Ogun 2023: My Perspective To Why APC Performed Woefully

By: MOJISOLA ADESOLA TIJANI

"BECAUSE YOU ASKED"

OUR DISMAY PERFORMANCE AT THE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION OF 2022/23

I refer to our meeting of Thursday 19th April, 2023, in government lodge Abeokuta, Ogun State, where you asked us for reasons responsible for our poor performance at the polls. I have identified four major reasons for the dismay performance which are listed below:

(1) Party Structure and activities

(2) Appointees as government ambassador and their relationship with our people

(3) Election 22/23 Preparation and Planning

(4) The party Aspirants/Candidates

Sir, I would like to introduce myself to you briefly before I expatiate on these

reasons.

It's been close to twenty years since I joined politics in Odogbolu local government before contesting from ljebu Ode for the house of representative of Ijebu Ode/Odogbolu/ljebu northeast federal constituency of Ogun state in 2022. 

I started my political journey in PDP before later crossing to APC, lived in Abeokuta for 10 years, which gave me an opportunity to relate with politicians across the three senatorial districts of the state and across party lines. I served on the state executive senatorial districts of the state and across party lines. 

I served on the state executive committee of PDP, served on not less than three gubernatorial campaign committees and Jonathan/Sambo presidential campaign council in 2010/2011 at the state level. In addition to this, I was the flag bearer for PDP Odogbolu local government for house of assembly twice one of the contest was against Hon Ojuri in 2015 which I won but was rigged out.

Prior to that I have contested for vice chairman with late Mr Gbenga Osinowo(Ogo) in the same Odogbolu local government in 2013.

I founded Mojisola Foundation about 11years ago, a platform where we look after the welfare of our people and provided social amenities. My works includes but are not limited to provision of pipe borne water from boreholes, refurbishment of hospital, provision of mass employment for our youths and economic empowerment of party members in our constituency a good example was our cash donations during covid19 and series of cash and other donations to all the wards of the Ijebu Ode/Odogbolu/ljebu federal constituency. 

I am presently a member of the Ogun state health management board where I support my chairman in ensuring that our people benefits from the government policies and facilities in the medical sector. I also made sure that an absentee senior medical doctor was moved from our hospital in Omu Ijebu, Odogbolu local government in response to my people's complaints. I know my people and my people know and love me.

Your Excellency sir, because you asked I have decided to write to you as a follow up to my complaints of year 2021 to our leader and amiable secretary to the state government, Hon Talabi and few other leaders, I complained to them then because! realized that so many things were missing in the party and the way it was being run which I knew will have negative impact on the strength of the party and on your grip on the party as the party leader and sitting governor of the state. For me I am going to take the bull by the horns and not buy into any excuse of financial handicap or poor performance associated to a directive from a governor that ruled 16 years or 8 years ago why should such past glory have so much influence on our performance if

we did our home work well. It is more desirable to proffer solutions to these problems which would bring about positive changes that would strengthen the party for future gains instead of apportioning blames.

OUR PARTY STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITES

It is important that we allow power to go back to the party structure and the leaders even in matters of ward and local government congresses because they have the competence to handle them. Party supremacy will strengthen the party structure. The important factor here is to gain the support and loyalty of these leaders and half of our work is done. 

The leaders are more experienced in matters of mobilization of members, gaining the confidence and support of electorates, election matters and winning much more than the greenhorns that are being placed at the helm of affairs of important party matters including but not limited to election committees. 

The leaders know the strength and weakness of most members as they would probably have worked together in the past. 

For example they know the women endowed with mobilization of members, men with prowess for grassroots and foot soldier work, they can vouch for loyal and competent members that can handle polling and election matters including finance. 

They can organized the usual training for handlers of elections like the polling agents, loyal and experienced handlers knows that he or she is answerable to the leaders and will not leave the collation center until the whole process has been concluded. 

The leaders know the importance and would create a situation report room where the election can easily be monitored for necessary actions to be taken promptly to save the day amongst others.

Excellency, it is high time you have your own trusted men, not adopted men. Those that will be loyal to your cause now as the governor and in the future of your political career. Most of your trusted men have divided loyalty, between you and their selfish interest and others between you and other leaders. 

