 civil society, assess, voyager or yetola's achievements ahead of the Oshun state's governorship elections and will expose use as the PDP as they give former president of Lucia-Gomobassanger 48 hours to clarify remarks on a ticket. For this, it's plus politics. I'm Mary-Anna Conn. Intent grassroots campaign by political parties and candidates, allegations and counter allegations, as well as party inter-party defections have characterized the buildup to the July 16 governorship elections in Oshun state. Now the incumbent APC governor, Voyager or yetola, is eligible for re-election and has been renominated by his party. Nonetheless, supporters say the election is likely going to be a contest between the incumbent governor, Voyager or yetola and who's the candidates of the APC by the way and the PDP's Senator Adimola Adiriki. Now in his address there at the various campaign venues across the state, governor or yetola constantly retrated his message that he had no money to give voters before, during or after the elections as a form of inducement. He has also assured the people of good governance that will impact positively on the lives of Oshun residents. The governor expressed joy at the reception he got from his supporters saying it's heightened his hope of victory come July 16 governorship elections in the state. What's running us to discuss his achievements and more is the Mr. Loufemi Loss and he's a pro- democracy activist. He's the media entrepreneur and is also the national auditor of campaign for democracy. That's a very big profile. Thank you for joining us. First things first, we are looking at the progress that the governor of Oshun state has made since he took over from the now minister of Oregwa Shala and we have seen a lot of a chain of events that have happened building up to this election whether it be insecurity whether it be allegations defections like I said at the beginning of the conversation but let's look at the man himself. He took over in 2018 and had had a lot of eyes on him. How can you assess his achievements so far? Do you think that he's done well? Let's start by looking at changing the tide from Iroha of Oregwa Shala government to Anu Yatila government. What has been the most significant change that has taken place? Well the most fundamental change from my physical assessment and close interaction with not only Oshun state's political space but the people who had lived there, have families there, have businesses there and of course haven't been actively involved in pro-democracy activities in the state even before the former governor of Oshuna era suggests that Governor Yatila today is one of the most under-reported governors. When you talk about governance over the last couple of years in Nigeria in fact a lot of people particularly those who are keenly involved in what was the situation in Oshun state before he came into 2018 and now would agree with me that this is a government which was not the typical Nigerian politician that blows trumpets about how much more they have been able to deliver on their mandates and of course their promises to the electorate. Between what he just said and now there are fundamental differences which may not be in tandem with the usual political aspiration of politicians. The aspiration of the people. The Arab administration of Governor Yatila as radical as it was in coming to the position of Oshun state was such that had so much conflict of interest with the people of Oshun state. Yatila came with a lot of visions, came with a lot of programs where some of these programs were secured out of the aspiration of the people. So no matter how beautiful they were, it was always a conflict with the people and now we receive a servant with the political class and some other. But what Governor Yatila was able to do from the beginning was to return governance to the people and to begin to execute government policies and programs in line with the demands of the people. Let me give you an example. One Governor Robert Shula came, he embarked on a school reform program, you know, immunization of school uniforms, school curricula and some other things. This pitched the governor against the people for almost eight years that was Governor of Oshun state. But when Governor Yatila came, he didn't just bring out policies for education in Oshun state. He went back to the people, constituted committees and interactions with people across the state. What do you really want? How should we really want the educational system? Both professionals don't say that the former governor was not connecting with the people. Not as beautiful as his programs were supposed to be. So this governor returned the culture of asking the people, and that is what the school reform program in Oshun state has enjoyed the acceptability of the Oshun state people. Schools now wear their own uniform, unlike the singular uniform program of the Arayashila administration. That is just an instance. And if you look at the way this government is executing this project, having been part of the groups of civil society that have supported Oshun recently, you realize that most of the communities visited. Projects have been executed on the basis of the need of the people. It is good to have beautiful ideas. You may think it is enough for us to be fly over in this community, and for the people it's about having portable water or basic air centers. So that flyover will make no meaning because it does not conform with their need. What the Oitela administration has been doing from our interaction with the people is to meet with the people, meet with the communities, and assess their need. Even with the need assessment program of the federal government, and bring projects and programs. And that is why today, Oshun state, as we speak, has the highest number of working primary aid care centers. I've been to the state of Nigeria by the virtue of my work, and I can say that Oshun was the state way between one world and the other. They found not just aid centers that are built for the purpose of having buildings, working aid centers with personnel, with facilities, with, you know, drugs are never something required to call these basic aid centers. And these aid centers were built by Governor Yatelap? Over 300, as we speak. Over 300 in the last three years have been built by the incumbent administration. Interesting. And I were to go there on a fact-finding mission, and to be certain that these... There are visions. I ask this because several governors in different states have built state-of-the-art health centers. And six months down the line, those health centers are not working. Can a governor Yatelap go walk into any of those health centers and get treatment, as opposed to flying outside of the country? Because it's one thing to say you've built a nice healthcare center for the people, but it's not something that you can use. What has been