A member of Governor Seyi Makinde Advisory Council and Oyo Former Deputy Chief of Staff, Alhaji Razaq Gbadagesin a.k.a Agbeti, has reacted to allegation making round that his loyalists stampeded the resident of Chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party in Ogbomoso North, Alhaji Saka Balogun, on Tuesday, to disrupt a purported stakeholders meeting attended by few people who are said to be loyal to a particular candidate vying for the position of Chairmanship.
Recall that a faceless group had earlier alleged Agbeti of mobilizing his loyalists to disrupt a meeting facilitated by Baba Saka Balogun, stating that he forcefully gained entrance and stampeded the venue.
However, in an interview with select online publishers in Ibadan, Alhaji Agbeti spoke about the alleged disruption of a meeting held in Baba Saka Balogun’s residence in Ogbomoso and sundry matters.
He said at no point in time he invited or mobilized his loyalists to Baba Saka Balogun house, stressing that those who stormed the venue are PDP members who are not happy with the way Baba Saka Balogun and others were trying to foist an unpopular candidate on them.
Below is the full interview:
Que: At a meeting, which was held in Baba Saka Balogun’s residence in Ogbomoso yesterday (Tuesday), it was alleged that your supporters were there to disrupt the process. What would you say about the allegation?
Firstly, I would like to brief you about who Dr Saka Balogun is because people don’t really know the relationship between the both of us. So, when they talk, I keep quiet. I knew Baba as early as 1983 when I entered the university. He has been my father since then and throughout my journey in politics. We have been together and I don’t think somebody like me will now go to Baba’s house to disrupt a meeting.
Now, let me tell you what really transpired. They were not aware of how the meeting came up and that was why they were saying all they said. I was the one that met Baba in his Ibadan residence the day before yesterday (Monday). I called and told him that somebody told me about a particular meeting in Ogbomoso at 4 p.m involving the Ogbomoso North PDP but I was not aware yet. But he told me he was expecting a list from the Chief of Staff concerning the PDP stakeholders meeting. I asked him when we were meeting and he asked me if we could make it Tuesday (yesterday), and we did. As a result, we agreed that the meeting be held in his residence at Ogbomoso yesterday. So, the change of venue of the meeting was because I met him. He was not supposed to be at the meeting before because he had no such plan, but because I told him that he was the only one that can convene a PDP meeting in Ogbomoso North that I will attend.
Somebody cannot say there will be a meeting and think somebody like me will rush down to such a meeting. It is only Baba that can do that and the meeting has to be in his house. So, we agreed. But later at about 9pm, Baba called me and said he learnt that some people are coming to his house to meet him at 9 am and I was surprised. I told him that the proposed meeting I am aware of is that of me and Baba. So, I am not aware of anything. I got to Ogbomoso on Monday and left yesterday morning and got to Ogbomoso around 10 a.m because I didn’t want people to see me coming and that was why I did not go to the venue of the meeting with my car. I only asked one of my boys to pick me so that people won’t see anybody around me. So, it was myself alone and the boy that drove.
Ordinarily, you don’t expect a stakeholders’ meeting that is widely circulated not to have many people around but I didn’t allow anybody to see me. I didn’t get home from Ibadan so that people will not follow me from there. I didn’t even tell my wife that I was coming for a meeting. So, I went there alone. When I entered, I met some stakeholders and greeted all of them including Wolekanle, Engr Ewu and Baba himself. But I saw people around carrying placards. I entered the house and met people. I even asked for a bottle of water, which my wife’s brother got for me. If you play back the video in circulation, it was the bottle of water I was drinking at the supposed meeting. But at a time, it was getting obvious that the meeting could not hold because the people that were around were too much for such a meeting.
In the video, you will find out that it was me and Baba that were together throughout.
So, as far as I am concerned, I was with Baba throughout. Nobody fought anybody and I didn’t see anybody destroy anything.
Que: What would you adduce from people trying to blackmail your supporters as having gone there to disrupt the meeting?
You see, that is a very good question. If they have identified the party members that were there as my supporters, that will be very interesting. I actually asked them there if I called anybody to meet me there at 9? They said no, that I did not invite anybody. But the background of what happened is that, some few individuals went to Ilorin and reportedly held a meeting. I can say categorically that they held the meeting because I spoke with Engr Salami who confirmed that the meeting was truly held. He said he attended the meeting where they endorsed one of the aspirants for the chairmanship elections. Anyway, they could not have held the meeting in Ogbomoso.
No doubt, it was the secret endorsement at a hotel in Ilorin. At this age and time of our democracy, is it not wrong for a few people to go and sit in a hotel and endorse the chairmanship candidate for Ogbomoso North LG of all Local governments? The local government that produced the likes of late Samuel Ladoke Akintola, late Governor Akala? Well, people are waiting for them and if they are doing the endorsement, it must be in their hotel rooms but the people are waiting.
The only way they could legitimise it is to use Baba, who is more than 85 years old. So, it could be easy to manipulate him. More so, the so-called aspirant is close to Baba’s wife. So, they were clever by half. Clever by half because I asked Baba, you said you were expecting a list from the Chief of Staff, which is yet to come, and there is an invitation for a meeting. Could there have been an invitation for a meeting before the list coming from the Chief of Staff is out? That was one question Baba could not answer.
