Dr. Nureni Adeniran is the incumbent Chairman of the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB). He has served as local government council chairman, as well as Commissioner in the state. In this interview with SOLA ADEYEMO, the academic turned lawyer gives reasons why he is the most qualified person, among many that are willing to succeed Governor Seyi Makinde in 2027

You have formally made your intention known to contest the 2027 governorship election. Are you sure you are qualified, going by the declaration of Governor Seyi Makinde that his successor would not be someone of age older than him?

I am very sure you know that the statement credited to the governor has not been heard again in the last one year. Have you heard anywhere that the governor has said anything like that again? No. It was true the governor said so, but the governor is also aware of the fact that that’s not the constitutional provision because in the Electoral Act, in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there was no age limit regarding the age at which you can contest.

The only age limit we have is minimum. For the governorship, you have to reach the minimum age of 35. So, we have minimum age requirements by law and the Constitution.

So, the governor said it that time, maybe in the process of some discussion with some group of people, and in his consultation with people, he might discover that age is not really the major determinant. I mean, the governor would be right, thinking that one needs to be agile. But unfortunately, there are some of us that are over 60 that are very much agile, energetic, more than a 40 or 50-year-old person.

So, how do you reconcile that? Because if you see the way the people are dying, you see somebody of 70, 80, still very agile; You see somebody of 40, 50, that is so rickety. So, the governor may not be wrong in his thinking, because of the experience he has had as a governor. For some of us that have been used to this political work, we know that one will have to be agile. And some of those in their 40, 50 years may not even be able to compete with us. Both in and out.

Many aspirants have been expressing their interest, publicly, to succeed Governor Makinde. What are those things that you think stand you out, that make you a special candidate for this seat?

This is very clear. Well, let me first of all say this: I’m a politician. I’m also an intellectual person. As much as I am a politician, I don’t run down people. I only market my products. I don’t de-market anybody. So, if anybody attempts to de-market me, it is their problem.

But as far as I’m concerned, I don’t de-market people, but I market myself. So first and foremost, you will agree with me and you said it too, that this is not my first time.

And the first time, which was in 2018, ahead of 2019 election, I actually got a ticket through the only known process embarked upon by the then ADC. And I was in the race, along with eminently qualified people of Oyo State, among whom we have:

Senator Femi Lanlehin; Senator Gbenga Babalola; current Senator Yunus Akintunde; current Senator Sharafadeen Alli; current Honorable Member Remi Osseni; Ambassador Taofeeq Arapaja former Deputy Governor; Chief Dele Adigun, who is a former SSG. Barrister Lowo Obisesan is a former commissioner. Senator Kola Balogun was not a Senator then: He was a commissioner, but later became a Senator.

Also was Chief Seye Opatoki, former member of the House of Reps; Wale Adegoke, (he was a member of the House of Rep and Chairman of the Commission Committee in the House of Rep). So also, was former Deputy Governor Remi Olaniyan.

We were all in the race then. So, you will agree with me that those people are not push-overs in our state, and you know the various positions they have occupied thereafter or they are occupying now. So, if I had been in the race with the caliber of those I just mentioned, that’s to tell you that I have a lot to offer.

At the end of the exercise, I emerged among them. That also goes to confirm that even those people, by the time we put it together, have a lot of confidence in my capacity, my ability, and in my performance.

That is one. Two, in terms of politics, I’m highly experienced. Like I said, while I would not de-market anybody, I don’t think there is anybody among us that can boast of more political experience than myself. Because I actually started contesting the election right from 1987. That will be 40 years next year. I contested for the councillorship during the municipal government.

Since then, I’ve never been out of politics. And by 1998, I contested and won election as chairman of Ibadan South-West Local Government. That’s also about 28 years ago and I didn’t just contest and win, I scored the highest vote in the entire state across the local government.

My vote was the highest in the entire state, followed by the vote of Ibadan North won by Engr Adebayo of blessed memory. And you also agree with me that among the chairmen of that period was a former governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, who was chairman of Ogbomoso-North Local Government.

He was my brother, my leader, my mentor of blessed memory. May his soul continue to rest in peace. And I served under him when he was governor. I served as a board member, later commissioner in two different ministries.

When you talk of having traversed the states, I was on the campaign train of Alhaji Lam Adeshina in 1999 and 2003, across the entire states. I was on the campaign train of Otunba Adebayo Alao- Akala two times, in 2007 and 2011, across the entire Oyo state.

