Date: 2015-04-30

The embattled Director General (DG) of the Labour Party governorship campaign organisation in the just concluded guber election, Hon. Ayo Idowu in this interview with Tope Sunday and Abdulrasheed Akogun (National Pilot) , debunked the allegation of betrayal levelled against, while also shedding light on what transpired. Excerpts ...

‘I don’t trust non-politicians because their naivety will affect the party’

Omotosho relied on OPC and billboards to win elecyions

Ayo Idowu is the former Director-General of Mike Omotosho campaign  outfit

There is an allegation that you sold out Dr. Mike Omotosho by conniving with the APC at the just concluded guber election (cuts in)

There is no iota of truth in the allegation, he was only looking for a scapegoat to hang his electoral failure on; there is nothing farther from the truth than this. There was nothing I did with the APC without Omotosho’s consent and approval, even before he joined the Labour Party, we were already in talks with the APC leadership.

When he joined Labour Party, we continued the discussion at interval. Also, about two weeks to the election, he instructed me to approach the leadership of the APC and I did. We held a meeting where we were given three options, for him to step down as a candidate and support the APC candidate more so that we know that there was no structure on ground to win the election, Omotosho however was reluctant and relied on his personal goodwill.

Any experienced politician will know that Omotosho was not on ground, he neglected the party. Instead of oiling the party, he made use of his personal staffs for everything, he met the Labour Party executives once where he gave them N10,000 each. He didn’t meet the ward and local government chairmen throughout the electioneering period, and only six executives of the party were with him during the campaign, others stayed back because they accused him of not carrying them along.

He believed in taking some people from the Belgore camp, and also market women, where they were involved was a charade, riding through the town waving, giving N100 recharge card and distributing salt. As someone that has contested and won election in this state, I was a one time member of the Kwara state House of Assembly. I told him his goodwill will amount to nothing without formidable structures but he didn’t yield.

Most members of Labour Party were disenchanted and that was what culminated to his failure, coupled with his use of OPC members as party agents. I kicked against the use of OPC members as party agents, more so, since we had already compiled the list of party members which we planned to use as agents from all the local government areas. Suddenly, he travelled to Lagos and on getting back he said he met Fredrick Fasheun and that he cannot trust party members so he is using OPC in their stead, he said due to the general apathy against him he cannot trust them, he said some might be working for Engr. Amao and he cannot take chances with them. He therefore instructed us to open contact with the OPC at the state level which we did, and we calculated the number of agents we need which totalled 2500, unfortunately most of these agents were not on ground because of their inexperience, they did not understand the job, despite the fact that he sent some one he referred to as a consultant.

I told him spending millions on billboards cannot bring us votes, he engaged in media propaganda instead of working and carrying party members along in all local governments; take a look at the other parties, the ward executives were not well taken care of, Omotosho gave each ward N5000 and this made many people who were faithful to be disenchanted and this led them to vote for other parties in protest. So accusing me of betrayal is cheap blackmail, let them come out with facts to prove the allegation, let them tell the world on which platform I instructed party members and agents to vote other parties, he is just trying to satisfy his international donors that financed his campaign. We planned on embracing the leading party with his knowledge and full consent; we can prove this through the network provider, because he spoke on phone with the state governor, the leadership of the party and APC chairman in the state. So if he is accusing me of being a mole in the party, then he is a bigger mole, because we were both in the know about all that transpired.

It was in the media that you were beaten and stripped naked; what really transpired?

I was invited by Dr. Mike Omotosho to his private residence at No.17 Awolowo road off NNPC pipeline, GRA; on getting there, he confronted me with the woeful performance of the party asking me if I saw any OPC member  and said I no. He then called the OPC leader in the state, when the guy came, Omotosho and Johnson Kolawole confronted him of his non-performance then he (OPC leader) brought out results complaining that in some places, party members drove them away, that it is their job and not that of the OPC. At this point, Omotosho and Johnson Kolawole ordered his staffs to beat up the OPC leader and two of his members that came with him, they started beating them, I sat down and was looking at them because I know it was not right, even if they’ve offended him, there should be a civil way of settling it, they however shut the doors and descended on them.

