Former governor of Oyo State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, reflecting on his 68th birthday, speaks with MOSES ALAO on the calls on him to contest the 2019 governorship election, the crisis rocking the Oyo State chapter of the APC and the clamour by the younger generation to take over the reins of governance.

SINCE you became a public figure, your birthday has always been celebrated with fanfare. Is a large ceremony in the offing for your 68th birthday today?

There is nothing significant about this birthday; it is normal and I will just celebrate it the normal way. There won’t be anything extraordinary. The most important thing I will do is to give thanks to the Almighty God for making it possible for me to still be living and to be in good health. Fortunately for me, it is on Sunday.

The normal way for Alao-Akala is not the normal way for others; the public sees you as someone cut out for flamboyant ceremonies and parties. Is that the normal way you refer to?

No. There is no plan for that; there won’t be anything flamboyant about my birthday today. As a matter of fact, I have not invited anyone and I won’t even have time because it is Sunday. I will go to give thanks to God. What I am planning to do is just to go to church. So, there is not going to be anything flamboyant or political about the day. It will be a normal way of giving thanks to God. Let me even tell you, today is not going to be about my birthday per se; the new Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, [Right Honourable Olagunju Ojo] will be having a thanksgiving in his church and I have decided to go to his church to celebrate with him.

So, if you are not declaring your 2019 governorship ambition today, which is your birthday, when are you going to do so?

I am not declaring any governorship ambition on my birthday. And like I have been telling people, I will give adequate and comprehensive response to all the clarion calls to me to contest the 2019 governorship election. I have always been telling people that I am not new in this game and that I know what to do if I want to contest. There have been a lot of calls here and there; people calling on me to throw my hat into the ring for the race. But I have been telling them to wait, that when the time comes, I would give an answer on whether I would heed their calls or not.

Don’t you think you have already heeded the call by saying recently that Governor Abiola Ajimobi was not oblivious of your governorship ambition?

The fact that I said he is not unaware does not mean that I have declared intention to run. I have not officially presented myself. The fact that I said he is not oblivious of my aspiration does not mean anything. We are all politicians; we don’t need hide the facts. The governor cannot say he is unaware. But you actually don’t make an official declaration if you have not contacted those people you are supposed to have contacted and when the consultation is going on, you take it one after the other. When you have consulted all the people that are to be consulted, it is then you go public. But those who you think have been contacted cannot claim ignorance.

All these talks about people that are supposed to be contacted and consulted are not quite clear. Can you make it clear to the public who and who you have contacted or consulted?

I don’t need to tell you who and who I have or have not contacted, that will amount to telling you my strategy. That is number one. Number two, you don’t talk to just one person or only to two people when you want to embark on a governorship contest. There will be a lot of people, a lot of opinion leaders that you have to consult. So, let us assume that there are about 10 of them and you have only talked to about five, you have not finished your job. But the number one person you talked to cannot claim that you have not spoken to him.

Was Governor Ajimobi the first person you talked to about your ambition?

I don’t want to talk about that. I have said what I wanted to say.

Some months ago, there was a news story on social media but no one could verify whether it was true or whether it came from your detractors…

You know that social media could sometimes be social madness…

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It was said that you sent some of your loyalists to the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola, to inform him that you would be contesting the governorship election in 2019 and that he sent those emissaries away telling them to ask you what you forgot in the Government House. How true is this?

I didn’t send anyone to Alaafin. I didn’t do that.

But traditional rulers are some of those you intend to consult?

Don’t ask me to tell you my strategy; everyone has a strategy for winning a game and I don’t have to disclose mine on the pages of a newspaper. You keep a strategy to yourself.

President Muhammadu Buhari just signed the #Nottooyoungtorun Bill, which seeks to reduce the age limitation for office seekers amid clamour for younger politicians to take over the reins of governance. You are 68 today and your loyalists cheering you on, shouting “Run, Alao-Akala run,” but don’t you think you are too old?

