Barrister Morohunkola Thomas is the Executive Assistant to the Executive Governor of Oyo state Senator Abiola Ajimobi on political matters, in this interview with our crew, he spoke extensively on the issue of Local government election and why the appointment of caretaker chairmen for councils and LCDA in the state. Dr Thomas also reacts to the outburst of Barrister Adebayo Shiitu, Minister of Communications and a gubernatorial hopeful in the state over the state of affairs of the party in the state Excerpts .
Sir people are disenchanted about the continuous appointment of caretaker chairman for local government by the Ajimobi led administration for local government in Oyo state , some even described it as fraudulent and undemocratic, as a executive assistant to the executive governor on political matters what do you have to say about this ?
The recent appointment of caretaker chairmen was necessitated by the fact that the proposed local government election was suspended because of the litigation that was brought against government by some traditional rulers in Oyo federal constituency and because of the fact the local government could not be left alone without a political head, the governor decided to appoint people to man those local governments , you will find out that the governor has a prerogative of appointing those people that he appointed but in order to democratize the selection process, the governor actually set up a committee that was saddled with the appointment of the caretaker chairmen and this committee was comprise of political leaders from all the seven zones of Oyo state so it was actually this committee that recommended the name of those people that were appointed now so the governor did not appoints these individuals on his own, he did so with due consultation with all the various group but you find out that, in a political situation like this you cannot satisfy and please everyone, you cannot satisfy all the tendencies within the party one of the important thing the governor did was to make sure that whoever was recommended by that committee was find out to have out to have spend out two years has spend over two years as chairman of local government were not re appointed so as to give rooms for other people with fresh ideas in the running of ideas of local government in Oyo state so it’s actually not fraudulent , it is not undemocratic due consultation were taken.
But some members of the All progressive Congress especially leaders from Oke Ogun zone said they were not consulted before imposing some people as their chairmen and that led to a kind of protests which took place during the screening of the nominees
Oke Ogun had representatives on that selection committee and that selection and appointment committee took nominations from all the local government and the LCDA in Oyo state so it is wrong for them to assert that they were not consulted, if your candidate did not emerge, it does not means that you were not consulted it just means that at this time your candidate did not succeed. May be there were criteria laid down that their candidates did not meet , so it’s wrong for them to say they were not consulted , due consultation were made, not only by the selection and appointment committee set up by the governor but also by the governor himself , this appointment took almost a month to be concluded and that shows that consultation were going on, meeting were held on the appointment every day for a whole month throughout the month of march, that was what the governor was doing so for some people to say they were not consulted is wrong, I think some people were pushing certain candidates but those candidates at this time did not meet it , we need to remind them on the fact that, this appointment last only for three month, we are hoping that by the grace of God the litigation would have been concluded or out of court settlement would have been arranged and the local government election could have taken place so whoever did not emerge in this round of appointment we urge them to wait for local government election, if they collected nomination forms at that time
Is it not possible for the governor or the electoral body to conduct election in those local governments where there were no litigations?
Yes you see when you are conducting such election, you have to consider the financial implications, you have to consider the operational circumstances and if you have to take out a particular section of the state out of the entire state for this election issue, you have to incure more money and this is a time that funds are very scarce, we are only managing to survive we believe that the election will actually be hold because the government is almost exploring out of court settlements with the individuals that went to court and we are hoping that that will happen very shortly.
