Why Buhari’ll win 2019 presidential election —Akinlayo Kolawole, House of Reps aspirant

Mr Akinlayo Kolawole is a business mogul and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Ekiti State. In this interview, he speaks about the ongoing Election Petition Tribunal and his ambition to vie for a seat in the House of Representatives in 2019. DAPO FALADE brings excerpts.

You just ventured into politics, but how do you intend to get the party’s ticket, considering the contending forces that may be interested in the same seat?

I have been an active member of the party, though I have been playing such role at the background. But I came fully into APC last January and shortly after, I unveiled my intention to contest for the House of Representatives to represent Ekiti North Federal Constituency II, comprising Ido/Osi, Moba and Ilejemeje local government areas. It is not actually the time you join a party that matters, but your worth and contributions since you joined. The governor of Benue State, Dr Samuel Ortom, who defected back to PDP recently, won election on APC’s platform in 2015,  barely one month after he joined the party. He was given the ticket based on his worth and not when he joined the party. When I joined APC, the party was so docile in my constituency. I had to mobilise the people, doing what I was supposed to do to bring the party back to life. I moved from one ward to another sensitising our people and the outcome reflected in the results of the July 14 governorship election which Dr Kayode Fayemi won.

Do you think you stand a chance of securing the party’s ticket?

Let me first of all say that the chances of APC is very high in that constituency, because the 79-year old man, Honourable Thaddeus Aina who is representing the constituency now, has not given effective representation. He has not called a meeting once to tell his people what he has done. Apart from this, he has not raised any motion or sponsor any Bill or even contribute to discussions on the floor of the National Assembly since 2015 he was elected. Is that what we call representation? Our people are ready to change and that will happen in 2019. They need a very active youth and that they have seen in me.

Regarding the APC ticket, I know I have a good chance. Our leaders; Dr Fayemi, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief Segun Oni, all knew my worth and contributions to ensuring that APC won the governorship election. I am not saying I should be imposed; all I want is free, fair and credible primary and once that is done, I will surely get the ticket because our people are behind me and they are supporting my aspiration.

• 2019: Tambuwal’s defection and dynamics of general election

   

You said Dr Fayemi won the July 14 election, but are you not worried that PDP is challenging his victory in court?

Well, that is the beauty of democracy. Election petition tribunal is part of electoral process and don’t forget  that Dr Fayemi became the governor in 2010 through the same process. So, we are not rattled at all. But PDP is only embarking on a wild goose chase by challenging the outcome of the election. The APC candidate won the election through free, fair and credible process. The election was never rigged. Even PDP thought we would deploy federal might by arresting their members, the way they did in the 2014 election. But in this election, nobody was arrested, nobody was molested. It was largely won based on popularity and antecedents.

Recently, some top members of your party defected to PDP. Don’t you think such could affect your party?

It will not affect our party, depending on how our party leadership addresses the issue. It was like a coalition of forces by some politicians across the country with the intention to wrest power from President Muhammadu Buhari, but such won’t affect the party in the 2019 general election. Though one will be worried seeing eminent people like the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, former Kano State governor, Senator Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, Governors Aminu Tambuwal, Samuel Ortom and Abdufatah Ahmed of Sokoto, Benue and Kwara states, respectively, going to PDP. But re-electing President Buhari for another term rests primarily on Nigerians to decide and not the sole prerogative of the Senate President and other politicians who are now boasting as if Nigeria belongs to them.

The whole world, with the exemption of the gullible ones, knew that the trio of Saraki, Kwankwaso and Tambuwal are desperate to be president of this country. But it was sad that they had refused to learn from history that desperado had never ruled Nigeria as a president. Former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan got to the seat through divine interventions at different times. Even President Buhari contested three times for the exalted position but lost out. He only won in 2015 after he was persuaded by Nigerians to lead them to the Promise Land when it was obvious that PDP had ruined the country. Nigerians are desirous of having a president that has the passion to confront poverty, corruption and insurgency and only President Buhari has these antecedents among the contending forces for the race, not even Saraki or any other person has such records in his political career.