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•Why I refused to join any camp in Ogun State APC leadership battle —Bukola Olopade
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former Ogun State Commissioner and current Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon Bukola Olopade, has dismissed any possibility of the duo of the candidates of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, and his Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) counterpart, Peter Obi, posing any form of threat to the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in next year’s presidential election.
Speaking to Sunday Sun in Abuja, Olopade argued that while President Tinubu and his All Progressives Congress (APC) have recorded landmark achievements to attract votes from Nigerians across the country, both Obi and Atiku lack the political structure to reach out to the voters in many parts of the country.
Olopade equally defended why he refused to join the political battle in his home State, Ogun, and why he didn’t attempt to aspire for any political position in the coming dispensation, lamenting that though he feels satisfied and fulfilled seeing the cultists he rehabilitated, the fact that the brutal fight almost damaged his reputation still hurts him.
Having paid the price in politics, why did you not contest for any political position in Ogun, your state, in this dispensation?
Politics should not always be about contesting elections. Politics should genuinely be about engagement with the people, being able to do things that would be impactful, either socially, financially, economically, or politically, for the people.
Politics is also about networking. It is also about service. If you are called upon, then you serve. I am already here as the NSC DG. I have been called upon by the president, who is the leader of our party, and I am serving. Really and truly, the question would have been: has APC, as a party, done well for me? Absolutely.
Have they given me opportunity and a platform to impact on the people? Absolutely. Have they provided the opportunity for me to be politically recognised? Absolutely. So why do I need to contest an election?
Comparing your previous appointments and the position you currently occupy now, how do you draw a comparative analysis between them?
They are basically the same. I was Commissioner for Youth and Sports in Ogun State. But I am glad you asked me this question because whenever I am asked what my life’s accomplishment is, I have always said that people think it is sports, but in terms of public service, it is not sports alone.
I believe that my life accomplishment was my work in Ogun State with young people. How I was able to use my office and the support of the governor, Gbenga Daniel, to take young men, especially, out of the streets. We had a menace then, an epidemic of cult killings before I was made the Special Adviser and later Commissioner after one year.
The fact that it allowed me to go into the communities, the campuses, and take young boys who were able to know only one way of life, and that is to be rough, rascally, and violent. That is all they knew, and that was why the opportunity was given to me to show them an alternative to life.
My mission was targeted at showing them that they can become productive, be educated, and above all, can be breadwinners. Whenever I look back at that work, where I was able to take off over 500 to 600 young men and women from the streets, and whenever I see those people today being productive everywhere I go in Ogun State and in Nigeria, I see products of that strategy that we deployed then.
It gives me gratification even more than winning a medal in sports because, think of it, you walk on the streets of Abeokuta and see a Lexus car parked next to you, and the owner is a young boy that society had lost hope in, who is now a Director in the Civil Service, a job you got for him when you were in position; you go feeling grateful to God.
And when you look around at people like Seyi Johnson, who were tough men who today are productive to society, and are now employers of labour, you will be satisfied. They are married, have children, and are contributing positively to society. That gives me more joy and more sense of accomplishment than anything I have done in sports.
With your rich background in politics, why did you remain silent and operate secretly when the politics in your state, Ogun, was very hot?
You are very right, but I can tell you that it was intentional. If you remember, when I was a Commissioner, I was at the forefront, and I took a lot of risks. And rather than being praised for taking the kids off the streets, I was branded with all sorts of names.
It took divine intervention and many people in the media to clean up my name from all sorts of lies they labelled me. By the time I went back to the private sector after government appointments, my friends in the media started projecting me the way I should be projected, and that automatically changed the opinion of people who painted me wrongly because of politics.
I called it politics because Ibikunle Amosu, my former governor, is my friend and brother today, but he was among those people who spoke negatively about my name. Today we are all in the same boat, in the same party, doing the same thing. And clearly, they knew that they lied about me because they wanted to win elections.
I believe now that so much can be achieved and so much can be done from the background, because it has become so tough for me to even have arguments with people. People panic whenever I have banter with them. At one time, I asked the men around me whether I really put fear and terror in people.
And one of them said that he gets terrified when I speak. That worries me so much. So, because of that, I avoid any situation that will lead me into arguments because people will misunderstand and say, Ozogula has started again. It is good you ask because a few days ago somebody asked me how I work harmoniously with Shehu Dikko and why the relationship has been so cordial.
But I replied that if there is any quarrel between Shehu Dikko and me, nobody will say Dikko is wrong. They will conclude that I am the one at fault. So, I avoid quarrels so that they don’t give me a name that is not mine. But on a more serious note, at times it is always good to operate from the background and just let things work for you.
What do you think is giving President Tinubu hope for re-election despite the impression from many that he has not done much, even though you will defend his achievements in the area of sports?
Aside from sports, you know the pride with which I speak about the NELFUND, which ensured that poor, indigent children are able to access funds to go to school. Do you know what that means?
If you are close to the grassroots and understand what it means to be able to access funds through the Federal Government to pay tuition, to feed, and to acquire knowledge that will lead to prosperity, do you know what that means? That was the brainchild of Mr. President.
Do you know what it means to the people of the South East, who before the coming of President Tinubu, could not go out on Mondays and most likely Fridays because groups of all sorts were imposing laws on the people in the zone?
Do you know what it means to them that today they are free of all those encumbrances? Do you know what it means that we can beat our chests and say that we are going to Enugu for the National Sports Festival because Enugu is secured?
Do you know what it means that we can go watch Enyimba FC in Aba, because Aba is secure? You know what it means that we can go partying in Owerri because Owerri is peaceful? It means a lot to them. The leadership of Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, the father of this nation, has been able to provide for such security infrastructure that covers even at night.
