More News From Osun State

Chief Nathaniel Oladipupo Oke ,one of the leading counsels to Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola recently  joined  the governorship race on the platform of PDP in Osun State. He is not a green-horn in Osun politics; he showed interest in 2002 before abandoning it for his professional calling. In this interview with our correspondent,SEFIU AYANBIMPE , Oke speaks on his ambition and debunked the insinuation that he is being sponsored by the Ooni of Ife. Excerpts:

Q: Why are you in the governorship race?

Ans: I believe my present ambition is of the Lord, the present battle is of the Lord and I repeat it here again that more often than not and I want to say that in all situation the battle is not usually for the strongest neither is the race for the fastest. My own ambition is God’s Own Project which He will execute for the progress and development of the state. I also believe that God will give the elders of the party both at the National and State level of wisdom in chosen aright and in the course of wanting to choose, I would rather suggest that we should not rely on influence, we should not rely on wealth ,they should really seek the heart of God.

Q: It was learnt that there was a meeting held at the private residence of the State Vice Chairman of your party, where some delegates made oath to support an aspirant. By now, if the aspirant start taking oath to some of these delegates at the primary, how transparent will  the selection process be?

Ans: There is an adage that says that no matter how you are knowledgeable, one cannot put himself or herself on the throne. It is God who appoints, it is God who anoints even when you are exercising influence, all these may amount to nothing if they are not anointed by God, we are about 16 in the race now, who will succeed the incumbent governor today, I must confess to you, it is only God who can say categorically. In 2002 I took form, we were about 22, the incumbent governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola wanted to become senator and at the end of the day God said  no one among all of us, he was voted in 2003 as governor of the state. At any point in ones’ life, God has certain reason for wanting certain people to live, the only thing the person should have in mind is that you are used for right purpose at a particular point in time. If you go to Bible in the book of Samuel, you will see that various kings are used positively or negatively for a purpose and up till now, we are referring to them inclusive king Ahab, we also have Hezekiah, David, Saul and we have various lessons of life from these people. Let me tell you since creation of Osun State about 20 years ago now, we have  been having leaders at the helm of affairs of the state and in about 20 or 30 years to come, we now go into history by saying in the administration of certain person, this and this is what he did to improve the condition of  people and what are his achievements. There is no amount of  manipulations that can stand the test of time. If God says yes, it is  the final and if God says no, no matter the amount of manipulations it would not work.

Q: Is it true that your coming out now in the governorship race has the backing of a prominent traditional ruler in the state?

Ans: The fact is, it is not really possible to work with your head, while walking, you need to really open your eyes wide, don’t jump out without making some consultations with  the people generally at all cadre of life. I want to say that I am familiar with the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade because everybody is aware that we used to have Baale in my village, Akinlalu. The then Baale was installed in 1968 when I was in primary four at St. Stephen Primary School, Akinlalu. At a time, we made a representation to Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade that we want upliftment of our Baale and Ooni promised then that he will look into our request and while the processes were on, there were some interpersonal interaction with the Ooni. So, there is no personal undertaking and I am not being sponsored by anybody. I want to use this opportunity to say that I am not using this opportunity for the purpose of seeking political appointment. I have come  out to really say what I want to do. I want to become the next executive Governor of Osun State after the expiration of tenure of office of Prince Olagunsoye  Oyinlola and Ooni is not sponsoring me.

Q: You mention youth empowerment as the main focus of your agenda, what approach would you introduce to achieve this?

Ans: The approach I am desirous of using having made consultations is to encourage the youths to form groups or associations through which they can be reached by government. I believe this is a better way of having people empower than allow them to be riding on Okada for the purpose of wanting to make ends meet. Some of them might not be able to pursue their professional career just because they come from poor home and could not afford what they were asked to bring to learn certain apprenticeship. Instead of these people riding Okada about, you can arrange them in groups and appoint leaders at various level in batches for the purpose of having the names of people who are actually desirous in wanting to embark one apprenticeship or the other, at the end of the day. At end of the day after the expiration of apprenticeship, you should encourage them by making materials available to them for the purpose of practicing the profession. What I am saying in essence is that these youths would have their own leader so that they would be able to make their request known to the government and in whichever aspect we can actually sustain them, I will not hesitate in doing that because if they are not restful, we cannot be restful. If you don’t train your own children and you said there is no problem later in life the people you don’t train will be the people that will be troubling your own children when they don’t have anything to do because morally, they will believe that what you are actually enjoy is not through hard working but you are benefiting from the national cake which they can also entitle to.

