A former Governor of Ekiti State, Engineer Segun Adebayo Oni has heeded the clarion call by the people of Ekiti State by throwing his hat in the ring for the 2022 governorship contest.
He is seeking to be a standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform he was governor from 2007 to 2010. He did not complete his first term, which was terminated by the verdict of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin in a governorship election matter instituted by Kayode Fayemi.
After an unsuccessful attempt in the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he was a former Deputy National Chairman (South) to return to the governorship of the state in 2019, Oni, an engineer and the Asiwaju of Ifaki, justifies the raison d’etre of his current preoccupation to be governor in 2022 in an interview programme-“Political Paradigm”- on Channels TV hosted by Terry Ikumi. The CONCLAVE monitored and transcribed the interview. Excerpts are published hereunder:
Question: Your Excellency, welcome to “Political Paradigm.”
Answer: Thank you very much
Question: It has been 11 years since you left office. What have you been up to politically?
Answer: I have been in politics; I have wandered a bit and am happy to say I am back to base. You know I left the PDP to the APC where I was the deputy national chairman south for a term and am back in the PDP. I am back to base and that’s the joy of it.
Question: In these past 11 years, you haven’t really done anything apart from trying to be governor again. Is that just the ambition you have? You didn’t attempt to be Senator, no intention for that?
Answer: You see, I’m in politics because I want to offer some service and the kind of service I know and I am very definite about it. It is a kind of turnaround service; I have done a bit of it at the corporate level and I think I can do it at governance level; so, I am more definite about that. When I was in the APC, the present governor was very kind to offer me a senatorial slot for my zone; he came here to discuss it with me and I thanked him and I suggested someone who had done one term before because I know ranking is important to them at the national assembly and he will be more interconnected and ranked than me and I was glad that he considered that.
Question: But is that how politics works? You were offered a position just like that. Is that how it works?
Answer: It depends on the way you look at it; you match things up also with the caliber and pedigree of who you are trying to offer things. Even in corporates where I am from, you headhunt. This is allowed everywhere, not just in politics. It is done ever so often.
Question: Vey well then, let’s talk about your ambition now; it’s been 11 years now and you are still interested in the position. But then again, what’s fueling your confidence to go back into the ring?
Answer: Well, politics is first and foremost about people because you are not going to make yourself a governor or make yourself a senator. Some other people would make you. When you put yourself into public space for a political appointment, you open yourself to the harshest of criticisms. People will scrutinize you; in fact, there is a joke that if you want to know what offence your father committed in his teenage years up to yourself, then go into politics. So, it is not really an easy thing but I went to Ekiti to serve the people and I did serve the people with the best of my abilities, energy and resources. Maybe that’s why people keep saying (I am the right man for the job); they have tasted two governors after me. People now keep saying the right man for now; lets us go and bring back Segun Oni. The voice is very loud and you don’t require any microphone to pick it on the streets in Ekiti. So, first, I am very elated and grateful to God that the rating of the service I gave was this good.
Question: What legacy did you leave behind in the short time that you were there that makes you believe that the people want you back? I mean it has been 11 years.
Answer: Well, we try to put government on a very sound footing. We created some institutions; we attracted some institutions. We attempted to solve some problems from fundamentals and people understood what we were doing. You see, we are not looking at governance from award of a contract, putting a road somewhere and I must say that I’m not saying that to belittle road works. I am still sure that up till now nobody has done more roads than me but that is not the governance that I am talking about. We were addressing some fundamentals that would address the future of the state.
For example, something as little as you give primary school children one egg two times a week and chocolate tea. You are addressing a fundamental issue. These children are growing up; they need protein. We took computer laptops to secondary schools at senior secondary level because we made senior secondary boarding and we gave them computer laptops to let the students make friends that they would develop with. Nobody taught Zuckerberg how to arrive at Facebook. No! These are self-teachings; these are products of interaction between a man and his machine (friendship) and you take that friendship to that level.
