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OYO PDP Chieftain, HAZEEM GBOLARUNMI Explains
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Talks About His Governorship Ambition
You have been in the PDP since inception. How come you didn’t leave the party when other were leaving?
I have my reason.
I don’t believe in jumping about. When you benefit from a certain political party and you benefited from the party, for one reason or the other, I think with that party you need to compensate, those that have assisted you those that have worked for you, those that have been with you.
All of a sudden, when they are about to gain the dividends of democracy or whatever, You now say oh oh this party I don’t like the party I’m going to another party. Do you understand what I’m trying to say? Because this party has already helped you to get what you want, the party has assisted you to be where you are. I don’t believe in that style. I don’t believe in it. Because I see some people they will leave here today, go there tomorrow, they will come back I don’t like it.
So I find it very happy. I’m glad that this is a party that I started with. And I’ve never for one day defected from the party.
So I think I enjoy it. And I believe in Consistency. When you are consistent with what you are doing, with time things will improve.
You might think you are gaining but you must have lost some followers. Because if you leave a party and maybe you have, people like 100. And you say oh let me go to another political party. The 100 will not follow you.
So what’s going to be their fate? What is the future of those people? And these are the set of people who helped you.
Tell us about your Governorship ambition.
How did it start? Why did you come out? Why did you join the race?
During this era or this period.
I’m the first, to come out, to declare my intention, within the party. All these people you see putting Billboards all over town, putting posters all over Ibadan.
I don’t believe in that. That’s not politics. When it’s time we will show it to them.
And you don’t need to put billboards, you don’t need to put that out there before you win that election. We have been at it for a long time. so we know the game.
But they don’t know it. Some people, don’t know politics is more or less a profession. They don’t learn it.
So they just found themselves on that field believing that everything is Money.
They feel if I have the money, I can win that election. If I have the money, I can do this, I can. It’s not so.
There are Tactics. There are Games that you need to play.
So when you are saying this or that you are announcing yourself, putting yourself these on the radio, in the media, I mean, they are all making noise. But when it’s time, if they want to learn, we’ll train them on how to do it.
If you don’t do posters, how will people know that you are contesting?
What we are doing now is more or less like an advert. We are conducting an interview. What do you call it? Interview.
You understand? So you are promoting me. It takes time. Are you telling me all these market women in the villages will see a Poster somewhere or see a billboard. You don’t have to tell me that I’m a grassrooter. And I know how to play my game.
There are those who also feel that the APC would be having an upper hand in the 2007 election?
Let’s wait and see. Because I believe people like PDP in state. Oyo State is a PDP state.
It’s not an APC state. What we need is just to maintain peace and continue to work together. You know our governor is PDP. And he has never even come out to say he is going to another party. For now people love PDP. People still have that sympathy.
People still have that passion, for the PDP.
What many people don’t understand is how Gov. Makinde keeps insisting he will instal a successor?
How would he install his successor in PDP without consulting your camp? That is exactly what caused the feud. You know? You just came out in a day announcing to the public that you are giving us a successor, without consulting the stakeholders, without informing the leaders of the party. And you said it out, not minding the accent.
And I said what is happening to this guy? You say you will tell everybody your successor. Are we not part of the system? You met us in the party, but God has ordained that you are going to be the governor of the state. And we have to work with you. If you have to you, we are not your staff or maybe a company.
You don’t do that now. You don’t consult anybody, and you are saying that look oh I want to announce my successor soon.
Who gave him that idea? Why must he say that in the first instance? So which means we leaders or we founding members of the PDP are foolish.
The governor has been accused of creating a lot problems within the party, with the people he met and those who work for him, How come the party members or the stakeholders didn’t step in at that time?
That is exactly what we have been doing.
It’s like you know we must have been doing this before now. Okay. Some people will tell him, some will advise him, but he won’t heed to that advice.
Because he believes that he’s the governor. He can do and undo what he wants to do. And in any political organisation it has to be a collegiate leadership.
It’s not an enterprise, not a company, We are not your staff. We all contributed one way or the other to your success. And to tell people that you don’t have godfather, why are you saying that? What are you telling us? What are you saying? You don’t have godfather.
So it means you got there on your own. If you want to be governor, go on independent candidacy.
So we all know that this is an independent candidate. For the first time, won an election. Yeah. I don’t know who is advising him. Maybe they don’t know the terrain I don’t know.
