Otunba (Dr) Paul Akintelure Is The Best Candidate For the next Ondo State Governorship seat — Hon. Mukaila Musa
Hon. Chief Mukaila Musa Ajakaiye was a former member of the Ondo State House of Assembly in the 8th Assembly. He was The Minority Leader and also The House Committee Chairman on Works.
He is presently The Director General (DG) of Otunba Dr. Paul Akintelure’s Campaign Committee for governorship, 2024. He spoke with The Focus Magazine publisher, Ayodele Ologunola on many issues. Excerpt.
_Can you share your experience when you were in the Ondo State House of Assembly and your contributions to this nascent democracy_
When we got elected into the Ondo State House of Assembly, in 2015, we were five APC members and twenty-one PDP members, a total of twenty-six in numbers representing the twenty-six constituencies in the state.
We carried out our legislative duty as it was supposed to be, outside of the two political party’s structure syndrome. Our major task then was to serve and represent the good people of Ondo State.
We carried out our legislative functions in line with the Constitution. However, there are interference from party supremacy on both the sides of the PDP and the APC with a lot of caucuses in both parties as of that time. Those of us from the APC were being treated like orphans in the sense that we didn’t get the support of the party that was in the government.
There were several issues in the house that we did not participate in due to the majority dominance of the PDP membership in the House.
We were able to survive in the first two years of Dr. Mimiko-led administration before the emergency of the Aketi-led government in February 2017, which is the APC government.
The five of us who were in the APC did our best for him to have a soft landing by making sure that he got the majority of members of the House to support him. *”If not”,* his activities in the Executive arm of governance could have been frustrated by the twenty-one members of the PDP in the House.
But due to our goodwill, fourteen PDP legislators decamped to APC to create a soft landing for Governor Akeredolu.
The whole of Ondo State knew that then, when we impeached the then First Female speaker of The Ondo State House of Assembly, in the person of Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele. To be fear to man and God, she was a nice woman then.
But we have to carry out the act in the interest of our party, which is APC. And in the interest of the new Governor Akeredolu, as it would allow him to carry out the duties of his elective functions without any obstacle.
After we impeached the speaker, we made sure we frustrated the passage of bills that Governor Mimiko intended to pass in order to create handicaps or barriers from allowing Aketi to carry out his functions.
The Ondo State governorship timetable is different from the timetable of the electoral timetable of Nigeria because we have a two-year setback.
From 2015 to 2017, we spent two years with Governor Mimiko and the remaining two years of our tenure, with Governor Akeredolu from 2017 to 2019.
The 8th Assembly till today, still ranked as one of the best Assembly in Ondo State. The subsequent ones had not been able to beat the landmarks and success that we recorded. We recorded a lot of success during our tenure.
_What are some of the achievements that you recorded in the 8th Assembly_
Like I said to you, no single person can claim that he or she had achieved anything in isolation. The only thing you can say is that there are some noise makers amongst us. They are people who will bring out things that are not relevant just to make noise to the general public. Our tenure was devoid of that. We look at collective issues, we make presentations in respect of policies that will benefit the general people of Ondo State.
I’m an Engineer by profession and I was also the chairman of the House Committee on Works. I did a lot of presentations about the function of my committee. The flood issue in the Oshinle area of Akure, was brought up to the limelight of the Governor through the Office of The Speaker.
In addition, some of the bad roads in my constituency, in Owo, Ipele, Emure, and Uso, I documented them and presented it to both Governor Mimiko and when Governor Akeredolu took over as Governor. I am happy that most of those roads then have been attended to by Governor Akeredolu’s administration.
The road in Ipele, where we have the customary court has been done. The road linking into Uso Town which is opposite the Uso Grammar school has been done. The one linking the Palace besides the first petrol station when getting to Uso Town from Owo has also been done.
I constructed some boreholes in my constituency from my own personal allowance and my salary.
