Though, well known in the political scenery in Lagos State and even beyond, he is the leader of the ruling party (APC) in the most populated local government in Nigeria today. The Lejoka of Ijoka Kingdom in Osun State, Chief Solomon Ogundola Adimula in this brief interviews with our publisher beard his mind on the achievements of his party nationwide and many more.
Sir recently you were crowned as the Lejoka of Ijoka Kingdom in Osun State, can you tell us its implication?
I am the Lejoka Ogundola while my political name still remains Ogundola Adimula and my enthronement simply makes me a leader in my kingdom.
As a royal father of his native kingdom, will this mean your relocation from Lagos State to Osun State?
A leader will always be a leader no matter his location, your ability to do what is needful is what matters, which includes planning, directing and co-ordinating, though my enthronement does not require my relocation. Today we have leaders in our mist who are also based in Osun State yet they have remained very active in their various capacities and I am referring to Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, he is one of our leaders.
You have been the party in Alimosho from the days of AD, AC, ACN and now APC, and under your leadership your party has remained successful in all the elections, what is the secret?
There is no secret to it rather it is of hardwork, dedication and most importantly loyalty to the leaders, Alimosho over the years has remained loyal to the leadership of Ashiwaju, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other leaders that work with him, we have followed all their instructions and directives to the letter and this has been the reason APC will continue to win in Alimosho. Loyalty is the key thing.
The emergence of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was like a loyalty test to the party as some members were in disagreement, but today he has been credited to have even done more than his predecessor by some quarter in his one year in office, was that the reason he was chosen?
It is only God that selects a leader and He will do that through another leader, the case of His Excellency Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is a typical example and I am sure everybody is enjoying his good deeds. With his achievements in a year it is obvious that Lagos will be likened to the likes of Dubai by the end of his eight years in office God’s willing.
Are you saying no other candidates or party would have achieved that?
Very confident, no party or candidate would have achieved this in one year, what the APC is doing nationwide is laudable and this is as a result of the ability of the leaders to choose people with good name rather than people with plenty of money and this has resulted the tremendous achievements recorded in just one year in office. Governor Ambode today has done what some governors could not achieve in eight years in just one year. The reason APC won election was not because of money rather it was because of good names; like Asiwaju, Buhari and Ambode and the rest of them, the era of voting people with big money is no longer trending because these are the people that will get there and loot the treasury dry. Good name will simply transform to good results while big money will only land them in prison.
What will you attribute to the good representation Alimosho is enjoying?
It is simply because of our loyalty to the leaders of the party, like I said earlier Alimosho has remained loyal to the directives of the party leaders and this is the result we are enjoying today from Senator Solomon Olalekan Adeola (Yayi), Hon. Oluwafemi Adebanjo (House of Rep), Hon Adebisi Yusuf and Hon. Odutan Omotayon (LAHA Alimosho I & II) respectively.
Would it be right to say Gov. Ambode is paying Alimosho back for her role to his election?
You can’t say that because he has replicated whatever things he is doing in Alimosho in all other Local Government Areas of Lagos State, he is carrying every Local Government and LCDA along in this his administration. The reason why it looks like Alimosho is enjoying more is because it is the biggest LG and both in size and population and people are celebrating him in unison.
APC has been enjoying the crisis in the PDP as it has kept a formidable opposition away, don’t you think this is not good for our democracy?
APC is not afraid of opposition as Nigerians have seen where they were before now and only God knows what would have happened if APC had not emerged. APC has come to stay and determined to stay in power as long as possible simply by her deliverables to Nigerians, with or without opposition we will we remain on course.
Nigerians are crying of hardship under your party’s leadership, what would you say to this?
It is a temporal thing, I give Nigerians another six months that is one and half year in office they will forget that they have ever suffered. My plea with them is to be a little more patient with the leadership of APC because they are putting enough energy to steer the ship away from the sorry position the many years of PDP brought it to.
What is your message to Governor Ambode?
He has been named as “The Sanya of Alimosho” which simply means the saviour and my message to him is to continue the good work to all the good people of Lags State while assuring him our total support.
What is your message to your members in Alimosho and beyond?
I have said it over and over again, they should be focused and loyal to the party leadership at all levels.