The disloyalty is so grave that you don't get simple important Information that can affect your seat as the governor on time whereas the feedback you get from your closed men are mere information to serve the purpose of their selfish political interests and not the true situation of things and that is the reason why it is important to have trusted backups amongst members who can equally have access to you in good time as well as vouch for your support even when they step on strong toes.

Let's say a former governor of 16 years or so gave an instruction to some members not to support or work and or vote for our governor in the election. How come the governor got the information late sir, what did our own men do to stop it, who did he use to carry out these dastardly act?

Could it be his loyalists within your cabinet and other members? I heard rumours that an appointee asked for election to be disrupted in our winning polling units while he asked that soldiers be taken topolling units where we were losing. 

Thank God for the likes of Sen. Adeola Olamilekan( Yayi) of Ogun West and the Commissioner of finance of Ijebu Ode and others too who took control of the situation and delivered. For example, the commissioner for finance was able to reconcile and pacify most of the aggrieved members in Ijebu Ode with money and appointments, etc. 

I was probably not considered because I was regarded more as an Odogbolu party member. They took control of the situation because your interest did not conflict with theirs. However if for example in future you have conflicting interests and they decide to work against you then the case will be different. 

Therefore, it is imperative to have your own established, groomed and empowered soldiers - I first suggested this in 2021 to our SSG. On the whole, it is important to have true loyalist that will always protect your interest and pass such unpalatable information to you so you can nip it on the bud in good time. It will also put government at an advantage to have a firmer grip on the party in the state. Most times true loyalty comes from mutual trust rather than personal gain. One of my parent is a native of Omu ljebu, ward 14 of Odogbolu local government therefore I am from the same ward with Otunba Gbenga Daniel, however for most of the years we have being on the opposite camps or even political party. 

Few years back, all the politicians of Omu followed his excellency to join Labour Party but I refused because I didn't believe in the party. At a point in time I was in former President Obasanjo's camp of PDP where I was a state executive member and later changed to late Buruji Kasham camp when Baba Obasanjo asked us to go join Sen. Amosun in APC and when I enquired the reason for the decision so I could tell my people, a leader responded by saying he does not have any business with or care about the Ijebu people.

APPOINTEES THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR PEOPLE (THE ELECTORATES) Most Appointees and even elected government officials are only good in Abeokuta they are not good at home. As ambassadors of government they really need to improve on their attitude. There are complaints galore about the conduct of and relationship of the appointees with our people in general and other party members in particular.

For instance, please allow me to mention my personal experience 2 years ago with Barrister Femi Ogunbanwo (Omo Iwa, the house of representatives-elect) on this matter. During the officiating ceremony of my chieftancy title in Omu Ijebu, I learnt that Her Excellency Mrs Bamidele would attend a church service to receive an award the following day.

So I attended the service in order to join our people in receiving her; when we got news of her arrival, we all lined up on a role about 6 or 6 appointees to greet her. And then Omo Iwa was there (it was his church) he came forward and started to introduce us one by one but to my surprise he introduced the members-about 4 of them - before me and then he jumped me and introduced the next person, but thank God Mrs Funmi Afuwape was also there on the entourage of the first lady. She was surprised and asked in the presence of the first lady why he didn't introduce me and then the commissioner of women affairs introduced me to Her Excellency. I don't get invitation to any meeting; the ones I attended, I gate-crashed.

These appointees only care to be in the good book of the governors and those in government but care less about their people.

What we have as appointees are mostly unpopular, hostile, inaccessible and arrogant representatives, some of them cannot spare a little of their earnings on party members or activities, (sir, do you know what Ijebu north east local government party secretariat looked like until after the elections? 

It was terrible. Most of the feedback you get from some of these representatives are mere information to serve their political interest and not true situation of things. If these government representatives relates well and reach out to help people of their communities by impacting positively on them, then half of the central government work will have been done, however where the reverse is the case it would be difficult to sell the party to the grassroots because the people will naturally warm up to the party whose leaders listen to them and treat them better. The body of appointees needs a total reorientation.

PARTY CANDIDATES AND BACKLOG

A number of the party candidates were appointees before emerging as candidates. If their relationship with the people were bad then even if they got the ticket the people might not vote for them at the general election. Thank God some of them won because they contested with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other popular senate candidates which helped them to win at the presidential/national assembly elections. However those that contested at the state assembly did not have such luxury because they failed to sell the party and government, what they were doing is mere packaging, make believe. And because they are closer to the people, instead of helping their cause they did not; the spillover effect of their social standing affected the governorship election.

