Hon Wasiu Adebayo Emiola is the secretary of the African Democratic Congress ADC in Oyo state , a former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state and a closed allied of of Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja Former governor of Oyo state, in this interview with Remi Oladoye , Emiola described his former boss as a General Without Battalion
My name is Emiola Adebayo Wasiu, state secretary of ADC in oyo state
How prepare is your party for general election sir
We are fully prepare, I want to tell you that all the template that can assure somebody to win an election is in ADC Oyo state , let me give you an example, the state has 6 geo political zone, we are fully on ground, hundred percent on ground in about five of them, in Oke Ogun we will clear it, oyo we will clear it, Oyo we will clear it, we will clear Ibarapa and ADC and ADP will share ogbomoso zone
What gives you confidence that you will share it
Because of our candidate, the house of Reps candidate for Oriire Ogbomoso North and South , Peter Odetomi, is a former chairman of Ogbomoso South local government what has a track record of developing his area and I am sure that he is the best candidate for that area, we are sure of winning
Is ADC not threatened by the fact that the fuling APC and PDP have resources to use for the election?
We are in Oyo state, resources money, doesn’t win election in Oyo state, Oyo state people are so enlighten politically, it is not your money, let me give you example, in when we were in Accord , in 2011, there are some polling booth where PDP will be sharing N10, million and more and we were just sharing just N5000, for logistics , we defeated them hands down, Oyo state people are so wise they will take your money and they will not vote for you
Sir majority of you in ADC today were formally in Accord party, from where you move to PDP and ended up in ADC, can you share what inform the movement from one party to another with us?
Originally we were in PDP , but during the impeachment. The treatment meted to Senator Rashidi Ladoja then, the impunity within that party, we decided to move to Accord , when we were in Accord we discovered that some of the thing we are running away from in PDP are still in Accord too and the PDP people came begging, everybody was aware when Markafi led a team down here, so we accepted their offer, join PDP back, and in PDP we discover that Seyi Makinde is the proprietor of PDP in Oyo state, so that was how we move to ADC where we are now
Senator Ladoja was formerly in ADC before he moved to ZLP, what happed why are many of you not go with him and of what effect is his exit from the party especially in winning the election.?
You will agree with me that, there is no general without battalion, I want to tell you that Senator Ladoja is not a general without his battalion because close to 97 percent of his followers did not follow him, we don’t see the reason why we should follow him, except there are personal reasons that chief Ladoja is considering or has considered, what we have in ADC is a coalition, and when you have a coalition you don expect somebody to take everything, our oga was thinking that he must take everything, because we have 32 House of Assembly members, out of the 32 his own group has about 16 or 17, wherein we have five interest group jostling for all that 32
So his exit won’t affect the chances of ADC ?
No he himself knows that , right inside him because as I am talking to you now he is still begging people, calling them and appealing to them to come back to him, I mean his boys who are in ADC to come back to him.
Apart from Senator Ladoja, the likes of Engineer Remi Laniyan, Dr Kola Balogun and some who are aspirants in ADC have moved to PDP some back to APC don’t you see their exit affecting the party too during the election ?
Let me tell you one thing, personal ambition is driving most of them, living ADC is not because of any ideological reason but their own personal ambition that they want to pursue, let me give you an example, Remi Laniyan when he failed to pick the ticket, I was one of the people he sent emissary to that I should talk to Senator Lanlehin to consider him as his deputy, but he couldn’t be considered because of where he comes from, we believe in fairness, his own federal constituency, that is Olorunsogo, Oorelope and Irepo has already produce a Senatorial ticket for Oyo North so how can they picked the senatorial ticket for Oyo North and still be given the deputy, its unfair we now move to Oke Ogun 1 where we have Iseyin, Itesiwaju, Iwajowa and Kajola to pick deputy, so that was why he left, if he was able to get the deputy he won’t leave
What about the legal battle
It will soon be over, in principle all the gubernatorial aspirants have agreed to withdraw so in the next day of adjournment you will see something
Last week there was a news that another name was pasted on INEC lists as ADC gubernatorial candidate for the state , what is the true situation, has Dele Ajadi’s name be changed ?
INEC has a procedure, when you substitutes names, it won’t reflects immediately, it will take some time before it becomes manifest, for instance, by January 17 all names substituted for National Assembly will be published, I mean final lists of candidate for National Assembly election will be published. By January 31st the final lists of gubernatorial and State Assembly would be published so lets wait till then
INEC Commissioner in Oyo state recently said some political party are lobbying to buy votes card, what is the position of ADC on this or is ADC part of the party lobbying
We want INEC to be specific, let them mention names, they should tell the whole world the party that has been lobbying, that has been disturbing them to buy PVC, let them mention names if not because may be they are trying to sell us a dummy
As a stakeholder, some people are clamouring for change while some are saying that continuity is better for the state , why do you thing APC should be discontinued from ruling the state
Is it continuity of oppression, continuity of clueless administration, continuity of poor education, continuity of poor health delivery, is that what we want, even the gubernatorial candidate of APC knew that he is in trouble, he couldn’t defend most of this things , the things are not there, you can see it, continuity for what, fresh teachers were employed last in this state in 2005, go to some schools now you will meet just four teachers in a school , how will they cope, no instructional materials, teachers buy chalks for themselves, as I am talking to you some teachers have not collected October November and December salary, so continuity of what
What are the things you will use to convince people that you party is better than others and should be entrusted governance of the state.
We will let people know that we have integrity, we have a candidate that could be regarded as Omoluabi, tested and OK when he was a senator representing Oyo south Senatorial districs, trhe record are there, the achievements are there, most of the things that he did then he is still maintaining then up till now with his own money, he is not a loud person, he doesn’t believe in frivolities, he believes in quality and apart from that today in Oyo state he remains the only gubernatorial candidate in Oyo state that is most experienced and qualify
How sir
Government is divided into three,, legislative , executive and judiciary , this is the only gubernatorial candidate that when you are talking about judiciary he has 42 years standing in the bar, if you are talking of the executives, he was a former commissioner in Lagos state, Former special Adviser in Lagos state and if we are talking about legislatives is a former member House of Reps and former senator , so give me the candidate or mention the political parties who can be proud of this feat.
Are you sure when he became the governor he won’t deviate from the integrity and Omoluabi thing you talked about and in particular the manifesto of the party
What does he want again, all he want again is service and taking Oyo state to a greater height, and mind you, its in his gin, integrity is in his gin, performance is in his gin, His father chief Samuel Owoola Lanlehin was the financial treasurer of Action group and Action group being the best political party throughout Africa in that republic and that is the man in charge of their finance you should know what you are expecting, prudency
