Why are you coming out again, almost after having been out of office for four years?
I am going for the governorship election again. I am coming out because a lot of things have been left undone and people are clamouring for my return. Generally speaking, our people in the state are impressed with my first-time outing as the governor of the state. With all the sense of modesty and humility, the achievements of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration in the state under my leadership between 2007 and 2011 are yet unrivalled and these, among many other factors, are responsible for the calls from several quarters across the state that I should return to office. So, my declaration is in response to the wishes and yearnings of my people, who have been denied good and purposeful governance in the last four years or thereabout.
With recent developments in the political circle, both within and outside the state, what do you think are your chances?
My chances! I think you should know that I am known already. I don’t need to introduce myself to anybody again. My people know the stuff I am made of and they also know what I can do. My past performance as their governor will speak for me and that is why I want to come out again; to finish what I started from 2007 to 2011. Go out there and feel the pulse of our people; what you will see is hopelessness and despondency. The people have lost confidence in the current leadership in the state. I seek to return to my former office to restore the hope and confidence of our people in the political leadership.
The fear among some people is that your coming out again may be out of personal vendetta; that some people might have had offended you when you were leaving office in 2011.
I am sorry; I am a very good Christian. I have left everything behind me and I want to state it categorically that nobody has offended me. If anybody has offended me at all, it may be in the course of doing my job and even at that, such an offence, if there is any, may not have been committed intentionally. I have forgiven everybody and whosoever thinks he or she has offended me. In the same vein, I am also asking for forgiveness from anybody that I must have had offended, after all, I am a human being. But, I don’t think anybody has offended me. What have I got to do with seeking a second term of office out of vendetta?
One noticeable thing about you in the last three and half years is that you have not been too critical of the present administration in the state. Could your silence on some issues in the state be attributed to the fact that you want to contest again?
That is not really the case. You see, when somebody is on that seat, any small thing may serve as a distraction to that fellow. In that wise, any criticism coming from me may be a distraction. I choose to remain silent on most things because I want him to give his best to the state. That is why I decided not to criticise him but left him to do his job, because I want our people to compare our administrations. I don’t need to keep him on an edge as I want him to do his job, so that he can serve our people very well but. As you can see, the reverse has been the case since 2011.
Less than four years ago, your wife, Chief (Mrs) Kemi Alao-Akala, said you were going on leave and that you would be back in the saddle in 2015.
It was not only my wife that made that statement. When I was leaving the Government House on May 28, 2011, I remember I also said that I was stepping aside. This is because I am very aware of what was on ground then and I am aware that it takes somebody who is really strong to tackle the problems of Oyo State.
But, you were there for four years. Why didn’t you tackle the problems then?
I have done that; I have put some things right. But unfortunately after I left, the present people in the saddle have refused to sustain what I put on ground as they have deviated from the foundation I laid. They started to embark upon their own programmes as a way of saying, ‘oh, Alao-Akala started this, I will not do or complete it; let me do my own’. In the process, everything went back to the old order.
But, some people are saying you started playing up the ethnic card, with your endorsement from Ogbomoso for the governorship race.
No. That was not what we were saying about Ogbomoso. We are saying in Ogbomoso that I am the only candidate coming from Ogbomoso; I didn’t say I am the only candidate for the state. We were talking of our area; what we said that time, the way we used to do in Ogbomoso, is that we give our votes in bulk to whoever we want to vote for. That was what exactly what we were saying; we were not speaking on behalf of the entire state but our area.
Can you say that again, now that Senator Ademola Adeseun, who is from the Ogbomoso axis, is also coming out to contest governorship ticket on the same political platform as yours?
That was the arrangement before he came out. And now that he is coming out, we will revisit whatever we might have done or what we want to do. It is either of two things, though; may be his coming out will raise the bar or that he abides with what we have done before he came on board. The fact is that we did that before he joined the train. Remember, Senator Adeseun just came back into the PDP in the state on my wife’s birthday, and that was July 7, 2014, a date which I can never forget.
There is also the issue of age, that people like you should give room for younger elements to take over the affairs of the state.
Let me tell you one thing, there is a Yoruba adage that says, ‘Atari Ajanaku kii se eru omode,’ which literally means that one should use iron to sharpen iron. The issues at stake in the state are beyond a newcomer; it has to do with experience. Oyo is an old state; don’t forget that it is the mother of all of them in the South-West and as such, it needs somebody who is mature. But then, I am not saying the young ones cannot do it. They can do it but there are some things that are beyond their comprehension. So, they just have to leave it for the old ones to handle. But in any case, some people like me are trying to groom some young elements to take over in the way we want them to take over. So, we will soon leave the stage for them, in any case
But, many are saying the problems of the state, nay the country, were created by the old generation, which is not ready to leave the stage for the young elements to make the necessary change.
They need to learn very well before they take over. If not, they will just mismanage the issue of governance. But in any case, I don’t think any old man has caused any problem in this state or in the country and who says I am an old man? After all, I am just 64 years old. I don’t think I am old. So, they need to learn from us because there are a lot of things for them to learn from us. Yes, we will leave the stage for them but they have to be properly groomed and that is what we are doing.
In recent elections in the South-West, PDP won in Ekit but lost in Osun. What is your view on the mixed fortunes of the party and do you think it can still gain dominance in the zone from 2015?
The people are tired of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-West. They are propagandists; they are ruling the various states on the pages of the newspaper and through billboards. People are tired of them; you know you can only tell lies for a while, but the truth will catch up because the general saying is that truth is constant. The people are now wiser than what it used to be before and I know that our people, having seen the clear difference, will vote for PDP. Again, APC is just a limited liability company owned by some few gladiators and you know their operators. But PDP is owned by Nigeria and Nigerians; it is the only national party that we have in this country today
-Nigeria Tribune
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