Senator Adegbega Sefiu Kaka . intrerview with PUNCH Newspaper Nobody can force me out of APC –Senator Kaka Saturday, 28th June, 2014 via| PUNCH Newspaper In this interview with JOHN ALECHENU, Senator Adegbenga Kaka, speaks about the controversies trailing the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, amendments to the Electoral Act and other national issues. Is it correct to conclude that your absence from the APC national convention is an indication of your decision to dump the party? That is not correct. My absence from the convention was borne out of the fact that we demanded for a redress on the injustice perpetrated within the party in Ogun State, we looked up to the national body that organised the convention and since we could not get any satisfactory response, we then felt that, like the lawyers will say, ‘you cannot build something on nothing and expect it to stand.’ So, we felt the best thing to do was not to attend the convention. Considering the overtures being made to you and other members of your group by several political parties, which of them are you most comfortable with should you decide to move to achieve your political goals? For God’s sake, our not going for the convention does not mean we are leaving the party; far from it. We are still hopeful that if the interim executive did not do the needful, maybe the new executive which is the first executive ever, can still do something that will put the party on the right track. So, we are still hopeful. Those trying to feast on the festering situation; as far as we are concerned, they should sheathe their swords and we wait to see what the new executive will do. For now, there is no contemplation that we are embracing any other platform. As political animals, we live in a dynamic society. And as a cultured man, there is no way anybody from any party, from any quarter will say they want to see me-like you came in here without any formal appointment and I am honouring you, and I will not to honour them. We will continue to honour them because what is important is where we can derive the best opportunity to improve the lot of the largest number of the population we want to serve. So, wherever we are going to get the best for them I think, is where we should be. Do you share Chief Segun Osoba’s view that he has foreclosed any reconciliation with your state governor? Well, it is not the state governor that is the issue. The party doesn’t belong to any individual. It is supposed to be a mass movement, a party of the people where the majority of the people are expected to be the major shareholders. We don’t expect that reconciling with an individual will solve the problem. Of what essence is that if the people who are the original owners of the mandate are not carried along? Like a popular saying goes, ‘soldiers come, soldiers go, barrack remains.’ Whether anybody likes it or not, the maximum you can spend in office as governor is eight years. If you are a legislator, you can remain in office for sometime but even at that, you cannot remain there permanently for life. A time will come when death will be the ultimate arbiter. We are not talking about individuals, we are talking about collectivity and inclusivity whereby we all have a stake in what we say is ours. Those who see this whole thing as being about an individual miss the point. Those who know my antecedents can tell you. I for one, I am not in politics for personal gain. Our kind of politics is one that promotes public service over and above any personal interest. By the grace of God, I’ve had the opportunity of serving as a commissioner and deputy governor before coming to serve my people in the Senate. In all these, I have always been driven by the need to serve. Is it possible to foreclose any form of reconciliation with the state governor and remain in the same party? Why not? Even if we are in another party today and somebody else joins, we won’t leave because of that person. This is politics and in party politics, it is free entry, free exit. That is the reality. That was why I said it is not because of an individual; it is the issue of what is in the best interest of the people and are we just? If justice is not being done, we are going to incur the wrath of God. You often accuse Governor Ibikunle Amosun of excluding some APC stakeholders in the state. Can you shed light on how he is doing this? The issue has gone beyond that. Right now, the people bearing the brunt are the ones speaking out, they are the ones. All you need to do is go to the streets and listen to the people. They all know where the shoes pinch the most; they have started reacting. The issue is, what is the way forward? By the grace of God as leaders, we shall chart a way forward that the people will be proud of us. Our followers will be proud of us, the electorate in Ogun State will be proud of us that we uphold justice; we uphold development and we uphold the deliverance of the greatest good to the greatest number of the people from rural areas to the urban areas across every facet of life. Are you certain that the majority of the people of Ogun State share your sentiments about the state governor bearing in mind the massive road construction going on across the state? By 2015 when the time comes, that question will be answered. I am not the type that engages in propaganda or the art of counting my chickens before they are hatched. Let everybody wait until 2015. Those of us playing politics in all the political parties in this country are less than 5 per cent of the population. The 95 per cent are the voting public; they are watching. Most of them are today more than ever before, more politically enlightened and by the grace of God, with the way we are going, by 2015, money will not become the major determinant of how the people will vote. The people who are the real examiners of those holding elective positions will pass their verdict because they own the mandate and all those elected are simply holding the mandate in trust for the people. Are you saying that the governor does not deserve a second term even with what his supporters say is an impressive performance? That is not for me to say. That is not my business. It is his business with the electorate. That is why I said we should all wait for 2015. In any case, I am not God, so I don’t play God. I respect the opinion of others, I know where my right stops and where that of another starts. We are in democracy and in any genuine democracy, the ultimate decision to return or not to return an elected person to office is entirely the responsibility of the people. I believe the people will vote and that their votes will count and when that happens, those who earn public trust will better appreciate the responsibilities bestowed on them. Like I said earlier, the people are