Engineer Raufu Aderemi Olaniyan, a retired civil servant and member of Accord Party who recently decamped from Accord Party to the ruling APC in an interactive session with members of South West Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP) in Ibadan expresses optimism about his chances to be the next governor of Oyo state as well as the need for Oke ogun to bring out their best to contest for governor if they are serious about ruling Oyo state excerpts
You recently left the Accord Party, where you were a key member to join the All Progressives Congress. There are feelers that you want to be governor; wouldn’t your recent move amount to adding to the already over-bloated number of governorship aspirants in the APC? And let’s also ask what transpired between you and Senator Ladoja that made you leave the party?
Life is a continuum. Nothing is static. I was formerly in Accord Party but now I am in APC. So many people may insinuate different things but the key reason is that my people want me in APC. I was in Accord Party and when I came back, I don’t know how they managed to know, the representatives of APC and their leaders in Oorelope Local Government came to my office. They said ‘we want you in APC’. It was my first day in office after I came back from a foreign trip They have been able to monitor my trip. the leaders of APC used to come to my house. Some of them even accused others of anti-party activities. The Chairman of APC would come to my house with APC branded vehicle and park it in my compound for as long as five hours sometimes. So it is not that I just woke overnight and decided. When you are in a political system, who do you need? You need your people. So it is not as if it is from the top or anything. It is my people in Oorelope that said ‘we need you in APC.’ All their executives, including the party leaders came. Some people are going home to lobby to join parties and they will say no to them . I did not lobby. I did what my people wanted; they were the ones that said enough is enough in Accord.
Your going to APC has swell up the number of people aspiring to become governor of the state in 2018 because it was learnt that you are also eye the seat sir
You are asking if my going to APC will swell the number of aspirants. To what? Is it up to 1,000 already? So it doesn’t make any difference. The political space is wide enough for 1,001 aspirants to come out but there will be some yardsticks through which they will be decreasing by elimination.
If you want to look at the aspirants, there is no way three parameters will not be considered, you want to know if that aspirant is sellable, is he a reliable person, is he a credible person, among other parameters. So you can see that if there are 1,001, one will eventually emerge.
You were with Senator Ladoja, you were the de facto backbone of that party. Now that you are no longer there, the powers that be will not be too happy with you. Maybe you felt they used you or they were not giving you value for what you were doing for them. But now that you are in APC, do you think you won’t be treated the same way.
Let me quickly correct that, I was not the de facto backbone. As far as I am concerned, I am Mr. Nobody. I didn’t aspire for any position; nobody can say it was because he wanted to be this and he didn’t get it that he left. Like I said earlier, my people said enough is enough in Accord, we need you somewhere else. I remember one day, just after the Morning Prayer, around 10 minutes past six, four elderly men came to my house. Two of them incidentally were my bosses between 1973 and 1975, they were NTC farmers, I was working with them as a labourer so I still look at them as my bosses. They said ‘we want you in APC, we need somebody to be our arrow head’. That was more than a year ago. My reply then was that when we get to the river, we will know how to cross it.
So it is not that I have any problem with anybody.
Your relationship with Senator Rashidi Ladoja, what is it like now?
It’s okay. In my office, I remember I drove one lady out of the compound because she used a derogatory word against Senator Ladoja. I told the gateman never to allow her enter the compound again. So it is up to that level.
You are aspiring for the number one seat of this country. What is your driving force? Why do you want to be in that position? And APC seems not to be on ground in your constituency. The last election, it was Labour Party that won, the rerun election, it was Labour Party and you said you joined APC because your people want you to. Isn’t it because they want to use you to achieve certain aims or they want to use your financial strength?
Now you are trying to tell me what to do. Aspiring for the number one position of this state is not for me as a person, I come from a bloc, I come from Oke Ogun. When the chips are down, from time back, whether in the Western Region, Old Oyo, New Oyo, they always say Oke Ogun has abundant resources, abundant land for agriculture, no one ever talks of abundant human resources. So if I see myself as part of that abundant human resource, what stops me? And anytime they pick any governor, they start looking for who can be deputy governor in Oke Ogun. I can tell you that I have been called severally to be deputy governor, but I will not mention anyone. But I always wondered what for?
