Omisore is not popular – Omoworare

Action Congress of Nigeria candidate for Osun-East senatorial district, Mr Jide Omoworare, in this interview with TUNDE ODESOLA, says the ACN will win all elections in the state. Excerpts: It is believed that the Peoples Democratic Party is powerful in Ife, where your major opponent, Senator Iyiola Omisore, hails from. No, the PDP is not popular, it is only notorious and we must not mistake notoriety for popularity. PDP is an ugly blot on the white cotton of the Nigerian nation. The PDP is an albatross, which has become a burden and a shame to its members. If there are employment opportunities in the country, the PDP will witness emasculation and ultimate death because it is full of people, who are desperately in need of rehabilitation. Can you imagine the manner in which the PDP celebrated the release of Chief Bode George, who was imprisoned on corruption charges? The forthcoming elections will show the PDP that money doesn’t solve all problems. The Osun ACN has carried out an independent opinion poll, which revealed that the ACN will win by a landslide. Omisore had long hit the road campaigning to be governor while your party was pursuing its governorship mandate. Don’t you think you’ve left campaigning a bit little too late? The long time Omisore had embarked on campaigning will pale into insignificance when compared with the unprecedented acceptability with which Osun people received the ACN when the Appeal Court panel courageously nullified the illegal government of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola on November 24, 2010. For three and a half years, the PDP bestrode Osun like a drunken sailor, putting every foot wrong and incurring the anger and curses of the masses. The PDP is hated because of the failure of its government at the local, state and federal levels. This is why PDP rallies have been marked by low attendance. Omosore is not popular at all in Ife or any other part of the state. It was in Ife that Samson Olanrewaju was killed on April 14, 2007 and several others maimed and brutalised. All these people and their families still live in Ife; they won’t want a repeat of senseless killings and misgovernment. The PDP are tired of the PDP. I will beat Omisore in the 106 wards in Osun-East. I will defeat him in the 42 wards in Ife and 62 wards in Ijesa Land. What’s your manifesto? If elected, I will canvass true federalism; seek a change in who appoints the chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission and Resident Electoral Commissioners. As it is, Prof Attahiru Jega cannot transfer RECs. Only the President of the country can do that. I will network with like minds so that Nigerians in the Diaspora should be able to vote. I will seek a functional rail system and encourage proper funding of INEC – INEC’s funding should not be determined by any of the three arms of government. I have a paradigm I wish to explore in creating employment opportunities for the people of my district. Mining is a critical segment that has been left unexploited by the Oyinlola administration. Timber is an enormous source of wealth in my senatorial district and I have a blueprint designed to explore this natural resource. Many people see you as a Lagos-based politician, who does not know the Osun terrain... It would be mischievous of anybody to say I’m a Lagos-based politician when I was born in Ile-Ife, where I had my primary, secondary and university education. I studied law at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University. I would have gone to Law School in Ile-Ife if there were a Law School there. As a grandson of the late Ooni Adesoji Aderemi – my mother being a daughter of the late monarch – I don’t know who could be more Ife than me. Omisore was based in Lagos before he moved back to Osun for politics. Chief Bisi Akande was in Lagos and Ibadan before he became governor. Former governor Isiaka Adeleke was in the United States before he became governor. Oyinlola was in Lagos and the United Kingdom before he became governor. My governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, was based in Lagos, where he served the Lagos State Government meritoriously. He was a true ambassador of Osun State. I was a Majority Leader in the Lagos State House of Assembly, where I served to the best of my ability. My supporters in Lagos did not want me to come down to Osun to run because they felt they would not have direction if I left. They wondered what I was coming to do in Osun but the dream will be actualised in our presence in a few days. By TUNDE ODESOLA Courtesy Of: Punch