now more politically conscious than they were say 20, 30 years ago. Things are changing and it is my view that whichever way you choose to look at it, the 2015 election will be different from what was witnessed in the past. Before going public with your disagreement with the governor, did you at anytime approach the national leadership of your party for it to intervene? By the grace of God, we made several representations, we wrote, we appealed, we also reached out to all those we believed have what it takes to broker peace. I have said it since the beginning of this interview, this whole thing is not about me or my colleagues in the struggle for justice and equity in our great party; it is all about the people. We are all by the grace of God elected by the people to project and protect their best interest within the ambit of the law which implies that wherever their rights are, we should protect them. Whenever we see anything going wrong, it is our duty as loyal party men to draw the attention of our leaders using the party’s mechanisms but when the redress we seek is not forthcoming, we are left with no choice but to speak out. Has there been any attempt by the national leadership to intervene? If so, has there been any improvement? If there was any, it wasn’t made known to us. The most important thing is not whether or not it is made known to us; it is the manifest outcome that matters. The manifest outcome is what is causing the crisis within the party today. What we are witnessing is the injustice which is yet to be addressed. Address this injustice which is known to all the leaders of the party and all the parties involved in the crisis today and I assure you this whole thing will fizzle out. There are insinuations that you and others opposed to the governor’s approach to official and party business are doing so because of your personal ambitions. How true is this? What personal ambition for God’s sake? As far as the National Assembly members are concerned, the constitution guarantees your return as many times as possible provided you retain the confidence of the people, provided it is the will of God. And as of today, there is none of us that is saying I want to return, talk less of returning at all costs. So, if anybody is trying to use that to blackmail us, such a person is making a mistake. If talking of such is to find a way of edging somebody out, you have missed the road. In any event, if it is the issue of position, there is no position that is the birthright or inheritance of any individual. Like I said, we have gone past all these rumours, speculations and innuendoes; the reality is more or less beckoning on all of us. In a couple of months, we will all come face to face with the reality on ground; this is no rocket science. What do you have to say to those who say you are not as popular as you would have people believe and that that is why you all are ganging up with Chief Osoba to cause confusion within the APC? Who said that? Some members of the Ogun public. If people are speculating, the truth of the matter is that you cannot ignore the fact of history. Chief Osoba led the then Action Congress of Nigeria with the first election being that of the National Assembly and out of 12 positions in contention, we won 11 handsomely. If there is a test of political popularity, elections form one of the credible bases for such. If anyone is today claiming that our popularity has just suddenly evaporated, I urge such people and those spreading such falsehoods to wait till 2015, it is just a few months away. We appeal for patience. I am not saying whether someone or some people are not popular, I dare say the 95 per cent of the electorate I talked about earlier in this interview remain the determinants. The electorate across Nigeria, especially in Ogun State are eagerly waiting to express their feelings. In Yoruba land especially during the (violent) wetie era, by the time the government in power would say ‘yes we are in control, whether you vote for us or not,’ people will say whether you see my hand or not- that is the five fingers representing power then, we call it demo-whether you see it or not, we are in demo but on the day of election, you will know where I belong. So, people will wait for the day of election. They should not be too much in a hurry and they should not work to the answer with the electorate, they are the deciders and they will decide appropriately when the time comes. Is it true that Chief Osoba is pushing for one of you his supporters as a replacement for Amosun? Why are we in politics? We are in politics to give our best to the service of our people and if what is going on is not satisfactory, is it a sin if somebody has an ambition of putting the right person in position? Why is it that some people want to die because they want to be in positions? I believe this is a non issue. It will be foolhardy for us to say we are playing politics and we do not work towards presenting the best. As far as we are concerned in Ogun State, only the best is good enough for the people of the state. This is the state of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the state of Prof. Wole Soyinka, the state of the Ramsome Kutis, the state of Odutola and so on. We shouldn’t rely on mediocres; we should go for the very best. Apart from the APC, the other political parties that are active in Ogun State are the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party, which of these two parties would you prefer to work with or are you planning to float a new party? I want to tell you that for now, we don’t have any preference for any of the existing parties and it would amount to responding to speculations which I would not want to dignify with a response. Like I told you before, they have been talking to us, they are free to talk to us, you don’t even know whether they will be the ones coming to join us in the APC because like I stated earlier, we are not leaving the APC. We are not contemplating leaving the APC; we cannot be hounded out or blackmailed into leaving. This is a home which we consciously came together with other progressives to build. You cannot build a house and then a snake creeps in and you now say okay, you are going to burn down the house. You have to devise a strategy to get that snake out. It is when that strategy fails that you look for another strategy. If you are going to the battle front, it will be foolhardy to display your entire arsenal. We are not going to say more than we have given you, you wait and see and keep on following events as they unfold. By the grace of God, we will not mislead our followers and by the grace of God, we will not disappoint the electorate
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 05:31:13 +0000
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