Six reasons why APC lost Osun West Senatorial Election to PDP—Chief Abiola Ogundokun + Why Omisore can never become Osun Governor

L-R: Late Sen. Isiaka Adeleke, Ex-Gov. Olagunsoye Oyinlola (3rd Left) and High Chief Abiola Ogundokun (3rd Right)

One of the political juggernauts in
Osun State (South Western Nigeria) and a former National Publicity Secretary of
the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) under President Shehu Shagari, High Chief
Abiola Oladepo Ogundokun
has reacted to the July 8, 2017 Osun West
Senatorial by-election that saw PDP candidate and younger brother to late Senator Isiaka Adeleke (Who died as a
serving senator of that constituency in April), Mr. Ademola Adeleke dusting APC candidate and former senator of
same district, Mudashiru Oyetunde
Hussein
in a landslide victory that has changed the dynamics of politics in
that state.
Ogundokun, an old political horse and former PDP tactical committee chairman in
Osun State spoke to your Africa’s Number 1 Celebrity Encounter blog, Asabeafrika inside his Lagos mansion in
FESTAC on Sunday evening amidst legion of guests and relations who came to
visit him. The High Chief who is equally the Basorun Musulumi of Iwo land
analyzed the entire scenario that led to PDP taking the shine off the ruling
APC and gave his verdict. He equally spoke on other political happenings in
Osun State. Enjoy the excerpts.

Sir, two weeks ago, you gave a
prediction that APC would carry the day in Iwo Local Government and win in the
Osun West senatorial by-election. But yesterday, PDP snatched victory away with
Mr. Ademola Adeleke of PDP beating Senator Mudasiru Oyetunde Hussein of the APC
hands down. And to knock it down, PDP net 304 votes above APC’s vote in Iwo. As
an elder statesman of Iwo town and a veteran political strategist, what can you
say is the reason for what happened?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun

Desperate
protest vote
Desperate Protest votes; what do you
mean by that?
Yes, you
don’t understand?
Maybe you should tell me more, sir?

Senator Ademola Adeleke

There is
abundant evidence of blackmail, distrust and agitation for the need to
understand the plight of the masses. Two, the blackmail has to do with the
allegation made against innocent governor (Rauf Aregbesola) that he killed
(Late Senator Isiaka) Adeleke.
You described Aregbe as innocent but
the majority is not thinking in your line of thought?
I believe he
is innocent because he is not the one who killed Isiaka. Isiaka was killed
through overdose (of medicine) administered to him by his private medical
staff; and we cannot say because there is misunderstanding, we should now blame
it on somebody to blackmail. It is not too good for politics because we must
not create enmity in the name of politics.
But there was a clear perception that
the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke was the most favorable candidate for governor
for next year election and he had been following the Aregbesola’s group diligently
until this sudden death in April. People strongly believe there was more to his
death than meet the eye?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun with Late Senator Isiaka Adeleke

Nobody
knows….you see I don’t ever believe that, how many times have people contested
wishing to be this and that and God…you know God’s wish is the answer to
everything, you don’t say anybody would be. No. it is only God that maketh.
Now, Demola is a senator by the grace
of God, who has made it possible for people to have sympathy and respect for
his family. And it is only God; without the approval of God, nobody can get to
anywhere. To say (Isiaka) Adeleke was
going to be the governor that may be difficult. There are so many potential
contestants. And even before that, people have been complaining, they have been
using all of forms of blackmail and negative campaign; one, because of salaries
and because of retirees not getting (their) monies; secondly, because the APC
itself is turning into factions. There is the faction loyal to the governor,
there is the faction loyal to the party executives, there is the rumor that Aregbe may support a particular
candidate which is forcing many other members to work against the party and
play away their loyalty to the party. So the fall-out of this election is
caused by greed, disunity, dishonesty and lack of love among members of the APC
 (members) who knew that there is a very
strong opposition coming behind them even though, they have their own problems.
And the death of (Isiaka) Adeleke has
helped the PDP to step up. I think there was a big mistake; they didn’t manage
the outcome of the primaries well. I am not party to any of the activities but
what I observed is what I am talking about.
You mean that the APC failed to
manage the outcome of the primaries that once gave it to Demola Adeleke by the
factions at the state level before taking it back to Tunde Hussein by the Abuja
faction?