I don’t know what you mean by too old. You see, people talk about age, but it has nothing to do with the running of a government. It is about whether or not you have the intellect and mental alertness to deal with the challenges of the office. You talk about age, have you not seen people who are older and are managing countries; complex countries? Last month, a 92-year-old man, Mahathir Mohamad, won a presidential election in Malaysia and we are just talking about Oyo State. What has running a state got to do with age? It is you journalists that talk about age. Look, as a young man, if you are convinced that you can contest for a post and win, go ahead and do it. If you want to do something, go into it; no one will stop you. But if young people think because they are young, they should be picked and given power, nobody will give power that way. Nigeria’s nationalists were young when they took power from Britain, were they not? But they didn’t allow Britain to oppress them because of their age; so, if the young people want to take political power, let them come out and do it.

So you are not afraid of the younger generation?

Look, the space is big enough for everyone to do whatever they want. And what do you even mean by younger generation? The Yoruba do say “omode ni’se, agba ni’se la fi da’le Ife,” everyone has something to do. But they also say that “ti omode ban I aso bi agba, ko le ni akisa bi agba,” give it any meaning you want. I don’t know if you have ever heard of a story of a town where all the youths agreed to kill all their old people. One of them was wise and he kept his old man in the rafters and a point came when there was a great crisis in the town and only the wisdom of an elder was needed to get a solution. He went to his old man and he got the solution and told the rest, who were surprised and asked him how got the solution. He told them that when they all killed their elders, he kept his in the rafters. So, what is the hullabaloo about not too young to rule? The young generation should come into politics; they should take power from the old people if they can. They should do whatever is legitimate to take it; but no one will invite a young person and hand over power to them, because there is a space for everyone.

Politicians depend on the youth for a lot of things and that is why there is a provision for youth leader. You know we don’t have a profession for old men or old women’s leader and it is all because we want the youths to participate in what we are doing. You were in this state when I discovered an 18-year-old boy, Kayode Akanbi, who was IT-savvy. I made him my Special Assistant. What did he do? He proved himself that he was worth the job. And I was the one who advised him to proceed to the university because he was making the money old people were making. So, the not too young to rule thing is just like the young people waiting to be given what is their rights; it is their constitutional right and they should go for it.

So, for the Oyo State governorship, age is immaterial; what matter are capabilities and intellect. Look, everyone has a way of doing things, but a young man cannot have the type of experience that an old man has. With due respect to the young leaders that ruled Nigeria in the past, they had challenges because of their age.

Since you left government in 2011, the ship of governance seems have sailed and the dynamics have become different. Today, the federal allocations have reduced; workers are owed salaries while there are more demands from the people. Do you think you will be able to cope with all these if you become governor again?

When we get to the bridge, we will cross it. And that is one area that experience will come in. People who have had experience will be able to manage these things by prioritising the need. It is simple economics. And when you do that, you will not go wrong. When you want to govern, you must have prepared yourself on what to do and you should have an idea of what you may likely face and that is why I tell you that experience counts a lot. Those things you have enumerated, I will know how to face them head on if I am to find myself in that position. Someone like me who has been governor before, I have an advantage; I want you to look at those who have had the opportunity to be in a position before and they get another opportunity, you will see how they perform well. That is because you have to do better than you did the first time, which was people brought you back. You have to embark on people-oriented programmes and see to the welfare of workers and the people. So, let me tell you that those things you saw as challenges would not be a problem, because it is terrain I have passed before.

There was a news story that circulated on the internet regarding the crisis in the Oyo State chapter of the APC in which you were claimed to have declared that you don’t recognise the APC Unity Forum faction. What is your reaction to this?

You see. As I said earlier, there is a lot of madness on the social media but for one to know what is going on around the world, one has to join the maddening crowd. But there is nowhere I have heard or read about what you just said now; about me saying I don’t recognise anybody. As far as there is a fundamental constitutional right for anyone to associate, form a movement or associate with anyone one wants, I cannot query their exercising their rights.

But with respect to what you call crisis in the Oyo State APC, for God’s sake, politics is about conflict resolution. In politics, we will continue to have conflicts and continue to proffer solutions to them. What is happening in our party now is not unexpected or unusual; you can see that it is not only in Oyo State. But as you would have read or heard, on the day of our congress, I volunteered myself to bring everybody together and to reconcile all the sides. We cannot wish anybody away from the party. The members of the APC Unity Forum are aggrieved; we should listen to their grievances and see how we can solve the problem. There is always a solution to every problem and that is what we are going to find. But do not make the mistake that any right-thinking politician will wish away those people that call themselves members of the Unity Forum; they are very important. In politics, everyone is important.

