In an interview KAMARUDEEN OGUNDELE, the
Ekiti State Governor voiced his opinions on
Certain issues.
You made some predictions about Nigeria.
Have they come to pass?
The predictions were published in December
last year. After the publication, so many
people attacked me and said I predicted
doom for Nigeria. But today, I won’t say
I’m happy. Ninety per cent of the
predictions I made have come to pass not
because I wished so. I have always said
I’m ‘Peter, the Rock.’ When you look at my
life, I have overcome a lot of challenges.
This is divine grace. I am an anointed man
of God. So going by the predictions, they
were out of God’s inspiration and they have
all come to pass by 90 per cent. The only
prediction that did not come to pass is the
Kogi governorship poll and God knows best.
I want to say it expressly that I predicted
that an attempt to take the South-South
states of Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and
others by force would lead to
unprecedented deaths and it happened like
that. In Bayelsa so many people died.
Today, a lot of issues are coming up in
Rivers because of the election. I remember I
said Senate President Bukola Saraki would
face fresh trials and I went to him to tell
him. He had not been charged to court at
that time. Today, he is facing trials;
recently they (Federal Government)
withdrew a case against him. I tell you the
case is not over. I predicted that oil price
will go below $30; it happened like that. At
that time the price of oil was around $50,
but it went below $30. I predicted the free
fall of the naira; people castigated me. It is
about N500 to $1 now. I predicted that
Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa would
win the supplementary election and he
won. I also predicted that Taraba governor
would win his election and he won. We
were together in Jerusalem when I told him
that the court would give him victory. I
can’t remember other ones for now. I want
to assure you that in December we will tell
God to guide us to tell Nigerians about
what is happening.
You have always tagged President
Muhammadu Buhari as a sectional leader.
Why?
Let me put it this way: I have said so many
things in the past and I have no apology
(to make). There are two things in life that
a man could worry about. A man could be
worried about death; a man could be
worried about incarceration and
harassment; but, I’m not afraid of any (of
those). I have gone through many (of those
things) in my life except death. Everything I
have said, people can attest to it that the
President has proved to be for northerners
rather than for Nigeria. His body language,
activities, appointments are all in favour of
the North and not Nigeria. The president is
interested in a certain group of people.
Unfortunately, they are majorly from the
North. My position is that as the president,
the whole country is his constituency and
not a section, and he must not be sectional
in his decision. He has acted more like a
sectional leader.
Without justice there won’t be peace. We
don’t have peace now because there is no
justice. It is obvious that Yorubas played a
major role in the ascension of the president.
He became the president because of the
commitment of many Yoruba leaders, not
necessarily in the Peoples Democratic
Party. You are first a Yoruba man before
you can join any political party. The
president enjoyed total support; financially
and morally to be where he is today. There
was a lot of undercurrent, we have the
intelligence. But it is undeniable that the
likes of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and a
host of others played a role in his
emergence – even in the (presidential)
primary that produced the president. We
leave everything in the hands of God: the
fate of those people. We will keep our
fingers crossed as events unfold. But
remember I said it is only prayers that can
save those people from the government of
President Buhari and the signals are
becoming clear. For me, Yorubas are
currently short-changed.
Could this be the reason you recently
canvassed for regional integration among
Yoruba states?
Regional integration can only work if we
remember our brothers.We are first Yoruba
before we are Nigerian. Our leaders must
come together. You know my position on
Asiwaju (Tinubu) and I’m not in the All
Progressives Congress and will never be.
When we were campaigning for the election
of former Governor Kayode Fayemi, Asiwaju
invited me to join the party and I said no.
Regional integration is wonderful and
desirable because in our unity lies our
strength. But when it is politicised, it will
take us nowhere. We should come together
irrespective of political affiliations.
Americans will always say, ‘God bless
America’ even when they lose an election.
This is the attitude we must inculcate. The
leaders must rally round to strengthen ties.
We are contributing so much to the values
of Nigeria than for our leaders to be
rubbished cheaply by people who got
greedy because of the opportunity given to
them. We can’t begin to celebrate because
of political gains. These same leaders
brought them from obscurity. It will not be
in our interest to watch these ingrates
because of our political differences.
