Why I remain the candidate to beat in Ekiti poll-Oni

Former Governor Segun Oni of Ekiti State, now, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the June 18, 2022 governorship poll, spoke with reporters in Lagos on election, his chances, political violence and good governace. KUNLE ODEREMI brings the excerpts:

As a former governor, former Party leader and now, elder statesman, what did you forget in Ekiti Government House that you want to go and take?

I forgot nothing. But there are a lot things to be done; that we are hoping to be accomplished. I believe that whoever wants the best for this system would want competent people should run it, and that issues bothering on the future of Nigeria should not be left in the hand if those who have proven that they don’t know what to do or people who are new to such assignment.

Are you trying to insinuate that your opponents in the forthcoming election lacks composite experience and exposure to run the affairs of Ekiti State?

Give that to the people of Ekiti to say. I am not going to be talking about my opponents. But, I know the experience I have got. I know I have been there once as governor and I did what make people to continue to say that, without being immodest, that was the golden era. What we delivered is yet to be paralleled or equaled.

What are your plans for the people of the state?

Most of the things we are going to be doing we have started in our first round. We will only extend them. When we were in government, our emphasis was not just infrastructure, because people are still remembering our road revolution. We constructed many roads than anyone. Water was almost getting to a point where people were to be going to Ekiti to learn what to do with water, to get water right. We were almost there. Water was already flowing and we had done the basic water infrastructure of pipe laying and booster stations. We constructed six booster stations. Just to pump water and so on. This is not just what we believe government should do. We were investing in the future of the young ones. Solid education. Not just education that will make them to pass WAEC.  Yes. We took Ekiti from Number 32 to Number Eight in WAEC. And not the kind of gimmick that people play by asking teachers to assist students. Nobody was assisting me when I was young. There will be no way I will encourage the assisting of students. That is euphemism for cheating. We didn’t do it. Despite that, our record was good. I am sure if we were there for a considerable longer time, Ekiti would have been undisputed number one.

We did not just ask people to go to school. We were also catering for other interests. It may sound strange to you that in our time, every boarding student, as you entered boarding school, you were supposed to be given a laptop. Then, we were deciding what do with themselves for peanut. You pay the money or sign an undertaking; this is the value of the money and you pay back when you can. The reason why we did that then, we knew that the people of this era are going to make a lot of wealth through understanding what they can do in a digital space. We encouraged them to buy into the idea. We wanted a situation where people, when they are so familiar with the computer, can create apps that will become assets, not just yo them, but to the world itself. And that was why we said this is a laptop for you, make friend with it. Let us see how you proceed. And it was already going on. Such innovation, you never know where it can land. In the school system too, we brought the former national coach of the Super Eagles; we brought Amelia Edet, former chief coach, Atheletes. We brought Wonkle Jabby from the US, the certified development coach. We wanted them to introduce their sports into the school system in a pervasive way so that teachers can double as coaches for football and athletes, so that they will also be empowered to identify potentials. And once we identify them, they can be encouraged to be the best in sports. These are some of the things, we were surprised, were not understood by subsequent people, since it was not their idea. They were our ideas and people are still craving for them.

What is your reaction to the recent attack on your campaign train?

We were going round. We had gone round 10 local governments now. It was the tenth, Efon. We were not attacked in any other place, expect in one place. They went after us. They attacked us. They didn’t even allow us to hold the town hall meeting that we came for. They were hoodlums, known hoodlums. We are hoping that the police will do their job. Known hoodlums who reside in Efon-Alaaye. Let me go memory lane. In 2007, I contested the governorship of Ekiti State. In that election, there was no result; you can go and check; there was no result from Efon in that election. I would have taken Efon by 75 or 80 percent. Hoodlums were on rampage. They were burning polling boxes massacring people. That was how they disrupted election in Efon. I can say comfortably it was the creation of the creation of the then ACN.

Could you shed light on this?

There was hooliganism. There was violence. And ordinarily, they couldn’t do enough to win. I still won. Efon didn’t appear. Ten wards didn’t appear on the result sheets. To say we didn’t win, with the massive support we had, they needed to have burnt more than half of whatever that was available. But, the result was still that we won. We won, despite all those hooliganism, they went to court to challenge us. That was where they created a faulty record. You know there is no perfect crime. Now, they went to court to challenge my win, which included all those places where they burnt votes, created hooliganism, like Efon. Ten wards. No petition about it. Okemesi, three wards. No petition about it. That was what happened in other places where we didn’t have results. INEC put a dash. They were the ones who petitioned. They didn’t include them. So, one doesn’t need a degree in law to conclude that they must have been the cause because if they are protesting against a loss, got an opportunity to add places and they did not, it means they were responsible.

