Oyo 2011: Why Adeojo is a better candidate - Adesina

25-10-2009

Biyi AdesinaBiyi Adesina, of Sobaloju family, was born and bread in England. He returned to Nigeria to play his part in the country’s political scene. He speaks with Senior Reporter Lanre Olabisi on Oyo state politics and who he thinks could be the new leader in the state. Excerpts:

When did you venture in politics?
As far back as 24 years ago

When did you start being relevant in Nigerian politics?
During, Alhaji Lamidi Adesina’s tenure as Governor of Oyo State

He brought you formally in to Nigerian politics?
Lam Adesina was supposed to be my political father till date, if not for personal reasons.

What are those reasons?
Well, if you insist, Lam Adesina is like a father to me and he will continue to be a father and a political leader to me notwithstanding our differences

What then went wrong between a son and his father?
I will give you a straight short answer. Lam Adesina is a nice person but when it comes to taking political decisions, he is weak because he takes and listens to advice from sycophants that surround him, to give him wrong advice or impression about individuals.

Is that why you crossed from AC to PDP?
I have an ambition to make this state an envy of other states in Nigeria and all over the world, irrespective of the platform.

Do you see a particalar party as a better platform of achieving this?
Nigeria is not democratic. It is based on who you know and amount of money you can offer. It is simple and we know it that if you don’t have a political leader and a big purse, you are nobody.You must be ready to tell lies to get what you want in Nigerian politics.

Do you now have a political father or leader?
I used to have and to be sincere with you, the leaders were Lam Adesina and Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu

What have you learnt from them as political leaders?
I gained nothing from both leaders. With Lam Adeshina, I lost a huge amount of money because I have one gift from God that whoever I support to be the governor will surely be so I supported Lam Adesina morally and financially to be the Governor of this state in 1999 which I was not in anyway compensated for. For the Garrsion Commander (Late Chief Adedibu) I believe that he would have done what he promised if not for death.

Did you support Alao-Akala to be governor?
If not the gift from God and my contributions Alao-Akala would not have been the governor of this state. I contributed morally and financially to his campaign but at the end of the day, I was not recognised or compensated by him also.

Don’t you think the leaders were not comfortable with your utterances?
I don’t mind saying and voicing the truth and damn the consequence of saying the truth, no matter whose ox I gored. I’m a courageous person who is ready to lay down his life for the suffering masses of the country especially my people in Oyo State.

What leader or kind of leaders do you now believe in or that can govern this state?
Good question. The kind of people who should govern this state are many to mention. People of good background, education and who have one way or the other been tested before in a big corporate organisation.

Can you mention a few that you think can change the face of this state?
People like Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, Senator Lekan Balogun, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Professor Taoheed Adedoja and a few others can do this state proud.

In the PDP who do you think should be voted for as the governor of this state?
To be sincere, we have three gladiators who have been vying for this post in the last 10 years. Two, out of the three have been tested and they failed woefully and that is why I will advice my people to give the third person a chance to be tested and that person is Alhaji Yekini Adeojo who I have only met once and had a brief conversation with.

What is your reason for this?
Adeojo is a thorough bred politician. We all know the problem we normally have when we have a new governor. They used to struggle with other established politicians over control of governance or politics in the state, hence for months after getting to office, it is civil war silently. But I believe with the personality of Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, it is not likely that somebody somewhere will make the state ungovernorable for him. And when you have political peace, development in all ramifications is sure.

What, if he is not interested in contesting?
Then that is his own decision, if he doesn’t then, there is nothing stopping me from contesting because I am also qualified to do so but I will prefer him to contest because he has suffered a lot for this governorship thing and of which he deserves it this time around.

I learnt you’ve committed so much to your political career, can you quantify this?
Honestly, I can’t. For over 24 years, if I want to put down figures, I’m sure it will be alarming that nobody will ever believe me.