BusinessDay 11 Apr 2018

20 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Wednesday 11 April 2018
Politics
& Policy
Ekiti guber: APC will fail badly if it gives ticket to Fayemi, Ojudu or Oni – Olowo
A governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the July election in Ekiti, in this Interview with INNO-
CENT ODOH, Ajayi Olowo, a lawyer of many years practice assures that he is out to provide fresh hands and fresh ideas
for the service of the people of Ekiti. He also sounds confident he will win the APC primaries. Excerpts:
What new ideas can you
bring to the table as you vie
for the governorship position
under the APC?
My ideas are
encapsulated
in my
ten-point
agenda,
we have agriculture in a
modernise form that can
provide employment for
the youth and the elderly.
Ekiti is an agrarian state; we
have enough land that can
encompass agriculture such
that we will be better off.
We have programmes for
qualitative education that
will be supported by government.
We are not planning
free education, but qualitative
education that will be
subsidized by government
because free education is a
mirage. It worked in those
days but is no longer necessary.
We are looking at
transport infrastructural
programme. We can even
have light rail between Ekiti
and neigbouring states. If
we win the election we will
have a sort of homogeneity
in the development of the
South West.
There is nothing wrong in
the Oodua group having rail
connectivity in all the states
in the South West. Then we
are looking at sanitation
and water resources because
they are intertwined. We
have three dams in Ekiti and
one of them, the Egbe Dam
alone according to World
Bank sources can serve Ekiti
state and Ondo states perennially
without changing
the water yet our people are
drilling boreholes. When
we were growing up in the
earlier 60s we met pipe born
water, why is it now that our
politicians are drilling boreholes?
How many boreholes
will you drill to solve the
problem of the people?
One of the reports of the
World Bank about three
years ago said that Ekiti is
the most openly defecated
area, where people openly
defecate anywhere. We have
traveled to civilized environments
why can’t we build
public toilets across board?
That will even provide employment.
All these we are
talking about we will do
them through Public Private
Participation (PPP) such that
they will provide jobs and
reduce communicable diseases
and that will provide
utmost sanitation for the
populace.
So we are looking at the
situation where we can make
the society better. We are
not just going to ask people
to come to us; we will be
holding town hall meetings
regularly to interact with the
people. It is not a situation
where when you go to government
House you become
overlords.
Some of these lofty ideas
you have are capital intensive.
Ekiti State is barley
an agrarian state, can it
generate enough funds to
run this infrastructure or
do you have an intension
going borrowing?
No, all we need to do is Public
Private Participation;
we know we are not an oil
producing state. When Ekiti
is receiving about N3 billion
from the federation account
some states like Delta will
be receiving about 12 or
26 billion. But we will do
development through PPP
such that Private investors
will invest. We will do what
is called “build, operate and
transfer.” People can have
concession for over 30 years
and then return the same to
government. The essence of
governance is to make life
better for the people not to
Olowo
play overlord over them. If
it is about getting perquisites
of office, I don’t think I am
one of those attracted by
the perquisite of office. In
my many years as a professional
accountant, Industrial
relations expert and very
successful litigation lawyer
in Abuja, I think I can feed
my family. I go over sea on
holiday with my family and
three of my children are
graduates. So I don’t want
public office for personal
aggrandizement.
APC is opposition party in
your state and you have a
very fiery governor, Ayo
Fayose, who is battling to
ensure that APC does not
see the light of the day in
Ekiti. We understand that
the governor has endorsed
is deputy to succeed him.
How do you intend to tackle
this challenge?
That is not a threat because
even in the rank of PDP,
the ambition of Fayose has
decapitated the PDP in Ekiti
state to the extent that a lot
of big wigs in the party are
moving away from the PDP
to join the Third Force and
the SDP. Fayose’s deputy Prof
Olusola Elekan is from my
town, Ikere Ekiti Municipal
local government and where
Elekan comes from, he does
not have the popularity that
matches mine.
You mean Fayose cannot
use his incumbency power?
Apart from Fayose having
immunity, he does not have
any incumbency power. Is it
incumbency power that his
security aides can be withdrawn
just by a stroke? So he
does not have incumbency
power that can be used over
any body. What they used
when Jonathan was in government
that incumbency
power at the center is not
available to Fayose at the
moment. Even the current
President Muhammadu Buhari
is not as prependalistic
as the former president.
But all the same I don’t see
Fayose able to use the security
agents to manipulate
the election against people
like us. By virtue of section
214 of the 1999 constitution
as amended, Fayose
does not have control over
the commissioner of police
so he cannot manipulate
anything.
You sound so confident
about your ambition in the
APC but right now the party
at the national level and
some states are in crisis.
If the crisis at the national
level is being replicated in
some of the states, what
chance do think that party
has in wrestling power
from the PDP in Ekiti state?