You see, the problem is that people try to build themselves in politics instead of building the party. We should build the party, if the party is very strong, everybody will now begin to take he deserves in the party. When you try to build the individual, you will polarise the party. People should work towards making the party strong, and that is why whenever we are going for congresses we always have what we call the unity list instead of going to the congress and say we want to be voting, which often divides the party as many people will come with different interests. Agreed, politics is about interests. But if we drop our interests and build a very strong political party, all of us can take whatever we want from that political party. That was what used to happen in those days. You know that the Alliance for Democracy (AD) used to be a very strong party; anyone they put forward would win election because they had a strong party. So, the panacea to this kind of division we have in APC is to forget about individual interests and build the party.

Ever since you volunteered to reconcile the aggrieved sides in the APC crisis, have there been responses to your offer from the parties?

I have started; all sides are ready for peace. But you see, when you are doing that kind of thing, you don’t make statements to the press telling them that you met so and so person. You would not be helping to heal the wound. If you want to heal the wound, you have to keep everything till the final stage. It is those you are reconciling that should talk and not you the mediator. So, we have started but I am not making noise about it. I know we will get there.

You have been linked with different political parties ahead of 2019. While some say that you are already talking to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), others link you with the ADC. Are you making consultations with other parties?

Everything you have said is in my favour. It means I am still relevant in the scheme of things. Politicians will look for anyone that is relevant.

Are they the ones looking for you or you are looking for them?

I don’t look for them. You must have heard or read how all parties were coming to my house. PDP came to my house; SDP came too, but I did not look for anyone.

But your loyalists who have been urging you to run might be consulting with another party because they have seen the handwriting on the wall in the APC…

If you are consulting with another party, you should be the one looking for them, but in my case, it is the parties that are coming to look for me. Every good political party will shop for good candidates. That was what the late Baba [Lamidi] Adedibu taught us; if you are a good and sellable candidate, he would do everything to get you to his side. So, that is what the parties are doing. And talking about seeing handwriting on the wall in APC, it is when you are not sure of yourself that you will be jittery. Politics? Oyo State politics? For God’s sake, I am not a child in Oyo State politics.

Your son, who is now the chairman of Ogbomoso North Local Government, is said to be interested in contesting for the House of Representatives seat while you also want to become governor…

It is a lie. It is a mere speculation that he wants to go to the House of Representatives.

But when you decide to contest for governorship and you eventually win, that means the state will have Alao-Akala the father as governor and Alao-Akala the son as chairman of local government, how will you handle that?

The two Alao-Akalas are adults and they have constitutional rights to contest elections. Whatever a father is entitled to in a democracy, the son who is of age is also entitled to it; but how they go about it is their business. But I want you to know one thing and you can ask those in politics in Ogbomoso; they will tell you that I did not influence my son becoming the chairman of Ogbomoso North. I didn’t have any input in his becoming chairman; he went about his business on his own and anyone can testify to that. Thank God, he got a good name from me, which is an advantage. He can flaunt and use the name. Let me tell you about my politics in Ogbomoso; I am also using my late father’s name to do whatever I am doing in Ogbomoso politics. My father was a community leader and he died while on errand for Ogbomoso through a motor accident. So, everyone older than I am or about the same age as I am know that my father died while serving Ogbomoso and I have also capitalised on that. But as for my son, I did not help him to become the chairman and every politician in APC knows that; that is why people have not been complaining. He went about it on his own.

At 68, what sports or activities do you engage as relaxation?

I play squash. I relax a bit and have a lot of activities occupying my time. I am a family man; I attend to family both nuclear and extended and I am a community leader. Apart from sports, I love driving. Only that it has not been possible for me to drive as much as I love to because everywhere I am sighted, people will bombard my car. I wanted to buy fuel at a filling station in Total Garden, Ibadan and people bombarded me to have a glimpse; I could not even pay the attendant. I just told them I would send someone to come and pay them later. But the most important thing is that I enjoy being with people; when I am with people, I really feel good and that is why people are still around me despite having left office for more than seven years.

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