Modele Sarafa-Yusuf is a former Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun. In this interview, she speaks on why she decided to join the 2027 governorship race in the state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU reports
You contested the governorship primaries in 2022 and lost, what gives you the confidence that the game can change this time around, and what’s your motivation now that you are contesting for the primaries against people who probably have a huge war chest?
I’m very proud to be one of those people who want to serve Ogun State. There are so many brilliant people in Ogun State, and the fact that you’re mentioning other people is a pointer to that fact. What changed between then and now? In 2022, as you said, I didn’t secure the ticket. A lot of water passed under the bridge. We don’t want to go back to all of that. But I accepted the result with dignity. I stayed, I maintained relationships.
I stayed connected with the party. I continued to learn under the feet of people who know how politics works in Ogun State. And it’s a different environment. At that time, the incumbent governor was still going to run. This time, it’s a more level playing field. Forget about all of the noise about money. Just look beyond the noise.
The race does not always go to the swiftest. That’s what I know. In life and in politics, anything can happen. I didn’t just wake up and say, I’m going to do this. I consulted with a wide range of people, the leaders, the stakeholders and the party people at the grassroots. It’s possible for us to do this. And I’m really confident about my chances this time around. I was the last time, but now even more so.
In 2022, when you ran against the incumbent, Governor Dapo Abiodun, he got about 1,168 and you didn’t get any votes. What lessons did you learn from there to take forward to presenting yourself as a more credible and electable aspirant in this cycle of elections, and what would you do differently in this particular primary?
You said something that’s instructive. In 2022, we all know what happened. But as I said, it’s water under the bridge because there was no primary. What happened then does not matter.
Again, what happened during the primary you mentioned is the reason I’m addressing it. There were no primary and we all know what happened. But the good thing is that now the Electoral Act gives us the opportunity to all compete on a level playing field. It’s going to be direct primaries or consensus. So, we’re working with all stakeholders to unite the party.
I know that every time people talk about politics, every time people talk about aspirations in government, the first thing they talk about is money. What makes you think that we cannot raise money? And what makes you think it is money only that makes people win power? It isn’t. I didn’t spend too much money the last time but we were able to get people to believe that it’s possible.
By all accounts, I did very well with the people, and the people have continued to say, continue to stay involved, don’t leave the party, don’t leave politics, keep moving and keep putting one step in front of the other. And that’s what we’re doing. This time, it’s a completely different environment. So, I am not worried. I’m not afraid of anyone. I am convinced that all I need to do is to continue to put myself out there, tell people what I bring to the table.
What would you do differently this time around?
What we’re doing differently this time is that we’re consulting more with the party elders. Other than that, we’re doing the same things. We’re going to meet the people. We’re explaining what we plan to do. We’re trying to mobilize the resource that is required.
But as I keep saying, the race does not always go to the swiftest and I’m very heartened by what we’re hearing. It is about inclusiveness. It is about party unity. The party will look beyond just noise. They will look at who can get the votes out without the party having to spend tons of money. They will look at electability.
They will look at who can govern well and bring the We have a fractured party in state, so the party will look at someone who can unite the different competing structures and people together, and that’s where I come in. God has been kind to me. I’m able to get along with all kinds of people. I have relationships with all of the party’s leaders.
I’m not just living as a grassroots. In Ogun State we have 336,000 people who registered as APC members the last time around when registration was on. We can’t meet everyone. But we’re doing what we can for now to meet the leaders. We’re doing what we can to meet the groups. And we’re quietly mobilizing and as I said, I am not worried.
How are you going to manage the resources of Ogun State owing to the fact the state doesn’t have a lot of good roads and there’s no portable water for the people?
It’s a shame that in 2025, our concern is still water and good roads. It’s a big shame. Every time, just as you said, when we were growing up, you just had to turn up the tap and water would run. How did we get to this point where everybody has to dig a borehole, and as you said, where people have to worry about the roads? And look at the concerns, I was looking at a campaign flyer of 1979, when President Shehu Shagari was running.
Our concerns are still the same, water, good education and good roads. Why are there no new ideas? Why is the political space not being expanded to bring in more people who can bring new ideas? Why is it just the same old politicians that are recycling themselves, and they don’t seem to have an answer to all these questions? So, we have to expand the political space and that’s where people like me come in.
So what would you do to ensure that those mineral resources get money for Ogun State?
Ogun State is really blessed and the economic fundamentals are there. What we need to do is to harness those resources and make sure that what we get the benefits to the people. Right now in Ogun State, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) that is being expected for this 2026 budget year is about N550 billion. The budget itself is about N1.6 trillion, and about N550 billion of that is expected to come from IGR.
The challenge is to widen that base and to spend that money in a way that impacts the people at the grassroots by applying it properly and by making sure that money that is budgeted for things are well spent. You can say we’re spending this much money out of this N1.6 trillion budget, for example, but a trillion of it is supposed to go to capital projects.
Some of your critics are saying you are just doing this for visibility, not because you really want to win. How would you respond to this?
I have been in the public eye for the past 40 years. I have made a good name for myself in my career, so to think that I am doing this for visibility is not correct because I already have visibility. I already have a good name. Everywhere I go in Nigeria, people can recognise me. Everywhere I go in the world and there are Nigerians, at the mention of my name, they will remember. So, I don’t need this for visibility.
People are saying you are from the Remo Division. The incumbent governor is also from Remo Division. If you become governor, it means Remo people will spend 16 years in power. How do you want the people of Ogun Central and Ogun East or the people Ijebu Division to support you?
I am from Remo and I own that with my chest. But there are different demographics. Identity politics is what drives all of these conversations. There are geographic demographics – Ogun North, Ogun East, Ogun West, Ogun Central. There are tribal demographics – Yewa, Egba, Ijebu and Remo.
There are gender demographics, male and female. There are religious demographics – Muslims and Christians. So, if fairness matters for zones and regions, why not fairness for gender: For example, I am not running as a woman from Remo because I am from Remo.
The outgoing governor happens to be from Remo. That doesn’t preclude everybody. That doesn’t say anybody else cannot have an ambition to run to be governor in Ogun State. I think it’s unfair for people to peddle that narrative and say just because somebody is from here, nobody else from there can run. Look, the current governor of Kogi State is from Okeni.
The immediate past governor is from Okeni. We have had 14 presidents or heads of state in Nigeria. Two have been from Minna, Niger State. In fact, somebody can walk from the house one of them to the next one. Similarly, two former presidents have been from Kano, while another two have been from Katsina town.
