Political parties in Nigeria have no ideology — Onijala

Ambassador Olutola John Onijala, an in-law to Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, is a career ambassador who hails from Oro Ago in the Ifelodun Local Government area of Kwara State. He is also the Kwara South senatorial candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP). In this interview with BIOLA AZEEZ, he speaks on 2019 elections and the fact that people’s choices will be based on candidates and not parties, among other issues.

WHAT informed your decision to contest under a relatively known Action Democratic Party (ADP)?

I was initially in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it came to a point we started having problems. The coming back of Senate President Bukola Saraki and his supporters led to my exit from the PDP. It was then we decided to move en-mass to the All People’s Congress APC. When APC could not meet up with our terms, some of us decided to move to a smaller party that is credible and has not aligned with any of the big parties.

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That attracted us to the ADP. We believe that if we can put character and credible people into the party, we can sell it and make an impact. We did not want to follow the crowd. Because of my exposure, having gone round the world, in the advanced countries and even in some lesser countries, they don’t practise money politics the way we do in Nigeria. If we decide to join the bandwagon, our children will suffer. That is why we are out to make our own impact.

What political ideology are you bringing to the table?

Is there any ideology in our own brand of politics in Nigeria? I doubt it. In the western democracies and the Americas, people are attracted to political parties for the betterment of the society. But in Nigeria, there is no clear cut ideology. All you see is movement of people, sharing money here and there, sharing positions as well as struggling for positions. Many of the parties don’t even follow their manifestos to the letter. That is why we have endemic rot in the system.

Are you in any way intimidated by the big parties around?

It is not the size of the dog that matters in a fight; it is the size of the fight in the dog. I don’t know what you mean by big parties; APC or PDP? It is not the party; it is the individuals. All of us will go to our people together. They will assess and compare us. Well, they have money to throw around. We won’t do that. It is not decent. You are to serve and not to buy the people over. Tell the people your message and if they are convinced, they will vote for you. I don’t want to give money to people to vote for me and I do tell my supporters, followers and sympathisers not to bribe any voter on my behalf. The message will be clear, and if people have vision and they can see tomorrow, they will know that our own brand of politics is to bring development to the community. I think the 2019 elections will be based on the candidates and not the parties. So, you may see people voting across parties.

Are you saying indirectly that your people impressed it on you to come forward?

Yes. The call and the zeal I have. For so long since 1967 that Kwara State was created, Kwara South, especially has suffered from the worst form of underdevelopment. There are no factories and even small scale industries where people can be employed. The roads in Kwara South are horrible. Many of these villages are not even linked up. People have been encouraging me to aspire to positions as we have seen it all.

How do you see the menace of vote buying?

It is a case of the rich stealing from the poor and the poor stealing from one another. It is very sad. The elite or politicians will try as much as possible to keep us poor perpetually, so that every four years they will come and share the money they have stolen. They keep on oppressing the people and subjugating them.

But from the feelers reaching me, people are tired and they are saying that they want freedom and no more slavery. That has gladdened my heart. My message to the people is to choose freedom they have been clamouring for now to bring development to their domains. Development will give their children quality education, good health facilities and empower the women. It is very clear that if people decide to choose material things above the future of their children, that will be very sad.

It is the whole of Kwara State people that are lamenting now. No part of our state has benefitted from the current democracy. I learnt that it is worse in the northern part of the state.

The only change we can bring is to start bringing credible people; people who have the fear of God; people who are ready to work and impact on the lives of the people. So that at the end of the day the people will hail him for doing his bit.

How do you think your affinity with Professor Wole Soyinka through marriage will affect your chances at the poll?

Well, Professor Soyinka is from Ogun State and I am from Kwara state. He cannot vote here but I have learnt a lot from him and I am very proud to be associated with him. I am a member of Wole Soyinka Foundation. At the earlier stage of my career, I learnt from him that the needs of a man are very minimal. Today, I can count or guess how many shirts my father-in-law has in his wardrobe. Every time, I remind myself of that, that I don’t need to amass billions. If you know that, you will be contented. You will not seek an office and use it to steal money or to empower yourself. I think my marriage to his daughter might help me too.

What do you think of godfatherism in politics?

Let me say ab initio that I have no godfather. God is my father. I have no godfather that will be taking money from me. Because I was told that some elected politicians could not perform because there is a godfather somewhere taking constituency allowance from them. So they are left with little or nothing but to be sinking borehole here and there.

Second, corruption is not limited to Nigeria. All over the world, Americans are corrupt too. Italians are as corrupt as Nigerians, but one thing you will not take away from these other systems, is that once you are caught, you are not above the law. So that rule of law is very important for you to be able to sanction people.

In the far East like Taiwan, China anybody caught in corrupt act would be summarily executed. I am not advocating that in Nigeria, otherwise they will kill all of us. I advice government also to make workers comfortable so that they will not be tempted to steal.