Donald Ojogo is the Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation. In this interview by HAKEEM GBADAMOSI, he speaks on the activities of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration to curtail COVID -19 in the state, crisis in the party and its readiness for the next governorship election.
THERE is the criticism that the members of the COVID 19 committees in the state are not residents of the state. Why not bring in people who are resident?
It is a wrong notion. Our model is different. Rather than having a single committee, we have two committees in Ondo State: the Rapid Fund Raising Committee and the Covid-19 Palliatives Committee. These two committees are not the same. If you are talking about the palliatives committee, the members are domiciled here. In respect of the fund mobilisation committee, the succour we require does not mandatorily require us to pick people domiciled here. We need people outside the state who have means to help the state that will be able to do this job. This committee is a solution provider. These people are residents in Nigeria and have been meeting from time to time and funds are being mobilised.
There are allegations that efforts to curtail the virus are being sabotaged at the borders…
As a government, we are not inclined to indict anybody without concrete evidence. In the last two or three weeks, security agencies have been doing well; they have been ensuring that the measures we put in place are adhered to. They may have their own challenges as individuals, but steps are being taken to stop all those challenges. In a matter of days, the situation will change. Those errors and deficiencies on the part of the persons saddled with those responsibilities, where there have been identified breaches, will be corrected. There are some persons who see COVID-19 as a normal Nigerian situation that will just come and go. What we are trying to prevent in Ondo State is community transmission which is the most dangerous.
Will the coronavirus pandemic not affect the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming governorship election in the state?
People are bound to input political blame into anything. It will be unfortunate if COVID-19 is used as a political weapon, either by the opponent or any other person. It will be unfortunate for any government to use COVID-19 as a political weapon. Mr Governor or the APC did not create COVID-19 in Ondo State. COVID-19, as a pandemic, will not differentiate between the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members. Even within the APC, it does not know the complexion of the Unity Forum. It will be unfortunate if there are persons waiting in the wings to use it as a political weapon. I do not believe anybody who wants to lead the state will use COVID-19 as a weapon.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu had described those in the Unity Forum as disgruntled and selfish. Is it true?
If he says they are disgruntled and selfish, yes; but I am not qualified to describe leaders of the party in that manner. Some of us have been around since 1999 participating in the politics of Ondo State at various capacities. We know too well conspiracy does not work all the time in politics. Where intra-party conspiracy in politics works, it has a self-abnegating effect because it is a zero-sum game. At the end of the day, they will fight and achieve nothing. Nothing will be there for people to share. We believe strongly it will not happen in Ondo State. Why it will not happen is that the reasons for the congregation of the Unity Forum are not altruistic. They are personal and individual reasons; irreconcilable personal reasons that brought them together. The truth is that they don’t want Aketi [Governor Rotimi Akeredolu] but none of them has come out to say Aketi is not working.
There is the insinuation that the governor knows that if the Unity Forum is able to come out with a consensus candidate, it will be a problem for him, hence, he is trying to sponsor someone within the Unity Forum to disorganise the plan. How true is that?
For those who know Aketi very well, I don’t think he will have time for that.
Don’t you think his proxies may have time for that?
You see, there is no way his proxies could do that without his support. For those who know him very well, Akeredolu is not a politician that will want to undermine anybody. He believes that everything must take its natural course. So, these are stories that are being concocted and sponsored by people who are already losing out at the other end so that they will have some credible safe landing among themselves. They shouldn’t be calling the governor; he is prepared to go into the primaries with any of them. They are persons he had defeated at the primary election in 2016. So, he is going to repeat it. He is not afraid to run against any of them, whether at the party primary or at the general election because some of them, after losing out in the Unity Forum, cannot endure and might even join other political parties.
One lesson people should learn out of what is happening in the Unity Forum is that there is a limit to the speed of lie; every lie has an expiry date. The limit of every lie is truth and conscience. Akeredolu, as governor in the last one and half years, has had a series of stories told about him. He did anti-party, he did that. What is happening is worse than anti-party. What those people who are leaders of the party in Unity Forum are doing is rather weakening the party than strengthening it. There is no anti-party that can be worse than that. So, to answer your question succinctly, the governor is not interested in who is the candidate; he is not interested in who will not be candidate. He is more focused on delivering good governance to the people. He is more focused now preparing for the primary whenever it comes.
If a true reconciliation is put in place, will the governor embrace the Unity Forum?
The governor has always expressed this in a very unambiguous manner. He has always said it. He has written letters to them; he has sent emissaries to them; he had engaged with some of them through telephone conversations. There is nothing the governor has not done. One of the processes was the setting up of the advisory committee. You recall that, two or three months ago, he was part of the meeting. He was there when the APC Advisory Council was inaugurated. That was a major step towards proper reconciliation. But again, there are those whose major interest, they believed, could not be better served by true reconciliation and that is why they are against those efforts.
What mode of primary will the governor be okay with, direct or indirect?
Well, it is not in the position of governors to pick the mode of primary they want; I believe the national will decide. All over the country, APC is trying to update the register; it will be clearer whether it is direct primary or indirect primary. But we are not running away from any mode of primaries. For instance, indirect primary is that which the excos are statutory delegates, while the direct primary is the one where all party members will participate. I believe strongly that less than 10 per cent of the entire members of the APC throughout the country have their membership card. So, without the membership card, how do we now go into a direct primary? Those are conjectures by people. We are not going to be the decider in the mode of primary but whichever way it comes we are prepared.
There are allegations that the governor has been focusing appointments on his hometown, Owo. How true is this?
I cannot answer in the affirmative because I am yet to take the census for this purpose. In every political situation, it is probably difficult to have an even distribution of appointments. That does not take away the development efforts of the governor in every part of the state. For instance, while people may want to allude that most of the appointments are from Owo, if there are no road projects going on in any other senatorial district outside Owo, we will say the man is nepotic. They are talking about appointments but what about road projects, schools and hospitals that are being built? Two of the main teaching hospitals that are being given facelift are in the Central Senatorial District; one in Akure and another one in Ondo City. We have the Ore Industrial Hub in Ore and not in Owo. With what Akeredolu has done, those of us from the South will be clapping for him by the time he leaves office after two terms.
The bridge which is in my own senatorial district is in Ondo South, it is not in Owo. With what Akeredolu has done, those of us from the South will be clapping for him by the time he leaves office after two terms.
These appointments we are talking about are temporary things but we will be able to point to the Ore Industrial Hub. The man from Okitipupa will thank the Governor after his exit from office for the bypass at Okitipupa. Those of us from the South will be talking of the bridge that one governor, called Akeredolu, did. Nobody will point at the Personal Assistants, the Special Assistants from Owo by the time he leaves office. Even the people in Owo are complaining. They are saying that is it all these appointments that you are talking about that we will eat? You have not done enough for us. I can tell you that those of us in the south will laugh last because of the enormity of projects he has given to us.
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