In this interview with Bankole Taiwo, the Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Dr Sunday Solarin speaks on readiness of the opposition party to give Nigerians a new lease of life when it gets to power in 2023 among other topical issues.
What is the situation of things as far as PDP and 2023 governorship race is concerned in Ogun State?
The overt ambition of the ruling party is to run the governorship race like they did in 2019 without a serious contender. Quite honestly, APC had on two occasions benefitted from the internal wrangling of the PDP which dated back to say 2010. They had thought that it is a crisis that will last forever, but God has been helping us with the efforts of our indefatigable governorship candidate, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu who had been doing so much in the last eight years to get the party united. Though the APC never wanted this to happen, they have laid a lot of landmines and judicial ambush but we have crossed all of those obstacles. As we speak, we don’t have any of such encumbrances anymore. Winning 2023 governorship race is not going to be much of a difficulty because we have fielded one of our best in person of Hon. Ladipupo Adebutu whose love for the people of the state is second to none. And for the recent çourt judgement, what happened was that the party had its primary obeying all the extant laws. It is the responsibility of the national body of the party to set out guidelines and conduct its primary having informed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). We followed all the due process. Unfortunately, one of the aspirants, Otunba Jimi Lawal said the list of delegates used for the governorship primary was not genuine, even though this list was brought by those sent from the national office to conduct the primary. This is a very strange development, the next thing is for the party to be served court papers that it used fake delegates list to conduct the governorship primary. To cut the long story short which is anyway in the public domain already, the Appeal Court had thrown out the case and also ordered that Hon. Ladipupo Adebutu should be returned as the PDP governorship candidate for Ogun State. Though, he might still be contemplating challenging this victory at the Supreme Court, but the position of the law won’t still change. It is the party that has the right to produce delegates list and not one of the aspirants in an election. So as we speak, there’s no more any legal encumbrance, the people out there seeking for a better alternative are eagerly waiting for us and we are set too to go to them and seek for their support and votes.
What gives you that assurance that people are eagerly waiting for you?
We live here in Ogun State, we are not aliens here. Our candidate has the longest history of living here for over three decades, even in history, nobody that has ever governed the state lived here for such a long time before becoming the governor. Hon Adebutu has been living at Iperu since 1991. He is very well acquainted with every nook and cranny of our dear state. I don’t know of any local government he has not visited for at least three times. Even without being the governor, he had donated nothing less than five transformers to each of the 20 local government areas in the state. I am not also aware of any institution in the state that his father, Sir Chief Kessington Adebutu has not supported with tangible projects. As an African, we can always draw strength from the heritage of our parents, the heritage of selflessness and passion for humanity, like we do say, like father, like son… Hon. Adebutu is also not strange to people of faith be it the Christians and the Muslims. He has always identified with them and supporting them when necessary… I can go on and on, with the feedback we are getting across the 20 local government areas, people are eagerly waiting for Hon. Adebutu to govern this state.
What is your comment on the APC government so far in the state?
There was a time PDP governed this state from 2003 to 2011, people flourished and prospered, the economy was good, people were profitably engaged, people want this to be re-invented and it’s only PDP that can do it… APC hasn’t been close to that, particularly this Dapo Abiodun’s administration, people have not seen it as a veritable alternative. It is an administration that has done little or nothing to address the people’s yearnings. There is total disconnection with the people. The people of Ogun State want someone who knows where the shoe pinches and the very best is Hon Adebutu, he is prepared to take up the job and do it so well to the admiration of all. The investment of the Adebutus in Ogun State is unparalleled. The family is the single largest employer of labour in the state. You can imagine the number of people that have been taken off the street, those that this wonderful family are putting smiles on their faces. When one of this family is now allowed to lead, the difference will be very clear, because serving the people is already in their blood. As we speak, the workers in the state are groaning over backlog of leave bonuses of almost eight years, billions of unremitted cooperative deductions, gratuities, contributory pension scheme that have even been killed. In the next couple of years, people will retire and have nothing to fall back on, we surely need another direction from here.
