…PDP lost woefully for failing to prepare —Ekiti APC chair

Your party won all the 16 chairmanship and 177 councillorship seats in the December 7 local government election in the state. What are your immediate reactions to this?

It was a solid poll, free and fair. We are in charge in Ekiti State. We campaigned vigorously and what we got was full and highly expected. We never expected anything less. My own assessment is that the election went very well, it was a very good election, where violence was never encouraged and nobody experienced any violence; an election where the government of the day gave a level-playing field for every political party to participate and all the parties came up and participated effectively but unfortunately the result did not favour them.

But the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) alleged that the election was massively rigged and manipulated in favour of your party? 

That is out of it. That is completely out of it. It is unfortunate that PDP would go to that extent to say the election was rigged. The PDP knew that they never prepared for the election; they knew, they only wanted to make some noise about it. But we were prepared; we were serious about it. We knew we were going to win; we knew we needed to work; we knew we needed to talk to people; we needed to campaign to our people. We did and everybody saw it in Ekiti State. We really campaigned vigorously. We spoke to the people and the people actually answered us. It was an issue-based campaign from us. The governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi has done his best to out-wage the sufferings and challenges of the people since he came on board.  Is it prompt payment of workers’ salaries; payment of pension to the people that deserved to be paid as and when due, or the abolition of abnormal levies imposed by the previous administration in our schools that we came and removed? So, there was every reason for us to really win the election because as a party, we had enough of things to campaign with arising from the performance of our governor and our government. You know Ekiti is no longer what people felt about it before now. Ekiti knows what is actually good for them and that is what the government of the day under Dr Fayemi is giving out to the people and they know they should really appreciate what the government is doing. We did what we wanted to do because we had the merit and the result was based on merit.

There was violence in Ikere-Ekiti on the day of the election, which claimed the life of an individual and a lot of other persons were injured with allegations that the members of your party were responsible for it? 

We spoke shortly after the election with security agents and that has nothing to do with politics. The violence in Ikere, had nothing to do with election and it is clear. The security agencies are already on the matter and from their investigations, you would surely see they are cultists and it was one of their activities, though it coincided with our election. So it was not in any way associated with the election. It was a different thing entirely. We will not take responsibility for what we knew nothing about and what did not have anything to do with our election in that local government.

Now that your party members have been elected in all the 16 local government areas, what are your expectations from them, especially in terms of the benefits of democracy at the grassroots?

Like I said earlier, we are replicating the good works of what Dr Fayemi is doing in Ekiti State and at the local government level. Before these people were elected, we scrutinised them. They were properly screened; we knew they are the people that will actually come and deliver the good. They are capable hands, brilliant ones, determined, devoted, dedicated and compassionate as well. You know it is another thing for you to be dedicated and it is another thing for you to be compassionate on the people. So they are going to be compassionate on the people at the grassroots, I am telling you this.  Our expectation is that they will go back home and adhere strictly to their campaign promises. They had pacts with the people at the grassroots and definitely, they are going to work that out so as to enable that whatever they had given as their promises would be fulfilled. So, we are expecting a situation whereby they are going to work for the wellbeing of the people at the local government level; where they are going to really sustain the tempo of progress in the local government and do more. There are those basic things that the local government are in need of; these would be provided by our people. So, our expectation is that they are going to perform optimally, and there is no doubt about that and I can foretell that they are going to do very well and at the end of two years, you are going to see a justification of what I have said. We expect that they are going to do very well.

The government of Dr Fayemi has been in the office for a year and about three months. What are those areas you think he has done well? 

He has done well in virtually all the areas one would expect he needs to touch.  You know this government is based on five pillars. He has done well in governance and participatory governance and that is demonstrated already. This is a man that doesn’t discriminate. So governance per say, he has actually excelled and we are enjoying him in Ekiti State today. Nobody is complaining; you can see everybody is involved. He is practically demonstrating the tenet of internal democracy and democracy itself in Ekiti State and with that I think we are good to go. Look at employment opportunities, you can imagine now, in the state, Teaching Service Commission right now, interview is ongoing for people to be recruited into the teaching service and the civil service equally had interview for applicants last week and that will actually bring some people as civil servants in Ekiti State. The State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) did its own some weeks ago for primary schools. Like I told you, he is doing well in governance he is doing well in education sector; he has abolished the abnormal taxes by the previous administration, which gave problems to poor parents at home. Look at bursary for students, he is doing all these things. In fact, maybe I should tell you that Dr  Fayemi is not new to the system; he was here for four years and transformed Ekiti State; everything changed. Now, he›s back; he is only consolidating on what he did in the first four years and right now, he wants to do it better than he did then. In the area of industrial development, we see with time how many investors have been coming to the state. So, in all this area the man is doing well. And knowledge economy, you will see that Dr Fayemi is actually preparing for the future of the state, and he feels that human capital should be developed and that we should be independent of other states so that Ekiti can be a state that people will emulate and want to come and do everything. I want to tell you that he has touched virtually all the five pillars that are meant for this government.

There is a feeling among the people of the state, especially the members of the opposition party that the governor is not accessible and that he travels frequently out of the state. What can you say about the allegation?

You expect that people will say all this, most especially those that are not on ground.  It is not the level of education that really matters; there are those that are educated but could still be regarded as illiterate. Those you expect to tell the people the right thing but because of political sentiment they would not do rather they would want misinterpret and misrepresent what Dr Fayemi is doing for the state.  I want to tell you that we know he is the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) but that is not what takes him out of state. I want to tell you that  80 per cent of his journeys outside Ekiti is meant for the development of the state.  Can you expect a governor, who wants the prosperity of his state, to stay at home? He needs external intervention, assistance and help.  You can imagine now UFID is back in Ekiti State; he cannot stay in the state to bring back all those people to the state. Like I said earlier, investors are coming to Ekiti to meet all these people to come and help us develop our state. He goes out because Ekiti needs help and he cannot secure the help from within. So, if anybody is saying that he’s not accessible, that goes to say that person knows nothing about administration. He is accessible; party members see him at any time we want to see him; he comes to us; he visits us, he takes care of everything, yes everything. No party man is complaining, except the opposition and they are complaining not because they are objective; they are complaining subjectively.

There are reports that some members of the APC are aggrieved because of an alleged low patronage by the governor?

Our party members are not aggrieved because they know the realities on ground. I must tell you this, I am the state chairman of the party and I meet up to my people from time to time. The truth is, everybody wants to be appointed; theywant to be employed, but no government can do that.  The few Dr Fayemi has done really shows that he is interested in the development of our party. In all the appointments that we have in Ekiti, he has not brought people from outside; he has only brought people from within to fill those positions. He consults with the party and I can tell you all appointees are being recommended by the party and he has never for one day deserted the party; he is taking care of the party and he will continue to take care of the party. And for anybody to say the APC is complaining, that is not correct. We are not complaining, we are encouraging him, we are only asking for more and more will come when the finances of the state improves. On a final note, I will like to tell you that APC is really in support of Dr Kayode Fayemi.