Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant, Dr. Akin Olowookere, in this interview with Special Correspondent, JULIUS ALABI, speaks on the 2016 politics in the state and why the state capital should be allowed to produce the governor.
Aspiration for Ondo governorship against the backdrop of Akure Agenda
One thing is clear. Being alive and being political is part of being consciously active because politics is a phenomenon that has to do with human survival.
One has to say that politics itself is positioning. People position themselves rightly, to make sure that their community, their children, their tribe, their language are fairly treated within the comity of what constitutes an environment.
So, if you talk of Akure Agenda, don’t forget that I am an Akure man. There cannot be Akure Agenda without Akure people. If there are Akure people who are the champions of Akure Agenda, who are the arrowheads, who are the people to lift the flag or fly the flag, who are the people to fling the umbrella under which Akure people will take cover, it has to be one of its sons or daughters. I am positioned by age, education, awareness, consciousness and participation. I am among those people in Akure that started the agitation for Akure Agenda. That is why I am in politics. That is why I went into active politics. I did not start my political career for being active; I was contended being a financial member. But I discovered that to achieve my aims and objectives, I needed to be active because being docile or being passive was not sufficient to be able to make an impact that will positively affect my people; hence, I needed to be active in politicking.
As I said, being in politics means that my people are well taken care of. We, Akure people, have right to the number one seat in the state and we are patiently waiting for our time. Everything in life has time and season.
Whoever Akure people do not support can never be a governor in this state under the democratic setting because we have the numerical strength like the Ibadan people in Oyo State. Ondo Central District has a formidable population that can make us selfishly hold on to the number one citizen of this state perpetually. But the state has always been fair and that is why if you look at it, you would notice that the three senatorial districts have had opportunity of governing the state. For now, it could start from anywhere, it could start from the Central or North, and the Central is agitating that it should start from it.
When you reduce it to divisions, you will know why it is even justified that it should start from Ondo Central. If you look at Owo Division and Akoko Division – the two divisions that make up Ondo North, they have produced the governor. When you look at the Okitipupa Division (Ondo South), they have also produced governor. When you also look at Ondo Division, they have produced. But Akure Division, out of the five divisions, has never produced a democratically-elected governor notwithstanding that they are the landlords. If for now they come together and say this has gone round all the divisions, and the senatorial districts, let it start again from Akure Division, so that it could go round. It is not a bad idea.
Democratically, everybody is free to vie for any available post at any time. For me, everybody is free to vie for any available position. I am qualified to vie for the post. So it is good for me and my people. I have come out as an Akure son to contest. And if am picked, I will serve as a messenger.
Platform for contest
I am in PDP. Till this moment, we are talking. You belong to a party for a purpose. I seek the office to serve. Choosing a platform to serve starts from where I am now. The platform must be positioned to be the best of platforms in order for us to win an election. The platform will also allow the best candidate that is acceptable to people, not the party’s candidate. Except you field the people’s choice, you cannot win an election. Forget about rigging, forget about manipulations. Nigeria has become politically-awake. People are now consciously celebrating merit. Therefore, any party or platform that does not give the people what they want will be in trouble.
So, we in PDP are working assiduously to position our party to be the best. Being the best is also presenting a candidate that is acceptable to the people. For now, I don’t know of other person; but I know of myself. I know that I have the best relationship with the society. I am the toast of the moment. If I, having worked assiduously, worming myself into the heart of the people, and if my party agrees with me and supports me that I am the man to be used for the race, then we have one mind and we are speaking with one accord. But if my party does not want the people’s candidate to emerge, then we will be going into politics and we will politic. I am saying that I must contest on the best platform that is acceptable to the people.
It is my prayer that we in PDP must work hard to make sure that when benchmarked against other parties, we are the best platform. We must also be honest with ourselves to zero in on the candidate that will sell. Akure people have what it takes numerically. It means that any party that parades an Akure man as its candidate is what the people will rush for.
Preparation of PDP considering strong opposition from APC
Let me tell you that as at today, my party is still in the best position in terms of power of incumbency and resources (human and material – politicians that matter), except we mismanage our chances. We need to worm ourselves to people as a friend of the people, to be loved by the people. Other parties don’t have opportunity to hold power. The people don’t have yardstick to measure them. I am saying that there is no reason we should fail. We have been giving back to the people, but we have to do more. The people want more. They are expecting more from us. We must understand that. As we are going into the election year, we must do more for the people, worm ourselves into the hearts of the people, spend our time, energy and money. If we do that, I can assure you victory is ours; but if we refuse to do that, if we lord it over the people and we think we are already there, there are people sitting out there that have been kicked out. Now the people have become politically and democratically emancipated. They are very sensitive. This is my candid opinion.