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Do you know what it means to travel at night on River Niger, with that illuminated bridge? Do you know what it means that the Coastal Highway was able to even host a marathon race that showcased the whole nation to the outside world, or that you can drive unhindered straight from there to anywhere you want to go to?
Do you also know what it means to construct express road from Badagry to Sokoto? A Senator confirmed on the floor that Birnin Kebbi road was being done. I can go on and on.
Do you know what it means that Morgan Stanley decided to open bank in Nigeria? That the financial infrastructure, the reforms by Mr. President are working, and that the Naira is stable. If at this stage anybody saw what Mr. President has been doing across different industries, then they need Mr. President’s glasses to see clearly.
The truth is, it is easy to say sport has done well under Mr. President, but I have also seen other aspects of human endeavours that are thriving in this country under Mr. President. What is leadership? it is about being decisive. When the President said that he would take out the fuel subsidy in his campaign, he did it on the first day he was sworn in. That is leadership.
When the President said it will bite, but it will be better, that was leadership. It is biting, but it is getting better. And everybody acknowledges the fact that we are living in a better country than the President met it in terms of security, in terms of socio-political impacts, and even in terms of living in Abuja.
One young woman told me recently that Abuja is a safe space. And that she now comes back from England every time just to have fun because Abuja is a safe space.
If he has done well as you enumerated, why are there still serious hostility and fear over his re-election?
Where are you getting that impression from? Without trying to be cocky or arrogant, my SA on Strategy told me recently that it is game over. If I may ask, where is the opposition coming from, and what are the structural things in place for them to even be a strong opposition?
We have the most structured political party today in Africa, the APC, and we have a system. It is not rocket science. We have 31 governors, more Senators, more House of Representatives members, more local government chairmen. They cannot come up with that noise that we are rigged out.
They will be beaten because they do not have the grassroots structure to reach all the voters across the country, as we have in the APC under the leadership of Asiwaju.
We have the political infrastructure to win elections. But we are not only going to win elections just because we are an organised party, but we are also going to win the elections because we have report cards on our score sheets to show Nigerians that we have performed.
But they can get better, and we are working towards them getting better, and as of today, we have performed, and we have done well. You know what it means that a young Chichi Nwoko can leave America to come and establish a multi-billion Naira business here, and the business is thriving.
She is among the people who left their comfort zone in the United States to establish businesses in Nigeria. Chichi Nwoko is an Igbo woman. She is going to vote for Asiwaju Tinubu.
Deep down, what are your fears for 2027?
Honestly, I don’t have any iota of fear about the possibility of Mr. President winning the election. I am very confident. I have never been this confident that in Ogun State, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola aka Yayi will also be the next governor. I know that Dapo Abiodun will be the next senator in my senatorial district, while Ojugbele Olusola will be the Senator in Ogun West.
There is no doubt, and I am so confident that the victory is going to be a landslide. And when Delta State promised to bring two million votes, that is a challenge to Ogun State.
Watch the number of organic, honest votes we are going to bring. I don’t have any fear. Do I look like I have fear? I am a man who is joyous, having a great time celebrating the fact that I am under the tutelage of a great leader, President Tinubu, in a great party, the APC.
Are you dismissing the threats from Obi and Atiku against President Tinubu?
I don’t like picturing other people’s names when I campaign or when I talk politics. Am I dismissing the threat from Obi and Atiku? Is Obi or Atiku positioning themselves genuinely to say they can win? Is it not a joke that they somehow believe they can win?
But as I said, I don’t picture people’s names. However, one thing I am sure of is that the lesson you and I teach our children is that when you work hard, you get results. The only party putting in the hard work today in this country is the APC, and will get the positive results.
Why is your party, the APC, deploying intimidation and bullying on the opposition?
There is no intimidation, but political strategy. Politics is politics, and if you do not have the political structure and resources to reach the people, how is that our fault? We have the political structure to reach the people through billboards, radio, TV adverts.
When did that become something against the law? As for making billboards very expensive for the opposition party candidates, I can only say that I don’t pray for your children to be poor. If it is expensive and we are able to muster the financial muscle to do it, how is that our fault?
The truth of the matter is that from the opposition to some opposition media, all I see, in terms of a pushback towards the ruling party, my party, are things that are really and truly so ridiculous.
Let us appraise all the things I have enumerated: the economic reform, NELFUND, Morgan Stanley coming to Nigeria, what we have done with sports, a very convenient atmosphere for business to thrive, peace in the South East, peace in the North West, and North Central.
You keep saying that an average Nigerian is suffering, but don’t forget that the best thing we enjoy in this country is community support. We are a great country, and shame on those who try to embarrass this country in the name of politics by saying Nigerians are suffering.
We live in a country where many people are gaining from a communal support system. This government has created an economic system that percolates right down to the grassroots. We should be proud of that. United Kingdom and the United States do not have that communal support, where your neighbour can wake up and give money and support to neighbours to feed them, or create jobs for them.
We have a situation where someone can say, clean my compound and get paid. All I am saying is that we do not live in a utopian environment. Nobody does in the UK or US; we should be joyous and be proud of the fact that we live in a great country where we can always be our brother’s keeper.
How hot is your seat as the DG of NSC?
The question should have been: how terrified are those who want to make it hot for me? How terrified are they when they see me coming? The seat is very cold, as if I should put a heater under it. I am having a great time. I am enjoying this job, and I am working with great clients like Chichi Nwoko, a lot of great athletes across the country, and it has been an amazing thing that I have made people internationally and locally. It is a great job. It is not a hot seat at all.
