Why agitation for Osun West so strident – Okanlawon

Semiu Okanlawon is the Special Adviser to Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. In this interview with ADEOLU ADEYEMO, he spoke on the preparation of the APC towards the state governorship election, the achievements of his boss and why the agitation for the West Senatorial zone in the state is so strident, among sundry issues. Excerpts…

You have less than two months to the conduct of the governorship election that would produce Governor Aregbesola’s successor. What is your party doing in preparation for the forthcoming election?
Being the ruling party, we have a duty not to be complacent. Although, the Aregbesola administration’s unprecedented feats are there to ensure our party wins, that is not to say that we are not preparing. The hurdles of primaries will have to be crossed first. We are faced with the task of ensuring we present credible candidates for the governorship election and the general elections coming up in 2019. The processes of selection will definitely follow the rule of law and due process.

What are the chances of your party in the next election with all these intra party rancour? Are they surmountable?
What you call intra party rancour is a normal process expected where choices are to be made and ambitions are to be pursued. No matter the differences or seeming hostilities, crisis, conflicts, the victory of the party in the state is not threatened. This government has done well and far beyond what was expected given the state’s meagre resources and that tells you that the people of the state have tasted what is delicious and compared that with what was sour. If it’s you, I can guess your choice as well.

What’s your take on this unending agitation for Osun West Senatorial District to produce the next governor of Osun State? Don’t you think that the clamour is as a result of possible marginalisation of that part of the state in developmental schemes?
I agree with you that the clamour has been so strident perhaps more than any other time in the history of this state. It is to promote a total sense of belonging. And you cannot say it is uncalled for, but that is also not to say that the West senatorial zone of the state you refer to has been marginalised. There is no part of this state where development projects have not taken place. And if you have a governor coming from the West, it is not as if he is going to be the governor of the West senatorial zone or cause all development works to be diverted to the zone he comes from. For instance, Aregbesola is from Osun East but his government has done more work at the Central zone, especially Osogbo, the state capital than any other parts of the state. And this is understandably so. Osogbo is our showpiece; a place we can present to the world as our masterpiece to which we can bring agents of development for the entire parts of the state to grow. But back to your question, it is a legitimate desire and no one can say it is wrong to so desire, but I can assure you that it won’t tear our party a bit.

How would you x-ray the performance of Aregbesola in the last 8 years since he became the state governor?
The story of Osun under Aregbesola is one of total rebirth. Rebirth in the sense that when you view the entire years of the state after its creation to the very year Aregbesola took over in November 2010, you compare that with the almost eight years now, that is roughly two decades versus less than one decade. When you then place the gains of the earlier two decades by the side of the gains of the last less than one decade, you will see a clear picture of a dogged mission to transform before you.
In clear terms, no one can controvert the fact that the last eight years have seen the kind of roads never seen under the first two decades. Ditto for schools. If you say some other administrations built schools or roads, the question also arises what kind, type and qualities of roads and schools they built. Were they enduring? Can those who built those schools or roads today be proud of what they built in the face of the Aregbesola schools and roads? You know the answers!

Could you point to some of Aregbesola’s achievements in the length and breadth of the state?
Let me shock you with this fact! Though we have physical infrastructure to show in all corners of the state as evidence of our mission to transform, but we hardly want to celebrate those as much as the achievement in the area of total re-orientation of our people. You see, you cannot build something on nothing. No doubt, the bane of the black man today, stultifying his progress and inability to catch up with the real beauty and essence of quality living is wrong orientation. We are so soaked and immersed in the wrong attitudes that we hardly believe our lives could be better save we thread the path of dishonesty, crookedness and other less edifying paths.
But the Aregbesola administration, convinced beyond doubt that the Yoruba, before the seeming widespread descent into indecency, held noble ideas about how to live life. They called this the Omoluabi ethos or orientation. It was what simply differentiated a Yoruba man or woman from the rest. This must show in your business transactions, education, social, political and other pursuits. But overtime, those values were thrown to the dogs. And there came the bedlam. It is that confusion that daily rule our lives and have destroyed the very essence of our being.
But this government said “No!” We won’t continue like that in this part of Yoruba land and so, the re-orientation of our people. No matter how much you try, if you spend massive resources to provide infrastructure, a badly oriented populace would make a mess of it. With that in place and with the entire world now knowing this is the state of virtuous people, the drive is there to come and do business with us and then the hopes become more robust that our economy would grow most especially having been supported by the needed infrastructure such as roads, good schools, relaxation environments, security, health and positive engagements of youths who would have constituted nuisance to your efforts if you had not done anything strategic to engage them. We feel fulfilled with this value rejuvenation more than anything else, including the huge physical infrastructure that we have been able to put in place.

