Agunloye: Mission, Track Record and Task of building a new Ondo State

There is no denying the fact that Dr. Olu Agunloye is one of the few brains behind the rebranded Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Ondo State today. Agunloye stands tall among other governorship aspirants of the party. His track record and contributions to better Nigeria and Ondo State in the past and his task of growing and strengthening the ACN speak volume. The Olu Agunloye political experience has spanned 33 years including the last 18 years of active participation. He has waded through various terrains at the national and state levels in the past and gathered significant experience and expertise that have truly prepared him for political tasks ahead.

For instance, Dr. Agunloye, who hails from Erusu Akoko in Akoko North-West Local Government area of Ondo State, was an active member of the UPN from 1979. In 1979, he presented on NTA Network, a computerised analysis against the 12⅔ formula within 48 hours of the announcement of the election result that year. In June 1983, he made a computer assisted forecast of the 1983 Presidential election which was published in the Punch Newspapers and which earned him an invitation to meet with Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Abeokuta and a subsequent dinner with the sage in his home at Ikene a few months later.

In August 1983, Dr. Agunloye set up the first Digital Collation Centre in Nigeria for the Presidential elections at Akure. This saved Chief Obafemi Awolowo a total of 105,000 votes at the national elections. The then Governors of Ondo (Chief Adekunle Ajasin) and of Oyo State (Chief Bola Ige) publicly commended him and invited him back to set similar centres for the gubernatorial elections in Oyo and Ondo States.In August 1983, Dr. Agunloye set up the Digital Collation Centre for the gubernatorial elections in Oyo and Ondo States in Ibadan and Akure respectively. These elaborate efforts decisively showed that the results of elections were rigged in the two States. In Ondo State, these efforts helped regain the stolen mandate of Chief Adekunle Ajasin who personally acknowledged this in his book, “Ajasin Memoirs and Memories”, pg 379.

In 1993, Dr. Olu Agunloye waded through the entire Constitutional Conference to stop the National Assembly from scrapping the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) even after its Special Committee recommended the scrapping of the Commission. In 1998, Agunloye was a foundation member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and played active roles in Ondo State politics. In November 1998, Agunloye presented himself for the gubernatorial contest in Ondo State under the banner of Alliance for Democracy. Akoko Obas and elders led by the then Asiwaju of Akokoland, Chief Rufus Giwa persuaded him to step down for Chief Adebayo Adefarati for harmony in the land and he graciously complied.

In January 1999, Agunloye again presented himself for the senatorial primaries for the Senate Seat for Ondo North Senatorial District under the banner of Alliance for Democracy but he lost that to Senator Ayo Lawrence (from Owo) at the Primaries because of the zoning formula devised to facilitate the governorship of Chief Adefarati (Akoko South).

In year 2000, the man Agunloye served as a member of the Constitutional Review Committee which interacted very successfully with the legislators and the executive arm of government and produced a Draft Revised Constitution for Nigeria. In 2001, along with a few others, Agunloye successfully lobbied the National Assembly to save the then President Olusegun Obasanjo from imminent impeachment. Agunloye made an incursion into the PDP in 2003, the ruling party in Nigeria to join the mainstream of politics in Nigeria with the belief that this was the best for Yorubaland. For him, this turned out to be a miscalculation.

In 2007, Agunloye teamed with a few others in the minority of Ondo State politics to establish a totally unknown party – the Labour Party - to oust the ruling party, PDP in Ondo State. In the year 2008, Agunloye interacted with the hierarchy of the National Assembly on electronic driven Parliamentary Administration (e-Parliament) and Capacity Building for e-Government and viable implementation programmes.He, in 2009, served as the Chairman of the ICT Thematic Area of the National Technical Working Committee for National Vision 20-2020.

In 2009, Agunloye, as co-founder of the LP, set up an expansive campaign for the Northern Senatorial seat in Ondo State under the Labour Party but lost out on 6^th January 2011 to internal machinations fore-planned by Governor Olusegun Mimiko only 5 days to the scheduled Primaries of the Labour Party. In 2011, the man Dr. Olu Agunloye, joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and teamed up with others to begin, in earnest, the process of rebuilding the party and to present himself for the governorship ticket of the party.

