Prince Joseph Eniola Ojajuni, is an Ondo State Labour Party governorship aspirant. In this interview with MAYOWA SAMUEL, he speaks about his political journey and why he believes the government of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has been a failure. Excerpts:
You’ve declared your ambition to be the next Governor of Ondo State. How has the journey been so far, since you made that declaration?
Since I declared my intention to be the next governor of Ondo State, it hasn’t been easy for us as individuals because of the challenges Nigerians are facing, economic challenges, insecurity, joblessness in Ondo State. We’ve been talking to people around the party to solicit for support among members of the party, for the primary, we’re waiting for INEC’s directive on that.
As soon as INEC releases guidelines, we’ll put in more effort. People have accepted us, in fact, we’ve taken over the major areas.
I just came back from Ondo two weeks ago, I was in almost 14 local governments, talking to students, market women, elders and leaders on why they must come out and support the Labour Party in Ondo State, because in the last eight years, the present administration in Ondo State can’t point to a particular project people are benefiting from.
People are hoping for change, a better future for the state. It’s been nice, and people are ready.
How tedious has it been for you and what are the challenges you’ve faced so far? How has your interaction with the electorate been so far?
The challenges haven’t been that easy because of the tension across the country. The people aren’t feeling the impact of the government.
We’re trying to encourage and let people know that what Nigerians are going through today is as a result of the government’s monetary policy. There’s no freedom for them to vote for the right candidates.
Like I told them, the last election in Ondo State, thousands of people were voting for the APC because they were sharing money. There’s no single industry promised by Akeredolu that’s been built in Ondo State.
So, we’ve been trying to convince the people, particularly party delegates and letting them know that sometimes, they need to make the sacrifice for us to have the best among the best.
“He has turned the government house into a family enterprise, his families are the ones dominating the entire government house today because these people are selfish leaders who don’t care about the people”
If they continue to collect money from aspirants who become candidates, who later become governors at the end of the day, we’ll all pay for it. You can’t eat your cake and have it. In that regard, it hasn’t been easy. We’ve let them know that although we don’t have money to share during the primary, my integrity and what I’ve done so far is going to speak for me. I believe that when we get to that bridge, we’re going to cross it.
Monetary policy has brought us to where we are today; it’s just unfortunate that people refused to learn their lessons in the last election, despite what Nigerians have gone through in the hands of former President Muhammadu Buhari in the last eight years.
Not only Buhari, other governors across the South West are not doing fine, even across Nigeria. The music now is ‘let the people breathe’.
Let’s see how young, fresh Nigerians can do it better because we’re sick and tired of all these old politicians who have ruled Nigeria in the last 20 years without a single achievement. That’s why I keep telling them to go and learn from the ministry of ideas because these people fail to have ideas to develop their state.
It hasn’t been that easy for us in that regard but I so much believe that when we get to that bridge, we’re going to cross it and let people know that we have the best ideas and policies to put the state on the path of prosperity.
Governor Akeredolu will soon be completing his tenure. What’s your assessment of his tenure so far?
Akeredolu is a failure, APC is a failure in Ondo State. The people of Ondo State should just come out and throw APC out of government.
Akeredolu claimed he has built health centers, but the hospital you built but you’re not able to treat yourself there. That means you’re telling us they’ve been playing on the intelligence of Nigerians.
As a governor for instance, I fell sick, and I discovered that I can’t treat myself in the state, with the facilities I’ve claimed to have built, it shows I’m a sick man.
The government of Akeredolu is a very sick and failed government. Look at what the deputy governor is doing. He’s not been able to add anything as acting governor in the last 60 days that the man had left for Germany for treatment.
Yes, we’re born to be sick, nobody is mocking him but unfortunately they’ve failed to build a standard healthcare facility for them to be treated. So, if I become governor of Ondo State, I will treat myself there, I’ll use made-in-Nigeria vehicles, my children will attend Nigerian school, because I went to Nigerian schools all my life. Things will be back to when the people had the mandate of leadership.
The people of Ondo State should get ready to throw them out because they have nothing to offer Nigerians. Most of the APC aspirants are the same sets of circulated old ideas, people who are not knowledgeable of our government; the only thing they are knowledgeable about is to steal public funds.
Thank God that this government of Asiwaju, (if the court don’t remove him, because we believe that our mandate in Labour Party will be recovered), with BTO (Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo) among the ministerial nominees from Ondo State, shows that the youths are ready to take over Ondo State.
A young man of 41 years making the ministerial list, for that, I cherish the present administration for doing that. No infrastructure, no health faculty, nothing is working in the state. I came back from Ondo last week, nothing is working there. Ondo State remains the same way Akeredolu met it.
He hasn’t been on duty for a while now. Are you among those who think he should resign and formally hand over to his deputy or you think he should still hold on and return to office whenever his health improves?
