- Aketi has no opposition – Olabimtan
By Banji Ayoola
The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon Agboola Ajayi, is set to dump the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, any moment from now, and return to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, his original base, to contest the forthcoming governorship election against his boss or whoever wins the party’s primary. This is authoritative.
It was gathered that he would contest the coming PDP primary to fly the party’s flag in the October 10 governorship election.
A source close to Agboola told The Radiance that the Deputy Governor is going to contest and that his chances are very bright because he is coming into the umbrella of PDP, his former party where he still remains popular, while other aspirants would support him. Besides he is said to have grassroots support statewide.
It was also learnt that many APC and PDP stalwarts in Ondo North, Ondo Central and Ondo South senatorial districts are behind Ajayi, while the Agagu political structure including most of those who served in the Agagu administration are also supporting him.
Other forces in his favour, as reeled out by the source are that: Ajayi grew through the ranks; he was an elected supervisory councilor; a caretaker chairman and substantive chairman of Ese Odo Local Government; member House of Representatives. He was the secretary of SDP in Ese Odo in the 1990s and he is now the Deputy Governor. Besides, he is a grassroots politician. He was groomed by Dr Agagu who is well loved in the state, especially in the South from where he also comes.
The source added: “The performance of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu in the South would give Agboola an edge. For instance, in Ilaje, he has not done anything there. In Okitipupa, Oke Igbo, Ile Oluji, he has done nothing. There has been blackout in the South for the past ten years. The government of Akeredolu has been reduced to that of the father, wife, children and in-laws. All these things would work against Akeredolu and favour Agboola.”
Also, another prominent APC chieftain in the state weighed Akeredolu’s chances in the yet to be scheduled APC primary and even in the general election if he eventually wins his party’s ticket at the primary.
The source told The Radiance that Akeredolu’s chances in the APC primary are bright and slim depending on the management, saying that if the party adopts the direct primary mode, it would be obvious that the national body of the party does not want him; but if it decides on the indirect mode, it is neutral.
He said they learnt that the national body of the party is deceiving the governor, and that is why the party has not announced the date of the primary election as expected. This suspicion is strengthened by the fact that APC national body has all along been lumping together its arrangements for the coming governorship elections in both Edo and Ondo states due to the closeness of the dates as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. But the party has been silent when it comes to the mode of primary to be adopted in Ondo state, showing that “something is fishy”, according to the source.
Also, one of Akeredolu’s allies in government, Bunmi Amosun, who had followed Akeredolu to Abuja to lobby the national body of the party is said to have lamented when he returned from Abuja. As it is, Akeredolu does not have control of all the party members in Ondo State. This is according to the source, who said that party members generally are lamenting that their own governor does not patronise them.
The source said that majority of the members are against the governor because of his style of governance which allegedly marginalises party members from Ondo state and favoured his friends from outside the state.
On the basis of his performance especially attitude to party members, the governor would lose any direct primary election, according to the source. And that is why he is expecting an indirect primary because he has control over most of the appointees from the 203 wards to the 18 local governments and state levels whom he appointed, and are easy to control, House of Assembly members, and former governors who constitute over 70 percent of those who would vote at a direct primary.
However, according to the source, his chances are slim in a direct primary. If the party chooses to conduct an indirect primary, the governor’s chances are bright to win; but he would have problem at the general election because all aggrieved aspirants would gang up against him. This may lead to an implosion in the party, the source said.
It was also learnt that there would be no problem if the governor had the political sagacity to bring all who contest against him together. However, the source said that the governor’s perceived arrogance would block him from reaching out to reconcile with those who contested against him within the party. Thus, to bring all the party’s former aspirants together would be a problem, unless, according to the source, APC national leader, Senator BolaTinubu who may not want to lose Ondo State in his presidential ambition, comes in.
But the source maintained categorically that without the support of other aspirants, there is no way the APC can win the coming general election in Ondo state, and whoever wins the party’s ticket at the primary must get their support to avoid an implosion against him.
