My own concern today, and that’s why I went into this race, is to ensure that Ekiti does not become a failed state. We have over 400, 000 on the streets of Ekiti, unemployed. This portends a lot of danger to the future of this state.
And in any case, if you have a state that is said to be producing the highest number of professors, where the people have no water to drink, where out of over 597, 000 houses, over 250, 000 houses still rely on the use of nearby bushes for people to pass excreta, where less than 220 houses are with pipe borne water from their boreholes, less than 250, 000 houses with gas cooker and electricity, and over 250, 000 households still rely on the use of firewood to cook their meals, where our wives, mothers and sisters are still exposed to open fire to cook their meals and expose their eyesight, their skin to all manners of health hazards, how can a governor parade himself through media hype as the best that could have happened to Ekiti and the best that could ever happen to Ekiti? Because you have done a few things within the metropolis of Ado-Ekiti?
Yes, Governor Fayemi tried his best. I said that everywhere I went to campaign. He tried his best, given the extent of his understanding and level of experience, he tried his best. Whether that best is good for Ekiti or not is another issue. But he tried his best and I give it to him. I was in the race because I was convinced that I could do much better than his best. I give it to him that he tried his best. But don’t insult the intelligence of our people. Don’t go after me like you want to kill me because you think it’s an affront for me to say I can do better, I want to run against you.
And don’t insist on a tradition. I want to break a jinx. There must be a second term. Anybody can do it, but forget about second term first. Because if you think about that second term, you are not going to do it. Those who end up doing second term do things, spend every day in office as if it were their last. And then, at the end of their four-year period, everything falls together. People can see real change, tangible achievements that no one can rubbish, regardless of what your opponents are saying. It’s not about how many editors are friendly with me or how powerful are my media consultants.
All manner of things were written about and against me during this campaign. There was even a conscious attempt by the Fayemi administration to do media blackout for me. I let it go; I didn’t say anything. I managed a governor before as commissioner for information and strategy. Not that I didn’t know people in the media. But I stay in Ekiti. I’ve not travelled out of Ekiti. I’ve been to Lagos once between January and now. I went to every nook of Ekiti campaigning. And for me, it’s about connecting with the people. And like I said, you could lose a battle to win a war. This thing is long drawn.
Would you work with Fayose to bring development to Ekiti?
Well, it will be in two ways. As Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, an Ekiti man, you can be sure that I will look forward to contributing my own quota as a responsible citizen to the good of that administration, in the overriding public interest. On the other hand, as the leader of the Labour Party in Ekiti State, I also would look forward to making my own contributions to the good of the administration, in the overriding public interest. And of course, in doing that, I have to work with the leadership and the rank and file members of the party. At every point, we’ll have to discuss issues and take a position as issues arise. And as much as possible, I would also want to say that in whichever way that we can be a part of the development of this state in a manner that will not compromise our individual and corporate integrity, by God’s grace, we’ll oblige the incoming administration.
How would you rate yourself in Ekiti?
Even as a contestant, I still want to believe that I played the role of a change agent, and I helped the Governor Fayemi administration as much as possible. We ran a campaign based on issues. We never sat down one day to abuse him or call him names. The only opportunity we were going to have together for us to discuss issues and make policy analysis of his administration’s programmes and policies, unfortunately, he frustrated it. Because we were going to have a debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Group, and for whatever reason, Governor Fayemi made sure that debate did not hold. Because we were really looking forward to that; the whole state was looking forward to it. But the debate did not hold. But other than that, some of the things we said we were going to do, he had to quickly do. The 27.5% teachers’ allowance that he had stopped three years ago, when I met with the Nigerian Union of Teachers, I promised them that our administration would commence that payment immediately on assumption of office. Three days later, Governor Fayemi hosted five teachers from each of the public schools in Ekiti, and he quickly announced to them that he was going to begin payment of that 27.5 % increment, and he paid it the next day. Unfortunately, he didn’t say anything about the last three years’ arrears.
