Osun decides: Why APC candidate, Oyetola has advantage over others —Omowaiye, Osun Commissioner

The Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology in Osun State, Mr Remi Omowaiye, in this interview with MOSES ALAO, speaks on the candidature of the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard-bearer, Chief Gboyega Oyetola.

YOUR party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was considered solid and a favourite to win the 22 September, 2018 governorship election in Osun State until a few weeks ago when the fallout of the governorship resulted in crisis, leading to some aspirants withdrawing from the party. With these, what do you think are the chances of the APC’s standard-bearer, Chief Gboyega Oyetola?

We are still very strong. His chances are bright. It is unfortunate that one of the aspirants left the party with a few followers, but I must say that the APC has done credibly well as a party and the people of Osun are progressives. They know what the APC has done as a government, building over 80 schools, over 1,000 kilometres of roads and a lot of social welfare programmes. Our governorship candidate, Chief Gboyega Oyetola, was the Chief of Staff to that government and he was its engine room.

If you also look at the voting pattern of Osun, you will know that the APC candidate will win, irrespective of the blackmail being thrown around. Another thing that will give Chief Oyetola an advantage over others is that if you look at his resume and his qualifications, you will see that he is a technocrat par excellence. He has worked in the insurance, oil and gas sectors for about 30 years before becoming the Chief of Staff. And Osun, being a state with a lot of learned people, they will want a governor who has the capacity and has demonstrated that capacity to continue where Governor Rauf Aregbesola will stop. And he has demonstrated that as the Chief of Staff for eight years. The sincere thing is that whether you like Aregbesola’s face or not, he has turned around Osun for good. The record he has a governor, if you put all the records of the past governors together, they cannot surpass what Aregbesola has done.

It is unfortunate that some people have left the party. But the good thing about politics is that where some people leave, some others come in. And we have also not completely closed dialogue with those aggrieved. We are still trying to bring some of them back to the party and I can assure you that some of them have agreed to come back to the APC.

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At a period when there is so much talk about zoning the governorship seat to Osun West, your party refused to toe that line, a development that would give Oyetola a serious challenge in the election. Do you think he stands a chance in Osun West given that candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Democratic Party (ADP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) are from that axis?

Let me tell you something on this issue of zoning; it has never happened anywhere in the country that aspirants from other parts of a state would be barred from contesting. Yes, the leadership can agree that let us favour so and so person. Do not forget that the contest has people from all parts of the state. Look at the leading governorship candidates of the major parties; Senator Iyiola Omisore is from Osun East, Chief Oyetola is from Osun Central while Senator Ademola Adeleke is from Osun West. What that tells you is that we have never followed anything like zoning in Osun; it has been that we will throw up all candidates and the best will emerge. When Aregbesola came out on our platform, people from other parts of the state contested with him. When Bisi Akande came out in 1999, people from other zones contested with him. So, it has never happened that someone will say people from other zones must not contest. Politics is a game of numbers and out of the 17 that took part in the APC primary, over 10 came from Osun West and ordinarily, the votes would be divided.

What is important is that hunger does not know zoning; poverty does not zoning. People want the candidate that can give them the best; they want the candidate that can improve on what Aregbesola has done irrespective of where he is coming from. So, in that election, people will look at all the candidates. None of them is new; people will look at their pedigrees. We have one of the candidates, who has been in the Senate for one year and he has not contributed anything. There is one of them who was in the Senate for eight years, what were the things he did? The people will look at the options available and go for the best and I can tell you that with my interactions with the people, they prefer Gboyega Oyetola, because he has a perfect understanding of the situation of things.

If you look at all the candidates, Oyetola is the only one who has come out with a clear manifesto. But others have kept on blackmailing him without saying what they intend to do.

There is this tag of foreigner being stuck on Oyetola, with the notion that Osun voters are tired of imported politicians who are Osun indigenes living abroad…

In the history of Osun, none of the governors had resided in the state before they became governors. The late former Governor Isiaka Adeleke came from the United States of America to become governor; Baba Akande came from Ibadan to become the governor; former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola came from Lagos and Aregbesola also came from Lagos. In fact, Gboyega Oyetola will be the first person that would have resided in Osun for about seven to eight years before becoming governor.

Really, what is important is that wherever the person is coming from, is the person qualified and eligible to be governor? Is he an indigene of the state? Does he have the capacity? What Osun people want is good governance, irrespective of where the person is coming from. But I must also clear the air about Oyetola. His house in Iragbiji was built in 1999 and he has massive investments in Osun. People throw up a lot of sentimental stuffs and blackmail but governance has gone beyond that. While they stay on social media writing a lot of untrue things, Oyetola’s team has been moving around the state, campaigning and selling his manifesto to the people. But let me also say that contrary to the blackmail being peddled around, Oyetola grew up in the village and schooled here. He has been a good community leader.

Nobody wants someone who does not have exposure to become the governor of Osun State. And because Osun is a developing state and we want people to say I want to relocate to Osun to reside, we want a governor that has a sufficient level of exposure and not someone that the first time he would be to the airport is when Aregbesola became the governor. If you look at the infrastructural development in Osun, you will see that it is because Aregbesola is sufficiently exposed. Osun State has produced many vice chancellors; we are very exposed and we want someone that is well-read and exposed, someone who does not have any controversy hanging on his neck to become our governor.