Speaking with Shola Oyeyipo, daughter of a frontline businessman, Prince Samuel Adedoyin of Doyin Group, a two-time former minister and leading female politician in Kwara State, Funke Adedoyin, hinted about her recent activities in the politics of the state. Excerpts:

Where have you been lately?
I have been in Nigeria more or less. I have been in Abuja, Kwara and in Lagos.

But you've been more or less off the scene, propelling insinuations that you are not on the ground in Kwara politics?
I think it is because people, who see you at functions, take your pictures and put it in the newspapers and if they don't see you and they can't take a current picture, they begin to wonder where you are. But I don't think any politician will ask where I've been because the politicians know that I have been around.

But more than that, I think the newspaper thing is just a ploy to introduce an issue that as far as I'm concerned is a dead issue, which is, two members of a family being involved in politics. But to my knowledge and to the knowledge of my family, I'm the only politician in the family. I have played politics for twelve years. I have built a formidable structure. If it is not Panadol, it cannot be Panadol.
And you see, the challenges of multiple politicians in families create a problem. If not for the family, it is for the environment in which they play the politics.

Does it mean you are yet to pitch tent with any party?
As I said, we have to play the politics of what is the interest of the South and we take a lot of credit for the emergence of the current governor who is now a member of the APC because they took the entire South at that time to ensure he emerged. For us, a lie left unchallenged becomes the truth. A lie has been perpetuated that nobody from any other part of Kwara could win an election, only the people from Ilorin could win elections. We were facing a generation of Kwarans who have never had a leadership from any other part of the state but Kwara Central. We felt it was very important to challenge that lie and state the truth that any person from any other part of the state can win an election. Elections are based on alliance any way.

Which political party do you belong to?
As I said to you, our people are in both parties at the moment. We need to consolidate. We are going through a consolidation period now. Most of the politicians who are jumping around, saying how fantastic, wonderful and big they are, don't have supporters to report to. They don't take collective decision. But for me, the interest of my constituency is primary to me.
Politics has become so strange now in Nigeria where both parties are very close to each other in terms of ideology. Although I must say without fear or favour that the APC, of course, is the more progressive and in terms of my ideology, I'm more of a social democratic which is what the APC is.

Was there any specific reason the South was agitating for power shift that came with the election of the incumbent governor?
The reason for pushing for the agitation of power shift to the South was because the challenge of undeveloped areas of the state is that when the governor comes from the capital, the rest of the state is overlooked. People will come and they would talk about how a state capital has become a small London. And we know that it has not spread across the entire state. But I believe the reason for the principle of federal character, even in institution, was to engender a sense of belonging and focus attention on every part of the state and not just one part of the state will be developed.

We believed that there has to be merit in terms of the person, but we felt that a transfer of power from one zone to another will engender better development. One of the things that I find very worrisome in the Igbomina-Ekiti zone is that you will find out that a lot of the men are not there. Our towns have become towns populated by women and children. Most of the men have gone out in search of greener pastures. So we felt it was important that opportunities for job creation that will draw our people back, so that we will reduce what I call employment migration and so that we will develop the state. The South has been developed largely by town associations and the wealthy. We felt it would attract more federal and state government attention; it would focus attention on the zone if the governor was from there. And it would increase the exposure of the state at the federal level; police and army recruitment. The focus should not just be on the capital and it would help to develop the less urban part of the state. So we were not agitating for power shift just because we wanted to be able say we have been governor.

Are you satisfied with governance in Kwara State?
Yes and no and I will explain what I mean. The individual wish list is always endless. But I have been in governance and I know that the capacity is finance if you have an infinite dream list and a finite capacity, so something would have to adjust. We like to see more. For me, creating jobs and getting our men to move back home; bringing development and stopping the rural urban drift, is critical. I would like to see a focus on that. But I must also say again that at least, people are now moving to Ilorin as opposed to moving to Lagos.

Would you say that the birth of the APC is good for the polity?
I think it is fantastic. I think that the tendency for one dominant party and for many little ones was not very healthy for Nigeria. Honestly, I would have liked the inclusion of independent candidature in our constitution, may be not at the presidential level, maybe at lower levels. Because there are times when the popular candidate is in the wrong party and in that circumstance, maybe an independent candidature would have been useful for the purpose of bringing true representation, because people will vote for what is available.
I mean if the right candidate does not win the primary in the PDP and APC, because we know the right candidate does not always win the primary. If the right candidate does not win, it would have been a good thing to allow the candidate to go independently.

How are you coping with pressure from both parties in the state?
We'll continue to talk to both sides. We have been speaking with both sides and the decision would be taken very soon.

So how soon will that be?
As I said, we have already made a decision but we are doing a lot of fence-mending works. I have just returned from a long stay in Kwara. I will return again as soon as I come back from this trip. For me, it is important that we take all our people with us, so that we will remain one. Our strength is in the numbers.

We don't want a situation where by taking precipitate action, like when the ACN picked a candidate without proper and due consultation - became a problem and probably caused ACN in the last elections, because I have the election results, I could show you the election result. It's on my ipad. ACN could have won the election in Kwara. It just took the shifting from the South. That was what caused ACN the last election.

You kept hammering on the ACN, you really are not saying much about the APC?
If you are aware of the process of ACN becoming APC, I was not part of the New PDP, I was not part of the CPC; all of that time we remained in the PDP. As I said, we are working and talking with - particularly, the APC. The APC is very proactive - very aggressive about wanting to retain the power structure in the state. And we need to ensure that no one is left behind.

There is a growing insinuation that in 2015, you are most likely to be put forward as the senatorial candidate from the South. Is that true?
That is a very difficult question because you have just given me an idea. Again, I have never taken politics as my own personal agenda. I have a job. Politics, for me, is a vocation, not full time job. Certainly, it would be an honour for me, to be considered to serve at higher levels. From being Head of Policy; to being in the summit of the ACN; to being head of the Atiku Policy Group, it has always been an honour to be called upon to serve. So we would see how this one goes. I have never turned down any call to service, never!