Senator Ajibola Basiru, the Senate Spokesperson and lawmaker representing Osun Central Senatorial District, speaks with TOPE OMOGBOLAGUN about the Osun State governorship election and other issues
How do you feel about the victory of your mentor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate?
Well, I will say that I am overjoyed that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu won the primary, not just with a simple majority, but with overwhelming support across the country.
As you are aware, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), stressed the importance of the party having a formidable candidate capable of instilling confidence in our party members in the run-up to the election. That person, I believe, is Bola Tinubu. I believe he will also apply his knowledge of governance, finance, and management to the dream of a greater Nigeria.
I am very happy that the overwhelming majority of the delegates agreed with him, and from the result of the election, you discovered that his support base is really the type that cuts across ethnic, or religious divides, and it is indeed a unifying factor. Tinubu is committed to the party’s goal of producing the next president of this country. I am confident that with this, the All Progressive Congress has already put itself on the path of victory in the 2023 general elections.
What role did Osun delegates play in his victory?
Asiwaju’s triumph in the primary election transcends any state’s vote. According to the final election results, he received 1,271 votes out of roughly 2,000 delegates. You’ll learn that he has a pan-African mandate. It transcends all racial, cultural, and religious barriers.
I won’t want to concentrate on the fact that there is a progressive party in Osun State. Of course, Asiwaju has our unwavering support. Beyond that, Asiwaju serves as a political unifier in Nigeria and a bridge-builder. Consequently, you can see that even his closest rival got just a fraction of what Asiwaju got.
Former Governor, Rauf Aregbesola was among the first to express his congratulations to Tinubu. Given the schism between both of you, will you all work together to ensure Tinubu’s victory at the polls?
I don’t have a problem with Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He has his own politics to play, and so do we. Yes, he congratulated Tinubu on his victory in the primaries; however, in the build-up to the presidential primaries, I don’t know what role he played. Certainly, he was not visible in the contest.
The only thing we got to know was that he accompanied the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo to the meeting of the South-West leaders in Lagos which maybe was an indication that that was his preferred presidential candidate. He (Aregbesola) didn’t play any role that I know of nor was he at the convention. The primary has been won and of course, everyone is welcome on board to work for the success of the party.
Meanwhile, I know that Asiwaju is not someone that bears grudges against anybody. Before the convention, I know Asiwaju made a lot of effort to reach out to Ogbeni Aregbesola. Now that the election is done, and every camp has to collapse into one, everybody is welcome on board.
As the Oyetola’s Campaign Organisation’s Director-General, do you think Oyetola can win the forthcoming election going by the fact that he won the 2018 governorship primary by a margin of about 500 votes? Don’t you think Adeleke stands a chance this time?
Mark my words, Adeleke will be a serial loser. He doesn’t have what it takes to be a governor because he has no relevant experience in any field. He is somebody that got to school after he had contested the governorship election and he is being called to come and administer a state of 4.8 million people, which is absurd. It should be a thing of shame even for the political party that is fielding him.
Beyond that, Governor Oyetola’s sterling performance in the past three and a half years speaks volume and is commendable and worthy of being re-elected for.
These achievements cross the areas of infrastructure. As I speak, more than 500km of roads have been tarred and completed, and other very relevant infrastructure development has been underway as well.
In the area of health, he has done marvellously well. More than 320 primary health care centres have been completed.
In the area of education, aside from ensuring the vibrancy of the education sector and reverting to a 6-3-3-4 system, he has also recruited 1,000 teachers and properly trained and given them the necessary wherewithal to be able to work. The recruitment was based on merit and not politicised so that standards will not be compromised.
Of course, in terms of social intervention, he is very useful in supporting traders. As I speak today, he has supported traders to the tune of more than N2bn in terms of interest-free loans. There is also the feeding programme which is called “Ounje Ileri,” and this is aside from the school feeding programme by which public school children in primary schools get fed on a daily basis with nutritious food.
In addition, there has not been a single hour of strike in the public sector in the last three and a half years. Not only are salaries paid promptly every month, a sum of N300m is also committed to the payment of arrears for pensions accumulated over a long period of time.
Most recently, he released an additional N1.1bn for the contributory pension scheme. In all ramifications, he has been able to use his vast experience in the private sector and, of course, public sector experience, having been in government since 2010, to manage the resources of the state. So you cannot be comparing Oyetola to Adeleke, who is not even a close match.
Considering the rift between Governor Oyetola and Aregbesola, a number of supporters actually defected, and some are still aggrieved that Mr Adeoti didn’t eventually emerge. Do you think some of those factors might work against the sitting governor?
It was a democratic contest. So I don’t want to talk about any rifts. My leader, Chief Bisi Akande, said when there are political contests, you resolve them at an election. There was a primary election where Governor Oyetola got 222, 000 votes and the man you mentioned got 12,000. Even when he was in court, he did not challenge the result of the election. He only went to court on a rather false claim that Governor Oyetola did not resign as a member of the caretaker committee. Even after the primary election, most of those people that you call faction did not defect. They are back in the fold with only a few elements who have their own personal agenda.
As of today, our party is intact and solidified under the leadership of the chairman, Gboyega Famodun. Even those people you claim belong to a faction, during screening for forms, they collected for the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, and Senate, and came to the secretariat headed by Famodun for screening.
The seats of the All Progressive Congress National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and Senator Abubakar Kyari, are vacant in the Senate but the Senate has not declared their seats vacant. Why is that, sir?
I think the question should be addressed to the Senate President and the leadership of the National Assembly. I know that their letters of resignation have been read at the senate, but whether that has been done or not, I cannot really comment because I have not been able to attend some Senate sittings.
The Supreme Court recently dismissed the suit by President Buhari and the AGF against the National Assembly. What do you have to say about that?
The judgement has been given by the court. The outcome shows that our position in the National Assembly is correct. It also shows that the President is not getting the proper legal advice from the Attorney General.
Based on party primaries, a lot of senators will likely not return. At the last count, I think it was at least 42. What do you think will be the effect of this on the parliament?
It has always been those who are not coming back. It’s not because they did not win the primaries. Some left for other opportunities, such as Senator Obinna Ogba, who won the PDP primary in Ebonyi State, and Senator Uba Sani. There are several other colleagues, like Senator Aishatu Binani in Adamawa State. Then some contested and did not get the ticket. It is part of the challenge we have in terms of constitutional memory.
Fortunately, there are also senators who had experience in the 9th assembly that will ultimately make it to the 10th assembly.
One of the beauties of democracy is that people have the right to renew the mandate of their representatives every four years. It is also a challenge for politicians to ensure that they do as much as possible to become elected at every round of elections.
