Senator Kamorudeen Adedibu was voted out of the federal legislature in the last general election. The scion of the late strongman of Ibadan politics tells STEPHEN GBADAMOSI his current political activities, among other issues. Excerpts:

IN the last general election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor in Oyo State and most of you legislators were removed from office. Wouldn’t you say the people turned their backs on the PDP?
No, I wouldn’t say the people of Oyo State turned their backs on the PDP. What happened happens in politics every now and then; a political party would hold office for so long and then, exit for another party to come in. It happens for the simple reason that people tend to think that another party can do better than the one that is currently there. It happened in 1999 and now. What happened is not strange to politics. But I think the people of Oyo State have seen what is going on. They would know what party to go along with.

Do you mean we have not seen signs that the party that has taken over is not better than the PDP?
Of course, yes. You can go out there and ask other people. I am telling you, the PDP is the best and it will remain the party that Oyo State will continue to identify with.

Some people believed that after you lost the election, you would relocate to the United States, but you didn’t. Why?
Well, I was a politician when I was in the US, I came back to Nigeria and remained a politician. I feel I can do better for my people while in Nigeria than when I was in the US. Politics is not about holding offices, making money and making noise alone. It has to do with helping people. Know the needs of your  people and try to address them.

I have been involved in empowerment programme for women in the rural area before. Presently, I am engaged in another one for 800 rural women all over Oyo State. That is to tell you how much I mean for my people. This programme is being done in conjunction with FIIDA and Bank of Industry. We are training these women on how to maximise profit. We are also going to give them loan to start off and to empower them more. This loan is going to be revolving loan which will go back to the Bank of Industry. We are doing all these despite that we are not in office or in the Senate. That will tell you that we have the people in heart more than anything else.

Aren’t you doing this to remain in the mind of the people as you may be running for another office in the nearest future?
Well, God is the only one who decides what position one occupies, though as a politician one does not want to remain in a place. Doing for people, whether you are in office or not, is what I have been used to. This is what I have known politics to be; service. I grew up within it. Papa (the late Adedibu) would not ask to become governor, senator or president, but he would continue to do things for the people. All his life, he gave to the people. It feels good to be an Adedibu and wherever you go; Jos, Lagos or Kano, people would say the same thing about him. I like to emulate that.

What is likely to take you away from the PDP?
Nothing is permanent, I will tell you that. I hope nothing will take me out of the PDP, because I have stayed through the rough and hard times. I know how much I spent for election. Looking back, it has been very rough but I remain a member of the PDP. Papa never changed party unless it became very necessary. I hope it will not be necessary for me to leave PDP. Right now, I am a PDP man and I remain in PDP.

The PDP is factionalised, particularly in Oyo State. How much reconciliation has been done and what is your relationship with leaders of the party?
I am part of the reconciliation committee and we have taken some positive steps. There is no more faction. We all understand why we lost the last election. We have to come back together; it is a must, not a necessity. And everybody understands this and is working on reconciliation. I thank God that the PDP in Oyo State is back.

Are you saying the likes of ex-governor  Adebayo Alao-Akala, Wole Oyelese, Lekan Balogun and so on are back in the same fold now?
Everybody is back, except some people that have left for other parties and we all know them. We know those who have defected to other parties for good. We won’t allow those back. Yes, the party is open to everybody, but you can force the horse to the river, you can’t force it to drink. They can’t force us to accept them back. Some of them are not coming back; they are gone.

What really do you think made the PDP lose Oyo State, despite Alao-Akala’s perceived performance?
A lot of people will not want to tell you the truth about that; it was  the PDP people that lost Oyo for the PDP. That is the fact; there is no gimmick. Let us take Rashidi Ladoja for example. He left for the Accord Party at the last minute. He was a strong member of the PDP. When he went away, the people he took with him were not Accord Party members; they were PDP members. There wasn’t Accord Party in Oyo State until about four months to the election. There was none of them identified as Accord member before that time. And if you were not identified with Accord, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) or the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), what then are you? PDP, of course. He took a percentage of PDP away. If we add the votes won by Accord to those of the PDP, we would have won.

We are not even talking of the other scenario in which people in the PDP were working for the ACN underground. So, it is PDP people that failed the party.
People say were there to be a kind of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency, it would have rallied round you all and prevent the PDP from losing the elections. What do you think is wrong with President Goodluck Jonathan?

We tried to blame Obasanjo; tried to blame Jonathan or anyone else. The problem of Oyo State is not these people. The problem of Oyo State is the people of Oyo State.