Chief Olusola Oke, the Alliance for Democracy governorship candidate in the last governorship election in Ondo State, recently rejoined the All Progressives Congress (APC). He speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on reasons for rejoining the ruling party in the state. Excerpts.
WHAT informs your decision to rejoin APC after you have left the party some eight weeks before the last governorship election in 2016?
I had reasons to leave the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), where I had been for 15 years and served at the highest level as the national office of the party. The reasons were not far-fetched. The long-standing absence of internal democracy, lack of reward for hard work, and above it all, misrule despite all efforts to advise the then government. I left with a mission that I would join other progressives in APC to bring about vitality in the administration of Ondo State which I cried out on daily basis. I complained that our economy was nosediving and that wealth was not being generated for our people, I complained that despite abundant and human resource in the state, poverty level continues to rise and unemployment was becoming burdensome and that if nothing urgent is done, that our economy will collapse in the state.
That was the main reason I joined APC. To join hands with other progressives to salvage the state. And for reasons that were all public domain which I do not intend to go back again, the primary election which we all participated was flawed. I articulated why it was so very difficult for me to operate in that kind of atmosphere, simply because I had a mission and I have a direction to do everything to reverse the dwindling fortune of the state, and to see if we can enthrone good governance, create wealth for our people and redirect the economic situation in the state, I then decided to move to the Alliance for Democracy.
The election had come and gone. I decamped to the AD on of October 1, 2016. The election took place on November 26, 2016. How well I feared or the AD that was not in existence feared in the election is also well known to all of us in the state and that has become part of history now.
Why am I back in APC? I sympathise with the situation in our country today and I sympathise with the situation in our state. No doubt, my friend and my brother, whom God favoured in that election inherited a very bad situation and having waited a year to see the vigour with which the resurgences will be pursued, I am convinced in my mind that he requires additional support and encouragement from some of us who also understand the plight of the people of the state.
It was fashionable in the past for you to stay out of government and criticise the government. I see those things as distractions. This is the time when all of us must come together to contribute by the way of advice, support , encouragement and to appeal to our people to show understanding so that the government of the state can focus on core responsibility with minimum or complete absence of distractions.
I believe that whatever advice and experience I have, whatever opinion I harbour, I should align forces with the current government so that we can make use of the very bad situation we have in Ondo State. Our people are languishing in penury, no employment, the economy is bad, no infrastructure and the wisdom required the commitment to salvage the situation may not be available to single individual. And I will be failing in my responsibility, if I stay on the fence and watch things whether deteriorating or stagnated.
How do you mean?
The governor, in my opinion, desire and deserve encouragement and advice . Furthermore, I see the governor as someone who will harbour no ill feelings or bitterness towards a fellow compatriots I therefore think that I could exploit what I see as his understanding and willingness to take advice, to contribute my quota . I will be failing in my duty if I allow things to continue to deteriorate. This explains why we are back in APC.
What was the impression of your supporters when you told them about your return to APC ?
I am a leader that would always consult, we went from every level to the least level. Don’t forget that AD is constituted by three categories of membership . One, those who share the same vision and had reasons to leave from PDP to APC with me. Two, those who bought into my dreams of becoming governor in the state who I met in APC and later became my friend. Three, those that were mobilised by the leaders , supporters and admirers everywhere to join me when I left for AD. But the primary constituency of these groups was APC. If I said, let me return to PDP, about 80 percent of them will say, we have come to work with you in AD. Since you are no longer in AD and you are no longer pursuing that in AD, let me go back to where I come from. Those who came with me from PDP were even stronger about coming to APC. They don’t want to return to Egypt, having left Egypt and those reasons why they left Egypt were still prevailing there and are not willing to go back. It wasn’t my decision, In fact, there was this statement they were making that the world is bad ,the heaven is worst and that they did not know the third platform. Yes, there are issues in APC, there are more issues in PDP. In fact, I want to tell you that I didn’t participate in the preliminary discussions and they all agreed that APC is still the better option .
Are you not bothered that the governor might be scared about your return to the party?
I had interaction with him before my final decision. He is quite welcoming and quite enthusiastic about our coming . We have everything in common, both of us were born in the same year, although I am months older than him. We belong to the same profession and we are members of the inner bar and we are also related from his and my maternal side. I believed that if God had favoured him to be in the saddle, all I owe him is to encourage and advise him. Whether or not he will take the advice is entirely at his own discretion. But let it be said of me that I didn’t just watch from the sideline and that I did my best. I am doing this for Ondo State. AD came third in that election does not justify the strength of AD in the state. You all know what happened.
In terms of strength, I can boast that we have the largest followership as a political party in this state today. The governor had informed me that there would be what he called the ‘Unity Rally’ in February. By February, the APC will now show its strength. I am once a national officer of a ruling party and I need to make available to them our experience in party administration. This will allow the governor to concentrate on core responsibility of governance and allow those of us who are politicians and not in government, to build a formidable system and platform for the next election. All I can assure you and the people of the state is that I have a vision and mission. I believed that Ondo State can do better, I believed that we ought not to be where we are today, I believed that with a vision and mission, we can lift this state out of obscurity and move to part of sustainable development. It is some of those ideas that I want to put at the door steps of those who have a rare opportunity of being in governance of the state today.
