall know the winner after the contest). Whether we had any value or not, we can see the difference now. Even the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, talked about injustice in PDP, which means that PDP was a party of injustice. Maybe now that they have learnt their lessons, they would pick up their pieces and form a formidable opposition party. I also hope they will stop meting out injustice to other people.
How do you see yourself as an Obasanjo faithful and an APC faithful?
You see, before Obasanjo talks, he thinks. He sees, he foresees and he doesn’t talk before he thinks. He thinks before he acts and he sees things that we don’t see. That’s what God has blessed him with. If he tells me tomorrow to leave APC for any reason, I would not ask him why; I would leave, because my loyalty is to him. As a person, he is a state man, he is no longer in any party; he has risen above partisan politics. He is a father of the nation and Africa. If tomorrow he sees APC derailing and he advises and they don’t take it, if he says to me: ‘Bode Mustapha quit politics’. I would quit politics. Because whatever advice or instruction he gives, is always in our own best interest. So, he is not a difficult person; just a principled person, who has the interest of Nigeria at heart all the time. You can say what you like about him, whatever he says always comes to pass. As far as am concerned, Obasanjo is the man.
Do you see him going back to the PDP?
I wouldn’t know. Why should he go to any party? He doesn’t need any party. Once General Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in, he would be second person after Chief Obasanjo who has nothing that he would be looking for in Nigeria and who has no elective office that he would be looking for in Nigeria. Already, they are saying in PDP that in 2019, President Jonathan would run again; he can run a second term. But once General Buhari is sworn in, he goes into the league. Chief Obasanjo and Buhari have nothing they want to look for in Nigeria no more and no office to occupy. As such, why should he remain in any party?
As a past lawmaker, what was your experience in the House of Representatives?
It was a wonderful experience. I can see now that they are organising a course for new legislators to learn. We had that privilege in 1999, and as such, we knew the rudiments of making laws, we knew what were our responsibilities to the electorate and to the government, and to the party. We knew we had to draw the line and so, it made lawmaking an easy job for me. I would rather always be a lawmaker than be a governor, because I enjoy listening to debates in the House, especially when the debate is very robust.
With the seriousness that people attach to lawmaking, what is your advice to the incoming APC leadership and lawmakers?
It is very simple: make laws that would make life more abundant for the electorates. When you are elected into office, you are elected to serve, not to boss, and the interest of the electorates should be foremost on your minds. Now, the electorates are getting more educated and enlightened in Nigeria. If you don’t perform, they would vote you out in about four years. Can you imagine a situation where sitting governors who have governed over a whole state wanting to go to Senate – one-third of the state – and they lost the election? That tells you that the people are now very aware. Those elected should ensure good lawmaking, represent the people well, ensures that there is a connect between them and the people that voted them in, seek their inputs into whatever they are doing at National Assembly and carry them along. Then, you would always be their person.
Who can you project that has the ability of delivering when it comes to leadership in the two houses of the National Assembly?
All the APC contestants can deliver.