What are those things Hon Adebutu will do differently?
One of those pivotal things Hon Adebutu will do is to first of all return the local government to the people, there will be full autonomy for the local government administration. He was once a Commissioner 1 in the Local Government Service Commission, so he knows the importance of grassroot development. He was also Chairman of Rural Development Committee when he was at the National Assembly, so he understands the plight of the rural dwellers. This is one thing that has been denied the state since APC government took over almost 12 years ago. The last time we had semblance of this was during PDP regime.
There will also be focus on the neglected border communities like Ogijo, Magboro, Arepo, Ibafo among others, the people living in places like those suffer a lot due to bad roads and all of that. The residents of these areas should just be patient with us, help is coming very soon. Another thing Hon. Adebutu will do differently is massive investment in Agriculture, this is his forte already. Without sounding immodest, I can say Hon. Adebutu has the largest herds of cattle of over 3,000 in the Southwest and perhaps in Nigeria too, he has over 30,000 pigs. He has demonstrated capacity for livestock and there are a lot of young men following him who have been empowered in so many areas of agriculture, and they are doing well today. So also the incoming governor has blueprint on so many areas like on energy to take care of our industrial cluster, Private Public Partnership, infrastructural development, qualitative education, qualitative and accessible health care and many more. I tell you people will see serious and purposeful governance when PDP returns to power.
So, the argument that Hon. Adebutu does not have the capacity to govern the state is baseless?
Absolutely reckless statement and it is funny to hear people say that because, this is a man who owns one of the biggest farms in Nigeria, an entrepreneur of no mean repute, a graduate of Analytical Chemistry and someone who has toured the 20 local government areas for like three times, someone who has been involved in governance for over a decade, someone who has donated at least five transformers to each of the 20 local governments, someone who has continued to affect people’s lives positively without expecting anything in return… I can go on and on… it’s all cheap talk and outright blackmail. If someone like Hon. Adebutu does not have the prerequisite to govern the state, I just wonder who else is capable. I don’t know of anyone that has governed this state that can beat the credentials of Hon. Adebutu. He is more than capable to offer refreshing leadership for the people of the state.
Why should we vote for Atiku in 2023?
The North Eastern part of the country and the South Eastern part of the country are two regions that have never tasted presidency in the country. The South Western had been there, our father, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was there as both military and democratically elected president, the South South had been there through Dr Goodluck Jonathan… however, the PDP in its wisdom decided to give the ticket to someone capable from the North East to address this imbalance, if PDP is to give the ticket to the South, it would have been to the South East. Though someone from the South South is trying hard to ambush the party but we say no, because not too long ago, someone from South South was there for six years but here we have those that have never been there, if we put all of these on the scale of moral balance and fairness, equity, it won’t work…
(Cuts) but should it be about all these considerations for geopolitical zones or competence and ability to deliver on good governance?
Yes, I was coming to that. The Arise Television recently organised townhall meeting to hear from the presidential candidates contesting the 2023 elections even though, one of them had to excuse himself for reasons best known to him. However, it is very glaring that in that dialogue, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar came out top. Here is a man that is well organised upstairs, he has sufficient experience. He was the first person to release his manifesto, the first person to hit the road for campaign because he is prepared as ever. He had been there before for good eight years as Vice President to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He was part of the economic team. In the private sector, he is there as an highly successful business man, in public service he was there as a Customs Officer before retiring and as a politician, he has been there for over three decades… it’s a choice Nigerians won’t regret. He has what it takes to reclaim the country from its current pitiable condition. Nigerians can’t afford to gamble or experiment again like they did in the past. Nigeria will recover under Atiku. PDP is ready to bring back the good old days. There’s so much tension and division in the land, we surely need a unifier, someone that is actually capable and knows the right button to press to bring back the country on track. That’s no other person than Atiku. We really can’t continue this way, things must change for good and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is more than ready to give Nigeria a new leaf life by the special grace of God.