Hon Segun Ogunwuyi is a member of the National Assembly, the only lawmaker that was elected on the platform of labour Party who defected o the APC last Thursday at the National Assembly, in this interview with Remi Oladoye in Ogbomoso, he explained why he joined the APC , his relationship with Former Governor Alao Akala, and qualities the next governor of Oyo state should poses and other issues.Excerpts:
You defection into the All Progressives Congress is coming several months after your leader Governor Adebayo Alao Akala declared for the party, what delayed your movement into the APC
Thank you, as you know that there is time for everything, I was elected on the platform of Labour party and we have laws and rules that guide our conduct as a representatives of the people under a political party, no matter the political terrain , you can’t just jump ship so I stayed back in Labour party because I believe that that is the party that sponsored my election, but unfortunately the party was and is crisis ridden, because there are two people laying claims to the chairmanship and sorts, politics is about the people , the same people that said we should remain in Labour party are the one that said it is high time we moved out of Labour party and join to the APC where our leader Otunba Akala has already gone ahead, so not moving initially was not political, it is about obeying the law, it is about doing things in a proper and right way.
But some political observers insinuates that your staying back in Labour Party then was as a result of crisis between you and Otunba Akala, how true ?
In politics, there are people who will always insinuate , I don’t have an issue with Oga, there is no crisis or fight or whatever between us, how can I fight someone that is my oga and my father in politics so me not moving when he moved is not as a result of any crisis, personally , I don’t have any issue and I don’t believe we’ll have any issue I am in APC just like his Excellency Otunba Adebayo Alao Akala and I believe that within APC, I will work with him, work with other stakeholders , I will work with his Excellency Governor Ajimobi and I am very sure we are going to deliver the state and all local government by God’s grace for APC in 2019.
Going by the lingering economic crisis and other problems in the country do you think your new party APC stands the chance of ruling the Nigeria beyond 2019.
Personally, I think APC is a stable hand, when we look at the economy, the economy did not get to where we are in a day , it was misrule of several year and it will take time before it can be fixed so if it can sixteen years before we get here I wonder how it gonna take two years or three year to fix the rots, I believe in the present administration led by president Mohammadu Buhari, I believe he is doing his best, and he is the best person around that can take Nigeria to the next level, there can be issue in term of economy, you remember that when he came on board, oil price went down, thank God everything is picking up now and with time, things will stabilize so I believe APC still have a chance because people still trust APC in terms of fight against corruption, in terms of fighting insecurity even when we can see that security is rearing its ugly head again, people should understand that when we talked about guerilla warfare , it’s not a conventional warfare, so they will always come back and try to hit soft target and I believe that the present administration is trying to do their best in tackling insecurity and they will continue to do their best
You said you left the Labour Party on the account of leadership tussle, does that mean APC is also immune?
There is no political party without some internal crisis, because politics is about crisis management but the beauty of it is the ability of a party to resolves its crisis, it is very important. As of today, APC is still the most stable party in Nigeria, whether we like it or not and thank God for the likes of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, he has been saddled with the responsibility of going around for reconciliation, yes it is not an easy task but I believe God will endow him with the strength to be able to resolve the crisis, let’s look at the PDP, they are crisis ridden , even in Labour Party where I was the only House of reps member, two people are still laying claims to the leadership of the party so as far I am concern, APC is not immune but they have a working mechanism to be able to distill and resolve their internal crisis and stabilize the party.
What is your relationship with existing APC Lawmakers in the House of Reps?
We are all brothers, remember that when we did the last election in 2015, we have 12 APC members, one PDP members and one Labour party member, We don’t relate with one another base on political lines, we see ourselves as people from Oyo state, we see ourselves as people that should work together to take Oyo state to the next height so currently we have 14/14, all the Reps members from Oyo state are under the APC banner so we have a good working relationship
Sir what is your take on the agitation for power shift from Ibadan to other zones in Oyo state ?
I think if other zones have a candidate that can lead us which I believe they do , they should be given a chance. I will not want us to sacrifice competence on the altar of zoning , I think Oyo North should be given a chance to produce the next governor but as I said we should not sacrifice competence on the altar of zoning but I believe Oyo North have competent hands and they should be given the chance to rule,
What are the qualities you are expecting from the next governor of Oyo State?
Definitely, the next governor of Oyo state should not be in the stone age, we need a digital governor, what I mean by a digital governor is a governor that can at least know what is happening in the 21st century, I also believe the next governor should be someone that is much more younger than the present governor because when you look at the trends around the world , young people are leading the world , not to talk of Oyo state so we need someone that can lead Oyo state into the 21st century
You are representing constituency, where LAUTECH is located, what do you think can be done to proffer lasting solution to the crisis that usually rocks the institution?