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

Yes, and
people are making false allegations. I believe the leadership of the APC at the
top ought to have called the party leadership together and resolve the
differences. If they had resolved the differences, it could have been very
difficult for PDP to clinch power. If they have a free and fair election
tomorrow, not with the Adeleke
family, I don’t think PDP can win.
How do you mean, sir?
Adeleke’s case helped to win the election.
(Cuts in) You mean Adeleke’s
misfortune whipped emotion from the electorates?

Senator Demola Adeleke weeping at late brother, Isiaka Adeleke-Serubawon’s grave

Yes, people
voted with sympathy and the Adeleke
family and the PDP made effective use of the media and dissemination of false
campaign.
What do you mean by false campaign?
To say that ‘Aregbe killed Adeleke’, that is not too
good a campaign. To also say ‘Aregbe
hates Adeleke’s family’
. That may not be true.
But you don’t live in the governor’s
heart?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun

I will not
believe the governor would want to hate the people that supported him to power,
because he did not get to power without the support of Adeleke’s people, who have also spend a lot of money. But, life is
not always a bed of roses. Everybody has his own idea. He (Aregbe) believes
that democracy must take its course. I am not party to their primaries, I don’t
know what happened. But the party had too much to contend with, and the
credibility of the governor was being challenged in a manner and the campaign
was used very effectively to diminish him. But one thing is that, there are so
many complaints from various angles of the state, that he did this, he did
that. Like in my own town (Iwo) the
people are really, really desperate; they don’t want to see the king—the Oluwo who went to the central mosque on
Friday (July 7) at the Jumat, asking that Iwo
people must vote for APC when you
know Iwo people don’t even want to
hear your voice. You can make noise, you can fight people, and you can do
anything. People of Iwo don’t want Oluwo, Oba Abdulrasheed.
Are you telling me that his own
appearance at the Friday Jumat  service, urging
people to vote for APC the next day caused people to revolt and vote PDP
instead of APC?

Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi (Oluwo of Iwo)

Yes, yes,
people don’t want to hear him. He would have just kept quiet and use
underground support (strategy), calling his people to support but for him to go
and publicly make that statement at the Central Mosque (Iwo) also diminished
the interest of the masses. He doesn’t want to accept the fact that Iwo people are tired of him.
There was also this perception that
Senator Hussein of the APC was not popular with the people; and that during his
first tenure as a senator, he was much of an Abuja based senator unlike Isiaka
Adeleke who was very close to the grass root?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun (Basorun Musulumi of Iwo land)

I don’t know
Hussein, so I have no right to make
comments on him. I have not had anything to do with him; it will be an act of
injustice to make comment. Those who know him can say what they know about him.
I don’t know him. I met him a couple of times; about four-five times in my life
and it was in casual meetings. But I know he is a very respectful man, he
respects elders. Within the short time I met him; I can say he is respectful.
A lot of people believe that Iwo town
is the cash-cow of votes that determines the victory of any candidate in the
west senatorial district of Osun state. As a political strategist, are you now
telling us that the Oluwo factor worked
against the APC?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun with the GDA

I am saying
it categorically that Iwo would have
gone fully for APC if not for Oluwo’s involvement, he went to the Central Mosque. Definitely, an Oba is not even supposed to take side
and make it public. Anyway, we know what the APC and PDP did for him
for their campaigns. But never the less, Obas
are not to be seen to be partisan. It is not because I have cases against him
but the fact must be noted. Even his father cannot claim to be at my level. I
have been handling Iwo for ages. I
have successfully installed six Local Government Council Chairmen, my own
candidates—the candidates of my choice. I have never failed an election. I have
always contested and won elections in Iwo.
I have been to the federal parliament, I have won with the highest votes, I was
a counselor in Iwo and I scored the
highest vote in the entire Iwo land
and I have been the star gazer of politics in Iwo.
(Cuts in) Star Gazer Indeed
(Laughter) Can we say the absence of the star gazer led to this crumbs?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun with Late Sen. Isiaka Adeleke