As a man who does not believe in failure, shortly after the April 2011 general elections in which performance of the party was poor, Dr Agunloye swung into action. What was his mission even though one would have thought that the man would be depressed, even while others did, with the results of the election? He was never the party Chairman but as a party Chief, Dr. Agunloye believed that the failure of the party was because it was never on its footage and proper shape as at the time it entered into the elections.

Contributions to ACN

Dr. Olu Agunloye has worked vigorously to build ACN since he joined the party in January 2011. Agunloye’s robust contributions stand out significantly and conspicuously on two occasions at two periods in the life of ACN in Ondo State when the party was in a depressed state. Firstly, in January 2011, Agunloye spearheaded a fresh drive to rejuvenate the party and to give it a quantum leap from a behind position to the forefront in Ondo State.

His contributions to a new life for ACN in Ondo State went far beyond the North Senatorial District where he established fully staffed six LG offices, each provided with branded 15-seater bus, three motorcycles as well as 80 chairs, 10 tables, one large TV, DSTV decoder, generating sets and various games in addition to 30 coordinators and 380 canvassers. Second occasion was in May 2011, after another depression caused by the results of the April 2011 elections which he believes were literarily hijacked by the incumbent government. According to the governorship aspirant, “as early as the first week of May 2011, barely two weeks after election results engineered by the incumbent Governor to devastate ACN, I started a formidable Wind of Change campaign throughout the State to rekindle the ACN flame and to preach that Ondo State is Next.”

This, Dr. Olu Agunloye accomplished with road-shows with a team of 24 people including notable ACN leaders, women and youth leaders, one traditional ruler and religious leaders. This drive was so vigorous and committed that by August 2011, they had covered all the 203 Wards, visited 76 Palaces and met 235 leaders all over Ondo State propagating Wind of Change and raising the flag of ACN. This team with Dr. Olu Agunloye also used door to door meetings, radio, television and newsprint programmes as well as internet based social networks to campaign for ACN development. Above all, they have established a very strong and firmly rooted people driven network tagged Omoluabi Platform in all 18 LGAs of Ondo State to consolidate their reach and to promote the qualities, mission and benefits of ACN.

Up till today, Agunloye’s Omoluabi Platform has facilitated several harvests of thousands of new members across the state decamping into ACN from Labour Party, PDP and other political parties and groups. No doubt, Agunloye and his Omoluabi Platform, which has become envy of others, is firmly on ground, deeply rooted and ready to effect power shift in Ondo State. Dr. Olu Agunloye, whose mission is to run for the seat of Governor in Ondo State for the 2013-2017 tenure under the banner of the ACN, is prepared to bring to bear on the position of the Governor of Ondo State the technical and administrative competence, credibility and compassion he has acquired in public service over 36 years as well as his political experience of steadfastness, loyalty and strength of character over the same period.

This, Agunloye believes, will bring a change in the way public officers serve and lead to genuine creation of common wealth and empowerment in Ondo State. Agunloye, a firm believer in the South-West politics, is ready to collaborate to integrate Ondo State socio-economically with the rest of the sub region for industrial transformation and sustainable development in Ondo State and Yorubaland. Dr. Olu Agunloye’s antecedents in Public Service eloquently speak for his capacity and capability to deliver credible services. That he achieved 36 years of meritorious public service without blemish is an attestation to his impeccable character and credibility as well as compassion for truth, equitable standards and justice.

As grassroots man, Dr. Olu Agunloye made personal contributions to community development. He has been giving scholarships since 1976 to date to various students at the secondary schools, colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Universities.He has been supplying exercise books to primary school children since 1995 and supplying water to the community for 12 years. He rehabilitated Assembly Hall and Teachers block at the Victory College Ikare in 1996. He erected science building at Comprehensive College, Erusu in 1998. He has been paying WAEC, NECO and JAMB fees to numerous pupils since 1995 and facilitating massive youth employment at every stage of his life in public service.

