Dr Nureni Adeniran is the current Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with YINKA OLADOYINBO and BUSOLA OWORU, he speaks about his ambition, the PDP and the agitation for power shift in the State. Excerpts:
WHY did you wait for the governor to give the go ahead before you declare your ambition?
That assumption is not entirely correct. A few months ago, I granted an interview on the state radio station where I was asked about my next political step after 2027. During that interview, I clearly stated that my next ambition is to contest for the governorship of the state. However, I also made it clear that I belong to a political party that currently has a sitting governor, and traditionally, the leader of the party in the state is the governor.
As a loyal party member, it is important to show respect for the party structure and leadership while pursuing one’s political aspirations. So, my position has always been open, but it is equally important to follow due process within the party and maintain respect for its leadership.
The determination of who gets the flag of the party for the next gubernatorial election lies within the purview of the party leadership headed by the state governor.
So, this is not the first time I’m saying it. I’ve said it before on the state radio. But it was widely circulated on the social media, I couldn’t go beyond that because we had to wait for the directive of our leader, and until when the governor has said, okay.
So, because you cannot say you want to contest an election under the party being led by the governor and you won’t even inform the governor. So, I started from him. I know quite a lot about some of my colleagues too that are interested in the same position would have also discussed with him. As a father of all, being the governor and the leader, he will not say “No” to anybody. Rather, what he told me, I’m sure maybe he would have told others that, no problem, so we can reach out to people but at the appropriate time, we will come together and make a final choice in the best interest of the party and the generality of the good people of Oyo State, and that was it.
The governor once said his successor would be between a particular age brackets, but you don’t fall within the bracket, how do you want to reconcile this?
I am very sure you know that statement that was credited to the governor. You cannot tell me that in the last one year, the governor has said anything like that again. It was true the governor said so. But the governor is also aware of the fact that that is not the constitutional provision because in the Electoral Act and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there is no age limit regarding the age at which you can no longer contest election. What we only have is the minimum age that one can aspire and for the governorship you have to reach the minimum age of 35. Although, the governor may be right, thinking that one needs to be agile.
But unfortunately, there are some of us that are over 60 that are very much agile, energetic, more than a 40 or 50 year old person. So, the governor may not be wrong to be thinking, because of the experience he had as a governor and for some of us that have been used to this political work, and you can see, he’ll have to be agile. And some of these 40, 50 years may not even be able to compete with us.
What are those things that you think stand you out, that make you to be the most qualified for the seat?
This is very clear, I’m a politician. I’m also an intellectual person. So first and foremost, this is not my first time. And the first time, which was in 2018, ahead of 2019 election, I actually got the ticket through the only known process embarked upon by the then ADC. And I was in the race, along with eminently qualified people of Oyo state. At the end of the exercise, I emerged among them. That also goes to confirm that even those people, by the time we put together, they have a lot of confidence in my capacity, my ability, and in my performance.
Two, in terms of politics, I’m highly experienced. I don’t think there is anybody among us now that can boast of more political experience than me, because I started contesting the election in 1987, when I contested for their councillorship in the defunct Ibadan Municipal Government. Since then, I’ve never been out of politics. And by 1998, I contested and won election as chairman of Ibadan Southwest Local Government. I scored the highest votes in the entire state across the local government. My vote was the highest in the entire state.
When you talk of having traversing the state, I was in the campaign train of Alhaji Lam Adeshina in 1999 and 2003, across the entire states. I was on the campaign train of Otunba Adebayo Alao Akala two times, in 2007 and 2011, across the entire Oyo state. I was on the campaign train of our revered monarch, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, when he was Accord Party’s candidate in 2015.
I was on the campaign train, now as a campaign leader, in 2019 and 2023, for Engineer Oluwaseyi Makinde. I was secretary of his campaign council in 2019. I was the presidential campaign coordinator for the state in that 2019. I was also the coalition agent for the party in 2019. So in 2023, I was the deputy director general for Seyi Makinde campaign council in 2023. And I was also the coalition agent.
So, when you now talk of politics, I have clear understanding of Oyo state. All the while I was following all these my leaders across different parts of the state, I was learning. I know what the challenges are. I know the ones that this present administration has been able to solve. And I know the ones that are remaining to be solved. One of my reasons for coming is to leverage on that and be able to provide solutions to some of these problems.
So, I believe I have that in terms of politics, then public experience in public governance. I was a local government chairman in Ibadan Southwest. The records are there.
I was one of the best local governments chairman at that time. So, a lot stands me out. And to the glory of God in terms of education, I am not pushovers. All the schools I attended are in Ibadan except when I attended College of Art and Science, Ile Ife and I went to law school in Lagos. All others are in Ibadan. My first degrees, from masters to my PhD and even my law degree are all from the University of Ibadan.
Don’t you think the crisis in the PDP is capable of working against it at the election?
Yes, a normal person will have to be bothered about the situation of our party.
But we believe and we are trusting God that this issue will be resolved. And with the latest moves here and there, it’s like there’s likely to be light at the end of the tunnel. Because our own side, which is the side of our leader, which to us, we know is the authentic and the real PDP, that really want the party to survive for the purpose of posting as a vibrant opposition to the ruling party. So, we conducted a convention.
The court said we shouldn’t, that we went ahead to conduct, so various court judgments have come out to invalidate the convention. But I’m sure by the time our principal will eventually brief us on development, we will get abreast of some of these, the real crux of the matter in terms of the level at which things are within the party. So, we believe the party can still survive, especially in Oyo state here, because of the good work of the governor and the kind of goodwill he enjoys among the electorates.
So, if they can allow the party to survive and field candidates for elections, I think we are still going to make it in Oyo state. I may not be able to say of other states, but I speak conveniently about the Oyo state. And what is happening in the PDP, well, is just for the time being, I’m sure those that are trying to pull the party down, they are trying to do that just to support the incumbent president to have second term, but unfortunately, they are overdoing it.
What’s your take on agitation for power shift in Oyo State this?
I am an Ibadan man, a democrat and a lawyer, one thing I know for real is that every person has every right to aspire to any position as prescribed by law.
There has not been anywhere where they said anybody from a particular part of the state should not aspire. Nobody’s saying that. But at the end of the day, parties settle for the most, in their own perception, credible, acceptable, sellable, and the candidate that they think can win an election. So I am not against those people agitating.
And the fact that they are agitating does not mean I should also jettison my own ambition. But if at the end of the day, my party in its wisdom decide that this is where it want to go, so be it. As a party person, we go for whatever the party leadership decide.
We support whatever they decide and work along with it.
So I am not against it, but it depends. But you also know that there is this arrangement that if the party chairman comes from one side, the governor should come from another.
Technically, the two major parties in the state for now have technically zoned their chairmanship to Oke Ogun side which automatically is an indirect indication that the governorship might likely come from Ibadan. So as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think there’s any issue about the issue of agitating for this, agitating for that but nobody should ask anyone to go and sit down. Powers are not served alacrity, you work for it and you earn it.