Dr. Dejo Raimi, a retired medical practitioner, is now a full-fledged politician. He prefers the incumbent Governor Adebayo Alao Akala to continue to steer the ship, the stance that is contrary to other Ibadan indigenes.

Raimi who was chosen as the Secretary General of the Southern Forum, one of the brain children of former President Olusegun Obasanjo also alleges that the former President prostrated for his former Vice, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to get re-elected for the second term.

Will the PDP not lose Oyo state as a result of the crisis over the governorship candidate?
If you say, PDP will lose.

To which party? Here, you saw the mess the Action Congress made of themselves when they said they wanted to imitate the PDP and do the type of thing we did at Adamasingba. The aspirants-Wole Oyelese and Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala contested and people lined up voting for their own choice. And eventually, Akala carried all the votes and Oyelese had only one vote. They wanted to imitate us pretending to be transparent. You heard what happened thereafter. They ended up imposing candidate on the people.

They thought the Alliance for Democracy of those days with the name of Papa Obafemi Awolowo can still be used. If you talk of the possibility of PDP losing Oyo State is far and far remote. To who and to which party? The most important thing is forget where you come from, the incumbent governor has got something to show for his four years.

May be it is because he is a retired police officer, he has maintained stability in this state. There is security of life in this state. Minus the two armed robbery cases we had in Ibadan, believe me, Alao-Akala has been able to maintain peace in Oyo State.

Ibadan indigenes have not changed their stance. Don’t you think that the issue of Senator Teslim Folarin would further poison the minds of Ibadan indigenes against the re-election of Governor Akala?

It can never compound the problem. How did Folarin come into political arena? We know and he knows too that he was a laundry man in London. Late Papa Adedibu brought him because he(Adedibu) used to stay with him there. What was the antecedent of Folarin in Ibadan politics? So, how many social groups does he belong? Folarin was arraigned in connection with the death of Alhaji Lateef Salako aka Eleweomo.

Even if nobody asks him question, the spirit of Eleweomo would chasing anybody that dares to support Folarin. So, that murder case is hanging around him. Even in Ona Ara, where he is claiming, we don’t know him there. It was, Adedibu in his characteristic manner, would invent a local government for you if he wanted to use you. When we talk of politicians in Ibadan, we know ourselves. Why are they fighting Alao-Akala, I don’t know.

When we say no man can rule Oyo State twice, there is a clause which people don’t take note of. That clause is unless you perform. And Akala has performed wonders. Look at renovation of Mapo Hall, Adeoyo Hospital, construction of roads, cleanliness in Ibadan

Some say you are rooting for gov Akala because you are getting some incentives from him….
(Cuts in)…like what? If repairing of Mapo is a form of payback to me, I’m ready to receive it. If that of Adeoyo, repair and construction of Odo Ona Elewe down to Apata is a payback to me, I’m ready to receive it. Everybody knows me that I don’t run after contracts, I don’t take bribes. I have never taken bribe from anybody, but you cannot get me to support a non-performing person. Show me which of the roads I mentioned that were not repaired, show me any civil servant crying over unreleased salary? Show me any pensioner who has gone to demonstrate over unpaid pension.

On PDP loss in Ibadan in 2007? The PDP lost 10 and one local government was cancelled. But it had the required 25 percent in all the 10 local government. So, the total votes of Senator Abiola Ajimobi were over 400,000 while Akala had over 100,000. As at that time, we had not seen this type of performance. This time around, let anyone come out against this performer, he cannot defeat Akala in Ibadan. And then to make matter worse, the ACN has boxed itself into a tight corner. They cannot go for open primaries.

So, if Ibadan people can talk and bring out only one candidate, good, but, can that happen? No. Ajimobi, Ladoja and so many other people are there. Are they not from Ibadan. Do your calculation. By the time those people divide Ibadan votes, some people would follow the atampako( thumb) man, that is Ladoja, some would follow the broom man-Ajimobi and others would follow other political parties that would soon announce their governorship candidates.

So, by the time their votes are divided like this, tell me, if the votes from Ibadan is 800,000, Akala is going to have 600,000, quote me.

People say it was because people like Elder Wole Oyelese and many others supported him then, that Governor Akala won. What happens now when all these people are not behind him?

Cuts in. No, I didn’t support him then. It was Chief Adedibu and Adedibu must not see anyone supporting his candidate. I did not work for him then, that’s why I donated nobody to his cabinet. That was why I supported those people who were asking for opportunity to participate. I went before Ike Nwachukwu committee, and my only complaint was that I was not being called for meetings anymore.

Why? And the committee established elders committee zone by zone. And on the 29th March,2009, Akala called a meeting. Some people who had other reasons did not attend that meeting. I attended and I was the one that read the communiqué.

So, those people, count them they can never be more than five. Why should they say it must be an Ibadan man. I had worked for Adeojo several times before, Oyelese is so close to me and Lekan Balogun is my energetic oloye agba. I have great respect for them. But, why should it be only Ibadan people that are fighting this man(Akala)? Look at all those who were supporting Ladoja then, Sarafa, Adigun, they have all come back to Akala. Ayo Adeseun’s case is a different one. He is in the House of Representatives and he wants to go to the Senate.

There will not be fair play and justice if an Ogbomoso man becomes the governor and an Ogbomoso man is still claiming one of the three senatorial seats. That is unfair. Akala told Adeseun, you cannot have it, it is not fair. Adeseun as the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, let him fight for rerun, they will remove him form that post. He knows what is in that post.

But, he has picked an ACN form, let him be bold enough to say that on the floor of the House. They would remove him from that chairmanship immediately.

Did Obasanjo, you and others truly prostrate for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar?

We held series of meetings, but the palaver could not be solved. But, when we got to the Eagle Square, some of us, I’m sorry to say this, including Obasanjo, let Obasanjo pardon me, because I have never told anybody this before, went to prostrate for Atiku that he should please allow Obasanjo have this chance of second term. He gave us some terrible conditions.

He was even boasting that time that the governors told him if he changed his mind on the second term bid of Obasanjo, even at the eleventh hour, before the voting started, he(Atiku) should tell them because they were ready to go with him.

One of the conditions he gave us was that if Obasanjo won, he must not pick any other person other than him(Atiku) as the Vice President. He also said Obasanjo must announce it there at the Eagle square and they must ride on the jeep together as a mark of honour. We agreed to all these. But, God Almighty knows the way he judges us, human beings. 13th of January, was the payback time and you all saw it.
Was it painful to you then when you prostrated for him?
Yes, it was very painful. How can a whole president of our dear country be prostrating for his vice to get re-nominated. The two of them should be an inseparable one. Go and ask Martins Kuye, we prostrated for him. Now, he has to prostrate for us and he has to prostrate for even Sarah Jubril and for everybody. Look at Adamu Ciroma hiding under the guise of Arewa Consultative Forum. They are all living in the past. The Nigeria of today is quite different from Nigeria of 10 years ago.
We ask for generational change. Anybody above 60 now should never hope to become president of this country again. Let us leave the arena for younger ones. In our generation, we have had our time. We can’t die there. He is well educated. And he will be the first president to hold a PhD degree. And luckily, for him, he has a professional working as his deputy-Namani Sambo. I am happy that while I’m alive, all the troubles I took as the Secretary general of the Southern Forum in 2007 for a southerner to be nominated and tasted power, is now through God’s own power, becoming manifest. I can sing that I’m happy to witness this generation.