But what that went to show to everybody was that government could pay. Because, two weeks to election, you now promised that you would pay, and you paid it the following day, why didn’t you pay it last year? Why didn’t you pay it two years ago? Was it that the federal allocation to Ekiti had increased? No. And then of course, we made promises to members of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees regarding some of the issues that they had with government. Each promise that we made that we would do, Governor Fayemi quickly went to promise immediate implementation. We told Ekiti people that we have an administration which, for three and half years, refused to organise a local government election, and taking local government administration away from the people. And we promised that within six months of assumption of office as governor, we would organise a credible, free and fair local government election. Two months to election, Governor Fayemi quickly set up what he called committee on local government creation. Two months to election. And at the inauguration of that committee, he promised Ekiti people that he would organise local government election by December. But in three and half years, you cannot organise local government election. You had succeeded in crippling local government administration. So, in each of these situations, I saw myself as a change agent. The same Governor Fayemi that would wave at everybody from a distance now would come out of his car to interact with the people, to shake hands with them, because Opeyemi was doing it, and because Fayose was doing it. Anyone who understands the situation would know that Governor Fayemi would lose.
For three and half years, Governor Fayemi reduced our 16 local governments to a mere extension of the Governor’s Office. For three and half years, he appointed caretaker committees every six months. Not responsible to anybody but responsible directly to the governor. You were the governor in charge of the state. You had your commissioners, you preside over them, and you were the one presiding over the affairs of the local government because caretaker committee members report to you. And he ensured that in every local government, he chose the most unpopular people as caretaker committee chairmen. What do I mean? People who could look at everybody in the eye, who would not be responsible, who would not be answerable to the party leaders. All they would see was Governor Fayemi. So they became isolated from everybody.
Local government chairmen, the caretaker committee chairmen were coming to Ado-Ekiti every month to participate in Joint Allocation Committee (JAC) meetings to distribute federally collectible allocation every month, signing for money that did not go with them to their respective local governments. Financial autonomy was crippled totally. Other than money to pay salaries, nothing was going to the local governments. Three billion naira to the local governments every month, three billion to the state government, making six billion each month in 48 months. So, what are we talking about? It was really bad. But what was most tragic about it was that this was happening under Governor Fayemi, a PhD holder, civil society person, democracy campaigner. That was the saddest part of it. Any other person could have done it.
It happened before and he condemned it. He was the most unlikely person to do it. And he still wanted to reap from all of this by ending up as a hero, by being given a second term. He wanted the Nigerian people to believe he was the best governor Ekiti could produce. He was here, spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money in a state that is wallowing in poverty to celebrate a Governor of the Year award given by newspapers, which are not even on the newsstands. It was that bad.
How would you describe your role?
There is nothing personal about this whole issue. It’s Ekiti first. That is my slogan from Day One. I was not declared by INEC as the winner of that election. I don’t have tears in my eyes. But as far as I’m concerned, whatever I did in support of Governor Fayemi, there were no strings attached. I didn’t say oh, this is what I want from your administration. Not that I didn’t need anything, but he had so many people to take care of, and by God’s grace, I was in the cabinet of Lagos State. So, I wasn’t doing it because I wanted a job. But I was doing it for Ekiti. Whatever I did for Governor Fayemi, I did for Ekiti. I wanted the progress of the state. I knew it wouldn’t matter how much God had promoted me in Lagos or in the United States where I am licensed as attorney. What would be most important to me would be the extent to which I allowed God to use me for Ekiti, the extent to which I placed my experience, my exposure, whatever little resources I had, at the disposal of the less privileged people of Ekiti, to become a part of the collective leadership in the place, to be a strong addition to the team on ground. I didn’t think I knew better than anybody. I didn’t think I was the only one who could do it. But I thought I would be a strong addition. That’s what I tried to do. So whatever I did, it wasn’t so much of an issue between Governor Fayemi and I.
