Former House of Representatives member Dr Jayeola Ajatta is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Action Congress of nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State. He spoke with Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU on his blue print for the state.

Why are you aspiring to become governor at 72 years of age? Would the job not be too rigorous for you?
I believe that age is not a barrier for anybody who wants to serve. I have told people that productivity is in my body. I’m healthy and I know that I can cope with the challenges that come with the office of a governor. I thank God that I am healthy. I can say that in the last 12 years, I have not been on a hospital bed on admission. I know I have the strength. I know that I can cope with the challenges of governing Ondo State. I spent the last eight years in the National Assembly. I have also worked outside the National Assembly. So, by the grace of God, I know I have the strength to cope.

You spent eight years in the National Assembly. Yet you are still striving to become the governor of a state. What is the reason behind this?
It is service. I have always been serving. I have been serving in my home town.I have been serving people since I was employed in a company. I have also been serving people since I went into politics. So, it is evident that I love to serve. I was in National Assembly. The projects I brought into my constituency are there for everybody to see. So, after leaving the National Assembly, I still believe that I am still capable of serving in Ondo State. So, I love to serve and that is why I’m running for the governorship of Ondo State.

Are you not threatened by the power of incumbency wielded by Governor Olusegun Mimiko?
I have the stamina. It is evident by what is happening now in Ondo State that people want change. Before Iroko came to power people were no longer happy with then governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, and so they were looking for an alternative. He (Mimiko) was a minister and being a minister gave him the opportunity to participate meaningfully at the 2007 election. And because they didn’t want Agagu any longer, the people did not even look at the person they were voting for. They voted for him massively and people informed me that they spent their own monies to ensure that he got to that position. So, it wasn’t that he had all the money. But having got there, he has disappointed a lot of people. He made a lot of promises that he does not fulfil.

Therefore, people are not happy at the moment with him. People say they are hungry. People say they worked for him but let them down and so they are looking for a better party. And they have seen a better party, which is ACN and if you see the way people are trooping into ACN in the state now, you will know that it is not a joke. Whether it is me or somebody else that emerges, what is important is that ACN will form the next government in Ondo State.

In the election that was held in 2007, people voted for Mimiko because they wanted a change and because he promised them a lot of things. Now people are disenchanted because of failed promises. I do not think he had the power to win the election and at the same time went to court and win. But ACN through Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, our leader, supported him. When the case was taken to court, we had to ensure that we got people from outside the state to ensure that the right counsel were used. After winning the case, we would have thought that he would work with ACN. But that was the time he felt that he could go independently and therefore, he abandoned ACN.

We believe that what he has done is not right and people are unhappy with him. That is the reason people now feel that if he refused to go to ACN, they will come to ACN. That was why the chairman of Labour Party in Ondo State, Dr. Olaiya Oni, resigned and joined ACN. Now, more people who were very important in Labour Party are coming to ACN and they are working for ACN. People are so mobilised. Mimiko has not impressed them aand people believe that they cannot continue to follow him. That is why I believe that irrespective of the power of money and power of incumbency ACN will win.
What are your blueprints for the state?
The first one is to look at the issue of unemployment. A number of the people of Ondo State who had graduated from universities are unemployed. So, I will want to start from there because people are hungry. Some families had sent their children to schools and after they came back from the school, there are no jobs for them. That is why tackling unemployment will be my first priority, to see how we can accommodate these unemployed people. It is possible to do so because ACN government in Osun State has been able to create jobs for Osun people – 10,000 people were employed in the state. Ondo State is blessed with a lot of opportunities. There, we have (Ondo State Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission) OSOMPADEC because we are an oil producing state. We have land where we have the possibility of producing cement. We have companies there that are collapsing like the Oluwa Glass Company (OGC). So, we are going to work on these. I also have plans to improve education in Ondo State.

Also, our people have been practising agriculture with cutlass and hoes for many years. It is time we provided them with mechanised agricultural implements. People have been working in Ondo State without getting salaries. Look at the last Salah festival. In Ondo State, workers did the festival without earning salaries. Up till now, I’m not sure if they have got their salaries. Also, we have bitumen there. What we can get from this bitumen is enough for Ondo State. It is even enough for Nigeria just as we have oil now which is the mainstay of Nigeria. Bitumen can also become the mainstay of Nigeria when we start exploring it. Also, the (Internally Generated Revenue) IGR that we get in Ondo State is a lot. How are we spending the money? And what we get from the Federal Government as federal allocation is also a lot.

I’ll ensure that we have good budgets for all these programmes that I talk about and I will ensure that the budgets are run accordingly. It will not be that we have a budget and money will be spent anyhow. If you look at what is happening in the government of Ondo State at the moment, you will see that there are commissioners who cannot authorise the execution of a project of about N500,000. This is not supposed to be the case. If you give somebody a job, you have to give him the authority to do the job well. If you appoint somebody as a commissioner and he has to come to you, putting his hand before you, bowing down for you, it is wrong.

‘Why power will shift in Ondo next year’