A former national secretary of the PDP, Professor Wale Oladipo, speaks to DARE ADEKANMBI on the governorship election in Osun State, how his party plans to defeat Governor Gboyega Oyetola and the zoning of PDP presidential ticket, among others.

I am not aware of any dust.

 

There is another candidate from the other side…

That is not correct. Two candidates can’t emerge in a primary. The NWC is recognised by the Electoral Act and the party’s constitution as the organ to organise primaries. I know the system because I am a former national secretary of the party. They usually set a panel of five people who will come to designated venues, the party will invite INEC and security personnel who are told the time and date and the identity of the panel. The will inform the Inspector General of Police who will instruct the Commissioner of Police to deploy security personnel to the venue and the DSS too will be informed. In the case of the primary that produced Senator Adeleke, it was the Osogbo township stadium that was used and the NWC published the list of delegates that were allowed to vote. They deliberately excluded some people simply because there was a case in court. We felt bad; because we were ready for the primary, we still showed up. Those who did not show up can’t claim to have participated in the primary. So, there is no way two candidates could have emerged. Only one candidate emerged and the candidate is Senator Adeleke.

I hope you are aware that INEC has just published the list of validly nominated candidates of all the political parties participating in that election. Did they publish two names concerning PDP? INEC published Adeleke’s name together with his deputy. So, the issue of two candidates does not arise at all.


You may say there may be some people who are aggrieved and it is normal in politics. In a race like this, we can have only one candidate, but others will be interested, particularly in PDP that is almost sure to win the general election. People will come out and some will work hard to cut corners. If you try to cut corners and it does not work, the honourable thing to do is to support the popular candidate and move forward. There are so many positions in a state government.

Observers of the politics of the state have been saying the emergence of Senator Iyiola Omisore as APC national secretary is a major boost for the incumbent to continue to govern the state…

Senator Omisore is my kinsman and I am happy for him for this new role. Let me state a bit of history here. I occupied the same position in the PDP nine years ago. For a state election, it is not about whether you occupy a party position. You can even be the party chairman and lose your state. It has happened to us in PDP before as it has happened in APC too. I don’t want to cite direct examples, but if you look into history you will see it yourself. Being a national executive member of a party does not confer undue advantage on your party in your home state. It is not Senator Omisore that is contesting. To the best of my knowledge, it is Governor Gboyega  Oyetola that is contesting against out candidate, Senator Adeleke. So, it is PDP against APC in Osun State. All we are asking for is that the election should be free, fair and devoid of violence.

 

Are you confident INEC will do a better job this time?

I hope so. INEC has been doing a wonderful job in the past year or two. The FCT Area Council election conducted in February was well organised. We thrashed APC roundly in that election. We had almost 70 per cent or even two thirds of the councillorship seats. We are growing our democracy and that was what we did while in government. We lost in 2015, even though there were so many causes for us to protest, for the sake of growing our democracy, we went home quietly and Nigerians started to enjoy the change they craved for. I wish them well. Let them enjoy the change while it lasts.

 

While hosting a delegation from the US Mission who visited him in Osun State this week, Senator Adeleke boasted that he would win the election with a wide margin. What informed his optimism?


If the election is free and fair and I am sure the election would be free and fair, Adeleke will win by a wide margin. I  commend the US Mission for finding time to visit Osun State. It is very important. The political stability of Nigeria is important to Africa and the world. So, it is good that the international community is showing concern.

Concerning what Senator Adeleke said at the meeting, it was a factual thing and not a boast. We had gone round the state when we were looking for delegates and it was awesome how he was received by the people of the state, especially market men and women. You would have thought that it was a campaign. But it was not. We were just in the nine federal constituencies to meet with delegates and the type of reception we received, the last time I saw something of that nature was when we were campaigning to unseat Chief Bisi Akande in 2003. Osun people have shown to us that they are really ready to change this government. So, what he said was based on empirical evidence.

 

The NWC has just constituted a caretaker committee for your party. How much of a threat is this for Adeleke?



How can it be a threat to Adeleke?

 

They said he pocketed the last State Working Committee members…


Look, the primary is over and what we need to do is to go on campaign. That has got nothing to do with the caretaker committee. The committee will only join the Imole Team to campaign. Remember, the leadership of the committee is not even from Osun State. Osun people are going to vote based on their political and economic realities: whether they are better off now than they were 11 years ago when the PDP was in charge of the state. This is what is going to condition the voting pattern in the state. Even if the executive members were still there, they would just join as party members and leaders. They will mobilise in their areas. They are still members of the PDP and will play their role as committed members of the PDP. For instance, I expect Honourable Sunday Bisi to perform very well in Ilesha. We expect Bola Ajao to perform very well in Ikirun. So, whether they are still in office or not does not matter because they will still work for the victory of Senator Adeleke and the party. The caretaker thing will have no negative effect on the election. It will rather be an added advantage because a few aggrieved people will probably find more confidence in them than in the out-gone exco. That may even draw the few aggrieved to the mainstream and work for the success of the party.