There were also insinuations that the governor throw its weight behind some anointed candidates against the other aspirants and these candidates were also allowed to elect delegates for their primary election; this left a sore on the mind of these other aspirants their followers and the people in general because in some cases they were the people's aspirants. The party leaders and these candidates did not do enough to heal the wound of these aspirants and the people, there was no sincere reconciliation. I heard that the governor refunded the form money of aspirants but I for example have not gotten a kobo up till now even though I bought a form of N5million naira and spent hundreds of millions of my Apapa oil and gas business on the party. I have asked a number of people but I didn't get any response on the refund. The candidates on their own did not make things better instead of taking steps to reconcile with other aspirants who are probably more popular and can help them gain large votes from the electorates refused to do so. Even our president-elect was magnanimous in victory. He reached out to other aspirants and reconcile with them, reasons so many of his co aspirants supported him to win his election.

There was a time the party leaders summoned the aspirants for reconciliation but they refused to attend they felt betrayed that some of the leaders collected their money and yet were the one that were asked to carry out the reconciliation. How I wish it was the governor as the party leader and father figure for all in the state that took steps to pacify the aggrieved aspirants that lost. Some of these aspirants and their large followers could have supported all the party candidates fully.

ELECTION 22/23 PLANNING AND PREPARATION

The problem of this election started a long time ago. The party normal activities were over looked. Party members needed to be encouraged and empowered before the election for they will appreciate empowerment that comes to them before election more than the empowerment they get when elections are approaching or during election. We did not do much to mobilize new people into the party even after the covid2019 era because members were demoralised. At a time we even stopped ward and local government meetings for so long and these issues made us to lose the commitment of members to the cause of the party.

INEC REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.

The party did not carry out the exercise with all the seriousness it required. There was need to make adequate arrangement to mobilize people especially the younger ones who attained the voting age about the time of the registration for the exercise. Like I said earlier some members knew there was a need to do this but it is either they didn't have sense of commitment or/and belonging or they didn't have capacity, because of this we lost so many new and young voters to our opponents. THE CAMPAIGN EXERCISE

It appears we did not plan our campaign to commence on time therefore we were not able to cover all the rural areas. There is this sentiment with our people, when a governorship candidates visit them, talks to them and shares his vision, works and plans with them, they in turn tells him their needs and then their spirit is lifted and they warm up to such a candidate, believing that if he is voted into power, he will look after their needs. As a matter of fact, I would prefer it if the governor had gone round the rural areas of the local governments to meet with the people for stock taking and feedback before election campaign, as a prelude to election campaigns and visit them the second time again to campaign rigorously in all the local governments and wards, for me these efforts are more effective in getting more of the peoples votes more than the adoptions of the governorship candidate by our different traditional and religious leaders etc.

Another problem came from the way our other candidates run their campaigns. Our candidates, that is, the national and state assembly candidates whom were supposed to make up for the loop holes and go to the wards and units to campaign did not and those that did so did not do a joint campaign. As a matter of fact there was no strategic campaign method - no synergy between the different position campaigns, when state assembly is campaigning, the house of reps is not together with him neither is the senate. We also got information that some leaders demanded money and were paid before they agreed to follow the campaign train of candidates of their area. There were numerous problems but we thank God we still have the state. May God resolve other outstanding issues. Amen.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, we need to look inwards and do a total overhaul of our party system. I would like to appeal to our governor to please rejuvenate the party's activities especially in the rural areas. We need the ward meetings to start and there is need to sponsor the meetings etc. It is equally important to heal wounds of the aggrieved. To start with, there is need to summon the aspirants of local government, the state and national assembly election to meetings and address them like a father. Again it is also important to compensate the aspirants that spent money and effort. It is understandable that in a contest it is one person that would emerge but the money they loss or invested was on the party meaning that they financed the party therefore for all its worth they deserve to have a pat on the back. In the same vein, there are other party members that also needed to be recognized for their contribution and support by giving them appointive position in government as a form of reward and encouragement.

Thank you for your audience.

MRS MOJISOLA ADESOLA TIJANI

JJEBU ODE/ODOGBOLU/JEBU NORTH EAST FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY