The chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, Mr Ade Adetimehin, in this interview with PETER DADA, speaks about the party’s preparation for the 2023 general elections, among other political issues in the state and nation
The campaign for the 2023 general election starts today, what’s the preparation of your party as far as election activities are concerned?
You know, Rome was not built in a day. As a party, we’ve been doing our normal things since the beginning of the party primaries. What we are not allowed to do is the open campaign. Now that the campaign is starting today we are very much ready to do our part and ensure our party, the APC wins the election. The most important part is the regular meeting of people and we have been having our regular meetings every day.
We have regular meetings at the local government, ward and unit levels. The APC is an ideological party. We have principles and what it takes to govern society. That is why we have structures in the units and executives across the 4,000 units in the state. We have our excos in the 203 wards and 18 local government areas and all of these excos meet regularly.
Of recent, we started our visits across the three senatorial districts of the state, and this is to make our party members share ideas, discuss how to strengthen the party, and plan what to do to make our people happy. In all of these meetings, attendance has been very high and people are joining the party daily.
Ondo State has many support groups for the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. What are you doing to make proper coordination of these groups so there won’t be clashes in the long run?
All these support groups are members of APC. Like I told you, the party has structures in all the units and wards but these support groups are to compliment the party structures. Support groups aren’t political parties; I find them to be like NGOs. Since they’re not a registered political party, all they are doing is giving backing to the party. If you have a support group, you either register with the state or with the national headquarters of our party and when you register with the headquarters, they give the group the go-ahead with the intent to strengthen and synergise with the party in their state. So, when the groups come to the state, we check their letters again and direct them to the local government where they come from.
How sincere do you think these groups are? Don’t you see them as trying to benefit from people and the campaign funds?
With due respect, some are genuine while some are not. We will work with those that are genuine and curtail the ones that aren’t.
How will you identify those that are not genuine?
Well, the genuineness in them will make them comply with the order asking them to go back to their local government and complement the structure there. But if they want to work in isolation, without carrying the party along, you know they have ulterior motives. As long as they are synergising with the party, you know they’re genuine.
There is a problem with your party on the issue of the same religion ticket. Christians are the majority in Ondo State and we learnt that some party members are not satisfied with that arrangement. How are you managing the situation?
Within us in the APC, Christians and Muslims coexist and we don’t discriminate. What we are after is good governance. Every religion is good. A Muslim, as well as a Christian, is looking for good governance, even the traditional worshippers. It now depends on who can lead them aright. You are not going to lead based on religion. So, we are together and we’ve been coexisting. Our target is good governance. Again, I believe that you don’t place candidature on religion, rather it’s about performance. You can pick Christian/Christian and you do better than a Muslim. Also, you can pick Muslim/Muslim and perform better than a Christian. So, it is about individual capacity. For me, we must place less emphasis on the issue of candidature based on religion.
Akeredolu in Ondo State built a mosque in the Government House. There is a church and mosque and there is no problem. So, we should emphasise on religion less.
There are lots of problems in the country, particularly those of insecurity and the economy. Some are saying your party’s presidential candidate may have nothing to tell Nigerians during the campaign. Do you think APC will be better after the 2023 general elections?
Well, I can tell you that of all the presidential candidates at the moment, I don’t know of tomorrow or the future, our own, Tinubu is the best in terms of antecedent, performance and capacity. He performed as a governor and senator. Asiwaju is a man who believes in the materials around him. If you look at his environment, he goes with the best materials. By the time he assumes office, Nigeria will be better than where we are now.
There is fear in some quarters that Northerners may back out to vote for their person during the election. What do think about that?
Who is their own person? Is it the People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate who is from the North?
What about the New Nigeria People’s Party presidential candidate that is also from the North? Has Atiku delivered Adamawa since he’s been in politics? What those people are saying is mere insinuation. The APC is a party that cuts across religion. The bulk of our supporters is from the North. You should know that the APC national chairman is from the northern region. Our party believes in equity while the presidential candidate is from the southern part of the country. So, everybody will vote for their party. The national chairman must deliver the North. Is our national chairman not their people? He was a two-term governor of Nasarawa and a three-term senator. Of all the political bigwigs in the North, nobody can say they are more popular than him. So, he will deliver. When you talk about northern politicians, our chairman is first to be reckoned with. He has never lost a state since the beginning of this dispensation. So, is Nasarawa not part of the northern region? Forget insinuations, we are getting there.
We learnt that some of your members in Ondo State are aggrieved, especially some aspirants who believed the outcome of the appeal panel was silent after they have appealed the result of the primary election. What is your reaction?
Well, I don’t know what you mean by aggrieved aspirants but I can tell you authoritatively that the APC in the state is one family. Nobody is aggrieved and all of us are working together. Mind you, I’ve told you that we have our regular meetings at all levels in the state. Look at the political parties in the state, the APC under Governor Rotimi Akeredolu is the only party with cohesion. You can go to the nooks and crannies of our party in Ondo and you will observe that there is no single dissenting group or faction.
How were you able to resolve the issue that surrounded the outcome of the last primaries in some constituencies?
One thing about our members in the state is that our main target is good governance. Our main aim is to lift the party to the Promised Land by placing the interest of the party above individual interest. Yes, we may see some aggrieved members but the interest of the party is uppermost in our minds.
Are you not worried that such aggrieved members may defect to another party at the eleventh hour?
Our members believe in the interest of the party. What they put in mind is how to sustain and strengthen the party. I can tell you that of all the political parties in the state, APC is the only party that is organised. Nobody is leaving. People are coming in daily to the party. the ones we need to and we do some quietly.
What’s your take on the appointment of Governor Akeredolu as the South-West Coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima Camping Organisation, what do you think qualified him ahead of other APC governors in the region?
Well, in terms of capacity boldness and forthrightness, he’s a man that fits in. Additionally, he’s the only governor in the South-West to have won election by 55 per cent of the total vote cast. Nobody has that record. His record is what he needs to take to the race to the remaining part of the South-West to see that APC comes out on top in the forthcoming elections. And being the chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum, he’s the one coordinating the southern governors. He can reach out to other opponents that are not in the APC. I guess those were the areas the leaders looked into before selecting him.
What is your message to your members out there?
My message to APC members in the state is that they should go and work for the success of the party. They should go out and mobilise and make sure that our party comes first in the forthcoming 2023 general elections. I thank them for being there always and standing with the party.
