Following the defection of the former Governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, into the All Progressive Congress (APC), the state, known as the state of harmony because of its geographical location, has undergone political metamorphoses with APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) jostling for power.  A chieftain of the PDP and former senatorial candidate in Kwara South, Architect Lola Ashiru, opined that statistically, the PDP holds the ace notwithstanding the defection of Bukola Saraki. Ashiru explained that there is no turmoil

in Kwara State, adding that, against all odds, a ministerial appointment for Senator Gbemisola Saraki would boost the party’s chances, and take the APC into political oblivion. In this interview with newsmen recently, Ashiru debunked insinuations that the North is against President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election, and emphasised that Jonathan has done a lot for the North. SAMINU IBRAHIM reports.

Kwara State is presently in a political turmoil following defections of certain personalities from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). What is your take?

There is no turmoil in Kwara with all honesty. The issue really is that a group of people decided for reasons known to them to join camp with All Progressive Congress (APC). But that does not mean the PDP as a party will not remain as it was and, from my own study I can tell you there are two set of people that owns a party- the sympathizers and the people called politicians (registered members). As far as the sympathizers, are concerned, they are solidly behind PDP as ever and they are the majority. When you talk of the politicians, I am still sure based on statistics that most people who are politicians and who decided long before to be in the PDP are still in the party.

You saw our rally in Ilorin? It was heart- shaking. It was not a rally that was done with so much inducement because more than 95 percent of the people at the rally were registered members of the party. More than that, what we were expressing was that Kwara State will always prefer to go to the centre, rather than stay on the fringe.

You said there is no turmoil in Kwara politics, particularly within the PDP, yet there are reports that some PDP members are kicking against Gbemisola Saraki’s alleged nomination as minister.

You will always see a lot of tricks and disequilibrium in every organization. You will always see a lot of what I will describe as entropy. You know when a group is coming together, there will be a lot of struggle and people will like to take undue advantage of the new situation to create an empire for themselves. It is an empire that they don’t understand and don’t even know how to sustain. It is an empire that they don’t know the history. I could see two things from that story, APC leaders are very delicate people. They are not only delicate but

desperate and there is nothing they can’t do to hold on to power. The APC saw the advantage of having somebody of Gbemi’s calibre, I mean somebody who is so experienced in politics and somebody well educated who is loved by the people. When they see somebody like that seeking to take a vantage position in a party like PDP, they know the type of destruction Gbemi can cause for them if she is empowered.

They know the advantage to the party and the other side of it is that, like new developments, something new is rearing its head and people are trying to take advantage of the situation that they don’t have the capacity to hold. But I can assure you that the PDP led federal government is sensible enough. They can read between the lines and they know what is good for them.As far as I know, what Gbemi as a minister will add to PDP, I am sure four ministers of unknown quantity can’t do for the party.

Is there fairness against the background that Gbemi has been nominated as a member of the national conference? She is also being tip as a minister and at the same time she is reportedly eyeing the governorship seat in 2015?

Honestly, I don’t know where the unfairness comes from in this equation. The ministerial thing coincidentally is coming after the national conference. If she will not have sufficient time, I don’t think there is anything that excludes a minister from becoming a national conference member. I don’t think there is anything legal that excludes her. But if there is the issue of time, having sufficient time to concentrate on the work of a minister, and having sufficient time to concentrate on the issue of the confab, I am very sure if she is eventually nominated, she will drop one. I don’t know about governorship and I don’t want to discuss governorship because it is still far away. But I am very sure Gbemi has not come out to tell anybody that she wants to contest for the governorship of Kwara State in 2015.  But when the time comes and she decides, the people will judge.

There is a machinery of the party in charge of elective positions. You are expected to go through primaries, conventions and if it is the wish of the people that she will do it, she will do it.  If it is not the wish of the people, there is nothing anybody can do about it. But I can assure you that for me today, Gbemi has not told anybody that she wants to contest for governorship. It is just a matter of speculation. And people are using it to disrupt us from building a formidable party in Kwara state.

You emphasized with the crowd at the Ilorin PDP rally. So much that you tend to have underplayed the Bukola Saraki factor. How do you see the influence of APC in the state ahead of 2015?

Rom what I saw, it could be seen that the reaction of the people of Kwara state, to the visit of the president was quite appreciative and magical. Honestly, I know most of the people that attended the rally love the president and the PDP and they want to belong to the centre. They expressed it to the president that in spite of what has happened in Kwara state, they are not moving out of the PDP. I don’t know about the visit of Bukola Saraki to the state. He was a two term governor of the state and a present senator. I will not say he is not a popular person, but when you talk of politics, you are talking of numbers. You are talking of a balance and you say left and right; which angle is better? I can tell you from my own perception that people in PDP today weighs far bigger than people in APC. To say it very frankly and if  you look at it from local government basis and  if you go to north of Kwara State, they don’t even talk of the APC. They don’t even know the broom. I was among the few ones that introduced APC to Kwara north.

I know when we were campaigning and held the broom; they were looking at us old people with broom in the market place as people that have problems. I am talking of the north. When you look at Ilorin historically, they are always pro-PDP and they have been very faithful to Saraki family. I am talking of Saraki family as a whole. I am very bold to say people will never forget the contributions of Olusola Saraki to the development of Kwara state.

It is a small state in terms of population, resources minus sound human resources and vast land for agriculture. Even location wise, we are not in the best advantage; but we had one single man, great man who came up at a time and was able to muzzle all other politicians north and south of Nigeria. He carved a niche for himself. He was able to use this scenario to negotiate for the people of Kwara State both at federal, state and local government levels and through his work, he was able to recreate big politicians- including Bukola, Gbemisola and other big names in politics of kwara state. The advent of Baba Saraki was a phenomenon for Kwara State.

What is your perception to the perceived opposition of the north to President Goodluck Jonathan re-contesting in 2015?

By the simple fact that Nigeria is a complex equation of multi ethnic people, nobody can deny the fact that presidency must go round, from a corner in Rivers state to remotest place in Sokoto state or even to Bama in Maiduguri, or Yoruba land. Everybody has accepted the fact that the presidency must go round. The people of the north are politically intelligent. When they were there, they knew what to do. When they were not there, they knew what to do. The north has been very supportive of the Jonathan administration. The Vice President of Nigeria is a Hausa man, an erudite architect; the senate president is also a northerner of middle belt extraction.

The people of the north are not saying no. There are a lot of individuals who are interested in the presidency from the north. You cannot hold it against them as long as there is no law that says a northerner must not contest this time around, you expect them to come up to fly their own flag.

What is happening today is that people who are interested in the presidency are engineering this perception that the north does not like Jonathan. Jonathan has done a lot for the north and other geographical areas in Nigeria. Anybody who goes through Lagos-Ibadan expressway will be amazed at the volume of work. You will be amazed not only about the volume, you will be amazed by even the seriousness Jonathan is putting in making sure that Lagos-Ibadan expressway, which is the busiest road in Nigeria, is totally modernized.