In the message they later sent to me, which I have on my phone, indicated that the meeting had to be postponed and they apologised for inconveniences. That means a meeting has been fixed earlier. You don’t apologise for inconveniences if there was no previous meeting fixed.
And they already created a platform where I said I was not aware of any notice of meeting and I was just hearing for the first time and nobody could comment on that message.
I believe what they thought was to use Baba because they know Baba will see and talk to the Governor. I am beyond some things. I am beyond dropping names and I cannot do it. Because they thought Baba would drop names, they went to put it under him to say he was aware and part of the meeting. At the time Baba said he was expecting the list of the meeting, I got to his house and was on the phone with Honorable Temi Adebiyi and were adjusting the list. The list he said he was expecting was the same he was adjusting names on. Suddenly, Baba asked me where we should hold the meeting but I said, Baba, we will talk after the phone conversation. I am not stupid. You told me you were expecting a list but already adjusting the names on the list. So, they are now looking at who and who will not support them so that they can fix the person in the meeting. It is alleged that the aspirant and the party chairman were both in Baba’s house yesterday and did not come out. So, it was an attempt to foist an unpopular aspirant over the people.
Apart from the local government chairman that is there, we have some of our guys in Ogbomoso North, we have also the aspirants of the House of Assembly, who were asked to step out of the members of the House of Assembly. Some of them are aspiring to be the chairman and all they will be begging for is to have a free primary election. Even if you have to manipulate the process, let people see that you allow them to partake in the process. Our people across the wards will go to meetings every week, every fortnight to take part in the electoral process. But you sit down somewhere to allocate councillors, position of chairmen as though you are allocating hotel rooms. You are not allocating bags of rice, bags of semo but allocating positions that affect the lives of the people. Let our people have their say, and that is what they are clamouring for.
Ask anyone if a single person hit another person; if anyone damages a plastic of water at the meeting. If they say it was my supporters that came to disrupt the meeting, does it mean the PDP Ogbomoso North are now saying that the membership of PDP Ogbomoso North, local government executive members, ward chairmen, women leaders, youth leaders are my supporters?
How can they be my supporters when I am not contesting? I am not looking for anything. But if they say I am one of them, yes I agree. Yes, I am not an elite but belong to the people at the grassroots. I am in that low class. I don’t sit down among the people that will just sit down somewhere and make decisions about the lives of people. So, can we continue like this? No, it is not possible.
If you have an ambition to become something, come out and let the people see you. Five people should not determine what happens to the lives of many people. As far as I am concerned, I am not quarrelling with anybody. I have no ill-feelings with anybody but just feel the right thing should be done.
At a particular point in time, Baba sought my opinion on the postponement of the meeting but I told him his decision is final and stood by him. I was with Baba throughout and when I wanted to leave Ogbomoso, I called him and said, since the meeting is not being held today, I will take my leave. And he responded by saying that he will also soon leave. So, how can somebody now say I was the one who went to disrupt the meeting in Baba’s house.
Que: How will you react to the allegation doing the rounds that you have a preferred candidate, and because Baba is not in agreement with that, you caused the disruption in the meeting?
What I will say to that is, I don’t have a preferred candidate. My preferred candidate is the choice of the people. Anybody that emerges by popular process of choosing a candidate is my candidate. Let me tell you this; there is no outcast in Ogbomoso North, except the one that says he is not my person. So, I don’t have a preferred candidate.
Sir, in some quarters, it is also alleged that there are some forces outside of Ogbomoso North trying to, through the influence of Baba Balogun, foist a particular candidate on the people. How true is that, Sir?
Yes, that is true. There is a woman they are promoting. They are acting the script of Senator Hosea Agboola (Halleluyah) from Oke-Ogun, and our people may not sit down and watch an Ekiti woman install a person linked to Oke-Ogun as our chairman. They will rather choose their candidate themselves. There is an ‘alleged part’ (Wife of Dr Saka Balogun) that Halleluyah should nominate somebody close to him for chairmanship in Ogbomoso North. Mama is the one on ground to ensure they get what they want. It is not about me and I don’t want anything. I was a National delegate of NRC in 1990. In 199, I was secretary to Ogbomosho North Local Government Area. I have been a Special Assistant, Special Adviser and first Deputy Chief of Staff in Oyo State. So, what will I be looking for? So, it should be all about people, not cliques. We cannot continue like that. If they have been doing that in the past, it means we need to start making a change.
Que: There is also a picture of you and Senator Fatai Buhari, which has been circulating since yesterday on social media, indicating that you worked against the choice of the party during the election and want to achieve the same agenda hence leading to the disruption of the supposed meeting. What is your reaction to that?
That is a good question but Senator Buhari is my brother and cannot deny that fact. We attended the same university. I want to tell you that I have a brotherly relationship with Senator Buhari, which is not even political. He knows I am a core PDP person and will not seek my support for his ambition because he knows I will never work against my own party. So, if they are saying he is Senator Buhari’s person, yes, I won’t deny that because the Senator is my good friend. I have friends and brothers across the party. If, today, we don’t belong to the same party, that should not stop him from being my brother. But I did not and will not work for him. You are free to ask him if I worked for him before. As I have Christians as friends, I have muslims too and I don’t work against my party.