He has donated several bundles of roofing sheets to victims of windstorms 8 times between 1992 and 2010. He made various contributions to development of schools programmes in rural areas including sports and athletics programmes aside his various contributions to church and mosque programmes and activities. He made payment of monthly allowances to teachers and NYSC members working in a Community School and provided free accommodation for teachers and students in a community school.

I have worked for 13 months building Ondo ACN for my governorship ticket  says Agunloye

Dr Olu Agunloye, a former Minister, is one of the leading contenders in the race for the governorship ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview with SEUN ADEBOWALE, he spoke on his contributions to the growth of the party since January 2011 and the progress he has made so far with his Omoluwabi Platform which he believes are enough to earn him the party’s ticket

Can you tell us few things about your background?

Dr. Olu Agunloye is from Erusu Akoko in Akoko North-West Local Government area of Ondo State. It is good for me to minimize my discussion on my CV because somehow I am probably former this, former that or ex this ex that by most people. It is better that I say that I was former lecturer in the University of Ibadan. I was former Managing Director of a Geophysical prospecting Company and a former Managing Director of a fabrication and instrumentation company. I became well known in Nigeria as former pioneering Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRCN). I headed the commission between the periods of 1988 to 1994.

I was Chief Executive Officer of this Commission under two Chairmen; Professor Wole Soyinka for two and the half years and under Admiral Akin Aduwo for another two and the half years. Then I went back to private practice where I could say I was also former CEO of a large scale computerization company in Lagos State. From there, I became Special Assistant to the late uncle Bola Ige; first in his capacity as the Minister of Power and Steel and secondly in his capacity as the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

After those two positions, I became the Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria two times in different capacities. I was Minister of Defence (Navy) and later Minister of Power and Steel. After that, I left government service. I spent the last six years before I joined full time politics as head of the National E-government Strategies which is a Public Private Partnership as one of the experiments the government tried to do with the private sector. I had the mandate this time around to incorporate ICT techniques and processes into government activities. By September 2010, I formerly disengaged from this position to face full time politics. At the moment I am a full time politician under the banner of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

You are one of the governorship aspirants of the ACN but before now, what will you say are your contributions to the growth of the party in Ondo State?    

First, I must commend that question because it talks about my contributions to my party called ACN. Actually, my contributions to ACN, strengthening, the building and the rebuilding of the party in Ondo State is one of the strongest things that I am bringing into the politics of Ondo State. I will try to tell you how this came about very briefly before I go into the details of my own contributions to what I called a stronger ACN in Ondo State. At the time I joined the ACN in January 10, 2011, ACN was fairly weak and different from what it is today in the state.

The reason why the party was weak at that time is not far-fetched; it was weak because the chieftains of the ACN imagined that Labour Party (LP) was the de-facto ACN; so all efforts of ACN chieftains in Ondo State and in Nigeria was actually tinted towards building LP in Ondo State, the details of which may not be necessary here. The effort to build LP in Ondo State was also with the hope that the LP will later merge with ACN but at a particular stage, just before I joined ACN, it became visible that ACN itself was already taking steps to show the public that ACN and the LP are not the same and that it will be wrong for anybody to assume that. This made the party weak at that time.

My efforts actually spearheaded a very significant change that made the party found its footing when I joined. I must say here with all modesty that even though I played a significant role, a lot of other people also joined me in promoting ACN. That was the first intervention spearheaded by me. The second one, which I can tell you my own contributions, is my intervention after the April 2011 elections. In the first three months that I spent in the party, I needed to be integrated into the party very fast because the election was just three months away then.

We did that to a level that ACN was set to win the election maybe winning a number of positions but at the end of the day, ACN did not win any position as declared by INEC. One thing was glaring then that ACN won some positions which were rigged but instead of contesting these positions, the party just allowed sleeping dog to lie. With that, after the election, ACN went into depression mood and the morale was down. The hype that was created before had actually diminished.

