By Cosmas Omegho
Hon. Oghene Ego is an ex-member of the House of Representatives, who represented Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, Lagos State on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) between 2015 and 2023.
But lately, he switched over to the All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing Abubakar Atiku and the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyeson Wike, of tearing the party apart. Among other things, he said PDP had become toxic and could no longer win elections, adding that it is better he stands with his enemy, the APC, than staying with the PDP. Excerpts:
Lately, in the social media, they said Hon. Oghene Ego has quit the PDP and joined the APC, is that true?
Oh yes! Sometimes when you take a decision, outsiders will say hey, why did you do that? It is a bad one. But if you come close to see why someone made a certain decision, you will probably find out that they did not make mistake after all. Some have continued to ask me, why did you go to APC? But I think right now, APC is the place to be. So, mine is the right decision. Not just because APC is in power, but because the PDP where I belonged is now balkanised at all levels. And this is why. When Atiku jettisoned the decision that the Presidency should be zoned to the South and chose to run against Nyesom Wike, Peter Obi and others, he knew it will come to this. We could see what happened. While the primaries were underway, Aminu Tambuwal withdrew after the presidential candidates had addressed the voters. That was to enable Atiku win; he urged all of us to vote for Atiku; that was in bad fate. When that happened, Wike was very, very unhappy. But there was no time for the protest. Of course, Atiku won the primaries and the rest is now history. Today, that struggle is tearing the party apart. Up till now, Atiku believes that Wike controls the party at the national level – the National Chairman, the National Secretary, among others, are all Wike’s men. And that is why they have not been able to suspend him till now. Now, we need to note that the Atiku action set up a chain of reactions that have destroyed the party at the national level. With what is happening now, that party certainly cannot win elections in 2027. It is difficult. In Lagos State, if you are a key follower of the politics there, you will realise that a man who wants to win an election, or support anyone or activities to win an election, cannot be in PDP. The party in Lagos State is replete with destructive quarrels, and animosity. No one is talking about winning elections because they are tearing themselves apart over who should contest elections. Our political father, Chief Bode George, and Jandor Adediran, who contested for governorship, are quarrelling and cannot settle. Doherty, another major leader, who controls some local governments, and George, cannot see eye to eye. There were allegations that some members of the party did not vote for the governorship candidate in the last elections. Doherty is saying that the governorship candidate did not give him his due honours. But I don’t know how true that is. At the LGAs, they are even worse. There is so much animosity there; those who lost at the primaries decided to vote against those who won. Parties are not run like that. When you lose in the primaries, you work for those who won. With that, I sat down and called on my supporters and said ‘what do you think? Can we still win election with PDP?’ Everybody said it was not possible. And so, the LGA chairman, secretary, financial secretary, treasurer, women leader and the ex-officio members, all said ‘let’s move over to APC.’ It was the people’s decision and we are now in APC.
Wike you mentioned is still in PDP and working for APC, do you see any contradiction there?
Well, I don’t know. All I can say is that he is still in PDP. He has not told me that he is now in APC. He and Atiku are the major forces controlling the PDP. I’m not here to say Wike is right or wrong, or Atiku is right or wrong. What I’m saying is that everything you see now is a fallout of the last presidential primaries, which has provoked a reaction now destroying the party and making it unsettled. That is all I can say because I have left the party.
But were those issues enough for you to jump ship? Why didn’t you stay to fix things?
They are encompassing. To tell you the truth, I was not in a position to correct anything – especially what was happening at the party’s national level and even at the state level. Even at the local level where I was supposed to be controlling things, there was so much treachery.
So, the way out was to leave?
Oh yes! Sometimes when you are in a party – like at the LGA level, and those you are working with are treacherous and betraying you, you take heed and move. Like our people say, ‘if people you love betray you, you go to your enemy.’ So, you can see the position. APC was once my enemy. But now, I have moved to my enemy because staying with my enemy is by far better that staying with PDP.
But you were a two-term Reps member courtesy of PDP, why then do you tag the party your enemy?
I won’t say PDP was not good to me. PDP was good to me and I appreciate it. That was why while I was in Abuja, I tried as much as possible to bring reconciliation. At the state level, I tried my level best. At the council level, I equally did my best. But those efforts did not yield anything. It was like saying oh, this car was good to you; you have used it for a long time to achieve what you wanted. But if it gets to a point that the car is so damaged, and you cannot use it, would you continue to ride it? Certainly, one day, it will break down on the road. So, if you can no longer use the car, the best thing to do is to leave it and move on. Moving on and change are the best things in life.
