ZLP, PDP candidates can’t stop APC —Akeredolu’s Campaign DG

Honourable Victor Olabimtan is the Director General of Akeredolu Campaign Organisation. In this interview with Hakeem Gbadamosi, he speaks on the chances of the incumbent governor, the unity in the party, violence in the state ahead of the election.

There is an alliance talk between ZLP, PDP. Are you not threatened with this development?

The truth is that all the parties put together are not half of APC as far as Ondo State is concerned today. Definitely, they will see the APC as a common enemy. APC is in power and they want to wrestle power from APC and that is the essence of politics. They have seen that numerically they cannot beat the APC. They felt the only way to give APC a little fight is for them to come together. But as far as APC is concerned, we are not afraid one bit. We are working as if we are not even in government. We are working like an opposition party that wants to grab power, because we know and understand that it is not easy getting to the top and maintaining it. This is why we are not resting and we are all over the place campaigning. We have our canvassers, our leaders, we have the chairmen of councils leading our campaign team in their various local government areas and the essence is to preserve and make sure that Ondo is not derailed again. We have derailed once. We don’t want to derail again and we don’t want to go backwards. As usual, we will flog them by the grace of God and with the support of the people of the state.

With less than a week to the governorship election in Ondo State, how prepared is APC and your candidate?

By the grace of God, we are well prepared for the October 10 election. First, the governor has done so well in this state that campaigning for him had been very easy because at every local government there are achievements on the ground, significant achievements that the governor has done. This has given us an impetus that we are coasting home to victory. Second, our members are doing a lot of work in the nooks and crannies of the state, campaigning from house to house, doing one-to-one campaign. We hold our unit meetings almost every day now, ward meetings every week. With this, we do a lot of reviews. Apart from our members we need to woo the members of the public to vote for us.

Also, immediately after the primaries, unlike 2016, almost all the contestants who contested the ticket with Akeredolu have all joined  campaign trail and today, the APC in Ondo State is more united than ever before. In fact, APC in the state has not been as united as this. Chief Olusola Oke, Professor Ajayi Boroffice, Ife Oyedele, Segun Abraham, Ambassador Sola Iji, among others, are all in the campaign trail. They are not only in the campaign train, they have collapsed their entire political structure into that of Mr. Governor. They also painted their offices and as well branded their vehicles for Aketi. In Ikare-Akoko, we have lot of things to campaign with. The Oke-Alabojuto was reduced to the ground. That was a very big achievement by Governor Akeredolu. Every successive government in Ondo State had been planning to do it and none had been able to do it. But Akeredolu did it under one year of his coming to office. Not only that, the dualization of road is also taking place in Ikare now. These are wonderful things. Also, schools have been built and renovated. Ikare General Hospital has now been upgraded to be another Mother and Child Hospital. Instead of people coming to Akure, expectant mothers and children within Akoko can now go to Ikare to access the Mother and Child Hospital. These are some of the laudable things Akeredolu has done and with that, we believe that we are coasting home to victory by the grace of God and the will of the people of Ondo State.

Are you not bothered about the estranged deputy governor, Ajayi who is being supported by former governor Olusegun Mimiko?

If there is any politician I know best in this state, it is Mimiko. We told Akeredolu to be wary of him when he came to power because we know him and I know him inside out and the type of politics he plays. He has deceived the people twice and can no longer deceive the people again. The people are wiser and they know him. Therefore, the issue of Mimiko is not an issue at all. I can tell you he is a liability to Ajayi. He was governor for eight years in this state, but abandoned all his predecessor projects.

The people of Ondo State will decide the next governor. But for us in APC we are unshaken either by ZLP or PDP. We know we will win this election by the grace of God and by the will of the people of Ondo State. We have done so well, Akeredolu has performed. He deserves a second term, and the people of Ondo State are not daft.

For those promoting ZLP now, what was their track record when they were there? They said show me your friends and I’ll show you the type of person you are.

But Akeredolu was also alleged by the ZLP to have abandoned some of Mimiko’s project and policies

I don’t see any legacy left by Mimiko. Mother and Child was concentrated in Ondo and Akure, none in Ikare, Okitipupa, Ore, Igbakoda among other community. Akeredolu came and extended it to Ikare, Owo, Ore, Okitupupa, Igbokoda and so on. So, who is preserving legacy? All the projects that Mimiko could not finish, Akeredolu completed all. All the projects that were abandoned by Mimiko, Akeredolu has revived them. For eight years, Mimiko abandoned the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa. Ordinary shovel was never used on the land of the university for eight years, and he established a university in his home town. When Akeredolu came, he turned OAUSTECH around. When you go there now, you will know that there is a university there. Even the one Mimiko established in Ondo, Akeredolu never abadoned it, work is in progress there. Not a single course was accredited in the University before he left office because Mimiko hurriedly established the University in Ondo. Today all the courses in the University have been accredited with the full support of the government of Akeredolu who is preserving legacy.

