Even APC members in National Assembly know Buhari has performed poorly —Honourable Ayodele

The lawmaker representing Ekiti Central Federal Constituency I, in the House of Representatives comprising Ado Ekiti and Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Areas of the Ekiti State, Ayodele Oladimeji, in this interview with Sam Nwaoko, speaks on a number of issues relating to his constituency and the National Assembly. Experts:

Recently you gathered your constituents for what you called empowerment. What informed this?

During the electioneering campaign, I highlighted what I was going to do for people and these were broken down into six different areas namely: women and youth empowerment; education, social development and sports; infrastructure, then primary healthcare services and agriculture. Those were the six different areas and whatever we have done so far fall into the six different classes. In reaching out to our people, what we did principally was to give out items to our people to empower them. We also gave cash grants to those who underwent our skill acquisition training. In summary, the essence of the empowerment is to really strengthen our people. In economics, we talk of standard of living and cost of living. Standard of living is the quality of life somebody lives. For instance, somebody who never had a radio, if he is able to buy one, the quality of his life has improved. What we did was to give motorcycles to people who never had one. This is the second time. This, we believe, would improve the activities of the beneficiaries. Whether it is their going to farm or even using it to generally aid their businesses. We believe that transportation is key in any business. Same goes with the beneficiaries of generators, gas cookers and so on. So it’s to give economic sense to our people and to improve their life.

So, this has a way of pointing towards the coming governorship election in the state?

Generally, I’ll describe it as a very bold step by the party to add to the efforts we have been making for the Peoples Democratic Party to actualise victory in the coming election. The starting point is the primary election and nearly 90 per cent of them are automatic delegates. Although what we did for our people was not triggered by the election, but directly or indirectly, it’s going to impact on the way people are going to react to the primary election. This is because they would recognise that if the party had been able to produce people like us what had stood by them, supporting them in various ways and they know that if the party stays in power, such support would continue, then they know that the party should be retained at the elections.

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For instance, we were sworn in in June and by August, less than three months, we had already returned to our constituents to report back through our party leaders in both Ado and Irepodun/Ifelodun local governments. People who are not going to vote during the primaries would also be impacted, as a ripple effect. Even the general public is seeing what we are doing and they are comparing notes with that of those who had occupied the position before.

Talking about people comparing notes, do you see your party PDP retaining power in the state?

Definitely, PDP is retaining governance in Ekiti State. If we go down memory lane, we’ll see that before the election of 2014, APC members, including those in the state executive council knew that they were going to lose the election. And by the time they left, we all saw what they left in the state. They left the state in debt. It would have been a different thing if the money was borrowed and used for what would help the economy of the state. But we cannot point at any economic activity they spent the money they borrowed on, and we are still paying that debt.

Now after these people left, we have all seen what the current governor has done in the last three and half years. If anybody enters Ado Ekiti today, the first thing that would make him know that he has entered the state capital is that flyover we are seeing. It’s the first thing that would tell you that you’re in the capital of a state. Then when you look at other projects here and there, like the new high court complex, the new market, and other structures, you will know that he has tried. And all these are achieved when resources are not much. So, anybody that understands the benefit of what the man Fayose has done will surely stand by him by voting for his deputy as the next governor to continue the good works.

The word ‘continuity’ has been long in use, by me. In 2015 when people were debating the issue of Goodluck Jonathan, I wrote then, calling on our people to allow for continuity. Continuity means stability. People say “slow and steady wins the race”; when you’re slow but you are steady without interruptions, it is then you make progress. So, continuity means stability and when you could go without interruptions, it will help you to advance so much. That is why I expect that people will rally round the PDP in the state and by the special grace of God, winning the election is a forgone conclusion.

What about your angry party members who have expressed reservations about continuity and have decided not to support the idea. What would you say about such party members?

What then are they supporting? Continuity means that we should allow PDP to continue in power. No member of PDP will say he is against continuity, unless they are putting it in a different way. Continuity means ‘let PDP continue to be in power come 2019’, just like AD to AC to ACN to APC is ruling in Lagos. That’s what it means. So every member of PDP should support continuity.

Talking about PDP leaders like Prince Adedayo Adeyeye and Senator Biodun Olujimi, who have bought the ticket to also contest the governorship election, I think it’s the more the merrier. When you’re in a football pitch and you’re the only one kicking the ball, you’ll soon get tired. But when you have two groups playing against each other, it becomes interesting and people can come and watch. In a game, people should understand that everybody cannot be a winner.

When you’re competing, like an advertisement for a job, so many people would enter. At the end of the day, they would short list and interview, etc.; they would go through different processes before they arrive at a choice. This same principle applies to competing for political positions. The position of governor is so important that you can’t just say only one person is contesting. There must be other people who have interest. So, whoever has interest should go and obtain form, at the end of the day they would go through party primaries and whoever now emerges as the candidate, all of us will have to rally round him. We will divide to survive, but we unite to fight. Within the party, for everyone of us to survive, we will have to divide but when it now comes to fighting for a position or a common enemy, we will unite. So, after the primary we will have to come back together; it’s our party.

For somebody outside the National Assembly, the understanding is that the legislative and the executive arms are not on the same page. Looking at the executive as a federal legislator, what would you say about the executive arm as things are today?

That the legislature and the executive are working in harmony is what democracy is all about. There are checks and balances. The legislature is the one checking the executive, just like you have auditors or ‘corporate policemen’ as some choose to call it. The legislature has four basic functions namely: Lawmaking, constituency outreach, the type I just did, representation and oversight. At oversight, that’s when you check what the executive is doing. The power of releasing money lies with the National Assembly and when you have appropriated money, you need to go back there and see how the money has been spent. However, nobody likes to be checked. Everybody likes freedom. That’s why the legislature is always a pain in the neck of the executive.

On how the executive is running its government, that we have challenges with the economy is just well known. Everybody knows that this current Federal Government has done badly. So, it’s not the issue of whether the legislature likes them or not. Everybody, including the APC members in the House know that APC government at the centre has failed. They promised security, they have failed there; they have failed in their promise on the economy; they promised that they would sell petrol at N43 or N45, but today petrol sells for as high as N160 in some places in the country. So, everybody knows that the current Federal Government under the leadership of President Buhari, has done badly. So, it’s not just the issue of legislature and executive. Generally the government has failed Nigerians, which has caused some people to say “all promises cancelled (APC)”. That’s just the position.

Now that the president has declared for a second term, what do you think?

I think it’s dead on arrival. Their own party men are not interested in working for his re-election. I know that his party has vibrant aspirants who are interested in becoming the president, but if they say he is their candidate, good luck to them. So, by the time they would have their convention, we would see what will happen. And remember that it was not even a party before, it was head of clay, leg of iron, arms of timber and so on and by the time you throw a single stone, they would scatter. So, that idea of him coming back is dead on arrival.

But your PDP hasn’t been running on a smooth ground either. How are you preparing for the presentation of a credible candidate for the presidential election in 2019?

I think we have gone past the rough patch in PDP. We had a successful convention last year. For us to now pick a presidential candidate, we are going through the process and at the right time, we are going to have our own credible candidate, people that are competent and who understand the economy. We are going to take our time to pick someone who understand the economy and who is groomed well enough to steer the ship of Nigeria, currently rudderless, back to course and steady it. Now that President Buhari has declared, they are even going to make us work faster. So sooner than later, we too are going to produce our own flagbearer and I don’t think there would be any problems by the special grace of God.