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Still basking in the euphoria of the remarkable victory recorded in Ekiti State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer in the August governorship election in Osun State, Dr. Iyiola Omisore, in a chat with KAMAL TAYO OROPO declared his readiness to upstage the incumbent.
• Ekiti, Osun Governorships Were Lost Since Last Year
• There Is Serious Disconnect Between Lagos Media And Reality In Osun
Congratulations on your party’s victory in Ekiti State. Would you say that was expected?
BEING a veteran politician, I will like to say that elections are not lost in one or two months. They are usually won or lost within a minimum of a year. In one year before the election, you will know whether you are winning or losing. Frankly, we knew before hand that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had lost the Ekiti election since last year. But there is what we call self-denial in politics; the APC government in Ekiti State had denied itself of reality over long period of time. Though the incumbent governor believed he had all the mercenaries needed to win election, they thought they had and they believed that they are custodians of violence and thuggery; they believed that they would be able to force themselves on the people at all cost. So, they lost Ekiti and Osun states since last year.
The Ekiti victory did not come as a surprise. In fact, prior to the election the expectation was thick; people were anxiously waiting for D-day. In an election where you expect a wide margin of votes, you will know by yourself where the pendulum is about to swing; except if you are careless. What happened in Ekiti is a reality that has come to pass and this is just the beginning.
Still on Ekiti election, here is a governor many believed was doing a good job but he lost the election woefully. Without bias, what lessons are there to learn from that and what does it portend for democracy?
I laugh when you people, Lagos media exhibit this kind perception. I watched a programme on one of our local television stations this morning, an interactive session with one of our political analysts, and I discovered that there is indeed a major disconnect between the perception of the Lagos media and the aspirations of the people in our states. This is indeed true of Ekiti and Osun, for example. This wrong perception is, however, not only limited to the media alone, but most people domicile in Lagos also share similar wrong perception about the true state of things in our rural states. The Lagos crowd most often limit themselves to listening to the propaganda and noise from the incumbent governors.
Of course, these incumbent governors have so much money to spend on their propaganda machine; most often sacrificing the meager resources of these states to satisfy the need for false publicity. When people say APC is known for propaganda, this is not a positive attribute as we are just admitting that the party is known for spreading falsehood, propaganda and false publicity.
The irony, however, is that if you can willfully deceive urban people, you cannot deceive people who are hungry. People are hungry and they look forward to practical means of making things better for them; not adding burden on them in the name of some nebulous project orchestrated by sheer propaganda. That is why the victory in Ekiti is shocking to them, but to us it is reality. People have completely rejected them.
This is not the first time though. For example, look at 2003 when there was a change of guard between the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the PDP, it is a trend that is easily discernible; that’s Yoruba flexibility. The 2003 change started in Ife, where there was a re-run. They lost that election and also lost similar one in Ekiti. I remember that a day before the 2003 polls, a prominent newspaper in Lagos listed names of governors that would come back, but all of them lost that election. There is a serious disconnect between the Lagos media and the reality on ground.
Look at my state, Osun, for example, where you people say Governor Rauf Aregbesola is doing something, but the reality is that the man is doing absolutely nothing. For example, he has spent about N170bn on roads, but these roads are nowhere to be found in my state. At best, they are roads on the expressway we can see, but out of 30 local governments, 27 have not felt any impact of Aregbesola.
Are you predicting the Ekiti experience in Osun State?
This is not just predicting and it is not wishful thing. This is reality. You need to go and see the rejection in Osun State. The people are now calling the governor unprintable names. You need to go hear for yourself the names they call him each time he moves around the state. He has lost totally the confidence of the people and they no longer have much respect for him. Making things worse for himself, he started arresting those calling him bad names. Is that a normal and self-respecting governor? But what else does one expect?
It’s so bad, that there’s no impact of anything felt. All the roads are bad. He claims he’s building mega schools, these so-called mega schools are only in less than five Local Governments out of the 30. And these are the councils you can see on the express roads. So, that people can be deceived. That’s all. Go to Ola-Oluwa, go to Iwo, go to Boripe, go to Atakunmosa, you cannot find just one.
There are still feelings that the Ekiti election was purchased by the PDP and that you and the party are set to feed on the challenges of the people in Osun to achieve similar outcome?
Just tell me how possible is it for the PDP to buy votes and the APC is not? I truly don’t understand it when people express this opinion.
Frankly, you people are not being realistic, you people are so adamant and you don’t want to accept reality. APC spent 10 times of whatever Fayose spent in Ekiti. They were giving voters 30 thousand naira per booth. They have money and they don’t hide the fact. Aregbesola recently got about N3bn of such money.
