CHIEFTAIN of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, spoke to journalists on his senatorial bid, the presidential hopefuls in APC, money politics, among other issues. KUNLE ODEREMI brings the excerpts:
There are many contestants for the Ogun West senatorial seat? Why is the senatorial tussle tougher than expected this time around, especially within your party APC?
That is the nature of politics and democracy is about contest and numbers. In the whole gamut of political struggle, every available office will be keenly contested by all that have interest in it; because power is never served on a plate. In Ogun State for example, there are 39 positions being vied for. 26 House of Assembly, 9 House of Representatives seat, three Senate and one Governor. You never can tell which one is going to be tough because it depends on the features of aspirants for a particular position. Sometimes, the process for an Assembly seat may be tougher than that of governorship. Each aspiration has its own peculiarities. I think for us in Ogun west, I agree that it is a tight race, different people might have different perception for this, but I can ascribe it to the character and the capacity of the aspirants in the race. From the last count, I think we have three; the incumbent, Senator Tolu Odebiyi who is seeking a reelection, a three-time Federal House of Representatives member, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade and my humble self who has been on gubernatorial ballot three times.
However, I learnt there is also a serving Senator in Lagos who has played politics for over 20 years in that state and now wants to move over to Ogun state. For me, I have swum in the Ocean of governorship where I traversed the 236 wards in the state, so I do not consider it a difficulty to deal with 59 wards for the Senate seat. Basically, it is the character and nature of the participants that is causing the tussle and for me it is very much expected.
But people are saying the Ogun West matter is a bit complicated because the assumption is that whoever gets the Senate seat may have an advantage to succeed Governor Dapo Abiodun in 2027. Any merit in this?
That may appear as a reasonable assumption but it remains an assumption at best. There are lots of factors that determine how each electoral cycle play out. Many things will happen between now and 2027. What is important now is that there is going to be one senatorial ticket in 2023 election, and as a person, I am interested in that particular ticket. I am doing everything legal and right to get the ticket. But what comes after that can be anybody’s guess. People might have different reasons for what they are doing, and if that is what people are saying out there, then that is logical, but what is ahead of me and concerned about now is the senatorial ticket for 2023. What happens for the future will be left in the hands of God.
One of you co-aspirants, Senator Olamilekan Adeola said he tried severally in the past to work together with you, especially during the 2019 elections, but you rebuffed his efforts.
This is laughable really and unfortunate also. Somebody mentioned it to me and what I said was that maybe Senator Yayi was misquoted because there is no way he would say that to my face. We have in times past had communications, facilitated by respected persons from our district; and for me, I did not relate with him on the basis of whether he was a from Yewa or not, that is left to other persons to pursue. On good faith and brotherly invitation, I have been to his house once, for a Christmas party in December 2013 and to his office in Abuja as well, but he has never visited me at my house or office. The closest he has been to me was when he attended the burial ceremony of my late mother in Imeko, in October 2021; which a lot of people from all over the country attended. My honouring his invitations means I have shown more willingness than he has done. In 2015, when I was in the PDP and eventually picked up the gubernatorial ticket of the party, Senator Adeola wanted to contest for Senate and then he went back to Lagos afterwards, one of our younger ones called Gbenga Ekunola spoke with me that since Yayi seems to be promoting Ogun West for governor, he was going to talk to support us in the election. Afterwards, I and the senator had an opportune flight from Abuja to Lagos one of those days; we even sat side by side on the flight to Abuja. He made promised that he was going to support me in the interest of Ogun West. Gbenga called me later to affirm that Yayi was indeed going to support us. After that promise that day, there was no single discussion again and we didn’t get any form of support from him for that election and that is why when people talk today that Yayi is promoting the cause of Yewa, I shudder and ask them where was he in 2015 and who did he support? That election was between me, a Yewa man and an Egba man but he looked away. He is reputed to be a man of means but what was his contribution to our cause in 2015 despite promises he made willingly? As the 2019 election approached, we got talking again and formed an alliance between both parties. We set up a 20-man team, ten on each side, who started working out the modalities for the alliance. The team were meeting the effort culminated in the Ogun West Public Dialogue programme which held on May 1, 2018.
There are rumours and stories on the roles you played or did not play as regards why your senatorial district has yet to produce the governor despite the support given to you on three occasions. What is your reaction?
