He spoke with PASCAL NWIGWE in Abuja. Excerpts

House of Representatives members from Osun State met recently on some political issues in the state. What is the position of things?

The recent development in Osun is the usual squabble, within political parties. We only wanted to nip it in the bud. There is peace in the state more than is evident in most other states. The royal fathers are at peace; there is peace between Ife - Modakeke peoples. Politicians and civil servants are at peace. It is not comparable with what is shown of Anambra. The little matter arising is an in-house affair that is about being put behind us all but some people are yet to come to terms with severance of their political aspirations after it was decided that the incumbent governor should re-contest in 2007.

Is the discord between the supporters of Governor Oyinlola and Senator Omisore who is regarded as his godfather?

The electorate in Osun put Olagunsoye Oyinlola into office and not any godfather. All of us in Osun PDP played one role or the other. The godfather theory is not applicable to Osun and it does not seem to thrive there as a phenomenon. Omisore, as at that material time, was not a free man. He was in custody then. He was not around for the primaries and neither was he around for the polls.

What then is the problem?

There are no killings for politics now in Osun. The problem is a misunderstanding emanating out of a foresighted move to ensure and secure peace before 2007, in 2007 and after it. We do not want politicians fighting to the detriment of the party. It was, therefore, decided that the incumbent Governor Oyinlola should be the party's flagbearer in 2007.

Anybody struggling for the position with him will be racing against peace and Oyinlola on the other hand will risk abandoning the work he is doing and start politicking to secure his seat. We don't want that.

What right has anybody to determine the political ambition of another in this way?

No one can do that, of course, but we are not caging anybody or imposing anybody. We have every right to seek peace for our state and party through lawful and due democratic process. Almost all the party members reasoned that it does not make sense to vote in a governor and then throw him out midway into his programmes and bring in another person to start a series of others. If the governor's performance so far has been far below expectation, it would have been different. We felt he is doing well. The party elders and leaders decided that nobody doing well should be asked to stop. The PDP is enjoying the support of the people now in Osun because of the administration.

Does that justify the exclusion of some influential and knowledgeable party men in the decision?

Nobody was excluded. Osun has just come out from inter-communal fratricide, assassinations and public uprising against the legislature. Now there is peace. There is development. I admit that we have acted out of fear of going down this same road. I agree that having been bitten by the snake of crisis, we are now scared of any crawling creature and so we are locking our windows and doors to keep them out. But know that what ever we are doing and have done was not done behind anybody who should be in the picture. There was an invitation to all and sundry with stakes in the PDP in Osun and we all agreed that there is no vacancy in the leadership of the state as far as our party is concerned. We agreed that everybody should, in the interest of peace and progress, put their ambitions on hold so that we can move our state forward. We cannot afford more crisis because we took power from an ethnic party based in the South-West and which was also like a popular cultural movement. We won partly because they were not delivering on dividends of democracy and partly because they were in crisis. If we should come short of this and appear to be in crisis, then we run the risk of losing their trust.

Are you convinced that those of you from Osun in the House of Representatives have done enough to position the state ahead of 2007?

We issued a communiquZ after our meeting in support of the continuation of the incumbent governor. I have also discussed with Omisore and he said that he did not at any time intimate anybody about any gubernatorial ambition of his for 2007. Omisore is not even happy that anybody should link his person with any crisis in the state about any ambition. He said he has never had gubernatorial plans for 2007 and I trust he will stand by his word.

QUOTE

The electorate in Osun put Olagunsoye Oyinlola into office and not any godfather. All of us in Osun PDP played one role or the other. The godfather theory is not applicable to Osun and it does not seem to thrive there as a phenomenon. Omisore, as at that material time, was not a free man. He was in custody then. He was not around for the primaries and neither was he around for the polls.