• Reveals why APC, PDP are losing followers

• Ondo South has been shortchanged, he laments

A former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State who recently defected to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) ahead of the State governorship election, BANJI Okunomo, in this interview with our Correspondent, Olorunfemi Samuel, speaks about the chances of the PDP, APC and the future of the ZLP ahead of the election on October 10, 2020.

What can you say about the chances of the PDP, APC and the future of the ZLP ahead of the election on October 10, 2020

Since 2012, let it be known that the Peoples Democratic Party has not won the governorship election in Ondo State. After the tenure of Late Dr Olusegun Agagu from Ondo South, he spent 6years. Power shifted to the Central with Mimiko who contested on the platform of Labour Party and won, he recontested under the platform of LP and won again. Mimiko moved his entire structure of the Labour Party and government to Peoples Democratic Party. The PDP government as of 2013 was not PDP from its foundation, rather, it was a government founded by the Labour Party. Since 2012, let it be known that the People’s Democratic Party had always fielded her candidate from the unfavoured zones. It fielded in 2012, they lost to Central. It fielded again in 2016 and they equally lost. The APC is not likely to win in this election because, in Ondo State, you can only likely win a second term if you have performed in your first term. If you haven’t performed in the first term, it is difficult for the people to repose confidence in you again. The first term of Mimiko was adjudged to be a period of performance of Dr Mimiko.

The second term was tough while he polled 43 per cent of the total votes cast and the other two opposition parties shared 57 per cent. As it is, it is very obvious that Gov. Akeredolu has not performed unlike when Mimiko was in power, many of the elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission was won by the Labour Party of Dr Mimiko unlike in the ruling APC. You will recall that the last Presidential and National Assembly elections were won by the opposition parties as against the government in power. The education sector of Ondo State is decaying on daily basis. The school fees introduced by this government is on the higher side, in fact, it has never happened in the history of Ondo State for a government to increase students school fees. Even the school shuttle bus system which is obtained in the primary school under the previous administration, the system is no longer in existence; some people even alleged that the shuttle buses are taken to the Eastern part of the country where the wife of the governor hails from.

What is your view about the economy of Ondo State?

In terms of the general economy of the state, many people of Ondo State are living below the poverty line.This is the first time in the history of Ondo State, and since the creation of OSOPADEC that this government cannot point at one single footbridge that this government has done. The footbridge I’m talking about is the nearest minimum that the government can provide for the people of the mandate area. All the empowerment programmes that use to be in OSOPADEC are no longer in existence in this present government. We gathered that the place (OSOPADEC) has been taken over by the governor’s family. What I’m saying, in essence, is the government has failed in all sectors.

One of the core promises of this present government is that they will ensure the electricity in the Southern district here is revived but the situation is even worse than no part of this state you can see a glimpse of electricity. All that can be used to measure the performance of a government, the government has scored beyond average which means the government has failed.

With the history of how political parties fielded their candidates since 1999 that you gave above, are you suggesting that your Senatorial District (Ondo South) is shortchanged?

By the analysis of how the state has been ruled so far, the North has spent 12yrs in power viz Baba Ajasin (4yrs), Baba Adefarati (4yrs) and Akeredolu (4yrs), now, if he is planning to run for another 4yrs, that means by implication the North will rule for 16yrs while Ondo South has ruled just for 6yrs even the 2yrs is regarded as the year of vanity because it was declared void by the court. By the number of years, it is clear that the Ondo Southern Senatorial district is shortchanged.

Do you think your new party ZLP can win this election?

The ZLP is an amalgamation force, forces from PDP and APC joined together. The party that picked from the favoured zone has always been the party that won election in Ondo State. What matters to the people is the force of the candidate and the district the candidate comes from. From 1999 till date, the governor that reigned then was elected on the platform of AD, the second round was PDP, the third round was LP and the fourth round was LP and now APC. It can also be predicted that the party that picked the candidate from the right zone will win the election.

As it stands, APC picked his candidate from the North (the incumbent governor), PDP picked from the Central (Eyitayo Jegede) and ZLP from the favoured zone South (Agboola Ajayi). The APC and PDP candidate is confronted by a serious challenge of featuring candidates from the wrong zone. APC government is swimming against the tide after 12years of rule, in the same vein, PDP is also swimming against the tide after 8years of unbroken government from the Central.

The ZLP is more or less a movement because it is a collection of the masses that want to take their destiny into their hands and that is the person of Agboola Ajayi. APC has an internal injury, PDP is worst because the party is breaking up faster than the APC because PDP is an opposition party which should ordinarily conform to the standard of the way of life of the people but impunity has taken over, in a situation whereby the candidate who emerged through a primary and didn’t score overwhelming vote because he scored 888 out of 2036 votes due to the fact that many aspirants from the South came out to run because it is the turn of the South to produce the governor. It is expected that the PDP candidate should be magnanimous in victory by incorporating other competitors as to making a government of unity but the first two legs of the PDP candidate demonstrated to the party that he is not ready for governance.

The overbearing influence of the candidate of the PDP in swallowing the structure of the party at the expense of every other person who contested against him in the party primary. The lack of political findings in the picking of the deputy governorship candidate of the party which was fundamentally pointed was that the deputy governorship candidate is from the political camp with the governorship candidate and the governorship candidate clearly made statement to party leaders that he cannot work with any of the aspirants that contested with him. He deceived even the aspirants upon the recommendation of the elders of the party. He jettisoned the idea of the elders and went ahead to pick his own choice which turns the party into chaos and at the last count, he said that it is his money that he used to win the primary election, thereby, undermining the entire structure of the party from the youths to the women and to the elders. So, to be forewarned is to be fore-armed.

The woes of the PDP today is as a result of the undemocratic spirit and the attitude of the governorship candidate of the party who believed that his political experience is so shallowed that he cannot decipher the gross implication of not listening to the elders. Any political party that loses his members at this critical time of a political evolution cannot muster the needed strength to come to power and that’s exactly what is happening to PDP and that’s why PDP will lose this election.