The Honourable minister of communications barrister Adebayo Shittu in an interview recently accuses Senator Abiola Ajimobbi, the executive governor of Oyo state of running the affairs of the party with impunity, how true
I think the honourable minister goofed in making such an assertion, what is impunity, this minister should count himself very lucky to have actually been appointed, what were his roles did he play during the 2015 election,
He said he coordinated the zone ‘
Which coordinator, what did he coordinate did he even win his polling booth, the APC did not even win in his polling booth he was not involved ,remember that this man canvass openly for the candidate of Accord party in the last election, he did not only did that, he actually took the candidate of his party, that is the incumbent governor , Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi to court challenging his nomination, he was putting all kind of legal roadblocks on the way of the party from winning that election, if we had lost that election I am sure shittu would have decamp to Accord party so what impunity is he talking about, this governor is restructuring the party, he is reforming and reinvigorating the party, when we set up council of elders that were inaugurated last week, is that impunity, is it involvement of credible and notable leaders across all the local government coming together to advise the government and move the party forward, it’s that impunity, is that not democratic, is that not the way to run the party, is Barrister Shittu a financial member of this party, what contribution has he made to the party, what was his contribution to the election, what role did he play even in his local government Saki West in the course of the election, we were on the road campaigning for governor and president Buhari, Barrister shittu was not involved , I remember vividly well that he surfaced at Mapo when the then General Buhari came for campaign after that he fizzled out again, so he has not integrated himself into this party, he is not rooted in this party he doesn’t even know the affairs of this party, how can he be describing the action of the governor and the elders as form of impunity, I think that is far from the truth
Part of his argument is that the introduction of the elders advisory council which the governor inaugurated is unconstitutional
In running a party and the society, you are not only guided by the constitution, you are also guided by the convention and tradition of that party, this party is a progressive party, this party has a tradition, it has a tradition of involving elders and leaders in running the affairs of the party, the situation in which you have too many young and educated people in the party, they need to be guided , they need to be tutored by the elders who have had years of political experience, what is wrong in involving such people , even the president is doing it, he is consulting the leaders of the party across board , so what is unconstitutional about it, when you run a party just based on constitution , it is not complete , constitution is just a grand norm of the party it is not the only guiding rules, the tradition, the convention of the party must be respected and that is what we have also done
So why did the governor not invite him for stakeholders meeting
When last did he attend meeting in his local government and his wards , when last , the governor attends his own meeting in Ibadan South West as well at ward 12 meeting in Ibadan south west, I do, when last did the minister attend party meeting in the state,not only in the state even in his ward and local government , you see, you can be a minister, It doesn’t matter, you can be a governor ,it doesn’t matter what matter most is that are you a credible party member, are you an asset for your party or liability, what I have seen is that if he want to be a good member of the party let us see him start in his ward and local government
Is it true that the governor is trying to block some influential people within the party from succeeding him in 2019?
That is laughable blocking who, what is the strength of Barrister Shittu, this governor is not running election again and he is not going to handpicked anybody , you see the process are there, well stated in the constitution of the party, if you want to throw his hat into the ring as he has said , he will face other competitors, it is not the governor that is running with him ,he is not interested in who becomes the governor , He is only interested in running a good administration while he is here, if he want to contest, he doesn’t have to malign Ajimobi to emerge as a candidate , maligning Ajimobi will be a minus for him because this is a governor that has contested election four times once as a senator he won, three times as a governor he won two times , so he had won election 75% of the time he had contested and who is shittu to be blocked by Ajimobi, there are other candidate, what are other candidates not talking about Ajimobi blocking them, Ajimobi as I talked to you is not favouring any candidate, is not supporting any candidate, he is not blocking any candidates, and what is the political weight of Barrister Shittu to be blocked , when last did he win an election in this state , even in Saki West, I remember in 1999, he ran for the House of reps did he win that election, I remember he also ran for governorship on the platform of CPC, he did not even win up to 3000, votes in the state so who is Barrister Shittu to be blocked by Ajimobi, is just like comparing hell and heaven
But as a serving minister he must as garnered some connection and political strength
Well let him wait till 2019 to test his popularity, let him wait, 2019 is around the corner, I heard people from Oke Ogun are saying now that this is a minister that has not even been useful to them but that is neither here not there, but let him wait till 2019 to use the political strength he has gathered with all his ministerial weight that he is carrying around, Ajimobi is not going to be the umpire, is it not the INEC, and the party, let him wait, I learnt that he was talking about the ondo experience , well they will meet Oyo people on ground here because what they don’t know is that in Ondo state there was not a sitting governor but here there is a sitting governor, there is a well organized pary , a party that is so organized down to the ward level where impunity will not be allowed , where manipulation of the electoral process will not be allowed, if anybody is thinking of federal might to have his weight, they will find it difficult in Oyo state here because here we are building a party that will stand the test of time