When you expose a child that early, you are also building a possible digital entrepreneur, possible inventor and so on. These are some gaps we were filling cautiously and you don’t need university education to do that. For sports, I brought in Chief Adegboye Onigbinde (a former chief coach of super eagles), even though the man was known more as a tactical coach, yet I saw in him a development coach because some of the guys he brought up did well as football professionals. I told him that I wanted him to introduce football at a very elementary level (primary and secondary school) and take it through the curriculum so that it would become a culture. From this, we would have an industry of the future where we would have footballers who would be graded very highly and be invested in and so on.
For athletics, I brought in a lady called Amelia Edeth (retired chief athletics coach for Nigeria) and I told her I wanted a coaching scheme to identify big and five-star potential and put them through the right training. Today, we have less than a dozen Nigerians that have run the 100 metres in less than 10 seconds. Out of the less than a dozen, Ekiti has produced two (Olusoji Fasuba and the late Oluyemi Kayode). The good thing about high-capacity training is that it is gene-controlled and the gene in Ekiti had produced 2 sub ten sprinters.
Question: Let’s talk about you moving from the PDP to the APC and then back to the PDP now. Moving from the APC to the PDP now, you said you were treated unfairly. Can you explain further?
Answer: I was deputy national chairman of the party and I served my term almost to the end. I resigned when I wanted to contest the governorship. I contested in the primary election and lost and thought all I should now do was to busy myself with contributing my quota to the party. I now saw that in my ward in my hometown where I hold the position of the Asiwaju of Ifaki, a group of people then took it upon themselves to suspend me for alleged anti-party activities. The crude joke was that the accusers were the judges. When you find yourself in that kind of situation, of course…
Question: (Reporter cuts in) What were the anti-party activities that you were accused of?
Answer: They were unexplained. You see, when a politician or a political system want to hunt anybody down, they can say it in any way. Anyways, I was suspended- not only me; but also, some of my friends who are still in the APC. They put some protest (letter) together which they signed. I didn’t join in the protest and they sent it to the then national chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomole. I was expecting that Adams would receive it and call me to come and explain myself about what was going on. Adams did not even glorify us with an acknowledgement of that protest those people signed on to him and a protest that involved a former Deputy National Chairman (DNC) South of the party.
Question: Did you reach out to him? Did you get any support or reach out to anyone at the national level to sort it out?
Answer: No, I did not want to lobby
Question: (Reporter cuts in) Was that’s lobbying?
Answer: I believe it was. Let me tell you: it happened to Governor Clement Ebiri when I was DNC. I read it in newspapers that Clement Ebiri had been suspended at his ward from the party and I sent for them. I asked them what happened and they explained and I told them that was too much for you to do. I’m not saying that a big man can’t offend even his staff members but when it involves a big man or whoever, report him to a commensurate level of the party and let the judgment come from that level. I told them to go and tender an apology to Clement for doing that and if you feel very strongly at what he had done, write to us, we would call you and Clement Ebiri and we would be fair to everybody. I believe that was what Adams should have done.
Question: Has that affected your relationship with him?
Answer: (Smiles) I haven’t even seen him since.
Question: Very well then. Your Excellency, considering that you didn’t get the kind of attention you were expecting from the national (leadership), did it make you question if there was anyone high up there responsible for your suspension at your ward level?
Answer: I believe at the state level that you could talk about that; but at high up levels, the national level, no!
Question: In declaring your intention to run for office again, you said your people were pushing for you; we’ve seen your crowd and some will say it’s a fair crowd for someone who has been out of office for 11 years but, then again, you are back to the PDP. Your people kicked out PDP. Are your people tired of the APC already? Is that what you are saying?
Answer: I believe so. If you get to Ekiti and ask questions, you will see people talking about great devaluation of our people-not of our currency alone; they said the Nigeria naira had been devalued by over 300% since this government came in. But what value would you put on the devaluation of the Nigerian person? You and I have been greatly (affected) and people feel it people know it and I know that in Ekiti, as part of Nigeria, the devaluation is felt by the people.