It was learnt that if he can bring all aspirants together, his chances are bright “because PDP has no wherewithal or resources to support a candidate unless moneybags like Agboola Ajayi come in to mobilise resources against Aketi. They can buy into his candidacy as a sitting Deputy Governor to approach others outside the state.”
In the words of the source: “If Agboola Ajayi joins PDP and is given the PDP ticket, he would be a strong candidate to confront APC. He would pull the majority of APC members into PDP, including a lot of followers that believe in him. Most members of the Aketi camp are PDP members. This would decimate APC. Agboola Ajayi would be able to take them to PDP, and he would use his resources as a former PDP stalwart in the state to build a formidable team to face Aketi in the general election. If the core of Aketi team who are former PDP members do not go, their followers, so called, would go. PDP is still strong.
Again, the general mood is that majority of APC members are strongly against Akeredolu’s emergence as candidate of the party because he does not patronise them. They believe that they are in opposition, that they were better off when they were in opposition.
Now that we are in government, it is the leader in government who is supposed to patronise members in terms of appointments and contracts. But behold, this Aketi government is very stingy when it comes to appointment of APC members into his government. And he never believes that politicians should be considered for contracts awards. He believes that they are not competent. He would rather give contracts to his friends in Lagos and Ibadan. That is why all the major contracts in Ondo state are being executed by people from Lagos and Ibadan.
So, there is capital flight. That is what is affecting the economy of the state. Local contractors are not considered in the award of contracts by the government. Akeredolu has awarded billions of contracts since his inception that do not reflect on the economy of the state.
Even people in government are lamenting. That is the more reason they cannot help members. They even complain in silence more than those who don’t even have appointments. A lot of them are in government as if they are not. They are just in office but they are not in charge. The governor dictates the contracts awarded from every ministry, department or agency.
His family members are the core contractors. His first daughter is the contractor supplying diesel for street lights powering in Ondo state and she is the major supplier of Ondo State Electricity Board which supplies Government House and offices with diesel. Jide Akeredolu, the last born but second son is the financial consultant in charge of tax and revenue generation.
Akeredolu’s in-law who is married to his second daughter is the major contractor in Ondo state. He is fully in charge of all renovations of Government House, buildings, Governor’s Office, all the lifts and other major contracts; while all the pet projects of the wife, Betty, like FOWOSO, BRECAN, BEMORE and others are being heavily bankrolled by government through various departments like OSOPADEC and all the 18 local government resources.
That is why most party members believe that it is the government of Akeredolu by Akeredolu’s family and for the entire Akeredolu’s clan only. That is the belief of most APC members in the state. The little local contractors considered are from the Igbo extraction. Even, appointments are given to the Igbos. Recently, he appointed 26 year old Miss Ngozi Ugochi as Special Assistant on Gender, Research and Documentation. The lady, who just completed her mandatory one year NYSC, got the appointment due to her closeness to Betty who is also from Imo state. Speaking on the appointment, a resident of the state, Wole Babalola described the appointment as a deliberate slap on the faces of APC members, for their unquantifiable role towards ensuring that Aketi was elected as governor. Ngozi is a make-up artist to Betty. That is why she got the appointment.”
However, the Chairman of Akeredolu Campaign Organisation, a former Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Victor Olabimtan, dismissed the allegations against Akeredolu as tissues of lies.
He told The Radiance that it is only people with dirty minds who peddle such lies against other human beings for whatever reasons.
In his words: “For me, there is nothing that people would not say when you are there. They said more against Dr Agagu when he was there. They even said that Agagu had a refinery in South Africa, that he built a skyscraper in Lagos. And by the time he left the place, there was no refinery in South Africa and there was no skyscraper in Lagos.
Dr Olusegun Mimiko who even just left, they said he had a big hospital in Dubai, that he had a school in Dubai. There is nothing they didn’t say. Mimiko has left now. It has been discovered that he has nothing in Dubai.