Q:    How would you sustain the relative peace in the state?

 Ans: With the help of God and entire people of the state, my administration would be transparent enough in all its programmes and policies and projects executions and once this is done, I don’t believe there would be any cause for anyone wanting to disrupt the peace of the state and I want to state clear that there would be no reason for it because the administration will put God and in whatever you involve God, it will work out perfectly.

Q: I want you to look into Osun State University built with multi – campus institution, there is the feeling  that the volume of cash that the school is  taking from state’s purse is quite enormous and then it appears that it is lopsided in project execution by the state government. When you come in, you are going to inherit the programmes, you will see that in all these campuses are in shambles .Now, with the revenue base of the state how are you going to cope with it?

Ans: You don’t just condemn the administration of your predecessor in office, what was the rationale behind the adopted approach. If there is need to change, you should know that, would this change be more beneficial to the present situation of thing. The circumstances that made them take that decision may be different from the circumstances other which would be operating when you get there, you don’t just take a rash decision, you make consultation, you would see it black and white, these are the reason we took that decision when we took it, are they still applicable, are there reasons for the purpose of wanting to merge, do you want to shift one campus to go and merge with the other, do we have multi campuses, all these things are not individual decision, even ………. because politically, if care is not taking, you are saying that you want to economize you may be creating  circumstances that will make your administration most un-peaceful and if you are not having a peaceful atmosphere, there is nothing you can achieve and there are some people now that cannot sleep because of their source of their wealth but if you are having internal peace, I am telling you, you have a clear health but if you are having conflict of mind, there would be problem. When you get to power, you don’t condemn, what are the way you can amend and I am using this opportunity that any viable project that remain uncompleted, unconcluded in the tenure of Oyinlola’s administration, not only because I am in PDP, if it is going to be generally beneficial to the state, I will complete them. What is the essence of abandoning projects because you want to make name.

Q: This is our eleventh year of democracy, we are still lagging behind in certain fundamental areas and most of the government policies at the national and state level are not materializing  nor realizable as expected, what do you think is wrong?

Ans: Policy duration differs from one another, when we were young, we used to hear of vision 2010, we have reached 2010 now and we have started another 2020. The truth of the matter is this, except there is consistency in governance, common focus, regard certain policy as not being personal policy but policy that is of fundamental interest to the whole country there is every possibility of abandonment of policies. If a successive administration is not showing interest in a particular policy, there is tendency for that policy not to see the light of the day except they share the common focus and apart from that, the issue of duration is still there, there are certain policy that may not necessarily be concluded in the tenure of office of an individual even if he or she is given two terms, if they say 2020 from 2010 remain 10 years and you can be in office more than two terms and if certain elongated policies are not concluded before you leave office for one reason or the other, they may not be realizable.

Q: As a lawyer and one of the counsels in the State Election Petition

Tribunal, how do you think the nation can do away with delayed

 dispensation of election petitions?

Ans: Delay in trial at tribunal, before now, it is only through only

pleading that you now bring petition to court, you now be calling different

witnesses, you may not even know the witness you are going to call. It was

for the purpose of removing this long period being used in the course of

trying election petition matters that we now come to this issue of

front-loading. In the trial from some states, you may decide to call about

100 witness, it is only who  you physically called that court will act on their

evidence and the moment you now stated in your petition that these are

witnesses I want to call, you cannot now say again that I have an additional

witnesses except you are able to give genuine reasons, one of the means by

now crying for the purpose of accelerating the trial is by this

frontloading. Administration of justice has its own technicalities which

normally make it very difficult … In the course of trial, certain things unbudgeted for may arise but I

would suggest that there should be cooperation among the judicial officers,

lawyers and contenders and their supporters because they have their own role

to play. One day, we are in Ekiti, between Oni and Fayemi, when a witness

was to be used, he said they amputated his leg because of gunshot he

received in a cause of crisis that occurred at collation centre, when we got

to the court room, what do they do, they brought contaminated amputated leg

from a bucket in the court room saying this is the leg, the court registrar

immediately called Court…..because nobody could stay a minute longer.

