Why I want to succeed Ajimobi —Gov aspirant

As the 2019 general election approaches, many aspirants have been throwing their hats to the ring, seeking to take over from Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the governor of Oyo State from May 2019. Among them is Ayodeji Karim, an ex-British military officer and the Managing Director of Constain PLC. He speaks with DAPO FALADE on his ambition.

YOU recently declared your intention to contest the governorship seat of Oyo State in 2019. What informed this ambition?

I want to become a governor for a number of reasons. One of which is, if you look at the history of democracy in Nigeria, it has always been seen as something not for the enlightened people or the educated. But that was before. More recently, if you look at the calibre and the quality of people in politics, I feel that if we don’t get involved we are doing a disservice to ourselves and future generations. So, I feel that it is important that someone exposed, educated, well-travelled and who has an understanding of all the workings of politics should be should be involved in order to secure our future and that of our children.

Why are you not contesting to be a local government chairman or even as a lawmaker, either at the state or federal level before seeking for the governorship seat. How prepared are you for the task?

I have been a student of politics for the last 10 years, though I have a full-time job. I feel that politics is about making a difference and in order for me to make any tangible difference, being the state governor is a fantastic starting point. From that office, you could make that tangible difference as required .Any other seat apart from that means you are only making a difference in a portion of it. For example, Oyo State has three senatorial districts. If you take one as a senator, that means you have one-third of the state. But that is not what I’m looking for, in terms of job satisfaction and the overall impact on the entire state. What I’m looking for has to be that governorship seat.

Don’t you think the internal wrangling in your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will affect your chances?

AII I can say is that there is no battle won without challenges. That is one of the challenges one has to go through in order to achieve what we need to achieve. Yes, we have internal wrangling, as you have noticed; there are many aspirants who are seeking for the same post and a lot of them are good, solid contestants while some are not. Everybody has a game plan and I know it is going to work. But it will be beneficial for the people of Oyo State to support my candidacy because that’s where the future is.

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Would you say APC is as strong as it was before 2015, such that it would be able to win the forthcoming election on all fronts?

APC is stronger today than it was in 2015. In 2015, APC came in at the federal level as an opposition. If we were not strong, we won’t be able to capture the centre and as any sensible person would know that once you have captured the centre, you can only wax stronger. If we do anything otherwise, I don’t think we are ready to stay for a long time. Look at the present government in Oyo State, if you do a comparative analysis and you want to compare Governor Ajimobi to his predecessors, if we use that as a yardstick, he has done extremely well. He is very astute and boisterous; things that people thought can never be done in the state, he was the first to do them. He opened up the state and he has laid a lot of foundations for his successor to take to a different level.

Which areas of governance do you intend to improve on?

We came up with what I called the I-SHAPE, which stands for Infrastructure, Security and Sports, Hospitality and Health Care, Agriculture, Power and Education. That is the core of what we want to achieve in Oyo State, Everything revolves around the I-SHAPE methodology. It’s good to prepare for an opportunity than to wait on the opportunity unprepared. I’m a student of politics and I feel the time is right for us to get involved. I run a public liability company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). When I took over the business I was the youngest CEO on the NSE at that time. We ran a successful business in construction and also farming, we invested a lot of time and effort in Oyo State in creating employment. That is part of my getting ready for the task ahead. The task ahead for the governorship seat is a different level; it is politics, but I know the journey of a thousand miles start with the first step.

Why do you think this is the right time for you to come out?

If you look at the calibre of all the people on the list vying for the governorship of the state, what makes you think an Ayo Karim is not qualified? I am qualified; I understand the system. I understand the people and I also understand the environment, so the time is right. As I said earlier I have always been interested in politics but my corporate responsibility has precluded me from that. If you look at now, Governor Ajimobi has done two terms.

He needs a successor that can build on the things he has put in place; a credible successor, someone that is reliable and resourceful; someone that is passionate about our people, passionate about the youth and the environment. I would always say that Oyo State is the earpiece centre of Yorubaland, if you are coming from the South to the North, East to the West, you must go through Oyo State. If you look at six years ago, we were at the bottom of the pier and if you look at now we are on top of the pier.  Governor Ajimobi has put a foundation in place for us to spring us back to the top and beyond and that is what we plan to achieve within four and eight years.