In this interview with OLUWOLE JOSIAH, the Chairman of the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ebenezer Alabi, speaks about the planned defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko and other matters
How did you receive the news of Governor Mimiko’s plans to defect from the Labour Party to your party?
Well, everybody has the constitutional right to join any political party of his or her choice and so if Dr. Mimiko has made up his mind to come to the PDP, we have no objection. But the proper procedure has to be followed in line with the provisions of our constitution. What we are going to oppose is when the normal procedure is not followed. We have toiled very hard to improve our party and today the PDP is the toast of the people of Ondo State and so if the governor is coming, he is welcome as a member of the party and will join hands with us in ensuring the future of our party. But a situation where the structure of the party or the apparatus of the party will be handed over to him will not be acceptable to party members. We are going to be very vehemently opposed if moves are made in that direction.
We learnt that there is already a working agreement with the Mimiko group over his movement, has there been any meeting between you and his people?
Nothing of such has happened. To the best of our knowledge, his coming is still a rumour to us because we have yet to hold any meeting and there is nowhere, even enquiries at the national secretariat of the party show that there is no agreement whatsoever. So, this is coming to us is very strange because normally if anything is going to happen it is going to be in consultation with the state chapter. That 60/40 percentage (of the new party structure) we read about is arbitrary, it is a rumour and it is not founded at all.
Is it not possible that they (Mimiko’s group) get a better share of the composition of the state executive committee since they are in government and the PDP will be benefiting from that advantage?
That will be totally unacceptable to us because as of today, the opinion of the people in Ondo State is that the PDP is forming the next government. The LP is deeply depleted. We have received a chunk of LP members in the last six months. The state chairman of the party is now a PDP member, the senator now representing the southern senatorial district (Boluwaji Kunlere) is already in the PDP. Some members of the House of Assembly have already been talking to us over the sudden change of events to move to the PDP. So the PDP is well fortified today so that with or without Mimiko, we can win elections overwhelmingly in Ondo State. So coming on board now to dictate the percentage that will be to the disadvantage of those people who have been there, who have been working day and night for the success of the party is totally unacceptable to us.
Senator Kunlere’s defection is seen as a prelude to the impending movement of LP members to the PDP.
It wasn’t at all. It was, in fact, because of the antics of the governor towards him, according to what he said. All those in the LP who believe in him have been put aside and so he was leaving the party out of frustration and it has nothing to do with the intention of the governor to come over to our party.
You said 12 members of the House of Assembly who are of the LP were discussing with you earlier, now that the rumours of Mimiko’s movement is becoming stronger, are they likely to make that move soon?
The scenario now is what they are thinking about. They would either make the move sooner than Mimiko or remain in the LP. So, as of today, the information at my disposal is that not everybody is happy about Mimiko’s move and some people are saying that they would rather remain than to follow him down, while others are saying, let’s follow him down and see what happens there. That has been the situation of things. We are watching the whole scenario with keen interest.
There are fears that some current members of the PDP might leave the party if Mimiko comes in as he would likely take over the machinery of the party
Well, the thing is that we cannot rule that out because some people have been calling me, sending a lot of text messages to the effect that they have worked so hard and tirelessly in the past years to rebuild the party and to make it formidable such that they could win election any day, any time, and if they are now pushed aside by the coming of any person no matter the status of that person, they could threaten to leave our party. I cannot lie to you on that one. Like I said, we have yet to discuss with our national leaders on the modalities of his coming. That is why his coming must be handled with care so that it will not affect the fortune of our party in Ondo State. The fear now is that a lot of people came out of the LP to join us. Dr. Olaiya Oni (former LP Chairman), Kunlere, Benson Enikuomehin (Ex-Ondo representative at Niger Delta Development Commission) and the rest of them, who came out of the LP out of frustration and anger because of the way the governor was running the party are already with us. Their fear now is if the person they are running away from is coming on board, you know the anxiety it will create in our party. These are the problems we have in our hands which will be carefully handled, if not it may boomerang.
Mimiko’s romance with the PDP leadership at the centre seems to overshadow the influence of your party at the state level.
Since the coming of our incumbent National Chairman, Dr. Adamu Mu’azu, we have been able to regain the confidence of the national leadership to our side. That manifested in the support we got during the inconclusive Ilaje/Ese-Odo federal constituency election in April. With this we have the confidence of our leaders and that one has truly increased our fortunes in Ondo State. That is why you will see that in the last election, we were running neck to neck with the LP. And when the supplementary election was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the LP was afraid of going to that election because they knew that we were going to win that seat. Today, we have a vacancy in Odigbo local government. The LP is afraid of going to that election that is why they are using the instrumentality of government to prevail on the Ondo State House of Assembly to refrain from communicating the vacancy to INEC, because INEC cannot conduct any election without a communication from that Assembly to show that the seat is vacant. It is over six months now that we lost the Speaker (Samuel Adesina) from Odigbo Constituency 1 and up till now they have not written to inform INEC; it is because they are afraid of going to that election which they will lose. This is the situation on the ground today and I can assure you that with the support we are receiving from our national party, the PDP will win any election that is held today.
Have you held meetings with your party members on how to handle the situation?
That is what we are doing now. We have called a meeting of the party’s state executive to inform them of the development. We will hold a meeting of elders caucus to brief them on the situation and to let them know that these are only happening on the pages of newspapers. We are also asking a meeting of all the ward chairmen to inform them that there is no agreement on any sharing formula of any kind. The briefings are calming the tension because I have received a lot of text messages from members who are warning us to be careful.
Looking at what has been happening in the state in the last six months, you will know that the LP is losing its members continuously and that will continue. Some people are saying they want to come into PDP ahead of him. So, the LP we had in the past is not what we have today. The game plan has changed the equation has changed and the whole news about the LP has changed completely. That is the reality on the ground.
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