But despite the governor showing his readiness to embrace you and your supporters, are you not worried about the hostile environment and that your supporters might be sidelined?
We are mortals. We can only do our permutation or calculation on the basis of facts known to us, only God knows tomorrow. Even my supporters asked me so many questions. Are these people welcoming?, are they not hostile?, would this not affect your vision and dreams? They asked all these questions, but I think the interest of the state is paramount. It overrides every personal consideration like I told the governor when I met him. If our people are looking for opportunity in terms of economic empowerment, they would not move from AD because I cannot see the difference between AD, PDP and even the APC members in the state. One thing I asked from the governor is that I and my people should be respected. We are coming to add value. In this state, any party the AD moves to, wins the state. I have pleaded with him and the leadership of APC and they have also assured me that we would be respected. Again, because we are a formidable group, we would not fire any arrow in anybody’s direction and nobody should also underestimate our capacity for protecting ourselves. To a large extent, I see the governor as somebody who bears his mind out easily on matters, you may not agree with him, I like such an individual than somebody who will tell me one thing and do another, I don’t tolerate and relate with any human being who is not straight forward. If I am right in my opinion that the governor is straight forward in dealings, that means, where we disagree , we would know and where we agree, we would know. He has no reason to disrespect me and I have no reason not to acknowledge his authority over the state. There may be issues, but of course, the rough edges would smoothen over time. We are not coming to appropriate to ourselves the result of their labour. We are coming to work for the future of Ondo State, a future opportunity where we will have equal right.
But do you realise that you’re coming at a time the party is divided over leadership tussle in the state, while one of the last gubernatorial aspirants of still in court. Do you think you have the magic wand to settle the troubled waters?
There is no doubt that the APC in the state, even at the national and like any other political party has its internal problems. I am going to be a stabilising factor because whosoever that is aggrieved because of the primary, I was also aggrieved. My own reaction was even violent than theirs because rather than causing bickering, I went out from it and coming back now, I think I am in a very strong footing and standing on very strong platform to be able to do some measure of mediation. If you say you are hurt, I was also hurt. The only thing is that the matter in court and we are not going to talk about it. Which ever way the court is going to resolve it, there must be internal stability. Even if the court resolves it against Akeredolu, the other man is coming to govern this state on a platform of a party. So, you cannot desecrate the party because of personal grievance. We would do some mediation while the law continues to take it’s course. If a politician is looking for still environment, then, he should not go into politics, he should just go to the graveyard, that is where you will not see conflicts; conflicts are part of politics and democracy. I am coming in with a clear vision, I have no adversity, I am very clean in my mind, my idea is how to better the state because we are going to pass through this stage and I want to leave a legacy in this state that at one time, it was bad, at another time, it became good. We would try to see how to minimise the conflicts.
In the eye of the public, do you think people will see you as a serious politician, jumping in and out of political parties…
Those who followed the thread of my political journey in the state would know that my history of migration is very recent and I have been in politics for decades. I was in PDP for 16 years, no movement. If you have a vision, you have a direction. I am not a decampee to APC, I am a returnee. It would have be another thing if I leave AD for another political party. Few people will think that is why he is still want to be in power? . What do I stand to benefit from that in Ondo State?. The only thing I can be in Ondo State is governor. I can’t be anything less. But don’t forget that politics is not about me alone, you have followership. There are some of our members who want to be councillor, local government chairmen, House of Representatives and Senate members. If politics is all about leadership, I must look for a way for them and I must not be selfish. I am not contesting for any position. They are not just appointing ministers at the centre now. So, I am not shopping for opportunity, but I must lead my people to where they can also actualise their aspiration outside my personal aspiration.
Besides, I informed you earlier that, all what most politicians do is to stay outside and throw pebbles and criticise, and use the criticism to prepare for their own aspiration. It is a reverse policy, but let me see how I can advise this young man and make things better.
Your defection in 2016 to AD brought back the party to recognition, now that you have rejoined APC, are you collapsing the structure of AD into APC.
We have built the AD, we are moving out the AD. We didn’t found the AD, even though the party was in comatose, our moving out of AD will not throw it into comatose. It would still be there. The officers of AD were there, they are not moving with us and our movement will not collapse the party, but it would make the AD not viable.
It was rumoured that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu sponsored bankrolled your election and engineered your defection to AD before the election, what was his role in bringing you back to APC?
Every opportunity I had when I was contesting, I utilise it to debunked that impression. It is also understandable that at his level as national leader of a party, a most vibrant south westerner in politics today, people will trace every good and bad things to him and the day we stop attributing such development to him, that means, he is going out of relevance. I went to AD with the view that I could actualise a mission. I contested in 2012, is it Tinubu that asked me to contest? I contested in 2016 and if I am still going to contest, he will not be the one to ask me to contest. Before I decided to come back, he was one of the leaders I consulted that I am looking at AD and PDP and he was very quick in saying, I can see your strength, you are a formidable politician that will add a lot of value to us in APC. Please, join us. Whereas, I say that, he was not the one that asked me to go to AD, he was one of the leaders that encourage me to return to APC .