Hon. Leke Abejide, the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the last Kogi State governorship election, came fourth out of the 18 candidates that contested. He scored 21, 819 votes across all 21 LGAs in the state. Shola Adebola Samuel, Abejide’s chief spokesperson and chief of staff, tells FIJ’s Opeyemi Lawal why his principal lost the election.

Who is Hon. Leke Abejide?

Leke Abejide is an elder in the church and tycoon specialised in marine businesses. He rose from a very low and humble level to an international level. He has a record of being a successful businessman and philanthropist, a lover of education and community development-oriented individual. He has so many traditional titles in appreciation of his contributions to different communities.

He is the Asiwaju of Alu. He is the Asiwaju of the whole of the Yagba Federal Constituency. He is the Asiwaju of the Yoruba community in Kano State and the Mayegun of the Egbe Kingdom, among many other titles. All these are rewards of his contribution to all these communities. In politics, he started his career with the PDP, where he vied for the House of Reps in the primary and was denied because of the intrigues.

He returned to his business and re-strategised, only to return with a party that was strange and unknown to residents of Kogi State at that time. This was about five years ago. This was a party that people ruled out. But because of his philanthropic gestures and his community development orientation, he won his election as a member of the House of Reps in the first term and spent four years. He was the chairman of customs and excise in that assembly.

In this assembly again, he defeated two candidates and returned to the House of Reps. He is still the chairman of the House Committee on Custom and Excise. He still retains that committee position.

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You said he was in the House of Reps while aspiring to be Governor of Kogi State. Would he have held the positions concurrently?

The constitution wouldn’t have allowed that. If he won the governorship seat, he would automatically resign from the National Assembly assignment, but now he has returned to base.

I am sure you knew your party was not popular before the election. Why did you forge ahead?

First, I need to correct the impression that the party is not popular. That is not correct. The party you think is not popular is boasting of two members in the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

The one you will assume to be popular in the state, which is the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has only one member in the House of Reps as it is today, except that one Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan just won as a senator.

Besides that, our expectation was very high in the sense that we were the alternative to all the other parties. People perceived ADC as a credible party, especially the candidate who is noted for being a masses-oriented individual considering his antecedents in his federal constituency.

We had high expectations that the masses would liberate themselves once and for all, but the results turned out otherwise.

So, as the spokesperson of Hon. Leke Abejide, how would you describe the last Kogi election?

I think this is in the corridor of the nation now. We all know that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) performed woefully in that conduct.

We were thinking they would improve but, honestly speaking, they didn’t improve at all. You can imagine what happened in the central senatorial district of Kogi State, where the results sheets were prepared and written even before accreditation. Right in the morning, you would find result sheets with electoral officers all over. And then you look at the turnout. The electoral act is very clear that if there is over-voting anywhere, you cancel votes from the place.

There was over-voting across three or four local government areas, and INEC agreed to still go ahead to announce the results. Honestly, it is not the best.

I must say there are credits to INEC because they prepared very well. However, it was at the level of voting on the final day that they messed themselves up. Materials got to everywhere at the right time. But they really messed up.

What do you think happened between the deployment of materials and the time voters got them?

It is INEC alone that can explain that. They are the only ones. It is between them, the materials and the officials they deployed. But all we know is that they were part of the manipulation.

If Hon. Leke is as popular as you claim, why did he come fourth?

This is part of what I am saying. There were manipulations here and there and the electorate was not prepared for the type of philosophy the party is meant for. We didn’t buy votes. Others were buying votes with clothes and money.

They prefer that to listening to someone who is prepared to liberate them from the circles of oppression they find themselves. It is not a question of whether he is popular or not popular. It did not translate to the vote he got. It’s just that they were not ready. The level of poverty has still made people not to be able to reason very well.

What was your candidate going to do differently for the people of Kogi?

He had so many plans for them. One of them was autonomy for local governments. If they have financial autonomy, the people, whom the local government is closer to, will feel the impact of governance. The issue of percentage and payment of salaries would have disappeared. He was also particular about industrial development and tourism.

None of the other candidates had a blueprint or manifesto. He is the only one with the plan to turn Kogi State around in four years.

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You said the people didn’t get what you were trying to bring. Does that not show there was a gap between what you were communicating and what the people were perceiving? Why not bridge the gap?

No matter what I preach to you, acceptance is yours. No matter how it may be. Acceptance is yours. Implementation is yours. On our part, we have educated the people enough and the masses have seen what he has done for them in the federal constituency. It is now left for them to key into it. They didn’t. You can’t follow anybody to the voting booth. So, the decision was theirs. They have chosen to be in this system for the next eight years.

We were the only party that went around the 21 LGAs, the only one who went straight to the grassroots to have the feeling of the masses, to know their problems and set the ground running.

Are you saying that the election was manipulated?

I’m not prepared to say it was manipulated, but it was not free and fair.

What marred the election?

Vote buying. Manipulation of result sheets. Violence was minimal, at 20 percent.

Are you going to challenge the results in court?

It is a waste of time and resources. We are just not going as a matter of principle. However, we have gained the experience as we now know more and have learnt more about Kogi State. And we will be more prepared the next time we step out. We do not count it as waste.

Who bankrolled Honourable Leke’s campaigns?

Every kobo invested in this election was from his personal resources. There was no fund from the party or anywhere else. Our budget for the election was minimum, as provided by the law within the electoral act.

Were you at any point attacked during the election?

No. We are the light now. When light comes, darkness will disappear. The Son of God cannot be attacked by evil forces. We went in clean and returned clean.

Why do you truly think Honorable Leke stood a chance in the election?

His antecedents in his federal constituency made him stand out among the other candidates, and his experience, his background made people believe in him. Including his capacity.

Looking at his opponents, why didn’t he stop?

When you say somebody is popular, popular on which grounds? I don’t want to land in personality issues. But you have not been to Kogi State. In the national news, you know one of the candidates is very popular. Popular on what ground? You’ll find out on what ground they say ‘popular’. And when you talk about Governor Yahya Bello equally backing his candidate, what do you expect? What do you expect? Backing him is even a liability in Kogi State. So, I don’t want to be dragged into those things. If you say Hon. Leke is not popular from your own point of view, it means you are not following national trends, especially the green chamber’s politics. If you follow it very well, you will know that he’s popular in his own way, in a constructive way, very constructive way. If you look at the motions and bills sponsored by him, you know that these are things, bills that can turn around the economy of the nation. And he is popular at that point, not tearing of clothes or boxing on the floor of the House that will attract national attention.

Any lessons learnt? And what would you do better?

We have seen the poverty-ridden society of Kogi State, and when next we are coming, because we have seen how it is being done in the state now, we will equally join them. Politics is a local one and when next we are coming, we will address the politics in a more local manner. The way they have done, we will join them in doing it too to have a better result.