Why my defection from PDP to APC caused uproar —Senator Omogunwa

Senator Yele Omogunwa, is the lawmaker representing Ondo South Senatorial District in the National Assembly. In this interview by Hakeem Gbadamosi, he speaks on why he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), his relationship with Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the incoming administration in the state. Excerpts:

What informed your defection from PDP to APC some few days to the governorship election in Ondo State?

You will recall that from Labour Party, we moved into PDP in the wake of the presidential and National Assembly elections in 2015. The main attraction then was to reconnect with the Federal Government along party line so as to attract more dividends of democracy to the good people of Ondo State. For me, I found it a worthy adventure on the ground that virtually all the strategic projects that could transform the lives of the people of Ondo South Senatorial District can only be successfully executed with the full cooperation and inputs of the Federal Government. You can then imagine how disappointed I was when PDP was voted out of power in the 2015 presidential election. Despite the sad and frustrating development as it was, some of us who found ourselves in that situation were ready to cope with it, at least, in the interest of the party. Suddenly crisis erupted in the party; the party became so factionalised, so much that the success of the party at the gubernatorial election was threatened. At this point, I considered the implication of being in the opposition party in my home state and at the federal level on my representative assignment at the Senate; I considered its effects on the life of the people in my constituency and on the socio-economic transformation that is expected in the Southern Senatorial District.

What you are saying in essence is that you cannot deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of your constituency unless you join the ruling party at the centre… 

In terms of development, when you are in the National Assembly, you can talk as much as possible and whatever you say may not get the desired result, except you hook up with the right party. When we are talking about opposition, we are talking about the minority. Under normal circumstances, opposition does not normally see too much good in whatever the majority does because the belief is that we are going there to criticise whatever they do, either good or bad. But it is more than that; you can leverage on the goodwill of the majority to get whatever you can get, depending on your relationship and acceptability. But in our Chamber, we are all one; we are friends. Anything that comes there in the open, it is debated by all, but do you know what goes on at the background? You are not in the caucus of the majority party. No matter how good you are in the opposition, you will never get to the caucus of the majority party. If they hold their meeting, they will not call you. If they hold meeting with Mr President, you will not be there because you are not one of them unless you have the opportunity of being a member of the caucus. The only time I met Mr President was when he received all of us at the villa, both the opposition and the majority.

But the rumour is that you deliberately left PDP just because you wanted to pay back Mimiko on how he treated you during your days in LP…

At this stage of my life, what I think I am left with is to face my God, pray for my children, my grandchildren and live the rest of my life happily without any vendetta. I am not the kind of person that would want to avenge. In politics anything can happen. Though, I opted out of the party sometimes, but at the end of the day when the governor made me see reasons, we settled our differences and since we settled, the past was the past. So, that is politics for you; if you’re not favoured today, it might be your turn tomorrow. I remained steadfast, praying to God. In fact, one of my wives said I must not quit politics because I was so frustrated, having put in more than 25 years and somebody just came and frustrated me despite being qualified for the post. Apart from this, I have told Mimiko on several occasions that he is not a true friend; a political friend is not a friend. We didn’t grow up in the same place; we have not been in the same club, but the only thing we did together is politics. He left University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, while I also graduated from the institution, but not at the same time. If you know how I became senator, you will marvel but I give all the glory to God.

It was also gathered that you are one of few politicians who kicked against the emergence of Eyitayo Jegede as the candidate of PDP in the last election. Is this true?

I always take my time before taking any decision. On this governorship slot, I realised that the formula was wrong and it was against the spirit of equity. For any seasoned politician to pick somebody from Akure, the calculation was wrong. Akure and Ondo are in the same Central Senatorial District where the outgoing governor, Olusegun Mimiko, hailed from. That was seen as tenure elongation. Akure people are good and nice for the position, but coming out at the wrong time.

More so, the number of votes they were able to muster is because of the name of Eyitayo Jegede. If it is the name of these people in authority, they will not get 50,000 votes. Jegede is a complete gentleman. He came to my house and I asked him if he was forced to contest the election or he desired to rule the state and I told him the slot should be seeded to either the South or the North and not the Central again. We have been involved for a long time; we started with Bamidele Olumilua and we were holding the meetings together when Ondo and Ekiti were yet to be bifurcated. So, I understand the terrain. I voted for the late Adekunle Ajasin, not as an active politician then. I have worked for a governorship aspirant, Professor D.O. Oke, who did not make it. Mention anywhere in Ondo State, I will tell you I have two or more friends there. So, you must be on ground and becoming a governor is not all about an appointment.

