Tribunal: Security Expert, Ojo Blames Aregbesola For APC Abysmal Performance During Guber Poll

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Jackson Lekan Ojo has blamed the leadership of APC in Osun for the poor performance of the party during the September 22, 2018 governorship election and the recently conducted presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

Ojo who was reacting to the recent Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal judgement that declared Sen. Ademola Adeleke(PDP) as the winner of the of September 22, 2018 Gubernatorial election said the party wouldn’t have gone to the tribunal if it had won with a wide margin.

He attributed the abysmal performance of the party in the governorship election , presidential and federal house of assembly elections to the lackadaisical attitude of the party leadership led by former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, saying Aregbesola has allegedly traded the party away.

The Port Harcourt based security expert stated this while fielding questions from journalists on a wide range of issues like politics and security in a telephone interview in Osogbo.

He noted that the recent judgement given by tribunal is as a result of the lackadaisical attitude of APC leadership in Osun state, alleging Aregbesola of throwing the APC chances in the last elections away.

He said: “Oyetola went through the primary. Aregbesola knew that Oyetola is not somebody he can confront when he become the governor because of the very powerful forces behind Oyetola, and base on that, Aregbesola has to refuse to support him, but there was nothing he could do because the person that put Oyetola in place was the person that put Aregbesola in place.

The leadership of APC according to him, underrated the PDP, saying that the judgement was a purchased ruling which cannot stand the test of time. as he expressed optimism that the Court of Appeal will upturn the ruling

The Imesi-Ile born politician said: “I believe Aregbesola traded some of the victory of the party away, particularly in his own Senatorial district where I comes from. How can a sitting Governor lose his own Senatorial district? The other Senatorial district where they did not produce the Governor, APC won there.

“I believe the party should query him very well. He has not done enough. He couldn’t talk to Omisore when the issue of alliance was moved. It was Kayode Fayemi that left Ekiti to come and talk to Omisore. He is not a good leader.

“I don’t trust the former Governor Rauf Aregbesola when it comes to loyalty to the party. Is like a person leaving house and begin to damage the structure. I suspect that the party was sold away and I believe that APC headed by Governor Aregbesola sold the party away.

“We all knew that members of the National Assembly are very important to the president and if somebody can open his eyes and lose his Senatorial district.

“See what has happened to APC in the 8th assembly. It is the worst assembly in the political history of Nigeria. Do we expect something like that? Despite how important the National Assembly seat is, Aregbesola lost in his Senatorial district.

On the proposed Federal appointment for former Governor Aregbesola, Ojo said, ” Aregbesola does not deserve it. What has he done to merit it? He has lost Ife/Ijesa. If the man has not won his own district, how would the party have majority in the Senate and House of Representatives? The 8th National Assembly is the worst in the history of Nigeria legislature. Let him go back to Lagos, he can go and be a Commissioner in Lagos, but giving him a minister, possibly they can give him ambassador and send him to Afghanistan.

While speaking on the state of Nigeria democracy, Ojo who berated the country’s democracy, saying “Nigeria is never in a democratic setting. It is the government of the thugs, by the thugs and for the thugs. The problem is that nobody is really coming to serve. Most of our leaders in Nigeria are those that can not survive without politics. All of them are coming to loot, to steal and to deceive Nigerians. If you are coming to serve and people say no, you don’t need to go and recruit thugs to win at all cost.

According to Ojo, a member of American Society of Industrial Security, ” about 95% of Nigerians are liars, we are not in democracy but Government of the thugs for the thugs. In America for instance, we have the Republicans and Democrats and it is based on ideology that Americans belong to the parties. They don’t change or decamp from one to the other after loss of elections. Most Nigerian politicians are lazy, they cannot survive without politics. They are seeking for political power in order to loot the treasury. If you are seeking for political power and people say no, is the next thing to go and recruit thugs to realize this ambition? They are after their personal interest.”

Comparing 2015 general elections with 2019, he said, “I will blame the stupidity of Nigerians for what we are experiencing. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) provided everything that is expected of them. We are not ripe for democracy. Nobody should blame INEC as the electoral umpire but the operators. Is it INEC that recruited the army and other men in uniforms causing crisis in Rivers and Kano for instance?”

As a security expert, he spoke on the nexus between proliferation of small and light arms with violence in elections, Ojo stated that it is due to desperate ambition of politicians to win at all costs that arm the youths into touting and thuggery.

On the proliferation of arms and light weapons, got he said, “I don’t think it is easy to get the arms into the country through aircraft. They get to Nigeria through roads and land borders. Our borders along South West are not that porous. The question we need to ask ourselves is why are the borders porous in the Northern part of Nigeria? It is because most of them engage in international trade across the border to Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin Republic. Then our security personnel sees themselves as brotherhood to the foreigners coming into the country..

” Then, the convoy of the Governors and other top political functionaries are easily used in border crossing unchecked. Thus, recognition and preference to high profile personnel it easy for our border penetration.”

Soaking on Boko Haram insurgency in North Eastern part of the country, Ojo advocated the need for all Nigerians as patriots to see fight against insurgence as collective responsibility of all.

According to him, “virtually every Nigerian should be involved in the fight against insurgency. The fight is not about where you come from- North, West, East, South South, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo or minority ethnic groups, political party and or religious group that we belong to. We are all brothers to each other. We have regionalized everything in our country, Nigeria. Not until when we get out of this, we cannot bring an end to insurgency in Nigeria.