The Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Dr Sunday Solarin, shares his thoughts with BANKOLE TAIWO on the controversy surrounding the distribution of palliatives by the Dapo Abiodun administration
What is your assessment of how the government handled the distribution of palliatives in the state?
First and foremost, we should ask ourselves how we got to a level where our lives have to be dependent on the distribution of food items for survival. This “Almajiri” system is not only alien to our culture, but also condemnable and not sustainable. We are not wired to be dependent; we are a people with pedigree of industrious, creative and entrepreneurship instincts. The weaponisation of poverty by the APC administration is fast becoming potent in changing our cultural identity. Many households can barely survive this unwarranted prevailing hardship. This notwithstanding, there is no way the distribution of the palliatives will be systematically efficient in the face of poor or absolute lack of data.
It is a spontaneous reaction to the alarming state of abject poverty that’s overtly ravaging the land and expectedly, the distribution will be inefficient, ineffective and skewed. The public reactions trailing the ill-fated gesture say it all. The handling of the palliative distribution has shown the obvious ineffectiveness of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration. It is really a shame that this is happening in Ogun State
How will you react to the allegation by the government that it is the opposition that is behind the condemnation trailing the distribution of palliatives in the state?
How can that be true? Are we saddled with the responsibility of getting these palliatives down to the people? It is laughable that this rudderless government is heaping its failure and lacklustre performance on the opposition party. If care is not taken, this government will begin to blame us for any misunderstanding between couples in the state. This is another irrational and reckless comment from the government and we should just ignore it because such allegations really didn’t add up.
People felt that their expectation about the overhyped distribution of palliatives had been dashed and they came out to vent their anger and frustration but rather than the governor to come out and tell the people of the state the true picture of things, he sent his spinners out to begin to concoct what best existed in their imagination. The people are not happy, and they are showing their dissatisfaction but here we are seeing the government spewing gibberish.
As I said, we never had it this bad and so distasteful. The opposition didn’t advertise the distribution, the government did. How will the failure of the exercise be the product of media efforts of the opposition? This government is being hunted by its predetermined insincerity about the exercise and it should be courageous to face the backlash. Let it be responsible for once.
What do you think the governor should have done to remedy the situation?
Can you give what you don’t have? The governor lacks the capacity to resolve the problem primarily. It is an aggregated systemic failure that requires sustainable institutional frameworks and addressing some macroeconomic variables that can restore family dignity. It is not a one-off effort as envisaged by the current handlers of the machinery of government. However, efficient data mining and management can be put in place in the short run, if the governor is truly interested in reaching the people and solving their problems rather than this haphazard voyage of palliative distribution. This advice will however be for a leader who is ready to do it rightly.
In general, what do you make of the second term administration of Governor Abiodun so far?
There cannot be any valid assessment of Dapo Abiodun’s second term yet because it has not taken off. The governor is just waking up from a deep slumber. He just swore in his commissioners, and he is also still being hunted by the knowledge of not winning the election. So, he is scared to put his gear in the drive mode…notwithstanding the rejected outcome of the election petition tribunal.
The agitation has been about cutting down the cost of governance, but Governor Dapo Abiodun on Tuesday said that he was set to create an additional four ministries of Energy, Minerals Resources, ICT and Digital Economy as well as the Ministry of Youths separated from Sports. How do you reconcile this situation?
Sincerely speaking, creating more ministries may not in a robust consideration be a bad idea if it is meant for impactful governance. However, this current administration is characterised by evident ineptitude and reckless loan accumulation without commensurate development. Finding jobs for the boys is primarily the main mission here. One will not be surprised by the poor quality of people Governor Dapo Abiodun will put in these intended new ministries. The nomenclatures are good but what about the sincerity behind it? For example, minerals resources remain an item on the Exclusive List of our constitution, what then will be the necessity for the creation of this ministry without an enabling legal framework? Taxpayers’ monies will not stop being wasted if the welfare of the people is not the main focus of any government.
What is the latest on Damilare Bello, a PDP lawmaker representing the Sagamu Constituency I in the Ogun State House of Assembly who had for some weeks been in the DSS detention over the recent cult killings in Sagamu?
He has been released on bail after being charged by the police. It is a mere political witch-hunt, but we are not perturbed.
What is the latest as far as the decision of the party to appeal the recent tribunal ruling on the governorship election?
We are resolute about further pursuing our case before the appellate court. We are optimistic that the appeal will address all the areas where the tribunal obviously erred and failed to accord our cause the right justice. The matter will be put before the panel that is savvier in legal knowledge and we are confident that the people of Ogun State will be happy about this because they deserve better than what they are getting currently. Delay is not denial; the residents of the state should keep faith with us.
How soon should the people be expecting the party’s governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, back in the country? Many believe he has left the fight to dislodge the APC government to his followers.
The governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, will be back pretty soon. He has not abandoned the mandate the people of Ogun State willfully gave to him during the March 18 governorship election. The matter has moved to the appellate court and that must have indicated a determination to fight on, and also our belief in the judiciary. He has not left the battle to his followers; we are all in it together and together, we are succeeding.