So, what I did for him was for Ekiti. If I have also taken a position that he did not deserve a second term, and I decided to also run against him, it’s also for Ekiti. If it wasn’t something personal when I was supposed to have been supporting him, it also was nothing personal when I opposed him. It’s in the overriding public interest. And for me, if there was any personal relationship, it would not have been a relationship where anyone of us would have the other run poison through his throat. No, because none of us is an idiot. So, close as we might ever have been, each of us is an independently minded person, with his own set of commitments, core values, ideals that he believes in. And for me, I’m being consistent. Nothing has changed about me. It’s nothing personal. Anyone who is familiar with me and my antecedents would know that I’m being consistent.
From early enough in life, I had developed a high sense of indignation to injustice. So, it’s not just the Labour Party governorship candidate. This is Opeyemi Bamidele, former Public Relations Officer, University of Ife Students’ Union; former President, University of Benin Students’ Union; former President, National Association of Nigeria Students, a human rights activist, a human rights attorney. So for me, this is just who I am. You do something in the overriding public interest, I celebrate you. You do things that I think would hurt the overriding public interest, I oppose you without minding whose ox is gored, without any fear or favour.
Is there any possibility of you returning to APC?
Well, on a personal note, there is no way I would not miss my friends in ACN, many of who are in APC today. Some have even gone to PDP, and some came with me to Labour Party. But, much as I would miss them, I’m also familiar with this political terrain, and there are lessons that will also help to shape my feelings. For instance, is it not amazing that the likes of General Mohammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Tom Ikimi, Ibrahim Tofa and Sani Yerima could be eating from the same plate today politically? I would not have imagined it some two years ago. I would have thought there was a clearly defined political and ideological line drawn. But it happened, and all of us can see it. Out of those who went to join APC, including the governors that went, there are more PDP than any other political party joining the ACN to form and sustain the APC today. So, I’ve also come to learn a lesson, that there is an extent to which I can be a puritan. There is an extent to which I can take a puritanical stand on these things. Perhaps it’s the level of growth of our democracy.
In the US, you are either a conservative or a liberal. But that’s a democracy that’s over 300 years old. The population there is over 300 million people, and I’d be careful how I compare, because, unfortunately, so many people tend to compare without understanding the context within which the two brands of democracy operate. Even when we say we’re modelling our own democracy after that of the US, the historical context is different. So, I never thought I could be a member of any other party other than the tendency where I belong. I was a member of the Social Democratic Party for the first time in my life. Then, I became a member of the Alliance for Democracy. I was national director of publicity of the party for three years. Then I became a member of Action Congress, and a member of Action Congress of Nigeria. But it got to a point in Ekiti when I felt, wait, the leadership of the party had become hijacked by political principalities and powers, and I didn’t see how I could carry on and pursue my own political career under that leadership. I didn’t see how I could ever realise my own dream, not just dream of holding a particular position, but the dream, like the dream of many Ekiti people, of having a new and united Ekiti being created. I didn’t see where I could realise that dream under the kind of leadership that we had, with Governor Fayemi in charge, and Otunba Niyi Adebayo and all of them.
Otunba Niyi Adebayo and I are from the same town, and Otunba Adebayo went to town and addressed a press conference. He was at the rally; he was at the stadium; he was all over the place, telling everybody how opposed he was, to my candidature, and how nobody in Iyin-Ekiti would support me because he didn’t believe in my candidacy. I’m happy that in the governorship election, it wasn’t just that I won all the wards in Iyin-Ekiti, I defeated Otunba Niyi Adebayo in his polling unit, in his ward, and in the town where the two of us were born. But that is the nature of leadership that we have in place there. So, for me, I think it’s just a question of, what are the permanent interests. No permanent friends, no permanent enemies. People have always said that around me, but for the first time in my life, I’m experiencing that. No permanent friends, no permanent enemies in politics, but permanent interests. And for me, the permanent interests are, have a better Ekiti in place, have a better Nigeria in place, let’s have peace and stability, let’s grow the economy of this state, let’s grow the economy of this nation, let’s keep Nigeria together as one. As long as those are the interests, I’m willing to pursue them on any political platform where God directs me to go. Because, I can’t see the clearly defined ideological differences in all of the political parties.
