Dr. Femi Majekodunmi is a chieftain
of All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he speaks on the 2019
general elections and the emergence of Prince Dapo Abiodun as the governor of Ogun
State.
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| Dr. Femi Majekodunmi |
Give us your assessment of the 2019
general elections in Nigeria
For some
time before the election, many of us had predicted what would eventually be the
situation, that is, those that would eventually win. Specifically, some of us, and I in
particular, was very sure that Buhari would win.
Buhari had
his problems and antagonists which are many, but one thing you can’t take away
from him is the love people have for him, which is all over. There is a kind of aura that surrounds him which
makes people love him probably because of his anti corruption stance. But the
fact remains that, he is quiet, strict and an amiable leader.
It is true
that he was not well for some time, and there are many problems still unsolved
in Nigeria, but for one reason or the other the people still want him to
continue, and I am one of them. Changing government unnecessarily for not too
well grounded reason is not good for Nigeria. Let him serve another term of
four years so that he can improve on his first term.
Some people are still complaining
that the economic situation in the country is bad. Would you say his reelection
was due to his performance in office?
His
reelection is partly due to his performance, but you don’t expect at this time
that anybody that will be ruling Nigeria will be perfect. I’m not saying Buhari
is perfect, but he has not done too badly to the extent of not allowing him to
continue for the second term. Many people feel that way, and that is one of the
reasons why he succeeded in defeating his opponent.
Looking at the conduct of the
election, how would you rate the conduct of Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC)?
Again, one
certain thing is that Nigeria is a complex country. No matter what, there will
always be skirmishes here and there, and that is what we had. I won’t say the
election was perfect, but it was okay, considering our system and expectations.
In any election in this country, there will be accusation of rigging whether
true or false. There will be problem here and there, some people will be
injured, some will carry ballot boxes, there will be attempt to rig, and these
cover all political parties.
The opposition Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar have rejected
the outcome of the presidential election and headed for the tribunal. What is
your comment on the rejection of the results?
Nigeria is a
place where whoever loses election never accepts he has lost in a fair and
peaceful election. Whoever loses believes that he is rigged out, and will
always complain. He will always want something to be done by either the party
or the court.
No doubt,
Buhari has defeated Atiku, and it is not easy to defeat someone with over 3
million votes. With that I can’t see anything the court would do. Though I’m
not a judge and I can’t pre-empt what the court would do, but people know that
it will be a futile exercise at the end of the day for Atiku going to the
court.
So, there is no justification for
Atiku to go to court
May be for
his ego, to feel as if he was rigged out of the election. It is normal for any
Nigerian to go to court, but I don’t see him getting anything from the court.
He will only gather lawyers, spend more money and many people will make money
out of it. But at the end of the day, I don’t see him coming near winning in
the court.
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| Gov. Dapo Abiodun |
In Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the governorship election against all
odds and the wishes of Governor Ibikunle Amosun. How would you describe the victory
of Prince Dapo Abiodun?
Let me say
that all of us, that is, myself, Amosun, Dapo Abiodun, Chief Osoba and many
other leaders are all together in APC. Problem started when Amosun arranged his
own primaries to the disapproval of members, and the controversies and problems
raged on. At the end of the day, Dapo Abiodun was confirmed as the candidate. I
personally appealed to Amosun to work hard to restore his mandate if possible.
But if by December 2, 2018, he couldn’t, he should respect the party’s decision
that confirmed Dapo Abiodun as the party’s candidate. But fighting it beyond
that date would lead to destroying many things he had built in Ogun State.
Let’s face
it; Amosun did well in his eight years. He is seen by many including me as the
architect of modern Ogun State, if only in the development of roads and few
other areas. But to continue to fight and disagree with the party, insisting on
going to anti party activities, is taking it too far. Worse still, he started
another party and got people into the party including his governorship
candidate.
Some of us
knew he would not succeed because nobody succeeds in situation like that. We
predicted what happened to Amosun and it came to pass.
As it is today, is Amosun still a
force to reckon with in APC?
I believe in
reconciliation. No matter how bad the situation is, the best thing is to
reconcile. Amosun is still in APC and
all of us are in APC, though it is true that he has been suspended. But I don’t
think anybody would want to remove him as member. I believe he loves APC and he
wouldn’t want to leave the party.
At the end of the day there will be
reconciliation, provided he has learnt his lessons and he is ready to cooperate
because there were moves to reconcile Amosun and Dapo Abiodun long before the
election, but he refused.
Dapo Abiodun
cooperated and was more interested in reconciliation. He was ready to give
whatever Amosun wanted provided it was something within his power, but Amosun
was never ready to consider that gesture from Dapo Abiodun.
As a close ally of Dapo Abiodun, tell
us the kind of person he is
Dapo Abiodun
is like a younger brother to me. We’ve been together for quite some time. He is
a straight forward person, firm and someone who is serious minded in whatever
he does. I have no doubt that he will be a good governor. He is a team player
who will carry everybody along, and will not do anything that will tarnish his
image. He is a very responsible gentleman, and someone I can vouch for any day.
What should the people of the state
expect from his administration?
As a team
player, Dapo Abiodun is very passionate about the development of Ogun State.
The state is going to witness a better form of development under his
leadership, because development will spread round the state unlike Amosun’s
administration that was accused of concentrating development in an area. Dapo
Abiodun will do better than that, and I have no doubt in my mind that he will
continue from where Amosun stopped.
Ogun State
is very lucky to have Dapo Abiodun at this time because he is versatile, brilliant,
serious minded, very responsible and would do justice to all the assignments
ahead of him.
What do you think Dapo Abiodun would
do differently as governor compared to Governor Amosun?
Expect
better spread of development al projects from Governor Dapo Abiodun than Amosun
provided there is enough fund. Like I said, he will be a team player unlike
Amosun who is not. He will not be as autocratic as Amosun. I won’t blame Amosun
for anything because that was the way he could manage the state, and that was
part of the problems people saw in him, but I can assure you that Dapo Abiodun
will do better.
If you have the opportunity of giving
Dapo Abiodun one advice, what would it be?
I will
advise him to see his election as God made, and continue to thank God
throughout his tenure. By thanking God, he must be Godly, continue to be a team
player, carry people along at all times. He should continue to be passionate as
far as the development of the state is concerned, while ensuring that developmental
projects are evenly spread across the state.
He should
remember the hapless people of the state, such as those whose houses were
demolished without compensation, who really suffered under Amosun.
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