In Osun State, we have seen various attempts at development under Aregbesola. For example, the popular Opon imo, the O’yes pragrammes and so on.
Which are all blatant failures and cause of his disaster as a governor…
Sorry, but what fresh ideas do you have in mind? Some of these programmes fetched the governor accolades, including man-of-the-year award.
That’s just part of the make-believes of his administration and perception of those outside the state. These awards were bought.
The truth is that the so-called O’yes participants have not been paid for the past eight months; in that regard he has failed.
Opon imo has been withdrawn. I joined other well-meaning people to demand for its withdrawal all over the state because Opon imo has 17 subjects and 87.7 errors; that’s reality. On Opon imo, the governor spent N8.4bn. He gave the contract to one of his sons. Doing this is not the problem, but the reality is that a dangerous work, capable of destroying our students, was done. It has 17 subjects and 84.7 per cent errors. For example, in mathematics, algebra to be specific, there is no single graph inside Opon imo, no single diagram, no single isograph and so on. I am a mathematician, you cannot teach mathematics without illustrating figures. It’s not possible. No single table, when you go to physics, same story. And in chemistry, nothing. The idea was driven by profit because, he wanted to steal. Opon imo syllabus, SS1, SS2 to SS3, is the same syllabus. Opon imo in chapter 4 (history), says history of the Songhai Empire, what you will read in the body, is the history of Mali. That’s the character of Opon imo. I have written to British government, that they should withdraw the recognition of Opon imo. I have gone to the UNESCO. It’s an embarrassment. They’re been withdrawn from the schools now, all over the schools. In O’yes, he’s owing them salary.
You don’t know government by slogans; it’s not by sloganeering. But the reality is that, at times, one cannot really run away from the reality of the level of the governor’s education.
A good and effective governor must focus on developmental issues. You must be driven by developmental issues, developing the human capacity, the people’s capacity, and not by stealing people’s money. Can you imagine a governor sewing school uniform for N14bn, depriving the small traders, the clothes sellers on the street, depriving tailors on the streets? He’s taken food from 1 million Osun indigenes, men and women. These are people who voted for him. All because you wanted to siphon all the money. All these things have made him to fail. He came to Lagos Airport Hotel to showcase Osun Airport, spending about N4bn, but nothing on the ground to show for it.
What do you have for the people of Osun?
Unlike Aregbesola’s government that everything is Lagos arrangement, even carpenter, bricklayers, welders are brought from Lagos, I have two principles –– equity and accountability and four strategies: development, develop viable human capital, arrest technology for commission and leadership, partnerships, promote regional operation and national integration.
Then you now go to my 8-cardinal programmes, which I told you about. The first is education. Education in Osun State is in comatose, the merger of schools, St. Mary’s with Ahmadiya Grammar School, St. John with Baptist Boys High School. There is confusion.
Now, children have to walk four or five kilometers going to school. UNESCO said you encourage student to school within one km radius of where they live.
No single health center is in any of these rural areas up till now, as I speak today, not even one; no pipe borne water, not one. The only thing we saw in Oke-Ila was one erected by one of the House of Representatives members.
Ironically, these people ruling Osun are not based in Osun State. They don’t know our communities
On gender equity and youth development, our women, our children are our legacy, gainful employment and wealth creation, that is, not the O’Yes kind of slavery. Gainful employment for youths. You engage and encourage students, graduates, entrepreneurship, small and medium enterprises, not putting them and using them to work as slaves. There is no hope for them. No hope.
So, what we are expecting from you now is a fundamental shift from the present state?
I have a pact with the people. I don’t want to take you through the whole stories. But I have visions, principles inside my programmes that cover education, health sector, gender development, human capacity development, youth evolution, agriculture, infrastructure, commerce, transparency in governance and accountability in governance, public sector and traditional rulers involvement in governance. I have it all in what I call eight-point agenda.
For instance, Osun State is a rural state based on agriculture. You have root crops, cash – etc. Because Aregbesola has not invested one kobo in rural roads in two and half years; not one kobo in rural roads, that is the mainstay of Osun’s economy. And you know in Nigeria, most of our fruits are seasonal –– they are perishable items. They will all perish in the farm, thereby impoverishing the farmers who cannot bring their products to town to sell; that is why he’s going to lose. My people don’t believe in most of these things you guys talk about, they don’t read your newspapers or use your televisions. They are not interested. Everything has been done on newspaper, on television or radio, but nothing on ground to support the claims, not a single investment in rural roads, no additional pipe borne water supply in Osun State and you say he’s doing well. What exactly is he doing? That is why he’s going to fail at the polls. The reality must be come to bear. You can’t pretend about people who haven’t been paid salaries. Teachers are not being paid, since February till now. Teachers are being owed, pensioners are being owed. Schools are being closed. What do you say? You want them to vote for Aregbesola? They are going to vote him out, they are determined.