Some aspirants in your party are contemplating defecting to other political parties if their agitation on zoning is not considered. What effect do you think it would have on the chances of your party at the polls?
I can tell you that no one will leave this party. Those you think might be embittered to the point of leaving are those I foresee leading the campaigns of whoever emerges as the candidate of the party at the end of the day. Only one person will succeed Aregbesola as the next governor. Baring that in mind, whoever is pursuing a governorship ambition is doing so with the flexible position that if it comes his way, fine, but if not, it won’t be enough to turn his back and move to another party. And by the way, which party do you see confronting the APC in the election?

How optimistic are you that the party would not be rejected by the electorate?
I told you earlier in the course of this interview that this government has done so well that it is the people who own the government and would want to keep and guide it jealously. When you have a government that makes the people the centre of all its policies; who feel the impact directly, there is no other expectation but for them to protect that government. Call it self-interest and you would just be right. Don’t forget that this is a government that makes one provision at least for every category of citizens. Children eating in schools and making use of those playgrounds in the public schools to aid quality education have their shares of good governance. Women have their shares through school feeding as food vendors, the general populace have there roads, ambulances and security vehicles to protect their lives. Civil servants have benefited from increased car loans, trainings, those in the informal sector have benefited from one loan or there other in our micr-credit scheme to boost petty businesses and reduce poverty. There are more! With these, each voter has a reason for which he wants the APC tendency to continue.

What is your message for those that would not be picked among the aspirants?
Honestly, whether you realise your ambition or not, it should be considered noble enough to be counted among those who have been part of this edifying history of developmental agenda in Osun. Who would not want to be counted among those who have been instrumental to this historic elevation of the state from the backwaters to what all of us can now be proud of? From whatever dimension you choose to look at it, Osun, has moved immeasurably from its old self and assumed the status of a state where dreams can now be realized. So, the advice is that we all have a state to continue to build and I am of the deep conviction that whoever does not fulfill his ambition today, as long as long as this party holds sway, we have very bright chances of continuing to play positive roles as we move on as a state.

There are fears in some quarters that the APC may not fear well in the coming election if it fails to pick its standard bearer from Osun West. Do you share this position?
While I don’t hide my legitimate desire for the West which I also come from to produce the next governor, I don’t subscribe to the views of those who insist that the moment APC candidate is not from the West zone, the party has lost the election. I know that the agitation is real, genuine and legitimate.
As I stated earlier, it is to forge a sense of belonging. But at the heart of these clamours must be the sustenance of the development path which Aregbesola has carved out. The next governor does not even have to be your everyday, typical politician. But what we must not compromise is that he must be one who can articulate the development agenda already place and must possess their stamina to carry it on.

Would you agree that Aregbesola is in dilemma on his succession plan?
I do not see any dilemma over his succession plan. The fact that you have seen so many aspirants jostling to fly the party’s ticket and struggling to have his support does not mean he is faced with any challenge. I am quite sure that deep inside his mind, Aregbesola is a happy man seeing so many people eyeing his seat especially within the APC.

How do you mean?
Had Osun gone to the ruins in his first four years in office, had the state gone into bankruptcy under him, had everything been turned topsy turvy; had he rendered the state so hopeless that people don’t even know where to start from, do you think so many people would be attracted to the office? I know that leadership recruitment is not something that is strange to this governor. And if you really want to help him, you can even scout for and suggest people with great potential to be recruited into positions that would further enhance the achievements we have recorded so far.
Take for instance, I personally as far back as 2016 April, had had opportunity to begin to examine outside the mainstream political family to see whether there could be other potential successors to Governor Aregbesola. A very influential organisation based in Iwo had invited me to a meeting. I asked what if Aregbesola was encouraged to look outside the mainstream political arena to produce a successor who would play less politics but be more focused on driving on the legacies he is going to bequeath to us?
I was asked to suggest names. I didn’t have qualms suggesting the likes of Prof Lai Olurode, a UNILAG don and former National Commissioner of INEC; Engr. Lere Oriolowo who was, as at that time, still in service as a Permanent Secretary and Alhaji Lere Alimi, a Chattered Accountant and former Group Managing Director of Optimum Exposures. Even in recent time, I have had cause to suggest names, such as former Acting Vice Chancellor of the Osun State University, Prof Tola Alamu or even the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Mr. Waziri Adio.
The fact is that the whole of Osun is blessed with dynamic young, forward-looking professionals who could be encouraged to come into the governance process in order to bring new ideas into governance after Aregbesola.
But above all, I am more than confident that Aregbesola is not faced with any challenge in his succession plan and by the time these issues are resolved, you would come back to give me kudos over this.