‎Kwara State's Sure Alternative, Mike Omotosho (Omo to Sure)

Dr. Mike Omotosho is the Governorship Candidate for Labour Party in Kwara State. In an exclusive interview with Olori Wendy in Ilorin the state capital, he shares his vision and mission for the people of his state, as well as his strategies in achieving his SURE PATH, making him a sure alternative as the first citizen of Kwara State.

What compelled you to run for governorship?

What compelled me is the concern for my people, people want change, we have had sixteen years of uninterrupted democracy and we don't have anything to show for it. My people, the good people of Kwara desire, and they truly deserve more, they are craving for change. 

Gone are the days when we accept few good roads, as evidence of performance, or electricity been more available as evidence of democracy, we are saying NO!!, we need to raise the bar higher, let people know governance is for the people. People wanted change and did not see the opportunity in the opposition party and they say hey!!, why don't we do this government by ourselves, why must we continue to wait for people to govern us, and that's why the Labour party came up, the party for the people and the people are saying we want a change we want to rescue our state from the shackles of poverty, we want to liberate our people from mental slavery. Dr Omotosho is just a face of the struggle. 

Are you saying the labour party is new in the state?

It is not entirely new but people are just beginning to get the vibes. Labour Party has been in Kwara State for so long but not as vibrant. When you have vibrant leader, things will change not because of what I bring on board but because of what I represent. The ideas I represent are the same as the ideas Labour Party represent, don't forget that the Labour Party was actually formed by the Labour which is the work force and Kwara State is a civil service state, the bulk of the people in kwara are workers so even though Labour Party is not new, we are bringing in new vibrant things to it's activities Kwara State.

What are the things you have done to feel you are ready to serve the people of Kwara State? 

In actual fact the only CV I have to show for wanting to be the number one citizen of Kwara are my philanthropic works. To a large extent I have never been a commissioner, a chairman of a council, a counselor not to talk of a representative or a senator but the bulk of work we have been able to do, the lives we have been able to touch far outweighs those that have been in elected offices. We are able to do this by sheer determination and believe that the people truly deserve the best. I was born but leadership thrust upon me. 

Being the first of eight children I had to lead the pack, I had to stand up and fight for my other siblings even when I didn't want to, so at such an early age, the responsibility of leadership fell upon me, it became second nature for me to care about the next person and temporary leave my borders, my worries somewhere in the background and we have done this successfully, very recently as Governor of Toastmasters International District 94 covering all of West Africa, we became the best district in the world. 

August last year I was recognized on stage in Kuala Lumpur as the best Governor in the world. We have been able to do that across the continent why can't we achieve such phenomenal feat in my state.

What strategies do you have in making the state a better place for the people? Your rescue mission?

We have come up with what we call the SURE PATH into greatness as we rescue Kwara State. The SURE PATH is actually an acronym. 

The S is for social security, this is targeted at these set of people, the aged, the pensioners and the less privileged. In fact as a mark of devotion to these project, I have dedicated all of my salary of this 4 years term towards this project. I don't see any reason why people who have labored with the energy of their youth, will stand and die in lines waiting to collect a paltry sum called gratuity, it is abominable. Why can't we just pay them electronically then do a regular census to be sure most of the people who were paid are still with us and if they are not, we know what to do. What is paid them is so meager and it's shameful to let them die in queues. Most of them make repeated trips before they even get this money, this is totally unacceptable. 

The U path is for urban and rural development. We understand we cannot continue to develop one at the expense of the other. So we shall develop the two simultaneously giving each equal opportunity to prosper and flourish. 

The R is for responsible and responsive government, every month we shall let the entire family of Kwara know how much is coming in from federal allocation and how much we have been able to generate internally. We will also let them know how we spend this money, that means, there is not just accountability but also transparency. The responsive path is listening to what people have to say, to a large extent we are the only candidate going around in clusters, bodies, associations, groups, unions finding out what their major needs are so that we can respond to them. At certain communities, what they need might be a town hall, and not a bore hole, so you have got to know what the needs of the communities are. So being responsive means we will listen and hearken to their voice. 

The E path is targeted at educating the youths and then make them employable and we employ them. More importantly, we encourage them to use their vocation by becoming entrepreneurs. We notice that of the Forbes 500 list of the World Richest, none of them is working for somebody. That takes care of SURE. 

P is for productivity, often times we demand from our workers what they cannot provide without training or equipping them or motivating them, but we will train, equip and motivate them, to have the moral obligation to demand performance. And when they are productive, we shall recognize them in terms of regular salary increment, promotions, etc. and we shall work together as a team to know what motivates each individual distinctly. 

The A path is for agriculture. Over 75% of the land we have is arable. We are well positioned in the centre of the country, not so hot or cold so we can produce almost anything. Before we discovered oil, how did we build the road to the West, Cocoa so what happened? We need to go back to basic. For us the strategy is to keep our youths focused and engaged not to be used as political thugs. Our mantra is to keep our youths earning or learning. Positively engaged towards productivity. 

