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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012
POLITICS Prince Olu Adegboro is a Chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] in Ondo State and a former Commissioner for Information under the Adefarati administration. He spoke with LEKE AKEREDOLU on his assessment of the October 20 governorship election.
‘Ondo people will laugh last’
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OW would you assess the justconcluded governorship elec tion in Ondo State, especially with regards to the performance of your party? On the part of our party, the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN], the election was very disappointing despite the huge human and material supports given us by our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, the ACN governors and even the commitment of our candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu [SAN]. However, I have realised that the structures that we have are very weak. The same structures we used for the legislative election in 2011are still the same we used in the just-concluded gubernatorial election in the state and that is the first problem that we had. Our national leadership did not have the courage to dissolve the existing structures having found them wanting during the last legislative election. The second problem we had was facing an incumbent whose politics is politics of deceit. He had successfully deceived our people and we needed to be well prepared to face him. Another thing is that we chose our candidate a little bit late, and most of the materials for the election came very late. Even money to be used for the election did not reach those who would have used it until it was too late. What are other reasons you think your party under-performed? Also, there are some of us with experiences that could be used in so many things but were marginalised; we were underutilised, unused, and were not given a role to play in the preparation for the election. If not because of the candidate, Akeredolu, who invited me to be in his office as Chairman of Strategy Committee, and even as Chairman of the committee those people who managed the Campaign Committee did not allow our candidate to have time for him to be advised; they didn’t allow him have time to plan. Also some of our leaders believed that we had won the election; instead of working, they started sharing the dividends of an election that we had not won. They started planning for the positions they would occupy; they allowed all these things to distract them. Again, when we had Director General for the Campaign, the people he brought were even worse than those that occupied the structures. Almost all the resources sent were consumed by the structures. We did not use the resources to mobilise people to join us and this is the major problem. There were so many people who wanted to join the party at that time, but you know the attitude of Nigerians, they wanted to be encouraged through little things, but we were not able to get those little things to get them into the party. So, out of frustration, they stayed in their parties despite the fact they were not satisfy. We did not spend time planning and strategising. We did not sufficiently access the incumbent, we underestimated him. And he surprised us in so many ways. And we relied absolutely on some few media stations; we did not go out on ourselves to promote publicity for our party; we were more concerned about the resources coming in from outside and the position we were going to occupy if the party won, this is really very unfortunate. But I still believe that the future of this state belongs to ACN. The ACN is going to control Ondo State. I am sure that in a matter of time, the eyes of our people will have been opened to see the inadequacies of Labour Party [LP] and its leaders. So, you still believe ACN has not lost steam as some may claim... ACN is the most formidable oppo-
• Adegboro
sition that can propel forces that can change the government tomorrow. ACN is the most powerful catalyst that can bring about change of government at the centre. I am sure that before two years time, the people of Ondo State will discover that government at the centre which is a government that is completely useless in terms of law and order, security and development can only be changed if they support a progressive party like ACN and I am sure the people the of Ondo State we have a rethink and realise that what Tinubu stands for is not to become the overlord of the South-West, but to change the fortune of this country by enthroning a progressive government at the centre. Our people will soon realise that Mimiko and his LP are agents of the federal government in Ondo State. You will discover that in the long run, LP is not working in our best interest, but working to sustain the most backward government that we have ever had at the centre. The present Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] government is the most backward, the most retrogressive and the most problematic government we ever had. Look at the way terrorism has blown up; look at the way crime has gone beyond imagination. It is as if there is no security in the country; look at the way our oil resources are being wasted. Not long ago, we protested that the government was increasing the petroleum pump price from N65 to a very high price, the government came back to N97. Today, through hoodwinking, the price has gone again to N150, N120, N110 and nobody is talking and people are suffering. Look at poverty rate in the country, you can hardly survive without belonging to one government or the other and that is the problem the people Ondo State had. Despite the claim that ACN is the only progressive political party in Nigeria, some Yoruba leaders like Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Olu Falae and others all backed Mimiko for second term, what is your reaction to this? Chief Fasoranti is more or less my political father, he knows where I disagree with him. Chief Olu Falae is my brother, he knows where I disagree with him. I disagreed with them because their support for Mimiko was not based on principle, but on revenge. They are fighting Tinubu and Akande who succeeded in taking over the political control of the South West from them. They failed to think about the other struggle of the Yoruba leaders at the national level. Again, if they want to fight Tinubu and Akande, they should have made efforts to resuscitate their old party, the Alliance for Democracy [AD]. Their main problem is the success of Tinubu and some ACN leaders in taking over the control of the majority states in the South West. There grudge is that of revenge. During former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel’s regime, who was in PDP, some of these elders too supported him. They were