You see, people would insinuate. People are bound to insinuate because some minds are dirty. And those dirty minds would be doing dirty works. Those are the people doing dirty works. There is no problem about that. Akeredolu is not bothered about that. He is focused, he is going ahead. His belief is that he must leave Ondo state better than he met it.”
Following is the full text of the interview that The Radiance had with Olabimtan:
“Dr Olusegun Agagu believably performed creditably as the governor of Ondo state and you were a confidant of his then. Now, you are leading his structure including Mr. Femi Agagu, Princess Oladunni Odu and others in the Akeredolu structure. What gave you the confidence then to support Akeredolu?”
Thank you very much. Unarguably, Dr Olusegun Kokumo Agagu was a man of vision, a man who had a mission and that is to see that Ondo state developed. I am happy to have been one of his disciples. We worked assiduously at least to leave Ondo state better than we met it. When this dispensation started, we discovered in Aketi the qualities that we found in Agagu, and we felt we should follow him. That is why majority of us who were the followers and disciples of Dr Agagu including Femi Agagu, Princess Oladunni Odu and all of us are now in the same boat with Aketi because Aketi too has a vision and mission that Ondo state must be developed. And whoever wants this state to develop is my person, and I am ready any time, any day to collaborate with such a person so that we see that we can move Ondo state forward.
What are Governor Akeredolu’s chances in the coming APC primary?
His chances are very bright. I cannot see anybody contesting against him. He is going to win. He has done well, he has performed creditably well, he is an amiable person, he is a politician with distinction. He doesn’t hold grudge against anybody. He doesn’t believe in sentiments. He is very factual and very straight forward. Therefore, with all these credentials and the giant strides that he has taken in Ondo state, I think the primary is a foregone conclusion. He would win the primary and go on to win the general election come October 10, 2020.
Even with the opposition of the Ali Olanusi group and others?
There is no opposition. Those ones are fries. There is nothing to write home about that. There is no opposition as far as Ondo APC is concerned. He is there.
If Governor Akeredolu is reelected as governor of Ondo state, what is in it for the people of Ondo state?
Oh! I think the people of Ondo state are in for good times, very good times. If in the first term he has done what he has done, then imagine what he would do in the second term. I think in the second term, definitely Port Ondo would come to life. And once Port Ondo comes to life, we are home and dry in Ondo state. We would no longer go cap in hand to Abuja asking for money because there would be enough here. That is the purpose. You know, Dr Agagu started it. He wanted to do it because he knew what it would bring. Other people came in and they didn’t do anything for eight years. This man is there now and he is just working hard to make sure that we have Port Ondo.
That is our port of destination. That is where we are going; and he would take us there. And once we are there, we would be economically solvent and buoyant in Ondo state. Once that is done, whether allocation comes or it does not come, there would be prosperity. With Port Ondo, a lot of people would be employed; most of our youths who are roaming about would be employed. There would be inflow of wealth, wealth creation. A lot of wealth would come through it because a lot of people would be working there. I think if we get that, there is nothing more we want. That would be a dream comes true.
How do you react to the criticisms against Governor Akeredolu that he is not attending to the welfare of party members; that he is restricting governance into his family; he is bringing his children into government; he is not doing this, he is not doing that?
For me, there is nothing that people would not say when you are there. They said more against Dr Agagu when he was there. They even said that Agagu had a refinery in South Africa, that he built a skyscraper in Lagos. And by the time he left the place, there was no refinery in South Africa and there was no skyscraper in Lagos.
Dr Olusegun Mimiko that even just left, they said he had a big hospital in Dubai, that he had a school in Dubai. There is nothing they didn’t say. Mimiko has left now. It has been discovered that he has nothing in Dubai. You see, people would insinuate. People are bound to insinuate because some minds are dirty. And those dirty minds would be doing dirty works. Those are the people doing dirty works. There is no problem about that. Akeredolu is not bothered about that. He is focused. he is going ahead. His belief is that he must leave Ondo state better than he met it.
Do you have any further comments?
I am okay. Thank you.”
