Professor Kolapo Olusola, the deputy governor of Ekiti State, was recently endorsed by some stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state as their preferred aspirant/candidate for the 2018 governorship election. In this interview with SAM NWAOKO, Olusola, a professor of Building Structures in the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife, speaks on himself, PDP and the party’s chances after the furore created by his endorsement.
Did you see yourself here some five years ago?
Some five years ago, I was busy doing one of the things I know how to do best, that’s teaching and researching. I never dreamt I could become a deputy governor not to talk of aspiring to become the governor of Ekiti State.
Whatever God wants to do, He will surely accomplish it. God has a plan for every life and many a times, we don’t have a full grasp of the plans of God for our lives; we may have just a glimpse of it. But when He starts unfolding His plans for our lives, the most important thing is for us to key into that plan and align ourselves with Him so that His words come to pass in our life. So, my coming here as a deputy governor, to me, is a divine agenda; it is part of God’s plan for my life. Something you never dreamt of and, today, it is coming to pass. That is why I give glory and praise to the Almighty God.
Along with your boss, Governor Ayodele Fayose, you are the issue in Ekiti politics and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today. Does this make you uncomfortable?
Like I said, I am still my normal self. The way I view life is that nothing comes into being without God knowing about it. Nothing comes into existence without the knowledge of God. It is normal that some people would be uncomfortable with my endorsement and adoption by a caucus of the party in Ekiti State. We are all normal human beings. When you have a particular position and you have three, four or five people contesting for the same position, every one of them, every of such aspirants desire to be the most favoured. But then, eventually, only one person will get there. So, I just see it as God’s plan coming into fulfillment and I am taking things as they come by. I am not under any pressure and I believe that whatever misunderstandings, whatever misgivings that might have cropped up as a result of my adoption as the most preferred candidate… Don’t forget I am not the candidate for now, but the most preferred aspirant for now …whatever misgivings that might have come as a result of this step taken by key stakeholders of PDP in Ekiti State will definitely give way as people begin to show more understanding.
Contention in some quarters in the state that Professor Olusola is not a politician, but an academic that is not given to the rigours and the dynamics of politics. How do you react to this contention?
Unfortunately, many people don’t know Professor Kolapo Olusola. I was not just limited to the academics; I was also a professional man. I studied Building and I am a registered builder by the grace of God. I have participated in the affairs of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIoB) from the local, to the state and to the national level. I started as vice chairman of my state chapter. When you talk about all these positions, you contest for them. You can call it a mini political environment, but the principles are essentially the same.
I contested for the position of vice chairmanship of NIoB, Osun State Chapter. I won. I later became the chairman for three good years and, under my leadership, I brought the national body to Osun State for the first time when we organised a national convention. It was held in Osogbo then. Even when my colleagues were afraid of how we were going to make this happen and asked ‘are we going to succeed?’, I said it is always good to be courageous and not to think of failure before you even start an activity. Whatever you lay your hand upon, the Bible says, will prosper. I believe so much in the word of God and we did it successfully. At the same time when I was the chairman, I contested for the position of the Registrar of NIoB at the national level. I networked with my colleagues in other states; we formed a winning team because we won. You could see that a little bit of politics was involved there, even if you may call it professional politics. But it is still within. I also won election to the position of the Research Secretary. I won again and served for another two years. Later, if not for coming over as the Deputy Governor, I had desired that one day, I would become the president of NIoB, but man proposes, God disposes.
However, when you talk of rigours of politics, somebody who is coming from the academics, a real academic who has passed through the system and allowed the system to pass through him, must have inculcated in himself or herself discipline, diligence, integrity and courage. You can’t be a successful researcher if you don’t have courage. We read that the man who made 7up failed in his research mix six times and only succeeded at the seventh attempt. He said, ‘seventh time I am up’. So, whoever is going to succeed in life must show enough courage to face the challenges ahead. Challenges vary from one system to the other. So, if I had been successful as a lecturer in the university, if I had been successful as a professional builder, holding elective positions and if I had been successful for the past three and half years as the deputy governor, working side by side with my governor here, I want to believe that in any other future endeavour, I have the grace of God, I have the courage to succeed in any of these endeavours.
