Ondo Guber Election: No Candidate for APC yet, AGF Insists

Adeboye Adebayo is a stalwart of All Progressives Congress; APC the ruling party in Nigeria and the National Publicity Secretary of Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation; AGF; a foremost Tinubu’s group in Nigeria. He spoke with CityMirrorNews, about the Foundation’s activities, the current economic recession, what seems to be fracas between the National Leader of APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and some other leaders of the part and some other issues of National Importance among other things. Excerpts;

Tell us about your political group called AGF?

A: The Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation; (AGF) is the foremost Tinubu group in Nigeria. It is actually not a political group alone but a socio-political-cultural and educational group that believes and studies in the socio-political-cultural school of thoughts of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in all facets of life. So at the AGF, we are core Tinubuists, we protect his interest and propagate his principles and that of his allies who believe in his principles.

Rumour has it that the Foundation is in leadership crisis?

No! There was just a change in leadership not crisis as people are portraying it. The Foundation was formally launched June 2013, though we have been in existence long before then. It was formally launched in the presence of notable progressive political leaders in Nigeria under the Chairmanship of our mentor and leader; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the National Executive Council of the Foundation was inaugurated led by Mr. Afonja Saheed Akanbi from Ilorin, which in turn inaugurated the State Executive Councils of the State Chapters and the rest is history. But later the National Coordinator was found wanting in his activities in the office and he was suspended and later removed and since then, we have moved on. I even learnt that he has since formed another group and everyone is ok.

Is the new leadership in place for the Foundation, tell us about it?

The National Secretariat of the Foundation is currently working on the new robust agenda for the benefit of all members of the Foundation home and abroad and a thoughtful plan that will sustain good governance in Nigeria. A national press conference will soon be addressed where the new leadership and its plans will officially be unveiled.

What have been the activities and achievements of the Foundation since inception?

We have done a lot within our capacity at the national level and at the level of various states. For example, we do organise seminars, workshop and skill acquisition training for our numerous members in the country. Lagos state chapter has over the years engaged itself in series of Ramadan lectures and distribution of food to the destitute, beggars and other vulnerable people in the society. We always visit some motherless babies home to donate valuable items to celebrate birthday of our principal throughout the Southwest. We do it simultaneously in each of the South West states on his birthday. We do distribute educational materials like mostly notebooks, writing materials among other things to encourage the students, we do organise tutorial classes for students during the external examination period.

We are really doing our best. Also politically, we have been in the forefront of supporting our principal and his trusted allies in their political struggles, campaign and other activities for the growth of our nation since the time of AC to ACN and now in the APC. We were at the forefront of Buhari Campaign in the area of Mobilisation, Strategy and Publicity. It is on record that under my watch as a sub-chairman of AGF committee on media and publicity, the foundation funded the most followed and engaged online social media in the country.

You will remember that everything under Buhari Campaign Organisation was BCO but we tagged our own BUCHO for record purpose and to distinguish it from others, you can verify my claim on Google. We did a lot of graphics among other media works in my committee plus other works in other committee funded by AGF. We were at the forefront of Governor Aregbesola’s second term campaign, we were part of Governor Ajimobi’s campaign, we were strongly part of Governor Ambode’s campaign, and we were also part of the Audu/Faleke struggle in Kogi.

After the elections, we didn’t go to bed; we were strongly part of Governor Aregbesola’s in Osun, when a sitting judge accused the performing Governor of unsubstantiated wrong doings. We came with a very strong press statement telling the World that the woman Justice was being used by the opposition and the enemies of the State. In fact we were the first to do that as widely reported by the major media. The Osun state chapter then wrote a very strong worded letter to State House of Assembly passing a vote of confidence on the Governor after which a letter was written from my office to the committee set up by the State House of Assembly headed by the deputy speaker to do justice to the petition, stating seven reasons why that woman’s petition  must be thrown away, lo and behold, the committee, after the woman refused to show up to defend her claims, thrown away the petition in its entirety and we were finally vindicated when the said Justice was suspended or dismissed by the NJC.  We were also at the forefront of the Speakership Struggle of our respected leader; Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, we were also happy and vindicated at the end of the day, though he didn’t get the Speakership position but he maintained his integrity, dignity and tinubuism because we are very sure at the AGF that if Gbjabiamila has been the Speaker, the issue of budgeting padding and other unnecessary issues will not be rocking a once vibrant green chamber where we put our hope but it is ok, we thank God for everything.  We were also in Ondo State to drum up support for Dr. Olusegun Abraham during the APC primaries which he lost under an unstable circumstance because the case is in court and we are still strongly with him in court. So in a nutshell, we have been here and there, we have been involved in many progressive activities, in fact we have comprehensive compendium for our activities and achievements, I can give you one and we did not regret all of it, in fact we are happy to be part those struggles.

