‘Fayemi, candidate to beat in Ekiti guber race’ Oyetunde Ojo is a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ekiti State. The lawmaker, who represents Ekiti Central Federal Constituency II at House of Representatives in this interview with Correspondent Yaqoub Popoola in Ado-Ekiti submitted that his party is not afraid of the federal might if the PDP decides to deploy it in the forthcoming governorship election in the state. June 21 has been slated for Ekiti governorship election. How would you assess the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) in terms of preparation? To be honest, with the Anambra experience in mind, I won’t give them any credit yet. But since INEC has promised Ekiti people that it is going improve on that election, we won’t accept anything less. We have sent a very strong signal to INEC that what we want on June 21 is a free, fair and credible election. It does not matter which party is talking now. All the irregularities discovered in Anambra must be addressed before the time. We have seen cases of outright disenfranchisement and deliberate sabotage. Why is your party accusing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of plotting to use federal might in the forthcoming governorship election? Is it that you are jittery or what? This is quite strange to me. In 2007, our party did not have any representation at the federal level. Even the present governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, retrieved his stolen mandate without any support from Abuja. I want to believe that there was federal power or might then but with the support of God and the goodwill of the people of Ekiti, we defeated them. Now we have our members in Abuja, both at the Senate and the House of Representatives. Are saying we are going watch movies and allow anybody to overrun the state? Though, we are not in the executive, we are parliamentarians, we won’t fold our arms. We should also use our own federal might and that is why we are there in the first place. If we can bring federal constituency projects into the state, why is that we would be saying that anybody would use any might against us. We are aware of PDP’s antics but we won’t allow them this time round What is going to be the strategy of your party in the election? It is an obvious thing that everybody can see; even a blind man can feel it. I mean the transformation and development strides of the APC-led government. We believe strongly that our achievements should speak for us in this contest. To me, government is about social contract; you give me your vote, I give you good governance in return. All what we promised in our manifesto have been delivered to the people. Name it, is it in the area of roads, health, social security? You are a journalist; you can fault my position if all these things are not really on ground. The only grouse might be that we don’t throw money around as some people do. You cannot expect an 80-year- old grandmother of mine to be struggling with a 14-year-boy because she wants to get a share of the largesse being thrown around by some politicians. That is why our government has factored them into its policies and programmes. We have many programmes, which generate employment for the youths in the state. Is it in the area of tourism? We all know how Ikogosi Warm Spring used to be. I went there last year with the belief that since I was from that place, I could easily secure accommodation but to my surprise, all the rooms had been booked. So, I want to believe that the people will speak for us in the June 21 election. You have just collected your permanent voter card. What advise do you have for the electoral body? The collection of permanent voter card is what the INEC is doing now; this is to make Nigerians have an identity. We now have about three items, the national identity card, driver’s licence, and international passport. Collecting this is one thing but the question is: is it going to really serve the purpose for which it is meant? Remember we had this same permanent ID card before in 2007, we are having another one now. I think INEC should make this one permanent. I don’t want hear may be in 2018 that we should come and collect another permanent voter cards. Is it true members of National Assembly from Ekiti State gave certain conditions to Governor Kayode Fayemi ahead of the election? No, none of us would do that. In APC, we have hierarchy and the interest of our party comes first before individual’s interest. Even the party is above the governor or the President. We are unlike other political parties where individuals determine what happens in that party. If at the end of the day the party says this man is performing let him or her go for re-election, then you bury your own ambition. We all know there is no other candidate that we can follow but Fayemi. He is using Ekiti resources in a judicious manner. So, nobody gave conditions to him on anything. And I don’t think any reasonable person will do that. Even my brother in Labour Party (LP) did not say Fayemi did not perform, what he is saying is that he could better. What he says is that Ekiti people are yearning for more. Not that there are no good roads and infrastructure. But, anybody has the right to contest or seek elective office. But I must tell you that assuming all these things are not place in Ekiti, I will tell Fayemi straight to his face that ‘Your Excellency, you cannot run for second term’. Fayemi ‘s performance has gingered some of us at the National Assembly to do more for our constituencies. Some of us are building hospitals, which are not constituency but personal interventions. So, had it been that the constitution allows for third term, we would have urged Fayemi to run for it.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 09:56:08 +0000