Thompson Atikase of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a member of the Ondo State House of Assembly representing Ilaje constituency  before the Appeal Court judgment that ordered a fresh election in the constituency. In this interview with Yinka Oladoyinbo, he bares his mind on the preparations for the election, which comes up tomorrow.

HOW did you receive the ruling of the Appeal Court which ordered a fresh election in your constituency?
I have no option, but to abide by the decision of the court. All I know is that something went wrong along the line. If we look at the pattern of judgments which were delivered so far, you will discover that since Dr. Olusegun Agagu left office through a court verdict, no assembly member has been challenged at the tribunal. And the implication of that is that the Labour Party (LP) filed the appeal late. What the law says is that you have to file within 30 days, but they filed on the 31st day. That was applicable to all of us, but, in my own case, the rule changed.

But as a law-abiding citizen, I have no option, but to agree with the judgment. I believe whatever happens to man on earth is the will of God; so, I have taken it in good faith and I won’t allow that to distract me.

The court ruled that the election should be held on or before 30 days after its judgment, how prepared are you and the PDP for the election?
As far as we are concerned, we have done all we can within our capability to ensure that our people vote for us. We have gone round, we have met people, we have consulted, we have told them what we have done and what can ginger them to vote for us. If you look at our constituency, it has been so lucky. There is road network, electrification project, a lot of projects put in place by  the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC). If you now travel to Araromi, the furthermost part  of  our constituency, you will not need to use a  speed boat, you can go in your car and within 30 minutes, you are there.

Now that you want to face a party that is in power, what are your chances?
As far as I know, I want to say that circumstances change, and new circumstances demand new strategy. A single formula in politics does not always work because of peculiarities involved. If you have the power of incumbency and you do not have a popular candidate, there is nothing you can do about it. I don’t think there will be any problem, if we abide by one man, one vote, voting system. But if it is going to be by violence, I cannot predict what will happen. If there election is credibly done, then, I am sure that I am going to be victorious.

Considering the fact that your party lost the bye elections, which were held since the PDP left office, do you think you stand any chance?
I stand a lot of chances because this is a peculiar terrain, peculiar in the sense that the Ilaje, as a race, will not allow a situation where a foreigner will come and destabilise or destroy our election. It is not possible; moreso, as we live on top of water, our people will resist any foreign body coming to our end to play funny games; we are equal to the task.

Election in Ilaje is not a do-or-die affair. We have a philosophy in Ilaje that when we come across a non-violent man, we are not violent, but the moment we come across a violent man, the story changes. That is to tell you that nobody can lay claim to monopoly of violence.

So, we advise against violence; we will maintain peace and we will conduct this election peacefully. I am not desperate, but I am confident of victory.

There seems to be division among the PDP family in the state, how do you ensure that this does not affect your performance at the election?
If anybody is saying that the PDP is not cohesive this time round, I see that as a serious error because we have done a lot of underground work to ensure proper reconciliation.

Using Ilaje as a case study, for some time, Chief Olusola Oke and myself were not in good terms, even with Dr. Ibukun Omotehinse and a host of our leaders. But we thank God that today everybody is working in harmony and there is no problem, we have put that behind us.

Even in  a family, you cannot rule that out, there will always be misunderstanding. So, as far as the PDP in the state is concerned, everything is intact.