How do you intend to handle issues concerning public schools in the state?
They have destroyed the children’s psychology. What we see in a Baptist High School in Iwo, where some students were wearing masquerade dress, some wearing choir dress and some wearing hijab only portend chaos. It is destroying the psychology of the child. He’s already imbibing wrong culture, values into the brain of a young child. He’s destroying the future of Osun State, so he must go, he must be removed.
It is chaos, and you don’t know, it’s so dangerous that a ten-year-old girl or boy grows up with that kind of psychology. You are destroying the future of our youths.
How do you intend to tackle that aspect?
I will return schools to the owners of the schools and I will disengage merger of schools. I am going to announce immediately by 10th of August, all the schools should go back to their owners.
I will return the schools to the missionaries and the private school owners, except where they don’t want to have them. Then, I will cancel the sewing of school uniform by the government. We don’t have to deprive people of their livelihood.
So, we want to continue our economy in Osun State and make government transparent, chose the things that are going to benefit the people in Osun State, especially the people in the rural sector.
The plan of this present government is to continue to deceive the people and eventually perpetuate themselves in office by using thugs to rig the election, but I can assure you we are going to resist rigging. They have failed; they did it in Anambra, they failed, they did it in Ekiti, they failed and they are going to fail in Osun State as well. One-man one vote and the votes must count and I can assure you that he will lose in every local government.
In a broader sense, what kind of education policy do you intend to run?
We are going to have organised education, free education to secondary school levels and even tertiary institutions. We are going to have scholarships for brilliant students, empower indigenes, so they can pay. When you are paying N10 and parents are not empowered, how would they afford education? The GDP has gone down below four per cent in the last three and half years, but there is capital flight to Lagos from Osun.
How do you intend to improve on the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)?
Osun state is a civil service state, I’m sure you know that. There’s no Cadbury in Osun State, no Texaco, no Chevron, no Coca-cola, no Seven-up, so you cannot force revenue. When you say people should pay high taxes, you are just hurting them the more. It is better for you to manage what you have for the people in that state and they would understand you.
So, I am not going to engage in any high tax regime. Aregbesola is now saying he would withdraw the taxes because he wants to win election. That means, he’s unfocused, when you see a government now backsliding because of election and withdrawing all policies, that government has no focus at all. It’s a government that just want to fumble and ramble. Aregbesola has lost the Osun election over a year ago, nothing can salvage him. No amount of Bola Tinubu, Bisi Akande will save him, he’s a drowning man and he’ll be drowned.
As former deputy governor between 1999-2003 under Bisi Akande, to what extent did you help in actualizing these programmes you are now promising to deliver?
I was the engine room of Bisi Akande’s government, I was knowledgeable, I was exposed and I wrote the programmes of action. Basically, my first program would be, the payment of salaries, you first of all pay the primary school teachers, secondary school teachers and civil servants, before you go to the legislature.
How can a state, which cannot pay the salaries of teachers, be acquiring a helicopter of N4bn used by the governor, claiming it is for security reasons? Osun State is the second safest state in this country, by security watch report. Why do you need a helicopter when you can move around by road? Well, the roads are bad.
Last time they visited Ila, the town of Bisi Akande, they went in a helicopter. They can’t drive because they would be calling them names. You are running away from people and you want to rule these people you are running away from; that is why they will fail and woefully too. Look at my campaign now, I’m doing my campaign from ward to ward. They can’t go to any ward. They always do their campaigns in stadium, Ife stadium, Iwo stadium etc.
But we see a lot of crowd turning up for the rallies?
Yes, but because there are Fuji artistes there to entertain them. Those people only came to watch their favourite Pasuma or Wasiu Ayinde Marshal perform. Didn’t you see similar crowd at Fayemi’s rallies? What has that cost him? The votes are in the wards and in the towns. I’ve been going to every ward and polling unit.
Yes, the roads are very bad, no water, no health centres, but I had to promise the people, to beg them to allow me. They are ready to vote out Aregbesola, no matter what he does. All his plans are to import thuggery to Osun State. We are going to resist every thuggery and violence.
How do you plan to resist acts of thuggery and violence?
