Chief Stephen Wole Oke, a Second Republic lawmaker, is a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State and a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council. In this interview by BIOLA AZEEZ, the septuagenarian elder statesman speaks on the performance of the present administration in his state, the political intrigues of Second-Republic Kwara State, corruption in Nigeria and other salient national issues.
How would you assess the present administration in Kwara State?
I am an APC man, a leader of the party in the state. The APC government in the state is doing its best. If you look back, the governor had never held a political office before; he came in from private sector. One good thing about him is that he came from a family background that has a dynasty. As a matter of fact, it really favours him. His father was the first lawyer in the geopolitical zone. He was a minister and an ambassador. When the governor was elected in 2019, some of us believed that it was God at work. If you looked at the results of the election, you would realise that it was God at work. The APC cleared all the 24 seats in the state House of Assembly except one. Here was a man coming in for the first time vying for that important position. He had never been a councillor, legislator whether at state or federal level. Yet, he contested and won. It was not surprising; it had happened before. Some believe that God has a purpose for him and he has a vision. He took time to learn. But as a human being, there is a limit to what he can do to satisfy all the people.
He has his own weakness. People talk about this weakness which I know he must have heard and tried to amend. One thing I know about him is that he is an introvert, and to that extent, people accuse him of not consulting enough with the people. But to some of us, he is the governor and he knows what he can do and what to do.
In terms of performance, we have to look at what he has done to benefit the people. He is an infrastructural-development, passionate governor. He has made impacts in almost all parts of the state, particularly in the areas of health, education and road development. He has repaired so many clinics in the local government areas, renovated many schools and put up new ones. Kwara State is large and it is mainly rural. In spite of all that he has done, one would want him to pay more attention to rural roads. It is very important.
He is also working hard in terms of agricultural projects. The state is agrarian in nature, but his efforts has not yet been felt as such. We hope the next few years will witness more positive development, especially in area of agricultural mechanisation. It will be in the best interest of his administration. He is working hard in the area of human capital development. He hopes to commission some projects relating to human capital development. He is building an international conference centre, a film company and the Tanke flyover. Yes, there have been some complaints about the quality of the work. One hopes that necessary actions would be taken to mend where there are such complaints. The flyover would have meaning once it is of good quality.
Generally, one can commend him for the initiative he has taken in the past four years and the choice of members of his cabinet. He has been creative. His commissioners should just perform to benefit the people and shun corruption.
As a former lawmaker, what is your assessment of the new crop of legislators in the country?
I was the leader of the Kwara State House of Assembly. There was no majority leader. That was in my second term in the House. What happened was that there were two major political parties, the UPN and the NPN. The NPN was in power as of the time of election. Unfortunately, the NPN was divided. Governor (Adamu) Attah had his own group and Abubakar Olusola Saraki had his. It came to a point that they were not fielding same candidates. The Saraki group went on to field some candidates in the NPP and some in the NPN. So, during the second term, the Saraki side and the NPN shared same number, so to say. Saraki was with the UPN. So, when it came to electing officials of the House, we worked with them. They produced the speaker and we produced the deputy speaker. There was no majority or minority leader; it was leader of the House and deputy leader of the House. We spent a brief period before the military took over power.
When I was in the House, especially during my first term, the NPN was in power and Attah was the governor. There were 42 members in the state House of Assembly, comprising people from what is now Kwara and Kogi states. The party in power, the NPN, had 25 members, the opposition, the UPN, had 15 and the GNPP had two. It was 25 to 17. The opposition was up and doing. It was necessary as we became a check on the government. It was necessary as the NPN could not do anything to despise us or spite the opposition group. Our contributions were fantastic. We gave the House the good image it deserved. Up to today, some of us are proud of the roles we played. Unfortunately, before the end of the first half, there was a conflict between the Saraki and Attah groups. One thing one could say was that the Saraki group sought means of impeaching the governor then. But they didn’t have the figure and they couldn’t work with us. We were not eager to work with them. It was unreasonable and senseless for the UPN to work with Saraki. That was why they couldn’t succeed in impeaching the governor and that was what Attah saw in us that really favoured our side in the House. I want to tell you that as an opposition member in the House, I took more benefits to my people than the NPN members. The House was very vibrant then. We used the opportunity to move motions and make laws. I remember presenting a private member bill on the establishment of traditional councils in the state. I proposed that each local government should have its own traditional council. I did this because I knew what was happening in the area I came from, where we had emirates. That was anti-Yoruba culture. I was looking at the possibility of being able to maintain our own culture and tradition as a people. The bill went into second reading, and a committee was set up. The committee went round the whole state to take people’s views, and the bill enjoyed support across the state. But then, the big guns in the state, the emirs, were not comfortable with it. Unfortunately, the committee handling the matter couldn’t finish the job before the end of that term. In 1979, I raised a motion calling for the dissolution of price control in the country and the abrogation of the price control law. By then, people were complaining against the price control officials. My being in the House gave me the opportunity. The House passed it, interestingly enough. Since it was a federal matter, we sent our resolution to the National Assembly. You won’t believe it, but the National Assembly bought the motion, and the price control law was abrogated. There a million things our House did in those days. There were quite a number of things we did whose details are in my biograph that will be published soon.
