Osun State Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, in an interview with GBENRO ADESINA says he would rescue the western Nigerian state of  Osun from the All Progressives Congress.

Why exactly do you want to be governor of Osun State?

I want to deliver my state from All Progressives Party, APC. Ordinarily, I didn’t want to contest but the party came to me to persuade me to contest because they feel that I am most suited for the job at this point in time.

If elected, what will you do different?

Iyiola Omisore

The theme of my campaign is Rescue Mission 2014 and the motto is: Prosperity and Development that Leave No One Behind. On a very deep thought, the two statements mean a lot. One, as at today, Osun State is in a state of emergency. It needs to be rescued. The state is in a state of comatose, where education has been bastardised to a level of primitive, Stone Age and pre-colonial days. There is no direction, vision, planning, expectation and deliverables.

The bastardisation can be viewed in two ways: psychological and futuristic. I will just take one or two instances. Two months ago, students of Baptist School, Iwo went to school with hijab, masquerade and choir dresses. People laughed over it but to me, it is not funny. It is a very serious matter. It shows a level of decay in our children. It shows there is a total disorder and disorganisation in the school. With this situation, one wonders about the hope of our children and the kind of children and leaders we are breeding. Out of school, what do we expect from them? Students now kill their parents because the value they get in school today is low.

As far as Aregbesola is concerned, everything is commercial, profit making and desperation. Education is the only business we have in South-West and it should not be toyed with. Anybody who toyed with education in Osun State has failed woefully. How can one in his imagination think of merging schools with different categories, mottos, and ideological beliefs. It is even wrong to merge two schools because they are different in ideology. The school merging done by Aregbesola is very unreasonable and wicked.

A whole Fakunle Comprehensive School was pulled down because Aregbesola wanted to sell the place to Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the construction of a shopping mall. Suddenly Aregbesola started giving all students in the state one uniform because his wife is into tailoring business and N4b profit was made on this. Everything he is doing reveals that he is unprepared for the job.

Sir, how do you address all these problems you highlighted, presumably caused by Aregbesola?

Everything will go back to the initial and original dignified position and that is the first thing on my agenda. Look at Opon Imo, it is a flop. They make so much of propaganda and propaganda can’t solve the problem. Aregbesola tells people that he has paid salaries which have not been paid and he expects those that he is owing arrears of salaries to vote for him! They will not vote for him.

He is talking about road construction. There is no road construction anywhere. A road construction of Osogbo to Kwara boundary awarded two and half years ago has only gone 50 per cent. The Osogbo IENA road has been suspended. Gbongan to Osogbo, the work there is skeletal. This is not Lagos. It is easier to deceive people in Lagos but not in Osun. There is no government impact in at least 26 local government areas in this state.

Recently APC came up with the slogan of stomach infrastructure. That is an insult on our integrity. APC is just stealing our money. We, PDP in Osun, have not given anybody a bag of rice. He is the one giving rice and money. You owe salaries for months and because election is at the corner, he started paying salaries.

If you’re elected, what will you do for your people?

We have two guiding principles, based on equity and accountability. To achieve these, we have four strategies: to develop viable human capital, harness technology for learning and innovation, promote partnerships and deepen regional co-operation, and assure national integration.

Aregbesola will fail woefully and lose woefully, worse than Ekiti. Our eight cardinal programmes are: restoration of the dignity of education, health, well-being and social safety nets, gender equality and youth development, gainful employment and wealth creation, not O-YES where graduates are receiving N8,000 and they are being owed salaries. Aregbe himself, is a school cert holder. Because he emerged as a governor, they start calling him a graduate or an HND holder.

Others are: technology and infrastructure, environmental sustainability, agriculture, food security and rural development, public service administration, monitoring and accountability, and good governance, peace and security.

Do you entertain any fear over INEC being able to organise credible election in the state?

