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• I have influenced electricity supply to numerous communities
From Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan
Accord governorship candidate in Oyo State, Oriyomi Hamzat, has declared that his party is fully prepared to challenge the major political parties in the 2027 governorship election, insisting that its growing grassroots structure and support among ordinary residents will lead to his victory. He also expressed confidence that the new electoral law would strengthen the power of voters and reduce the influence of political elites over election outcomes.
In this interview, he speaks on his plans for the state, if elected.
What is your opinion on the 2026 Osun State governorship election?
I have a conviction that this new electoral law has come to serve the masses, not the politicians. It is like the President Tinubu and the National Assembly want to return the power to elect to the people, restoring the power to choose to the masses. If it was like before, we all know what could have happened in Osun State. This time around, the era of hijacking ballot boxes, going to one small village and coming out with a very voluminous number of votes, that era has gone. I’m happy that the votes of the people of Osun State counted. They came out en masse to choose their leader and at the end of the day, the results vindicated Ademola Adeleke as a good leader.
Ademola Adeleke emerged as a candidate of the People Democratic Party, but we all know what happened to PDP and he crossed to Accord Party.
There are speculations that you didn’t play a vital role in his reelection. What would you say about this?
It is not a new thing. People will try to downplay my roles because of the political influence that we have in Oyo State. I did my best and the person that emerged knows I did my best. I am known to be a media personality, and whatever help I want to offer to any political aspirant or candidate will come from that angle. I am a professional broadcaster and my media experience played out there. The people of Osun State know that I carried all my machinery to Osun State.
For the first time in the history of a radio station, I covered the 30 local governments of Osun State at the same time. And I gave accurate reports of both regularities and irregularities. I served as a lamp, a light for the people to know what was going on where they were not opportune to know without the media.
I exposed a lot of things. I made them realise that the role of the media in elections cannot be overlooked. At the end of the day, I pasted my results before INEC pasted their own. Anybody can go and check, it was 100 per cent accurate. So, we supported Adeleke as if we were supporting ourselves. If today Adeleke had lost, these people would not have been saying that. They would be saying, can you see your Accord? That Accord cannot hold water. They would have been saying can Oriyomi do anything? But today, Adeleke has won and they said Oriyomi did not play any role. Well, Adeleke knows. And the people of Osun know. Even the APC knows that this guy, Oriyomi, has to be reckoned with in the electoral battle.
So, what are the chances of Accord in Oyo State?
The Accord Party, All Progressives Congress and Allied People Movement have the same chances. There is no superiority. We are all political parties. It is the masses that will determine the outcome. If the masses choose Oriyomi Hamzat, that means they know what they are doing. If they don’t choose Oriyomi Hamzat, that means they are not ready. It’s not a fight. Because Oriyomi has been part of them, they can reach him anytime. Before coming into politics, they know what he can do and what he cannot do. So, if they choose a stranger over their own, who am I to question them? But I’m very sure the people of Oyo State are very wise, intelligent. Even if you call them illiterate, they know the difference between right and wrong. So, even if they say the elite have not embraced Oriyomi Hamzat, I know how the elite appreciate me and how they discuss with me underground. In 2027, by God’s grace, we are going to emerge as the governor of Oyo State. Adeleke is the first elected governor under Accord. And Oriyomi Hamzat will be the second.
Does Accord have the party structure or will solely rely on grassroots connections?
First, let me differentiate between grassroots connections and party structure. What politicians refer to as party structure is somebody that can tell you he will pull 1,000 votes for you. And you go and relax, saying, Baba is there. At the end of the day, even if Baba pulls 200 out of the 1,000 he promised, you cannot do anything for Baba. Baba remains a politician. He remains a stakeholder that you reckon with. If another person comes tomorrow, you will go to Baba again. We have so many leaders that cannot tell their immediate family members where to vote and they will listen to them. And they are party leaders. Before I joined Accord, the party had no structure in Oyo State. I could not give them one per cent of votes. You know why? Oyo State Accord merged with PDP. When I got to Accord, the Accord chairman was serving under Governor Seyi Makinde as a local government secretary. So when the chairman is serving under another government, you should know that the party is no more on ground. And we have so many supervisory councillors that were serving under Seyi Makinde as well. So he has absorbed them because during the election, they have an agreement that they will work for him. If Accord works for Seyi Makinde, he will absorb them and give them some positions. Even the national leader of Accord in Oyo State, the national secretary of Accord, Chief Mrs. Adebukola Ajaja, is a member of Seyi Makinde’s advisory council. So the party was not on ground. But the name is still there, that we have a party called Accord in Oyo State. And we have some people that can identify with the party. We have the national secretary, chairman, state secretary, and some other people. Accord is known for negotiation. So they refer to themselves as members of the party because when it was time for negotiation, they would show up and get paid. What it means to have political structure is for the party to have a presence in all polling units, wards, and local governments of the state. Today, Accord is very well represented in all 6,000-plus polling units in Oyo State. That is what we call structure. Structure is that your votes should be monitored in all polling units. You understand? Because if your vote is not being monitored, that means anything can happen to your vote. APC and APM know that the Accord Party is well represented everywhere. It’s beyond me. It is God’s dream. And that is why my coming into politics is not a thing of man. It’s a thing of God. So, I don’t need to drag anything with anybody. I just need to play my game the way I’m directed by God. And the results will definitely come. I’m not desperate to be a governor. But we are on ground, we have structure.
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You have mentioned God a number of times. Please give us an insight on this as it relates to leadership.
