BASHIR AKANBI, Oyo State Secretary of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not in anyway ruffled by the close marking being given to his party by the opposition in the state as reflected in the National Assembly election results held penultimate Saturday. In this encounter with Correspondent, OLADELE OGUNSOLA shortly before the last Presidential election, he expressed optimism that by the time the governorship election is conducted, the party’s gubernatorial candidate and the incumbent occupier of the seat, Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala would become the only PDP Governor from the South-West geo-political zone. Excerpts:
Looking at the last National Assembly election, how do you assess it?
Generally speaking, I have to commend Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] for doing a very good job in terms of their preparation for the conduct of the Saturday National Assembly election. You see, the truth of the whole issue is that it is only a politician who has no reputation will indict INEC as a result o the last election, because the process was so transparent, cordoned of all tricks that might be deployed to rig or change result. Let’s take for example, look at the issue of Returning Officers at local government levels, most of them are tested professors, doctors, who are honorable people, who have their credibility built over the years. I do not see what a politician would want to offer such categories of people to influence the result of a local government election. Look at the collation officers, returning officers for the Senatorial districts, they are also tested professors, doctors, people who have made their names in their academic pursuit. Cast your mind back, things were not so in the years past. Then, you had Grade Two teachers serving as returning officers, even at the senatorial districts level. And remember that all these teachers are employed by state governments. In such a case, it cannot be doubted that they will be doing their master’s bidding. But, in the case of 2011 election, all these had zeroed to nothing. By and large, the 2011 election as reflected in the last election of National Assembly has been very wonderful, free and fair. I hope the subsequent elections will follow suit. To some of the few lapses which were noticed in some areas, I know by now that INEC must have been taking care of those areas, such as inadequate vehicles for transportation of INEC adhoc staffs to their duty posts, issues of voters not finding their names on the electronic register. On the basis of this, I think it is wise for INEC to release the manual register along the electronic register so that nobody would be disenfranchised from performing their civic responsibility.
Are you aware of the fact that the turn- out for the election was poor?
I will disagree with you on that submission. The turn-out was very, very impressive in my own local government where election took place and so I heard all over the place. Remember, even the previous outing of the 2nd April was not as large as that of 9th April. So, the electorates are very enthusiastic to choose their leaders and this they had at the back of their minds. They know that if they do not sacrifice their time to do this, some people, who are not supposed to be there, will still be there, politicians that are not of reputable characters will still come out to be there. So, I will disagree totally with you that the turnout was poor. I regard it as very, very impressive.
When you look at the performance of your party, the ruling party in the state, losing as much as eight of the House of Representatives seats to the opponents and two senatorial seats, what do you think of the situation?
That is the beauty of democracy. Some factors, I personally accept that. Be that as it may that from 14, we came down to five, it still shows that PDP in Oyo State, led by Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala is still loved by the people. There are a lot of factors that made all these things you are saying to be so. I would not want to talk much on this, because, remember, there are some party people, who because, they failed at the primary election went ahead to work against the party, anti panty, voting against the party, all these were there. If you look at the candidates of the opposition, particularly the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Accord in Oyo State, they are PDP that failed from emerging during the primary elections. So, the election of last Saturday in Oyo State was PDP versus PDP itself. Ayo Adeseun was a PDP man, Femi Lanlehin was a PDP man, the two Senatorial candidates of ACN. We still have others in the House of Representatives; Akinlabi in Oyo was a PDP man. Name it. So, if anybody now says ACN and Accord won election, I just laugh and say my belief is that it is the PDP that had still won the election, because it was when we rejected them in PDP that they went to ACN and Accord. Again, some other people that are annoyed with us like them teamed up with them and voted them in. I still believe PDP is not voted out.
How do you ensure that all these factors do not affect the subsequent elections especially the governorship?
We have gone back to the drawing board. We have reached out to those that were aggrieved. Some of them which were very, very obvious confessed that they worked against the party. But, they have seen why it does not pay them, because, the party, they all together nurtured, built it and losing the primary election is not the end of everything. As politicians, sometime you win some, sometime you lose some. Why do we accept it in PDP? We do not agitate, we believe that is the wish of the people, the masses. No matter how it comes, it is still the interest of the people and the masses decide that is what they wanted. As said earlier, we have gone to the drawing board. I will not want to let the cat out of the bag, so that the other political parties will not pre-empt or know our preparation and go and ambush us again.
What are the chances of the party in the subsequent elections?
Look, my brother, let me tell you, if you look at the pattern of voting during the last election and the spread of PDP, you will know that despite the gang-up, despite the antics of the opposition to reach accord before this time, PDP still has larger spread. In PDP, we do not believe in sectional politics, we believe that it is always good to go to where there is masses and that is why we are telling , the good people of Oyo State that it is not good to always be in opposition and that PDP should be voted. You may want to believe me or not, it is very, very sad that in the whole of South- West geo-political zone only Oyo State had one senator in the upper chamber of the National Assembly. This has reflected to Nigerians, to all other geo-political zones that these are people who believe in ethnic politics. We have friends among them. They have been calling us, both from the North, from the East, from the South, South South, from the North Central; that why did you people decide to go back to the colonial days? Why do you people want to be colonised again by foreigners? Why do you people want to enslave yourself again? All these are very, very pathetic. By and large, it is the wish and the will of God that will prevail.