But, they made the world to believe that we were the cause of whatever election problem. This now reminds us that that was what happened in 2007. I hope they will come up to say we were the cause of what happened yesterday in Efon through their propaganda machinery.

How did the attack happen? Were there no security men on ground?

We were not there yet. We were just walking, typical of us yo where people would meet us. I feel like a colonialist if I am in the car and people who come to meet us are trekking, dancing. So, I belive that when they come to us, dancing, we should all trek together. So, as we were trekking together to the venue, that was when it happened. It was right on the street that they attacked us. They were throwing stones and bottles.

We withdrew. We can understand that the best the police can do to police you in such a situation is to shoot in the air. Thugs also know that police don’t do more than shooting into the air. They shoot up to scare thugs from getting closer. That is why it is so bad that police will get killed by thugs. They don’t fear police. They know police will only shoot into the air. If they allow people to defend themselves, of course, if people carry guns and they are shooting at us and we have guns too, it is different.  They will say leave your guns in the hands of the police. But, it is getting frustrating, and I hope this frustration will not one day compel anarchy. Here are assailant with gun. Here are policemen with gun and the assailant know that police can only shoot into the air. You just endanger innocent people for nothing.

Was the attack not a sign of resistance to you, a sign that you are unwanted?

No. They are part of Ekiti. They are what I can call the negligible minority, miscreants. They went to them to them before and they took money from party people. These are not people who have my and your type of mentality. They are thugs. The only thing they want to see is money and if they are already on hire by your opponents to wreak havoc on you, they will. Thugs are like mercenaries. They are not people of reasonable comportment.

You are popular. But, how formidable is your structure? How popular is your party in Ekiti State?

You have said I am popular. It is people that confers popularity.  It is not what any teacher or any master will teach. We thank God. If I am not popular, why would they be afraid? And that popularity will translate into votes by God’s grace on the 18th of June.

In your opinion, what are the factors that will guarantee a free and fair election in Ekiti?

A free and fair governorship election will be guaranteed, first, by government. I mean the Federal Government. The Federal Government should know that what we have on our hands is very dangerous to Nigeria because if they don’t allow a free and fair election, and people vote and whoever loses, it will trigger large scale violence. Remember we had the 1983 riots that brought down the Second Republic. It started in Ekiti, and extended to the rest of Ondo State then. The same people are still the people. These people have a long tolerance. They don’t react quickly. You would have been doing it for long. They won’t react. But, when it gets to the limit, they turn back and spark. That is the end. I was told that even the ‘ operation wet e’ started in Ekiti. So, the Federal Government and everybody that loves Nigeria should be interested in ensuring that there is complete transparency and fairness, and you don’t allow those who have inadequacies to cover should inflame the country. If there is free and fair election in Ekiti State, the rest of Nigeria will enjoy it. If there is no free and fair election, the rest of Nigeria will see it.

The economy is bad. How would you get money to run Ekiti? How would you boost the internally generated revenue?

The economy was not better when we were coming in. First, we believe all these are products of thinking, good thinking. Good thinking will bring good product. We have s strategic blueprint that touches on every relevant department. We improved the IGR tremendously to the extent that Ekiti State that was Number 34 in monthly statutory allocation was rated by the United Nations Development Programme as Number 24 in income per capital, GDP, out if tgec36 states then; in the Human Development Report that was published in 2009. If Number 34 in allocation was Number 24 in GDP, per capital, there must have been additional income coming to the state.

Still talking on human development report, it rated Ekiti Number 10 overall in human development index. Part of the highlights then was that we had the highest life expectancy. Ekiti was where people were living long, which was a product of health care and other factors.

Why is your disposition towards violence during elections?

My disposition is simple. If government and security agencies do their work, incidents of violence and malpractices during election will be brought down to the minimum.  I believe the security agencies need to do a neat work to get things right. We are fortunate in Ekiti that our election is one-off.  So, if the Nigerian government is serious, it has an opportunity to show that it is serious. They can test their measures. They can use the opportunity to test their processes, in security the election. Ekiti is a compact terrain. No election is happening off-shore. No terrible terrain. So, if the government is serious, it can ensure that they have a perfect election. We are waiting for them.

How would you tackle the challenge of vote buying during the election?

We know that vote buying is prevalent.  We are trying to sensitise the people to know that the man or woman who sells votes always sell at a loss. They will only give you maximum of four-day meals and take from you the mandate of four years. We are trying to educate them, to let them that it is so disproportionate; four days to hour years. The man who took money four years ago is worse off now. If he takes money on June 18, he would still be worse off. Nothing positive will happen to his life. We are trying to explain to them that the business of selling your votes is the business of incuring more and more loses. I hope our orientation will yield result.