What would be your political future?
I’ve reached a level now in my political career where it can no longer be about me, Opeyemi Bamidele, because, even to come to Labour Party, I had to sit down with a lot of people. We had to discuss. We had to study parties’ manifestos; we had to consult with our own people here in Ekiti. We had to feel the pulse of the people, in addition to our own personal conviction. I also had to pray for God to direct me. So, I’m at a point where whatever I do now would be based on a preponderance of opinion of members of our political tendency, because I know I belong to a political tendency now in Ekiti, where we have become like birds of the same feather that would always flock together. But one thing that I know is that we’ll always be guided by overriding public interest. And going to APC is not within my contemplation. I’ve not given it a thought, and I don’t think the need has arisen for me now to be thinking of which other party to go. We just finished an election. It’s a time for me to even take a break, have some rest, encourage our supporters and stakeholders to also take a break and rest. The next administration is not going to assume office until October 16, 2014. So, we are not even in a place to begin to assess that administration. And Governor Fayemi is still in charge, and we’ll continue to wish him well as the governor of the state. Because, regardless of what anybody thinks about his style, he’s the governor, and we have to wish him well.
I have to also wish him well as an individual. So definitely, he’s still in charge. APC is still the ruling party in the state. And what I will still pray for is God’s will to be done. But definitely, going to APC at this point is not within my contemplation. I don’t have any reason to begin to think of changing my political party right now. And again, like I said, I believe it couldn’t have been otherwise. I warned the APC that they would lose Ekiti election because they paraded the wrong candidate, and it turned out like that.
Are you satisfied with the outcome of the election?
I’m indifferent that Governor Fayemi has lost out. I’m indifferent as far as my own personal survival in Ekiti is concerned, because my survival is not in his hands; it’s in God’s hands. And it wasn’t also a personal fight that I was engaged in with Governor Fayemi. It was about principles and commitments and ideological perspectives. I’m also convinced that, as much as possible, it wasn’t about me. I was only a rallying point for a popular struggle being waged by Ekiti people. And with respect to winning in my hometown, again I want to say that it’s a victory that I can only dedicate to God Almighty. Because only God could have made it happen. And in addition, I dedicate it to the people of Iyin-Ekiti, who saw the need to pass a vote of confidence in me. And it’s a lesson for everybody that, sometimes, hold on to your guts, and if you say you’re a politician, hold on to the people at the grassroots level. Because they’re the purest form of support that you can have, other than God. They’re not susceptible to all the manipulations and the economic temptations.
You have a political leader whose brother is a member of Fayemi’s cabinet as commissioner, whose son is a political appointee, with five other cousins in the administration. Tell me how he can take a decision at the end of the day that would oppose the second term of a governor who had done that for him. He has contracts in his hands, road contracts and all manners of contracts. But the people are there. And they would be fair, they get to see. When you’re not doing these things that you promised them you would do, they’re the ones to first know it. When you’re doing these things, they’re the ones that would first know. When I was going to the House, I told the people what I would do with my salary and what I would do in respect of constituency projects. And by the grace of God, they see them happening. I’m from Iyin-Ekiti. That primary school behind my house, you go there, you’ll see a brand new building, the only building with electricity – a block of classrooms there which we built as part of our constituency project. Go to Afao-Ekiti, there’s another one. Go to other parts of this town, you’ll see a public library that I brought in. I brought two primary health centres to this town. I brought four motorised boreholes to the four quarters in this town.
So, it’s not about what you say. It’s about what people know; it’s about what people see. And people in this town are saying, Otunba Adebayo was governor for four years; let him show them what he did as governor. They sent me to the House of Representatives to make laws. I’m doing my job as a lawmaker. But God is still using me to attract projects to this community. Our projects are littered all over the towns and villages of the two local governments that make up my federal constituency. We rounded off our governorship campaign on the last day with project commissioning: the comprehensive primary health centre at Ureje, in Ado-Ekiti, and the motorised borehole, amongst several other projects.