In the process of your going back to the drawing board, you must have identified certain factors that led to the rejection of PDP, not only in Oyo State as you have observed, but virtually in the entire region and the case of Ogun State in particular should be of interest to you. Can the public be let into some of these factors?
Look, let me tell you, you cannot even say what in Ogun State is it, a sitting governor, using the state resources controlled by PDP to work for PPN and even in some areas, telling his people to go and vote for ACN. It is very unfortunate and I believe and hope that the top hierarchy of PDP at headquarters will have to do something about it. Beause, PDP is an organised party and there is punishment for anybody that engages in anti-party activities, it is a case of dog eats dog in Ogun State. It is similar to the case of Oyo State. It is PDP working for PPN and ACN in Ogun State. I have seen the Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, mounting the nostrum that the people should pitch their tent with PPN. Can you imagine that? This is a house he built and he, himself, picked digger and hammer and destroyed it, because his candidate did not emerge. He had forgotten that anything you do and it is possible, it is God’s hard writing that is there. The poser for him now is, let us see him deliver PPN for Ogun State. As bad as it would be, PPN failed woefully too, because most of the people he carried to PPN discovered that PPN cannot go anywhere and they decided to pitch their tents with ACN. They told him and he asked them to go ahead. It is sad. Until when Nigerians believe to see politics as a game, as a business that does not mean do or die, then, the better it is going to be for us and democracy. In all developed countries, democracy is not practised the way we do it in this country. The case of you don’t meet him, kill him, they don’t do that in advanced countries. You will not see a politician, because of failure to win primary, carry supporters, destroy all his structures and go to an opposition party in order to humiliate his or her party that brought him or her to power. Principle of natural justice and anybody with clear conscience, a normal human being will not indulge in that type of a thing. It is a bad trend and it is taking us back to the colonial era. It means, we are still not civilised; we cannot be in tandem with the current practice of international democracy. No. In advanced countries, when you lose at primary election, you congratulate your fellow contestants, but, here, you will remove your supporters, your structures and go and give it to another party. At the end of the day, you say if you cannot beat them, you join them. The syndrome in not good for our nascent democracy. We should always imbibe the spirit of give and take. We should develop large heart to be magnanimous in victory and when we lose, we should see it as an act of God.
Can we conclude that this principle, as just highlighted has been responsible for your party’s silence over the result of National Assembly election in Oyo State, that nothing has been heard from your end about litigation over any of the results?
As far as we are concerned, all the election results as released by INEC have been credible. We have gone through them, some of them, where we have complaint, we have written, but having at the back of our mind that INEC cannot just do anything. In the case of Oyo North Senatorial district, where the result of Ogbomoso South was not recorded, the result of Oriire, 1,690 recorded as against 16,610, we know INEC cannot do anything because, Section 68 of the Electoral Act gives them not such a power. It is only a court of competent jurisdiction or tribunal that can change those results. Those are what we have seen and we kept quiet, because, we don’t want to join issues with opposition. Because, we know what the Electoral Act says. So, all these areas, where we have complaints, there are some areas where some parties complained that their logo were missing on the ballot paper, it is not our duty to say that, it is the tribunal that has the final say on that. We are waiting for the commencement of that. Thank God, the tribunal has been inaugurated long before now. So, I hope, before the expiration of the 21 days given by the Electoral Act, we will file our observations at the proper tribunal.
In essence, the thinking at the party level is that of reversing some of the results already declared in favour of your opponents?
Of Course, we will even call for re-run in some areas where the logo of other political parties are absent, where there are over-voting. So, it is not yet Uhuru. That is our belief, but, we don’t want to join issues with opposition. We know the proper channel to put our case and we are now approaching that channel.
When you look back at the vigorous campaigns mounted by your party ahead of this general election, will you say the result so far has reflected your efforts?
Of course, I have told you earlier on that PDP is a party to beat in the state. Look at the result of the senatorial of Accord and ACN, look at the whole results in the right perspectives. The PDP had the highest number of votes, we have the largest spread in terms of local governments, we havw 33 local government councils in the state, last election result revealed that we had 25 per cent of the total votes case in all the local government councils in Oyo State and we led in 17 local government which is more than 50 per cent. The closet party to us, the Accord had 10 local governments in terms of spread. Accord had more spread than ACN because ACN had only six local governments in terms of spread. Where we had 17, Accord had 10 with ACN six. Add them together, it will give you 33. So, it is case of glaring evidence that PDP is acceptable to have made 25 per cent of the total votes cast in all the 33 local governments. What else do we want? We just need to work more and that is why I told you inter-alia that I don’t want to tell you what we do when we go back to the drawing board. We have examined ourselves. We have seen our weaknesses as I told you, the good example is the PDP man confessing that he worked for ACN. He has seen it why he should not do it in subsequent elections and you will see the result. There is going to be difference.