Why did you refuse those offers?
I didn’t have time. My people had different responsibilities for me. I have made my mark, without being immodest; I thank God, what am I created for? It is not just to put on agbada but for people to feel me. If not because my religion does not allow trumpeting, and even in Christianity it is taught that when the left hand gives, the right should not know. My people want me, they know me and I am dancing to their tune.
Sir, in Oorelpoe, it seems that APC was not on ground because the last election favours Labour party more than APC or Accord where you were then even during the rerun election it was Labour Party that won
Talking about Labour Party winning the election, the politics of Igboho is more than what you are looking at. Even when Accord did not win the election, the day we met the APC Chairman, he said it, he believed I was a problem to the APC in Oke Ogun. When all their permutation and calculation showed that they were going to get 13, at the end of the day, they might get 9 and when they ask, they will say it is Engineer Olaniyan.
They came during the last election which you spoke about, the party organ moved to Igboho, they stayed for 9 days. I was not in Nigeria, I came back to Nigeria on Thursday, got to Ibadan that night, the following morning, I moved to Igboho. The Chairman told me all the beautiful permutation and arrangement they had made on ground, Olaniyan just came in overnight and scattered it.
The Honourable that eventually won came to my office to thank me. He said he knew that if I had not moved, he wouldn’t have won. We are all in Igboho, and we are all related one way or the other. The last Honourable was assassinated, that alone gave room for sympathy or consolatory votes for that party. I decamped in Igboho, I registered in Ward 9, the first meeting of that Ward 9, apart from various Accord Party members that registered, we had 15 members of PDP. This is no longer Olaniyan from Accord, Olaniyan has joined APC and I have my supporters all over the state. In Oluyole Local Government, it was massive decamping from Accord to APC. It will happen in North West very soon, it will happen in Saki very soon, I think May 12 or so. It will happen all over the state but we don’t have to make noise. We don’t have to abuse anybody.
You moved from Accord to APC. It is general knowledge that Accord Party does not have tolerance for internal democracy, APC is equally guilty. Won’t you be like an outsider in this system? How do you plan to make it when there are many big names in this contest, especially from Oke Ogun?
When you take your dictionary, try and see the meaning of the word ‘underdog’. There is always an underdog in any setting. Even when you line up football teams in the World Cup, you will find out that there will be an underdog that will spring surprises.
So you are banking on surprise?
Don’t worry. If you are going for a competition, do you want to eliminate yourself?
But your party, APC does not hold primaries, so how do you want to jump from being a member of the party to the candidate? How do you want to challenge the status quo?
You keep saying in APC, in APC, has APC not been producing candidates? They have been producing candidates and they have been winning elections.
There is also this trend in APC that by the time the candidate emerges, it leaves a lot of people disgruntled and leads to an exodus from the party.
Are you a member of APC? (General laughter). There is no way in any political setting where they want to pick a governor, where 92 showed interest, and one person must emerge, internal wrangling is bound to occur but there has to be a mechanism to resolve issues. Through which you will tell members to take it easy. If they have not been taking it easy, they will not be winning.
I want about the activities of your foundation and what it has been able to achieve especially as it concerns health. Why did you decide to spend so much of your resources on a project like that?
Before I answer your question, I will say “astagafurulahi” because what you want to force me to say is not what I am supposed to say. That foundation has been in existence since 2003 but I don’t want to make noise about it. If you go to Rome, I have a partnership with Catholic Hospital; they have my name on their board. We have a partnership on free medical services. They normally give me a discount of 20%. If anybody is sick, go to the Hospital, they will send the bill to me. I have a standing account with Atupa Eye Clinic in Iseyin. At the beginning of the rainy season like this, the farmers will be having Hernia, they attend to them. Pregnant women and people with other health issues are attended to. There was a time the government even felt insulted. When I went to one General Hospital, I saw the condition, I had to provide benches when I saw that pregnant women who were attending ante natal clinic were standing, not for 20 minutes, not for 30 minutes. I provided benches and hospital mattresses for them. The generator that was not working, I worked on it, the borehole, same thing and when it was becoming too much, that government reacted that this man, you want to take over the responsibility. As at now, I have 7 medical students of LAUTECH that I am responsible for their fees, those that are not medical students are there too. Out of the seven medical students, I only know the parents of one, the others, I don’t know them.
