ACCORD,THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE FOR EKITI Lanre Fasuan,a Management Consultant, a former full time Commissioner in the State Primary Education Board and son of the Chairman Committee for the creation of Ekiti State,Chief Deji Fasuan from Afao-Ekiti. Fasuan is the current state secretary ,ACCORD in Ekiti. He recently spoke with STEPHEN GBADAMOSI of TRIBUNE on the chances of the party in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state. Question: How has the journey been so far with your party believed to be new in Ekiti State? Barely a year and some months ago,some of us observed that the APC government lacked vision and of course the policies of the government were lopsided in view of the fact that priorities were misplaced and instead of the government to focus on creating wealth for the already decimated masses of Ekiti,all we were seeing were irrelevant projects that are not in tandem with the aspirations of the people. Also we realised that the governor and his team were through their antecedents not used to the terrain because they are neither homebased nor homegrown. The resultant effect of these are overbearing godfatherism and capital flight which take its toll on the economy of the state. We moved swiftly into action by forming a group called EKITI KOYA which was the only group that first rose against the draconian and oppressive policies of the APC government. We also felt the pulse of the people and realised that Ekiti people are tired of both APC and PDP hence,the need for a third force that is relatively new and also based on their long desire to have a government of their own based on the homegrown policy. ACCORD was chosen in view of the fact that its policies,principles and ideologies are in tandem with the aspirations of Ekiti. These have always been re echoed by the National leader,Senator Rasheed Ladoja who stands at the moment to be the most credible,upright and incorruptible Yoruba leader. ACCORD is presently set with its structures in all the local governments and wards across the state. It is the only party that held a non rancorous state congress and of course it is also the party that has without any crisis adopted a consensus candidate in person of Barrister Kole Ajayi,a scientist turned lawyer and publisher. He is the current National PRO,Ado-Ekiti Progressive Union,a Former National President University of Ado-Ekiti Alumni Association and a former member UNAD Governing Council to mention a few. It is interesting that a lot of us saw the need for a third force early and we strifed and toiled through personal sacrifices to put it in place while a lot of politicians were clinching on the older parties then. As am speaking,nobody needs a soothsayer to confirm that a third force that is based on homebased policy and relatively new in the polity of Ekiti would carry the day come 2014, hence we are the only hope of the downtrodden masses in Ekiti. Question: Your party is campaigning against godfatherism,what is your relationship with Chief Ladoja? Let me state without any equivocation that Senator Rasheed Ladoja is not our godfather but our national leader. Ladoja himself does not believe in godfatherism and he has been condemning this publicly. If he had believed in godfatherism,he would not have been unjustly removed from office just because he refused to use the state money to settle late Lamide Adedibu the then godfather of Oyo State politics. It would also interest you that the National leader has imbibed into the party the principle of grassroot evolution and shareholding system where nobody can lay claim to the ownership of the party. Question: What are your chances in winning the governorship election? Thank you very much,I have lived most of my life in Ekiti and I know how Ekiti decide on who to vote for. At every instance they are always motivated by prevailing issues. In 1999,it was June 12 and Afenifere that influenced the voting direction. In 2003,Ekiti and most states in the southwest decided to change from AD to PDP in order to hook on to the national grid. In 2007,Ekiti and most of the states in the southwest in their voting pattern reverted to the progressive but most of the election were arm twisted for PDP but people eventually had their ways through judicial pronouncements. Now the prevailing issue in Ekiti is that our people are tired of both parties because they have been tried twice each and have failed the people,hence,they have settled for a third force based on the homebased policy which they can never negotiate. In Ekiti today both APC and PDP are deep in irreconcilable crisis. Our party is the only alternative. In addition,our party candidate is very marketable based on the realities on the ground. He is homebased,Ekiti people have never had a homebased governor. He is from Ado-Ekiti the state capital with a voting strength of about 150,000 out of the total 500,000 votes in Ekiti. For your information,Ado-Ekiti people want to be governor for the first time. Added to this is the agitation that no alumni of the state University has been governor and our candidate is a former National President of the university Alumni. Question: There are indications that Bamidele is moving to Labour Party,dont you feel it is a threat? Not at all,it is even a blessing in disguise because his action will further weaken the Tinubus hegemony in Ekiti which has already been rejected by Ekiti people. Much as we dont have anything personally against Bamidele,I dont think Ekiti can vote for another Iyin Ekiti person,a town which has less than 3,000 votes and has already produced two(2) former governors. Question: What of the agitation by the Ekiti South Senatorial district for the governorship? Let me say that Ekiti is one compact entity with homogeneity of culture and language hence it is practically politically indivisible. Taking a look at the past elections,candidates have been contesting across all the 3 senatorial districts. For instance,in 2007 Chief Ropo Ogunbolude and Alhaji Adebayo Ayeni both from the south contested under NDP and UNDP respectively but lost the election. Hence, the whole thing is a game of chance and it depends on where God puts the crown. Let me quickly add that Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua is the first Ekiti indigene to be democratically elected as governor in the old Ondo State. He is from the south senatorial district.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 11:14:52 +0000
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