Q:You are Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and I like you to answer this

question professionally. The appointment of INEC chairman, how do you think

the appointment should be as a legal luminary, is it from National Assembly

or National Judicial Council (NJC)?

Ans: The issue of appointment of INEC chairman, I think it should not be

personal decision but even then, everything borders on integrity, if the

head is rotten, the whole of the body will be rotten, this issue of who

appoints is not much of the issue as to who is appointed. ………..

The issue of appointment of INEC

chairman should be more open so that the person to be appointed virtually

all we have confidence in that individual. Whoever appointed should be aware

that history will judge him.

Q:    Your co-contenders in the governorship race may want to employ

different tactics in achieving their aim and with the spate of thuggery and

hooligalism in the Nigeria politics, are you up to the task?

Ans: Despite the fact that I am native of Osun State, they made me member of

election petition tribunal and local government appeal tribunal in Oyo

State, some people were saying Oke was not from Oyo State. He is from Osun

State but the then Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Nurudeen Adekola said I

wanted this man in that panel, I was made a member in 1976 in Ibadan and

they swore me in around 6pm. I was chairman Nigeria Bar Association Ibadan

Branch between 1998 and 1999. When I was about to contest then, people said

N.O Oke it is you we want, if you don’t contest for the purpose of this

election, there is nothing you will be interested in Ibadan that we give you

again because you are the one we want, my opponent then was vice chairman of

the branch, I was nothing, just an ordinary member but as God will do

things, the vice chairman that wanted to contest with me was appointed

Attorney General for Ekiti State in person of Justice A K Fowe. I was

returned unopposed as the chairman of NBA Ibadan branch. The point is this

if you are known for violence they will be using you for violence, if you

have criminal tendency the kind of people that will engaging you will have

criminal tendency. If you are known for thuggery, I am telling you, no

responsible assignment will be given you more than thuggery.

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And Osun PDP Denies annointing any candidate

State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ademola Razaq

has warned party members to refrain from nursing a do or die posture towards

winning governorship ticket on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Alhaji Ademola Rasaq in a press statement signed by the party’s Director of

Publicity, Prince Adeolu Adeyemo, stated that the attainment of governorship

ticket is in the hand of God

The Osun PDP Chairman implored them, especially those aspiring to

various political

offices in the new political dispensation to learn from the progressive

leadership style of Governor Oyinlola, pointing out that he has become a

cynosure of all eyes for bringing home true dividends of democracy to Osun

State.

Alhaji Ademola Razaq who debunked insinuations presently raging in the media

concerning alleged preferential treatment for an EXCO-favoured aspirant,

affirmed that the party has no anointed candidate, adding that it is the

guarantee of the successful tenure of the serving Governor that is uppermost

in the mind of the party

Alhaji Razaq said that the process of electing a governorship candidate is

not a clandestine affair and stressed that if there is anything that the PDP

is internalizing, it is the mission by the national secretariat that the

state EXCO should ensure the victory of internal democracy.

He assured that it is never in the character of the PDP to shun the wisely

counsel of its elders in the party and explained that all the vital

stakeholders in the party are involved in the decision making process

governing the PDP and congratulated Prince  Olagunsoye Oyinlola who flagged

off his campaign in Okuku.

Stressing the importance of peaceful co-existence in the party, the Chairman

who stated that undiluted loyalty and fairness are necessary for a winning

team, called on party members to remain committed to the cause of the PDP;

adding that their positive contributions would be taken into account when

sharing the dividends of democracy.