In this interview, he bares his mind on the motivation driving his ambition, his programmes for the state and how he intends to achieve his governorship ambition. Excerpts.
By Gbenga Oke
One can say you are relatively new in politics. Where have you been?
I was born into a political family, and I have been quite involved in politics even though I have never run for any office. I am a member of the APC and vying to be the next Governor of Ondo State. I strongly believe that God willing, it will happen.
During the time when Chief Olu Falae was running for the Presidency of this country, I was the assistant secretary of his campaign organisation. I think now is the time to give back to the society.
I have gotten to the pinnacle of my career, and I feel strongly there must be a paradigm shift as to how we govern this country. I think people must begin to see governance beyond themselves.
One of the greatest problems we have had so far is the lack of ingenuity of the political class, majority of the politicians see politics as an occupation.
You must have something doing before you venture into politics, it is when you don’t have something doing that you see politics as a do or die thing.
If you look at politics in the second Republic, Awolowo, Sam Aluko, Ajasin, Adegbonmire and Senator Fasanmi, all these people had an occupation before joining politics which they could go back to when there was no political office to hold. But now, what do we have? People are moving from one political party to the other, why. Because they see politics as the only way to survive. I think we must change that.
Why do you want to govern Ondo State?
I think apart from Lagos State, the richest south-western state in terms of mineral resources, human capital and opportunity is Ondo state.
The state has no business not being able to pay civil servants if its resources are properly deployed. Unfortunately, we have refused to tap into those resources.
My attitude is that government must be run like a business but a business that does not make profit because if you go into governance to make profit, you will not do anything.
You must run the government as a business but in an effective manner. Effective in such a way that anything you do is geared towards development.
Presently, the state cannot even pay salaries, and Ondo State has serious potentials. You can ask what is the Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR) of Ondo State? Does Ondo State have the potential to pay salaries and stand on its own? Yes. We have got oil, cocoa, cashew, bitumen, timber, cassava, name any cash crop today; it grows in Ondo State. We have got granite, why has somebody not sat down to see how IGR could be generated from all these things?
Re-investing and and creating wealth
Must we rely only on the 13 percent derivation? We have gotten all of that over the years, but we have not invested it, we must re-invest and create wealth for the people. Creating wealth or re-investing is not about employing more civil servants into the civil service, it is about policy. You must bring a policy that enables the private sector to invest in the economy of the state.
But there are almost 40 persons in the APC saying the same thing, how will you overcome them to become the party candidate?
Even if the APC has 100 aspirants, there will just be one governor. And why does the APC have so many? It is because it is the platform that offers an alternative. For me, there are only two parties that can present candidates in Ondo State and they are the PDP and the APC.
The PDP is shut. And why do I say so? It is because whoever will run on the platform of the PDP must have the backing of the present governor, except we are deceiving ourselves.
The only platform that is open is the APC, so you have people coming to it. My duty is to sell myself to the delegates that I have what it takes to win victory for the party.
What do you consider as your selling points?
I bring youth into governance. And like I said, government must be run as an efficient company, but one that is not geared towards making profit and it is only people of my age think government should be run that way.
What is your take on the issue of zoning as being projected by some aspirants?
Coming to the issue of zoning, my party has said several times that there will be no zoning, that everybody should go into the primary.
If zoning had been applied, some of the people who were governors would not have been governors. Even if there are people to agitate, it should be the South and the Central, but I don’t believe in that. My party said no zoning. Let the best person win!
Do you a chance to win?
Yes and it is because I bring youth, I don’t have baggage, and I come from an exceedingly respected political family. My father was a politician from 1952. You ask people who have interacted with me as a lawyer; I am straightforward person, and I am very honest, even if I say it myself.
I have also gone round the state, and I don’t know any aspirant that is not taking Adeniyi Adegbonmire seriously.
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