Why Ekiti people‘ll reelect Oyebanji –Fakunle-Okieimen, Assembly member.
By Priscilla Ediare.
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| Hon. Barr. Iyabo Fakunle-Okieimen, member Ekiti State House of Assembly representing Ilejemeje Constituency |
Hon. Barr. Iyabo Fakunle-Okieimen, is a member of the seventh Ekiti State House of Assembly representing Ilejemeje Constituency.
In this interview, she spoke on the Assembly, current government in the state, the need for more women to hold positions of authority, among other issues.
Governor Biodun Oyebanji assumed office on October 16, 2022. What is your assessment of his administration of almost two years?
Well, all I can say is that we have been so blessed by the administration of His Excellency, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji. He has been a blessing to the people of Ekiti State. Because, Governor Biodun Oyebanji is a round peg in a round hole. He is running a welfarist government. It is a government of the people and for the people. He is somebody that is so passionate about the people of Ekiti State and their welfare. And he is doing it so roundly in the sense that there is hardly any part of life, any part of living that he has not impacted. There is something that I always say that I really love. Everyone knows that before now when a government comes on board, its main focus is on the party men and women. It is like all of us worked together to enthrone this government so you have to put them in positions. But this present governor did not do like that. As he is taking care of the party people, he is even focusing more on the non-party people because like I said earlier, he said that these people are in the majority. And you know it, everybody knows it. Those of us that are in partisan politics, our number is less than the people out there. The vegetable sellers, the tomato sellers, the meat sellers, the Okada riders, the bricklayers and all the people in the informal sector, they are in the majority. And you know politics is a game of numbers. If I am contesting for a position, let’s say when I contested to be a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, if I have 300 votes, and my opponent has 290, I am the winner. It is simple majority. So, these people are in the majority and they are the ones that are giving us their votes. And the governor is such a person that has conscience. He doesn’t want a use and dump situation, that, it is only when you need these people every four years that you send them something or remember them. He wants to take care of them all through his tenure. He has created platforms to accommodate these people. So, there are BAO progressive, BAO this, BAO that, artisan group, and so on. There are so many of these groups that have been formed. For instance, these days that palliatives have been coming from Abuja. They have been calling the leadership of these groups to meetings and they have been giving all of them their own. So, it is not only youth leaders, women leaders or party people that have benefitted. This governor carries everybody along. And everybody is on the same page with him and what he is doing is resonating with a lot of people. Even the people living with disabilities, they have never had it so good. He is bringing everybody on board and everybody is happy. I am happy that he is my governor. He is doing well.
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The 26 lawmakers of the current(7th) Assembly recently celebrated one year in office. How would you describe the relationship between the House and the government in the state?
The relationship has been very cordial. Another thing I want to say about this present governor is that he has been in the polity for long. He was the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, SSG. So, he knows all the intricacies of governance. Our current Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Adeoye Aribasoye, has also been in government for quite sometime. He is a lawyer and he understands the workings of the legislature. They have been like brothers before now. Almost everyone that is in the House has been in one position or the other. When this new governor was the Secretary to the State Government, he was part of the people that were there when I was chosen as Honorable Commissioner for Environment under former governor, Kayode Fayemi. And that is the beauty of continuity. It engenders seamless transition, it engenders development and growth, it prevents unnecessary rancour. And in a situation where a former governor from another party started a project, and a new governor will come and say no I am not continuing and is abandoned, in fact, the Sixth Assembly made a law against abandonment of projects. So, this is what we have gained in Ekiti State and it is really helping us. So, the relationship between the Seventh Assembly and the current governor has been a very cordial one. He understands us, we understand him, and we are on the same page. Though people might want to query that is it not supposed to be a check and balance thing. We are still doing our job. We are still checking and balancing. We are still checking the government. Even this morning, I still went for an overnight function in one of the government MDAs. So, we are doing our job but we can achieve progress without bitterness, we can achieve progress without rancour, we can achieve progress without unnecessary bickering and unnecessary witch-hunting. If somebody is doing well, let us say it. So, things are good between us.
Out of the 26 lawmakers in the Assembly, 24 are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the remaining two are from the Social Democratic Party (SDP). What can you say about these two lawmakers from the opposition party?
