The Executive Assistant to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on political matters, Barrister Morohunkola Thomas in this interview with New Nigerian Newspapers Oyo State Editor, BAYO AKAMO bares his mind on some issues in the state, particularly the appointment of caretaker chairmen for councils and LCDA in the state, pending local government elections and the recent comments of Minister of Communications and a gubernatorial hopeful in the state, Barrister Adebayo Shittu on the affairs in the ruling APC in Oyo State. Excerpts:
Sir, the Minister of Communications Barrister Adebayo Shittu recently alleged Governor Abiola Ajimobi of attempting to hijack the structure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State. Is the governor actually doing so?
I think the honourable Minister goofed in making such an assertion, what is impunity, this Minister should count himself very lucky to have actually been appointed, what roles did he play during the 2015 election,
He said he coordinated his zone?
What did he coordinate, did he even win his polling booth? The APC did not even win in his polling booth, he was not involved. Remember that this man canvassed openly for the candidate of Accord Party in the last election, he did not only do that, he actually took the candidate of his party, that is the incumbent governor, Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi to court challenging his nomination. He was putting all kinds of legal roadblocks on the way of the party from winning that election. If we had lost, I am sure Shittu would have decamped to Accord Party.
So, what impunity is he talking about? This governor is restructuring the party, he is reforming and re invigorating the party. We set up council of elders that were inaugurated last week. Is that impunity? It is involvement of credible and notable leaders across all the local government areas, coming together to advise the government and move the party forward. Is that impunity? Is that not democracy? Is that not the way to run the party? Is Barrister Shittu a financial member of this party? What contribution has he made to the party? What was his contribution to the election? What role did he play even in his local government, Saki West in the course of the election?
We were on the road campaigning for the governor and President Buhari, Barrister Shittu was not involved, I remember vividly well that he surfaced at Mapo when the then General Buhari came for campaign after that he fizzled out again, so he has not integrated himself into this party, he is not rooted in this party he doesn’t even know the affairs of this party, how can he be describing the action of the governor and the elders as form of impunity? I think that is far from the truth.
Part of his argument is that the introduction of the Elders Advisory Council which the governor inaugurated is unconstitutional. In running a party and the society, you are not only guided by the constitution, you are also guided by the convention and tradition of that party. This party is a progressive party, this party has a tradition, it has a tradition of involving elders and leaders in running its affairs.
The situation in which you have too many young and educated people in the party, they need to be guided, they need to be tutored by the elders who have had years of political experience. What is wrong in involving such people? Even the president is doing it, he is consulting the leaders of the party across board. So what is unconstitutional about it?
When you run a party just based on constitution, it is not complete, constitution is just a grand norm of the party it is not the only guiding rule. The tradition, the convention of the party must be respected and that is what we have also done.
So why did the governor not invite him for stakeholders meeting?
When last did he attend meeting in his local government and his ward? When last? The governor attends his own meeting in Ibadan South West as well at Ward 12 meeting in Ibadan South West, I also attend mine. When last did the Minister attend party meeting in the state, not only in the state even in his ward and local government? You see, you can be a Minister, It doesn’t matter, you can be a governor, it doesn’t matter, what matters most is that are you a credible party member. Are you an asset for your party or liability? What I have seen is that if he wants to be a good member of the party, let us see him start in his ward and local government area.
Some people seem not to be in support of the continuous appointment of caretaker chairman for local government areas in Oyo State by the Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led administration. They describe it as fraudulent and undemocratic. As an executive assistant to the governor on political matters, what will be your comment?
The recent appointment of caretaker Chairmen was necessitated by the fact that the proposed local government election was suspended because of the litigation that was brought against government by some traditional rulers in Oyo Federal Constituency and because of the fact that local government areas should not be left alone without a political head, the governor decided to appoint people to man them.
You will find out that the governor has a prerogative of appointing those people that he appointed but in order to democratize the selection process, the governor actually set up a committee that was saddled with the appointment of the Caretaker Chairmen and this committee comprises of political leaders from all the seven zones in the state. So, it was actually this committee that recommended the names of those people that were appointed now.