The people will resist it and I will join them to resist it too. The place will be policed by the security operatives of Nigeria.
Are you saying you are going to combat violence with violence?
Was there any violence in Ekiti State? The security agents will contain them. They arrested 1,890 thugs in Ekiti. Aregbesola, out of that 1,890 has about 870 thugs. His thugs were arrested in Anambra, his thugs were arrested in Ondo and elsewhere. He’s an acclaimed apostle of violence. But we are ready for him in Osun with his thugs, all of them will be arrested.
They cannot win election in Southwest except with violence and thuggery. Because people are fed up with them. They are pretenders and robbers in government. They have no pedigree, they are still illiterates.
But interestingly, you were together with these people in the AD connection…
No, no. they are AC. They are not part of my foundation, which is AD. The AD is still alive. This is ACN/APC. AD is Afenifere, we are in Afenifere. We are still alive, we have our leaders, Papa Reuben Fashoranti, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Olanihun Ajayi; they are still there in tact.
That’s my AD. APC is just a faceless party formed by faceless people across the Niger, that’s all. In that party, you have all manner of characters in this world. A lot of inconsistent people who worked with Sani Abacha 24/7. Look at Rotimi Amaechi, for instance, he was a Speaker, then governor for six years in PDP, he now joined ACN, what’s the difference?
Prominent PDP members like Senator Isiaka Adeleke and former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, have either withdrawn from PDP or are seen hobnobbing with the APC. To what extent would this affect the fortune of the PDP in the election?
Oyinlola, as far as I know, is still in PDP; they are just trying to woo him. They know they are failing and they are like a drowning man trying to cling to any straw available. They are desperate and panic-stricken. That’s the sign of failure.
For Isiaka Adeleke, everyone knows that the man has been inconsistent for the past two years and I have had cause to express that as far as I can see, Adeleke has always been, for more than two years, a mole in the PDP; nothing more. He has also lost credibility and relevance in Ede Township.
As such, you don’t see him as a major threat to your aspiration?
You are going to see my election in Ede; I’m going to score 95 per cent in Ede town. Go and write it down. There is a disconnect between you Lagos media and the people. You people have to wake up. You should audit yourselves. All of you Lagos press. The APC are going to lose flatly.
Imagine the governor of a state would be on a rostrum, campaigning that people should go to polling booths with thugs, with charms, with knives and so on. How can a governor be saying that kind of thing? How can a governor be bragging about his thuggery and violent tendencies? But I can assure that there will be security for everybody, any act of thuggery will be arrested and dealt with according to the laws of land. The Police arrested about 1,890 thugs in Ekiti.
Incidentally, one of the major attributes often ascribed to you is violent conduct…
That is your Lagos press mentality too. You have the same problem. I am a PhD holder, I am an academician, I am above all those things. Conversely, Aregbesola is a thug. When we formed AD in 1998, I’m telling you today for record purposes, I was a founding member of AD, he was a mere thug in AD. This is on record and you can check the facts. He was a common thug in AD in 1998. But the moment you give a slave keys to drive a car, you end up in trouble.
The man is of very limited ideas and he has no knowledge; nothing. That is why he’s going to fail. All the noise about him are mere media creations and as the reality continues to dawn on you people, you will have to go and audit yourselves. Those of you who are in the media, because you are being bought over by these people.
Don’t you agree that what may not be mere media perception is your trial for alleged involvement in the murder of Chief Bola Ige?
On the allegation of Chief Bola Ige’s murder, I went through the trial and was discharged and acquitted. So, what else do you want? My standing trial over Bola Ige’s murder means that in that matter, I Iyiola Omisore, is the only person innocent in this country. Every other person is a suspect by law. You are a suspect for Bola Ige’s murder. I’ve gone through the trial, I’ve been discharged and acquitted. I am the only person in this country that is safe and free from Bola Ige’s trial. All of you are suspects. But you refuse to accept the reality. That is wrong. That is the position of law.
I’m talking about public perception, the baggage you carry over the allegation?
That is the Lagos press too. I remain popular in my state. Out of pity, they voted for me to go the senate, even when I was in prison. Why don’t you consider that along the line and be fair? I was in prison, I had no poster, I didn’t spend a dime and I won every polling unit in 2003; every polling unit, I won.
Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa was my rival, he said he lost his booth; he confessed to me that he lost his booth. So what else do you want? The fact speaks for itself.
By the time they start losing every ward in Southwest, all of you will wake up to the reality. You will discover that all your projections are fallacies.
Courtesy Guardian