If I were in Akeredolu’s shoes, the best thing I’d have done is to resign. I’ll go and treat myself. Akeredolu is not the owner of Ondo State.
He has turned the government house into a family enterprise, his families are the ones dominating the entire government house today because these people are selfish leaders who don’t care about the people.
Have you ever seen even an ordinary councilor or local government chairman resign in this country, even if they are dying? These people are criminal minded leaders who don’t care about the people.
The best thing he should’ve done was to resign and go treat himself. They’ve seen that Nigerians are not ready to hold their leaders accountable but we can assure the people of Ondo State that when we take over the mandate in Ondo State, we’ll make sure that we’ll account for every money spent from Ondo State resources.
It’s over a year now since the Owo church massacre took place. Many of the victims are still complaining of neglect since the incident last year. Most of the perpetrators haven’t been brought to book. Are you satisfied with Governor Akeredolu’s handling of the aftermath of that tragedy?
I told you Akeredolu’s government is a failure. In every area of Ondo State, his government is a failure. I wouldn’t want to comment much on that, his government has failed Ondo people.
Despite the fact that the incident happened in his own local government, he’s not been able to do anything. These people don’t care about the masses, they don’t care about Nigerians and the people will reject his party at the 2024 governorship election in Ondo State.
You contested for a seat in the 2015 Lagos State Assembly election (Kosofe Constituency II). What informed your decision to move to Ondo State to contest for elective position?
My parents grew up in Lagos. I was born and brought up in Lagos. I had the constitutional right to contest in Lagos, so I contested for Lagos Assembly in 2015. Then, I came back home in 2016 to contest for governor under the same AD.
I also contested for presidency under AD after which I stepped down for Omoyele Sowore. Then, we had about 40 aspirants. We failed to have a consensus candidate amongst us. Then, I believed that we couldn’t win the election because there were no resources.
I believed that the man that had the best ideas amongst us, who had what it takes was Sowore, so I stepped down for him. In 2020, I contested under ADC, I wasn’t given the ticket before I went to NNPP, and I was given the ticket.
The election was interesting but at the end of the day, NNPP you know, as a politician, you just have to go to a place that your vision can be able to speak, where people believe your ideas, vision and what you’ve done, as well as for me to do well, achieve my dreams and goals for the people.
Since I came to the Labour Party, I’ve found my destination, particularly the atmosphere of Peter Obi, the whole of his leadership; I share so much in it. So, I believe that this time, the vision will speak.
Many have wondered and advised Sowore to go for governorship, but in your case, you decided to go for governorship. Despite once running for presidency, why did you decide to leave the nation and go to state to contest?
Rochas Okorocha contested to be president of this country more than two times, now he’s a former governor. At the end of the day, he believed that to achieve that dream, he had to go back to the state.
I’m from Ondo State but I contested in Lagos State because I’ve been in Lagos for many years but I realised that for me to achieve my dream, I had to go back to my state because there are a lots of things lacking in my state, so, me starting from there, I could be able to achieve my goal, just like Rochas Okorocha.
He contested for presidency before, more than three times. When he wasn’t accepted, he had to go for governorship. From governor, he was senator. So, I believe we’ll get to that place.
Ahead of that 2019 presidential election, you were reported to have stepped down for the then presidential candidate of Peoples Trust, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, in December 2018. Two months later, it was also reported that you stepped down for Sowore of the African Action Congress. What led to you stepping down for two presidential candidates of two separate political parties in the same election?
Actually, what happened was that I truly stepped down for Olawepo-Hashim because he was one of the leaders I respected so much. In that journey, as a politician, like I said, we’re all pursuing our dreams to achieve our goals but unfortunately, Olawepo wasn’t carrying us along.
After I officially stepped down for him, our agreement wasn’t fulfilled to us. Not that we stepped down because of money but we stepped down for a man who we should have joined his campaign team but I was not part of the campaign team, he didn’t pick my calls again, all things went wrong.
Instead we went to Omoyele Sowore, so we withdrew support from Hashim and we supported Sowore. That’s what happened, we discovered that maybe he was trying to step down for PDP then, his campaign went as planned, we had no option than to move on.
You’ve contested for governorship under the AD, ADC and NNPP. Why switch to the Labour Party now?
Just like Tinubu, who was in AD before he formed AC to ACN which became APC. We’re pursuing our dreams to achieve our goals. I was in NNPP believing that I’ve gotten the right party, not knowing that NNPP wasn’t ready then, I saw that our relationship wasn’t going well, so after the election, I just had to move on. I was in the party for over a year, until the general election.
The Labour Party had once won Ondo State through Segun Mimiko. But are you riding on the popularity of Peter Obi, to defeat political heavyweights like the ruling party APC and the main opposition the PDP?