And don’t forget that I have been under the tutelage of my governor for the past three years; I have learnt a lot from him. And it is only a dead man that has stopped learning. The most important thing is that you put into practice what you have learnt. You cannot be a successful governor if you are the type that stays in the office alone. While doing the office work, you also have to be there in the field. These are some of the things we have learnt from Mr Governor and I want to assure you that we have imbibed all these good values and culture in ourselves and we are prepared to succeed.
The spotlight is now more on you and you are an issue more than you were before now. How do you see Ekiti politics in the near future when you consider the aggrieved in your party? How much of these people have you reached out to?
The most important thing, instead of confrontation, is dialogue and consultation. We believe in dialogue, we believe in consultation. We have leaders in the party and I know that, at the appropriate time, steps would be taken to address all these issues. For now, I don’t want to comment. But for those who say they are aggrieved, I know there are mechanisms that have been put in place by our party to resolve such issues. There are leaders and we will cooperate with our leaders when the time comes.
Considering the misgivings within, do you see your party coming out stronger in all of these to face and defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC), seen as a formidable opponent in the coming election?
You used the word ‘formidable opponent’, but let me tell you that there is no APC in Ekiti State. Take it from me that APC is not in existence in Ekiti State. At a point in time, they were trying to play down the successes we have achieved in the state. For instance, they tried to play down the successes we achieved in the education sector. The Dr Kayode Fayemi-led administration was laying claim to the success, saying they laid the foundation. I took a look at the kind of foundation they said they laid. I studied Building, I am a professional builder. I had my PhD in Building Structures. One thing I have learnt about building construction, construction technology and structural engineering is that when the foundation of a building is weak, anything you put on it will collapse. The foundation the Kayode Fayemi administration and APC laid in Ekiti State was a foundation of failure. Take for instance, in WAEC, in 2013, the performance of our students was 29 per cent when Dr Fayemi was still the governor. In 2014, he was still governor when they wrote that WAEC and NECO exams. It dropped from 29 per cent in 2013 to 25 per cent in 2015. Tell me, what kind of foundation was that? A retrogression!!! That was a foundation of failure; that was the foundation APC laid in Ekiti State.
We took over in October 2014 and we put in place certain measures and started intervention lectures for SSSIII students in English and Mathematics, continuous training for our teachers in the sciences and in the arts. We also started to build the capacity of the teachers, made prompt payment of rural allowance; they had to start school allowance and core subject allowance, interacting with, engaging and motivating them and boosting their morale. In 2015, the performance of our students rose to 36.5 per cent. Again, that was still not acceptable; it was still a failure, although we took the 11th position then. In 2016, we maintained 11th position but the percentage increased to 42 per cent. We said we still not have arrived. You can see the progression. In 2017, going by the letter WAEC sent to us on September 6, 2017, the percentage performance of our students was put at 73.86 per cent; from 42 per cent last year. That is a great leap.
Come to NECO, what we met in 2014 was 58 per cent. In 2015 when we took over, we had 74.5 per cent. In 2016, for the first time, Ekiti State came first with 96.48 per cent; the best ever. In 2017, Ekiti came first again in NECO-organised SSCE examinations. Going by these, who has laid the good foundation? That is why I said APC is not in existence in Ekiti State. Go to all the streets, you will see that everything is Fayose; everything is Oshokomole; everything is PDP.
So, we are not afraid whether they have the federal might or not, it doesn’t matter. The power of the people is greater than the people in power. So, we believe so much in the power of the people and, let me tell you, PDP is on ground. The next election in 2018, we are coming out victorious. It is going to be another 16:0. We have a leader who understands what he is doing, who has been able to rally his people around himself together to support him. So, we are not afraid.
and then