You lost the last election, what went wrong? Was that also part of the reason you dumped PDP?
I lost to a party that was much more popular and stoutly on ground. That was possible because of the ground swell of support for my friend, Peter Obi. He was so popular in Amuwo Odofin that even if I had a billion naira at that time to give people at the grassroots asking for their votes, even all the leaders of the people told their people to vote for me, the people would have said a definite no. Everybody was focused on voting for Obi and his Labour Party. Even our leader, President Bola Tinubu lost in my local government and even the state. Look at the result he got. Obi swept the poll. He showed strength. It was such an avalanche, which no one could survive. Unfortunately, I was at the receiving end and could not survive it. So I congratulated those who won. On the second day of the election, some came to me and said: ‘go to court. They rigged the election here and there.’ But I said no. The election was done and dusted. In fact, when I saw Obi at the protocol section of the airport, he said: “Mr Oghene, how did the election go? I said Your Excellency, you defeated me! He said oh, he did not know, but I replied you are a nice man. Your popularity was so overwhelming that it swept me away. The march for Obi started in my local government. About two weeks to the elections, I was on the top floor of one of the buildings. And when I looked down and saw people marching in Amuwo Odofin for Obi, I was stuck; it was massive. It was like one million people were on the street. When I saw that, I asked myself, ‘is it possible to make it?’ I’m happy that I fought against one million lions together in one man – Obi.
Your journey into politics is humble or is it any different?
Oh yes! I came to Lagos in 1975, after leaving secondary school; I worked for Ibru Organisation, Union Bank, Royal Exchange Assurance and then African Prudential Assurance where I got promoted to Marketing Manager, Non-Life Businesses. That uplifted me. Now, in 1986, it was election time in when IBB announced that there would be elections in all the councils. That period, I was going to work on day; in my usual habit, I stopped over at Mile 2 to look at the newspapers. Then I saw that entry for councillorship and council elections that was closing the next day. The forms were being sold in Badagry council which then stretched from Badagry to Ajegunle. So, I abandoned my work and drove straight to Badagry. The man I met at the council had a good laugh when I told him I wanted to purchase form. He said ‘since you are from Delta State, you have to go over there and pick a form and contest.’ But I told him that what I read was that if one had stayed at a place for three years, or was from the area, they could contest for election. The man tried to discourage me, but I didn’t budge. He then said ‘how do you think you can win election in Awori area of Amuwo Odofin?’ But I persisted. I picked the form and went ahead to win the election. It was later cancelled and repeated in 1987, yet I won. Then, I represented Ward B2 – Kirikiri, Agboju, Ijegun up to Satelite town in the present Amuwo Odofin. A year later, Ojo LGA was created out of Badagry. At Ojo, I was made the Supervisory Councilor, Finance and Economic Planning. When IBB created National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) a year later, I plugged into NRC. I became the Publicity Secretary of NRC in Lagos State after a three-day election at the National Theatre. It was shocking. I was discouraged from participating, but I persisted. I worked closely with the late Sir Michael Otedola who won the election as governor. He made me a member of LASACO Insurance Plc board. It was a grade one board at that time. After that, we had GDM and UNCP and other parties – the five leprous hands as they were called. I contested for House of Reps on the platform of GDM; when the result came I lost by 60 votes to my opponent in UNCP. But within a week the military coup came again; the elections were cancelled. The winners were not sworn in. In 1998 when the country returned to civilian democracy, I joined AD, which was the party of President Tinubu. We worked closely together. I was his agent in Amuwo Odofin. He marginally defeated the late Funsho Williams. Years later, Senator Ogunlewe, Senator Obanikoro, Chief Femi Davis who was my council chairman then in Badagry while I was a councilor came to me and said ‘let’s go over to the PDP.’ It took me some time to move. After a lot of thinking – and because of someone like Obanikoro with who I was in NRC at that time, we moved over to PDP. Then in 2015, I decided to contest for elections to represent Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency and won. Let me say that I’m grateful to PDP as a party and all those who helped me to win. But the PDP I worked with at that time in Lagos State was willing to win elections. Now, it is not so. That is why I decided that I could no longer continue with it. It is unfortunate. But that is my personal decision.
You won elections as non-indigene in Lagos, but now, the narrative is changing. What’s you take on that?