It was at that point that I started the second phase of rebuilding a stronger ACN as a party. We started that exactly May 8, 2011 which was two weeks after the elections’ results were announced. Many people were still mourning the results when we came out with two buses and four Jeeps and 24 people including one Oba, who is the Oba of my town, the Osula of Erusu. They included four women leaders and two elders. We needed to do that because we wanted to showcase ACN as a party with elders. As we can see, it is not all political parties that have elders. So, that is a good point for ACN. An Imam of Erusu was in that team, representative of Christian Association of Nigeria, representative of Labour Unions and Youth were in that team.

That team with me started with a tour of 49 wards in Akoko. We did that three times. The first tour gave us the opportunity to speak with the excos of ACN, the second tour was to discuss with elders of the party and the third round was to speak with Obas and we visited 47 palaces in the 49 wards. After the Akoko tour, we moved to other parts of the state, then by August we have gone through all the Local Government Areas and the Wards. We called that Phase I of our campaign. The theme of that campaign then was essentially how to build ACN, building membership and making people to understand the direction we want to go. We called that The Wind of Change. 

The campaign was that all the other states in the South-West have become progressive and that Ondo State must also join progressive politics. This went on with Billboards, Radio and Television jingles and newspapers adverts. I did that singlehandedly for four months between May 2011 and August 2011. We put it in a catalogue called the Volume I of the chronicle of our contributions. We printed leaflets and all sort of things and not necessarily because of my campaign to be Governor but towards building a stronger ACN.

We played on the legacies of our past leaders from Obafemi Awolowo, Papa Adekunle Ajasin, late Chief Adebayo Adefarati, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and we let people know that this state must follow in that direction. We made billboards that have their pictures to preach this message of the Wind of Change. We knew that we were successful with that because we experienced what we can call harvest of new members into the party. We printed vests for them as we received them. I must say that we must have printed not less than 6, 000 vest between the periods of May and August 2011.

By the second phase which was a period that covered another four months (September to December 2011), we adjusted the theme of our campaign to get what we called The Rallying Point for Hope. I knew that I needed to tailor my contributions also to myself and to my focus of wanting to be the next Governor of Ondo State. I was not working as consultant to the party but my interest was to build the party such that it can be the best party under which I can contest the governorship election. We decided that the party needed not to have only structures of people but also physical structures and that was the period that I decided to have offices across the state with headquarters in Akure.

As at today, we have 52 offices across the state. What I mean by offices here is that we have a platform of the ACN that we called Omoluabi Platform that is represented in all the 18 local government areas and 203 wards in the state. In these offices, all members of the party meet and interact daily on the progress of the party. Women, men and youth come to these offices to pray, watch football and other games as well as hold meetings and get briefing on what next about the platform. That was phase II. The Phase III was another four months between January and April 2012. We called that process the consolidation process and outreach.

We go out to meet people who are not necessarily in Ondo State and brief them about what we have done and to lobby them so that they can understand what we have done and then consolidation in the sense that we needed to carryout programmes which will allow a lot of harvests we have had through the Omoluabi Platform to be productive within the ACN. Again, to also have members who are supportive of our position within ACN because if we are going to hold primaries, you have to get members who support your cause. That was what we did in the Phase III. The Phase IV, to me had come in not either in the period of three or four months but it is the support that has been running in parallel because we found out that we were witnessing rapid growth of Omoluabi Platform in different places. 

There is Omoluabi Platform in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, London and New York among other places. These are people who by themselves got the kind of idea which we have posted on the website to model what they do to become members of the ACN and members who are supportive of Dr. Olu Agunloye’s ambition. The Lagos State Omoluabi started to run some programmes on the television and radio within Lagos and when they thought that that may not have maximum relevant to Ondo State, they shifted the base to Ondo State on Adaba Radio.

Recently, they sent their executives to meet me in Akure with loads of campaign materials like T. Shirts, Caps, branded ball pens, stickers etc. If you look at this, some of the ways we can put a finger in our efforts has been one in terms of structures that we have built and again the number of people that have come into ACN. For instance, we are planning to hold our 200th decamping session in the state. We have videos and photographs that can show these series of decamping rallies we have organized.

This is our ways of showing that we have not only built human structures but also physical structures and a number of people joining the party from LP, PDP etc. We are happy to also say that the entire People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) has indicated interest to join us. We have been talking to them for the past two months. People may not also know that when Prince Adewale Omojuwa, the former OSOPADEC Chairman joined the ACN, we had been working on him for the past seven months before that time.