Question: But do you still have the political structure to win a governorship election after 11 years away from that office?
Answer: It may be funny to you if I describe myself as probably more popular now than when I was in government. But that is the reality.
Question: But, then, are you not disturbed that there are some agitations that the position should go to Ekiti south now? You are from Ekiti north.
Answer: I will say that in Ekiti, the issue of South, North, East, West is not as severe. And by the way, when the PDP was in power during the last regime, the governor did the best thing: he picked his deputy from the south and placed logistics and resources at his disposal; so if the issue of south wass the most important parameter for consideration, it was placed right in front of the people just to pick but it appears it was not. So, it is not.
Question: When was the last time somebody from the south was governor of Ekiti
Answer: As governor of Ekiti? No
Question: So, are those agitations fair or understandable?
Answer: You see those agitations are right and fair. Also, democracy makes it necessary that people will express themselves via voting. If I am governor and I can muster resources of the state, I can put it behind the south and say let us try but if a party is not in power, the first preoccupation is to get into power and you will want to pick whoever can win for you not whoever is from south or north or central; so, the time for us to go for whoever can win for us is this as a party that is not in power. The last time when we were in power, Governor Fayose did the right thing: he went to the south and he picked somebody who had experience because he had been deputy governor. So, what else would you say should be done that had not been done. If I have an opportunity to be in power, of course, we can deliberately go back to the south for a successor.
Question: You are saying if you get in now, you will push for a southern successor?
Answer: Of course, people who know me know that I don’t fool around and I support that with the infrastructure that the state will be able to offer.
Question: Let me just draw your attention to something. Within the PDP, you are likely to face some strong opposition especially at the primary level. For example, someone like Senator Biodun Olujimi and she is from Ekiti south, does that trouble you?
Answer: No, it doesn’t. We had worked together and I have tremendous respect for her but the people’s will supersedes all that. I didn’t say I wanted to contest before I started hearing people saying the governor we would like to have is Segun Oni. I am 67. The last time I was in the governorship seat in the PDP, I was 53; so I should be out of this. But I am here because some of the things to be done are not being done.
Question: In the APC you just left, you lost to Governor Fayemi. What much confidence do you have in the PDP that you just returned to where Senator Olujimi has been in for only God knows?
Answer: In the APC, the election was done twice and I was surprised that the Nigeria journalists didn’t try to question that something happened when primary was canceled. Some thugs invaded the venue in front of the security operatives without anybody raising any finger and also Governor Fayemi put in some money in the second primary. So, it is not about structure.
Question: Now that you are back in the PDP, what’s the relationship you share with Governor Fayose having accused you of working against him in 2007?
Answer: Well, the relationship I share with everybody is that of colleagues and friends. When I was coming into the PDP, people thought I would join the Olujimi or the Fayose flank but I said no; that I am here for peace because I am not looking for anything for myself but I want to be in the party that will be the next government in Ekiti State.
Question: Let me take you back to the question I asked: who is the leader of the PDP in Ekiti State.
Answer: That’s a big one. Between Governor Fayose and Senator Olujimi, I believe they should have settled that. I am not contesting that.
Question: So it’s safe to say that there is no leader of PDP in Ekiti and it’s not a problem?
Answer: I believe that’s not a problem; that’s what I will say.
Question: You have been speaking on the recent security situation in your state especially with the recent killings of two farmers allegedly by herders and you said that governors should protect the farmers. If you become Governor, how will you handle it?
Answer: We will suffer ourselves to engage them and they know if the government says it will go in a direction, it will go in that direction and people will not try to cross the line.
Question: Engage who?
Answer: Engage everybody because the farmer is entitled to his returns because farming is not an overnight business. We need constructive engagements and, of course, the government has said nobody should rear stray cows and I think that has solved a problem. Where cattle rearing needs to be done in ranches they will be done in ranches. I pity, really, some of those farmers who lost their investment and those who has lost their lives.
Question: Very well, Your Excellency, Engr Olusegun Oni, thanks very much for your time.
Answer: Thank You.
