Former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Olujimi, in this interview with AYODELE AFOLABI, assessed the internal party politics of the opposition in Ekiti, her relationship with Ayo Fayose, coupled with views on the general political landscape. On the latter, she submitted that the federal government has made major mistake in the timing of its policies, and time to own up.

Many people have hinged the perennial internal crisis in Ekiti PDP on the power tussle between you and former Governor Ayodele Fayose. What will you say to this?
The allusion that the crisis in our party is as a result of power tussle is unfounded. The truth is that there is no power tussle. What happens every time is that the former governor always abandons the party after elections. When the party is abandoned, people drift or go astray to a level when it will be difficult to bring them back. That is always when people call on me to salvage the party by forming a group that will bring members together.

At different times, we had to come to salvage the party from total oblivion. When he sees that things are better he will come back and make it look as if there were tussles. A party does not belong to one man, we are all stakeholders. No one is bigger or stronger than the other. It is just that opportunities are higher for some. If we have a proper working relationship, it will be a situation of dialogue. But what happens when he comes back, he wants to take over and overrun everybody.

The former governor has accused some of you he helped into political limelight of betraying him. Is that correct?
I always tell people that Governor Fayose is my benefactor. He didn’t only give me an opportunity; he did some few things to make them happen. But if you ask him and he is honest, he will tell you that I was also his benefactor. We have only won two major elections in Ekiti PDP, and they are all his elections and we all contributed to his success.

The third we would have won with Governor Segun Oni, he truncated it. So, none of the two tickets he got are without my input. I might not be a noisemaker, but I had very serious inputs for him to get those tickets. In Yoruba parlance it is said, “omi la ma a te, ka to te iyanrin,” which literally translates to ‘we first step into water, before stepping on sand’.

Without the ticket he wouldn’t have been able to assist any of us. It was like giving back to us what we gave him. I don’t take it for granted. But at the same time we must be able to look at things properly. What is betrayal? It is easy for benefactors to talk about betrayal, especially when they give while taking away your ego, self-respect and taking away your being. We can’t all be ungrateful people, but when you give without altruistic or genuine motive, and then what you get is what he is getting. There are people who have helped millions of people and they don’t rub it on their faces or plaster it on their faces like him. Therefore, nobody has betrayed him.

Still on Fayose, he has been going from one local government to another asking people to unite. He even recently offered to donate N50 million to obtain nomination forms for aspirants. What is your take on this?
He is always coming back but I wonder why now. What happened since the last 12 months that we have not heard from him? He has not been visible since after the 2023 elections. What is happening is because of the congress of the party ahead. He suddenly felt the need to hold the structure of the party.

And that is the reason why you suddenly see him becoming very active. I don’t know of many leaders who will go to the radio and announce what he intends to donate to his party. Such donations should have been announced within the party members. By the way, he has not given the money to the party up till now.

There is no doubt that his idea of unity must not be forced on us. It must be voluntary, that is the only way we can embrace it. We are republican in PDP and everybody is a leader or potential leader. You will see that one young man will just emerge and ask all of you to take a bow and go. If you really want to be a leader, it can’t be this haphazard way. What he is doing is a show off and we don’t need that right now. If you truly want to reposition the party you need to call everybody and bring them on board. We don’t need this kind of show off when you are in opposition. What you need is genuine hard work.

Tongues are wagging about your relationship with Governor Biodun Oyebanji, who was said to be visiting you often. Can you shed light on your relationship?
My relationship with Governor Biodun Oyebanji preceded his governorship and it is a long story.

However, my relationship with him does not mean I am betraying my party. We were born in the same month, we celebrate our birthdays together.

Since he became governor he has been too decent to me. He respects me. Whenever he is confused about anything, he will ask me and say please I heard something. That is why whenever he comes around I welcome him. I have told everyone that if I need to move to APC, I won’t be the first to move and I won’t be the last. But I will be honourable enough not to stay in PDP and throw stones at the party.

How will you react to the rumour that you are about to dump PDP for APC?
I just told you that if I want to leave, I will not bat an eyelid. But I will be sure that whatever I say is backed by empirical truth. Most of our people have moved. What is the big deal? If I move, you won’t hear it outside. But now, I am a member of PDP.

Is there any hope for Ekiti PDP to regain its lost glory, and if possible how?
Those who are saying that PDP is dead in Ekiti should perish such thought. Part of the problem of our party is because we are republican in nature and human nature makes us always want to get what we want. PDP is not where it should be right now but I can assure you that nobody can kill PDP. What we need to do to move forward is to put ego and self-interest aside and put the party first. We must talk frankly to ourselves, ask ourselves whether we are fair to the party that has given us so much.

I think with sincerity and commitment, the party can return to its winning ways. Don’t forget that the party belongs to all and to no individual person. We must work harder collectively because taking back Ekiti won’t be served to us a la carte. I will just appeal to our members not to be discouraged by the turn of events in the party. Let us focus on the bigger picture. If we can put our house in order, PDP is still a party to beat in Ekiti. But it is like we are starting from the beginning, therefore we need to redouble our efforts and unite the party especially for the sake of our teeming supporters in the state.

Considering your closeness to Oyebanji, will you support him for a second term?
Don’t be futuristic. 2026 is very far and I am at another party. He knows because I have told him in no uncertain terms that I will not be in a party and work against the party. If the situation is like it is, we will be here and we will fight him. But we don’t know what the future holds.

How will you assess President Tinubu’s performance in office so far?
I have been in opposition and I know how it should be. I know that we can’t oppose a government for the sake of it. We must oppose the government in order to bring solutions. We can’t slaughter the livelihood of our people on the altar of politics. Where we are now is very precarious. Everybody is hungry. Things are tough. Definitely mistakes have been made along the line, the case of timing, most importantly. I mean timing when policies should be implemented and then compounding a very tough policy with another without looking at the consequences. Government should own up to the fact that some of the policies are wrong timing.

Whichever way we look at it, the government should have a human face. Right now there is no human face in this government. Things are rough, tough and tight. Government must think out of the box to be able to bring succour to our people. I hear of agitation for minimum wage, it is good. But what are you going to use the money to buy? Why are we not demanding a reduction in the price of petrol?

Why are we not demanding a price cap on food items and electricity?
If we have a price cap on transportation, people can plan how to spend their minimum wage. But the way it is, even if you earn N300,000 you cannot manage it. So, I believe that the time to start thinking about price caps is now. What it means is that the government will subsidise some items, which is the way to go. Government must start thinking along that line. We can’t be giving palliatives, it is only good when we have major disasters. When you put people on permanent palliatives, you are making them dependent and not productive. Government must start to be responsive. The markets are dry because of lack of purchasing power by the people.

Despite blazing the trail in politics, which is considered a male dominated arena, are you pleased with the level of women participation in politics?
It is terrible because we don’t really have a law supporting it. That is why we tried to see that there is a law to protect women. In Sierra Leone, two years ago, they were at about six per cent women participation. But the fact that they enacted a law to make way for the women, today they have 38 per cent inclusion within two years. That is the way to go.

If they say it is about religion, it is not. In Senegal, which is an Islamic country, they are at 41 per cent female inclusion. It must be a deliberate thing from the government including the National Assembly. That is the only way we can have it. There are so many good women out there but they don’t have the space and the financial muzzle. The law could even be for a short time. When women get there, they will be energised and they will be able to sustain the tempo.