I wasn’t at the party for over a year after I left NNPP. There have been lots of consultations within my teams to look at the party we should go to. Not that we want to take advantage of Peter Obi coming to the Labour Party but it is part of it. To have a strong opposition party that can challenge the status quo.
The ship of PDP in Ondo State has hanged in the sea. The house of PDP in Ondo State is not in order. APC too, looking at the number of people coming out from APC to contest for governor, is it the likes of Olusola Oke, who has been contesting for how many years. The man is 70 years old; they’re still the same players, old cargoes running around in circles. Nigeria needs to test new things, test a new set of young Nigerians.
Look at the 10th National Assembly, 40 percent of them are competent young people who can deliver, who want to represent Nigeria well. Unfortunately, those old, ex-governors find the National Assembly as a retirement home.
We’ll make sure things work in Ondo State. The Labour Party is a party to beat in Ondo because the youths, the people are working and are ready. Before the emergence of Peter Obi, we had done a lot of grassroots work. A lot of people joined the Labour Party before and after Peter Obi joined but after the election, we put our house in order.
By the time INEC gives the directive, a lot of things will happen. We’re very sure of getting the ticket of the Labour Party in Ondo, there’s nothing stopping us.
Presently, the Labour Party has two factions. We have the Lamidi Apapa faction and the Julius Abure faction. Which bloc do you belong to?
I don’t believe in any faction, I don’t know if there’s a faction in the Labour Party. I believe that before the primary, the Labour Party will resolve their issues. There are lots of consultations going on among the leaders on how they’re going to sort all those issues. There’s no party that doesn’t have its own crisis. Like I said, PDP is facing their own in Ondo State, their ship is hanging in the sea, likewise APC. In a democratic system, there’ll always be a way out and I believe that before the end of this year, our leaders will settle every difference among them before we come back to see how we can sit down and pilot the affairs of the party.
“We so much believe in the judiciary that at the end of the day, justice will be served in this regard. As a person, I have no regret for doing what I did for Peter Obi as a Nigerian”
You led the 147 Yoruba Formidable Youths Coalition to drum support for Peter Obi. How would you describe Obi’s performance in the South West in the presidential election?
It was incredible. Before the election, the Labour Party in the South West had gone to sleep, there were lots of issues among them. Things weren’t going on well, everybody was looking for their personal interest.
Along the line, there was serious contestation among us, we lost concentration. It took me almost three months before we could arrive under those groups, it wasn’t an easy task to bring about the 147 groups together to support Obi because people thought that money was involved but we didn’t give anybody a dime.
We used and spent our own money, we spent everything. Nothing was given to anybody but we appreciate that fact that we played, not politics of money but politics of integrity and we’ll never regret supporting Obi because we believe so much that Obi won the election, unfortunately they announced the wrong person, allocation was made to the wrong person.
We believe in the court, Obi so much believes in the judiciary, he has used that to win before when his mandate was stolen and given to another person in Anambra State but he got it back. We so much believe in the judiciary that at the end of the day, justice will be served in this regard. As a person, I have no regret for doing what I did for Peter Obi as a Nigerian.
With the controversy that trailed the presidential election which is now being litigated at the presidential election petition tribunal, what’s your level of confidence in INEC and Professor Mahmood Yakubu to prosecute the Ondo governorship election next year fairly?
Let’s see how it goes. Ondo election is next year, by then, I believe there’ll be reforms in the system, the BIVAS has come to stay, BIVAS really saved a lot of irregularities.
In states like Kano, Jigawa, you would’ve heard they have about 6 to 10 million votes coming from those areas. These people are so powerful, they’re mafians, they have the money to do just about anything.
In my local government in Ondo, I experienced what those people did, coming to the polling unit with POS but the people have realized now, that’s why by next month, we’re starting a house-to-house campaign in Ondo State “Operation why you must stop collecting money”.
We’ll educate the youths, going to schools, markets, other places to educate people why they must not collect money from anybody.
Some courts in various states have ruled that INEC has the right to decide the mode of transmission they would like to adopt. That means they can decide not to transmit the result electronically from the polling unit, just like it was done in the presidential election, which caused mistrust in the process. If for the Ondo governorship election, INEC still decides not to transmit the results electronically, will that dampen your level of confidence in the election process?
I’ve not seen any court that has said that, but we must follow the Electoral Act that said INEC must do things the proper way.
I believe the people are ready to come out and vote for the right candidate. I believe that money will not have its way like it did in previous elections.
I believe that INEC will do the right thing and people will come out to vote for the Labour Party in Ondo State. Not that we’re just going out, but we’re going to market ourselves to the people, present our plans to the people and we’ll be accepted by the people also. We’re putting machinery across the state, our target is to have at least 60 percent of votes from each local government in the state, which we’re working day and night to achieve these dreams. So whatever method INEC wants to use, let them go to the moon and bring it, we’re ready for them.
