APC is a party of high-tech manipulators and aggressors – Fadahunsi
Chief Francis Fadahunsi is a retired Assistant Comptroller General of the Nigerian Custom Service and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Osun State.
A philanthropist and farmer, Chief Fadahunsi, a recipient of two national honours, Member of the Federal Republic, MFR and Officer of the Federal Republic, OFR, is one of the three aspirants eyeing the senatorial ticket of the PDP in Osun East Senatorial district.
In this interview with DailyPost’s Timothy Enietan-Matthews, Fadahunsi talks about his ambition, the Boko Haram insurgency and Osun politics, declaring that the All Progressives Congress, APC is a party of high-tech manipulators and aggressors.
How do you appraise the conduct of the last governorship election in your state, Osun
I am sure you know the result that was announced that APC won by a wide margin but what I saw during the election was high-tech manipulation that has taught us how to prepare for an election. This time around, we must have what I call option B. If INEC asks you to stand up during election, you have to sit down because the opposition might have colluded with INEC. We cannot afford to trust anybody again.
But it is the APC that normally accuse INEC of colluding with PDP to rig elections; are you the case is different in Osun?
APC is a party of high-tech manipulators and aggressors who complain. Take it or leave it, it is a party of snatchers and the snatcher will go to court first to accuse the bereaved.
So whatever complains they give you, doesn’t listen to them because they are perpetrators of evil.
Looking at 2015, for which you are coming out for the Senate; how do you think your party will fare since Ogbeni Rauf Aregbeshola is back in the saddle for a second term in office?
Well, Aregbeshola knew what he saw before he was declared the winner of the governorship election. The case in presently at the tribunal and I hope he will take things easy this time around because there is a problem in the state.
Generally the states have problems with funds and he is one of the governors that have embarked on bogus projects that will need the assistance of the Federal Government and all around to complete. So, I want to believe he will not want to embark on another round of troubles.
The next election will go the normal way it is supposed to go; I mean, victory for the PDP. The governorship election was an isolated one and because of that APC was able to import people from Lagos, Kwara and Ibadan to manipulate the process. Thank this is a general election and all those imported will equally be busy in their own domain.
In my area of the state, we normally have between ten and eleven thousand votes, but during the last election, we had about forty eight thousand for Aregbeshola. Where did the votes come from? Things are going to be different this time around.
Coming to your ambition, why do you want to go to the Senate?
I came out in 2011 but I was asked to step down for Senator Iyiola Omisore, because the party thought he was a more popular candidate but unfortunately, the incumbent Senator Jide Omoworare defeated him.
My eyes have always been in the Senate; to go to the upper chamber of the National Assembly to give my people good representation and contribute my modest quota to nation building. To make good laws on roads, agriculture, education and so on; to try and bring dividends of Democracy back to my people in Osun East Senatorial District. This has been my ambition.
The people of Iffe/Ijesha have seen what I have been able to do with my personal resources and discovered that if I am given the opportunity to represent them in the Senate, I will be able to do more.
What difference do you think going to the senate will make since you have been working for the good of your community with your personal resources because there people who say that but when they get there, they become inaccessible?
Those who Fadahunsi will tell you that I am a selfless person who used his official capacity while in service to uplift the lives of people through employment opportunities and various other means. When I retired, I have been doing even more in assisting my people as individuals and the communities at large. I have been involved over the years in community development, providing employment for the people, giving them resources through cooperative societies for business and agriculture. And the people know I will be able to attract more to them if I am voted in a Senator to represent them.
While I was in service, the Federal Government rewarded me with the national honours of Member of the Federal Republic, MFR because of my exploits both in the service and in community development. As a private citizen, the government again recognised my efforts in community development and honoured me with the Officer of the Federal Republic, OFR. These are testimonies to what I have been doing for my people and I do not think I will get to the Senate and become a different person. That I know and I believe the people of Ife/Ijesha know that too.
My going to the Senate is basically to afford me the opportunity of reaching out to all the communities that make up the senatorial district with the things I have been doing in time past.
How easy do you think it will be for you at the elections since you have an APC incumbent senator representing the area?
I think it will be very easy because he has not done anything for the people for the almost four years that he has been there. He was a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly before going to the Senate but he cannot point to anything he has done for the people in Ife/Ijesha.
I have never been to the House of Assembly or the Senate, but you can easily see the things I have done for the people. The testimonies abound. If you go to the senatorial district today and interview the people, they will tell you who they want as their representative. Thank God our people are educated and enlightened; if you have not been useful for them, they will tell you no way for you.