Akeredolu should be commended for not wasting the resources of Ondo State. Mimiko wasted the entire resources of Ondo State. He abandoned all the legacy projects and policies that would have put Ondo State in the limelight. Akeredolu came and he’s reviving everything. Mimiko was there for eight years, did he establish one single industry where people can work? Go to Ondo Linyi in Ore and go and see wonders that God is using Governor Akeredolu to perform there. Mimiko said he will construct bridge at Ore, did he do it in eight years? In less than three years of Akeredolu, he completed and opened that redemption bridge which Mr. President came to commission.

Ondo South senatorial district is regarded as the PDP stronghold, and the ZLP candidate hails from there. Will the people not vote for their son?

Let me tell you a brief history of that area and the politics of the place. The place is made up of Ikales, Ilajes, and others. The Ikales occupy the following local government areas: Irele,  Okitipupa  and part of Odigbo,  and some of them are partly in Ese Odo. The Ilajes are in Ilaje fully and when you come to Odigbo, you will see that majority of the people there are Oyo speaking and traditionally are known for APC and they will continue to vote APC.

The Ilajes feel they should be governor and that a minority cannot come and be governor while they are still there. The Ikales believe that Ajayi is a minority within that place even in his own local government, which is bifurcated into two, the Ijaw Arogbo and Ijaw Apoi. With our knowledge of the politics of that place, APC will win the six local government areas there.

From Ilaje we have Olusola Oke, who is a better politician in Ondo South. Oke has always been winning Ondo South and he is with us now. In fact, APC has never been losing in Ondo South. In 2016, we won four out of six local governments in the south. We lost in Ilaje and Okitipupa and we won all the others. Odigbo, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo has been the traditional strong hold of the APC and it will remain. Those are the homes of the progressives.  When you talk of who is who in the politics of the southern senatorial district, all of them are in APC today. And the people of the south are saying it is not our turn, the North must finish its term. When the North finishes, it comes to the south. The south will do eight years and it will come to the Central. Even if the south wants to produce a governor, it can not be chosen for them from outside. The people of the south will choose who becomes their governor. Some PDP aspirants who contested the primaries are now working for APC.

We are not going to lose one single local government in the southern senatorial district. We are winning 18-0. I don’t know where people are getting their statistics from, but the field is there to decide who wins on October 10. The entry of Ajayi to PDP when he left APC and his movement out of PDP to ZLP weakens the PDP in the southern senatorial district. Most of the PDP leaders from the South who contested for the governorship ticket are not working for PDP.

But your party lost to PDP during the 2019 general election, don’t you think the popularity of your party and candidate is waning and can affect this election?

In 2019, APC fought APC. As far as this state is concerned, it is only APC. If APC will not win, it is APC that will not make APC to win. These other parties cannot prevent us from winning. They don’t have the clout to do it. What happened in 2019 was that primary should have been held for the people to decide who they want and they party will back the candidates. That created some problems. We were disunited. We were not one.

Meanwhile, for the first time in the history of APC in Ondo State, we are now one, speaking with one voice. What happened in 2019 will never repeat itself in the history of Ondo APC again.

Opposition parties have been pointing accusing fingers at the APC over violent clashes in some parts of the state, what’s your view on this?

During election period like this, the opposition leaders are bound to tell a lot of lies against the government in power. If you verify those behind the attacks very well, all of them are either PDP or ZLP.

We are the ones that live in a glass house, we can’t afford to throw stones. We are the ones carrying uncooked egg. We can’t afford the egg to drop. Therefore, for us, peace is imperative and we’ll continue to pursue peace.

For example, we did our flag-off in Akure, did you hear of any skirmish or crisis anywhere? Even when they are nonexistent, PDP came to this state with thugs from Oyo State to destroy things in Akure. Everywhere, they destroyed the bill boards of the governor. If not for the intervention of Mr Governor many people would have been killed on the eve of their flag-off.  Who is causing violence, is it APC? They are the ones. Our appeal to them is that the simplicity of the tiger is not a symbol of its timidity. We are not timid. That is why we have been appealing to security agencies to take absolute control of everything; we won’t cause trouble because we are on ground. They are not on the ground.

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