Dr. Akinpelu Onigbinde (SAN), Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly between 1992 and 1993, is a man with deep passion for acquiring knowledge. The gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) speaks with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE on problems of governance, challenges of the political system and the problem of the delegate system, among other issues.
What is the role of the media in governance?
Many times, journalists are told to sell a product they do not know or understand, they talk about people they do not know or have rarely had interactions with. And in reality, I do not think this is fair on the journalists or the society. The essence of any reportage is that it should be grounded in facts; it should be grounded in analysis. Have you heard people say that particular information is true, it is written in the newspaper or I heard it on radio? For some people, as long as they hear anything on radio or read it in the newspaper, it is the truth.
That places a huge responsibility on the journalist and that is the reason they should, for the good of the society, any information that will go out in the media, which some people will rely on, must pass through the test of veracity. There is nowhere that half truths are being passed to people in the society than in politics; when talking of facts or individuals, you find out the message that is being passed across to you, if you don’t interrogate it, it might be misleading.
I want to encourage the media sees itself as a huge stakeholder in the future of this country, as there is no country that can be founded on falsehood. The media has a huge role and should take more than a passing interest in what goes on in political parties.
What is your opinion about governance?
Governance is about management of resources. People complain that the country is not running well, if the country were a company that has the kind of investments that we have in this country and is your personal estate, will you allow it to go under? You will do everything, including bringing people that are competent, in order to make it work. We need competent people that understand how things work in order to turn this country around. People will tell you that Oyo State has financial problem; but what I see everyday are sources of funds, sources of good business that Oyo State can explore to turn the situation around.
What are your views on Nigeria’s political system?
I had a look at political parties in Nigeria, as an insider, I understand the difficulty of the political process. All of us agree that the way we run politics in this country is one of the things that spoils our morals; it is ruining our businesses, making us untrustworthy and dehumanizing us. I saw a document recently where 19 former governors are on the list of EFCC facing charges. 19 out of how many governors? Is this normal? Is that the kind of mentoring we want to give people? We need to tackle the issue of politics and the way political parties operate.
Why AD?
I have many friends in APC and I would have been welcomed there or in any other big party. But the difficulty I have with APC is that it is a bus filled with people going to different destinations; some are gentlemen, some are rogues, some are violent and all of them are encapsulated in one vehicle. Some have put engine oil inside the tank, some have put water and some are stealing tyres. That is a political party that cannot organise itself, a man cannot give what he doesn’t have. As far as I’m concerned, for us to make headway, we need healthy vehicles. And like I normally say, if you have a Benz and another person has a Keke NAPEP but the Benz has adiagbon and ororo in the tank instead of oil and the driver is drunk while the person sitting at the back is holding a dagger and an explosive but the Keke NAPEP has fuel and the rider is sane; no matter how long it will take to get to its destination, it will land safely but the Benz will self destruct because it is carrying enough explosives and that kind of vehicle cannot help anyone.
What is the greatest challenge of political parties?
If you look at the way politics is being run and the delegate system which unfortunately is in the constitution of all political parties, how do you get good candidates when they will be selected by delegates and the delegate system is faulty? The delegate election is where good candidates are sacrificed on the altar of people that have resources. Then, your PVC cannot vote in a good candidate because the delegate system has imposed on us a bad candidate
and then