God gives everything. I am a Muslim. Let me go by the way of my faith. He puts one angel in charge of rain, one in charge of taking our lives. That is how He gives them their assignments. He sends some prophets to the world. We have among them Moses, Ibrahim and Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But there is something God does not send anybody. God is the head of everything and leader in-charge. If anybody wants to be in charge of anything in this life, God does not give that job to anybody. He does it himself. He is the one that appoints kings. He is the one that appoints all the leaders. And in the Quran, God says, ‘I am the one that chooses your leader. I am the one that removes it. Anybody I put as a leader will be that particular leader”.
So when it is time for Him, He does not have a programme being written by a human being. If this time around, this is how He wants it to work, who are you to challenge him? Lamidi Adesina never contested and never won any election. The first election he won was the governorship election. Seyi Makinde has contested for so many elections. Had it been he knew that God wanted to make him the governor for Oyo State, he would not have contested for senator. So, coming out for the first time, contesting and winning is not a bad thing. Also, coming out so many times and losing elections is not a bad thing. It is God’s plan. And you know nothing can happen without God’s approval. So, I am winning this election by God’s grace. I am not a desperate candidate. I will not kill, I will not bite, I will not beat, I will not fight, I will not do anything against God’s wishes in my campaign. I will just tell people, this is only a man’s act. Many of you have been clamouring for me, asking for me to come into politics. Now I present myself before you. Make your choice. These are my programmes. Make your choice. And I will leave.
So, how do you plan to cover all the 351 wards in Oyo State as campaigns start in September?
I made a promise and I am going to fulfill it. My two feet will step into all the 351 wards we have in Oyo State before the election. I am not sending people there. I will go. I will see what their roads look like, the condition of their roads. I will see the water they are drinking. I will see their needs in the different 351 wards. I will be there. I have a presence in all the 351 wards; they are the ones that will host me. We have planned everything. My campaign is different from every other conventional politician’s campaign. You know why? I am not a politician. I am one of the masses. I am one of the grassroots. I was born and bred here. I had my primary, secondary and tertiary education in Oyo, and I have my company here. So, I belong to them. That’s why you don’t see me going out with police or one special security. I can drive myself. I can go anywhere because they are my security. They are the ones that want me. I love them and they love me back. So, I am covered and I will cover every ward before the election.
How would you improve rural electrification?
There was a day I asked one of my boys for some clips of what I have done. He reminded me that I had told them that we should not keep the video clips since I was not going into politics. If I knew I would be coming today and ask for people’s vote, I would have a very voluminous archive, where I can bring out so many things I have done for the masses. But for me, I want God to judge me. Do you know how many communities I have influenced the electricity supply into them? How many communities have used my money to buy transformers, run the cable for them to have electricity? This was even before Seyi Makinde emerged. Now, that’s number one. I have a serious plan for electricity, because a lot of things can be done easily if you have stable electricity. If it is before Baba Tinubu, I might not be able to say this, because there was no approval for the state governors to venture into that. But now, it is being approved. We are targeting Ikere Gorge Dam to facilitate our electricity. But recently, I learned the federal government has approved it to provide electricity for the southwestern part of the country. It is in Oyo State. Even if it is going to work for the whole of the Southwest,that means it has to start here. We are going to partner with those companies. We are bringing 24 hours electricity back to Oyo State. I mean every part of Oyo State, but it will come in phases, whatever it takes us. By coming into politics, I’m bringing our people in the Diaspora back to the state. I’m bringing people, those that belong to Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti states. I’m bringing them back to Oyo State because Oyo State is different from every other state in the southwest. Oyo State belongs to every Yoruba race, because it is the political headquarters of the southwest. So if Oyo State is better in terms of electricity, a lot of things will come. Other developments will follow. You could remember that Twitter was supposed to come to Nigeria. It was cancelled and taken to Ghana because of electricity. So you can imagine a lot of chances and opportunities that we have lost because of the level of our electricity. So I’m working on that. We are going to take it. You will see our manifesto very soon. When our manifesto comes out, I know many people will say, it’s not possible, you cannot do it. So let them keep saying it and we’ll keep working. I
What will your government do to protect the natural resources in the state from foreigners who are coming in to exploit it to their own advantage, to the detriment of our people here?
You want to be sure if I’m not going to use executive power to take away the people of Oyo State’s mineral resources. I will not do that. Let me leave it like that. I will not do that. I will do the right thing. I will not do that because I’m not coming to enrich myself. I want to serve God through the people of Oyo State. So I’m not going to do that.
What would you do about local government’s autonomy?
I will use local governments to develop the state. That’s what we discussed before. I was telling my people about the media, my media appearance to the masses when I emerged. And I told them that I am going to awaken the sleeping Epade Gomina (Meeting Governor) of that time. I’m going to do it in different ways. All local governments every month will have to welcome Dr. Oriyomi Hamzat, the executive governor of Oyo State in their local government. They will have the opportunity to ask me direct questions that have to do with their local governments. The commissioners and local government chairman will sit beside me. That is part of what I will do in my first 100 days. I will be going around the local governments to commission projects being done by the local government chairmen. I’m not going to commission local government projects done by the state government. It’s not proper.
The state government is given the responsibility under the Constitution to serve a supervisory role over the local government. Not that I will take over their responsibilities. Autonomy is sacrosanct. Nothing changes that in our own government.
What is your plan for civil servants?
I have a lot of plans for civil servants, but I have to say this now. Civil servants will collect their pension and gratuity three months to their retirement. You start the documentation of your gratuity. On your retirement day, you are collecting your gratuity. That is my first plan for civil servants. I will not leave your gratuity to the level of the money given to you will be losing value. I wouldn’t want you to stay at home to start praying. The civil servants under my watch will collect their gratuity on their day of retirement.