What rewards have you gotten for all these you have been doing collectively or individually?

[Laughs] when the letter stating seven reasons why the Osun state House of Assembly committee should throw away Justice Oloyede’s petition away was published, I did not see the paper, a friend called and said he learnt that I have collected huge money for Governor Aregbesola and I asked for what purpose, because as at that time I don’t go to the Governor for anything and he said because of what we published in the newspaper about the subject above, then I asked him to bring the paper and he did. Then I told him that you know I don’t go to the governor, I only communicate with him via email and I have not collected any money from him or any of his aides for whatever reasons and he believed me because he knows me very well and likewise other AGF members who raised the same issue. Governor Aregbesola is a leading mentor in our political school of thought, and the way we were being thought was not to work for a specific or immediate reward, we were trained to work assiduously, relentlessly and selflessly and the so called rewards will naturally come when it is time.  So what I am saying in essence is that for us at the AGF, we don’t do things for immediate rewards but do things to support our principal and his principles, ideologies and activities and also to support the course of his allies who believe in him because we are very sure that freedom for all, life more abundant is their watch word.  They are not doing things for their selfish interest or self aggrandizement but for the growth and wellbeing of all their subjects. So our collective rewards have been the successes recorded in various elections both at the National, States and Local levels, this is the first time a progressive party will form a government at the centre in this country and roles played by our Principal; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Allies cannot be over emphasised. Like I said earlier, we are happy to be part of those struggles and successes recorded.

How do you fund your Foundation?

Yeah, we do task ourselves most times but voluntarily, those with money will donate it, those with needed materials will donate, some will donate their time, others will donate services and good will among other things we need at different times for different purposes. At times, few leaders who believe in the course of our principal do support us but not all the time.

So you have not collected huge money for all of these?

Honestly not yet, we just do what we believe in, to propagate his goodwill and support the course of his allies which boarders around freedom for all and life more abundant.  But if anyone believes in our course and programmes and ready to support us, why not, they are most welcome.

As a young politician, who believe in a new Nigeria, do you think the APC government is capable of giving us a new Nigeria? 

Why not, a new Nigeria is Nigeria devoid of corruption which is the main problem the country is facing at the moment, a Nigeria devoid of insecurity, a Nigeria with massive and needed infrastructures, a Nigeria with a genuine and stable economy indices and growth, a Nigeria where you can do business with ease, a Nigeria with a stable energy and power supply, a Nigeria that will metamorphous from an importing and consuming country to an exporting and manufacturing country, a Nigeria where its Universities can do research to solve most of its problems, a Nigeria where her numerous research institutes can discover new products for local usages and exports, a Nigeria where you can easily access loans in a bank to finance your genuine business ideas at 1-2% interest rates, a Nigeria where local products can compete favourably with all imported products, a Nigeria where its leaders will be using and patronising locally made goods including vehicles, a Nigeria that can feed herself and West Africa sub-region, if not Africa, a Nigeria that can be the true giant of Africa without contention, this a Nigeria of our dreams. That was the dream of our leaders who led us to the political parties merger that gave birth to the ruling party; APC today. APC government under the leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari is working seriously towards this goals and dreams despite little challenges here and there; I believe our great party is on the right direction in terms of bringing good governance to the forefront to achieve the new Nigeria of our dream.

