Honourable Opeyemi Bamidele was the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the June 21 election in Ekiti state. He has since mend fences with his associates in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and has declared his support for the presidential candidate of the party, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd). In this interview with some journalists, he insists Buhari remains the best option to salvage Nigeria. BOLA BADMUS presents the excerpts:

How would you describe what really happened during the Ekiti governorship election?

I want to say that Ekiti was a sad commentary. It was a situation that was so thoroughly unfortunate and tragic to the extent that everybody looked as if there was nothing that could be done. But today, I want to say that largely, it has become part of our history and it is one thing I don’t like dwelling on because I believe we need to move on and I believe what should be our central preoccupation right now is how to right the wrongs and rescue the state from the present situation. But I want to say that it is something that could have been avoided. There is no doubting the fact that if the APC candidate and then governor of the state, Dr Kayode Fayemi and I had worked together, I am convinced that we couldn’t have lost the state to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The truth about it is that a lot of things were wrong and I would rather dwell more on the lessons that ought to be learnt than going into details of what went wrong.

Has there been reconciliation now?

Ekiti is work in progress for the leadership of the APC. I know that different committees have been set up to work towards reconciliation and some involved very senior officials of the party. Efforts are going on and part of the effect of this is the fact that we are all, regardless of what anyone might think and regardless of our individual position on issues, we are all agreeable to working together to ensure the success of General Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election slated for March 28. We are hoping and trusting that our collective efforts will be able to make the difference. We are tackling this on two fronts. The party is involved with the former governor, His Excellency, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Senator Femi Ojudu and I, Professor Babalola Borishade are coordinating what we call an independent campaign group which is the Buhari- Osinbajo Support Group from an independent platform.

As of yet, I remain a member of the Labour Party, because I am not surrendering the structure of the Labour Party that we worked so hard to build in Ekiti to be used to work for President Jonathan. The Labour Party at the national level has adopted President Jonathan as its presidential candidate because the party does not have a presidential candidate, but Labour Party in Ekiti should be counted out and I know that the Labour Party in Edo State and a few other states have also said the same thing the they are not working for President Jonathan. So, in the meantime, I remain a member of the Labour Party and we are unapologetically committed to the Buhari-Osinbajo project and at the end of the elections we will sit down to talk about what is next.

This election is a major test case for those of you who say you want to rescue Ekiti. How do you hope to achieve the aim, given the disposition of the incumbent governor?

There are two sets of elections and for the presidential election, there is no doubting the fact that a lot of Ekiti people are excited about the Buhari-Osinbajo project and I don’t think that Ekiti is an exception. I think that has to do with the general desire of the majority of Nigerians for real change. I see a lot of things happening. Buhari has a lot of goodwill on the streets and what we need to do is for all of us to be on ground and annex this goodwill and especially work hard within the next few days to see that we are able to properly harness the goodwill on the streets.

Beyond that, for the April 11 election, that is the House of Assembly elections, these are local elections; the character of each candidate will count. The PDP is parading all manners of people. I don’t want to talk down on the personality of anyone, but what we have been able to do is to ensure that we look for people with the strength of character and I am sure all of these will count in the local elections, where people know themselves very, well, they know their history, their antecedents and you cannot just bring anybody. When it comes to people of a particular town deciding who will represent them in the House of Assembly or who will be their local government chairman or their councillor, it is a different thing all together. People really know themselves and all of this will come to play within the next few weeks remaining.

One is surprised that you did not go with your one-time ally, Governor segun Mimiko to support President Jonathan. Why did you choose Buhari?

There is nothing personal in all of these? I also want to add that every politics is local. First a lot of things will have to be determined by what is the thinking of your own people. If you describe yourself as a leader within a community and you are taking decisions that will isolate you from the generality of your people or moving against the general tide of your people. Majority of the people in Ekiti State desire a change like majority of Nigerians do.

In taking the decision to move out, the question was which political party could we move to? If I wanted to go to the PDP, believe me, I would have opted to join the party. I got invitation from the PDP; I was approached several times and several people met with me, including the president of this country. For me, it was a matter of honour. He also wants to build his own party, but my intention was not to join the PDP. I wasn’t looking for greener pasture and I wanted to remain within the progressives family. For me, the Labour Party, believed to be a party of workers was the closest to which I could go.

For Governor Mimiko as the leader of Labour Party, it was really a pleasure to work with him. I mean he also stood up for the party in Ekiti and for all of us. But when he decided he was going to join the PDP, and again you must give it to him, he came from party and I don’t think anyone would begrudge him for going back to his political family but, I made it clear that there was no way I was going to proceed to join the PDP. Unfortunately, a lot of people thought that because I had a political disagreement with Governor Fayemi, they believed that I was actually out on a fight to finish with my own political family and the leadership, including the likes of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. No, that was not the situation!

How do you mean?

I was meant to be fighting on principles, if I had crossed the Rubicon, for me that would have meant something else, it would no longer be a principled fight. Again, I must say that at no point did the leadership of the APC give me a breathing space, at no point did they leave me alone or did they write me off. Three days to the election, Asiwaju spoke to me. Four days to the election; I was invited by the president of the country, in company of Governor Mimiko. And immediately after the election, the leadership of the APC kept on talking to me, saying ‘the election is over now; whatever disagreement at the level of Ekiti is over, can we now begin to talk about the future?’ So, to the extent of the fact that the leadership of the APC never really felt that I was such an outsider to the party, if I would have to go anywhere, it would be much more reasonable for me to go back to my own political family.