But, the general impression out there is that your party is now walking a tight rope as far as the governorship election is concerned by the result of the previous election, and here you have painted a very bright picture, what is that source of confidence?
I will disagree with you. In PDP, we don’t believe in pre-empting what is going to happen in an election. We get to a river before we know how we are going to cross it, either by trekking across, using a boat, flying over it. Wait till that time, I reserve my comments. Then I will call you after the governorship election and tell you that did I not tell you? The opposition is just playing gimmicks. We thank God now, they did not accuse INEC because they have won. INEC is not partisan. All the allegation that the REC is taking contract, that he is taking money from Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, they don’t say anything now. They have won two senatorial seats, four seats in the House of Representatives, INEC is okay, the leader of ACN, Baba Lam said it yesterday. He said INEC had done a good job, he even said the REC should be commended. We thank God for that. They have seen that the umpire is a clean umpire, free-minded, who has no political leaning towards the government in power in the state. If I begin to say, hey, we lost because they drove our agent away from Lanlehin’s polling unit, have they not gone against the Electoral Act? Does the Electoral Act say party agent should not stay? All these we observed and saw. We have seen where the agent of ACN maltreated the Electoral Officer, yet the security agents did not do anything. If it were to be PDP, they would shout, hey, PDP is beating other party agent and the police is aiding them. At that juncture, we have to commend the security operatives. They did a very good job during the previous election. I pray they are going to keep it up like that. I have to commend the Commissioner of Police, Saliu Hassimu. He has done a lot and the GOC, Maj.Gen. Abubakar Momoh, their men are wonderful, they did very good job. They should keep it up in the subsequent elections.
The state governor was alleged to have threatened to sack any of the Local government caretaker committee chairmen in the state that failed to deliver his council during the election. Was it his decision or that of the party?
From where did you hear that? Was it from the ACN or Accord? But, we have had election now, counting days or even week after. Have you heard that any of the local government caretaker committee chairmen has been dismissed? Have you heard of any of them resigning? All these are the antics of opposition to dent the image of the governor, forgetting that Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala is a God-sent man. He is a godly man, a good Christian who will not do anything under the guise of election to say somebody should vacate office. No, I know Akala, the Akala I know will not do that. Akala is a very straightforward person, he will never do such a thing and I don’t think the people, who said that, go and find out, the ACN or Accord people will be on top of it. But, I’m asking you, as at today, several days after the first election was conducted, have you heard of suspension or sack of any caretaker chairman? The answer is no, so let them say whatever they want to say. Akala believes in God, he does not believe in human beings. He is a godly man, I have said that, times without number. I also know that I have said it openly times without number at public fora that I stand to be challenged in open debate. Let any of the past governors that has done what Akala has done for the people of Oyo State come and controvert me.
Looking at the result of the National Assembly election, all the five seats won by the PDP in the state are outside the 11 controlled local government councils in Ibadan land, what is the implication of this for the subsequent elections?
Let me tell you, that is one of things we discovered from the last election that Ibadan are out for tribal or ethnic politics and Nigeria is more than that now. Nigeria is more than I only want my people, I only want my people. It is more than that. I’m happy that, you as a journalist, you observe that they didn’t want PDP, forgetting that those candidates are their own sons and daughters and still, they said they did not want them because of the umbrella. Though, I will say, some of the candidates have their own mistakes, they have their faults. So, if you can read through the lines the pattern of election in the National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives was tribal dominated. Other geo-political zones of the state have seen that. I told you, we have gone back to the drawing board, the Oke-Ogun, the Ogbomoso’s, the Ibarapas, the Oyos, they have seen it, they know that the Ibadan leadership is not interested in the progress of Oyo State. They still want to take us back to the colonial period when somebody would come from Lagos to dictate what we should do in Oyo State and in Yorubaland. We say, Aji-se-bi-Oyo-laa ri,Oyo kii-se-enikookan. It may interest you, I have said it the other time, it is only Oyo State that we have a PDP senator from the entire South- Western states of the six geo-political zones, not pre-empting the result of Ekiti election that is yet to hold, for now as for the five states. It is only Oyo that has a senator and like I reminded you, the ACN candidates were PDP.
With only Oyo State having a Senator in the coming National Assembly from the entire South-West geo-political zone, what does it portend for the political future of the zone?
It is only Oyo State Governor that will still be the PDP Governor from the South-West and what it be good for people of Oyo State in that federal attention will be focused on Oyo State. There will be more developmental projects coming to Oyo State. Will President Jonathan or any other president call on ACN Governor to come and supervise Federal Government projects? If you are not there, how do you say you don’t know they distribute things? That is what we are telling the good people of Oyo State that we should not remove ourselves from the centre of attraction, from the federal might. Any vote against PDP is removing Oyo State from the federal might. Even the leadership of people who are canvassing for ACN, they have benefitted from the Federal Government, I will not mention their names. The PDP people canvassing for Isiaka Ajimobi have benefitted from the might of PDP led Federal Government one way or the other and they are still benefitting.
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