Politics

Ondo ADC has opened its doors to coalition; we only seek adherence to due process — Nejo, ex governorship candidate

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4 days ago

Nejo

BARRISTER MYSON NEJO was the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2024 election in Ondo State. In this interview, he discusses the readiness of his party in the state to welcome coalition politicians into its fold. He also dismissed claims that the interim leadership of the ADC is occupied by former office holders, saying that people with experience in governance are best placed to reform this country. He declares that God wants to use the ADC leaders to put smiles on the lips of Nigerians. Excerpts:

You were the ADC governorship candidate in the last election in Ondo State. How did you fare in the election?

The election was okay, and I came third in the entire state. You know, in an election in Nigeria now, you must take money to the polling units on election day, which we in the ADC said we are not going to be part of it. Yet, the people of Ondo State came out and voted for me because they believe I am the good candidate they wanted. They wanted a change, and I didn’t pay any kobo to anybody. At least I scored 4,000-plus votes in the entire state. So, it shows that the people are still ready for change.

After the election, how far have you carried the banner of the party?

I have been the one sustaining ADC in Ondo State. I contested for the House of Representatives in 2023 on the platform of the party. Since then, I have been the one saddled with the leadership of ADC. I have moved across the 18 local governments, and I made sure that the ADC remains a vibrant party in Ondo State. So, I have been the one making things happen in ADC.

Now that the party has been adopted by the alliance forces, how ready are you to accept the alliance politicians?

Yes, I have said in my press release that I welcome everybody. APC, PDP, Labour Party, and those who want to join us in Ondo State. I welcome them. They should come and join the party. They are all welcome. We need to join forces to be a strong, viable opposition in Ondo State. So, I believe in the more the merrier. The Interim National Publicity Secretary of the ADC said something recently that the ADC structures in the states would remain. So, those who are coming should go to their various local governments. They should come to their wards and register to become party members.

There is nothing like coordinators because I have been hearing some people talking about state coordination for the coalition, ADC. There is nothing like that. ADC remains a party. The new people are coming to join the party so we can build a vibrant and strong opposition. I’ve said that I welcome them with open arms. It is a big party that all of us are going to enjoy, and we are going to follow the rule of law as well as the constitution of the party. So, anybody who is coming, we will take care of their interests. Not that they should come and hijack the party. No. We will not give them. The party remains the way it is the structure, the chairman, from the state to the local government areas, everything is available.

We have chairman. Like I said, I contested as a governor. You should know that if the party does not have a structure, we cannot have a good outing in the last election. It shows that we have structures everywhere. And that is the reason why out of 18 parties that contested the governorship, ADC came third. This shows that we have structure. Like I said, the more the merrier, so that we can progress in the party.

Have you been in touch with the interim national body of the ADC?

Yes, I have been talking with the current national body. For the former national body, at least I carried them along with what I’m doing in the state, and I will also meet with the new people because they also need those of us who have held the structure together before now. I am going to visit them after the NEC meeting so that they can meet the leader of the ADC in Ondo State.

What of the state chairman. Are you speaking with one voice with one voice on this issue?

I don’t have any problem with Asiwaju Wole Ademoyegun. I don’t have any issues with him. And like I said, all of us have been working together for the progress of this party. What happened is that, currently, what we have in Ondo State is a caretaker committee. And before the national convention where the new executive would emerge, the existing structure remained the way it is. So, anybody who is coming is to just follow the due process.

Immediately the coalition leaders came on board, there was a team that came up and said they were going to court against them. Do you see this as a way of scuttling the alliance with ADC?

Well, there is nothing like a crisis in the party. I saw an interview with Dumebi Kachikwu, who claims to be a party leader. I don’t know how he came about that. I contested the election in this state. I put calls through to him, but I did not see him for one day. Even when I put calls through to him, and he didn’t pick. I messaged him, and he never replied. He is a joker. All I know is that the party does not have any problems. There was no crisis whatsoever, and things are going on well in that party. Some people took the former chairman, Ralph Nwosu, to court, and they said the tenure of Nwosu had lapsed, which the first court said yes. But when they got to the court of appeal, the case ended there. The court said it’s a party’s affair. So, what are they talking about? As a lawyer, if there were a crisis, I wouldn’t have contested as a candidate. So, I want to tell Nigerians that this is a party that I want them to come and join. There is nothing like a crisis at the National level, and everything is working well.

So, you believe that the ADC, with the coalition leaders now, can challenge the APC in 2027?

