2015: No automatic ticket in Ogun APC -Hon Buraimo Written by Thursday, 29 August 2013 Honourable Taofeek Buraimo, is a member of the House of Representatives representing Remo Federal Constituency on the ticket of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview with newsmen, he speaks about a range of issues including the prospects of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State in 2015 elections. DARE ADEKANMBI brings excerpts: Your old party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (AN), has given way to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and there has been a lot of hype about the new party… Yes, we were formerly in ACN and now APC, although we have not done the registration. You and your colleagues did not attend the launch of APC in Abeokuta last week. Why? You probably saw that all the National Assembly members from the party in the state were not there. In the first place, there should not have been the launching of the party in the state. There are procedures for events to take place. Part of the procedure is for the party to be launched at the national level and then the states, local governments and the wards. It is unfortunate that this procedure was ignored. I did not get any form of invitation as a representative of the people of Remo land and so, I didn’t see any reason why I should appear there. I learnt there were three to four people with the governor on the podium, while the governor was there talking. The launching should not have happened because there was also no directive from the party’s interim leadership authorising states to go ahead and launch the party. We cannot run a political party, especially a new political party, as an entity without the centre. This is not a party that belongs to Ogun State; this is party that belongs go everybody in Nigeria, especially people who made sacrifices for this to happen. But some say beyond the issue of procedure is the fact that the shunning of the event by NASS members and key leaders like Chief Olusegun Osoba, was an indication that you are begrudging Governor Ibikunle Amosun. Well, I am not really sure if that is actually right. I am a federal representative and I don’t really have much to do with the governor. The only time I could get the chance to talk to the governor is when he invites me to talk about issues that might be of importance to him. Apart from this, there should not be any kind of relationship. He is the governor of Ogun State and he is my governor as a citizen of the state. But when it comes to party issues, the party has a procedure. One thing that is very obvious is this: come 2015, Amosun will be like he was in 2010/2011. He, like every other person, will have to aspire for his position as governor. If we are lucky and we become candidates, we will seek re-election. The governor and all of us will have to re-present ourselves to the people. In our party, there is a procedure and there are leaders. Organising party launch is the responsibility of the party structure and leaders and not the governor. No doubt, the governor is a leader but the party has to be launched by the party. People have been coming up to endorse Governor Amosun for a second term of office in view of his performance in office and yet you are saying he will have to contest like every other person. Are you saying there is no automatic ticket for him? The door is going to be thrown open to everybody to contest and it does not matter how many people that endorse anybody. All aspirants for all positions will have to contest for tickets. If I like, I can gain 10,000 or even 20,000 endorsements but that won’t make me a sole aspirant or candidate. The beauty of the new party is that the decision will be thrown to the congress and we will all go to the people and test our popularity. And this is where money is not going to work because anybody can give out money, but they can buy the fate of the people because if you give out money, you don’t know what decision people will take. This is where the people will assess the governor, Senators, Representatives, whether these people have represented them well. On the issue of endorsement, like the Yoruba people will say, in a lying game, two parties don’t lose out because if the liar does not know he is lying, the people to whom he is talking will surely know he is lying. In selecting candidates for 2015 elections in APC, the congress and the people will reign supreme. You appear to be talking from the background of someone who knows the relationship between Amosun and his party and leaders has gone sour. I can’t tell you if Amosun’s relationship with the party is not smooth. In politics, there are people that believe in camps. But as far as I am concerned, the whole ACN was my camp and now APC is my camp. I don’t form or follow group. As far as the governor is concerned, he has been in politics for a while and if he chooses to have his own group, that is his opinion and I can’t decide for him. Would you agree that the crack that resulted in the splitting of the ACN into pro-Osoba and pro-Amosun factions has now resurfaced early in the life of APC? There is no Osoba faction and the former governor himself has said that several times. But he and others did not attend the launch of the party… I told you earlier that the rally was not organised by the party. If you know the role Osoba is playing in the coming on board of APC, there will be no reason for him not to be featuring himself in anything that is in procedure with what they are doing at the national headquarters of the party. Osoba is the chairman of the people that drafted the constitution of APC. He is a party leader and didn’t have a camp in the former ACN. If Osoba’s principles tally with those of the party, that is when people tend to anchor the party on him. Are you saying it is not right for the governor to have embraced his loyalists called Senator Ibikunle Amosun Campaign Organisation (SIACO) members at the expense of the party? The governor has said it many times that he does not promote group. But what is in the streets is totally different from that. I know that up until about three weeks ago, the governor’s group still had senatorial and other kinds of meetings. But APC will be supreme because the people have the power and not groups. What that means is that the progressive family in Ogun is not united. The progressives know themselves. We are united and that is very obvious. There is no how you won’t know if you are a progressive. You cannot harvest a bad fruit on a good tree. I wish I knew somebody in Amosun’s cabinet who campaigned with us during the electioneering process. I try my best not to dabble into local politics because I cannot afford to have my authority and integrity rubbished. It makes no sense to me to into my local government where I am not dabble to be welcomed. However, I recently toured all the 35 wards in my constituency and I was welcomed and we had fun. I gauged the feelings of the people during the tour about what I had done and still will do. I also used the occasion to sensitise them about the new party. I distance myself from local politics because there is no doubt about the fact that there is no cohesion. Don’t you think this non-cohesion and wrangling portend danger for the Ogun APC in 2015? I don’t worry myself about 2015 because it is in God’s hands. I don’t worry myself about election; I worry myself about serving the people and I fear nobody, no evil on this. Chief Osoba has sacrificed so much towards the emergence of the new party and he will not watch this house that he has built collapse. Amosun will be governor of Ogun State till 2015. If God grants him another term, he will continue to be the governor. There is this theory that it will be necessary to give first term governors in APC automatic tickets so they won’t rock the boat for the success of the party at the polls with the power of incumbency and others. What is your take on this? It is only a fool that will believe money politics works. Only a fool will try and pile up money for the purpose of the 2015 elections. Looking back to 2011 elections, we saw that PDP outspent us in everything, but they lost. That makes me to believe that people reign supreme. After seeing an event like this in 2011, what sense does it make to pile up money for 2015? The good thing about the South-West politics is that most people in the zone are educated and enlightened; even traders and market women know what they want to do. They will collect the money and show them the way. It is an insult to the people to see them as chickens that deserve grains only when elections are around the corner. Money politics will not work in the South-West zone. What have you done to better the lot of your constituents since your assumption of office? To the glory of God, I have influenced federal projects in about 20 out of the 35 wards in my area. The project are worth over N150 million. These projects included boreholes, solar-powered streetlight, ICT centre, school under construction and we also have a survey for a mini dam. I annually do empowerment for the indigents in the constituency. We are planning for the 2013 edition in December. I have spent about N 40 million on these empowerments. Posters of Mr Fola Adeola expressing interest in Amosun’s job have been reported to have flooded Abeokuta. What does this mean for APC in Ogun? I read in the papers too that Uncle Fola Adeola is interested in being governor. The door will be open to him. Democracy is not a one-man show. Is he Osoba’s anointed candidate as governor? Osoba does not have an anointed candidate. (TRIBUNE NEWS PAPER. 29th August 2013)
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 08:02:13 +0000
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