Engr. Taofeek Olayinka Ayinde has come a long way in the politics of Nigeria and Osun State in particular, and he feels the time has come for him to aspire to govern Osun State. In this interview with BODE ADEWUMI, he speaks on his motivations as well as the reasons he feels he’s tailor-made to become the next governor of Osun. Excerpts:
What are your motivations for your aspiration to become the governor of Osun State?
What actually motivated me is my passion to serve humanity, because right from my youthful age, what I know and love most is to serve humanity. I have dedicated myself to serve the younger generation, especially the youth. I have seen and clearly known that the youths of this country have not been totally planned for.
Their energy has not been totally harnessed for productive use. If we plan to move forward, in a state like Osun, where human resources are the ultimate, there should be a government that will have a better plan for the youth, the state, that will renew the hope of the people, bring back the power of the people, bring back the responsibility of the people towards governance and towards what they need to be in the society.
So, in essence, what motivates me is to serve, because I have enjoyed mostly my private live, coming into politics now is like transferring my private live to my public life. And I am ready to serve the people, I am ready to move the state and the people forward so as to bring back the pride of Osun.
How far would you say you have gone in this your journey, would you say you are well known in Osun State to as far as going to the level of aspiring to become the governor?
What I can say is that I have a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) that I have been using to impact the lives of Nigerians and the youths. I have been doing this since the year 2001, the records are there. If we are to talk about politics, I have been into politics since 1999; I was in the forefront campaigning for Chief Olu Falae then. It was the death of Bola Ige, the late Cicero that actually made me changed my direction, to stay low and relegated my activities to ward level.
Now that I have that feeling that my people in my state would need my service, I have to come back to provide that service. If anybody wants to know what I have done or maybe I am qualified for it, my name is there, it can be investigated. I am not somebody who have come for the first time to ask for what is not or what is not worthy of asking for. I am fully qualified, I have contested in an election before, I have contested two times. It is not as if I am just coming, that I am relatively unknown. All the players in political front today, they all know me. I know that, I am not new in the political arena, though I have not been playing with the present players for a longer time and now that I am coming back, I know very sure that I am coming back home to serve and render the required services to my people.
What are your chances of clinching the APC ticket of Osun?
Like I said earlier, I am a new revelation to the political front of Osun and the chances I am having there is that one, I am relatively fresh and I know that I have come with a fresh idea that would change the dynamics of the politics of Osun State. I know that if people come around and support me, if people come around and carefully peruse what I have in stock for them, they will surely know that this person did not just have a personal ambition to govern, is not just showing that governance is an open game, or come half prepared. I know what I want to achieve, I know what my people need. I have the notion, the vision, I have programmes, I have the economic tools that will be used to run the state, and I have the management and administrative strategies that will turn things around.
I have my watchword, that in government we would use to checkmate ourselves and our people. I have pointers that I would use to appraise my governance and the goals that we are going to pursue; programmes that we are going to embark on; everything must be clearly spelt out, not on videos, achievable, reliable and within time bound. These are the things we are going to bring and will make it clearly presented as somebody who is having a clear chance of becoming the governor of the state because I have what. I know what to do, all I am asking for is the chance to get there and actualise what God has said that we should come and actualise for the people. If the people listen, support me and give me the chance, they’ll discover that I am well-prepared, know the things that will make the state greater. The chance is there and I know I have the chance to be the God’s servant of the people of Osun.
and then