For the first time, I read it that Federal Government commended INEC over Ekiti election. There were 1,400 local and international observers and all of them attested that the election was peaceful, free and fair and credible. In that type of environment, credible election is achievable. Credible election was achieved in Ekiti because there was total security. The turn-out during the election was 81 per cent. With the same model of total security, and militarisation that will give people confidence, and the kind of environment we had in Ekiti State, Osun State election will be better than that of Ekiti.

Do you think election in Osun State will go the way of Ekiti?

What is happening is like a movement in the South-West. APC will lose Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and Lagos states. People have seen their hypocrisy, their stealing and robbery. So, people are no more deceived anymore.

What do you expect from the loser of the election?

You know Fayemi admitted being a loser because the election was credible, transparent and fair. Basically, the winner will be applauded and the loser must acknowledge.

How can crisis be averted during election?

I said it earlier on. Crisis can be averted if people are secured, have confidence that their lives and property are protected. Police arrested about 4,000 APC thugs in Ekiti, and in Osun State they are training about 200 thugs in each local government to cause confusion in every polling unit. They arrested APC thugs in Anambra and Ondo states. APC is known for thuggery and violence. Aregbesola has not hidden it, too. He said he is a man of the street, that he is a thug.

But mark you, Osun State is not a state of thugs. No election is worth the life of any human being. So I don’t believe what he has said and I reject it totally. But I am sure, by the reasoning of protection of property and security on the day of election, crisis and violence will become a thing of history during elections in Nigeria.

How do you react to the fact that you are not original in your campaign because it is alleged that you go the way of Fayose by eating corn and other things in the public?

There is nothing like copying anything. I have booked market days for all my campaigns. I am also doing house to house campaigns, neigbourhood campaigns, street to street and anything can come out of it and I have to react to it. If I get to a market now, if they give me corn, will I fold my arms and not collect it? If we are going for campaign and we get stuck and I can use okada to get to the venue, will I not use okada because of what people would say? People should just face their own business and jobs. What is their business with my campaign?

How do you feel that till date, it is still publicly said that you were involved in the killing of Chief Bola Ige?

I don’t feel anything at all because it is only being raised by the detractors. I went through a rigorous trial for two and half years. I was discharged and acquitted. As far as I am concerned, I am the only one free of Bola Ige’s death in this country. You are a suspect because you have not gone through any trial on the case.

If you become governor of the state, what kind of legacies would you like to leave?

I want to leave a legacy that my family will be proud of.

What gives you the confidence that you will win this election?

Very good. Like I said, I am doing neigbourhood campaign, door to door campaign, ward to ward campaign. I am doing a participatory campaign. It is like a population census. When you enter a camp and every household, every shop, every market, they are jubilating, praying for you, it is obvious. People are excited. They want a change. They are begging and crying for a change. They are donating posters, they are selling vests at my rally. I have walked through the nooks and crannies of this state and I am repeating it that Aregbesola’s impact is not felt in at least 26 local government areas of this state.

He promised to build model schools about four years ago with N8.4b, today, he is only able to start with 20, deliver seven and 13 are at foundation level. Where do we go from there? There is no water project anywhere. The roads are bad across the state. Government is a serious business. It is not for jobbers. It is not for guys. It is not for unserious people. Look at our debt profile now, it is about 438b and there is nothing on ground to show for it. He has no reason to owe any worker in this state. He has no business owing O’YES cadets or not funding the project he started. But because he has a master in Lagos, Bola Tinubu, it is an ajele relationship. He is repatriating our money to Lagos.

You just mentioned that the state is highly in debt. With that current status, how do you intend to achieve much within your four-year term if you win the election?

The banks are already taking their money back secretly and that is why he can’t pay salary. All the bonds and the debenture, we are going to schedule it to allow for development and change. And with my international connection, I will bring some grants as soft loans to complement and do things for the state particularly in the rural areas.
What is your message for the people of Osun?

I want to tell them to be patient. I appreciate their sufferings and hunger, and their anger. They should come out on the 9th of August to vote wisely, gently and diligently and await the result of Omisore being announced as the governor-elect.