Let’s not say if you are a non-indigene you cannot win an election. A non-indigene can win an election. Sometimes we over magnify the issue. Even as an indigene, you have to work very hard to win an election. If you are a non-indigene, you can still win an election, but you have to work extremely hard. I remember during my campaigns, I went to some areas and they told me ‘no we won’t accept you because you are not an indigene.’ Some of these things were said by the older people. But sometimes when the older persons said so, their sons or daughters always came over to me just before I went to the next door and said ‘don’t worry I will vote you.’
…But that was then; we are drawing from what went down during the last elections in Lagos State.
Like I said, if you are not an indigene you can still win an election, but you have to work harder. When I was contesting for elections, even some non-indigenes discouraged me. Some asked me ‘why do you want to waste your money?’ But I persevered. I can tell you that Lagos State is a place that welcomes non-indigenes to vote and be voted for. If you are a non-indigene contesting for election in Lagos State, I can tell you go ahead, but you have to work very hard. You have to look at the structure of the party. You have to look at the leadership of the party. You have to lobby them. If you work hard, you will overcome. Some people take politics like war. Sometimes, people get killed. Killing people during an election is not the right way to go. However, when it happens in Lagos, we seem to over emphasise it.But that is not to discourage anybody. I advise that whatever party anyone belongs to, they should go ahead and contest for elections. They still have a chance of winning if they do their home work well.
What would you say are your legacy projects in Amuwo Odofin you represented for eight years?
Let’s talk about the Ijegun road up to Satellite Town where you have the tank farms. It was a small road, but bad. I moved a motion on the floor of the House urging that the tank farms should be relocated because the area was a residential one. There used to be trailers all over the place messing up the area. I urged that the road be expanded and dualised if they didn’t want the tank farms to go. I insisted that the owners of the trailers should remove them. Today, that road is done; it must have cost over N10 billion. The NNPC, Lagos State government and every other stakeholders came during the public hearing. I also moved a motion for the Old Ojo Road to be done. A good part of the road is done today. It is not 100 per cent done, but a lot has been done on some sections. I also contributed to the bill establishing the South East Development Commission. We couldn’t complete work on it in the 8th Assembly. Now, it is done. I sponsored the bill for the setting up of the Nigerian Institute of Transport. As a lawmaker, I was also active in oversight functions. I worked at committees, contributing to the success of bills. I was in the NDDC, and Niger Delta ministry committees where we helped to ensure that 20,000 participants at the Amnesty Programme were paid. We put pressure on the Presidency to pay them to ensure peace in the Niger Delta region. As lawmaker, you cannot award any contract. Those of us from Lagos State, at that time, all we had was N33 million as constituency project. It was not enough to do any road. So, all that could help us do was to give empowerment – motor bikes, tricycles etc, to our constituents. At some point, I gave out 120 sewing machines and trained the beneficiaries for six months. Many are still using their machines to make a living today. I built five classrooms in the LGA. I built a library at Ijegun Primary School; it is a block of six classrooms. At Zi Primary School at Agboju, I build a block of classrooms and another block of classrooms at the school near it. At St Lucas Kirikiri, I built a block of classrooms there. FESTAC Grammar School, is now computerised. The work was finished not too long ago; I have not even commissioned it. Those are some of my major landmarks.
What is next for Hon. Oghene; are you contesting next elections on APC platform?
When I joined the APC with my supporters, I told them that I was not coming to contest for elections or for positions. I told them I was endeared by the renewed agenda of Mr. President. That is what is bringing me to APC. I want to work with Mr. President. He is a bold man. There are certain things he has done that have endeared him to me. During the electioneering, some presidential candidates said they would remove subsidy of fuel. But Tinubu came and removed it immediately. Yes, it is causing some hardship, but let’s not forget that it is temporary. Any good decision must cause some hardship, but there will be long term enjoyment. What he did, all former presidents could not do. Before Tinubu came, 80 per cent of the country’s revenue was used to take care of the subsidy. But you will praise him for stopping that. By removing the subsidy, he saved a lot of money for projects. Look at the foreign exchange matter. People were collecting dollar at N200, some at N400, while others who were not so privileged were collecting dollar at N700. But he said that shouldn’t be. Everybody should get dollars on equal terms. Of course, the naira has depreciated. But everybody is getting dollar now on equal terms. That has brought some discomfort, but don’t forget the man has been there for just a year. He needs time to consolidate.
Are you still in touch with Amuwo Odofin grassroots or you have moved on too?
I’m still with my people. When I moved over to APC, I called them and the various groups and said: ‘Let’s move over to APC because politics, they say, is local.” We needed to work with the APC for greater relevance. We needed to have collaboration; we need to build trust. For me, that is the best way to go.