Sulaiman Lateef Adediran, chairman of Irepo local government, Kisi, has opened up on allegations that he worked against ‘Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, in the just concluded elections.
According to Santana, as Adediran who was Makinde’s running mate in 2015 under the Social Democratic Party, SDP, is known, the result of last Saturday’s poll was an improvement on the previous ones.
OYOINSIGHT.COM had yesterday reported how angry youth and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders locked the council secretariat and chased away staff and security guards on duty over alleged anti-party activities of the council boss and others. The protesters also demanded the resignation of Santana, 10 councillors as well as local government appointees with immediate effect for working against the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in both elections.
Recall that the All Progressives Congress, APC, had won all the elections, with wide margins, in the council area with Makinde losing with 2,592 votes.
In an exclusive chat with OYOINSIGHT.COM, Santana said that everything that has to do with the result of election particularly in Irepo local government is no longer about him.
“Before now, the only time PDP won all elections in Irepo was in 2007 and 2011. Check the records, PDP has never won any serious election in Irepo local government. When the late Hafis Tijani lost house of assembly seat in PDP, he went ahead to Labour Party which explained why Hon. Afeez Jimoh won before he (Onaara) later defected to the PDP. Check 2007 and 2011. 2019, I wasn’t in government preparatory to ascendancy of Governor ‘Seyi Makinde. We won only 4 wards. Ward 1, 2, 8, 4. We lost that election by a negligible 400 votes because the present deputy governor, Chief Bayo Lawal, was given N1.25 million which they didn’t use for the election and they shared three days after election and today he’s the number two man which suggests that he did not even believe in the agenda of a ‘Seyi Makinde becoming the governor of Oyo State. Now, a lot of imposition happened. Fine. There wasn’t any quarrel about that. The party was doing fine and there wasn’t any quarrel until his appointment and later his candidature as the deputy governor. He started to operate the way he’s used to operate.
“We were looking at each other. So we didn’t have any reason to do anything against Governor ‘Seyi Makinde. Unfortunately, we lost. Anyone with proof that we didn’t vote Governor ‘Seyi Makinde should come out. At unit 1, ward 1, that was where I voted, I am the third person to cast my vote. Let there be a trace of ballot papers and they should check the thumb print whether at INEC or anywhere. Carry it in your news that Santana said they should go and trace ballot paper number three of governorship at unit 1, ward 1 on election day and should check the thumbprint. Whatever they are saying is balderdash. It’s just for them, we lost the election. They believe we must call a dog a bad name to hang it
“I am a Seyi Makinde’s man, any day, anytime. Check the record.
“And I told them at governor’s house. I spoke with Otunba Seye Famojuro on the eve of election on friday. I said PDP was going to increase in votes progressively on Saturday but I will be surprised if we win that election. I am on ground here beyond the deputy governor and I know exactly what was going to happen. On the day of election, Barr Bayo Lawal called me and said Santana, how is Kisi today and I said Kisi will provide much more votes for PDP but he said, is it more votes or we are going to win. I said I will be surprised if PDP wins that election. But that the efforts of our people will swing the election towards close to win but I will be surprised If we win. We went to Ibadan, we collected N15,150,000. The deputy governor was there. Amodu was there. Ijabah was there. Ogede was there, party chairman was there. My humble self was there. When they came home, they didn’t even call me not to talk of giving a naira to me but because Governor ‘Seyi Makindle has always been my man since 2014, I didn’t have any reason not to work for him.
“They appointed party agents for the first and second polls. If it is the party agents that failed them, I don’t know. There is no single person that is of Santana political group that was involved in party agents’ selection. Even Governor ‘Seyi Makinde that was on ballot, I messaged him. They saw everything, even voice message. As far as I am concerned, I fear nothing. We were upright in everything that happened. The party was formidable. There wasn’t any problem. But when he became deputy governor, he said he want to be combining his job with council affairs. All the palliatives were handed over to council chairmen but the deputy governor said he wa going to be in charge. I didn’t fight them. It was between Governor ‘Seyi Makinde and Senator Teslim Folarin Tessy. I didn’t not rule out that I told Governor ‘Seyi Makinde that he offended me. It is on my phone, the message. I said I am angry with you but I will work for you. I said it to him. It’s fact and figure.
“There are areas we were supposed to be compensated. It’s akin to Peter’s futile effort at catching the fish. When Jesus told him to continue in his efforts, he declined but later he acceded to Jesus’ advice and got lucky. If we didn’t benefit in the first term, what about the second term?,” he explained.