 

With the indebtedness of the state, what is inspiring in the governorship contest? Fixing the economy of the state will take years and Governor Oyetola said he has not borrowed a dime to execute all that he has done in the last three years…


That is why he has to think outside the box. The Adeleke family is coming from the private sector, even though Senator Adeleke as a person has been in the public sector also. He will have to stop capital flight and ensure prudential management of the resources of the state. The debts are there. Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola did not leave any debt. But unfortunately, this government is leaving so much debt. This is why we must not allow perpetual borrowers who have made the state insolvent to continue to be in power. Somebody has to stop them from further plunging the state into debts. That is why Senator Adeleke is coming to face this big challenge. His team will have to be well selected and we are already working on a template to use. We know that the reality for now is that Osun is insolvent. But we will come in with our programme and explain it to the people. Governor Oyetola is somebody I respect so much, but remember he was the Chief of Staff to the immediate past governor and almost the next in charge to Aregbesola. So, there is no way he can extricate himself from the problem. So, a part of the problem can’t be a part of the solution. Therefore, PDP will have to come in and salvage the situation. But the special grace of God, we will do it.

 

Should we have the 2015 scenario playing out in reverse order in 2023, with PDP picking a northern presidential candidate and APC, a southerner, what do you see happening?

I am not God, but what I know is that Nigerians are generally tired of APC. Is it insecurity that we want to complain about? People can’t travel from Abuja to Kaduna again; you can’t travel from Minna to Abuja again. Abuja is practically isolated now. Do Nigerians want to continue along that line? They will be the determiners of that. PDP left the cost of petrol at N87 and diesel at N130 or something. Today, how much do we buy these products? We left the exchange rate of a US dollar to about N180 and the opposition party then, that is APC, was shouting blue murder. They deceived Nigerians that they would make the rate 1 US dollar to one naira. Maybe they wanted to say a US dollar will exchange for N1,000 because that is where we are heading now. So, Nigerians will look at their pockets and see if they have more money now than they had in 2015 and the money they have now, what can it buy? Has their standard of living improved or has it deteriorated? Are their undergraduate children in school right now? Are teachers paid as and when due? Are pensioners receiving their pension timely? What is the level of foreign direct investment now and what was it then? Where are the companies now? Are they in Nigeria or they are in Ghana compared to when PDP was in charge? These are some of the indices Nigerians will consider before they will vote.

Poverty has no colour, religion or tribe. If you go to the market to buy a tuber of yam, the seller is not going to ask you if you are a Muslim or a Christian or an Igbo or Hausa or Ibibio before fixing the price. We all buy at the same rate. Poverty and insecurity have no colours. When bandits raided the Kaduna Airport, they did not ask if the people there were Yoruba or Hausa. It was the same thing with the train attack.

An indication that Nigerians will reject APC on a large scale in 2023 was what happened in the FCT Area Council election held in February this year. This electronic transmission of results is retiring political thugs and election manipulators. I am sure that if we continue along this trajectory, our democracy will be deepened and PDP will be back in power next year. That is the beauty of democracy and it has happened in Ghana, Kenya, Benin Republic. A government comes to power, does its best and is voted out. Nigeria can’t be an exception because it is the giant of Africa.

Personally, I see the coming elections as a litmus test for INEC which is doing its best at the moment. If Osun election is free and fair, Adeleke is the next governor of Osun State. In the 2018 election, they introduced inconclusive. A big man in APC said it in the press that they used ‘remote control’ to win Osun and that is the truth of it. But God does not like cheats. There is no way you will steal people’s mandate and enjoy peace. That is why there is war without end in APC today. We go to church, mosque and we pray. We crucify and kill armed robbers. But we spare those who steal people’s mandate and feel comfortable about it. God is really patient.

 

What are you doing differently this time in terms of election management?

One of the things we are doing is that we won’t be planting corn this time and put a guinea fowl under our coat. That is why we are trying to sanitise our party. So if you are in the party, we will know you are with us. If we make you a party agent, you will know you have to guard our votes. And Osun people, particularly the pensioners, who were tricked the last time to vote for the APC, are all regretting it now. So, we are bringing everyone on board so that it will be a clear victory that can’t be upturned through any trick. The people have been pushed to the wall and those who even made the mistake of voting for them are regretting their decision.

 

There appears to be some hide and seek thing in PDP over zoning. While some are saying the best man for the job should be allowed to emerge from any part of the country, the party has constituted a zoning committee which has just submitted its report…

The NEC of our party set up a zoning committee to make recommendations. I am a member of the committee. We met under the chairmanship of the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, who was a member of the NWC in the past and knows the working of the party. We met so many times and deliberated on our views. We considered the pros and cons of all the options available and we made appropriate recommendations to NEC. It is only when NEC reviews those recommendations and takes a position that the party will have an official position. There is no hide and seek about it.

There are different opinions, but the decision of NEC will be binding on all of us. Let’s wait for NEC’s position and as a member of NEC, our NEC meeting should be called soon and a decision will be taken and communicated to all Nigerians.

Of course the Handwriting is on the wall, Senator Ademola Adeleke will defeat Oyetola in July 16th governorship election. TOP caucus of Osun State Apc are working to remove Oyetola from the governorship seat. Meanwhile, I will block leakages created by Apc government- Senator Ademola Adeleke speak tough.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4w7KFCcT_4

Meanwhile, Sen Ademola Adeleke Storm Ataoja Palace Osogbo last week Friday.

The Incoming Governor Sen Ademola Nurudeen Adeleke live at Ataoja Palace Osogbo after Observed Jummat service.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iDU5kgX9B0

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