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PDP Chieftain, Prince DIRAN ODEYEMI Says
PDP Chieftain, Prince Diran Odeyemi believes that the Osun APC governorship candidate in this years election, Hon. Bola Oyebamiji will not win. He told City People in a recent interview that it will be difficult for Oyebamiji to beat Gov. Adeleke.
Why is this so? “It is not just my view, it is a popular view.”
“The people of Osun State know that, in terms of performance, in terms of interpersonal relationship with the people, Gov. Adeleke is connected with them.”
“And if you look at his background, there is nothing to fear about the name Adeleke. They have history behind them. Their father was instrumental in the establishment of Osun State.”
“And he was a Senator. People liked him, people respected him. And that, perhaps, was the reason why Serubawon came out to contest them.”
“He came all the way from America to contest. People knew the influence of his father and voted for him. And he became the governor.”
“And when he was the governor, he was a happy-go-lucky person. He did well within the short period before the military took over. So, when he came out and contested to be a senator, he had no problem.”
“He won after that. As a Senator, he did excellently well. When God called him, when he passed on, the people of Osun State demanded that the Adeleke family should produce somebody that will finish the time of his brother.”
“Governor Adeleke just came home to mourn his brother. Not that he was interested in Politics. But people made demand for him.”
“So, he contested and won. APC was not ready to feed him as a candidate. But the calculation in PDP was that with Adeleke, with his name, with his popularity, he would win an election.”
“So, they persuaded him to come to PDP. He won 9 local governments out of 10. And APC was in government then.”
“When he won, he made a vow to the people. That because they have done this honor for the family, whatever I gets from Abuja belongs to them. He was not going to touch a penny from his salary, from remuneration, from his allowances, will let them take. He was not touching a penny. So, he brought everything to Osun.
And was giving them Transformers. It was even tiny.
So, when eventually the time to contest for governorship came, people voted for him. And said, this family is very good. They are using their money to appreciate God.
Not that they want to steal money. The family is so blessed. The Adeleke.
Even the children. It is only Davido that you know. That you say, yes, he is a billionaire.”
All the children of Adeleke, are Billionaires. There are 5 in the family. All of them are billionaires.”
“So, when you talk about Adeleke, go and see their university, go and see their life.
“They are using their money to serve humanity and to thank God. So, the people realized that and said, yes, we want the money as God. And since they were there.”
“I have said this several times. Even Deji Adeleke said this. During one of the convocations of Adeleke University, he called all the people that will work in the government, that it is not about you. It is about our name, Adeleke.”
“If our father did not preserve that name, if Serubawon did not preserve that name. Demola would not be where he is today.”
“I wouldn’t want anybody, any of us, to spoil that name for the community. He said, if there is any report of any corruption, among you people that are going to work in this government, I will be the first person to invite me SSS to investigate starting from Demola so that people will know.
How do you see the strength of the APC on ground in Osun?
Osun APC has no strength at all. They have bastardise governance in such a way that the people of Osun State are not praying for their return. Look at it from the simple payment of salary to workers which even the Bible said, you should not allow the sweat of workers to dry before you give them their wages. He said they had an agreement with workers, they are going to give them half salary. They call it half salary.
Take it from there. Oyetola when he was Governor could not win his re-election. They don’t have any strength. He is supposed to be the sitting governor then. How much more now that an Oyebamiji who was a Commissioner, that is not even known in Osun politics? Somebody that lives in Lagos and just came because he was appointed a Commissioner.
He doesn’t spend the weekend in Osun. Yes, he is from Ikire, we are not denying that.
But, he is not part of us in Osun. I have a big group there. I have a lot of friends.
In fact, my best friend is in APC. My best friend, somebody that I can call my friend.
Even when he got married, I happened to be his Best man. He is in APC. I have friends in APC.”
“In APC we know a lot of people. We know ourselves. We politicians.”
“We as politicians, we know ourselves. But, Oyebamiji is not one of us. He is an outcast.
“So, even Oyetola himself. Is he popular? Don’t let us go into how he won that election.
You are presenting somebody that we all know that is your boy.
There are people we can categorize as indigenous APC members. There are people who have been in APC for such a long time that if he had presented one of them as a candidate, perhaps, we would say, yes, we know him.”
“He is one of us. But, not Oyebamiji. Who is Oyebamiji? I can call myself a politician in Osun.”