In saying this, I want to stress that the project at hand today is the Buhari-Osinbajo election and I feel so passionate about it. That we will need to deal with first and after that, we can sit down and take the next step.

Why are you so passionate about Buhari?

Why am I talking about the Buhari-Osinbajo project? One, I am convinced that there is a need for new ideas in this country. Nigeria needs new ideas. I chair the House committee on Legislative Budget and Research. I am very concerned about the economy of Nigeria. The more you know about this country, especially the state of our economy, the more scaring you will become. There are a lot of things that Nigerians do not even know. I give you a practical example. I told my committee to carry out a research and all I needed was for them to take the budget of this country in the last four years and extract how much was budgeted for the procurement of generators and diesel by agencies of the Federal Government. Yes, a lot of Nigerians say we have too many agencies and they say, 427. And I was asking somebody, where did you pick up the figure of 427 Federal Government agencies because he was saying that they were too many and we needed to prune them? And he was saying, everybody says 427. And I said, I am telling you authoritatively, that the number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs under the appropriation act, to which we voted money, is 708. It has grown from less than 400 to 708 in the last four years. So, the government is becoming bigger everyday and I am concerned that today, we have on the floor of parliament, a 2015 proposal, that has 84 per cent going for recurrent expenditure, consumables and we have only 16 per cent going for capital expenditure. Which economy can grow that way? When you don’t spend money on capital projects, you cannot stimulate the economy because it is through capital expenditure that an economy can create jobs, that you can build the real sector of the economy.

We calculated how much was being spent on the procurement of generators and diesel by the 708 MDAs and we came up with a very staggering figure: over N360 billion has been spent on the procurement of generators and diesel over the last four years. We went beyond that to all the 36 states of the federation and then to the 774 local government areas and saw that it was over N1.1 trillion that had been spent on the procurement of generators and diesel. How much do we need to fix the energy sector. So, there is no way I can be going to an election and allow myself to be brought down by the sentiments of who is my friend? Who is a Christian? Who is a Muslem? So, for me it is more of the economy. We need new ideas to grow this economy and everybody is talking about corruption. Therefore, who deals with it?

Some had expected you to be part of PDP train for the election

I have nothing against President Jonathan; he is a gentleman as far as I am concerned. But, what manner of people are advising this administration? What manner of people are in charge of this economy? And to what extent can I assure myself that President Jonathan would be in control of these people in the next four years? I am a member of the House committee that is investigating oil theft and I know the kind of revelation that has been coming out and that is another issue. Part of the reasons that the speaker is not stepping down until after the election is that we don’t want anyone to think that they are trying to use it as a campaign instrument. Nigeria is bleeding at an unimaginable level and I cannot know all of this and have the moral conscience to say that the sustenance of this order. Definitely, I am convinced that there is a need for a change, a change that must be quick and a change that not only must be based on manifestoes written by consultants, but a change that also must be driven by people that can give us some measure of confidence. For me, the personality of General Buhari, the kind of antecedents, the kind of things he says that which he can be held responsible..If somebody had held all the positions he had held in this country and in his declaration of assets form all you can see is what we are seeing now, which can even be held by a retired school principal and nobody has even been able to controvert him on these, then, definitely, that is a man I will like to give a chance. People talk about his age, that is even a reason we should even give him a chance because, what else does he want at his stage. Mandela came at a very critical time in South Africa.

For me, what Buhari is coming to do is a special intervention. Of course, if he himself does not mean what he is saying he is running a risk. Expectations of Nigerians are high. If General Buhari gets there and in one year people cannot see a difference, the civil society, the labour movement will be up in arms. Why would he want to take the risk. Beyond General Buhari, the person that he has chosen as a running mate is also well known to me. I was privileged to have served with him in the cabinet of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, I can attest to his strength of character, I can attest to the clarity of his purpose and I can attest to the fact of God that he is a man of God and thoroughly so. I can attest to the fact that he is not a materially conscious person, I can attest to the fact that he desires a genuine change in this country. I am just convinced that there is a need for this economy to be rescued and it doesn’t matter how well President Jonathan means. He has tried his best in the last four years and I believe that there is the need to rescue this country of the 16 years of misrule of the PDP and allow some fresh ideas

SOURCE: http://www.tribune.com.ng/quicklinkss/politics/item/32822-buhari-will-win-bamidele/32822-buhari-will-win-bamidele

dotcomnamename:
I will advise Goodluck Jonathan to surrender for Buhari between now and tomorrow to avoid National & International Disgrace along with his followers because Buhari will defeat him woefully!

GBAM

I am voting for GMB not because I think that he is superior to Jonathan, but because Nigeria is at a crossroads and we need to take a stand....

sure ni.

In ur widest dream, Buhari will win. Anyway, continue to dream because it's allowed. Am sure u will be awake on that 28th to witness his great failure.
GEJ till 2019

There are just two set of people supporting jonathan, the first set are those greedy ones looting this nation daily, and the other are the clueless and illitrates, who know next to nothing about the state of this nation, if Nigeria must move forward, this man must be voted out or else, I fear for the future of this nation

I dey vex for Fayose seriously after today's governor explain that was aired on Tv. We go together expose this scammer called governor. Uncouth man. MOB made a good sense by observing the recurrent expenditure of the country imagine this clueless government increasing federal government agencies from 427 to 708. If this clueless government is allowed to continue they will add MASSOB,OPC, etc to government agency signing rubbish MoU and PPP with them

[quote author=Rose2014 post=32006513][/quote]who be u?