I was on the campaign train of our revered monarch, Imperial Majesty Oba Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, when he was the Accord candidate in 2015, across the 33 Local governments. In 2019 and 2023, I was in the campaign train for Engineer Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde.

I was secretary of his campaign council in 2019. I was the presidential campaign coordinator for the state in that 2019.

I was also the coalition agent for the party in 2019. So, in 2023, I was the deputy director general for Seyi Makinde campaign council. And I was also the collation agent. And when you talk of party, I was the publicity secretary of Accord.

I was later the secretary of Accord Party. I have been a national delegate, both in the defunct UNCP of those days, and the Alliance for Democracy, and in the PDP. I’ve been national delegate in those parties. So, when you now talk of politics, I have a clear understanding of Oyo state. All the while I was following all these my leaders across different parts of the state.

I’m learning a lot. I know what the challenges are. I know the ones that this present administration has been able to solve. And I know the ones that are remaining to be solved. And one of my reasons for coming out is to leverage on that and be able to provide solutions to some of these problems.

So, I believe I have what it takes in terms of politics, and public experience in public governance. I said it. I was a local government chairman in Ibadan Southwest. The records are there. I was one of the best local governments chairmen at that time.

Anybody that was around at that time would know that, to the extent that the late governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lam Adeshina, referred to me as: “Eleyi ni ayanfẹ ọmọ mi, eni ti inu mi dun sí, e máa gbọ tirẹ̀ (This is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him). Alhaji Lam Adeshina is not just an ordinary person. Don’t forget he was a teacher, a thorough disciplinarian.

He does not take nonsense. For him to say that and acknowledge that publicly and openly, you know what it means. Late Chief Bola Ige of blessed memory, also discovered me in his time before his death to the extent that he said on one occasion that, ‘oh, so we have people that are intelligent and they are focused like this.

So, if we die now, it’s not that we just die in vain. We already have people that will take over from us. So, when you’re now saying what stands me out, you can see that it is a lot. And to the glory of God, in terms of education, we are not pushovers.

That is well known to everybody. So, I don’t know where or what we will be talking about that anybody will say shut up, except somebody that is coming from background of ignorance. So, like I said, I don’t de-market people.

I market myself. All I’ve said, they are not fallacies. They are empirical and verifiable facts. Good enough, all the schools I attended, they are in Ibadan except when I attended College of Arts and Science, Ile-Ife and I went to the Law School in Lagos.

All others are in Ibadan. In actual fact there’s no other university except the University of Ibadan because that is where I got all my degrees. My first degree, from masters to my PhD and even my law degree. So, I got my Law degree. I went to read Law after I got my PhD.

You are a specialist in your field and I’m a specialist in my field. You can’t dabble into my own field. And in my field, I’m top-notch there. In the field of academics, nobody can say no, he doesn’t know. Even that’s why I went and read Law at an old age.

I came out with a very, very solid, very sound SecondClass Upper Division. So, when some of the young ones cannot even live up to that, though we have a lot of good ones among them that perform better than us.

But then, one is not a pushover. So, technocracy is what you know. I know what I know. And in my field, nobody can say. To the glory of God, I’ve been a teacher, I’ve been a lecturer, I’ve trained people, I’ve become a doctor of philosophy. To the glory of God.

Your credentials are very, very sterling. Now, one thing that bothers me so much now is the party itself. The crisis rocking the party and the fact that only two governors remain. Would that not work against the PDP?

Yes, well, a normal person will have to be bothered about the situation of our political party. A normal human being, even if he’s not a normal human being, he has to be bothered.

But we are believing and trusting in God that this issue will be resolved. And with the latest moves here and there, I mean, we are trying, it’s like there’s likely to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Because our own side, which is the side of our leader, which to us, we know is the authentic and the real PDP, that really wants the party to survive for the purpose of boasting as a vibrant opposition to the ruling party. So, we conducted a convention.

They said, the court said we shouldn’t, that we went ahead to conduct. So, the invalidation. Various court judgments have come out to invalidate the convention, and recognize the kangaroo committee put together by the Wike’s faction.

But in the long run now, with what we are hearing, I’m sure by the time our principal will eventually brief us on development, we will get abreast of some of these. The real crux of the matter in terms of the level at which things are within the party.

So, we believe the party can still survive, especially in Oyo state here, because of the good work of the governor and the kind of goodwill he enjoys among the electorate.