Even before I got elected into the Ondo State House of Assembly in 2015. Most of the Traditional Rulers in my Constituency and Elders and Leaders of my Party APC can attest to that fact.
In the first two years of Governor Mimiko’s administration from 2015 to 2017, we the Assembly Members, were not given any constituency project allowance to carry out meanfull projects in our constituents, despite our several presentation and submissions. We didn’t get any approval.
Also in the two years of Governor Akeredolu from 2017 to 2019, we did not executed any project or given an approval to execute any project. Despite that money for such projects were approved in the budget every year. No single penny was released to us. All these facts can be obtained from the Ministry of Community Development and the Ministry of Finance.
Nothing was given to us during our four years in the assembly. All of the little things we did were from our salary and our allowances.
Before I left the office, I went round some of the 142, units in my constituency, and I gave one hundred thousand each to our women in some of the unit to allow them to start a little selfhelp businesses.
_The governorship election in Ondo State is around the corner and a lot of aspirants have shown interest. With the current situation in the state, our people are looking for a credible candidate to bring the state out from the mess it found itself. What type of leader do you want for the state come 2025_
To be sincere with ourselves, we are our own problems and that is the truth. *”To be sincere, politics is as detrimental as being deceitfull”.
Ondo State citizens should by now identify where they are, where they want to be, and how they get to where they want to be. The only way to achieve this is by turning down the decitfull politician. *We listened to more lies than the truth. We accept lies and dishonesty than to accept truth and sincerity of purpose.*
If we study the past regime in Ondo, the late Governor Agagu era, the Governor Mimiko era, and the current Governor Akeredolu era, we should be able to draw a line and tell ourselves what we want. Do we want somebody who will give us water to drink *everyday* for survival or do we want somebody who will bring us a bottle of wine *today* when he or she wants something from us?
And as soon as they get what they want from us, we won’t be able to gain access or see them again till another 4years.
The choice is for us to decide. But to be honest, APC is a progressive party. We should look for people who have a progressive culture in their minds, not people who are
not progressive in mind, or those who will take one step now to get elected into a lesser office and wants to use the lesser office as a stepping stone to get the bigger one without completing the tenure of the lesser office that he or she had already gotten.
As such persons are desirous of contesting for the Governorship race. Why? Such a person deprived those who could have gotten what they have now.
You got something, not up to two months or a year, and you’re planning to be a Governor. People with such type of characters are looking for their political gains. He or she would never be sincere to the general public. We have such type of a person in my community.
He was elected into the House of Representatives to represent the Ose- Owo federal constituency, but within three months, he said he wanted to be the Governor of Ondo State. The money he could have used for projects in Owo and Ose federal constituency, was used for campaign and he lost the gubernatorial primaries then.
Such people can never be politically relevant again, because people will see and perceive him as someone who is not serious.
I am also using this medium to advise those who had been elected as Members of the House of Representatives or Senate in the southern senatorial district of Ondo State, to take the constitutional responsibility that they have been voted for and leave the open space of the governorship race to other southern senatorial district aspirants who have supported them in getting the house of Representatives and Senate tickets.
Though, according to the consensus arrangement in Ondo State, we have this rotational governorship within the three senatorial districts, which is not enshrined in the constitution. But a consensus agreement in Ondo State has been followed ever since.
Other aspirants from both Ondo north or central senatorial districts may show interest because it had been done before. But, we believe that it’s the turn of the South senatorial district to produce the next Governor of Ondo State.
_As the Director General of Dr. Paul Akintelure’s Campaign Committee for Governor come 2024, what do you see in him_
I got closer to Otunba Dr. Paul Akintelure, in the year 2012 when he was nominated to run as a Deputy Governorship Candidate to Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) in the year 2012 .
