Former Ondo State Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and daughter of the late Adekunle Ajasin, former civilian governor of old Ondo, Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose, in this interview with JULIUS ALABI, talks on the preparedness of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for 2016 governorship election in the state, her aspiration and dangers of imposing a candidate on the party.
President Muhammadu Buhari favouring the North in appointments
I don’t think he has done any wrong in appointments made so far because we are not even sure where those names come from.
One thing our people do not understand about geography of Nigeria is that we have six geo-political zones and when you see a Northern name, you may think the bearer is from, let us say, Kastina, Maiduguri or Sokoto. But it may not be so. We had Kingsley Kuku from Ondo state as coordinator of Amnesty Programme, and now that Kuku has been replaced with somebody from the South South, I think the president is fair. Names usually bring this idea that somebody is partial towards a particular area, except if you are able to identify their states and geo-political zones.
Preparations for October 2016 Ondo governorship poll
Well, I have prepared well and I know that I will win both the primary and the general elections. Surely, I will come out because I know Buhari as president and my party will perform to satisfy the needs of Nigerians and that will help me win the heart of the Ondo citizens.
We have to do a lot of campaigns. My party will have to do the comparison of programmes and projects that are going on in all APC states, to show that we have so much but we are not using that money to the benefit of the people in Ondo. I think we should start educating our people what the progressives stand for and what the people stand to gain by voting for us. They should compare and contrast what is happening in our states with the kind of money coming into the state. Can you compare the development in Ondo with the development in Osun? Osun State, at the last quarter, was the least on the revenue allocation. I think Ondo was sixth or seventh. Can you compare the development in Osogbo with the kind of development we have in Ondo? Osogbo looks more beautiful than Akure.
We must not wait until two or three months to election before we start going round, telling people that the election will be coming out and that our candidate that emerges from the primary must be voted for.
We have everything on ourselves that we can use to let the people know where we stand with them. We just have to be more pro-active in Ondo in order to gain the confidence of the people. Not just the people, but also the leaders in the different communities. We have to let them know what we can do for each community. As I said, we have our manifesto to explain why APC is different from other parties. Luckily, from the way the president has started, we have seen some positive changes which gladden someone’s heart.
Financial muscle for APC ticket
Well, that was the story they put forward when I tried to contest under ACN in 2012. Did Buhari pay for his nomination form to contest the presidential election? Did he have money? I have so many well-wishers who believe very much in me and are ready to support me. But if we are still talking about money in this time and age when Buhari became president without money, I think we should all go and check our heads. Money shouldn’t be the all-in-all in getting people with integrity, getting people who will do the work well, getting people who will make sure that government is run properly and not government of my family, for my family and by my family.
So, if people want government of my family, for my family and by my family, let them run after money; but if they want government of the people, by the people and for the people, then I am the right person to be voted in.
Being a woman is also an advantage. Looking at Angela Merkel of Germany; German economy is the best in the world today. She is doing so well and she is a woman. I want to say if people are thinking of voting anybody for governor, it is the woman in their midst that they should think about and vote for because women can do 100 things at the same time.
So if I am the only woman coming out, I see no reason all the men that are coming out should not give me the necessary support, and I see no reason the leadership of the party should not support me because I have supported them. I have been with them and I have not jumped ship. I think if the time comes, it is a payback for me.
Assessing APC leadership in Ondo
I think that we have able and capable chairman who is directing the affairs of the party in the state, and like old adage will say “nobody is perfect”, people can have their own opinion and I think he is trying his best for the party. So many people from PDP have joined the party under his leadership. I want to commend him for being able to attract some bigwigs in the state from PDP to join APC. Personally, I think the leadership of APC in the state is trying its best.
APC in Ondo not known for conducting primaries
Even in the presidential election of APC, there was primary. We were all there from evening till the next day, and we had about five aspirants. They all came out for primary and the party accepted the primary election method. So I see no reason the primary should be jettisoned in Ondo during the gubernatorial election. I think that will satisfy all contestants, instead of just imposing or bringing somebody from nowhere to be the candidate of the party. I am in support of primary election.
Implication of APC not conducting primary
I pray the party does not fail to conduct primary because it will boomerang. It will boomerang in the sense that party members could get discouraged. So, I am praying that the leadership of my party will not go the way of imposition. Let us give everybody level-playing ground. Let us subject ourselves to primary elections; let us see how we can mobilise the delegates to be on our sides. The delegates are the representatives of the people and they will know who should be their candidate. Whoever wins will be the preferred candidate. It should not be the preferred candidate of the leaders. If imposition is used again, it will boomerang and we could have the same results like we had under ACN.
Division among APC leaders working against the party
I am hearing for the first time that there are factions. I know we have gubernatorial aspirants having their followers which is normal. The state executive is to administer the party, but party members with interest will usually have their groups or caucuses. So if they are talking about groups and caucuses, I don’t want to take it to mean faction or division. Faction is different from group or caucus.
Assessing Governor Olusegun Mimiko
We were colleagues in the cabinet, but I can say sincerely that if we spoke at all, maybe we spoke four times throughout my tenure. We were not just close friends, but we are just colleagues. We didn’t have any kind of relationship. I said earlier that comparing Osun with Ondo, even the Osun capital Osogbo looks better in terms of infrastructural development, in terms of environmental cleanliness and others. Many projects the governor of Osun has put in place are more than what we have in Ondo. That was why I said that in our future campaign, we will compare and contrast what we have in Ondo with APC government in states where revenue allocations are low. That is one of those things we will tell the people of Ondo. We will put them on a balance and assess them.
I want to say that the money that has accrued to Ondo has not been justifiably used by the leadership led by Mimiko to the benefit of Ondo people. We know the amount; we know how much he has gotten. People are just going about to make ends meet, which should not be the case in a state just like ours, especially as we have oil. Ondo should not suffer, should not be owing teachers and pensioners if funds are equitably and justifiably used for the benefit of the people.
