Senator Babafemi Ojudu, one of the leading aspirants for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the party’s primary holding on Saturday in Ekiti State, speaks on his chances and wishes for the APC in the state. Sam Nwaoko brings excerpts of the interview.
It’s few days to APC primary, how confident are you of emerging as the party’s candidate?
I’m very confident because I’ve worked very hard. I’ve been everywhere: the 16 local governments and virtually all the 177 wards. I’ve had one-on-one interactions with those who will do the voting from the constituencies. I have an antecedent, and our party wants to win not just the primary but also the governorship election. They know we’re dealing with a toughy in the state and they need another toughy to face him. They know I possess all the qualities to face Fayose. They also know that I come from a constituency that has the voting population. Ado-Ekiti has 180,000 registered voters, and next to it is Ikere with 65,000. It will be fullhardy for members of our party to pick someone from a place that doesn’t have that kind of population. Ado-Ekiti people have decided that they want to be the governor this time, unlike in the past when they settle for deputy governor. That’s why in Ado-Ekiti, I’m the only one running in this primary.
It’s unlike Oye Ekiti where Kayode Fayemi comes from, where we have about five contestants; Ido-Osi where Segun Oni comes from has two aspirants with less than 50,000 voting population; Emure, a one-town local government has two aspirants; Efon has two aspirants; Ijero has two aspirants and both are from Ikoro town. Then there’s this place where we have massive voters’ population. Our people, the people of this local government, want to be saved from Fayose’s misgovernance.
Their houses are being demolished every day, they’re losing their properties and homes and they’re tired. They want to see a new person in government and they want to use what they have to get rid of Fayose and his deputy. So, we’ve done all we need to do. I’ve been to Efon and Oke Imesi from where I returned to Ado Ekiti at about 2:30am after knocking on doors and talking to people. This primary is not a jamboree; it’s not about using brigade bands or dancing around. We are now knocking on doors to wake them up, sit down with them in their living room or outside, tell them what we want to do, why, and the benefit it will bring to them We’ve also worked to make sure there’s no rigging: that the process will be free, fair and transparent.
What do you think is the major factor your party is considering in selecting a candidate?
The person who can win. I told my people to go round this state, ask questions because they’re not the only ones who will vote. Members of our party are just five per cent of the voting population. We need to know the opinion of teachers, civil servants, farmers, market men and women, pensioners, youths, okada men and kings. Ask them: looking around this state, who can win this election for our party? Who will people not vote for? And people are talking, they’re not keeping quiet. The clamour for a candidate from Ekiti South is gaining momentum. Do you think it’s a factor to be considered by your party? I don’t think it’s gaining momentum. The traditional rulers coming together days ago in support of that was engineered. Those Obas are from the South, none of them is from the North or Central. You see, Ekiti is not like other states: Ekiti is homogenous. What they are talking about is only geographical, not tribal. We’re not like Ondo State where people from Ondo town, Akure, Owo, Akoko, Ilaje and others are all different. Here, Ekiti is Ekiti. The distance between Ado Ekiti and Ikere is a five-minute drive. Ikere is South, Ado is central.
The distance between Omuo and Ikere is about one and a half hours, and they’re both in the South. That’s the logic. What we’ve always clamoured for is that the best of our people should govern us, that’s why I emphasise more on voting population as an advantage, rather than being geographical. If you add all the votes of the local governments in the South, it won’t be up to the votes in Ado-Ekiti Local Government alone. This, for me, is a clear advantage. It’s an opportunity for our party to win the election. Fayose is regretting not picking someone from Ado-Ekiti because he had no prior knowledge that I’ll contest. If he had known, he probably would have chosen someone from Ado Ekiti to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me, and then pick votes from other parts. It was after he chose an Ikere man that I came out, and he’s regretting it.
Do you think you have a major contender among the aspirants in your party, APC?
There’s no one contesting that is not a major aspirant. We have two former governors, three former senators, four former House of Representatives’ members and one former speaker. Akerele was in PDP and won the primary 2007, but it was given to another person, Oni. I don’t want to say any of us is weak, we all have some influence where we come from. It is for us to maximally take delegates from our locality and seek for a few others from other places to win. If there’s anybody who has that advantage, it’s me. That’s why we’re talking to our people in Ado-Ekiti on the direction we should follow. The only disadvantage for major contenders is that when you come from a local government where there are five strong aspirants, it’s going to be a battle ground, and those of us from outside will even take votes from them.
You’re apparently the only aspirant with a published manifesto before the primary. Why?
It’s because I mean business and I’m very passionate about Ekiti State. I understand the possibilities in this state. I’m happy you noticed. No other aspirant cares about a manifesto. I’ve been working on that manifesto with my compatriots for close to one and a half years. We’ve taken opinions around the state and from the diaspora, came up with drafts, and sent them around to professionals and entrepreneurs from here and outside. They made their inputs and we have a very perfect document, I can assure you. We are good to go. If I’m elected today, we’ll begin to implement what we have in that manifesto.
You’ve toured the 16 local governments twice and you must have got some feedback. How accepted are you in Ekiti at present?
Going round the local governments and standing for one to two hours talking to people, the kind of responses I got were quite overwhelming. I’m not conjuring this, we have video recordings of these receptions and they’re on social media. For us, everywhere we got to was a kind of carnival. I preached the content of my manifesto, I talked to them about my past engagements in the state, I talked about my passion and what I’ve done to assist in ensuring that this state becomes a better one. I also preached unity: that all of us contesting are members of the same party, so people should not fight, quarrel or damage anybody’s image. I told them that it takes a united APC to win a general election, and people received the message with all their hearts.
In 2007, 13 persons contested for ACN’s ticket. After Dr. Kayode Fayemi won, 11 of them went to PDP and strengthened the party. Since then, we’ve not been able to win any election clearly in Ekiti. Now that we are 33, if we begin to fight ourselves before and after the primary, we are doomed. So, we are all friends, though contesting in the same party. Let no one fight on our behalf, let no one damage anybody’s image on our behalf because it’ll take a united APC to win the election on July 14.