You see, if
not for the situation on ground, nothing would have stopped us. And the most
important thing is that Iwo people
want to have the next governor. In subsequent elections, anybody that makes an Iwo man a candidate for the governor
would get the entire votes in Iwo and
Iwo deserves it because we have been
used in the past, as push over. That is the quarrel I had with Omisore who claims to have power in Iwo and the last election is a testimony
that we have used that position to say ‘this
is who will win and this is who will fail’
and we warned that time but this
one (July 8) goes beyond anybody’s control, there are so many reasons; the
campaign against the governor, the disunity among the leadership of the APC.
There are about four factions of APC in Iwo.
Particularly among those who want to be gubernatorial candidates. I thank God
that this crisis brought them together at the end of the day but too late.
Sir, as the star gazer of Iwo
politics, there have been allegations in the past that any candidate you
support often have a robust patronage at the polling booth and that in most
cases people don’t know how you do it as the box of such candidate will be
stuffed beyond count. Some think it is Juju
you use to boost such votes as it is always magical?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun (Basorun Musulumi of Iwo Land) with Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi

My people
love me; they support me because I give them the good things of life that they
deserve. And I am very proud to say that God gave me the support and it has
been possible for me to get what I want. I don’t use Juju. It is the same thing when they wanted to kill me and they
brought gun and even abducted me. Is it not God that took me away from them?
They said I used Juju…where is the Juju?
(Cuts in) But you disappeared then,
according to the story, you disappeared and people believe it was a pure case
of Juju?
I don’t know
about that, it is only God that can disappear. No man can disappear. So if God
took me away from them, is that Juju.
Sir…sir…sir, but that is the normal
thinking of the people. They will say Ogundokun disappeared and that you are so
powerful in Iwo land?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun

(Cuts in)
Only God is powerful. Whatever I have is given to me by God and I must
appreciate that God is there for me. I don’t know about your Juju. What it should mean is that God
loves me more than anybody in Iwo.
Sir, with the Adeleke family taking
their position back in Osun State politics, what is your take because you were
very close to the late Serubawon, Dr. Isiaka Adeleke and you were both honored
with a chieftaincy title in Erin Osun land in year 2006?

Newly Sworn in Senator Ademola Adeleke

That young
man, Demola is a very good boy. Demola is a very good boy, he may not
have the experience but as he gets there, he will acquire the knowledge and
with his late brother’s relationship with him, he might have even acquired the
knowledge of politics. I am very happy with him because he is a boy I admire
very much, very, very much. He respects me so much, including his senior
brother, Deji. I am proud to say that
Adeleke became Governor through
(Chief) S.O.B. Babalola who used me to make him succeed that election; and it is
that same influence that made me to even take away the senate (slot) from Akinlabi and gave it to him, that gave
him the first experience to go to the senate. God used me.
Which year was that?
When he was
governor, I was the one that made it possible, through God using Chief S.O.B. Babalola his political
godfather and he used me to use my own party men to help him win the
governorship. And it is the same me, that God used, to get him to the senate
first time in his life which is year 2011 before Omisore fought him out of PDP and he now decamped to APC and got the new deal of going back
to the senate. I think the family is lucky, he left PDP and he got a good romance into APC and won. And now his brother too, got back to PDP from APC and won. I think they have the good luck.
A lot of people believes that the
election was won based on the sympathy for the Adeleke family and not PDP. Do
you see it that way as well?

Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola

It is Adeleke family and the perceived or
whatever anybody may believes that there was an injustice committed. And the
false campaign of murderer has worked; the evil propaganda that Adeleke was killed by Aregbesola.
So, what do you advice the governor
to do now?
No, governor
should take everything easy and calm, sit down, get back to his people that are quarreling, bring them together and see reason with whatever complain and talk
to very important people in Osun;
people like Tunde Badmus at Oshogbo, invite the traditional rulers
and have a very good rapport with them and discuss the way forward so that
there will be a stop to unnecessary wrangling among the political class. The
campaign is so much. Anybody that says he is not performing, that one is
strange because he is performing; he is doing a lot of projects.
The allegation is that civil servants
are not being paid and those paid are getting half salaries and pensioners are
getting nothing?  
No, they say
he is not paying but he is paying half salaries. Everybody gets money every
month but not their full pay. But his position is ‘how can I be governor for so-so number of years and I have nothing to
show for it in terms of development. In Osun?’
today, the schools (in Osun)
are better than any other state’s schools.
Are you sure, sir?
O yes, the
buildings he constructed, go and see them in every local government; there is
nobody that has that kind of edifice, and the same thing with roads—fly overs;
you go to Osun and see.
So, why is he building an airport
because people think that one is a white elephant project?