President Muhammadu Buhari and his cabinet seem not to get the needed idea to bring Nigeria out of economic recession and Nigerians have exhausted their patients. Don’t you consider this as an albatross on APC? 

Honestly, a lot of people have raised issues in that regard and in my opinion, many people in that cabinet really don’t understand the manifesto of our party, they don’t know the strategy we intended to use to achieve the items in the manifesto. You will recall that a lot of programmes, symposiums, ideas, seminar, workshops and conferences were put together by the leadership of the party before the election, which formulated the working documents for our party, and a lot of people in the government do not, frankly speaking, understand the concept and contents of the manifesto and other working documents, I believe that has contributed to the slow pace of the development we are witnessing today. And also there are many people in the cabinet especially in the economic sector that do not have a practical experience of how Nigeria’s economy works, they don’t work here, they don’t practise here, they don’t have practical private business that will equip them in practical terms on how things work here. Nigeria economy is too big for such because they don’t know  the terrain, they don’t know where the economic cabals or saboteurs are operating, they don’t know how they operate, they can’t know how tame them. That is why you see many contradictions in the policies of the CBN and that of Finance Ministry. So, we need a practical and an experienced professional to be in charge of the economy, though I am not an economist but I know that Nigeria economy is large beyond beauty, handsomeness or speaking of phonetics English, reality result is what our people want.

Your mentor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu seems to be losing his popularity in the APC, where do you think he got it wrong politically? 

I think you are missing the point here; the real issue is not about Asiwaju losing his popularity in the APC. It is about Nigerians losing interest in our party. So Asiwaju did not get anything wrong anywhere, or was it wrong for Asiwaju to have supported the candidature of President Buhari who won our party’s ticket at the primaries and eventually won the general election against a sitting president of a failed party that has been ruling for sixteen years? Or was it wrong for Asiwaju to have sacrificed everything to fight against Jonathan and his government who has ruined the economy of the country? Or was it wrong for Asiwaju Tinubu to have patriotically saved Nigeria from the verge of total collapse for the sake of Nigerians with everything at his disposal? Or was it wrong for Asiwaju Tinubu to have supported John Odigie Oyegun to become the Chairman of our party? As at today, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the most popular chieftain of the APC today, just few days back, some northern groups called on Mr. President to be cautious of his feud with Asiwaju Tinubu, also Her Excellency, Mrs Aishat Buhari raised some issues concerning the hijack of our party and the government led by her husband by ‘some cabals’. A lot of Nigerians have lost interest in our great party because of many disappointments experienced in some of our activities as being conducted by the leadership of the party. So, it is not about Asiwaju Tinubu, it is about our party and its leadership betraying the trust Nigerians repose in us.

Some politicians do complain about his “overbearing influence” and imposition of candidates in the party, what do you see to this?

I don’t understand what you mean by overbearing influence or imposition of candidates by Asiwaju in the APC. You will recall that the available National Working Committee members of the party were produced by a convention which we all witnessed, President Buhari became the presidential candidate of APC in a keenly contested primary with Atiku Abubakah, Nda Isaiah, Rochas Okorocha, and they all paid for their nomination forms and contested at the primaries. In Lagos, Governor Ambode became the candidate of our party in a keenly contested with well over ten other governorship aspirants or so, the primaries was witnesses by all of us, including the former governor Babatunde Raji Fashola who also sponsored a candidate at the primaries and other leaders of Lagos politics were there to witness the primaries. In Ondo State, Asiwaju Tinubu supported Dr. Segun Abraham like every other leaders of the party supported one aspirants or the other and that does not take away the conduct of the primaries away from the party in the state. Asiwaju is not from Ondo State, he was not a delegate, he didn’t vote and the primaries has been held and a candidate imposed which led to the crisis of the party in the state. Did Asiwaju impose the candidate? So where is the over bearing influence and imposition of candidates by Asiwaju Tinubu in all of these, let us to be fair to this great leader; Asiwaju Tinubu at some times, please.

What do you think of Tinubu? 