The T is Trade, Commerce and Industry. Gone are the days we had all these in Kwara, the sugar company, Jebba paper mill, where are they today?, they are all gone, dead and buried. They once thrived in Kwara, but now that we have brighter minds, they will thrive again better. We shall bring back these industries either by public or private partnership or by foreign direct investments. Importantly we understand that these may not happen immediately but we will start micro and macro industries, and encouraging SMEs, we will have a special unit for SMEs where they will be able to get loans as single digits, they will have experts attached and working with them to improve their productivity. 

The H is health care and that is the bedrock of everything I have mentioned earlier not because I'm a medical practitioner but because in a society if you don't have health care, you can't even begin to talk of schools or going to work. For us we shall take health care to the rural areas. So that is the SURE PATH we have for this state. 

What is your view about your opposition parties? 

Kwara APC accused PDP of institutionalizing violence through PDP War Council PWC, and less or no accusation coming from Labour Party in the media? 

We are talking to them to be law abiding citizens, we are imploring them to be peaceful, this election should be one of the best election this country has ever witnessed, for this to happen it takes leaders to talk to their followers. In Labour Party, we are quite peaceful, we have never been attacked or attacked anybody. 

We are also the most active in talking to the people, we have gone to the markets, abattoirs,  churches, mosques, we have even stopped on roads to talk to artisans, okada riders, vulcanisers, and there has been no attack because people understand the Labour Party is a party of the people. It is a family party and on the logo, we have the father, mother and the child, in the wheel of progress screaming forward ever. So because of the ideals of Labour Party we do not encourage violence. 

We believe that the people will have the final say so why do we have to attack or kill ourselves, and if you see yourselves as a family, you may disagree but to agree. You may fight so you can settle so when people to attack eachother, we condemn it. We have zero tolerance for violence and we will not join issues with them.

Did you see yourself as a Governor when growing up?, what led you into politics?

 Yes !!, I saw myself as a leader but not directly as a Governor . Few months ago, I wasn't even thinking of running the office as a Governor or even politics at all. 

The Mike Omotosho Foundation, we were doing philanthropic works, like medical mission to 12 different communities for over 15,000 people, gave out treated mosquitoes nets, treated over 6,000 people and gave wheel chairs to over 150 deserving indigenes, we trained over 505 women on vocational skills and linked them up with micro finance banks to get loans and about 85% have paid back, trained over 308 of our youths, we even sent them to Abuja twice, transported, fed, housed, and trained them and gave them certificates and returned them back home safely. 

All these live changing impacts are interventions that went directly to the people, and across the country, so when people saw this they suggested I run for House of Representatives, to have a larger Platform in touching more lives as I have been doing this without any godfathers and certain people are bothered I'm empowering and liberating the people and people won't listen to them so they don't want me to get there, we however, lost by just a vote , meaning people are becoming more aware of what they want. 

Labour Party then came and wanted me to be the face of their struggle. 

What challenges do you have as an candidate?

We don't have the state and federal support but we have the people and the voice of the people is the voice of God. To a large extent we are enjoying full support from the co contestants, we are not having problems beyond usual. 

The basic challenge is getting our message to the people because a lot of people do not believe that this change can truly happen but people want that change. So I want them to know that Omotosho is a sure alternative.

  

Do you think President Jonathan's tenure or administration has worsen or bettered the country?

 

No, I do not think so, I think the Transformation Agenda of Mr President is a beautiful blue print for the development of our nation Nigeria. It is like a seed you have planted and you are tending to, you need to give it time to germinate, I think our people need to be patient with Mr president, this is a time when we are beginning to harvest what we have labored for in the past.

If a new government comes in now, they might throw away what has already kick started so I believe we should allow Mr President conclude his transformation projects. 

If elected Governor how do you hope to tackle men in power or godfathers who might not want certain things changed?

It is already tackled for now, once I become governor, the so called godfathers dare not tell us what to do. The time for them to come in ordinary would have been now to support me, but then my godfathers are the people and I will listen to what the people want me to do.

 

This is a busy period for you how are your family coping?

Ironically, it has been as busy as this, last year I was Governor of Toastmasters for all of West Africa so I had to be traveling to all 15 countries every other week. I had to be traversing most cities in Nigeria because we grew from 34 clubs to 78 clubs  through my sheer determination of my executive so I had to go there to motivate them and I find myself in West African countries I have never visited before so my family understands this is a new phase of the struggle. 

I'm currently the Governor of Rotary International District 9125. As Governor of Rotary I am in charge of all the Rotary Clubs in the North West, North East, North Central and South West, without Lagos and Ogun State, so It has always been a busy schedule for me but what keeps changing is the struggle I'm going through.

What do you do for leisure?

I browse the net, I write, I have 5 unpublished books, one on autism, one on hope, one on developing your leadership skills, one on character, so I write in my spear time, I jot down my thoughts and let them crystallize subsequently.

As an attractive man, how do you handle female admirers? 

First I take that as a compliment, I have been taught to appreciate compliments, infact you forgot to add charming, because to a large extent I think that is part of what we have got going for us. 

There is no problem coping with it. People acknowledge you and give you sincere compliments so you acknowledge and thank them for it as they are sincere.