Now to compare our set to present crop of lawmakers in the country, I can only answer that by what people outside are saying. We can’t be praising ourselves. The people say we are poles apart in terms of the quality of work done, from the third assembly to the current assembly. As a matter of fact, one major thing that one can say against the current assembly is that it is all made up of one party and no opposition. So, what can they do? People see them as a ‘yes assembly’ and I can’t say more than the fact that they are writing their own history.
Given attitude of businessmen and traders in present-day Nigeria, won’t you call for the return of that price control?
(Laughs) A few weeks ago, I think I heard some people calling for the re-introduction of price control. But I don’t think that should happen. The economy should adjust itself. Normally, price is determined by the principle of demand and supply. That means we have to be more productive to meet people’s demands. What we produce in the country, are they what people want? And at what cost are you producing them? But if what the people want are not what you can produce, then you have to import. At what cost are we importing? And if you say you want to control price, I don’t see how that can help in terms of making available what the people need. So, let the economy determine the price.
What is your most regrettable day in politics?
(Laughs) my regrettable day? Let me say I thank God greatly. If I should talk about my regretable day in politics, it was the day the military took over power. That was December 30/31, 1983. But in terms of being in politics and what I have achieved, I give thanks to God. I am still in politics. And the most memorable day should be, of course, the day I won my first election, in 1979. That was a great day for me. I was a civil servant. I had never been in politics. But I was leading people. I was a leader of various groups. As a matter of fact, it was my role among my people, within my community, that led me into politics. As a freedom fighter, I struggle for the cause of the people. As an agonist and an Awoist, I have succeeded to a great extent in the struggle. In terms of memorable days. There are many memorable days in terms of achievements in the House of Assembly.
Talking about corruption in politics, how best can it be tackled?
It is unfortunate. In the First Republic, corruption was not as pronounced as it is today. Corruption in politics started, maybe, in the Second Republic. That was when vote buying started, particularly in Kwara State. It was rampant. Godfatherism became the norm. Those godfathers were spending money to get their godsons into political power. When the godsons got to power, what can they do? Of course, the godfathers have to recover their expenses. That was really the beginning of real corruption in politics. But corruption is endemic not only in politics today. It is a national problem. Businessmen, professionals, everybody is involved in corrupt practices.
How do we solve the problem? There we have a question. Is it peculiar to Nigeria? No. And since we have international relationships, there is nothing we can do about it. But then, we can minimise it. The Nigerian electorate should be more careful about the people they are putting in power. Anyone who decides to buy their votes will definitely not do their bidding. Most of the people in power today, rather than spend money on the progress of the people, they keep on accumulating wealth in order to be able to fight in future politics.
Like I said, it is not peculiar to Nigeria. Go to the United States or any of the European countries, they practise it. But how do we minimise it here in Nigeria, because it is not something you can totally annihilate. As people would say, let’s continue to pray to God.
You said the electorate must be careful when electing people into power, but what about political parties that produce all sorts of candidates for the people to elect?
You should know that every political party has its own malaise. There is none that has got no friction or factions. What is happening is that a state governor would want his faction to win all positions. He is in power. He may not even feature the best candidate for an election. The people may not even want the candidate. Political parties undergo primary elections, but even at that level, party members are bought and the best candidate may not have the money to bribe the voters. That is the beginning of the problems being faced up to the federal level.
Unfortunately again, our educational level matters, especially in the rural areas where money men ply their trade most, using their godsons without realising the evil they are doing to themselves. However, with our literacy level on the rise, things will surely change for the better. Today, among political elites in each political party, it is not everyone that believes there should be godfathers. Everyone now tries to assert their own status, pride. They go to their areas to advise their people not to allow themselves to be bought by any politicians. Witt time, things will change and corruption will reduce. But you cannot totally eliminate it.
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