Omotosho asked me to join them in beating them up and I said I could not do such, he replied by saying definitely I connived with the OPC members, and they descended on me too. I was beaten and my eyes were swollen and tuned red, I was in the hospital for two weeks, I have pictures to prove.

Comrade Johnson now said they need my pictures so they’ll send the pictures abroad and also upload it on social media, I was taken outside, stripped naked with only my pants on, they took pictures of me, locked me in a room and his aide took my phones, money, car keys and everything on me. I was incommunicado till around 10pm in the night. He now called some women who usually followed him around throughout the campaigns to come and make jest of me, he told them they should come and see the DG who defrauded the party by taking N20million from Bukola Saraki to sell out.

Around 10pm, Omotosho’s aide, Ope came in with a paper that I should write that I took N20million from Bukola Saraki and that I took money from OPC. I refused, saying even if they’ll kill me I’ll not write what I don’t know. He now called the Deputy Commissioner of Police that under Mike Omotosho Foundation he awarded a contract to me that I should dig borehole and I absconded with the money saying they’ve now captured me.

The DCP called SARS that they should come and arrest me, they were surprised that I will do such, it was when I asked what I did that they told me the allegation levelled against me, I couldn’t call or contact my family until 3pm the next day when I was released.

Also, instead of Omotosho to come and make statement the following day, he sent Onagun to come and make statement, but Onagun did not know anything about what Omotosho has done after which I was released by the police.

I have since sued them for defamation of character; what they did was against my freedom and fundamental human right, I was on admission at Orelope Hospital for two weeks after which I went to UCH to treat my eyes. I have slammed a suit of N50million on Mike Omtosho, though the case is yet to be assigned.

Mike Omotosho said the votes he recorded are not a true reflection of his acceptance, as the DG of his campaign how would you react?

I want to disagree with him, because I saw the failure coming a long time ago and I told him, you see when we distribute matches and salt to people they grumbled, I think Omotosho only wanted to be popular as he wasn’t a serious candidate from onset. I made him to realise that; I even considered leaving before the election but I had to consider my political future and I don’t want to be seen as someone that abandoned the fight, though I never envisaged it will be like this.

He was swindled by the same people that went to PDP and APC, they tricked him saying they wanted to vote for him, not knowing that they were the same people going round to meet all the political parties with the aim of taking money from them.

To me, I didn’t see any seriousness in what he did, when serious parties were mobilising ward members with millions, he was distributing salt and exercise books. Even his claim that it was the absence of agents that led to his abysmal outcome; you don’t even need agents to vote, he is simply trying to do a face saving method and someone to hang for his failure, his campaign and ambition wasn’t a serious one.

Were you at anytime given money to distribute to party members throughout the electioneering period?

He gave me N240,000 to distribute to the 24 party executives and I gave each of them N10,000, apart from that, all other expenses were handled by his private staffers ranging from printing of vests, souvenirs and all other things used for campaign. The other time he gave me money was when he wanted to pay the OPC members, I was the one who took the money there, I wanted to go with Kolawole Johnson but he said he was busy and it was in Omotosho’s presence so I went with his driver and I gave the N5million to the coordinator in the presence of the driver as I didn’t even come down from the car.

There was never anytime they complained that I didn’t deliver the money, Omotosho was only embarrassed by the result and he was looking for who to blame. The OPC members didn’t complain that I failed to deliver the money, the only time they said the money I gave them was not complete was after the election when they were beating them, so when they said the money I delivered was not complete, Omotosho requested for his money from me and I said though I don’t have up to the amount but they should give me a week within which I can sell some of my properties and give them the money, I however told the OPC guy named Moroof Olarewaju that he will do something for me since their association is a traditional one, he will have to swear that I didn’t give him the complete money, but Omotosho said no, that I should just bring the money and they descended on me immediately.

You see if I had wanted to deny receipt of the money I would have done that because my name wasn’t on the cheque but I will never do such because I have integrity, we withdrew the money and delivered it to them as I was sent. As soon as I’m okay enough, I will contact Dr. Fredrick Fasuen so he’ll call them and ask them to swear if truly I didn’t give them the complete money.

