Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Akinloye Bankole, talks to DANIEL AYANTOYE about the position of the party on the ruling of the Appeal Court, and governance in the state, among other issues
What do you make of the Court of Appeal’s affirmation of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s election?
The ruling was a complete surprise to us considering all the evidence and exhibits that we presented before the court from the tribunal and reviewed by the Appeal Court. The governor shouldn’t have been affirmed as the winner of the election. Just like the third judge said, the election was inconclusive. We rejected the ruling of the court because it was clear that our party won the election, and it should have been declared inconclusive. Having reviewed our document and the details of the judgment by Justice Jane, we are proceeding to the final court of the land. At that level, we believe that justice will be served and will be delivered to us.
Why do you think the judgment was not in the right direction, or is this because it didn’t favour your party?
The judgment is not in the right direction based on the evidence and exhibits that we presented. Before the tribunal, we engaged a forensic expert who checked all the mutilated ballot papers that were given to us by the Independent National Electoral Commission. You will also recall that even at the tribunal, INEC, being the first defendant, couldn’t defend anything. When the body that is constitutionally saddled with the conduct of the election can’t defend anything, are you not surprised? They could not say anything about what they did. They couldn’t present a single witness. Just like the popular saying that silence means consent; that proves that they knew what they did was wrong. We are very surprised by both the tribunal and the Appeals Court judgments.
Are you saying the electoral umpire compromised by not defending the case as you said?
The conduct of the 2023 general election has clearly shown that INEC is not only a biased institution; it has increasingly become manifestly compromised. It is not only in the case of Ogun State; it cuts across all states. Look at the just-concluded elections in Kogi and Imo states, where INEC was returning more votes than accreditation. INEC has over time been involved in a notorious compromise, and it is a very big affront to the development of democracy in Nigeria. It has become a big threat to democracy, and it is unfortunate.
Will you say the same thing for the judiciary? Kogi State PDP governorship candidate, Dino Melaye, said the judiciary had become a department of the All Progressives Congress. Do you share the same view with him?
Ordinarily, the judiciary should be the last hope of the common man. The fact remains that the case of Ogun State is different from that of Kogi, especially in terms of the strength of what we had before the court in terms of our evidence. For example, at the last appeal, we regained some ground that was ruled against us by the tribunal. As such, we still believe that we can get justice, especially in the face of the judgment that delivered by Honourable Justice Jane. We are hopeful, and we believe that, at the level of the Supreme Court, justice will be served in our favour by the grace of God.
Why do you think there was a disparity between the justices?
The matter was presided over at the Appeal Court by three justices, as is expected. They might have seen the case from a different angle. I feel that was what happened. Either way, we believe we will present everything, and justice will be served at the apex court.
The APC stated that there was no way your party, the PDP, would have won the election, perhaps because of the internal issues your party had before the election. What do you make of that?
I hate to discuss the APC. The APC is the most unserious gang of terrible jesters. It is not in APC’s place to assess the PDP. We buried all our crises several months before the elections. If you were abreast of our activities during the campaigns, you should observe that all our generals led the campaigns. The APC is only crying foul because they knew they didn’t win the election. But it is important to note that Governor Dapo Abiodun does not have any moral right to drink or dance; he should dance less because his victory is temporary, and he cannot sustain it.
You mentioned that you resolved the issues in your party before the election. How? Were your aggrieved members placated?
You recall that our leader, Otunba Segun Sowomi, contested the primaries with Chief Adebutu, and it resulted in disagreement, but you also saw that he was on the front lines of our campaigns. That tells you that everything was settled. We engaged ourselves, and we agreed that everyone moved forward. But the stubborn ones were expelled from the party long before we started the campaign. Party officers who were affected were replaced, and the party went to the election fully as a team. As a result, there was no crisis in the PDP. The APC was only looking for excuses to sustain the undeserved victory they hijacked at the polls.
The APC also called on your party to join hands with the governor. Do you think this can be done by your party?
We have told them repeatedly that Dapo Abiodun and his gang of handlers should bury that thought. It is an insult. Ladi Adebutu in Ogun State does not expect the Dapo Abiodun government to do anything for the people. He is a well-known philanthropist. He has been known for doing that for a long time now. No sane-minded person in the state will take Dapo Abiodun as an option. That is why we continue to tell him to dance less and drink less because his days in office are numbered. By the time we get to the Supreme Court, he will know that his victory is unsustainable.
While accusing the PDP of trying to buy the people’s conscience, the party also said your party and candidate should know that money was not everything. What is your reaction to that?
