It is delusional to say Fayemi owns Ekiti APC structure —Oluyede

All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Dr Wole Oluyede speaks on his preparations for the party’s primaries and the prospects of the party in the general election, in this interview with SAM NWAOKO.

WHAT are you doing differently as the APC gears up for the coming primary election?

One of the things is that I have gone round each of the local government areas of the state. One difference is that unlike everybody, for the past one year, we have been meeting; we have developed what we call Wole Oluyede Caucuses all over the state. The attempt is that, if we are trying to win primary election and the scope of the election is for us to get delegates to vote for us, then we should actually get the delegates on our side. So, we are working on the delegates. For this stage, we are only meeting people who have shown interest over the last six months/one year to say we are going to work together. In an atmosphere that’s really very fluid like politics, it can’t be in an exact terms. But the impression is that we are doing very well on the field.

We are very confident, without giving numbers, that in a free and fair election, we will win this election hands down. The reason is because Ekiti people are yearning for a government who will listen to them, who has not distanced itself from their problem. They don’t bother to listen. That is the problem with past governments in the state. The starting point is for you to listen and understand your people and then if you do, people would be presenting complaints, which is the pressing problem they have. They’ll tell you their pain and you can start dealing with that. But if you don’t treat my pain and you’re lecturing me on how to live my life, then I’ll see you as an arrogant and disconnected man. That’s what we have. Everybody prescribes what they think is wrong, forgetting that people are hungry, they’re unemployed, they don’t have access to healthcare facilities and the government is so distant to them. That’s what everybody talks about.

So, what is your idea of a government? What are you bringing to the table?

The say democracy is “government of the people by the people and for the people” and I ask, when is it actually going to be for the people? That’s why we are telling these people ago had been there before, who tend to know the people more than they know themselves to stop being arrogant to our people. Let us reach out to them. We should demystify government. We have to bring government to the people. We should listen to them. They say they don’t have money. They say they don’t have work. Let’s start from that point of view. I listened to somebody who worked in the past government of APC, when I asked ‘do you know what was wrong with the past government?’ He brought out a big, beautiful book of pictures for me. He said ‘we did one culvert in that place and so on. I said what did these all sum up to be? What is the value of a culvert built in Iropora that doesn’t have an economic value? The people of Iropora are still poor. When are we going to start having systems that work? Why are we constructing this road? What is it going to do? How is it going to put money in people’s pocket?

That is what the government should be doing. How can anybody not pay salary in a place like Ekiti? 97 per cent of the people employed in this place are indirectly employed by the government. So, how are you circulating money? How is money going around because every other person that is not directly employed by the government is dependent of people who employed by the government to earn money? It is only when you pay salaries that people can settle their bills. They can pay their tailors, buy food, buy meat, go to the barber’s and even enjoy themselves. It it basic economics. We had one that thought I’m superior to my people, now we have one that pretends to be with the people. I’m the friend of the poor. Do we have to have the poor? Why should anybody have a perception of being poor when most countries have elevated their people because of productivity.

Now that you’ve bought your nomination form, what does this portend for your aspiration?

It means I’m going to be the next governor of Ekiti State. It’s a simple straightforward fact. No questions about that.

•  Ekiti poll: Stakeholders not addressing core issues —Bejide

Former Governor Kayode Fayemi has entered the race. What do you think this implies or, again, portends for the governorship race in the APC?

He’s welcome to the field. I do not advise co-contestants. It’s not in the scope of my responsibility to advise them on what to do. He’s contesting and the only intent I have now is how to beat him fair and square.

There’s this belief that he owns structure of the party in the state and it is the delegates that will choose the candidate of the party. Do you think the coming primary will still be what many of you are hoping it would be?

I have heard it being bandied around that Dr Kayode Fayemi owns the structure of the APC in Ekiti State, but that is an insult to Ekiti people. The last time I realised that people owned another person was before William Wilberforce. That’s the guy that freed everybody from slavery. So, how can Fayemi own anyone in this place? It’s an insult. Fayemi was the governor when the present APC executive from the ward level to the state were elected. He was the serving governor. Naturally, he would play a role, but you do not play a role singularly in politics. There are interests that would be there. Those people were elected, selected, nominated by their local people. They are not small fry; they are politicians. They may not be of the national calibre or state stature, but they are all politicians and every one of them has a free mind.

So, if they are there and they are politicians, that means they can make up their minds as per what to do. If that’s the case, it means that anybody can walk in on these people and talk to them and they can make up their minds. And that’s what has happened. I’m sure that if somebody claims that he owns the structure, that is delusional. So anybody can actually make up his mind as per what to do. Even when you put a dog in a kennel, it’s called relationship and relationships are a two-way traffic, it’s never one way.

What kind of relationship exists between these people and each of the aspirants?

We all have relationships with this same set of human beings. Do you really think that people who have been on the field for three years, talking to these people, cajoling them, somebody will actually own them without them having a change of mind or a change of understanding? The reality of it is, every politician wants to win. Nobody wants to have or belong to losing formula. What is the track record of the past government in terms of winning elections? So, everybody that is a member of the APC today is actually calculating about how to win the next elections; they want to win the state election, and we are looking forward to President Buhari winning the 2019 election and Ekiti is a key point to that. And I don’t think anybody is toying with that from the local government to the national.

So, like I said, it is delusional for anybody to say that Kayode Fayemi owns the structure, I’ve heard about that since I came out to say that I’m contesting for the governorship. It didn’t ever bother me because I know that human relationship is called a relationship, it’s a two-way traffic. The more you talk to them, the more you persuade them and the more you pay respect to them, they would actually listen to you. The reality of it is that Ekiti needs to change direction. We can’t be doing the same thing as of old and expect a new result. Ekiti people realise that and they are eager to look elsewhere.