So, the governor did not appoint these individuals on his own, he did so with due consultation with all the various groups, but you will find out that in a political situation like this, you cannot satisfy and please everyone, you cannot satisfy all the tendencies within the party, one of the important thing the governor did was to make sure that whoever was recommended by that committee was not among those that have spent two years as chairmen of local government areas, that they were not re-appointed so as to give room for other people with fresh ideas in the running of of local government areas. So, it’s actually not fraudulent, it is not undemocratic, due consultation was done.
What about the All Progressives Congress members especially the leaders from Oke Ogun zone that were saying they were not consulted before imposing some people on them as Chairmen and they even staged protest during the screening of the said nominees?
Oke Ogun had representatives on that selection committee and that committee took nominations from all the local government and the LCDA in the state. So, it is wrong for them to assert that they were not consulted, if your candidate did not emerge, it does not mean that you were not consulted it just means that at this time your candidate did not succeed.
Maybe there were criteria laid down that their candidates did not meet, so it’s wrong for them to say they were not consulted. Due consultation was made, not only by the selection and appointment committee set up by the governor, but also by the governor himself. This appointment took almost a month to be concluded and that shows that consultation was going on, meetings were held on the appointment every day for a whole month throughout the month of March, that was what the governor was doing.
So, for some people to say they were not consulted is wrong, I think some people were pushing certain candidates, but those candidates at this time did not make it. We need to remind them of the fact that, this appointment lasst only for three months. We are hoping that by the grace of God, the litigation would have been concluded or out of court settlement would have been arranged and the local government elections could then take place. So, whoever did not emerge in this round of appointment, we urge them to wait for local government elections.
But, why can’t the OYSIEC conduct election in those local government areas not affected by the litigations?
Yes, you see when you are conducting such elections, you have to consider the financial implications, you have to consider the operational circumstances and if you have to take out a particular section of the state out of the entire state for this election issue, you have to incur more money and this is a time that funds are very scarce, we are only managing to survive, we believe that the election will actually hold because the government is almost exploring out of court settlements with the individuals that went to court and we are hoping that will happen very shortly.
Is it true that the governor is trying to block some influential people within the party from succeeding him in 2019?
That is laughable, blocking who, what is the strength of Barrister Shittu, this governor is not running election again and he is not going to handpick anybody. You see, the process is there, well stated in the constitution of the party, if he wants to throw his hat into the ring as he has said, he will face other competitors. It is not the governor that is running with him, he is not interested in who becomes the governor. He is only interested in running a good administration while he is here. If he wants to contest, he doesn’t have to malign Ajimobi to emerge as a candidate, maligning Ajimobi will be a minus for him because this is a governor that has contested election four times. Once as a Senator he won, three times as a governor, he won two times, so he had won election 75% of the time he had contested and who is Shittu to be blocked by Ajimobi?
There are other candidates, why are other candidates not talking about Ajimobi blocking them, Ajimobi as I talked to you is not favouring any candidate, he is not supporting any candidate, he is not blocking any candidate, and what is the political weight of Barrister Shittu to be blocked. When last did he win an election in this state, even in Saki West, I remember in 1999, he ran for the House of Reps, did he win that election, I remember he also ran for governorship on the platform of CPC, he did not even win up to 3,000 votes in the state so who is Barrister Shittu to be blocked by Ajimobi, its just like comparing hell and heaven.
But as a serving minister he must have garnered some connection and political strength?
Well, let him wait till 2019 to test his popularity, let him wait. 2019 is around the corner, I heard people from Oke Ogun are saying now that this is a Minister that has not even been useful to them, but that is neither here not there, but let him wait till 2019 to use the political strength he has gathered with all his Ministerial weight that he is carrying around. Ajimobi is not going to be the umpire, is it not the INEC, and the party, let him wait. I learnt that he was talking about the Ondo experience, well they will meet Oyo people on ground here because what they don’t know is that in Ondo State there was not a sitting governor but here there is a sitting governor, there is a well organized party, a party that is so organized down to the ward level where impunity will not be allowed, where manipulation of the electoral process will not be allowed, if anybody is thinking of federal might to have his weight, they will find it difficult in Oyo State, because here we are building a party that will stand the test of time.