You keep mentioning the APC; they are not a serious party to talk about. The governor went into the market, busy sharing N5,000 with market women and asking them to vote for him in public, which we also presented as evidence at the tribunal. We presented the voucher that was used, which had the APC colour and photograph of Dapo Abiodun and his full name. In an attempt to buy their vote, they gave people money before and during the election. They couldn’t defend it when we mentioned it at the tribunal. We didn’t indulge in vote-buying; everybody knows that.
How would you describe governance in the state? The APC also said the governor has demonstrated humility, maturity, inclusivity, and purposefulness since mounting the saddle of governance in the state. What do you make of that?
Unfortunately, we don’t have good governance in Ogun State. What we have is a group of very few people gallivanting around and engaging in frivolities. There is no pragmatic system to make the state work and be competitive in the area of development. Of course, we were there before, and everybody knows what happened. Yes, we were no angels when we were in government, but to a very large extent, the people were happy with us because a lot of people were employed and the state was in good condition between 2003 and 2011 when we were in government. You cannot compare that with what we have now. What we have now is a group of jesters busying themselves around government houses to divert our commonwealth. It is very bad.
What will you say about local government development in the state?
Local government administration in Ogun State has been successfully killed long before now, and the governor finally nailed the coffin with the announcement that he approved constituency projects for all the local governments in the state. It is very sad. That confirmed the allegation by the former LG chairman, Wale Adedayo, against the governor. We don’t know where he (the governor) derived such powers to award constituency projects for local governments that are supposed to be autonomous. The local government has the right to generate funds, prepare its budget, and spend the funds.
It should be independent. The governor is now celebrating his wrong approach to usurping the roles of the local government. It’s like President Bola Tinubu announcing constituency projects for members of the state parliament. How sensible is that? It is not only constitutionally wrong; it is morally terrible. That is why the PDP, as a responsible organisation, has continued to call on all stakeholders to prevail on the governor not to finish the state. By the time our PDP gets back to power, we will put the state back on its feet, and the people will smile again.
Does that mean you are certain that your party will win at the Supreme Court?
By God’s grace, we believe the Almighty God is with us, and we are confident.
There is an increasing rate of crime in Ogun State. How will you describe the governor’s performance in addressing it?
It is not out of place to have criminal elements in any given society. It is, however, important that a responsive government should work to bring such criminal activities to a minimum. Unfortunately for the state, the governor seems helpless. The spate of killings in the last few days has confirmed this. Currently, the state is not safe, especially with the recent attack on some of our institutions; even the one that happened close to the governor’s office, where a director was murdered in broad daylight. Up until now, we have not seen a tangible reaction from the security agencies because the government is not inspiring in any way.
But is it the governor that should be blamed or the security chiefs in the state for such an ugly incident?
We can’t blame the security chief because there is somebody in charge as the Chief Security Officer of the state, and that is the governor. The most important role of any government is the security of life and property. It is not the number of roads, bridges, and flyovers that you can construct or the housing scheme that you are able to do. People must be alive first before they can make use of the things you are constructing. If any government fails in the area of security, such a government has failed woefully, and that is the experience of the people in the state currently.
How will you describe the current economic condition of the country?
Everybody in this country today knows that Nigeria’s economy is in shambles and needs to be rescued. Unfortunately, it does not appear as if the APC has any immediate response to stop the economic issues and position the country for improvement.
Do you think Nigerians wouldn’t have been in a worse situation if the PDP were to be in power at the national level?
The country cannot be in this kind of situation. Even after inheriting the worst economy from Muhammadu Buhari, we believe our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, can put immediate rescue measures in place for the economy, but unfortunately, that is not the situation we have with the APC.
What do you think led your presidential candidate to lose the election, and are you hopeful of a possible merger between the PDP and other political parties?
The emerging reality in the political space is that to successfully rescue power from the APC, I also agree that what we should be thinking of is a comprehensive merger of all stakeholders across the board. Everybody must come together and form a great alliance to face the APC headlong. That is why our presidential candidate is playing a frontline role in this regard, and he is not doing it for a selfish reason but for the ultimate purpose of making sure that we rescue Nigeria from the claws of the APC and make sure that we reposition our state and country for future greatness. Therefore, I want to join him and others in appealing to everyone to lay aside our differences so that we can collectively work together to rescue Nigeria from the APC. Whether we like it or not, Nigerians are not just hungry; they are angry.
The state governor just presented a budget to the state House of Assembly, which he captioned ‘Budget of Sustainable Hope’. What is your reaction to this?
As a political party, we are still studying the budget, but we have seen so far that there is little the entire budget can sustain in Ogun State. It can only sustain the misery, agony, and pain that the people are suffering under this administration. Imagine a governor earmarking an incredible percentage of the estimate for meals and entertainment. It is not a budget that can sustain any growth, but it will plunge the state deeper into what has currently been experienced, which is pain, misery, and underdevelopment.