Otunba Dr. Paul Akintelure, is a humble person apart from his religious inclination. He is an appreciable man. A man who will tell you the truth from the bottom of his heart. He is a man who has achieved everything that God has destined for mankind to achieve in life. He is a man who is ready to lift others up. He is a man who has served his community. He is a man who believes that survival is the key to existence. He is a man who has used his profession to save lives, because his medical Profession dictates precision in whatever he is doing, as lives must be saved first, before cash can be demanded. All these attributes he has embedded in his dealings with humanity. This is all of my opinion about him.
I was one of those who told him that he has to run for the Governorship seat of Ondo State this time around. He had attempted the senate in the past. What we are after now is what is on the table.
He could have run as a Deputy Governorship Candidate with Dr. Segun Abraham in 2016, if Dr. Segun Abraham had won the primary then. Just to let you know that President Bola Tinubu still believes in his (Dr Paul Akintelure’s) charismatic qualities.
Though he must also prove his acceptability by the people of this our Sunshine Ondo State and that’s the perspective at which people like me are soliciting for your loyal support in respect of his aspiration and ambition to become the next Governor of Ondo State by voting massively for him in both the APC Primaries and the General Elections in 2024 .
Dr. Paul Akintelure was once a personal physician to him and I have never seen anybody that has served Tinubu that, he Tinubu has not rewarded.
Dr. Paul’s humility with perseverance and his commitment to humanity, to me, and from the sincerity of my heart, is the best candidate of our party APC, to occupy the number one seat of governor in Ondo State come February 2025.
I would appeal to the conscience of every citizenry in Ondo State, irrespective of their political affiliations, to canvas and vote for Dr. Paul Akintelure to become our next governor in Ondo State.
_How are the leaders in APC going to settle the crisis in the party before the governorship election. It seems that members are not pleased with what is going on right now_
You are right with that question. I just want to express my own experience. I’m one of the aggrieved ones. And I am a progressive.
If I had listened to people, I could have left APC when we had the crisis in the Ondo State House of Assembly primaries in 2018. A lot of the parties called me to come and be their candidate for the House of Assembly, but I declined. I told them that am a progressive and there is nothing I forgot in the House of Assembly that I would have want to go back to take. Everyone knows that, except for the fact that I purchased a nomination form then, I don’t paste any posters. It was after I had purchased and filled out the forms, that i realized that they were going to stab me from the back by ganging up against me due to my sincere commitment to my constituent. Because they, the self acclaimed cabals in governance uptill now, perceives deceitfulness as loyalty.
A lot of people said I should go and talk to Governor Akeredolu to consider me for the primaries. But I said that, its “over my dead body”.
It is me that we going to beg him after all the support I gave him since 2012? With my hard earned resources both physically and financially? No. I can do that.
From 2018 after the primaries till, I left the House of Assembly in 2019, I did not go to Governor Akerodolu for any help and people thought I was fighting him, but I told them that I only stayed out of the trouble of being hurt.
Though, later in 2020, I visited him personally after much persuasion from Rev. Agboola and Mrs Adewole. And on the day of my visit to him at the Government House, I meet Engr. Raimi Aminu and Mr. Dare Aragbaiye with him (Governor Akeredolu) that night.
We spoke at length and he said to me that the only thing he felt that he had done wrong, was not picking my call on the day of the primaries when I called him.
I also said to him that the love and respect that I had for him was more than the harm that he had done to me and that I would have even loved him more if he had called me in the first instance to tell me that he wanted to replace me by not letting me go back to the House of Assembly.
I would have respected him, than for him to ridicule me within the general public. We both then put the past behind us and I campaigned again vigorously for him for his second term.
But he never, as usual fulfilled any of the promises that he made to me. Though we never got in touch personally, after he got his second term ticket.
While in the House of Assembly as a member, I use to tell my colleagues that, i was not there because of the party but I was in the House of Assembly for the realization of the ambition of Mr. Akeredolu (SAN) to become the Governor of Ondo State.
Am saying it categorically and people who knew both of us very well then can bear me witness. I worked for him and spent my resources on him in 2012. I campaigned for him as if am the one who was going to be the governor of Ondo State.
