By Paul Ukpabio
Tunji
David is indeed leaving no stone unturned in his bid to win support for his
organization, ‘Ojudu Mass Movement (OMM),’ a Youth pressure group canvassing
for the gubernatorial candidacy of Senator Babafemi Ojudu, the current Senior
Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Matters.
An
economist and political activist who believes that Senator Babafemi Ojudu
should rule Ekiti State come 2018, Tunji Davids says Ojudu, a veteran
journalist and one of Nigeria’s leading anti-dictatorship journalist of the 80s
and 90s was the one who beat incumbent Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose to
clinch the Ekiti Central Senatorial zone seat which took him to the National
Assembly in Year 2011and fit to rule Ekiti state.
Tunji
says Ojudu is the leading candidate so far, and best for the job. He tells us
why and reveals more, on the state of Ekiti State today.
We
know you as an economist
Yes, I am an economist, a business man,
a farmer, a father and husband.
Why
did you start this movement and at what point did you decide that the movement
must come to be?
In answering your question, I will
refer you to Proverbs 29 vs. 2, which states that ‘when the righteous
are in authority the people rejoice, and you know the vice-versa. It is a
known fact that Ekiti state has fallen today into the hands of the
present government. This movement is borne out of my passion for my state and
my passion cannot be divorced from the person who can take us out of this
precarious state in the person of Senator BabafemiOjudu.
Is your organization a pressure group
or an interventionist mass movement?
We are both a pressure and
interventionist group. Ojudu Mass Movement (OMM) is a world movement of
Ekiti people to support the emergence and candidature of Senator Babafemi
Ojudu for the 2018 Ekiti Governorship election. As at today he is
most qualified to occupy the seat at Oke-Ayoba in Ado-Ekiti. He
is a man of integrity, a true son of Ekiti, a progressive to the core,
an Awoist, a man of great ideology, a man who has the interest and well-being
of his people at heart, a mobilizer, a strategist, an experienced private and
public servant and an astute politician. This is a man who has sacrificed a lot
for the interest of his state. He is the fear factor in Ekiti state
politics. OMM is predominantly a youth movement which is mobilizing
youths of Ekiti, home and abroad on the importance of making sure Babafemi
Ojudu is adopted or emerges as the most needed person to bring the state
out of the present dilemma it has found itself. This movement is
spearheaded by myself and a host of progressive youthful minds like Engineer
Femi Johnson, Olawale Omotoyinbo to mention a few of other
young Ekiti thinkers doing great things within and outside Nigeria.
A lot of people see Mr. Ojudu from the
point of view of a conservative, though, rational journalist who strayed into
politics. Do you think he is more than that?
I would rather call him a strategist
and not a conservative. On whether he strayed into politics? No! He was one of
those who fought for the return of democracy in Nigeria with respected
people like Barrister Femi Falana. He was arrested, tortured and
incarcerated for his belief in returning power to a democratically elected
President even after Chief (MKO) Abiola (Winner of June 12, 1993
election) was killed. Senator Ojudu as a political activist, journalist
and administrator is the man who has the right prescription and dose to be
administered to Ekiti state in the situation it has found itself today.
As the present special adviser to the president (President Muhammadu Buhari) on
political matters, his experience and connections cut across party lines. He is
a bridge builder, he may not be the kind of man that shares money indiscriminately
but he will teach you how to fish. I would rather be taught how to fish so I
can make more and also teach other people, than queue on the streets of Ekiti
and be handed crumbs like it’s done in the state today. He is a man that
I am privileged to have been with and I know what he is capable of doing. Senator
Ojudu will never promise you what he won’t do, even his enemies can attest
to this.
Do
you think Mr. Ojudu has a chance to become the Governor of Ekiti State with the
likes of ex-Governor Segun Oni and Mr. Kayode Fayemi who is trying to make a
comeback according to grapevine sources?
Asking this question is like asking a
student whose school fees has been paid and has written exams and passed and
another student who paid his school fees and failed and you are now asking the
student who passed “Are you sure you will be promoted to the
next class?”. Senator Babafemi Ojudu has paid his dues both in
Ekiti state and Nigerian politics. Mind you he is the only man who has
defeated the present governor of Ekiti state in an elective position. Engineer
Segun Oni is a wonderful man and Dr. Fayemi have both shown to the Ekiti
people what they can offer and you know you don’t have a second chance to make
a first impression. Ekiti needs radical and quick changes and the
injection of new ideas to its present economic downturn, high level of poverty,
and dehumanizing way of living they’ve been subjected to. That is what Senator
Babafemi Ojudu represents.
What
are the leadership benefits your candidate is bringing to Ekiti as Governor of
the state in 2018?
These
qualities are what I have mentioned earlier. His leadership qualities cannot be
overemphasized. He is not a man who practices politics of bitterness. He is a man whose focal point is to
make Ekiti state return to its glory of people who respect elders,
people who have dignity of labour, a people who are not beggars. You know
Ekiti state is agrarian in nature, with Ojudu in authority, Ekiti
state can be self-sufficient in yam, rice, and corn produce and even feed the
whole of South-West within the next 4 to 5 years. This is where we are taking
Ekiti State to with an excellent mind like Ojudu.