Let me first thank Almighty Allah (SAW) for the opportunity He gave me to do those contests and after it all I am still alive and on my feet. That I even have the courage and wherewithal to do the current race is all down to the benevolence of God. Secondly, I do not think that I have the full of responsibility to have made Ogun West produce the governor and neither do I have the full weight of culpability in our failure thus far. On the contrary, I have run a race over 12 years, carrying aloft the banner of Ogun West for Governor more than anyone else within that period. In the process, I have surfed injuries and made many sacrifices just to ensure we break the jinx. It is most uncharitable when I hear these allegations also, which is coming from my detractors anyways and those who have been fed with deliberate falsehoods. To start with, an aspirant or candidate has his roles to play. The party supporters and stakeholders have their roles, while the generality of the indigenes have their roles to play. In all of those contests, I played my role and was committed all through the course. Few governorship campaigners in Ogun State have put in the type of riguor I have done during the times I contested. I guess your question flows from what some elements are saying about the 2019 elections particularly. Well, I remain proud of that effort for all its worth. I was in PDP up until 2018 when it became apparent that the party was not looking in the direction of Ogun West. Before then, I found a sociopolitical and advocacy group called The Believe Movement – which powered up the effort into 2018 when I moved the structure into African Democratic Congress (ADC). It was not convenient but I built that party and attracted other persons it just so that Ogun West can fly. In 2018, I approached Senator Ibikunle Amosun to support me in 2019 as he said he also believed in ogun west but he told me he had a preferred candidate. By 2019 his candidate did not get the ticket of APC and he was urged to support me in the ADC and not take Adekunle Akinlade to another platform so that he does not divide Yewa-Awori votes. He insisted and took Akinlade to Allied Peoples Movement (APM). It was just few days to the election that it became apparent that victor was not certain for his choice that I was approached to work for Akinlade. I rejected the offer which I considered inappropriate. If I had consented, Akinlade would have won that election. But despite my principled stand, it is sad that I hear stories of me collecting monies in 2019 to betray Yewa. The truth is, and I have said it on many platforms. I have never received monies from any of the people mentioned.
How would you rate your chances of securing the APC ticket for Ogun West senatorial district? Again, a co-aspirant claimed that you have never been a part of the progressive block.
We are ready for any mode of conduct of the primaries. It depends on what the party leadership wants to do. Direct, indirect or consensus, I am ready. My only issue with consensus is that we have to be sure that the people that are going to sit down to consider the consensus are truly fair. We have been seeing strange things in our senatorial district this season. A particular supposed aspirant has been going around to conduct one programme or the other and what you see is our leaders and in some cases, party executives that are supposed to be unbiased and be fair in their assessment, going around with this individual, endorsing him and signing communiqués all over the place. How do we have confidence in such a process if these people are to be the one to choose? Some people that are supposed respected leaders and elders that ought to be fair and be independent in their minds, have almost turned to campaign managers of one individual. So, how do you want us to rely on decisions coming from some of these people? If you want to go through the consensus road, the question is, what are the criteria; who are the people that will make it up so that we can all assess the fairness of these people?. For the other two modes of primaries, whichever one that is taken, we will go for it. We are all working hard to ensure that we have the best of decisions.
About the progressive block, well, a former governor of Ogun state Otunba Gbenga Daniel likes to say, ‘How exactly do you define a progressive?’ There are two main parties in this country. There are lot of others around the one to the right and others around the one to the left, but at the end of the day, there are two main parties. In terms of crisscrossing, how many people, both at national and state levels, can you really say have not moved across platforms? Maybe, very few people! Yes, I got into politics through a government of PDP. There were issues and our group left the party. From then on, we have found ourselves on platforms that best aggregates our realities. The governor today, Governor Dapo Abiodun contested in the PDP at a time. The one before then, Governor Ibikunle Amosun won an election with PDP and at some point affiliated with ANPP and CPC before berthing in ACN – now APC. Governor Gbenga Daniel, who is now in the APC won election with the PDP after leaving AD; and was with Labour Party at a time. Senator Lekan Mustapha contested election with the Labour Party at a time. So, that is the nature of our politics. It may not be really nice, but then it is our reality. Therefore, if anyone has the luck of being in a state where one party has been ruling since 1999 and he benefitted from that system, he should not come to brandish it or label others as not being a progressive – as though that is what guarantees good governance and performance. Anybody that is bringing that to fore now is playing to the gallery. The APC that we have today is a conglomeration of new-PDP, ACN, CPC, part of APGA and other individuals. How many of those would you call truly progressives and truly non-progressives? Maybe somewhere down the future, we would be able to have a line that is fully demarcated. The problems we are trying to solve in this country is applicable to all of us. The solutions are all there. What is critical is the capacity and the heart of the man at the helms. That to me is the summary of what we have today. There are governors that won on the ground of Party A and then moved to Party B. Maybe now that the courts have started threatening actions like that, maybe some of such movements will stop.