If we knew it will be this way, we might have acted differently in 2019 —Akande-Adeola

Former Leader of the House of Representatives, Honourable Mulikat Akande-Adeola, in this interview with WALE AKINSELURE, speaks on her reasons for dumping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Social Democratic Party (SDP), the realignment in Oyo politics and her aspiration for 2023 election. Excerpts:

 

What really is happening in your former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is making people like you to leave that party?

If you are in a party, at any level whatsoever, you expect to be carried along; as a party member, you need to know certain things; you need to be informed about certain things at different times and you must have a say especially when it concerns your locality. But, in a situation where, at my own level, I am not even allowed to do anything, determine anything from my area, Ogbomoso North, it is unheard of. This is the same party that I have financed over the years; this is the same party that I have stood by over the years, though it is the same party that has brought me thus far for which I am very grateful. But, it is the style right now of whoever is at the apex of the party, that is what is causing the problem, and, there is lack of internal democracy. Things should be done rightly. When they did the local government chairmanship election, you saw all what happened. Today, they will announce that there will be primaries; in the middle of the night, they will change the venue, change the list. All these things do not give people confidence that this party will be able to carry us to the Promised Land. It has been a continuous thing and people are not happy about it. I am not happy about it; a lot more people in the party are also not happy. Don’t mind the fact that you still have some people in positions and people hanging in there. Before the end of this year, there will be lot more defections from various parties because the primaries will hold in less than a week. After that, there will be fallouts and even after that, there will be people who, for now, because they are holding positions or getting something, when it is about to be over, everybody will jump ship to where they think the next meal will come from. This, you can only avoid if there is internal democracy, accommodation, respect for party members and regard for stakeholders. I am sure you know we started the party – they were calling us aggrieved but it is even the other side that is aggrieved. We are the PDP owners. Most of those who are there now came in to join us in PDP.

 

What are your regrets, considering that the party you worked to take power in 2019 is treating you and others the way it is?

The only regret is that you can’t see the future. If we knew it will be this way, we might have acted differently. But, I am still happy that PDP won. I worked for PDP and PDP won. It was a success of which nobody can erase my name. As for those within the party who are doing what is not right, I leave that to them because, like you all know, every position is temporary, everything is temporary in this world and we will all leave it at one time or the other. Even if I begin to brood over it, it won’t yield any result. So, the best thing is to cut your losses short and move.

 

You are a foundation member of the PDP and one of those who had consistently remained in the party even when things were down. What has changed? Don’t you think you can still stay to salvage whatever remains or was your position threatened?

If you say position, I was once a leader of the House of Representatives; I have been a two-time House of Representatives member which qualifies me to be in various strata of the party. Nobody can erase that. So, it is not my position that is being threatened. Running for a position is not the ultimate for me. It is about the people. Politics is about interests. If you have carried a party for over 20 years and all of a sudden, you feel that your people are not being carried along. I am just one person, but when you say Mulikat Akande-Adeola in politics, it is not just about me, it is about the followership, people who believe in me. If I say I am okay and I don’t want anything, which is what I wanted to do. I wanted to remain within the party and not even contest any election because I know that by next year, there must be a change, by the grace of Almighty God. A lot of people never expected that I will move; I never wanted to move because I have ties with PDP. But, when a house is built and anyone thinks he can just rubbish people or drive people out of the party, you realise that only someone who didn’t help build the house can do that. And, that person will not care and will just be thinking about his or her own interest alone. In my own case, I am thinking of my followers. If I was desperate about getting ticket, I would have gone ahead to Wadata Plaza in Abuja, to pick up my form and then we start slugging it out.

 

Some people feel you, Femi Babalola, Adebisi Olopoeyan and others stretched your agitation beyond limits and should have soft-pedaled on your demands at some point, in the interest of the party. How do you address such thinking?

What I would have asked those people is, ‘What were the demands?’ The governor, today, cannot say that we put before him requests to divide the party, give us this and that. It is just the attitude. I met with him to say, ‘For me, I don’t want any position; but, what of my followers?’ I live in Abuja because I don’t want them to rock the boat. I know my kind of person. I stand for the truth; I like to do things the right way; I am a system person. If I am in one position, we might have clashes, but there are people, who are politicians who want to be commissioners or be on boards. Don’t we deserve anything? So, if you now get there and you begin to try to destroy the structure of those people, in my own case, that was what happened. They just want to make sure that anybody that knows or is related to Mulikat will not be given any position, just to see whether they can frustrate me or not. Maybe today, I can say congratulations to them since I have left the party, a house that I built for over 20 years, for them. So, let us see how it goes. Those people saying such things are not in our shoes so they can say anything. It is very easy for people to talk but I don’t know which demands the government of today will say we put before it. We just wanted inclusion; we also wanted our people to be carried along. Of course, we had meetings even after the election and we have been talking. But, you cannot continue pushing people, fooling people. There were various attempts at reconciliation but the governor never kept his own side of the bargain. For me, I am now in SDP that is all I care about right now.

