Prince Oladiran Iyantan is the current Honourable Federal Commissioner of the National Population Commission (NPC) and one of the leading light of the All Progressives Party (APC) in Ondo State. He is a grassroots politician in the state.
This interview was conducted after the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election Akure, the capital city of Ondo State on Monday, July 20, 2020 in which the incumbent governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu defeated other candidates with overwhelming victory.
He spoke with the Editor-in-Chief of SOJ WORLDWIDE ONLINE NEWS, Adesoji Omosebi
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THE INTERVIEW:
Sir, what is your reaction to the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary held at Akure on Monday in which the Governor of the state, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu won convincingly?
Most fundamentally, our expectation was met because we did not expect anything less. The incumbent governor that won the election yesterday has done very well.
(Cuts in) In person of Arakunrin Akeredolu.
He has performed brilliantly well especially in the delivery of the electoral promises to the people of Ondo State. Because our expectations from our politicians is for the people in government to embark on programs that will impact positively on the lives of the citizenry in the area of health, education, agriculture, industrialization, and infrastructural development.
This man has done wonderfully well in these areas. So when you have such person at the helm of affairs, the only rational expectations of everyone is to allow him to continue for the people to enjoy the dividends of democracy.
When I was young my father had a small hotel where it was more of entertainment arena than a lodging hotel. So prominent people in the town then would come there to relax, civil servants of those days, workers in hospitals and some elites come there. So when there was very new hit music in town, I mean music from Ebenezer Obey or Sunny Ade. That choice would be one of the first places to savour the beauty of the music. Whenever the music is played and the music is sweet and beautiful, the people would tell us to ‘encore’ the music. I was in primary school when I knew the meaning of encore.
(Cuts in) What is the meaning sir?
That is to repeat something, especially when the performance is good you will encore it. So that is what we expect in Ondo State, we have to encore this performance of Akeredolu because we want to continue to savour the beauty of his performance. I want to tell you that no matter what anybody might say the fact remains that the people of Ondo State, the generality of the electorates are in his support.
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So we, the leaders of the party in APC and statesmen and elder statesmen in Ondo State and to the best of my knowledge through interactions, the citizens of this state are yearning for the second tenure of Akeredolu. And that was what was aptly captured in the recently concluded primary which he won with a landslide victory. His votes and victory reflected support from all the segments of the state. They all voted for him, it wasn’t a one sided thing or that it was confined to a particular Senatorial District or to some Local Governments. He won in all the 18 Local Governments. And that is what we would be expected in the governorship election in October 10, 2020.
I saw you having rapport with all categories of party members especially the youths in your home country, ‘Aye’ and Akure yesterday, how are you able to manage these set of people?
The youths are the strength of a nation and they are also our future leaders. Every nation relies on the strength of the youths to make progress, so they are very important and we must devise a way of relating with them. We must try as much as possible to relate with them and try to do our bit in promoting them to be a better people in terms of vocation, education and everything. So these I have been doing for them and it has established a good relationship between us. Am always at peace with them because I understand their psyche and I know that by the grace of God those are the people that we so much rely on in doing most of the things we do. So we must not shy away from the fact that they are indispensable to us. And when we talk about grassroot politics, with all sense of humility, I am a ‘grassrooted’ politician.
I interact with all strata of the society and I am very much at peace with them no matter how lowly or highly placed so I can conveniently blend with very poor people, the masses as well as the powerfully rich individuals.
Where is you political base?
I am from Okitipupa Local Government Area that is my base; precisely ‘Aye’ that is where my political Ward is. But you know because of the scope of the politics we play, the whole state is my political constituency.
Generally, with the politics of Ondo State I can say that I am at home with all segments of the state. In all senatorial districts I have my friends and my people there. Most politicians of all categories acknowledge my relevance in the scheme of things in the state and I relate very well with them.
Sir, you and the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi come from the same Ondo South Senatorial District. He left the ruling party, APC for another party, PDP. Didn’t you advice him against the action?
Really I was not seriously in the knowing of what transpired. I knew that he had a strained relationship with his boss and it is strange to me. Because in this clime, this is the first time we would experience such thing. We have had governors and deputy governors feuds in the past but it was not in our character in southern senatorial district to stab our benefactor in the back.
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We are very patient and persevere in everywhere we see ourselves so our expectation of him is that he would have managed the crisis more maturely and diligently than he did and still remain in the party.
Apart from the governor being the boss, the governor was magnanimous enough to make him a Deputy Governor. He was a very young member in the party as at that time. The Governor had a lot of followers who were aborigines and founding members of the party that are very committed to the him at all times with high expectation of emerging as deputy governor at that time.
But in his own wisdom the governor preferred Agboola whose choice ignited some crisis and hullabaloo within the party which the governor successfully managed.
So if I were the Deputy Governor I would reciprocate that kind gesture by being tolerant and loyal to the governor and the party at all times or at least during the duration of their tenure.
What would be the outcome since he has just decamped to another party to vie for the same position of his former boss, what do you have to say?
Well, everybody has the right to aspire to any office; I think he must have thought of it before embarking on the journey.
And to the best of my knowledge he is not a threat to our party, APC in the Southern Senatorial District.
We know ourselves and we know the categories each and every member belongs. We know that he is not going to be a threat to us. He is not going to be a major issue. Probably he will have a substantial influence in his own parts of his Ese-Odo Local Government, that is, in Apoi Wards which he belong. In the Ondo South generally, I don’t think he is going to put up any superlative performance that can have any meaningful impact on the direction of votes. The incumbent governor is going to win comfortably in the south because he has lots of respected associates and loyalists from the south that have clouts and well grassrooted.
So Agboola Ajayi is not a threat at all to us, I can say that emphatically.
What do you have to say about the politics of Ondo State?
Politics generally, is an exciting game especially if it is played according to the rules and Ondo State is not an exception. Ondo State politicians are versatile, intelligent, articulate and well informed hence, I so much enjoy the politics of the state. We are pacesetters in political activism in Nigeria always conscious of our rights. So all these things can be garnered towards promoting an egalitarian society; because my people will not take too much nonsense, they are not patient with non-performing politicians.
So when you understand their idiosyncrasies you blend and enjoy them. You will enjoy every bit of it and that is exactly what is happening. I admire my people and I like their ways of politics.
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What is your political aspiration?
To me, from my own religious perspective, I believe that there is nothing a man can get except it is given by God. The Bible says promotion neither comes from the east nor from the west, promotion comes from above. If you release yourself for God to take absolute control of your life, He will chart a course for you.
I could remember all the political patronages I have enjoyed came through the magnanimity of God. I have not actually gone out to desperately look for an office but the one I have gotten came naturally even when I didn’t know. So I know that God will continue to direct my course in the journey. So I put my fate absolutely in the hand of God but I am ready for any responsibility or responsibilities that might be bestowed on me by my people. I am ready to serve them in any capacity they deem fit or necessary for me. And I am ready to give the best of what God has deposited in me in reciprocating his love by paying my own dues to my people in my own little way.
So that is my take.
Ends
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