As Ojudu throws hat in ring for Ekiti governorship challenge

It is almost here, 2019, that year when many politicians will fall over themselves to reach the electorates and make campaign promises that many of them never intends to keep. It is the election year and at this time the people are never shot of promises, it is also an exciting year with an increase in political activities, when drums are rolled out with trumpets to gain people’s attention.

But, in Ekiti, it’s like Christmas is coming early, as they will not be waiting for 2019 for their election, at least the governorship, it is already here in 2018 and what the other states will wait another year to experience is already happening there.

Many aspirants for the office of governor in Ekiti State are already filing out to not only indicate their interest, but to declare their ambition to succeed the incumbent, Mr Ayodele Fayose as the next governor of Ekiti State.

One of such persons is the foremost journalist and legislator, Senator Babafemi Ojudu who today will be declaring his intentions to take the mantle of leadership of the Fountain of Knowledge state not only from Governor Fayose, but also from his party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ojudu’s declaration today is significant in many ways, as he sees his interest in the race not just a battle to take power from the incumbent who has already anointed his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola to succeed him, but a battle to liberate the state from maladministration and embarrassment that the incumbent has subjected the state and its people to in the last four years.

According to him, the present government is causing a huge embarrassment to the people of the state, many of whom are known intellectuals, by the way the governor conducts himself and speaks in public, “First of all let us look at the one that is important, but not as important as the others. The issue of perception, today when I mention to people that I am from Ekiti the first thing they say is what is wrong with you people, why are you like this? How can you elect such a man to be your governor, how come with all your education you elected that kind of person as your governor, that is a very bad perception.

“It can affect our children who are looking for jobs, it can affect our businessmen who are looking for contracts, it can affect our sons and daughters who are looking for wives and husbands, so that perception is not good.

“We were well respected in the past, we are known to be intellectuals, academics, people of integrity, principled, but all that now has changed because of the man who governs us. People look at us from what he is, abusive, thuggish, roguery and all that kind of things, that is not what we are, we have to change that perception of our people and of our state.”

Ojudu believes that he is the right man who will not only ensure all negative impression the governor has created about the people of the state are wiped out, but also the governor’s party, the PDP is consigned to the dustbin of history, because according to him, he has done it before and will do it again.

He said his pedigree where Ekiti State matters are concerned speaks volume, “I have shown sufficient interest, I have made sufficient sacrifice. I and Femi Falana in the year 2000 formed Ekiti Progressives, we showed a lot of interest in what was happening there, after sometime I also led a group called E11 that decided that we must not allow people like Fayose have their way in government and I actually led the push that removed him from office at that time, so I am not an unknown quantity in Ekiti politics.”

He said his concern is because the people are being taken for granted and ridiculed in the eyes of the outside world and as a true born of Ekiti, whose parents and grandparents have suffered for the interest of the people, he cannot stand by and allow the people to be rubbished.

His words, “that fellow Fayose is everything that is antithetical to our culture and to our being as a people of Ekiti origin.

“That to us is a problem and we think that we have to put things right. We do not want our young ones taking such a person as role model and then upturn our culture and practices completely. That is why we say let’s go and rescue our people, because he seem to have captured them.

“Because again with so much poverty in the land, he will just come around with a sachet of rice, like pure water, give it to them, ask them to raise it up, take their photographs and do the video and put it online for the world to see, meanwhile he is stealing our resources.

“People who were born and trained there and are proud to be sons and daughters of Ekiti cannot just sit on the sidelines and watch, they have to do something, that is why I am doing this, to dislodge him from the place.”

Ojudu, a member of the seventh Senate and presently a Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, is not just a journalist, but also human rights activist, that is one of the few that stood up to the military under the deadly regime of late General Sani Abacha with his publications and write-ups.

Writing on why he thinks Ojudu is not only the right man to clinch the ticket of the APC, Segun Dipe, a journalist and political analyst noted that “Ojudu is a political activist, dauntless journalist, and seasoned administrator. He was one of those, who fought
for the return of democracy in Nigeria with other respected pro-democrats.