I can say they just answer opposition by words of mouth. When we are in this Assembly, we don’t operate on partisan or party level. We operate as the 7th Assembly, as one. In fact, those two gentlemen are just exceptional. They are good, they contribute and they have never given us any problem. And they still identify with their own party. In fact, let me shock you, very recently amongst us we set aside some of our salaries and entitlements to take care of our party (APC). So, we procured a bus, not a brand new one, we don’t have that kind of money. It was a Sienna bus, so we went to give it to our party. So, we thought these two people(SDP members) also contributed to purchase the bus because we do things together. So, we said it will not be fair. Do you know that with the permission of our party because we don’t do anything ultra vires, so we sought the permission of the leadership of our party that we think that it will not be fair for us to just limit our welfarist thing to APC alone. Please, we want to seek your permission to go to SDP office to also give them something, and they said we can go. And we packaged something not another bus, but some reasonable amount of money and we gave it to their party. All of us went there, even with the Speaker. They too joined us when we went to APC office, we too had to go with them to their SDP office. It was all over the place in the social media. So, this is the kind of relationship that exists among our members.
Ekiti APC caucus, stakeholders, political appointees, groups among others have endorsed governor Oyebanji for second term. Some political analysts and watchers are of the opinion that his re-election move is coming too early having spent less than two years in office. They said it could distract his administration. What’s your take here?
You have asked two questions. The first one is that some political analysts and watchers said that his re-election move is coming too early. Secondly, that it could distract his administration. Let me first of all address it that it is not too early. Anybody that has seen the timetable of INEC for the next election will know that it is not too early because they may not know that the primaries for 2026 are happening next year. And we are in August. So, how would they say his re-election move is coming too early. It is not too early. They don’t know, that is why they are saying that. So let them know now. Then secondly, Governor Oyebanji is a focused person. In fact, when people started the endorsement thing, he was against it, saying please, let me concentrate. But when people started saying, Mr governor, we are almost there. But I want to assure you that it has not removed anything from him. He has been focused, he has been doing his job. He is not distracted. He has been doing what he has been doing right from day one and he will continue to do it until the next election.
The race for the 2026 governorship election will soon begin in the state. What are your expectations and predictions ?
Well, they say the earthly witness is heavenly witness. As far as I, Honourable Iyabo Fakunle -Okieimen is concerned, no shaking. No shaking at all because like I said earlier, if somebody is doing well, let us say it. l have not seen how Governor Oyebanji will not win both the primaries and the main election hands down. Go and write it down and you will tell me later that I said so. This is because he has done very well. Who are the people that vote? If you are good to the electorate, why wouldn’t they vote for you the second time. Like I said earlier, he is not focusing his attention on the party people alone. In fact, he is doing more for the informal sector. He is doing more for the common man on the street. Everybody is feeling him, apart from the welfarist thing, he is still very much into infrastructure. He is building roads, and constructing bridges. Look at our electricity, since we started this interview, has the light blinked? We have our Independent Power Project(IPP)where Ekiti State is generating its own electricity and that is what has been extended to the state secretariat and the Assembly here. When I was a Commissioner, there were times when there won’t be light. Former governor Kayode Fayemi started that IPP project and was completed by Governor Oyebanji and that was why I told you about continuity. So, when things continue like that seamlessly, the people are better for it.
There is security in Ekiti State. Ekiti is now one of the safest in Nigeria. When you talk about security, things are okay except the few skirmishes that happened some months ago and the Committee on security called all the security outfits and everything is under control. So, Ekiti is good. Look at our tourism sector, everything is going on very well. The civil servants are paid as and when due their salaries, deductions, and all their arrears. For the pensioners, the governor just released another one billion naira to offset their pension arrears. So why won’t he be re-elected without any problem? That is my own conviction because he has done well. So, I don’t see why anybody in their right frame of mind will not want him to continue his good works.
The current Assembly comprises six women lawmakers. How are you impacting on the lives of women and girls in the state?
There is a saying that women hear themselves better. And I thank God we are not just women. All the six women in this Assembly, we are quality women, virtuous women. Two of us were former commissioners. We have the daughter of the late deputy governor who is the deputy speaker. We have two former SSAs, then there is one that was even in the Sixth Assembly that got re-elected. We are doing our best. All of us have mentorship platforms where we mentor young women. Ekiti State has the highest number of women in the parliament in all the 36 states of the federation and this is not just a happenstance.
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