WHAT are the chances of the SDP in the September 22 governorship election in Osun State?
As it is now, we can all see, especially in Osun State, we have tried the left and right, we’ve tried PDP, and we have also tried APC, and we could see that no one is better than the other. So, Osun State citizens need something new, something that can give them hope. Before Senator Iyiola Omisore joined the SDP, the hope of Osun State citizens was on him that if he is able to become the governor of the state, he will be able to do better things than what we have now, because he has the experience. He had been a deputy governor in the state, and one of the reasons he had problems with the then Governor Bisi Akande, was because of his familiarity with the civil servants, as to him, he believes that when people work, they deserve their wages. So, that brought him closer to the civil servants and he was very close to them. For this reason, the then AD (Alliance for Democracy) leadership disliked him, that he was too friendly with the masses. As a result of that, when he was also at the Senate, he showed that he was committed to the people. I am from his senatorial district and I can mention uncountable things he did to better the lives of the people, and even people in other senatorial districts saw what Omisore was able to do when he was in the Senate, they began to ask questions. We have three senators at the Senate from Osun State, what were others doing? These are the reasons people from various senatorial districts, villages and towns in Osun State believe that they have a better chance of living a very good life if Omisore could be voted in as a governor.
Why didn’t the people’s support materialise into a victory for him when he contested for governorship election in 2014?
Then, when he contested under the PDP, the hatred the people already had for the PDP because of the atrocities associated with people at various levels under the PDP I want to believe was one of the reasons he narrowly lost that election to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who came in for his second term. If he had been in the SDP then, I am very sure he would not lose that election, but because people were already tired of PDP, and now, people are even more tired of the present APC administration, both at the state and the federal level. So, I want to tell you that SDP has a very brighter chance to win that election if Omisore is voted in at the party’s primary election and given the chance to represent the party at the polls.
People talk about the power of incumbency, federal might, as far as elections are concerned in Nigeria, which the APC currently enjoys in the state and at the federal level. How do you think this won’t affect your chances?
Now, we have a new Nigeria where this no longer works. Again, there is nothing like the federal might, in as much as the people love the candidate and the people want the candidate. During the 2014 election, we had everything in the PDP, even, the soldiers were at its command, but we still lost the election. In Rivers State, there was a senatorial election, and with all the federal might, that election was lost by the APC, so, the federal might doesn’t work. You see, even, they can’t rig, because a party can rig election where it is popular. If a party is not popular at a place, you can’t rig election. There is no amount of federal might in Osun here that would win an election for APC, and there is no amount of federal might that will make the SDP lose the governorship election.
Now, what are those things people stand to benefit under the SDP leadership?
Using Osun State as an example, one of the reasons we need a government in a society or community is for us to have someone that will be in control of our economy in such a way that every member of that community will benefit. What is happening now in Osun State is like foreign people coming into the state to take the state as a colony, and whatever they are able to gather, they take back to their own settlements just like it was during the colonial era. In Osun State, the major problem we have is the economic power that has been taken away from the people. Osun State economic power has been given to people domiciling in Lagos. Can you imagine, constructing a road, for example, in my hometown in Ile-Ife, where we have several people with their tippers, and you will give a contract to a company in Lagos that will be bringing laterite for the building of roads in Ife all the way from Lagos, when we have so many people around that are doing that business and can source for the material locally at a very cheap rate. You give contracts to people in Lagos and they went as far as bringing ordinary sands from Lagos, and people had to tell them to stop if they will have to import sands from Lagos to build roads in Ife, where we have lands full of sands, and the road construction was stopped. These are the things we need to correct, let the economic power of the state stay with the people, when they are empowered, there won’t be a crime, if not, there will be problems. These are the things Omisore plans to correct if he is given the chance to lead the Osun people as their governor, the economic power will be given back to people of Osun State.
But considering the fact that a good political structure, outstanding personalities and people are indispensable to ascertain victory in politics, do you believe the SDP has these?
Sometime ago in Nigeria, it was ‘agbada’ people used to win elections, that doesn’t work again. Then, you will see all these old politicians with their starched ‘agbada’ made of cassava that could have been used to make ‘gari,’ but today in Nigeria, ‘agbada’ does not win elections, it is the candidates’ personality that wins elections. Who is the candidate is what now matters. Then, on the structure, Omisore has a political structure that is beyond Osun State, and if you remember, when he left AD, nobody knew PDP then in Osun State, the moment he left AD and joined PDP, the party then became a beautiful bride, the same thing is happening now. Sometime ago, people were saying SDP was only in Ife, but today, we can all see that SDP is beyond Ife and Omisore’s house. SDP is the new bride. I can also tell you that by the grace of God, next year, SDP will be a party the APC will be contesting with for the presidential seat.
and then