“He was unfairly incarcerated for fighting for entrenchment of democratic rule in Nigeria. He suffered other forms of persecutions, but his spirit remained unshattered until democracy was achieved.

“He is a principled and honest person. A fighter who has in him the spirit of Sun Tzu, the Chinese general, military strategist, and philosopher. He is unstoppable, once he sets himself out to confront a challenge.

“Ojudu’s political credentials and political nexus in Ekiti, Nigeria and abroad cannot be underestimated. He is a true bridge between the poor and the rich. He is a poster boy of hope and a man who connects well with all social classes.

“He has the right mix of intelligence and doggedness. He is the most tested and trusted to face the common enemy, in person of Ayodele Fayose.

“Ojudu is respected in the international community. In the Hall of Fame in New York, Ojudu’s name is written in gold among the promising leaders in the world. This will come as a great asset to Ekiti if such person governs it.

“As the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ojudu is a bridge builder, who plays politics without bitterness and whose experience and connections cut across party lines.

“Ojudu’s focal point is to make Ekiti State return to its true nature as a place where people respect elders and where there is the dignity of labour. Ekiti State is agrarian in nature, with Ojudu in power, the state can be self-sufficient in yam, rice, and corn production. The state can even feed the whole of South-West within the next four to five years,” he said.

Speaking on his plans for the people of the state in an earlier interview with this reporter, Ojudu showed his passion for his people, saying that the state needed to be repositioned for positive impact to be made, “a large number of our youths are unemployed, they have no jobs, you come out of school there is nothing to engage you, they are roaming the street unemployed, many have masters degree who are doing commercial motorcycle business.

“There is disease everywhere, the environment where they live is terrible and there is nothing to be proud of. Today in Ekiti there is no single industry that can employ up to 50 persons, except the fake news industry where we have found out the governor has recruited 100 people to be churning out lies on social media.

“There is no development going on there, the governor does not have any project that he can call on the President or the Vice President to come and commission. There is only a bridge in Ado Ekiti that leads to nowhere, there is no water under the bridge and it is not flying over anything.

“So there is a need to rescue our people. The schools are collapsing, they are dilapidated, the standard itself is nothing to write home about, workers are not being paid their salaries, teachers and civil servants are being owed close to one year salary. Where do they get their food from to feed themselves and their children, where will they get money to pay their children school fees, if any of them fall sick where do they get the money to seek medical care ?

“These are issues that are of concern to many of us who are from the state. A large number of our people are all over the world working, they want to come back home and participate in the development of their society, but the environment at home does not allow them to do so. The man is battering everybody, he is busy abusing everybody.”

Speaking on why he believes he is the right man to take Fayose and his government out of the Ekiti government house and how he intends to overcome other aspirants in his party, this is what OJudu has to say, “in-between when he left and when he came back, he contested against me for Senate and I defeated him, that is why I said if I were governor I would have known how to handle him and you won’t be saying what you are saying today.”

On overcoming other aspirants he said, “the party has not asked us to come and obtain form, anybody who wants to become councilor, chairman of council, commissioner, Senator, House of Reps, House of Assembly and all that can just take a room in the capital, put his photograph there and say he wants to run for governor to call attention to himself. Until the party comes out in another one or two months to say those who are interested go and obtain form to indicate interest with an amount of money, that is when you will know the boys from the men.”

The aspiration of Ojudu to govern Ekiti as exemplified by his declaration today cannot be said to be misplaced, as he is very fit and credible to seek the position as many indigenes of the state have testified to, but in politics integrity is never enough.

This is the time Ojudu must return to the grassroots and seek the support of the people at that level and start now to educate them on what his government will do differently, so as to garner their backing for the main election, but most importantly, he must also reach out to the APC members at the grassroots if indeed he hopes to win the ticket of the party to contest the July 14, 2018 election.

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This is the time Ojudu must return to the grassroots and seek the support of the people at that level and start now to educate them on what his government will do differently, so as to garner their backing for the main election, but most importantly, he must also reach out to the APC members at the grassroots if indeed he hopes to win the ticket of the party to contest the July 14, 2018 election.