“I have never set my eyes on who is called this Oyebamiji. I know him through pictures. We have met him one way or the other.
I have known politicians from other political parties. That’s to tell you that he was brought over by his master.”
“Even the APC members are not even accepting him. They are not. I don’t want to mention names.”
“And, I don’t want to go through the strategies. But, I know the core APC member will not support Oyebamiji.
Let’s talk about how you felt when the Coalition came up in ADC. Do you think it was a good move by all of them to converge?
I call ADC, Atiku Disciples Congress.
“Or Atiku Disciples Company. All the people you see there are there because of Atiku. And they have no solution to Nigeria’s problem other than how Atiku will become the President.”
And just like I said, I am one of the people who do not believe that Atiku will be a good president. Starting from the testimony given to him by the person he worked with, OBJ. That testimony is not one that could easily be brushed aside.
You cannot give a testimony about somebody who worked under you and people will doubt your statements. I think he may have gone to beg Baba to try and retract this, but whatever statement that comes out of the mouth is like an egg. The moment it breaks, it cannot be brought back again.
So that is the problem of Atiku. The way he has demonstrated his confidence and his determination, I won’t use the word determination, I want to say he is placing his ambition over all other things. It’s even an indication that calls for questioning. What again do you want at your age? Stop giving me the example of Abraham Lincoln or President of Tanzania who is 80 or 90, stop that.”
“Give the young people the opportunity to grow. You see this my phone? There are certain things I cannot do on it. I will have to call my children to come and help with it.
I still need to call my children to come and do certain things for me. There is no way age will not limit your performance or your thinking.”
“It is very bad for Atiku to be so determined that it wants to rule this country again at all costs. So in APC, in ADC, the only chance they will have is if they present somebody else from the south to contest like Peter Obi. Other than that, the APC will win this election.
If they are able to present Peter Obi, it may alter political strategy and plan of APC itself. And that is, that may even put Bola Tinubu in disarray. Because the people who believe that it was the youth that were behind Obi, will realize that the flame put up at that time is still there.
People will still come out for Obi. And just like APC did, if eventually all the political parties are able to form a Coalition and they are able to support Obi, things will change. During Jonathan’s time, many governors supported Jonathan.
Was he able to win that election? No. I don’t know why people forget this truth. That all the governors are joining APC today, supporting Tinubu presidential campaign is never an indication that he will win.
Because the next election will be about the People. Not even political parties. Not about the individual that they took to Obi.
It will be about: We are hungry. We are not protected. We don’t have jobs.
We don’t have income. There is no Employment. People will weigh all this alongside whatever promise we made.
How do you see 2027, just a few months away? What’s your analysis of 2027?
I know that the president and APC are so desperate. And I know people fear them.
People are afraid. Because of the almighty federal might. But with what the international community are doing now, with what Trump is saying about Africans, I think, I expect a modicum of fairness in the conduct of the election.
So that at the end of the day, whoever wins the election will have Peace as a president. And 2027, just like I said, will be about Bola Tinubu and the rest of Nigeria. Not about the people who defecate on the Street.
How come Pres. Tinubu’s mastery of politics is so deep that people have turned him into a Master political strategist and all of that?
Of course Pres. Tinubu is a Master political strategist because he has spent a long time in Politics to know the nitty-gritty, the corners, the bends and everything in politics. I give respect to him when I realize that he did not put himself forward to be the Vice President to Buhari. I respect him even more when I realize that he at the point in time he supported Atiku.
Not only Atiku. He supported Buhari as presidential candidate. At that time, if he had offered himself as a candidate, the opportunity was there. But he was strategizing and knew the time was not right for him to come out.”
“I respect him because he is a Master Strategist. Give it to him. And for him to have succeeded in installing the governors in Lagos consecutively, I give it to him.
For him to have ensured that APC became a party to be reckoned with in the Southwest, I give it to him. Somebody who has these records of achievement is not somebody you can just brush aside. You must double your own strategy if you really want to win.”
“You must double your strategy. Look at it. Where are all the civil rights activists, who used to protest, who were on the streets years back? Where are they today? Where are they? Is anybody complaining? Because they are scared to death.”
The political parties who should be the mouthpiece of the people? Where are they today? They are so much disorganized, all the political parties. And who are the people criticizing you? Even if you criticize him today, people will still come back to him and say it is because he did not appoint you or because you are not part of them. It is no good.