Omotosho’s political inexperience caused us a lot, his political naivety cost us so much; the APC didn’t know our strength, they were thinking because of the publicity and media hype we were on ground not knowing we were not, they approached us and he was carried away because of the deceit he was been fed with by those deceiving him. I have learnt never to trust non-politicians coming around when the election is around, because their political naivety will affect the collective ambition of the political party.

 

Interview of Onagun and Party Chair

Ayo idowu was a traitor

Following allegations levelled against the party by the former Director-General of Mike Omotosho failed gubernatorial bid, Ayo Idowu, chairman of the party, Comrade Babalola Johnson and State Secretary, who also served as Deputy-Governorship candidate, Comrade AbdulKareem AbdulMumini Onagun, stormed the Corporate Headquarters of National Pilot on Tuesday, where they reacted to issues raised by him. Head News and Head Politics, Tope Sunday and Mumini AbdulKareem were there.

Excerpts

Comrade Idowu has denied that he compromised on the issue of agents employed for the gubernatorial election, what is your take?

During the governorship and house of Assembly elections in the state, he (Ayo Idowu) was actually entrusted and given the sole assignment as far as the issue of party agents were concerned and mobilised with a whooping sum of N5m to make sure the agents do a perfect job. The money was given to him by Omotosho through the party.  But to our dismay, during the election, we saw a lot of things and people where calling us everywhere to ask for our agents, from local governments and the polling units. We were baffled because somebody of high integrity as the DG, who was one-time honourable member of the House of Assembly in the state, could be a traitor. Mike Omotosho has undoubtedly trusted him. Some of the party members also took part, we have supervisors in the 193 wards in the state, we had expected our agents to be in the over 2500 polling units across the 16 local councils in the state, we had party officials as coordinators and Ayo himself was in charge of Isin. This was on Thursday, barely two days before the governorship elections. Also, he was given all the tags for the agents numbering over 2500 because he was in charge of agents, supervisors and coordinators and their money where given to him. Up till now as I am talking, these people kept on calling either the chairman or my self asking for their stipends. I told them the DG was strictly assigned the job. On Sunday, after the election, Idowu called me, the chairman and some others party leaders, that we should go and meet our governorship candidate, I insisted that we should allow him to rest, he accused the agents of messing up the whole thing, it’s like his conscience was not at rest. He came and when we saw Dr Omotosho Mike, I felt very bad, because here is a man who single-handedly spent his own resources on the election and campaign throughout without any support or donation from anybody.

What amount are we looking at here?

Though it may be difficult as the Secretary of the party to say but it runs into millions. The billboards alone cost half a billion naira because we had them in the four corners of the state. Then souvenirs, stipends on campaigns to members of the party, the chairmen, women leaders, traditional and religious leaders among others, that was what made me cry when I saw him that Sunday. At the polling units, people that wanted to vote for us were asking for ‘Omo to sure’, who will ordinarily not be in the ballot papers but the symbol of Labour Party.

Where they not sensitised enough before the day?

There were but these are aged men and women, you know they still had problem of identification and people were giving them wrong sign of the party because our agents were not on ground and where they are, they actually compromised because they had been given special directive, maybe by Idowu. While discussing that Sunday, he was asked by Omotosho that he was given five million for the assignment but what happened, he now requested to call the man he employed for the job, one Maroof but Dr Mike said he had left everything to God almighty but he (Idowu) insisted. When Maroof came, he said he was given N3.5m and not N5m as claimed by Hon Ayo Idowu to mobilised agents after the two of them began to argue. He (Idowu) later said the balance of N1.5m was kept at home. We didn’t stop at that as a party, the chairman and I (Onagun) had to write a letter of complaint against him (Idowu), protesting to the Commissioner of Police in the state and informing him of what happened because we are a law abiding party. (A copy of the said letter was deposited with this medium). Even the 18 House of Assembly candidates under our party had their own agents but he (Idowu) was trusted as somebody that can do it. He failed woefully and he confessed that Sunday that N1.5m was in his house.

Hon Idowu had alleged that Dr Mike Omotosho through Dr Frederick Fasheun employed the services of OPC members to serve as polling agents on the election day, how do you react to this?