I don’t know about crisis at
the national level neither do
I know of crisis in Ekiti state,
maybe I am naïve. I think in
Ekiti we are cohesive. In my
interaction with delegates
who will vote in the primaries
on the May 5 so far, APC
is one family and we remain
cohesive. I don’t see this
primary election serving
as a divisive mechanism
among us that is my own
view. One of the cardinal
points of my programme
is to ensure that the party
is strong, stronger than the
government because if we
have a party stronger than
the government then you
have the will of the people
happening all the time, not
the will of any minority in
power. So whatever division
you see at the federal level
I don’t see it affecting what
will happen in Ekiti State
You have about 36 aspirants
to the APC governorship
position in the state
including former Governor
Kayode Fayemi, Senator
Femi Ojudu, Segun Oni
and others. It is going to be
a very fierce contest. Do
you think that the permutations
in Ekiti State are kind
to your candidature?
Yes, when you look at those
big names you mentioned it
depends on a lot of factors. A
lot of people looking at Ekiti
from outside probably don’t
understand the nitty-gritty
of the politics on ground in
Ekiti state. There are three
senatorial districts, Segun
Oni, Fayemi, are from the
north senatorial districts.
Ojudu is from the centre.
The centre had three slots,
Niyi Adebayo (1999-2003)
Fayose, who is the present
governor has served two
terms. In the north senatorial
district, Fayemi has had
a term, Segun Oni has had
a term but the southern
senatorial district, where I
come from they have not had
a term. That is why there is
a group that is agitating for
Southern Agenda. That a
southern candidate should
emerge otherwise they will
do a protest vote. But I don’t
predicate my candidature on
southern agenda, but they
are clamouring for fairness.
I so much trust APC
should consider southern
aspirants because what is
good for the goose is good
for the gander. Out of the
36 aspirants, there are 17
from the Southern zone
which means they battle
will be fiercer and the votes
could be more divided which
means that any of us that
wants to emerge we have
to push for votes from the
centre and the north.
I don’t see Fayemi defeating
me in the APC primaries
I am telling you authoritatively
but if the party makes
a mistake and a proper primary
is not done and if the
flag is given to Fayemi the
APC will lose badly in Ekiti
State. Ojudu cannot win the
election neither will Oni win
the election that is why we
need fresh hands people like
us who have not stepped on
toes, or alluded to one crime
or the order, people who can
come clean.
APC, Buhari sinking, now desperate - PDP
Continued from page 17
ridiculed as the world
watched religious bodies
and groups in the country
disowning the procured
band.
“The fact that this disgraceful
drama came barely
a week after our nation
suffered an international
show of shame over President
Buhari’s presentation
with a procured award
fraudulently linked to Martin
Luther King Jr., speaks
volumes of this administration’s
proclivity for falsehood,
lies and deception.
“Having failed to gain
any endorsements from
reputable international figures,
such as Bill Gates and
the Martin Luther Kings
Jr. group, the APC and
the Presidency have now
shamelessly resorted to
cheaper ways and means,
particularly, along the unregulated
and porous religious
and sectional lines.
“It is now overtly manifest
that the Buhari administration
is ready to even
stage anything, no matter
how ignoble, including
fake rescue missions, to
deceive Nigerians.
“It would be recalled
that the PDP had earlier
alerted Nigerians of plots
by the Federal Government
to engage in orchestrated
endorsements as
well as issuing of false
performance indices.
“These disgraceful endorsements
are being coordinated
by three presidential
aides, a cabinet
minister from the southsouth
and certain officials
of the APC, a project for
which billions of naira
have been earmarked.
“This cabal is also responsible
for the renting
of crowds, who are usually
conveyed in buses, trucks
and trailers, to fill the space
during President Buhari’s
visits to various states of the
federation, as witnessed in
Benue during the last visit
of Mr. President.
“That President Buhari
could be begging for endorsements
only points
to the fact that he and his
cabal have lost the support
of Nigerians whom his administration
has subjected
to horrible economic hardships,
traumatic bloodletting
and a bleak future.
If President Buhari and
his dysfunctional APC had
performed to the least
expectations of Nigerians,
even by implementing the
littlest of their numerous
fake campaign promises,
they would have no need
for mundane gimmicks
of procuring awards from
well- known street quacks
ahead of the elections.
“We charge all credible
groups in the country to
be at alert and resist any
attempt by the Presidency
and APC to induce them
to compromise their integrity,
as well as guide
against plots to use money
to infiltrate and divide
their ranks.
“The APC and Buhari
Presidency must admit
that their time is up as
Nigerians are now rallying
with the repositioned PDP
in the national quest to rescue
our dear nation from
the incompetent, failed
and deceptive administration
of the APC, come
2019,” the g statement said.