Could you tell us the relationship between you and Oba Onisan, Fayemi’s monarch?
Let me put it very mildly. Kabiyesi, Onisan of Isan is a royal father. And out of sheer respect for our traditional institution, I will save my personal comments concerning his attitude. Also, I would not like to comment on his attitude because I know that he’s a lawyer and a member of the Nigeria Bar Association, like me, who understood very clearly, the implication of what he did to me. It was a violation of my own right to freedom of movement for him to call me, as an Oba, to say, don’t come to Isan, as we were getting ready to leave for our campaign. Now, Isan-Ekiti is not up to one quarter of the size of Iyin-Ekiti, where I come from. The whole of Iyin-Ekiti stood by Governor Fayemi during the three and half years that he campaigned as a candidate. Iyin-Ekiti gave Fayemi five times more votes than Isan-Ekiti gave him. Isan-Ekiti that we’re talking about is one out of three towns that make up only one ward. Isan-Ekiti, Ilafon-Ekiti and Ilemeso-Ekiti all make up one ward.
So, if I was going to go to Isan, it was out of respect for the people, out of respect for the traditional institution, out of respect for the members of the Labour Party in Isan-Ekiti. We were to arrive in Isan-Ekiti by 11am, and as early as 9am, canopies were set, chairs were there, members of the Labour Party were already in their branded T-shirts with the Boys’ Brigade band, dancing. They had danced to the palace; they had danced to the market, doing the usual things to sensitise people that we were coming. Kabiyesi saw that, and gave me a call to say, you know, you’re coming to Isan? I said, yeah, Kabiyesi. We wrote to the palace. He said, yes, he got the letter. But he wanted to tell me that I should not come. I said, Kabiyesi, why would you do that? I called my own Kabiyesi, I called the commissioner of police, I called the director of SSS. All of them were surprised. The commissioner of police said, even him as the commissioner of police, cannot tell me not to go, because he knew the legal implications of that.
Now, Kabiyesi did that definitely in response to pressure from his own son, Governor Fayemi, who felt my going to Isan-Ekiti that day and being welcomed by the number of people they themselves had seen on the street of Isan dancing round and waiting for us, he felt if those many people would welcome me to Isan, that it would further expose the fact that he was politically weak at home. And what did we get? He put pressure on his king, and the man said, don’t come. But I still drove through Isan to Ilemeso. But nobody disturbed me. In any case, we had enough security. Even our members who were there dancing, we didn’t even stop to say hello to them. We could only send a message to them that their king said we should not come.
But Fayemi came here the following week to campaign. We didn’t stop him. Our own king received him, and I insisted the king was in order to have received him. Even when some of our youths felt they should give both of us another day, so that simultaneously, 10am, as I was heading to Isan, Fayemi would be coming here, he insisted on coming here. He said as the governor nobody could stop him. But he wasn’t coming as governor; he was coming as APC candidate. To show their protest, market women shut down the market, which was a bad omen for him. It was on a market day, and they shut down Iyin-Ekiti market. Some of the youths went to put a padlock on the gate of the palace, but his chief security officer broke the padlock and broke into the palace. A governor?
The same person who was here for three and half years as governorship candidate. Each time he came to town, those same youths carried him shoulder high round this town. So, for me, I just decided to let the matter go. But I think, to say the least, it was a setback for the image of His Royal Majesty, and hopefully, he wouldn’t do that again. And to what extent has that helped Governor Fayemi? Did they deliver that local government to him? Go and analyse the votes of that ward. He lost in Ilemeso, the next town. He lost in Ilafon, the next town. Analyse the votes of Isan, polling unit by polling unit, and compare how many polling units he won in the small town.
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I’ll work with Fayose -Opeyemi Bamidele |
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