Honestly speaking, that is not within my knowledge and as the secretary, I think I should be aware as a member of the secretariat. He (Idowu) was the only person that we know and was assigned to make sure we get perfect agents for the election. The fact remains that our party members where used as supervisors and coordinators where he also served as coordinator in Isin. So how come you now say we do not involved our party members. The PRO of the party was in charge of Ekiti, the deputy chairman Kwara north was in charge of Moro Local Government as coordinator, deputy chairman, Kwara Central coordinated Ilorin West Local Government and the party treasurer was in charge of Irepodun Local Government, ditto to other state officers. So we involved party officers as either coordinators or supervisors and he is claiming that others came to do the job for the party.

But the Maroof was alleged to have confirmed that he was asked to mobilise...

(Cuts in) He was only called into the picture based on the issue of money, Idowu wanted to confirm that he gave Maroof N5m. I am telling you about all the fact we know on the issue of agent. We were maligned by the action of Idowu as far as the issue of agents were concerned.

But were these coordinators at the polling boost?

You know they don’t have a place to stay and the agents that were there in few places were working on instruction, maybe from Idowu, because they were not working with our own supporters who had to be asking about our candidate to cast their votes but they were disappointed because they were showed another party symbols. That was when we started receiving calls from almost everywhere and we directed them to call Idowu that he had been assigned to do the job. But several times, he kept on telling those calling to be patient that the agents will soon get there. Apart from the N5m given to him, the money to settle all these people were actually also given to him.

Idowu alleged that he was beaten, detained and stripped naked at Omotosho’s house, how would you react to this, especially when you said you were there?

When Idowu was being questioned about the funds and Maroof came, both of them agreed and went to a separate room to go and settle the matter...when they now came out, that was when they began to argue about the amount. The Maroof even said there was a time Omotosho gave him N50,000 as transport and Hon Idowu chased him to Olak Petrol Station to collect N10,000. I, as a person is not in the picture of whether he was beaten, it’s strange to us.

But there is a picture that had since gone viral on the net where Idowu was captured naked...

We were not aware of any fracas and that was why we had to report to police for him to be invited and say his own side of the story.

The chairman’s name was mentioned by Ayo Idowu as one of those present while he was been beaten      

It was another Johnson he was talking about who was present, you can find out from him.

Are you also aware that Hon Ayo Idowu and Omotosho had a deal with the APC members before the election?

We are not aware and he has said so in the interview he granted you

What is your reaction to his alleged N50m character defamation suit he said he has slammed on the party?

I will implore you to get across to Omotosho on this apart from the officials of the party and the DG to do some sort of balancing

Have the police acknowledged the receipt of your letter to the CP?

Yes, we have met the police and they told us the matter is ongoing

What next for Labour Party in the state?

We remain on ground in Kwara State; crisis is part of politics, which even the winning APC has now also been involved in as regards the issue of zoning. We are professional in politics and we have our jobs. Dr Mike Omotosho is a technocrat; he believes that politicians have failed to get it right since they have been doing it. We felt the electorates should see it from another angle and that is why we said we should now come and take it from another angle as technocrats in politics. We have lawyers, environmentalists, business men and women. The party has come to stay and we are not willing to join any other party.

What measures have you put in place to placate and bring back aggrieved members towards repositioning the party?

As long as we have a group or family, we will continue to have crisis and misunderstanding that will lead to understanding. The Labour Party is one that has another ideology different from other political parties and it will take some time for people to cue into it. We are one family and have strong believe that sooner or later, Nigerians will realise this is the right party because it incorporates all forms of workers. We want to pray for God to be with the government in power now and congratulate Governor Ahmed just as Dr Mike Omotosho has done. All we are saying is to appeal to him for good governance and fulfilment of campaign promises because we will all give account to God. So we have been brainstorming and our meetings do not end but a way of getting information and feedbacks. We have sent out reports to the national headquarters about the last exercise and how all our candidates fared. Despite the results, we have decided to go back to the electorates and fulfil the campaign promises we made. We will keep on reviewing our activities because we don’t like to lose even a member and you know 2017 for the local government election is around the corner before 2019 and we are not sleeping.