Osun Candidate Says N500m Is Needed to Challenge Lawmaker

(Pelumi Olajengbesi. Photo by punch News)
Pelumi Olajengbesi, the Accord Party candidate for Oriade/Obokun Federal Constituency, says he was told he would need to be ready to throw away N500 million before anyone in Ijesa North would take him seriously as a political contender.

In an open letter to elders and stakeholders of Ijesa North, both home and abroad, Olajengbesi urged people to resist what he described as an effort to keep the incumbent lawmaker, Wole Oke, in office for 28 years.

A copy of the letter was made available online in Abuja on Thursday.

He recalled that in August 2016, at the age of 30 and with limited money, he first showed interest in running for the House of Representatives.

He said Hon. Niyi Ajifowobaje, then one of Oke's key political associates, told him any aspirant in Ijesa North must be prepared to throw N500 million into a river before even considering the seat.

Ajifowobaje also allegedly said a candidate could need as much as N1 billion to be taken seriously.

Olajengbesi said that in July 2017 he gathered a group of young people in the constituency to study the incumbent's strengths and look for better ways of representing the people.

The group produced a 16 page report, which he included in a book he was writing.

The report concluded that money was the lawmaker's main advantage, not ideas, innovation or inspiration for young people.

It said the lawmaker was bringing money to the table and nothing else, with no ideas, no innovation, no storytelling and nothing to inspire younger people, just money without excellence.

The report also noted that many professionals and educated people in the area were unhappy with the quality of representation but were unwilling to back a challenger unless they believed he had enough money to last the contest.

Olajengbesi further alleged that the incumbent had built an image of political dominance that discouraged potential challengers.

He claimed that Oke once boasted in a private conversation about his election spending and how he had dealt with past challengers.

According to him, Oke said he had paid the return trips of some aspirants living abroad and settled local contenders financially.

Olajengbesi declined to name the people allegedly mentioned.

He also claimed Oke dismissed the ability of anyone in Oriade or Obokun to match even 20 per cent of what he was prepared to spend on elections.

Vanguard could not independently verify these allegations.

Efforts to get a response from Oke were still ongoing when the report was filed.

Olajengbesi said many respected professionals and business people in Ijesa North had stayed out of politics to protect their reputations.

He urged them to rethink that stance, warning that if people of integrity keep away, future generations could be left with a system driven mostly by money.

He said he had overcome what he called poverty of the mind and rejected the idea that a young man or woman from Oriade or Obokun must first find a billion naira before anyone would listen to them.

He said his campaign was about a different model of leadership, where candidates are judged by their records, plans and values rather than their wealth.

He added that when he was 30, he was told to throw N500 million into a river before he could even think of representing his people, and he wants the next 30 year old to be asked a better first question, which is what they will do for Ijesa North.

He called on the people of the constituency to take back their political mandate at the polls and make the money of the incumbent useless.

He closed with a Yoruba saying that means wealth is in the forest, a call to reclaim what belongs to them.