Dr. Olaiya Oni is the former chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State. He resigned his membership recently. Since his exit, other top members have turned their back on the party. Oni, in this interview with Ojo oyewamide, spoke among other things on issues surrounding the defection from the LP.
Two months after you resigned your membership of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State, many other prominent members have dumped the party. What would you say accounts for this?
More are going to leave the Labour Party on regular basis. Ward chairmen, supervisors at the local governments, council chairmen, local government chairmen of the party and other notable leaders from the ward to the state level will soon leave. They are giving the same reasons I gave because Mimiko turned the party and the government to his personal estate.
So, what do you expect the people to do, to remain there? It is not just possible. People have a name. They cannot remain in such an organisation. And the pity of it is that many of the people who are now beneficiaries of the government were not known to the party during the struggle.
He just brought them from all the nooks and crannies of the country and abroad, his friends, cousins, those of his wife, brothers of his wife and all of that. He just brought all of them and they are all enjoying the fruit of our labour. Well, there is God.
How are you sure several others will still dump the party in the state?
The moment I left, people started leaving en masse. By the grace of God, I built the party in Ondo State – the people know this. If you were living in Ondo at that time, you will know that I built the party.
Mimiko ran away during that period of struggle. He was not in Ondo State. I and other prominent people built the LP. We contributed money. He didnÕt give anybody money, he did not give a kobo to the party, either at the state, local government or ward level throughout the time. I was the person who was organising, raising funds for the party at the state, local government and ward levels.
The only money he provided was when we were going for election. He has impoverished these people, he has used and dumped them and it is not a surprise that they are leaving in droves.
Has the crisis in the party been for long?
Yes. This is not a battle that started yesterday. The man is just being insincere. I had wanted to resign last year but our National Assembly members and candidates begged me to shelve the idea because of the April elections. In fact, the Assembly members after their election came to donate N1 million each for the running of the party when they realised that it had no running fund.
When I could no longer stomach the embarrassment, I resigned in June but the Osemawe of Ondo called us to his palace to pacify me. Mimiko prostrated for me and begged I should stay.
There and then, he said I should bring the name of a building contractor that he would give a contract for me. I gave him the name of Anchor Maris which is run by some indigenes of the state from Okeigbo but they are based in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
These guys also contributed a lot during our struggle. They came to the state, submitted bids and came to see the governor on many occasions but Mimiko refused to attend to them. So, Mimiko is just being economical with the truth.
This is the same thing that he did to the former Commissioner for Works, Yele Omogunwa, who was just seeing contracts without knowing the contractors and without being involved in the process of awarding contract.
That was why that man left but we didnÕt know this because the governor told us something else. We found out the truth after the man left. Go and ask from Omogunwa and he will tell you his experience with Mimiko.
Some people on the side of the governor said you enjoyed much patronage from the government, that you did not mention that the governor gave you a jeep and money during the launch of your book
. They are just being mischievous. I have said it that the governor sends N450, 000 to the party secretariat monthly for the payment of staff salaries and I have been complaining about this since 2009 without any response from him. We even set up a committee headed by Senator Omololu Meroyi to look for ways the party could be well funded.
That committee submitted its report to the governor in January this year and uptill now, he has not done anything about it. I did not benefit from any contract and if they have evidence, let them publish it. The governor gave me a jeep during my launching, are you saying the chairman of a ruling party is not entitled to ride a jeep? Mimiko has bought jeeps for many pastors, his diviners, girlfriends and others.
So, what is the big deal in giving me a jeep? I am one of the first set of people to buy a jeep in this state and I used many vehicles to prosecute his governorship ambition. He was not the only one that donated money during my book launch. Others donated too. So, what is special about that?
What is your reaction to the protest of the Oba of your town over your resignation as the chairman?
Ise Akoko has no Oba and Mimiko knows that. The man who came to the GovernorÕs Office to parade himself as the Onise has been deposed on August 18, 2010 by an Ikare, Akoko High Court.
I will soon publish that judgment. It was Mimiko who directed the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, to write a letter to him to vacate the throne and hand over the official properties in his care and a Regent was duly appointed according to the tradition of the town.
It is the same person that they have now invited to come and protest against me as the Oba of my town. That tells you the kind of person Mimiko is.
It is almost 36 months that Mimiko came into the saddle in Ondo. How would you describe his achievements?
Which achievements? You have been in this state for the past three years. You can assess him yourself. Is the man fulfilling the promises he made to the people of Ondo State?