the situation in Nigeria just with FAPTO is that one governor just sits in only comfort of his living room and assume that we need to build in a multibillion-aid facility in the state capital or wherever, maybe in his village, in the name of the state. And mostly these are usually tertiary and secondary-aid institutions. But if you look at the basic-aid care need of the people, you speak from the ordinary Mawad Malia, the women with underground antennas, who does not actually need to go to the general hospital because even before these big hospitals came there are these traditional beds and claimants, there are nurses, no, traditional medical practitioners in the neighborhood who treat these basic-aid issues. So what he did is not to build gigantic-aid infrastructures, even though the state institution is building a tertiary-aid facility, but it is about the fact that I don't need to go to the general hospital to treat Malia, to treat headache. It is about building healthcare delivery to the people. So it is sustainable because you don't need to bring a scanner, you don't need to bring all sort of big equipment and machines to the basic-aid center. It has to do with the fact that I don't need to travel from Iboku or my village to Oshubu to get healthcare, the tertiary-aid institution. So it has to be able to take healthcare delivery closer to the people, but you may not need to go and register your wife at the state general hospital because you have to go to Malia and Inata. So these are the things that these basic primary-aid facilities are taking care of. So it is not about the fact that when there are issues that require surgery, some other critical-aid issues, they are transferred to the secondary-aid institutions that are managed by the state. And of course, in the state, there are also federal-aid care institutions. But the primary need of the people is the focus of the government from the beginning. So we talk about, you know, making the state viable, the viability of the state economically, business-wise, how many business opportunities have been created under his administration? What's the ease of doing business status of the state, especially the city, the big city? What kinds of investments has he attracted? One of the fundamental ingredients required to actually attract investors into any society is the safety and security of investment, which has been one of the major reasons why people don't actually come to you to invest in your community, in your state, or your society. Today, the state is rated as one of the most peaceful in the country because of the commitment of his administration to the security of properties and lives in the state. This is one of the states least expected, even from some of us as Yoruba people, to implement the Amotec on the Southwest security network. It's one of the states where the network is effectively working today, and you realize how much what the state has been able to do in empowering the police and other security agencies. So the state now has enjoyed peace. It has attracted a lot of economic activities. For people who have visited Yoruba some 15, 10 years ago, you will know that it is no longer the same state today. All banks have their branches in the state. Investors are beginning to invest not only in the minor activities, in other socioeconomic activities, and the tasks improved from my interaction, even with the citizens and state actors, the internally generated revenue of the state. And that can only happen in an atmosphere where there is peace and stability, just like we saw. Let's go, let's just talk more about the security aspect. There was a very big incident in the state at the time where all eyes were on Oshun state. And you did speak about the fact that Amateko seems to be very active. And they have collaborated with the police. If Amateko has been that active, why did we have that kind of incidents? I remember in Ogun states when it first started with the so called unknown gunmen and the issues of herders and the ban on open grazing. Has that also been implemented in Oshun states in terms of grazing? Because we saw other states saying they would stay action, they would not be abandoned open grazing. But how protected are the farmers, how protected are the people of Oshun state, especially with what happened recently? What happened recently happened in Nambu state, the award incident. Not the award incident, there was another. A clash? Yeah. Yeah, if you look at the security system in the southwest, and if you want to make an analysis of the farmer, herders conflict, you know, herders invasion of farms or attacks on villages, if you rate it comparatively, you realize that Oshun is one of those states where, just like the girls, where there have been few or no incidences of clashes within herders and farmers or attacks on villagers, if today there is hardly a week that you know reports from parts of Oshun state, Oshun state where communities are being invaded by these health militias and some criminal elements, we also mask herders, herders, you know, across the communities. But today you can really find in the news, in this organization where there are issues or where there are clashes between herders and farmers. We have interactions with the Amoteco Co. in Oshun state, with the director, you know, at the point of our interaction, we will add, you know, we were opportunity to witness a scenario where a particular leader of the eight men around Okeila put a call across to the director of the Amoteco Co. reporting amnesia of Catruwa sleep. They can begin to analyze the level of trust that has been built in the Amoteco in Oshun state. They leave out the herders called the didger of the Amoteco Co. reporting an incident of some Catruwa slas who came from Echiti to Rosu Catruw from Okeila to Echiti state and were caught. So he was asking them whether the didger should take over the case from the local Amoteco unit that apprehended them at that local government of the state. So it tells you that the state have been able to do a lot in ensuring that not only is the security, you know, is the Niger police force nipping crimes in its world, but that in Amoteco is effectively also delivering on its mandates in Oshun state. How about youths? The youths is a very important factor even as the governor is returning to that office. He had spoken about the fact that the future is not an option and that he definitely hopes to return. Many would say that he probably is dependent on the power of incumbents. But what has the government done to empower young people? We see that most of the crimes that I committed are committed by young people. Even the election violences, I would not see you, if I see you carrying a ballot box and running away, but we see that young people are engaged in this. How has his government impacted young people and what's the level of employability for these