A lawyer by training and a political analyst by inclination, Mr. Dayo Ogunjebe is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, Ogunjebe appraised the emerging political scenario presenting itself before Nigerians ahead of the 2027 general elections. He also talked about his impression of the government of Prince Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State. Excerpts:

As somebody who has watched Nigerian politics and actually contested as a politician, what are your expectations for the New Year in terms of what the political terrain will be like?

I see a lot of hostility and movements of political gladiators from one party to another because many of them will need to assess and re- assess their current political situation with a view to reposition themselves for power. For our party, the APC which has witnessed a lot of political heavyweights coming into the fold, I see that trend continuing in the build up to the forthcoming election.

I still believe that more and more people will still consider making the party their home where they will vent and actualise their political dreams.

Some will come to join us while others too will leave to other parties because in politics there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies and what remains permanent in the minds of the gladiators is their individual and collective interests.

And considering my experience in politics, people naturally drift to parties where their aspirations and interests are better served.

Are you in any way expecting a keen electoral contest from both the ruling party and the opposition?

Yes! I can tell you that so far, the opposition is coming together though the kind of the opposition that might come might not be from the parties that we know, because of the wrangling within the ranks of the popular opposition parties but what we can see and predict is that opposition elements are coming together and massing into a single platform which is commendable in the fact that we need opposition for democracy to thrive in the country.

Despite that however, what we are seeing in terms of the opposition is not as strong as the APC. From all I can see, the opposition as it is now is a bit fragmented to be able to dislodge the APC.

Does that now suggest that the opposition, being very fragmented, will be incapable of wresting power from the ruling APC?

No! it cannot, you know initially, they didn’t seem to be able to form a good opposition, but when we saw former Vice President Atiku Abubakar with some other prominent leaders of the opposition coming together into the ADC with some other prominent leaders waiting to cross carpet, it became clear that we had a full blown opposition on our hands in the APC.

Do you see that scenario of 2015 where the sitting government lost to the opposition repeating itself in 2027?

It all depends on what scenario eventually plays out in the build up to the general elections. I don’t think anyone can say for certain- ty what would eventually happen but for now, it seems all the parties are coming to ADC, and the APC is doing enough work in wooing leaders of the opposition platforms into its fold.

So it will be interesting to see if the prominent gladiators in the ADC are going to be able to hold themselves together to be able to pose a threat to the APC which is firmly rooted across the country politically.

But what I can say with some level of certainty is the next few weeks and months leading to the general elections will be interesting to see because right now, our party remains the party to beat.

So, if the interests of all that are joining the ADC are not properly harmonised, then it will be very difficult to beat the APC at the poll.

As an insider, do you think APC has all it takes, in terms of performance and acceptability, to win the forthcoming elections?

We’ll, the term ‘performance’ seems very relative depending on what you mean and what you are trying to say but the current government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing its possible best to rework and re-engineer the country though I concede that there might be some areas where I feel the government can improve upon before the elections.

For instance, they (the government) need to tackle the insecurity across the country which has prompted the Government of the United States of America to come around supporting them to improve.

Also, we now have to see good results in the area of economic improvement of the people with regards to efforts at poverty alleviation. A lot of work is currently ongoing in these areas.

Now, we’ve seen the price of petroleum products and of major staple food items such as the price of rice coming down. But we need other things that will further cushion the hardships being felt by the people such as the cost of living.

All that needs to come down and the Fed- eral Government needs to do more. There has to be a lot of agricultural programmes to ensure and guarantee food security because hunger is one of the key issues fueling insecurity in the country.

We’ve to deploy assets, indigenous, local and foreign, in ensuring food security in the various agricultural programmes being carried out by the government. The manufacturers do need to step up and be encouraged to employ more idle hands.

What is your position on the implementation of the new tax regime by the Federal Government?

Taxation is the foundation of economic prosperity of any forward looking society, and Nigeria cannot be an exception. We all need to pay tax to be able to demand accountabil- ity from the government. Taxation has become an issue that everyone is talking about across the country as we speak.

Everybody is screaming about the tax issue but the Federal Government is encouraging us all to be civic by doing the right thing while they in turn provide us with some life enhancing projects and policies, but I am advising that the process of making people pay taxes to government should not be something that will cause the masses un- due hardship in addition to what they are suffering now.

As a politician yourself, do you think the drifting of opposition political parties’ gladiators towards the APC will add any kind of value to the party, in terms of positive outcome at the polls?

It might not add in terms of performance, because performance is on the executive to achieve and to show to all. The people that would do the campaign, they will not be those in the executive arm of gov- ernment but party officials.

But the president owes a duty to explain to the people what his government has been able to achieve for them in the last four year. This needs to be done by the president because the buck stops at his desk.

You talked about areas where you think the president should improve upon. But if you want to look at his administration, what would be your assessment?

I can say without any iota of fear and doubt that the government has done very well in so many areas. They have not done fairly well in some other areas where I think they need more improvements. I am aware that they have reduced the country’s external debt to a tolerable and manageable level as we speak.

I think some of the World Bank or IMF loans have been cleared. Now we need to see the rise in the external reserves as a result of this. Our foreign reserves now need to be boosted to further shore up the economy in a sustainable manner.

My advice to our people in govern- ment is to embark upon life enhancing projects and not to spend the resources being harnessed on white elephants orojects that would either be abandoned or not impactful to the people. They should spend it on things that are productive, that we can see.

Let’s come to your home state of Ogun. Governor Dapo Abiodun is almost rounding off; his eight-year tenure is expected to lapse but if you had to assess the governor, what would be your verdict?

I would say he has done very well in all ramifications that you might want to use to do your assessment. He’s not only worker friendly, he has been embarking on a series of projects across the state that people can relate to.

One signature project that readily comes to mind is the Gateway Airport in Iperu Remo. He has also invested heavily in critical areas in the riverine communities particularly in the waterways.

The governor has also embarked on the ambitious deep seaport that is capable of generating millions of employment for the people of the state when operational.

So, he’s done very well. I’m not clear on what he intends to do in the future but whatever elective position he aspires to will enjoy massive support from the people of the state. As a governor, he has tried his best to move the state forward.

What do you look forward to in whoever will be his successor?

They have good shoes to fill. Let him continue on the good work, and possibly bring the dividends of democracy to the electorate. He should try to improve on the work that Prince Abiodun has done for the state in the last eight years.