What are we created for? Look at (Senator) Adeleke of blessed memory now? What can we go with? We saw him yesterday, he had damask, he had fine guinea, he had Atiku, look at it, he went with none. So this thing is going round the state, the headquarters was formerly at Igboho.
There are some determinants as regards the governorship in Oyo State, Baba Adedibu was one of them, he is no more, same for Aare Arisekola Alao, we however still have some of them like the Alaafin of Oyo, Otunba Akala, Chief Koleosho and the incumbent governor, what is your relationship with them? Secondly, Ibadan, the state capital has been producing governors, except Akala, which many said happened by mistake, I’m not undermining your town, but do you think someone from Igboho can become governor?
Thirdly, there are many big names aspiring to be governor, some have contested before, the likes of Seyi Makinde, Teslim Folarin, do you think you can outshine these people in terms of publicity and some other things?
Lastly, there have been so many promises before now from people aspiring to be Governor and when they get there the status quo would remain. How do you plan to make a difference?
The issue of godfatherism or determinants, Iku Baba Yeye, Chief Koleosho, the incumbent governor, I want to categorically say that all those people you mentioned are people I relate with, I don’t have any problem with anybody. Governor Akala was my boss and we never had issues, Iku Baba Yeye, the Alaafin, ah! I am a Yoruba man, I know what is expected. Chief Koleosho is an elder statesman, I relate very well with him. So I can tell you, mention anybody in the state, I am okay with them, they are okay with me. You said Oke Ogun, when Ibadan has not produced enough. I think that is a mistake. We all have experience to take home. When Jesus Christ was born, was he from a rich family? Was he from an oligarchy setting? Look at Obama, he is a black man, his wife is black but people never believed he could do it. Dream killers would see you and ask you, can you fly? Do you think you can do it? So if Obama could sail through in the United States, an Oke Ogun man too can sail through if Oke Ogun brings their best.
So are you the best from Oke Ogun today?
I am not saying that. I am saying if Oke Ogun brings their best, if they bring a marketable person, you can market an Oke Ogun man in Ibadan. If he has credibility, if he is reliable, it doesn’t matter where he comes from.
Even from the Oke Ogun that you are talking about, we have the likes of Barrister Adebayo Shittu, Senator Fatai Buhari, Professors Dibu Ojerinde and Adeolu Akande, Hon. Omodewu, if you change your mind about contesting, which of these people would you support?
I have told you earlier that anybody who wants to be Governor, either from Oke Ogun or anywhere else should have those three criteria I mentioned; he should be marketable, he should be reliable and credible.
This is not the forum to assess, Professor Dibu (Ojerinde) for instance has not said he will contest.
And like I said earlier, just like you have big names in football, you can have an underdog winning the game. If I decide I want to contest, I will make life better for the people and I have been doing that, so it will continue if I am elected as governor.
Oke Ogun is supposed to the bread basket of Oyo State but when it comes to storage it becomes a challenge. What are you doing to ensure that the level of wastage is reduced?
They keep having produce without a value chain. One thing is to produce cassava, another thing is to harness the value chain of cassava. If I decide to run for governorship, definitely, that is going to be my focus because if you produce something, you have to provide for storage, for marketing, you have to have insurance in mind.
Do you know farmers that farmers in Oke Ogun are poor? Those who built houses among them did so through BAT, then NTC. If you apply the system of NTC, farmers will be happy. The worst of their products is what they eat. The worst yam, the rotten tomatoes; those are what farmers eat. They prefer to eat the rotting ones so as to be able to preserve the god ones for sale. So we will provide an enabling environment, it doesn’t have to be government. It has to be private partnership.