young people? Because Nigeria is suffering under employment and, of course, unemployment. What's being done to make sure that the average Oshun youth is engaged one way or the other, whether it's private or public? It's a national issue just like you said. A lot of competent young people are unemployed and a lot, of course, are unemployed as we speak. And the truth is that no states or federal government has the capacity to bring into its own workforce the number of young people that are living in schools, that are graduating or that are going through vocational processes and needs job to be self-sustaining. But what the government has been doing from our observation, from our assessment is the opportunities it is creating with the intervention from the federal government with the job opportunities that are being created by small and medium enterprises that are emerging in Oshun state, not in the capital but across the state. And the state also has delivered policies through its ministry of youth and sport to engage young people. It is impressive that the governor touched it wise to appoint a very young person as commissioner for youth and sport in the state Ms. Hayame Lawa who has been effectively engaging with young people and they have a series of programs focused on the young people to empower them to give loans to create opportunities. That's why I asked at the beginning, what's the spread? There's always a tendency of mass migration to the center which is the capital. That's because most of these empowerment programs or whatever you do does not spread across the state. Yes, unlike what the ordinary should be saying around the state, capital everybody wants to cluster around the government, the seat of government to get this benefit. This has been able to the government has been able to distribute it significantly to other parts of the state in a way we've been to processing factories where people now engage in vocational activities of processing foods through their culture programs and not a part of the state where people will get loan, cannot do their own businesses without having anything to do with the government in the state capital. Let's talk about the politics of 2022. July is just around the corner and a couple of days we will see heightened campaigns and everybody is getting ready for the elections Akiti just got concluded was still seeing lingering issues about electoral malpractices etc. We've also seen drama happen during certain campaigns there was a shootout from the ministers allegedly from the ministers convoy at some point during the primaries we also see that there were many people in the APC that seemed not to be very happy with what's been happening let's talk about what's been happening in the APC in Oshun state how together is the party I saw the governor reaching out begging members of the party not to be angry but to look to the future but how much can he pacify the members of the party as they get ready for the elections It is expected that the governor has the leader of the state as the father of the state will do everything possible to speak, to appeal to enjoy citizens to support him and to bury our church and of course especially those within his political parties so as to ensure that his governor continues but the truth is that what is happening or what is present to be happening in the APC is not peculiar to APC today as we speak two major political gladiators have led the PDP to contest in this election at the intro narrated the contest as being between the governor and the PDP's candidate but as I speak with you the person who almost won the governorship primary of the PDP in 2018 Dr. Aki Ogubi is in this race as the candidate of their court party popular candidate and intellectual a business magnate who is also in the race the former deputy speaker of the Nigerians as of representative as candidate of also one of the major political parties the Labour party is not a push over politician in the national state it's also one of those who have contested from the PDP what it means is that it is not the only APC in the national state that has issues but the truth is that politicians whether from the factions of the PDP and the APC have the same obligation as the governor has to promote unity to encourage those who are dissatisfied to come around and ensure that the party attains victory but the ultimate decider in every election is the people and you have called out several opponents of the governor who in your words are no mean you know the ordinary politicians so that poses a threat of source it does not really pose it it does it because if you look at every elections what is the percentage of politicians or political actors who vote and become in the outcome of every election it is usually about we must understand that governments democracy is about the people you always have the majority of the people who are non-partisan that is the reality nobody can tell you that it is the majority of particular political party members that vote or decide who is an election then the APC can come here and tell me that the governor has done so great and then the PDP can come here and also tell me the governor has not done but it is not but yet it is of course grateful that you are saying that it's down to the people and if the people are unhappy with governor he will be voted out and they will have a better choice and there are no indications that people are not happy with him especially if you know the history of the state I don't expect you to say anything the working state is known there is nothing to mean about it this was a state that was known for worker strike that was known for protest by pensioners we were all here some six, eight years ago where Osho was always in the news for non-payment of worker salary for protest by pensioners for all sort of disturbances but today I think we report even from the news medium about worker strike in the working state and the direct impact of the people it's not about how politicians feel politicians will always be aggrieved it is left for politicians, the governor and his party to be consigned with the politicians but the ultimate deciders are the people and they decide the outcome of this election well we look forward to July as the elections in Osho state come to play of course we have been speaking with Femi Lawson who is of course a good governance advocate here the expectations for the elections come July this month I would say thank you for being part of the conversation we will have more of these conversations as the elections draw closer well we'll take a quick break ladies and gentlemen when we come back we will be talking about the people's democratic party a conversation between the former president of Lucia-Guang Bassenger and the PDP who's giving him an ultimatum to clarify his recent remarks about the former vice president of Lucia-Guang Bassenger