What is the Omoluabi Platform all about?

There are two things that we need to say here. The first one is Omoluabi concept itself. We needed to have a platform and then we called the Omoluabi Platform. The reason for this is not far-fetched. We have looked into the polity and we have found so many lapses that can be traced to the way people to serve are selected. In most cases, we end up selecting the wrong people. Some of the lapses can be seen in the way we evaluate them. For instance, you selected or elected him and at the end he failed to do what you wanted him to do. The hospital goes bankrupt under his management, the roads are not constructed and he steals the state money. Consequently, he was arrested by law enforcement agents and he was released after a while.

Then, people go after him to eulogize him or making him a high ranking chief and he comes back again that he wants to serve in a bigger capacity and you allow him. So, these are the lapses. We are saying that for us to start making a difference, we must try to change the way we select or elect people who will serve. We must also change the way we see the services that they offer. One of the basic things that we must look at if we must choose a person to represent us, in this 21^st Century, is competence. Second thing is that he must be credible. The third one is little far-fetched but when you look at it you find out that it is important. The person to choose must be compassionate. 

It is for the lack of passion that a man who is picked to serve spends money for drugs in hospitals on something else like using it to construct round about or put water fountain on the roads even when there is no potable water for the people to drink. Again, patients in the hospitals are dying because of lack of drugs. It is because the leaders who are chosen to serve or servants of the people are not compassionate that there is high rate of unemployment and decadence in the education sector. It is me who wants to contest that needed to explain these things to people in a word that can aptly represent these qualities in me.

My own choice of word for this is Omoluabi. Omoluabi is a very deep concept in Yoruba land. It is a concept that our people understand very well. Omo means child but you cannot use the Omo in Omoluabi for a twenty years old boy whatever he has done. We use this only for a mature mind. Omoluabi is not used again for a hardworking man alone because it is tied to integrity and trust. If you look at what we have had, we discover that our leaders run into trouble because they are not honourable. This means that they are not trust worthy. Again we must understand that we already have an Iroko and what are you going to use against him?

Iroko shows a tree that is strong and wants to make forest alone. It is also a strong phenomenon that always harbors evil things. It always allow for corruption and those things that digress it. We have that tree in the politics of Ondo State and if you are looking for alternative tree, do you look for Obese or Araba tree? The situation must be subtly solved and not to look for a Goliath to fight Goliath.You must look for a David to bring that Goliath down.  We need to use that Omoluabi that our people understand and at the same time you can decide to call it any name that will suit that purpose. My colleagues in this race have their own platform. We have Sunshine Mandate etc. As we speak, the incumbent Governor of the state has what he called Iroko 2013 Platform.


You cannot but do that because in your party, it is not everybody that will work with you although they will vote for you during election but you cannot command them all at the same time like those you have on your platform. What we did with Omoluabi is to properly register members by giving them forms.  In Ese-Odo and Ikare, we have not been able to collect these forms back but we have 157, 000 forms already collected.If we need them to come to Akure, I do not need to beg them before they come. You know what this means, it means we have additional members for ACN. At the same time, we may have some aspirants who may decide not to do it this way; I say good luck to them. All along every member of Omoluabi Platform has contributed immensely to our aspiration. Many of them have spent a lot of money on this struggle. We are in the struggle that is strategic and Omoluabi Platform is the entire strategy that we need to win this battle.

What have been the challenges since you began the processes of rebuilding the party to the level of conceptualizing and nurturing of Omoluabi Platform for your governorship aspiration?

The main challenges for the Omoluabi Platform has been how to continually raise the resources to have tremendous impact in the circumstances where everybody says he would support you after you get the ticket. Many people do not want to part with their cash when they are not sure of what the process will be. Yet we needed the resources to get the ticket. The resources that we have challenges over are not limited to money. We needed to get a lot of men to do the work. The human resource challenge here is that we have a lot of aspirants so men and women that could work with you have to spread themselves among the aspirants.