Everybody that worked for him, he has jettisoned them. He brought his brothers and sisters and put them in sensitive and the most lucrative positions. They did not know when his programmes were written.
The man has been working for himself, his family and not for the people. I am an insider. I know what has accrued to the state. At the appropriate time, we shall ask questions and raise issues.
You once wrote a letter to Governor Mimiko concerning the invasion of your office by some policemen and identified LP supporters who forcefully took away a party bus you claimed to have purchased. Has he done anything about the issue that you raised in the letter?
Well, I do not know whether the governor has acted on the issue. You know as the chief security officer of the state, he should ensure that nothing should happen to me or any citizens of the state.
That is the purpose of that letter. I donÕt know what the governor is doing about it, but what I am telling the whole world is that if anything happens to me, they should ask from him.
How can he forcibly take over the property that belongs to me and on top of that he sent people to come and harass me even when I produced the receipt that I used to purchase the bus, the cost of re pair, a six-year-old bus that was used in campaigning and yet the governor took it.
He did not stop at that, he gave police an order to collect it and hand it over to the party.
That is executive recklessness. I told the police that it was wrong to have done that and the police said it was an order from above.
hey are driving that bus about in the secretariat. Anyway, I will go to court to recover my property. I will sue the party and the police to recover my property and to ask for all the necessary damages. I have already started the legal proceeding along that line. If Mimiko likes, let him use his executive fiat on the court by telling them not to hear the case, I will go to court on the matter
It has been rumoured that you have decided to join the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). How far is that true?
It is not a matter of rumour. I was given a civic reception by my people in Akoko on September 15, 2011 and I said it openly there that I am joining the ACN and I have done so.
The official declaration will come up before the end of this month. Not only myself, but everybody who believes in my philosophy will declare for the ACN before the month ends.
The number of governorship aspirants in the ACN in Ondo continues to swell. How would the party ensure that this does not lead to a serious crisis?
We will manage it. Do not forget that the Labour Party was the largest party in Ondo State and I managed it without crisis. I conducted state, local government and ward congresses last year December without any problem.
So, that magic which I used in running the LP, in conducting congresses without any problem is the same magic I and other leaders of the ACN will use to decide the flag bearer of the party when the time comes. But that is not in our agenda now Nobody is talking about candidates or aspirants now.
The issue at hand now is building ACN to a formidable party that can win elections at the state, local government and ward levels. That is our priority now.
Some people are of the opinion that if ACN wins the 2012 governorship election in the state, Bola Tinubu will be the one in control and not the governor. How would you react to this?
That is MimikoÕs theory. The first question I am going to ask you is that how much do you think Tinubu contributed to the success of Mimiko in the 2007 election in the state? I can authoritatively tell you that N1.2 billion was contributed to the success of the LP by Tinubu. You can quote me anywhere. Also, a bullet-proof Mercedes Benz was bought for Mimiko by the same Tinubu.
Tinubu sponsored Adrian Forty, the late forensic expert that helped Mimiko at the Tribunal, to Nigeria. This is just to mention a few. But Mimiko is an ingrate. He always bites the finger that fed him. Look at Aregbesola, he is an Ijesha man.
He was in Lagos and became one of the right hand men of Tinubu. He was made a commissioner for works and later he became the governor of Osun State.
Also, look at one of the gubernatorial aspirants of ACN in Ondo State, Hon. Jayeola Ajata. He went to the House of Representatives for two consecutive terms, representing Isolo Federal Constituency in Lagos State. He is an Akoko man, if you are not aware.
Tinubu is therefore not a man that can milk us. Mimiko is a liar and a selfish, self centred type. He got to the seat of power through the influence of Tinubu and Tinubu is not the type of Mimiko who has not done anything for the people of Ondo State despite the resources at his disposal.
What is your view about the Akoko Agenda?
It started in 2005 and Mimiko was part of the Akoko agenda. It was consolidated in my house, in my country home in March 2006 and it was blessed by the royal fathers of Akoko people in June 2006. It was blessed by the church later when Mimiko was given an award of Christ Ambassador in good governance in 2006. Akoko agenda is not a new thing.
It was something built over a long period of time. I am not saying it is exclusive. It can come from any of the other local government areas or the three federal constituencies in the Ondo North senatorial district. In my own case, I am pushing for an Akoko agenda.
It doesnÕt mean that anybody from other local government areas within the zone, I mean Ondo north, cannot contest. People from Owo and Ose can contest. All we want is for Ondo north to produce the next governor.
Culled from National Mirror