- ‘Why I am supporting my Deputy, Fatai Adams to succeed me‘
The outgoing Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State, Engineer Clement Faboyede said: “We are winning the October 10 governorship election in Ondo because there is no rancour in the PDP. Those APC stooges, those insatiable politicians that want to cause rancour in the party we will not allow them.” In this interview, he also explains why he is supporting his deputy, Fatai Adams, to take over from him, among other interesting issues. Read on.
Why are you not interested in second term in office?
I am not interested in running for another term because I have to step aside. I learnt that the Ondo Central Senatorial District, which I am from has held the chairmanship position for 13 years. It is only reasonable for me to quit the stage and let a other senatorial district have a taste.
I discovered that we have a coincident of having a congress the same year we are having the governorship election. I must step aside to provide factual leadership for the congresses to scale through. The congress is the foundation for the primary for the governorship.
If we have crisis at the congress level, the primary will not be seen to be credible. If I step aside and provide factual leadership and make sure that everything scales through and there is less crisis, whatever the delegates do at the primary will be credible.
Since we don’t have crisis at the congresses that will produce delegates for the governorship primary, we are not likely to have crisis. I have been proven right.
As I am not contesting, I insisted on unity list. I asked the leaders of the ward, leaders of the local governments to go back and produce a unity list that will be rancour-free. In the local government congresses, we had 100 percent.
I told the truth to the elders and I put my feet on the ground. In the ward congresses we have 95 percent success. When the appeal committee came from Abuja, they have less work to do.
If I were to be contesting, I couldn’t have achieved that. At the state level, out of 39 positions, only nine are being contested; the rest is unity list. My stepping aside has been vindicated.
Your critics said the PDP in Ondo cannot win any election…
You said critics. They will always say something, but they are criticising blindly. They are criticising unjustly. They just want to say something. They are wrong. Under our leadership, this is the only state in the whole of South West that the zonal chairman will have no cause to come and settle quarrel.
The man was almost sleeping in Lagos to settle quarrel. Ogun is parallel congress. Ekiti is having problems. But, in Ondo, it is peace. Is that a weak administration? They may say we are weak because we are not cursing the Governor.
They may say we are weak because we are not tackling Akeredolu. We don’t believe in that tactics. We do constructive criticism. We have told the Governor severally that he is not performing. That has manifested in the Presidential and National Assembly elections in this state.
You are all witnesses. In this state where we have a sitting Governor, the PDP got two senators out of three. We got 35,550 votes ahead of Buhari in the presidential elections. That was first in the South West. Out of nine House of Representatives seats, PDP has three.
APC has Four which was contested at the tribunal. Is that a weak PDP? Detractors are like that but God has been with us. We are winning the October 10 governorship election in Ondo because there is no rancour in the PDP. Those APC stooges, those insatiable politicians that want to cause rancour in the party we will not allow them.
I have an aura of positivity, I have an aura of progressivism. I was a Commissioner for six years in Ondo State. They know my track record and the energy God has bestowed on me. PDP is number one in Ondo State. We will prove that on October 10 and by the grace of God PDP government will be sworn in by October 12.
Is it true you want to put your stooges in position?
I am not projecting anybody. I have a right to support any body. I am leaving this seat and I have right to support who succeeds me. I do it in a civilised way. I am not doing it in a do or die affair. I announced that I am stepping aside.
The State Executive Committee met and they zoned the chairmanship position to the North and my deputy hails from that senatorial district. He said he wants to contest. Dennis said he wants to contest. I have a right of choice and my right of choice is Adams Fatai.
I believe that with him, it is like continuity of the process. There are some positions that are not being contested. Apart from being a complete gentlemen, he is a man of administration. I met him in PDP as a deputy chairman and he became my deputy. He has a lot of experience.
The man is endowed. He has not given me trouble. What I don’t understand, he will explain to me. He keeps records of everything. When this secretariat was abandoned after we left power, he was the only person coming here and attending to party members and staffers.
He was in the House of Assembly, even before I was made a commissioner. He was Chairman, House Committee on Works. How can he be my stooge? When you have mechanical efficiency that is very high, people tends to talk rubbish of you to demean you because of envy.
He is not my stooge? He is a disciplined man. He is serious with his work. I see in him an embodiment of administration. He has been deputy chairman of the PDP in Ondo State for the past eight years. He has been here all through the crisis.
He will be able to synergise the party secretariat. If we bring a professor to this seat, we will fumble in the election. Politics is about knowing who is who at the appropriate time. It is about fixing the right people at the right time and right character for right obligation.
We have elections and he is the man that understand the terrain and he will not give any body problem. I will campaign for him and I have no regret about that.
The Nation
