Ekiti will vote APC in 2018, PDP failed them – Adetunji Orisalade

Hon. Adetunji Orisalade, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC),a lawyer and former Deputy Speaker Ekiti State House of Assembly. ..


The former Deputy Speaker who condemned the PDP administration in the state, said the performance of the PDP government is woeful and it fall short of what is expected of good governance. He also expressed optimism that APC would bounce back in Ekiti in 2018, this he explained in this interview with ADEWUMI ADEMIJU.

How hopeful is your party of taking over government in Ekiti in 2018?

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is keeping vigil on the state, and praying that the ongoing trend of failures of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state should continue. Ayo Fayose has brought gridlock and immobility to the state.

Education sector, zero, agriculture, zero, health, nothing to show. If anyone thinks I am lying, let the person visit the schools and hospitals to confirm my statement. However, for now, APC is lying low, to enable the electorate see the catastrophe Fayose has brought upon his own state and its people.

The people he always claimed to love. Every move and policy of Fayose reflects deceit and hatred for the people. He has imposed outrageous taxes on schools and traders of all categories. Ekiti will have to endure the situation, until God decides to set the state free. I am optimistic that APC will regain the state and return sanity. Only APC can do it. This is no boasting. PDP is a failure.

What really went wrong ?

Ekiti was going well with the administration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, until it fell off the rack in 2014 when the baton somehow went into the hands of the PDP. But, because the party has no definite, good plan for anyone, it has derailed.

Ayo Fayose, whose story has been one of graft, chicanery and deceit, gained the reins of leadership, and has upturned every good legacy of Dr. Fayemi. Go round Ekiti today, and you will see clear evidences of one big deceit going on in the name of governance in Ekiti, assessment of governance in Ekiti. One evidence of the deceit is the construction of fake roads constructed at triple the initial contract costs.

Fayose has consistently criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for insincerity and various policy summersaults. What can Nigerian’s learn from his (Fayose’s) criticism?

Nobody is criticising President Buhari now. No sane person will pick on Buhari for doing things right. That he (Buhari) means well is such an open thing. We can all see it. Take the issue of petrol, for instance.

The president directed that a litre should sell for N86, although there are initial hiccups, Nigerians are already accepting the reality. Those who are refusing, are saboteurs and they are being dealt with. One can only urge the President to ignore all misguided criticisms, including those of Fayose which are ill-intentioned.

I think the clarion of bad governance of the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is enough for the APC to clear and contend with for now. Buhari should devote his time doing that. He should not be swayed by the misguided condemnations of those whose focus is self and self and self.

Critics have also blamed Buhari for being one-sided in the probe of alleged graft cases.

No, Buhari is never one-sided. Those who are criticising him for bias are indirectly seeking to institute failures in his administration, so that Nigerians would not experience the desirable change. If the party must actually live up to its ‘change’ mantra, governance must be done differently. This can happen by exposing and bringing to justice whoever, was found to have looted the common treasury in whatever way.

Don’t you think Nigeria’s difficult financial condition is being exaggerated?

I don’t think so. I don’t think Nigeria is faring well for now. The totality of failures of the last administration has in a way returned to stare us in the face, and torment the economy. That the country is a mess is a fact that confronts us every day, everywhere and in many ways.

We have to admit that. But, the fact that the country belongs to all of us must make us do the business (of governance) differently this time. This is why President Buhari deserves commendations rather than condemnation.

The critics so far have shown that he (the president) must develop thick skin, against them and just continue. PDP as a party failed us in this country, and their agitation is to make this new government fail as well. God will not allow that to happen.

We spent 16 years in a darkness foisted on us, by a party that became more of a monster, feasting on the blood of Nigerians and destroying legacies bequeathed ages with horrifying abandon. Going away from such a path of unwanted tradition cannot be a pepper soup business, and will be opposed by those, whose reign has ended and whose interests would definitely be affected. But, that is what must happen if Nigeria, a country of many blessings, must reclaim its glory and return to the comity of serious nations.

For President Buhari to stop the ongoing process of purging, is to sustain Nigeria as a ‘potentially’ rather than ‘actually’ great country. Nigeria has everything it takes to become great. The misdeeds of the last administration cannot go unnoticed and unpunished.

The mess that we are witnessing now, is a consequence of several crimes they foisted upon the country, thinking an end would not come upon their party (Peoples Democratic Party) so soon. Buhari must continue to live in line with the ‘change’ mantra for Nigeria to be great again.