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By Sunday Ani
A former House of Representatives member and governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Ekiti State, Bimbola Daramola has promised to restore the lost values of Ekiti people if elected governor of the state. He gave such values as strength, resilience, loyalty, hard work, education and learning.
What is your assessment of the PDP government in Ekiti State?
Remember that I was the Director-General of Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s Campaign Organisation, so whatever assessment I put up, no matter how frank, is going to be tainted to imply that it is because we lost election. But, the truth of the matter is that I am also a stakeholder in that state. I am Ekiti indigene and I lived the first 25 years of my life in Ekiti State and I have my concerns. So, in terms of tangible impact, I am not too sure that the past four years have vindicated the people who voted for Gov Ayodele Fayose.
Your people voted for stomach infrastructure; do you think they have fared well in that regard?
Well, we will let history makers decide whether Ekiti people actually voted for stomach infrastructure because today they are hungry. You need to reconcile the paradox of the promise of winning election or riding on the popularity, so to speak, of stomach infrastructure or a political philosophy that amplifies tokenism as against enduring political philosophy like the one that Dr. Fayemi did. So, today if eight months salaries have not been paid, you will now connect the dot to know that the stomach infrastructure as a philosophy has failed. Nobody needs to be told that civil servants have not been paid for eight months. Pensioners, who are languishing in death and wallowing in poverty now, need to undertake an introspection to determine whether the choice of Fayose was right in the first place.
I think there were a number of things that worked against us in that election. And I dare say that one of them was the fact that we had people who were beneficiaries of government, who decided to take a pound of flesh against the administration at the time. And of course, you cannot oversight the fact that the federal government at that time reigned in so heavily against us. They wanted to win at all costs. My 87-year-old man was beaten black and blue. Many people were sacked from their polling units. I came to the polling unit from the bush, having been beaten and harassed. So, an election is a process. When you see them count ballot papers and all of that, there are conditions precedents to that, and you should be generous enough to know that if the process leading to the end of a story is wrong, it is not likely that the result will be right.
Today, the state is gearing up for another election; away from the stomach infrastructure, what will the people consider in choosing who their next governor will be?
Track records; the only thing that validates your promises is your reputation. If you say you are going to do this, the only thing that will make people believe is the fact that you made such promise in the past and you fulfilled it.
Why did you say you are the best candidate?
I never said I am the best candidate. I like to shy away from superlative descriptions like that. I know that I am going to make a very good governor because I have a good reputation that is going for me. I was in the House of Reps for four years. I challenge you to go to my constituency today and see what I have done in four years and compare it, humbly speaking, with years of representation before me. Today, by the grace of God, we have a 32-bed hospital built by me; we have intervened in the lives of many people medically, educationally and in various other ways. There is no town or village in my constituency that does not have an imprimatur of Bimbo Daramola as a member of the House of Representatives. I am so upfront; I am in touch with them. The young people believe in me and the elderly can trust me; so what else are you looking for? As a parliamentarian, I was opening rural road network from my pocket.
But what got me interested in the race was when eight assembly members came to remind me that none of the 24 people that have indicated interest in the race thoroughly represents the ideals and ideas of our party, the APC. And I can humbly say to you that I have been an active member of APC for 12 years. I am a dye-in-the-wool progressive. I have never shifted my ground for one day. I have remained with the people. I am very tenacious. So, more than anything else, I have the will to work for my people.
If you are given the mandate, what would you like to do differently from the way they are being done at present?
The first challenge I am going to deal with is the perception that is very rife in town that Ekiti is a dead zone. Everybody feels that Ekiti is a rejected place, a desert and a place to be forgotten. That is the very first thing that I will need to break and that is why the mantra of my campaign is ‘restoring power, pristine identity.’ The same state that had the appellation of state that parades professors is now made jest of among the comity of states. I need to fix that. Another challenge we have in Ekiti is that we have been stereotyped and our minds are beginning to accept that stereotype to think that nothing good can come out of Ekiti State. So, the first thing I am going to do is to create value for Ekiti State. I will bring out the value that is inherent in that state and once I have the value restored, as a people who are strong, resilient, loyal, hardworking, educated and learned, wealth will be created.
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