By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin

High Chief Raheem Adedoyin, a Chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kwara State, is a politician of note in the state. He served the state as a commissioner in the administrations of both Dr Bukola Saraki and his successor, Alh Ahmed Abdulfatah before joining forces with other like-minded politicians to launch ‘Otoge’ movement that brought the current administration of Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to power in 2019. In this interview, Adedoyin who is currently Chairman, Editorial Board of the state owned Herald Newspapers spoke on the movement that unseated the Saraki hegemony in 2019.
Excerpts:

What really is ‘Otoge’ and how did it come about?

Otoge was just simply like, we have had enough of certain hegemony, we have had enough of certain political tendency,we have had enough of a system that does not seem to be working for Kwara state.That was the broader meaning of Otoge and it started long ago before 2018. As a matter of fact the likes of Gbenga Olawepo, John Dara and AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman and others have started ‘Otoge’ long before it metamorphosed into movement in 2017, 2018, Please give the credit to them. What happened in 2017, 2018 was that there was an implosion within the political tendency of that time and I was a member of that tendency and a lot of other like minds.We said look,we have had enough.Yes,we recognized the leadership, we must allow some levels of fairness in chosing who was going to run for elective office for us, as governor, senator,etc.

So there was an implosion and then a breakaway.There was a breakaway such that we had a parallel congress. When the leadership in government house were holding their own in the Banquet hall, we were holding our own in Arca Centre, along Ajase Ipo road here. It was unprecedented in the political movement in Kwara state.That was the implosion within the system, then the outsiders came. When the leadership then moved to another political structure in PDP those who had been fighting him for long simply moved in to occupy the space and that was why Otoge was in two levels. We had started our own implosion and the parallel congress was not a fluke. I remember it was even at my residence that we decided to use Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa(BOB) as our chairman . Literally all the leadership we had were picked in my house.Then the litmus test came, the greatest champions of Otoge were the people themselves, they had energized a lot of people in the locality who were tired of this leadership and we wanted a change in Kwara state.

After, we tested the strength in the Bye elections in Irepodun, Isin, Oke-Ero and Ekiti, and at that time the political tendency had become weak, not just the people who had been running long distance race with them, even people within moved out , teamed up and waiting to see what would happen. Then, we won that election because the people were galvanized to express what they had always wanted to do with their votes.That was what happened in 2019. That was how it became a movement. Of course, people were making Radio and Television announcements and appearances but it was the election that was the ultimate test. It now sent a message that these people were removable, that they were not invisible. So, that motivated the movement to achieve their goals. I therefore give the credit of what happened to the people who had been long tired of what had been happening to the system and wanted an opportunity to be mobilized and to vote for effective change.

Five years after, will you say that ‘Otoge’ has achieved its mission in Kwara state?
People’s expectations were that Kwara should turn to Mecca or Dubai in haste, but things don’t work like that. Abdulrahaman had a vision of what he wanted to do, I was part of the people that worked on the document he wanted to use if he were to be elected governor, I was the Chairman of the Manifesto Committee and some other committees as well working towards the same goal. But he discovered that he needed to first address the rottenness that he met and it has taken a long time to address that one. I heard a report that the governor abandoned his manifesto, he didn’t, he had to clean the mess he met when he came into office. For instance, SUBEB has been blacklisted for long, so if you had a vision of producing five new books for secondary school within one month, the SUBEB thing was there to slow you down. There are other entanglements but then again, part of the things the people were striving for is that we don’t want a Napoleon kind of leadership, when you see somebody as an emperor or a god. That doesn’t happen in Kwara. All the people who were nominated as commissioners in Kwara are not Abdulrahaman’s direct nominees. I know of a commissioner in Ifelodun who was picked by one of our leaders but nobody is talking about that. So, there’s no Napoleon system where you are afraid to talk to your leader about approach to governance.

The safest and quickest to the grassroots is the local government. There is need for restructuring and then the institutional refund that is now coming through is where we begin to see development where the government will not be the overlord over the affairs of the local government. It is not a Kwara thing, it is a national thing. So when all of that come in, I’m sure our people will have the best of life. One of the things I give to AA(the governor) is that, there’s transparency in the emergence of candidates for elections into the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly as we picked who we wanted at our level. The governor didn’t dictate. As a matter of fact, there were some people showing some deference to him but he said no.

Can you categorically say that in 5 years of ‘Otoge’ administration, the governor has scored a pass mark?
Yes I can. It all depends on the angle you are looking at. In terms of transparent leadership, I see it in this man. In terms of respect to leadership where you are not seen as a god, I see it in this man. But more importantly in terms of project execution, I see it in this man. I am from Irepodun local government, we could feel his presence there, that is the Oro Grammar School owned by everyone. Not only did he upgrade the school, he even constructed new classrooms and increased the staffing. You can also talk about Oro General Hospital. It was worse before. Nobody was taking any patient there. And it has been upgraded, rehabilitated, staffed and equipments provided. This same Oro community, if you are coming from Ijomu Oro junction and you are going to Nitel, you’ll see the newly tarred road. That is just Oro. Last month alone, he awarded contract for the most important road in Irepodun, that is Oro,Esie,Agbada etc, they’re going on. Omu-Aran to Oko, up till Ifelodun has been awarded, and it is ongoing. It depends on the community interest any of us have. So, I can beat my chest and say yes, in 5 years he has done very well.

So what can we talk about in the next 3 years?

The economy meltdown has not been very helpful, the financial resources are dwindling, but what I expect in the next three years is that, the ones he has started, he should finish them. And then, when the local governments are in place, he should encourage them to develop. Let’s say physical development in the local government done by the local govt, even if it is only one portion of a road a local government will do, let them do it and people will know that this belongs to their local government. I see him in the next three years trying to consolidate his legacy in a manner that when he leaves the office, people will remember him for good.

You were also part of the last administrations in the last 16 years before the current administration came on board, what efforts did you make to activate ‘Otoge’?

I’m not much of an agitator. I’m a strategist. I started my own silent ‘Otoge’ since 2010. That was when I went to Baba Saraki. I went to him because there were certain things I was seeing and not happy about. I started ‘Otoge’ in my own little way because they wanted Atunwa. 17 out of 18 commissioners addressed a press conference and said they wanted Atunwa. I went to Abdulfatah Ahmed and said No, we must do our own press conference and we did it. It was only one commissioner that was there. I was the one that championed that. So it is just my own little way of saying this thing cannot continue. Where you are the leader, let us have a say and of course Abdulfatah Ahmed became a candidate and I said to him that I’m moving my Otoge elsewhere. The election made him the governor but the governor didn’t win my ward. And after that time, we parted ways in 2015. I said one of us should be governor, we don’t mind you as the leader, support whoever you want to support. It was an Otoge spirit. You have the leadership and I also have a mind of my own, this is who I wanted and they said that’s not possible. So, they moved to PDP, we stayed in APC and the rest is history. We did very well. Moshood Mustapha began the ‘Otoge’ in his own way in Ilorin West, Ilorin East and also a part of Central later. We didn’t even join the ‘Otoge’ group, they came to join us. If we didn’t cause that implosion, there would be nothing for them to come and do in APC.

And that’s why I’m not too happy that they are not giving credit to those who are not making noise on radio, or actually cleared the ground for them to come and water their seed.