A former speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Muyiwa Oladipo, fell apart with former Governor Ibikunle Amosun in 2019 over the gubernatorial election. He consequently switched his political camp to that of Governor Dapo Abiodun, who later rewarded him with an appointment as a Consultant. The former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and also Culture and Tourism in Ogun State, stirred the hornet’s nest on Monday last week, when he announced that he has moved back to the Amosun’s political family. Oladipo, in his address, appreciated the leaders during his meeting with them. He also thanked them for their steadfastness and loyalty to Amosun. He declared that he is fully back at home as a loyalist of Amosun who he emphatically called his political boss. In this interview with MAYOWA SAMUEL, the Sagamu-born politician speaks about his ambition come 2023 and a range of other political issues in Ogun State. This interview was conducted before his resignation on December 2, 2021. Excerpts:
You are currently a political appointee in Ogun State under Governor Dapo Abiodun as his Consultant on Culture and Tourism, but you recently jumped ship to the Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s camp. What’s your reason for this move and don’t you think that amounts to conflict of interests?
There is no conflict of interests, it’s an APC government. Senator Ibikunle Amosun is in APC; Prince Dapo Abiodun is an APC governor. Ogun State is an APC state. Jumping ship is not the appropriate word, I didn’t jump ship. Remember that I was a two-time commissioner under Senator Ibikunle Amosun and in 2019, there were two governorship candidates and three political parties, and at the end of the day, three major political parties fielded candidates, All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and the Allied Peoples Movement. APC, the party I belong to won the election. Of course Senator Amosun had always been in APC all along.
There are two separate factions in the Ogun APC. We have those loyal to Governor Abiodun and those loyal to Senator Amosun. Since you work for the governor and at the same time pledging loyalty to Amosun, where does your allegiance lie?
I’m an appointee of the APC government, so I’m an APC man. Of course, there may be differences, there are factions in the state but as of today, and from a week back, I owe my loyalty to Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
Do you have issues with Governor Abiodun?
I don’t have any issues with him, why should I? Not in the least. I just believe that I must move on. I believe strongly in Senator Ibikunle Amosun and I believe that I can work with him and I will work with him.
There were two parallel congresses held by the APC in Ogun State recently. While the faction loyal to Governor Abiodun produced Yemi Sanusi as its chairman, that of Senator Amosun produced Derin Adebiyi for the same position. To the best of your knowledge, how is this crisis being resolved?
That issue is not peculiar to Ogun State. At least, as at the last count, 14 APC states have between two and three factional chairmen. I believe that the caretaker committee will look into that. No reasonable executive council will want to jettison the interest of its party, more so when each faction has its own followers. So what I see at the end of the day is harmonization. They’ll harmonize all factions, they’ll drop A to allow B and they’ll drop C to allow D. That’s the only way they can do it to still hold all parties together.
“Every human being must be ambitious. For you to live long, you must be ambitious. If you are not ambitious, then you are dead because ambitions will carry you and get you going. If you nurture it very well with God being with you, you will achieve that ambition. Yes, in 2019, I wanted to become governor, the dream, the ambition is not dead. I know that one day, I will be governor of Ogun State by the grace of God
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The APC is enmeshed in leadership crises all over the country. Don’t you think the crises may affect the party at the 2023 general elections?
I believe before the general elections, all issues would have been settled but then, nobody should talk about Malam Mai Mala Buni leading the caretaker committee or anything because it’s been settled. The Supreme Court has ruled that Buni is the authentic caretaker chairman of the APC. The Bible tells us that Jesus, who had twelve disciples, had one betrayer. It’s not possible for everybody to accept Buni as the chairman. What Senator Abraham Adesanya of blessed memory taught us between 1979 and 1983 was that the minority will have its say but the majority will have its way. In Buni’s matter, it’s the majority that has had their way. The minority has been making noise, shouting here and there but it’s been settled and rested by the utterances of the Supreme Court. So, nobody should now come out to start making noise again.
In 2019, you had the ambition of becoming the governor of Ogun State before you later pulled the brakes on that aspiration. Do you still have interest in becoming governor in 2023 and if not, what is your next political aspiration?
Every human being must be ambitious. For you to live long, you must be ambitious. If you are not ambitious, then you are dead because ambitions will carry you and get you going. If you nurture it very well with God being with you, you will achieve that ambition. Yes, in 2019, I wanted to become governor, the dream, the ambition is not dead. I know that one day, I will be governor of Ogun State by the grace of God.
Is that your actual aspiration for 2023?
I have not said that, but it’s not impossible.
The Ogun State High Court on Tuesday reinstated 75 coronet Obas who were initially demoted by Governor Abiodun in February 2020. In your own submission as a former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, was the reason for their demotion by the governor justifiable and what’s your thought on the court ruling?
You see, the Amosun-led administration during its time, appointed these Obas and incidentally, it went through due process in doing so. Of course, there was a new government that felt otherwise but it’s been sorted out by the court. So, I don’t think it’s necessary to start belabouring that issue. If it had been the other way round, then we would have known that it was Senator Ibikunle Amosun that was wrong in the first instance that those Obas ought not to have been Obas in the first instance. But I think the issue was more political than being the normal thing. That was why the court put a stop to it.
The former Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Oludare Kadiri, said he was impeached for alleged gross misconduct because he accused the Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo, of not being accountable to the House. He told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that the Speaker forged his signature to swindle N50 million. As a former Speaker of that Assembly, what are your thoughts on the fracas between these two lawmakers?
That’s my original constituency. The two are my grandchildren. The whole Ogun State calls me “Grandfather Speaker”. So, having been called that, you know when your children get to a certain stage in life, you allow them to make decisions on their own, whether right or wrong. Once they take that decision, if the decision goes either way, there is no reason for you the grandfather to apportion blame to any of them because the deputy speaker that was impeached could not have been impeached by the Speaker alone. They got the required numbers that formed the two-third majority needed to impeach him. So, he was duly impeached, therefore, he can’t apportion blame to the speaker. There may be differences between the two of them but in the face of the House, it went beyond that because I remember that a panel was set up to look into the allegations leveled against him, in line with the rules of the house and the panel came out with recommendations that led to his impeachment and the house also voted and it became a resolution of the House. I followed it from the moment the honourable members started signing papers before the impeachment, he was not impeached outside the assembly chambers.
