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Mr Sunday Solarin is Ogun State House of Assembly candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) for Ikenne State Constitutency. In this interview with Dare Adekanmbi, he speaks on the rising fortunes of the new party, the chances of its candidates, among other issues. Excerpts:
You were a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Ikenne State Constituency seat in the Ogun State House of Assembly. How is your new party, the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) faring in the local government and the state?
We are doing quite well. This time round, election is not solely party-induced. It is more of personality issue. The same personalities that were in the PDP are now running on the PPN platform. Our people are enthusiastic because apparently, they wanted to vote for the PDP because of quality of candidates it paraded. But since the PDP lost the privilege of having those candidates paraded on its platform, the PPN has now has the fortune to secure the mandate of the electorate.
From what you have said, the PPN is popular in your local government. But what about the aggregate popularity it will need for your governorship candidate, Gboyega Isiaka, to win?
Ikenne Local Government is not an exempted area. It is a constituent of Ogun State. Whatever is happening here is a chain reaction of political actions in other council areas. It is going to have an extended influence all over the state. There has been massive drift of people from the PDP to the PPN across the 20 local government areas of the state. Other council areas seem to be experiencing more influx of people than we have here in our local government. I can tell you that it is an evenly developmental thing for the PPN in the state.
The PDP governorship candidate, Chief Adetunji Olurin and others have gone to court again to challenge the propriety of those of you running on PPN tickets. What is your take on this?
One wonders why democracy should be attached to the pronouncements of the court of law. It is absurd. Politicians should refrain from using the court or the judiciary to bastardise what democracy stands for.
Democracy is about the people. So, what is the essence of you asking the people to give you their mandate, by virtue of the programme you have for them, if the court can revoke the democratic license given to you by the people. It means democracy, in this nation, has been taken away from the people and given to the judiciary. Somebody who stole the people's mandate by going to court will equally believe strongly in court instead of the people. If he had won the ticket by appealing to the people, he would definitely know that for him to get things right, he should go to the people.
We will just enjoin the judiciary to be wary and not destroy or diminish the confidence reposed in democratic governance. By the time the people now know that their votes will not count, and not because they will be rigged again, but because the court can be funny, there will be problem. The court should begin to make people feel confident about democracy and their ability to choose their own leaders.
So, instead of Chief Olurin and others approaching the court to disenfranchise some candidates, let them go to the people. Why are they particular about the PPN when there are candidates in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Labour Party and the rest? They are bothered about the PPN candidates because they have already conceded victory to us, knowing full well that we are intellectually and mentally loaded with good programmes and preparedness to take the state further on the path of greatness.
The governor of the state, Chief Gbenga Daniel, has said he will remain in the PDP. But he has been campaigning for the PDP presidential candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Isn't this going to confuse the electorate and plummet the fortunes of the PPN?
Good enough, every Nigerian wants goodluck and Dr Jonathan is not a candidate that one should dispense so much energy in selling to the people. His own case is a natural one, like a God-ordained scenario. As far as we are concerned here, that has not affected our own political arithmetic at all. We have only joined millions of Nigerians to embrace a good presidential material.
As for Chief Daniel, he is a political entity on his own. He is a leader who has more political maturity than so many of us put together. He is the foremost political leader in the state now. He knows how to put his legs. He could be in the PDP because of his passion for Dr Jonathan's ambition. But I must tell you that he is unhappy that his followers were maltreated in the PDP.
As a good leader, he felt seriously sympathetic about this. He has led us for eight years and has invested so much in us. He is with us in PPN because he cannot just bear to see us in the wilderness, while he has the compass.
Interview By Dare Adekanmbi
Source: PPN will win Ogun guber election — Solarin (http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/politics/19953-ppn-will-win-ogun-guber-election--solarin).