It is too late for him to start doing things for them in his own case; all he can do now is to pack his luggage and leave for me to step in and continue with what I have always done for the people.
What will be your focus or agenda if you get to the Senate?
My first priority will be the formulation of good laws that will enhance economic, social and educational development of the country.
You can see the dwindling prices of crude oil in the international market, which is beginning to affect us except we are able to do something drastic about it and find alternatives. Our most viable alternative is agriculture and as a farmer, I will stoutly stand to advocate that we do more in that area.
I farm wherever I go and I also encourage others to do the same thing. I will ensure that the Federal Government to be more serious with the agricultural sector. There must be good policy on agriculture; not the public show agriculture that they do on television.
I will also focus on education; our students must be trained in schools in such a way that when they graduate, they don’t have to wait for employment. They can by the kind of training and skills they have acquired, be employers of labour or be self employed.
I shall also work on youth development, women development through cooperative societies. Rural development and the empowerment of rural dwellers will also be a major focus. These have been my focus in my community.
The other very important aspect is security. Professionally, I am a security person and I will do my best to contribute to the internal security of the country so that we don’t have all the issues we have at the moment.
Talking about security, there are people who feel that the 2015 elections may be in danger if nothing urgent is done to curb the Boko Haram insurgency; are you one of the people with that fear?
The major insecurity problem in the country is political, ignited by unemployment. I believe there is a certain political class that do not want President Jonathan at all cost. But now that the president has gotten the nod of his party to contest for a second term, I believe he should sit down and examine himself to know if he is doing well or not.
It is puzzling to female suicide bombers now operating in Nigeria. It has never happened! The issue of unemployment has to be tackled. We have the oil but we have not been able to diversify it.
If you go to Dubai, you will be amazed with what they have been able to do with oil money. They invested heavily in other sectors and today, those sectors are paying back to the economy.
There must massive investment of oil money into practical agriculture and not agriculture on television. I am not talking about the super dances they are doing around in the name of agriculture. It must be practical.
The Federal Government have always talked about the transformation that is taking place in the agricultural sector and reeled out figures of what the sector is contributing to the nation’s GDP; are you saying these are not real?
I am a farmer and I have invested millions of naira into agriculture but am I better off? Not to talk of farmers who are illiterates and cannot access any loan. Go to the villages and not to the rice millers in Kano and see what I am talking about. This is not about television and sweet talks. I have a big farm in Owode where I have poultry and piggery on a 20 acres land. I have never secured any loan for it because to get a loan is a problem. I have a palm plantation 600 acres of land in the same Owode, in Idi Iroko, Ogun State. I have never been able to secure a single loan for it. Who then are the farmers they are talking about? Who are the farmers they have granted loan.
The sincerity of every ministry must be checked by Mr. President. He is the driver and if the tyres are not good, he cannot move. If things are going on well, we will not have the problems we have today. If care is not taken, youths in the south may join the train by carrying arms.
Leaders must check themselves and ensure that things are done well!
What is do you think is the way forward?
The way forward is for us to use that God given wealth for the use of the country. Let us diversify into all sectors so that things will move. There will be returns into the economy.
On security, we have a major problem with intelligence gathering and that is one of the major problems we have. There is nothing wrong with each school having two to three SSS officers as teachers. Why can’t we have SSS boys in garages as bus conductors or loaders, hotels and bar men or on the streets selling “boli” or recharge cards? I don’t see why they are not in churches and mosques. The people thrown bombs all over are not doing it in isolation; they do it in conjunction with people. We need to step up our intelligence gathering.
Don’t you think the Nigerian government is already loosing it with the way the insurgents are seizing territories?
What I know is that there is a government in place in Nigeria and there is a sitting president but if you ask me well, I will the problem the president has are his advisers. He is not security man but he advisers around him who are. What kind of advice are they giving him? How sincere are they in their advice? Again, the president must also have his own mind, capable of taking decisions and sticking to them. The president must know what he wants and stand by it.
Even the Northern governors and leaders that were tactically supporting the insurgents before have now said, yes, we want war. They never wanted it before but that the thing has gotten to their neck, they now have no choice.
If you are stand before the electorates in Ife/Ijesha today for campaign, what will be your message to them?
It will be a message of hope; hope in good health, hope on prosperity, hope in security and education. I am going to the National Assembly to work for them. There is nothing I am looking for again except to render service to my people.
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