BABATOPE OKEOWO 
Prince Solagbade Amodeni, is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State. In this interview with BABATOPE OKEOWO, he speaks on why he is aspiring for the chairmanship of the party in the state and other issues
How are you going to use your wealth of experience to strengthen the APC in Ondo State if elected as chairman of the party?
Right from my childhood, I have been an entrepreneur, and if you are an entrepreneur, you will realize that population matter most and you don’t play with the way you relate with people and the way you address people. So, I will use the experience to relate very well with the people, and everybody will have a sense of belonging and we will even attract members of the other political parties.
If you look at the way many people are coming to the party in Ondo and other parts of Nigeria; will it not lead to an implosion within the party?
Well, everything that has advantages will have disadvantages. Membership is for winning elections, but management of implosion matters most and that is why experienced people are needed. There are so many of us aspiring to hold the office of the chairman of the party but if you look at the background of every one of us, it differs.
Experience is what you experience by yourself. Experience has no other meaning than that. You must be knowledgeable about the thing you want to do. Your antecedent must speak for you. So, these are the things that will work for me.
There will not be governorship election in Ondo State come 2027, but a lot of people are showing interest in senatorial, national and state assembly elections. How are you going to manage the backlash that may result if eventually you get the position?
That will not be too difficult because before the primary election, if I am the party chairman, I will be relating with every aspirant.
We will be having periodic meetings to make them realize that it is only one person who will win the primary election. I will also make the see reason why after the primary elections, they should accept the results in good faith because under my watch, there is going to be free and fair primaries.
Some National Assembly members are mooting the idea of automatic tickets for them in order to support President Bola Tinubu. What is your take on that?
I’m not a member of the Federal Executive Council and I am not in the National Assembly. I don’t have the mindset of the President. So, I will leave that for them because I don’t know what they do for the President as we speak now.
I don’t know what they stand for, apart from the political aspect of it. In terms of making good laws, we have seen what they have done. We have seen the support. Most of the bills of the executives often pass through. So, he might want to compensate them.
If the proposal flies, what effect do you think it will have on the party?
Most of the people that are there now were never sent there to go and antagonize the executive. The mandate is to go and work together. And if they work together, it means there is an agreement. The Bible says that two can work together if they agree. If they can’t work together, it is an agreement and so be it.
The problem in most political parties is imposition of candidates. What is your thought on that?
My concern about that is that the way Chief Obafemi Awolowo was doing it when he was alive is far different from what we do nowadays. They look at your pedigree. What have you done before? Where was your father? Which party did your father belong to? What about you? We asked you to head a committee, how far did you perform there?
Then, they believe in consistent relationships They have a reason for picking anybody. This happened when Awolowo came to introduce Baba Adekunle Ajasin to us in Ondo State. He just told us that this is your governorship candidate for Ondo State. We believe this is an assessment, but it is far different from what operates now. But little by little, we will get it right.
Some people are against imposition, and that is why some people move away from the parties sometimes. How are you going to handle this kind of delicate intricacies?
Let me remind you that the governor is the number one party man in the state as the president is the number one party man at the national level.
I may not be able to do much. Whatever the governor wants, he will have his own reason.
We can only advise him. But where he feels indifferent, he will have his way. Mine is to advise him with the wisdom of God. But where he feels otherwise, he might be right. He is the number one person. I expect him to know better.
As the leader of the party in the state, you are going to be just one person. You still have other leaders within the party, how are you going to relate to them?
Let me remind you that when I was the executive chairman of Akoko Southeast Local Government, I worked excellently well to the level that the then president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, gave me an award as the best performing local government chairman in the federation. And let me equally remind you that the South-West Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Afenifere leaders, headed by Baba Abraham Adesanya, came to commission projects in my local government.
Most of the decisions taken by the Federal Government are inevitable. They are decisions that must be taken because we have been postponing the evil day for long
Be informed that the civil servants, career officers and the political class worked hand-in-hand. This has to do with management. Your managerial capability determines everything. I will work with everybody. When they see the way I manage, the way I walk the talk, they will fall in line.
What differentiates you from other aspirants in the race for the chairmanship position?
My experience! I have been a member of APC for years. I contested for the state chairmanship of the National Republican Convention (NRC) 35 years ago, and it could not have been that same year I started politicking. I am a foundation member of the Alliance for Democracy.
I am the only person among the contestants now, who is a foundation member of the Alliance for Democracy. I served at the local government and state level. These experiences, not many of the other contestants have it. So, I tower when it comes to the issue of experience. And age is equally to my advantage. I am already an elder statesman, so I will be able to manage the old and the young.
What would you do differently from what the present leadership of the party in the state is doing?
The present leadership headed by Engr. Ade Adetimehin has done excellently well but I will improve on what they have done. By the time I get there, I will improve on what they have done. They have recorded so many firsts. I will add more value to what they have done.
What do you make of the defections to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) ahead of the 2027 elections, particularly that of a former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai?
El-Rufai is pursuing personal ambition; he doesn’t have the interest of Nigerians in mind.
Thank God he did not scale through at the National Assembly, when President Tinubu sent his name for ministerial appointment. He has intellectual capacity to perform but he doesn’t have the character to back it up. So, it is not a loss, rather it is a gain to the party.
Are you saying that El-Rufai as a former governor, will not have influence on his colleagues?
He was also a former minister. Look at the number of people who have moved from other political parties in Kaduna State to the APC. They are credible people. Nobody followed him to SDP. Even the SDP in Kaduna State has declared that he is not their member because he did not join the party in his ward.
His exit is value-added to APC in Kaduna State because as he left APC, many more other people joined. Over 3,000 people joined after his exit. Nobody followed him, even his personal assistant. None of the former commissioners joined him in the voyage to the SDP, so he is alone.
How do you think President Tinubu is supposed to have handled the issue of River State?
There are so many things that the President knows concerning the security in Rivers State that you cannot on the social media or in the print media. So, he knows better. He has more information. So, I can’t fault his decision.
The only advice I will give is that within six months of the state of emergency, the democratic government must be restored. I will also suggest that the state of emergency should be reduced to three months.
The President should bring the warring parties together. If they promise to turn a new leaf, they should allow them to come back. We have no business with any former military man heading any state now. But the President took the right decision at that period.
If you were to advise Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on the day-to-day running of his administration; what will you tell him?
Like I told him in the last stakeholders meeting we held, he must give patronage to party people. Let us keep the party people busy with little contracts. And again, on the issue of security, he should do more. He is doing a lot now. On infrastructure, he has started, and there is room for improvement.
Many Nigerians are dissatisfied with the APC government. We have seen protests here and there. What is your take on that?
The issue is that 90 per cent of Nigerians are dishonest. We don’t want the truth. We lie with convenience in this part of the world. That is one of the causes of our problems. You can ask; is there truth in the church? Is there truth in the mosque?
We are deceiving ourselves. Most of us are liars. We deceive ourselves. Dishonesty and corruption have gone to another level. Until we decide to be truthful, to be honest, there will be problems. Change begins with every individual. The protesters, are they genuine? Are they sincere? Who are their sponsors? Some people are sponsoring them. You waste economic time in protests.
You endanger your life. Some people sponsor them and they will be claiming that they are fighting. Fighting for what? Why can’t we be patient a little bit?
This government is how many years? It will soon be two years old, so we still have a long way to go. Most of the decisions taken by the Federal Government are inevitable. They are decisions that must be taken because we have been postponing the evil day for a long. President has come to bell the cat though on his own side, there is much that he should do.