There is no reason a big time cassava processing industry cannot be in Oke Ogun. There was a year I lost over 50 hectares of cassava. I am a farmer, I plant cotton, maize, soya and at a point I discovered I didn’t need to plant maize because by planting maize, you will be battling with the weather, labour and I observed that if farmers plant their maize, some would not even wait for it to dry before selling.
I would sell three hectares of maize at ridiculous prizes which in the next two months, the price would double. So I decided not to plant maize again, if you want to sell your maize, I would buy it. I have storage. So why can’t we be doing the processing in that area? No government has tried to establishing industry. Why are the roads bad? Because there are no industries. If there are industries and you have to move your trucks to Oke Ogun and the trucks cannot go because the roads are bad, you will be the first to call the Minister for Works that about.
Some of the people in Oke Ogun fond it cheaper to take their goods to neighbouring Benin Republic mainly because from my Igboho axis, maybe about 20 kilometers straight to Ilesha Baruba and to Benin, so why do you need to disturb yourself? So, the government needs to find a means to establish an agric processing industry in that area. It will eliminate joblessness, it will eliminate hunger and the farmers too will be better off.
You are swimming in the pool of APC presently, assuming in the near future, you find yourself in the same party with Senator Ladoja, how would you feel?
I have told you Senator Ladoja and I have no acrimony at all. If he enters into this room now, as a younger man, I will prostrate for him.
You were once the boss of OYSTROMA, now talking in terms of traffic and road maintenance, where did you meet OYSTROMA, where did you leave it and where is OYSTROMA today?
You are a press man; I am not the one that should answer that question. Let me give you an example, somebody told me he boarded a commercial vehicle and when they were coming into Igboho during the day of my declaration, the driver said ‘since Engineer Olaniyan left the government, there has been no one to attend to this road again’. You can see how it was before, how it was when I was there and how it looked like when I left. When I was in OYSTROMA, I had a very cordial relationship with the press, I don’t tolerate nonsense, they don’t tolerate nonsense too. When they come and ask what about this road? I will say go there. One Governor taught me that; late General Adisa. Whenever pressmen went to him, he would say go to the field, whatever you see there, write. When I was in OYSTROMA, there was no road we took money for that we didn’t do so I will say go to the field. Or go to people using the roads and ask them.
There was no OYSTROMA before in the state, I was the pioneer chairman and to the glory of God, it became a household name.
You were once a labourer, a clerk, then you went to school and started working. Where did you make your money and who is Engr Rauf Olaniyan?
Up till three years ago, I was the biggest cotton farmer in the South West; people normally come from Nikki in Benin Republic and from Kaduna to buy my cotton. I was initially buying seedlings from Zaria, but now I have a consignment of seedlings in Benin Republic. If the farmers there are preparing seed for the year, they will plan my own. And I can tell you, it is indeed a lot of money. I have already purchased a Gin A machine and government job does not stop you from doing farming.
When I retired, I became a contractor. Now, I have a Wordl Bank project I am handling for Osun State Government by my private company, it is a project of over a billion Naira. If I tell you I am an Engineer, I am correct, if I tell you I am a businessman I am correct and if I tell you I am a farmer, I am also correct. I bought my first car in 1986 from my farm produce. I was supplying maize to Nigerian Breweries and Pfizer. You know the area I come from, I was following my father to the farm by the time I was four or five years old. I knew there was something there. I knew what Awolowo said in 1963, I knew what Akintola said in ’64. All their campaigns were done in front of my father’s house. I don’t want to so much here because I have not said I want to contest but I know if I am at the helm of affairs, we will go less to Abuja cap in hand. Look at it now, if we tell all Local Governments in Oyo State to have agric farms. I remember up till the Bola Ige administration, every school in Oyo State had school farm. My secondary school then was producing more than enough eggs. We had school poultry, so why can’t we go there? Why can’t we say each council must have an agric farm of not less than 20 hectares, plant whatever is convenient for your area. Are we not going to make money? Are we not going to employ Agric graduates? There is abundance of wealth in Oyo State.
