Hon Taiyelolu Ojo nipr; the Social Democratic Party (SDP) aspirant for the FCT AMAC/Bwari federal constituency, during a stakeholders meeting of the party, in this interview with EMEKA NZE appeals to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the issue of moneybags in politics and ensure that politicians adhere to rules of the game
Why do you consider the SDP as the party to ride to your ambition?
In the last election in 2019, I ran on the platform of SDP for one basic reason, and till now, the reason has not changed. The reason is that the so called big parties, nothing makes them big, except that they have been in office. Any party that goes into office will become a big party too by the nature and style of Nigeria’s politics and politicking and the reason I chose the SDP is because I know that these so called big parties are parties for moneybags with no clear cut ideologies, reasoning does not make any meaning in these so called big parties. The fatter your pocket, the more your chances of clinching ticket and winning elections. I want to quickly implore INEC to look into the issue of the role money is playing in politics in Nigeria. As far as money is playing this role, Nigeria may never have credible leadership because the sources of money for these moneybags are questionable. Some of us that have decided to keep our hands off public funds and clean will never stand the chance of clinching tickets in these big parties. So we don’t just want to be crowd- mongers, we want to test our popularity by approaching the electorates with our ideas and what we truly have to offer and not to buy them as it happens in the bigger parties and we cannot do that until we get the ticket.
Do you think that the present INEC will be able to deliver on credible elections?
Like I have always said, Nigeria’s problems has not been that of constitution. The role the judiciary is playing, the role the executive is playing, they kind of muzzle INEC most often to do the wrong thing. If the constitution, as it were, is allowed to flow as envisaged, I don’t think there is any hitch on the part of INEC in delivering elections. After all, they delivered in Anambra state recently and we saw that the wish of the people prevailed. So the role that the politicians themselves play via the executive and the judiciary is what we need to look into and see how it can be stopped in order to achieve free and fair elections.
What does insecurity portend to our electoral process?
Generally speaking, it’s a very serious issue and when you are looking at the demography around these areas where insecurity is at its peak, you will notice that it is becoming an international trend. It happened in Niger Republic and it happened recently in Afghanistan where the capital city of this aforementioned instances was besieged before eventual take over and here in nigeria, neighbouring cities to Abuja, the federal capital city have been experiencing attacks; Nasarawa has been shouting for long. Recently, the Niger state government declared that most of the territories in the state were being claimed by the bandits or terrorists as some of us prefer to call them, Kaduna has been a no go area. As things are going, we that think we were safe in Abuja are gradually beginning to lose sleep; the suburbs have been experiencing kidnapping, traditional rulers are being kidnapped and the neighbouring area councils to AMAC have been having a large share of this insecurity. One is beginning to wonder if this thing continues like this nationwide, we may not be too lucky in a short while, our children may not be able to proudly call themselves Nigerians anymore. Generations coming after us may not be safe, the manner the thing is going is becoming more like a norm. One of the people kidnapped in the recent train saga had to sell his house to raise money for the ransom. This means that we are gradually becoming stateless and if what happened in Afghanistan is anything to go by, I believe it’s high time all and sundry came together and ensure it doesn’t happen. If care is not taken, our President one day, may not be able to enter the Presidential Villa because once they finish with the suburbs their style is usually to attempt to mount their flag in the capital city, God forbid.
Are you worried or threatened by the number of people coming into SDP to shop for ticket?
No. We are not threatened in anyway, it’s an issue of ideology.In our party, the SDP, now under the able leadership of our indefatigable National Chairman, Dr Olu Agunloye, there is a level of confidence we the party faithfuls are beginning to experience as party members and when we remember the past experience, especially, in the 2019 general elections, when the leadership of the party was not there for most of us, the contestants, it is indeed a new dawn and this confidence brings a ray of hope not only to the party but to all Nigerians at large. During the 2019 general elections We were actually sold out for peanuts and we know that come what may, no matter the pressure, the national chairman and his newly elected exco will not will not be pressurised into the ugly incident that happened in 2019. Dr Olu Agunloye is a man of integrity, he is a man of reputable character, he has been tested with power in the past and those of us that watched him from afar then can beat our chest that he is not a man to be intimidated by the so called money-mongers parading the corridors of power albeit for selfish interest in nigeria of today. He is a complete gentleman politician. So we are sure that no matter who is coming into the party, they are coming because they have seen the ideals he stands for and what the party leadership has been able to put in place in a short time that he came in to take over the leadership of the party. So when they are coming in, they should be ready to come join us to build by following the rules of our constitution by following before aspiring to lead. After all, the maxim says ‘whoever cannot follow isn’t fit to lead”; so the idea of anyone thinking of coming to buy up the party or its structure should be jettisoned forthwith as we as critical stakeholders of the party will not standby and watch them destroy what we have laboured to build over the years. So that is why we are meeting in all our constituencies, especially, in FCT and in AMAC where I belong. As you can see, the AMAC SDP chairman, Hon Ibe Eric Esq and all the ward executives are present here to brainstorm and come out with strategies to make sure that we are proactive, to ensure that defectors coming from other parties will not come and erode our ideologies rather they will come and join hands to build the party.
How can the database you talked about prevent people from hijacking the party?
Well, the central database that we just promised to standardise registration for all the 12 wards in AMAC, is going to be digital that every financial member of the party, just at the click of the computer, can be confirmed. So if anybody comes from nowhere or elsewhere to join the party, we can know when he joined and his entitlement. It is when the process is not followed that the term ‘hijack’ comes in. Somebody can’t join the party today and say he wants the ticket today. The federal constitution states that you must have been a member of the party for a stipulated period of time before you can even vie for election. So if we have this database that is fullproof and anybody tries abuse the provisions of the constitution we have it as an obligation to call their attention to it and if they fail to kowtow we will have no alternative than to approach necessary quarters for appropriate actions and redress with our evidence handy and our constitution like the nation’s are evidence based.
You also talked about elections not only being won by the majority but through the courts, does it mean you are afraid or frightened to go into election?
We are not afraid going into elections, but like i said and I keep saying, we again want to appeal to INEC. They should try and stand up to their responsibility in regulating the role money plays in politics. In the last election, my ticket was almost snatched by someone having lost the primary elsewhere. He can came into the party when the primaries were already conducted and then felt that the structure of a whole area council be handed over to him because he brought money. When moneybags come into the party, the possibility of intimidating or cajoling those in charge to bend the rules at the expense of those that are the legitimate and ideological members of the party is always very high. So that is why we are raising this issue to be proactive so that such does not happen again because it is only politicians without ideology, that lose here and then go over there. But we have decided to be in one party, we have nowhere to go. So we have to protect what we have.
Can you sincerely say that the SDP has the numerical strength nationwide to win elections at all levels?
Sincerely speaking, if not for this same role of money, SDP has produced President in Nigeria before. 2019 SDP determined where the election swayed in Osun state and unluckily we had no leadership to finish the line. But right now answering your question, I will say ‘yes’. We have the structure even though many of them have been bastardised by these moneybags but we are trying now to realign every member that has been with us or that was with us in the past. We want to get them back because all Nigerians know that SDP is the only ideological based party in Nigeria, it’s only because of this stomach infrastructure that they are elsewhere. I’m sure if we are able to convince them, they will surely return to the party.