 

But, we gathered that the genesis of the crisis was that you clamoured to be Secretary to the State Government and you were denied.

I just told you now that I told the governor himself that I don’t want any position. The Ogbomoso people were clamouring for SSG and they called me to a meeting that it is SSG for Ogbomoso, since Ibadan has taken governor, Oyo has taken Chief of Staff, Oke-Ogun has taken deputy governor. I told them I cannot be the SSG. Throughout my entire life, I have not worked in the civil service. I am a politician; I manage people but I don’t want to be an SSG but they insisted so I told them I will discuss it with the governor. I told the governor what my people said and he said that for the position of SSG, he has started discussing with someone, I think this present SSG, and I immediately said that is fine. I then asked him, what will be my own take in this government and he promised to give me two commissioners as long as I don’t pick from certain five which he named. He never kept his side of the bargain. Is it just being commissioner that is being in government? What of other positions? We even met in Ogbomoso and we wrote down the list of those who deserve to be given appointments across the five local government areas in Ogbomoso and we suggested the appointments that we wanted for them. I delivered the list to him; I am sure he never read it. The next thing I was hearing was that he said I want him to give me all the positions for the five local government areas. To do what? None of my daughter, son, family members is holding any position, so, why would I want you to give it to me to be the one? No. People who know me know I am not that kind of person. I do not even believe in controlling people. I believe in collegiate leadership which he doesn’t believe in.

 

Do you really have a hold of Oyo North? There was a report that you won only one local government in the last election.

I ran all the campaigns there in 2019. I went to Oke-Ogun 10 times. Even when I lost, I went back making the eleventh time. The governor only went there twice. He could have gone on personal visit but for campaign, I did all the preliminary work for PDP. I don’t blame him but the results are there with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). That just tells you the kind of person that he is for someone that you relied on so much to do so much for you now being antagonistic. But, I am not joining issues and I don’t want to discuss things of the past. Whether I am strong or weak is not for him to say.

 

You are also contesting against an incumbent Senator Fatai Buhari who is serving his second term and may be going for a third term. Are you really strong to defeat an incumbent?

Insha Allah, I will win. Election is Nigeria is not about what you see and not about the votes only. All those who were involved in whatever happened for him to emerge know the roles that they played. But, insha Allah, I will win that election.

 

Do you foreclose a coalition to achieve your aim of upstaging the Seyi Makinde government in Oyo State?

It is a coalition that brought him in; another coalition could also take him out. So, I don’t foreclose it at all.

 

There has been the clamour for more women in politics. What are the plans to have more women come on board on the platform of your party?

The party is ready to support women where they come out to seek for any position. But, you have to  be realistic in whatever you do. For the women that have come up now, we are trying to accommodate them. But, where they don’t come out, you cannot go and force out anybody. Another problem is when you force somebody to hold a position, the person misbehaves simply says he or she never intended to vie but was pushed into it. What has been going on in Nigeria has been discouraging a lot of women.

You can’t put your hard earned money into any election and people will just turn over an election you had won because you don’t have people to do the same for you. Most women will not want an election rigged for them. They will rather want people to vote for them because of their capacity. A lot of women are discouraged because of this vote buying. If you know you are going to buy votes, why do I need to go and campaign all over? Some people just sit down, they just gather their money and on the day of election, they buy votes. The violence too is scaring some women. If they say they are fearless, their parents will object pointing to insecurity in the country. My family too has been asking why I want to bother myself. But, for me, it is a call to service. That is why when I am in any position, I go out to make sure I do my best for the people. Some people are not that brave. I tell people that if they want to go into politics and they have skeletons in their cupboards, they should not bother. There are so many ways of harassing women; they just bring out one issue and you just run back. But, everybody has secrets and if you want to hear about it, that is your problem that does not stop the fact that this lady is capable. Look at the amounts they are paying for forms left, right and centre, should that even be? That is enough to walk out some people. If I want to be governor and they say I should pay N50million, where will I get that from? And we talk about people being in position and embezzling money. So, we need to get our priorities right in the country. You don’t continue in your old ways, there is a time for change. The most permanent thing in this world is change. That is why I am happy that I have changed to SDP and I know it will come with a lot of good tidings by the grace of Almighty Allah.