High Chief Abiola Ogundokun to Asabeafrika….’Demola won on Populace’s sympathy’

Well, the
airport thing has been there and it was because of the airport they were
probing (Ex-Governor Olagunsoye) Oyinlola,
accusing him of embezzling the airport money. And he believes that since that project
is there, maybe he wants to see that we don’t have to get to Ibadan before we get to Oshogbo. So we can have direct flight to
Oshogbo. When you travel between Oshogbo and Ibadan, you will want to relax yourself and go back to pharmacy to
buy some Pandol for your body. I came in from Ibadan this morning and I know what I went through.  But the man (Aregbe) is trying. What he is
trying to run away for is the future—so that they will not say he didn’t do
anything for Osun state; there will
be something visible. If he were to use all the money to pay salary, it won’t
be too good. If he were to be in government when Oyinlola was there, I think we would have moved and had a better
option.
Are you sure?
Yes, he
performs better than Oyinlola.
Are you saying the kind of money
given to Oyinlola is not the same given to Aregbe or what?

Oyinlola, Ogundokun & late Isiaka Adeleke in a group picture in 2006

The economic
dynamics have changed. Money reigned during Oyinlola’s
regime, money reigned. Money was just coming and they didn’t even know how
to spend the money. We didn’t know that kind of money was coming and that was
why they were trying to probe Oyinlola.
Why did he leave PDP to join APC if there was no evidence for his probe?
That is a question Oyinlola must
answer.
You mean there was lots of money
involved?
The billions
of naira on the airport as well as the stadium and the construction of Iwo/Oshogbo road; if this young man has
that kind of money, he will perform more than this; I am not in their party, I
am not a party man but we should say the truth.
Do you know that Senator Iyiola
Omisore that was alleged to have slapped late Senator Isiaka Adeleke in his
life time and made him decamp from PDP to APC suddenly came back and joined
Demola and even supported him fully to win the Osun West Senatorial election,
people believe that the Omisore factor played well in that victory?

Senator Iyiola Omisore

No (Raised
his voice angrily) the Omisore factor
did not give them any victory.
(Cuts in) But that is what people
said, they said it, sir?
No, Omisore factor did not give anything. Adeleke dynasty and the sympathy of the
masses, it is not Omisore. Let Omisore go and contest in Ife and win an election.
No, they even said he can now come
out for Governorship and that he will dust Aregbe’s candidate next year just
like Adeleke dusted Hussein?
Who says?
(Countenance changed)
The People
He wants to
be governor and he is trying to use everything. Does Omisore have any support in Osun
state to be governor? Why do people just talk anyhow? Politics is not like
that, there are so many valuable gubernatorial candidates in PDP that will
emerge. Lere Oyewunmi is there. Jumoke is there, there are so many of
them like that. Yes, Omisore has
money, he has acquired money in the PDP,
if he wants to use that money, they will collect from him but he will not win
the election.
Are you sure, sir?
I can bet my
life for it.
That Omisore will not be governor of
Osun state?

Chief Ogundokun with late Isiaka Adeleke and a lady guest

He cannot be
governor, he will never be governor.
Do you have anything against him?
I have
nothing against him. When I accused him of siphoning the campaign money which
he took from Goodluck Jonathan, he
denied it. He came insulting me, I was angry. But now, the money he denied, he
is presently paying it back to the Federal Government through EFCC. So, did he not take money? We will
use all the facts, we have the records. We are going to expose many people. CONSCIENCE is coming out now.
As an elder statesman in Osun state,
can you give advice to the people of Osun on how to go about their political
life?
I want to
beg Osun people to love Osun more than their personal interest.
Not to vote because of money. They should vote for their future and the future
of their children because you will get N1000
(One Thousand Naira) to sell your vote and you vote for a wrong person,
then the punishment and God’s anger will come back to you. You don’t take money
and say because he has given money, I will vote. If they have stolen our money
and they bring to you, take the money but vote for the right person.