Very sure. See, Nigerians want change, not change like that of the APC. Yes, there is a need for change, but not the APC type. If you look at what is happening today in this country, you know that things are getting worse. If I should start from the security, let us take, for example, that I am travelling by road now, if you look at a flight ticket recently, look at what makes it like that. It is because people could no longer go through the roads. The roads are not safe. Look at the price of airline tickets, and this is just one example. People who are doing business, selling things now, could not even go to them. That is why sometimes, they send money to agents to help them buy things from Lagos, from Kano, and everywhere, but at the end of the day, you discover that those agents will dupe them. Things are not moving forward. Ordinarily, if you want to buy market, you must go there and see what you want to buy. But they were looking at the roads that are not safe. And if they should go through flights, how much would they want to sell it to make a profit? How much would they sell those things? So, instead of them to go by road, which is the normal thing, some people prefer night journey to go and get whatever they want and come back. But now, they can’t do that. A lot of them have been kidnapped, and nothing has happened.

Look at the roads, there is no security. If there were security on the roads, nobody would be afraid to travel. So, these are the things killing businesses in this country, and you see that everything is somehow. If you buy something, today for N30. By tomorrow, it will be 40 Naira. So, these are the causes. But I am sure Nigerians are tired. We want a party that will take us to the promised land, not these failed promises here and there. For example, Mr. President said we should calm down, that there is a reform going on. I think this is the first time in history in this country that the president will change the fuel price, and there is no protest anywhere. This is because Nigerians are fed up with excuses. So, people felt that if the subsidy thing is the issue, let us remove it. But the people have allowed you to remove the subsidy, and two years have passed, the roads are still the way they were. No special hospitals. The corruption we are witnessing now is even worse. Corruption is everywhere. Even though the president said we should calm down, that everything will be okay. We did not see any improvement. You know, a leader must lead by example. We are not seeing any of these things happening.

But some people say that if ADC wants to come to a party in 2027, it must pick a candidate from the south, but if not, it is dead on arrival. Is that not a problem?

I don’t believe it is a problem, but I believe in the leadership of the ADC, who have put themselves together, will work it out. Having come together for this coalition, you should know that what they want is not just about ruling the country. They want a change of government so that Nigeria can be better than this. People do not believe that this coalition is possible. That is the beginning. So, people should know that for them to come together, they will also resolve this problem among themselves. So, maybe it is going to the North or the South, they should leave our party. Let our party decide on that. For them to come together, there is a solution already.

APC leaders have criticized the leadership of your coalition, saying that they have been in government before, and that they are doing the coalition because of the power grab. Is that the case?

Sir, when you look at what is happening, yes, truly, these people have been in power before. But we won’t to go to London, or to America, or to Israel, to import people who would come and make the change here. It is those people with experience in governance who know where the roof is leaking that can fix the country. They are now saying that we want to make it work. There is nothing bad about that. When you see all these big countries in the world, things like this have happened before. Some people came together and said, See, we cannot continue like this. Let us come together and resolve this problem. So, when you read the Bible, when you read the Quran, all these things are not new. People must come out and rebuild the house that has been destroyed. We have read it in the Bible; we have read it in the Quran. So, it is not a new thing. What I know is that criticising them will not help the ruling party. Why are they worried? It is because they know they have not been doing well. They are giving excuses that these people have been in power one way or the other before, and they still want to come back again. Yes, God wants to use them. God wants to use them to bring Nigeria back to where it is supposed to be. So, there is no crime in all that. The reason why they should even be the leaders who would champion this cause is that they know the intricacies of all these games. You cannot just go and bring somebody, a little person who does not know anything. Would it be possible? It won’t be possible. They know the game. They know where the shoe pinches.

In fact, in Ondo State, some of the APC members have been calling me now. Someone called and said, Barrister, we want to join the party, and I said they should come. Are you saying that if some APC members join us in the ADC now, they won’t reveal to us the tricks they used during the last election in Ondo State? So, I don’t know why people are just crying that they are seeing the same old people. So, I don’t see anything bad in that. I don’t care what the opposition has said about them. They are just crying because they don’t believe the thing can work, and now that the thing is working, they are worried because they are seeing progress. So, they are worried. They are now saying it is all about the old people. Where are we going to get the new people who will form a party in this country? They will not even register the party for us. Let the new people gather themselves and say they want to register the party and see if they will register the party for them. But these old people, they know where to go. They will know what to do. Even those in the APC, have they been in government before? And now they are in government, what is their scorecard? That is the question. They have been in this game before. So, God wants to use them, and they want to strive for this country. Now, they are saying that let us make Nigerians smile again. Nigerians will smile again. So, that is just what I have to say about the issue.