working with him in the hope that he would leave PDP to join them in another political platform which they could use to fight Tinubu and Akande, but Daniel disappointed them and now, all of them are with Mimiko. I can predict to you that their support for Mimiko will eventually embarrass them because this support is not based on principle. Mimiko will disappoint them with the way he would use LP in the state to work for Jonathan in 2015. Can you substantiate that assumption? You could see that immediately after the election, Mimiko ran to Abuja to celebrate with Jonathan’s wife, Mrs. Patience at her 55th birthday anniversary. Eventually, they will realise their mistake. They should have looked for ways to reconcile with Tinubu and Akande to move Yoruba forward politically. They are injured because of the way ACN has grown under the leadership of Tinubu and Akande. They are not thinking of the long time trend of the South West, they are not thinking of our past not answering important questions like, does Mimiko political position agree with our past? Does the political position of flexing with PDP government at the national level tally with what Action Group [AG], UPN and AD stood for? I really feel bad for Baba Fasoranti because he is my political godfather and I will not want him to be embarrassed. What do you think is the future of your party? What I am sure of is that ACN is a movement and we will make our people in Ondo State to eventually see the usefulness of ACN in South West. The mistake of some of our leaders at the national level is that they allow so many people to come to them over there and deceive them, but I am sure that the experience of this gubernatorial election must have taught them that they should be very careful in selecting leaders for the party in Ondo State. If I have my way, very soon, I would call for the dissolution of all the existing structures of the party in Ondo State and create a a caretaker committee to rebuild the party for credible leadership. After this, I will call the caretaker committee to set up a board of enquiry to investigate the conduct of our preparation and campaign both for the legislative electionin 2011 and the governorship poll in 2012 so that we will not make the same mistakes again. Our leaders should now be very careful in getting a new leadership for the party, but I can predict that with good leadership, ACN will start winning Ondo State from 2015. The purpose of politics is to pursue political power, but most of our people do not realise this.
Constitution: Public session holds Nov 10 From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin
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PUBLIC session on the review of the 1999 constitution is to hold on November 10, in the Esigie College Hall, Abudu of the Orhionmwon/Uhunmwode Federal constituency . A statement by Mr Osaro Osemwengie, Legislative Aide to Hon Samson Osagie, representing Orhionmwon/ Uhunmwode Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives said the session will be under the chairmanship Justice J.O. Olubor, retired President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Edo state. The same session will also hold in Ovia Federal Constituency represented by Nosa Osahon, an engineer. The proceeding, which will be held simultaneously throughout the country as far as is practicable, will be held on same day and about the same time in all the federal constituencies across the country. The statement advised the people of the constituency to see the public session on the review of the 1999 Constitution as their golden opportunity to participate and contribute their views and position on issues to be included or reviewed in the constitution
ACN chieftain berates don over comments on judiciary
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CHIETAIN of Edo State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Kenneth Amana has berated a University of Benin don, Professor Tony Afejuku for attempting to denigrate the judiciary and forcing his views on it, when the judicial process instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer in the July 14, 2012 election, Rtd Gen. Charles Airhiavbere is still pending. Addressing reporters yesterday in Benin City, Amana said Afejuku was trying to intimidate the judiciary. He said as a columnist with The Nigerian Tribune, Afejuku had titled a piece: Edo Election Tribunal and Nigeria’s Judiciary-less Judiciary, in which he deviated from scholarly issues to those he has no knowledge or competence in, saying this was regrettable. Amana said while he would not join issues with Afejuku or trade insults with him, it must be stated unequivocally that the falsehood, misrepresentations and the maligning of the state governor shall not go unreplied. “If men of good conscience fold their arms and watch the ugly and nefarious agenda of anti democratic forces in the state, there is the likelihood of institutional failure and thereby slowing the governor’s pace of work. “The people of the state is hereby put on notice that some person have perfected plans against their collective mandate given to the governor during the election. Since they were rejected at the polls by the people of Edo, they advanced to embarrass the peoples choice by raising issues such as certificate forgery and educational qualification. “They went ahead to the courts to see how they could secure black market injunctions before the elections and after. Sensing the integrity of the judiciary and their possible failure, they went to the Tribunal to challenge the best election ever conducted in the history of Nigeria in any state. Not stopping at nothing, they recruited some fifth columnists to denigrate the judiciary. “I have no doubt that the governor would overcome this dastardly plans. I also believe that tough times do not last but tough people do, Oshiomhole needs our collective support and prayers, if he must succeed with his developmental agenda in his second term in office”. Airhiavbere had approached the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal challenging Oshiomhole’s academic qualifications as well as his victory in the election. But on September 27, the tribunal struck out Airhiavbere’s case against Oshiomhole’s qualification for the election and assumed jurisdiction on the case against alleged corrupt practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. Besides, Airhiavbere has gone to the Court of Appeal to express his dissatisfaction with the decision of the tribunal striking out the aspect of his petition contesting Oshiomhole’s academic qualifications. It would be recalled that the tribunal had ruled that it was not vested with the powers to hear the issue of qualification of candidates, as that was within the competence of the Federal High Court. And that the issue of qualification was a pre-election matter and the petitioner should have gone to the Federal High Court and if there was any merit in the allegation, the court would have disqualified the candidate from contesting the election.
• Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole (right) congratulating the newly sworn in Justices of the Court of Appeal in Abuja... on Monday.