On the school I believe that the marriage between Osun and Oyo state should be divorce, we should have an amicable divorce, not a divorce that could be acrimonious because when you look at precedence, Osun and Oyo use to own The Polythenic Ibadan, when we went our different ways, they gave Osun Ire, Esa Oke and Oyo state retains Ibadan Poly and these schools are doing very well , so I think the mistake was not divorcing LAUTECH as they did to other institutions , thank God LAUTECH has a teaching hospital, it is the medical arm in Osogbo that made the divorce almost impossible so the teaching hospital in Osogbo can be used by Osun state University as well so I think its just the marriage that should be separated we just need to look at the asset and liabilities and share instead of crisis every time , its just for us to sit down as brothers, share asset and liabilities and let people go differently I think that is the best solution
Recently the House of Reps and Senate decided to do a review of the election timetable as stipulated by the INEC and there was a grouse, what actually informed that decision of the house
Politics is a game of number, I don’t see the reasons for the justifications of having three elections, I believe that the election should be the President and the National Assembly together and the Governor and the State Assembly together, as I said politics is a game of number even if you don’t agree with what your colleagues have done, you still have to abide by their position , especially when you are on the floor and the Hi’s carried the day but if I have the opportunity of voting tomorrow whether for against the reordering, I will definitely vote against the reordering that if tomorrow we are trying to override the president assent because I believe the president will not assent to the bill but if I have another opportunity I will still vote against the reordering
2019 is near what are your plans ?
For me I think 2019 is still distance away , though I believe 24 hours is too long in politics but my concern now is on the mandate at hand now, I want to make sure that we use make best use of it in term of representation , advancing our constituency and empowering the people. Even the president have not declare his intention to contest why should house of rep member be in a hurry ? . The most important thing now is making use of the mandate we have at hand to have a good representation, do our oversight as the case may be so that we can have a scorecard when the time comes even if we want to go back
You were a member of House of Assembly before transiting to House of Reps, there is a notion that the state Assembly is under whims and caprices of the governor, tell us the differences between the National Assembly and State Assembly
There are a lot of differences, as much as I won’t want to offend the sensibility of my colleague in the state Assembly , the very big different between the state House of Assembly and National Assembly is the first line charge . They have to go with files to Mr. governor every time for their needs despite the fact that the items are within the budget, there is no way they can be totally independent . The National Assembly Is on the first line charge, the judiciary is on the first line charge , because they get funding to run National Assembly independently , they can be more independent and in state Assembly we don’t have such that is why even in the constitutional review conference where I am representing Oyo state we proposed that the state Assembly should have first line charge so that they can be more independent because he who pays the pipers dictate the tunes so that is the major different funding
Apart from lawmaking, to what extent have you empowered your people ?
Well it’s a long lists but I will try and say one or two things, I don’t believe in empowerment in terms of motorcycle and grinding machines , those things are important to our people and we will try our best to do that , in fact another one is coming up in the next two weeks , in term of empowerment , in my less than 3 years in the House of Reps, we have empowered our secondary school students with past questions for WAEC and JAMB, we have also conducted CBT training for people writing JAMB, we have also trained over 700 graduates and school leavers in basic computing through a program which we run every month for people to be able to use Microsoft office and others application , in term of infrastructures we ‘ve brought rural electrifications to our communities at least four communities in Oriire that have never enjoyed electricity before were not only given transformers but also connected to the National grid and in terms of training and empowering our women, we’ve done training on sopa making , Garri Manufacturing, and many others , We were able to also facilitate ICT center for LAUTECH which I must give credit to the predecessor , she was the one that initiated the ICT centre in the budget but unfortunately she already lost election when the budget was approved , I pursue it and today there is one hundred capacity ICT centre to the glory of God, so we have done what we can within the capacity and resources made available , we try and use it to emancipate our people
Sir if by chance you meet President Muhammadu Buhari today and you have the opportunity to advise him on certain things what you will tell him
I will advise him on insecurity , especially on the issue of the herdsmen, I will say he should be more proactive as a leader, father, and the herdsmen should not be handled with kids glove, irrespective of where they come from either a Yoruba, Fulani or kanuri, bandits should not be spare, I think that is one sore thing that is happening in this country, insecurity, the resurgence of this herdsmen and Boko Haram coming back, when there is security there will be prosperity even economy will bounce back if can do that most our problems are likely to be resolve.