With
the present political situation in Ekiti State, do you think the state needs
deliverance?
The state does not only need
deliverance, the state needs rescue and restoration. Honestly Ekiti
state has taken the back seat in people oriented development projects in the
past 3 years. I am an Ekiti man and I know what my people are saying.
Salaries are not been paid for months and a governor is building a bridge that
leads to nowhere. What economic benefit is a bridge that costs billions of
naira to the people of Ekiti state when the people are hungry, parents
can’t pay school fees and so on? It is pathetic my brother. Our future and that
of our children is being mortgage. There must be salvation.
Ekiti
will appear to have become a state that has suddenly digressed from her
knowledge seeking posture to a food (stomach infrastructure) seeking conclave;
how is your candidate going to convince electorate to change their view and
search for the big picture (infrastructural & moral development)
You know this man has been a journalist
and you know journalists feels the pulse of the people, they are always on the
street. Senator (Babafemi) Ojudu does not only feel the pulse, he is
ready to administer the necessary medication. People talk about the grass
root, the fact that someone eats ponmo on the street of Ado-Ekiti or
buys amala and ewedu at Iya Oyo does not make you closer
to the grass root. Do you know how many times Senator Ojudu has eaten on
the streets? The fact that he doesn’t post it on social media doesn’t make him
less important to the people. It is so unfortunate that the psyche of our
people is being played on. You cannot give out what you don’t have. Senator
Ojudu is a man of high moral value. A state governor is not elected to
criticize, he is elected to govern. Mind me, criticism is not bad, in fact I
recommend criticism, but must be done constructively. Criticism is not abusing
elders and calling them names, wishing them dead.
What
is your campaign strategy to an electorate that is carried away with the
distribution of food by the present governor of the state in public glare and
before cameras?
As I said earlier, this is the pathetic
situation Ekiti state has found itself. I said it from the beginning
that Ekiti state was making a big mistake, here we are today, all
suffering for it. Please mention one factory that was setup in the last 2 years
that employs up to 50 people. And government officials would rather prefer to
line-up people who are old enough to be their father and mother and be feeding
them with peanuts and asking men to pose with a sachet of rice, tuber of yam,
pieces of cake meal and all that. It is quite pathetic and worrisome! It is
alarming.
Can you share some of your feed-back
from the Ekiti populace with us? Do you think they are tired of their present
condition and need a new leadership different from the populist posture of Mr.
Ayo Fayose?
Ekiti populace is not only tired, they have
given up hope on this government. A governor who has left his people and
decided to be commissioner for Buhari affairs, is that what he
was elected to do? Go to Kebbi state look at the way agriculture is
being used to develop the state, go to Cross-River, Lagos, even Ondo
nearby, their level of developments will baffle you. Most places I have been to
in Ekiti, they want salvation including party members of the present
government wants change. A state where the governor is the deputy, he is the
speaker; he is the procurement director and at the same time the contractor. I
speak as an angry Ekiti man. Anyone who says what is happening in Ekiti
is good, I wish same for them and I hope they would be glad if they are governed
the same way Ekiti is governed.
What
is your perception about restructuring? What does it mean to you?
The only language I understand about
restructuring is how my state would be salvaged and restructured from the
present state of inertia. Right now, Ekiti need to be restructured for
good governance and a better condition of living and Senator Babafemi
Ojudu is the answer. If we can restructure Ekiti and take the state
off her present state of indolence then everyone can see us and deduce the
proper meaning of restructuring. Believe me; we will deliver Ekiti from
the throes of ineptitude.
Do
you have a role model? Who is your role model in leadership and life style?
Jesus Christ is my role model. Life
should be about what you give to people and not what you take from them. A
singer said “Blessed is the hand that giveth to the world than taketh” (Lucky
Dube)
What
is your philosophy of life?
My philosophy of life is that “life
only makes meaning when you are able to impact others positively” it is not
about what you have but about how many lives you’ve impacted positively. Giving
is life and life is giving. That is how to rate a quality living. You
give good governance, quality and robust policy, better sense of living and
every other good thing that can make life more meaningful for the ordinary
man. Life is about giving and giving is about building and building is
about growth and development. Anything below that is slavery. My philosophy is
taken from that prism of thought.
Tell us about your family; are you
married? And lastly, give your words to the people of Ekiti State.
I am married with children. I want to
believe my people have learnt their lessons, that good governance is not about
eating amala, sharing spaghetti and cakes. Good governance is about
teaching the people how to fish and not giving people fish. And I want to use
this medium to appeal to all Ekiti youths, male and female, our elders in the interest of our dear state,
in the interest of our future and that of our children and generations yet
unborn, to come, let them ask questions and know the antecedents of those who
wish to govern them . Ekiti a gbea o!
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