Did you explain this to Governor Mimiko, as one of the leaders of the party?

Look, Mimiko and I met five times on this matter and I told him that Jegede’s candidature will not fly. He knew I don’t always attend their meetings; the only meeting that I attended was the one that was held at Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area after he informed me that he had settled for Jegede as the party’s flag-bearer. But I told him I needed to inform my people. It was not a fight for the southern people but I was of the opinion that the governorship slot should either move towards the south or the North. But I thank God it has gone to the North, though zoning is not constitutional, but a political arrangement to create equity among the three senatorial districts.

Why do you think the governor insisted on Jegede, in spite of your explanation?

The idea was that since the candidate is coming from central, particularly Akure, which is the state capital, the party will have chunk of the votes from the central so that whatever votes the party gets at the other zones will give PDP victory in the election. But I told Mr Governor that the calculation will not work. I explained to him that Akure people do not vote and I told him to remember that Akure is a cosmopolitan city, while many of the residents of Akure are from other local governments and that is exactly what happened in the election.

On the day you officially defected on the floor of the Senate, there was uproar. Can you explain what really led to this?

The action was spontaneous. Many of them did not know that I have defected on November 20. So they were shocked by my decision because many of them believed they are losing one of theirs to APC. So, when it was officially announced at the Red Chamber, they never knew I have written the Senate President and when he read it, they were not so happy about it. You know in the chamber, the majority and the minority sit separately and when it was announced, I started moving from the minority seat to the majority. They felt sad and they did not allow the Senate President to read the letter to the end before they started shouting. The senators in the majority were celebrating my defection and the PDP senators were not happy.

When the Minority Leader stood up to talk against my defection, he quoted some sections in the constitution saying because the reason I gave for my defection was not tenable and said my seat should be declared vacant. But Mr President overruled him and once you are overruled, that is the end of the discussion. What really caused the walk out was not my defection but contributions of some people. After the Senate President had overruled some people, Senator Dino Melaye raised a constitutional matter that, under normal circumstance, Mr President should not have allowed the Minority Leader to speak after the Senate President had spoken. It is known to everybody in Nigeria that PDP is factionalised, but I did not deliberately make that a case because I know they will mention it. But on my own, I didn’t mention it; I just said I wanted to work for the Governor-elect, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. It came from them that their party is factionalised but for me, I was working for Akeredolu for obvious reasons. They staged a walkout, including the Minority Leader and immediately they did that, we selected another Minority Leader and we progress with the day activities. The following morning, as we all know, they are all gentlemen and we are friends. They have to reason along with me and they came back and we are one. I think they felt sad for losing that seat. I never knew they love me so much until it became a national issue.

Now that you are in the ruling party, what should be the expectation of your people?

I joined the ruling party to bring development for the people of the Ondo South and my desire is that development will come and definitely it will, depending on the economic muscle of the Federal Government. We are talking of a sea port in the Ondo South Senatorial District and if this is put in place over there, you will know how it will positively affect the economy, employment and everything about the people, especially in the South West. Our bitumen is still there untapped; you know I am from Irele and in my father’s village, there is bitumen. You will remember former President Olusegun Obasanjo was at the place to commission the take-off but it never took off. We can continue to push this in our own way without shouting or making noise. You just have to know the people and do some legs work, talk to people who are close to you and I am sure I have talked to people on this since when I defected. Anything that does not have a budget cannot be executed but, God so good, appropriation will soon take place. I believe development will come now that the Federal Government is APC and Ondo State is APC, as different from when one is in the opposition party. Also, with all the three senators from the state now in APC, we cannot fight a cause and fail.

How do you think the incoming government can survive with the huge debt and non-payment of workers’ salaries that it is likely inherit?

When we were debating the budget at the National Assembly last year, I raised two issues that we must be courageous and optimistic that the economy will improve and that Nigeria should go for heavy loan. No government can survive without loans. In Ondo State, no matter the huge debt that will be inherited, Akeredolu will still perform. Everybody is aware that the present government owes about six or seven months’ salaries and I also understand the debt is close to N200Billion. But if I am the governor, I know he will draw a plan on how to pay and if it requires borrowing, borrow and move on. Lagos State is a heavy loan borrower. No matter the huge amount of debt, I believe the Governor-elect will still perform.