Dr . Fola Akinosun was the candidate of the African Democratic Party for the Oyo South Senatorial seat in the just-concluded general elections. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on the lessons to be learnt from the exercise by both the political parties and the electorate. Excerpts:
As a candidate in the just-concluded general elections in the country, how would you describe the exercise?
The elections have come and gone. It is just a journey. Democracy is actually a journey, not a destination. So, we would eventually get there or get to the end of it. We will always get to a point which will be a new beginning. Generally, we have got to some point and after this point, we will get to another point. It has been on and on for as long as we live. So, it is not a destination, it is a journey.
I look at the whole endeavour as God-ordained. And I see God answering the prayers of the people, what the people wanted is what God has given them. Even thinking deeply, I see that in the Bible, when it affected Jesus, the Biblical son of God, God had to give to the people their own wish and way instead of bowing to the wish of his own son. There was a time Jesus was to be crucified, he was to be judged in a court but the people at that time requested for Barnabas to be released. Barnabas was a thief in custody. A thief in custody was released and God allowed it because it was in the interest of the people and Jesus was crucified. But you and I know that, that was not the end of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ rose up the third day and God, giving in to the wishes of the people, didn’t end Jesus vision. He rose up on the third day and the glory of God was able to radiate all over the World.
What was one difference you noticed in this election?
It was an election that came from an angle that we didn’t expect, especially from me. What we thought would happen was election of personalities. We strongly believed that people would vote for personalities but instead of that, on the day of elections, people opted for little money that, at least, could sustain them for a day. That just didn’t go alone, it came with a message, the message that for a very sound mind, he would understand that poverty is seriously in the land. People were ready to even give their future for a pot of porridge. That is the message, the implication is just that, those who brought these monies will want to make their money back. It may take us back and the earlier we dropped that idea, the better for Nigeria.
From my own angle, as I have said earlier, most of these things are spiritual. When you want to make a journey, God will pave the way. Those that are there are there actually because God wants them to be there. But I am only talking about the circumstances as it affected the general public. I wish we changed our attitude, especially in picking and selecting our leaders. I also want to talk about Engr. Seyi Makinde, the governor- elect in Oyo State. If not for a lot of issues that happened in the APC, may be the PDP wouldn’t have won. But you see , it is because it is the will of God that Makinde would emerge, you could see that the circumstances came to favour him. And that is why you see him emerge as Governor.
You raised the issue of vote buying and selling. How can we stop the trend in future elections?
I want to say Nigeria is a country of very smart people. There is no way to curb it in a foreseeable future because no matter the yardstick you put to curb it, people will outsmart it. Before there will be selling and buying, there must be a market. But in this circumstance, where is the market? That is why it will be very difficult to curb. There’s no actual market. There is a certain number of metres to the polling unit where you can be stopped. If it is 30 metres, the buyers and sellers will just put their own market 50 metres to the polling unit. So, I don’t see a very easy way to curb it than a change of heart from the general public.
The only thing that can curb it is when people will come to reason and refuse to buy or sell the votes again. And that is the best for the country because whoever sells makes a profit and it is not good for us to turn our system of leadership appointment to trading.
What about efforts in educating the electorate?
That is it. That is what can bring about change of heart. If there’s enough education, especially on the consequences of vote buying and selling, that may reduce it.. Once the people know the consequences and they are ready within themselves, they will change from attitude of vote buying and selling.
There are complaints about the high number of political parties in the country. What is your position on this?
It is even very expensive for the INEC to manage. Political parties are so many. I think we are getting out of the era of unpopular parties. Whoever picks the parties that are not popular, it is not that the people will not know the symbol but the parties will not even have what it takes to compete with the big parties. So, the reasonable politicians in Nigeria will just look at the popular parties, look at the political ideologies and see which one he wants to pitch tent with.And once he had pitched tent with one at this time, my own advice is to stick to that.
Are you saying with the benefit of hindsight, you regret leaving APC to contest on the platform of ADP?
There is no regret. In any election, let me tell you that there is actually no loser. There will be a winner and of course, there will also be a learner. Those who don’t win elections have something to learn. In most cases, they don’t have anything or much to lose.
Personally, I don’t have any regret. Actually, I have achieved what I wanted to achieve. What I wanted to stand against was impunity. I wanted to be a progressive politician. I know the ideology as it was during the time of our late leaders. But I saw something different, coming up, impunity, cheating and all that. And I felt it was not good to just play along. I have played along at a time in 2015. The APC primary in 2015, I was involved, and it was an election in the midnight when there was no light. That primary produced Senator Soji Akanbi but because nobody reacted, APC won. It came the second time again in 2018 and I felt if I keep quiet again it would continue. So I was able to challenge that. The way to challenge it was to make a noise. I invited the attention of everyone and I think this was what has brought APC to lose that election. Because the national echelon of the party did not do anything to correct the impunity.