How could some of them have got to
positions of relevance if not for God? And
the same leaders, they are conspiring with
his (Tinubu) enemies to rubbish him. The
people that betrayed Pa (Obafemi) Awolowo
died mysteriously. The greatest thing a
man can offer his leader is loyalty except if
the leader is wicked. Most of the people
Asiwaju Tinubu and I brought up betrayed
us. They are only bringing curses upon their
lives. If you wine and dine with enemies of
people that brought you up, you are a
betrayer. I support regional integration
based on issues not politics; based on
truth, not politics; and based on
development, not politics. For me, anything
that can promote this region and enhance
the life of the common man, that is what I
will support.
What is your relationship with Osun State
Governor, Rauf Aregbesola
Governor (Rauf) Aregbesola and I are close.
We have been close since the days of
former Governor Fayemi’s election. That is
the truth. He knows the role I played during
Fayemi’s election and he acknowledges it.
Let me give you a typical example. When I
became the governor, the house I built
(women centre); I built it in the name of the
late Deputy Governor Adunni Olayinka who
served under Fayemi. No APC governor in
this state can do that to me. They cannot
do it. My wife is building blocks of
classrooms in Erelu Angela Adebayo
children’s home. If it were another
governor’s wife, she would go and set up
her own. But that is not her (my wife’s)
style. My wife said if our mission is the
development of the state, we don’t need to
let our ego and interest supersede the
interest of Ekiti. She is going to promote
that centre named after the wife of the first
civilian governor, who is (now) an APC
leader. It doesn’t matter. What I’m saying
is that we must look beyond politics.
What do you think of some ex-APC
governors’ loyalty to President Buhari
against Tinubu?
I don’t want to take issues anyhow with
anybody. There is a Yoruba proverb that
says, ‘It is the calabash that will show you
where to tie the rope on its body.’ A Judas
is a Judas. If a family is peaceful, it is
because the bastard in that house has not
grown to the age of maturity. The day he
attains maturity he will brew troubles in the
family and eventually scatter it. I don’t
want to start mentioning names or
attacking individuals. But, it must be noted
that conscience is an open wound, only
truth can heal it. If there is anybody that
Asiwaju has brought up and made and they
want to turn around and pull him down,
they too will pay dearly for it. They know
themselves. Judas knew himself. This is
not the beginning; they have been doing it
before now. The thing is just coming into
the open. A betrayer will always be a
betrayer. I’m not an APC man and I’m not
holding brief for Asiwaju Tinubu. But, I
believe in the Yoruba nation and I believe in
our leaders. As much as I believe in
Asiwaju, I believe in our PDP leaders too.
Don’t forget, evven in the North there are
leaders that when they were being
maltreated I condemned it. I don’t hide
because the truth is what I stand to
represent. And anything that will take away
the honour and dignity of our leader like
Asiwaju Tinubu, we will rise up against it
and expose those behind it. It is common in
Yoruba land for people who are supposed
to watch your back to collude with external
aggressors and destroy their leaders to take
such (leadership) position. It will never
work.
You spoke glowingly of Tinubu. What
informed your decision to defend him in
spite of your political differences
Like I said, for every nation and region,
there are leaders. Even, if I don’t like
Asiwaju, he has attained an enviable height
in his political endeavours. He has done so
well economically. He has led his people to
wherever they are today. I can’t stand here
and be denying the obvious. But if by
tomorrow we have political issues, I will still
say my own. I will tell him the truth; that is
politics. But when we get back home, he is
a leader. Chief Bode George is a leader. A
number of them are leaders of the South.
We can’t say because they are in other
political parties they should be rubbished
and we will be clapping. No, I can’t clap. It
is true I’m not a member of the APC and I
will never be. The fact remains that honour
should be given to whom honour is due.
There is nobody – mother, brother and
sister – that will wish, with the efforts
Asiwaju has put into Nigeria and his party,
that he should be disgraced. It will be
unfortunate for the Yoruba nation if they
short-change Asiwaju in APC. When they
bring anything to the South-West, they
won’t give me. They won’t give PDP but
they will give a Yoruba man. And one of the
leading lights that can bring such
opportunity is Asiwaju Tinubu. When PDP
was appointing ministers, they came from
the party and not from APC. But should we
say we should cut them down? No. When a
man is in a position of authority in the
North everybody says, ‘Ranka dede.’ But
here we begin to pull him down. That is not
good. A lot of people can misunderstand
this and say Fayose is going to APC. They
are daydreamers. APC is not doing well
now. It is only a mad man that will say he
is going to APC. It is only a mad man that
will say he is going into a house that is
collapsing every day. It is a matter of time;
if PDP lost power after 16 years, APC will
lose it in four years. There is no way they
can cross that line. There is an implosion in
that party. The only thing holding them
together is government and power.
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