The old members of the party especially those who hold positions at state, local government and ward levels also stand away from you because they say that executive members are not allowed to align with an aspirant. That makes it very difficult and as I have said the environment where you have to fend for yourself before a candidate emerges makes it more difficult than you can imagine. The second challenge, I will prefer to say is an aberration. That is the reaction of either LP or LP sympathizers or agent or what we can also call our adversaries to the growth of our party.

The LP members would attack us and at the end our members are locked up instead and the attempt to get them out of prison becomes difficult than those being tried for treason. You find out that even when we raise money to buy vehicles for our campaign, they are vandalized by the agents of LP. Personally, my teams have had four of our buses damaged by these LP thugs. Our billboards are damaged at will. As at the last count, 16 of my billboards have been damaged. At a particular spot in Akure, a billboard was damaged four times. They attacked our members and buses. This should not be part of challenge for political activities and that is why I called it an aberration.

How will you describe your relationship with other governorship aspirants who are in the race for the ticket of the party?

Incidentally I can say that I have had dealings and personal relationship with more than half of the aspirants. Chief Tayo Alasoadura, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, Saka Lawal, Hon. Ajatta, Rotimi Akeredolu, Tunji Abayomi, Jamiu Ekungba, we all relate well together. Incidentally Jamiu Ekungba and Rotimi Akeredolu are my cousins. Ifedayo Abegunde, Segun Ojo, Sola Iji, Omololu Meroyi are also among those that I have had direct dealing with. The truth is that I respect them a lot because they are eminently qualified to represent the people of this state. I know that a couple of them when they face any project, they do so with enthusiasm and commitment to make it succeed. Segun Abraham for instance, we are not related but we are like brothers. When my wife asked me if it was the same Segun Abraham, I said yes.

That was because if we were to do anything in our household, all what Segun Abraham needed is to be told two days before the event and he would be there. I have tried to reciprocate that. Tunji Abayomi is more of a musician than a lawyer. I look forward to one of these days when I will be able to raise enough money to buy him musical instrument. He is a fantastic singer. My relationship with Ajatta dated to the period when I was a Road Safety officer. I respect them and I know that I have to maintain good relationship with them because I know that as a man who wants to be governorship candidate of the party, I must be at peace with the hierarchy of the party, the new members and various groups within the party.

What do you think stands you out among others?

   

I must confess to you that in the thorough way that I have taken every project that comes my way, I have taken this one like that. A long time ago, I actually did some tour to talk to some people within the hierarchy of ACN, some issues came out from that tour which means that they have been talking to themselves. I could mark out five things for the person who will be the candidate of the party. One; the candidate must be somebody that is competent and have pedigree; the candidate must have managerial skills. There are some people who have not governed more than 12 people in their offices.

A renown layer has about 30 people in the country and you cannot at the same time compare him with a VC that govern 1, 000 staff and 59, 000 students. Three, the person must be on ground. He must be on the field and should be able to command the votes. Four, he must be able to build a bridge. There are so many broken bridges that we need to fix within the party. The last but not the least, he must be loyal to the party. When you look at all these, there is no gainsaying the fact that I have all these abilities. The one that is difficult to evaluate is this last one. If you talk about loyalty, how do you define it? If you ask all the aspirants to swear to oat they will. If you ask them to swear before a shrine they will do. In my own case, my loyalty has been well defined when I held two positions as Minister. I was loyal at work, loyal to those who worked with me, to the community and loyal to those who assisted me to get there. When I was in FRSC, I was in charge of 105 formations nationwide.

People could remember what I did to those who were my superiors at that time. My loyalty could also be seen to the late uncle Bola Ige who assisted me to get to ministerial position then. After Bola Ige died, people can check how loyal I was to uncle Bola Ige family and the Afenifere that was supporting Bola Ige then. I doubt if sons of Bola Ige will be asked to write family names without writing my name. How do you want to check loyalty? I will say you should check my records. Let me submit that the man Dr. Olu Agunloye is firmly on ground to win the forthcoming governorship election for ACN after getting the ticket.

Source: The Trace Magazine, June 3, 2012 Edition