I lack enough words or the exact speech to describe Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu but as a young politician who belongs to his political camp and student in his political school of thought, I will say Asiwaju is an enigma in all facets of life; socially, politically, economically and philanthropically. He has achieved tremendously in all these areas I mentioned. I know frankly that Asiwaju is a patriotic Nigerian, he believes and teaches rule of law, he wants the best for everyone, in other word, and he is a welfarist. Freedom for all, Life more abundant is the watch word of all us in his camp. Permit to quote from special tribute to him on his 64^th birthday to describe him further, I wrote “Baba, You have touched many lives, you have won many battles, you have conquered in all fronts; you are source of aspiration and happiness to many people, your mission is great & your vision is clear. No wonder your former cabinet members are now Vice President, Governors, Ministers, Senators, Reps and appointees at the various levels of government including the Presidency.  Your refusal to compromise your stance on the AD, AC, ACN to the whips and caprices of the former ruling party despite all the pressure, intimidations and threat paved way for the formation of APC which has now formed a progressive government at the centre, a dream of decades”. Asiwaju is a special creation from God and that why he has strategic solution to virtually all the problem; he is the school that we are studying as politics.

The APC in Ondo State is engulfed in crisis after the primary election, in which the perceived favourite of Tinubu, Mr Segun Abraham lost to Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, do you see the party winning the election? 

Well, I am not from Ondo State and I am not an electorate in Ondo State but as an APC stalwart of robust South West influence, I know Dr. Olusegun Abraham did not lose to Mr. Akeredolu in the primary because an appeal panel set up by the party ruled that the acclaimed winner was declared under a well established fraudulent act and ordered for re-run but the National Chairman of the party said No, when we are claiming “Change begins with me” rebranding stuff. So issue of winning the general election in Ondo state does not arise, the question is who is our candidate in Ondo 2016? How did he emerge or how will he emerge? As far as the case instituted by Dr. Olusegun Abraham is still in court, we have no candidate yet in the APC for Ondo election.

What is your take on the defection of some APC members that defected to the AD because of what they described as “manipulation of the APC governorship primary”?

The constitution of Nigeria today allows for the freedom of association at any level and politics is about interest, if you think your interest is being protected with impunity in the APC  and you believe you will find it protected in the AD, why not? Because injustice to one, is injustice to all. We are all card carrying members of the APC and  we should enjoy equal right under the constitution of the party, the national working committee, NWC of the party is the making of the constitution, even of the National Chairman and if an appeal panel set up under the law gave a ruling and the NWC refused to obey it, it clearly showed that they have a preferred candidate and buttressed the point that by the time they were accusing of Asiwaju of supporting Abraham, they were also scheming fraudulently for a candidate too, which is high level of injustice.  Not everybody can take that, while others feel okay, others have moved on. Do you know the extent of atrocities this attitude of Mr. Oyegun has done to our party? A lot of people are now APC in Ogun, PDP in Ekiti and AD in Ondo; it is that bad, look at the way Timi Frank was suspended. As a young politician in the national politics, I am very disappointed in the national chairman because I loved him so much and I had thought he will be an upright man like Baba Bisi Akande and the likes under any circumstances.

What do you think or would you suggest as solutions to the APC crisis?

Very simple, I read it in the newspapers that President Buhari met recently with our mentor; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Baba Bisi Akande and Senator Adeyeye, though we do not know the outcome of the meeting but I believe that a lot of issues must have been discussed and solutions proffered. Let the President starts from that, because he is the father of all. Let him stop some people (if any), using his name or influence to cause disaffection in the party hierarchy. Let the party also look critically at the issues raised by the President’s wife; Mrs Aisha Buhari and do the needful, so that we can win the interest of the people back to our party.

“I know Dr. Olusegun Abraham did not lose to Mr. Akeredolu in the primary because an appeal panel set up by the party ruled that the acclaimed winner was declared under a well established fraudulent act and ordered for re-run but the National Chairman of the party said No, when we are claiming “Change begins with me” rebranding stuff. So issue of winning the general election in Ondo state does not arise, the question is who is our candidate in Ondo 2016? How did he emerge or how will he emerge? As far as the case instituted by Dr. Olusegun Abraham is still in court, we have no candidate yet in the APC for Ondo election.”