Desperation for 2024 gov poll responsible for Ondo crisis – Ex-Speaker

Mr Bamidele Oloyeloogun is the immediate former Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly. He speaks about the lingering political crisis in the state in this interview with PETER DADA

Ondo State is not settled currently, things are not moving coupled with allegations, and agitations everywhere, particularly among the members of the All Progressives Congress, who are in government, what do you think can be done? 

Thank God for the recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja. The best thing that can happen that will move Ondo State forward is that everyone should do his or her work as it should be done. Everybody should leave his or her political ambition, ambition is ruining the state.

I told someone recently that you do not know if you will be alive tomorrow, you are making different plans ahead of 2024. Only God owns time and season and only God puts someone in a position. Look at what happened in Kogi a few years ago, the winner of the election was not sworn in before he passed away, the person who didn’t even think of getting to the position got there.

You see, not having the fear of God is the cause of all these crises. They should let peace reign. Let there be representation, everywhere, as supposed to be. We are lagging in all areas. A lot of things are happening in Abuja now that we are not part of because we don’t have representatives there.

We are all human and nobody is perfect. There is no one who cannot fall sick. Let the deputy governor, pending the time that the governor will come back, let him continue to do his job actively as he is supposed to.

Now that we are praying for our governor to recover quickly is not the time that some people will be waging war against one another.

What you are saying is the political ambition ahead of the 2024 governorship election is the cause of all these crises in Ondo? 

Yes, it is about ambition. I want to be this and I want to be that. About a year ago, nothing like this happened. Ondo State needs to come together. The stakeholders need to have a very good meeting. The party chairman should organise those leaders, who are forming different groups. Let the chairman of the party call the elders, and let them come together and discuss.

As they have gone to Abuja, may God not let us be dishonoured, if the President didn’t interfere in the issue of the state, won’t they settle it?

We can do the settlement ourselves, many states are having one issue or the other and they settled their things themselves. When was the last time the elders’ forum met in the state?

The chairman of the party has a lot to do.

If we look at it, ambitions are causing a lot in Ondo State. Like I said earlier only God owns the ambitions. Ambition is like a man holding a cutlass and chasing two rats, if he is not careful, he will lose everything.

This time around, our party needs to come together and resolve issues and be one. Bring elders together and be one. Also, we should have the fear of God. If the meeting is monthly, we will get there and pray, things will be better. There’s a need for the chairman to do that, as a matter of urgency, the chairman of the party is the only one who can do that.

Mr Governor is the one that is doing it before but he’s not around now. The chairman of the party has the authority to call anyone. He should not put sentiment into it. If not, it will end up in failure.

And the enemies are searching, if you give them a chance, that will be a problem if they (the opposition) take advantage of what is happening to us. So the chairman of the party has a lot to do, the elders like Baba Akinyelure have a lot to do, and the commissioners, and other elders in the state have a lot to do too.

You are saying the party chairman should call the elders for a meeting. Don’t you think the matter has gone beyond them?

No, it has not gone beyond the resolution of the elders. If the elders meet and they tell themselves the truth, it will be better. At the first meeting, they may fight because if they didn’t fight, they should disagree to agree or else, there would be nothing to achieve.