All my colleagues knew that. I will say this today and I wanted it to be quoted.
” when we went on exile, during the impeachment of Rt. Hon Jumoke Akindele, everybody was trying to settle our issues amicably but we said no. With the taught that Governor Akeredolu would treat us better, but he disappointed us.
Even Governor Mimiko then tried to reach out to us but we rejected his pleading. He made a lot of calls but we refused to listen to him.
One of the conditions that made the fourteen PDP legislators decamped to the APC was that they needed money. You can not decamp with words of mouth alone. You have to talk to your people at the grassroots. The Governor to be then, in the person of Governor Akeredolu, promised each legislator an amount of money but he failed to honour his words”.
The second condition is that our second term tickets is going to be automatic. They agreed to give it to us, but when it got to the time, we were denied. The primary was never held. They went to one corner of the governor’s premises to write the name of their favorite candidate.
In my constituency, they used my junior brother against me. Like I said earlier, the only time I called to speak with the Governor was on the day of the primary election, but he didn’t pick up my call. Though I concluded then in my mind that, there’s no good thing he could do for me again, so I stayed away from him as at then.
When we impeached the Speaker of the House in person of Rt. Hon. David Oloyelogun, because we believed then that he was the one who sold us out. I was called by some elders in Owo that I should withdraw from the impeachment against the speaker and promised to give me back the return ticket. But I said that, if they don’t give others as promised in our negotiation before the Governor took over office in 2017, I, Hon. Mukaila Ayinde Musa will not take the offer.
The present representative of Ondo State at the Federal Character Commission was the one who spoke to me with the message from Governor Akeredolu. He is the living witness. I said to him that my colleagues will perceive me as a betrayal because I was the one of those, inclusive of Hon. Arowele Samuel, who told them to decamp with the thinking that he Governor Akeredolu would do better than Governor Mimiko for us.
The only person who went back to take the ticket was Rt. Hon. Fatai Aburumaku, from Akoko North East. He lost the general election and was later compensated with commissionership position.
_What is your word of advice for APC in Ondo State as the governorship election is around the corner_
My words of advice to them is to shun money politics. They should vote according to their conscience. If you allow someone to buy your conscience and the person can not win the general election, it will be another suffering for another eight years.
Let us all do it according to our conscience. Let us not lose Ondo State. Don’t let us bring someone who doesn’t know where the shoes is pinching us. Let us elect ones of us who have been with us, who is progressive-minded and whom we can approach. Someone who has been weathering the storm with us. That is the only way we can all benefit from the next Governance in Ondo State.
Presently, party members are in disarray. Elders do not get anything from the party. Party leaders don’t get anything from the party. The exco does not get anything.
I can remember when they were fighting themselves to become an Exco member. Today, everyone was is in the same class of being abandoned. They are hungry and have nothing to eat.
I usually say that no person from Ondo Town would speak badly of Governor Mimiko, because he created an avenue for them.
Ondo Town has four institutions. The capacity of an institution is fifteen thousand by international standard. Fifteen thousand multiplied by four is sixth thousand. There is no way a student will not spend a minimum of five hundred thousand in a year. If you multiplied five hundred thousand by sixty thousand students, that will give you a total of N30billion that would be revolving in Ondo town for life. This is the kind of economic planning idea that is supposed to be in the minds of anyone who is desirous of aspiring to govern Ondo State, not someone whose idea is only to distribute two tins of rice. Spaghetti, indome, etc.
Teach us how to fish not to give us fish.
We don’t need okada as empowerment. Give us farm implement. Let people farm. The greatest problem of farmers today is that they don’t have money to pay for labour as their crops will take a minimum of three months, six months, or nine months before they can harvest them. Some of our wasted bush areas is supposed to be cleared for our farmers for free so that they can plant what is needs to be planted throughout their planting seasons.
