Buhari is Not Shielding corrupt APC members from prosecution – Prince Adenikinju

Prince George Adenikinju, a grassroots politician, is Caretaker Chairman, Odigbo Local Government, Ondo State, and a strong supporter of Governor Akeredolu socio-economic policies.  In this interview with The Eagle correspondent, he talks about  his political life, the tuition fees crisis in Ondo State, the decision by Buhari to run a second term amongst others:

Who is Prince George Adenikinju?
My name is Prince George Adenikinju. I am currently the caretaker Chairman, Odigbo Local Government, Ondo State and a student, Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Ikeja

What brought you into politics?
Well, I was seeking for a way i could be of help to my people, because for now, there is no more Military regime; we are in the political era and this being the case, i thought there was need for one to contribute his quota in the development of the society. That is why am there. I have to make a good representation of my people.

As a Caretaker Committee Chairman, what would you say have been your achievements over the last few years?
Well, they are many, they are many, and one is in the area of human empowerment.

When I got into the local government, I was convinced that the infrastructure I met  on ground could be better. For a start, i decided to change the outlook, so i repainted them.

If you look at Ore, it is the gateway of Ondo State,  and being the headquarter of Odigbo local government, it is like Lagos, a cosmopolitan area. So, i felt that it needed another market, so i had to build another one, which I named AKETI Market; it has 150,000 stores and there is another complex of 40 stores there.  I have been changing the face of Ore particularly and Odigbo local government entirely.

Concerning the offices at the headquarters,  I made sure I bought new laptops, changed the old computers and systems and renamed them after some of the Students that were given scholarships.

You are a Caretaker chairman and also student of journalism, how are you able to combine the two, given that they are both demanding?

It is not easy to combine the two no doubt about that, but for me, education is just important but compulsory in Nigeria today. What i am doing is to pay the necessary price. Though educated, but one has to continue to improve himself, especially with the position that i occupy today. Upon graduation, the certificate would be useful for me in my choice of career, but much more the knowledge that one would have acquired is important.

Currently, students of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko have issues to settle with the state government bordering on on increase tuition fee. As a representative of the state, what can you say about this development?
I think the students’ unions met with Mr. Governor (Rotimi Akeredolu) few days ago. If you look at it, Adekunle Ajasin is not the only university owned by the state government; there is OSUTECH and we have also have the College of Medicine in Ondo there. Some of the students from these other schools say their fees are higher than that of AAU, and that these range between N120,000 and N140,000, as against N28,000, N43,000  being paid at AAU.

Besides, it is not just about complaining about increment in school fees;  you must also factor the economic situation in the country, alongside income generation in the state.. If you look at Ondo State itself, the last administration left a debt of about N220bn debt.  I think we need to balance all these. Besides, by the grace of God, Mr Governor had listened and i believe he will do something about it.

 The state government said earlier it considered increment because there were other things that required financial resources to be implemented, yet the state is blessed with natural resources such as bitumen and agricultural products like cocoa. Why can’t the government look into these areas in developing the state?
If you come to Ondo State you will see a lot of things Arakunrin has been doing in that area. Take rural development, most especially empowering the farmers and so, the agricultural areas, the area of rural roads, he has been doing quite a lot. I think we need to thank him for going into those areas.

If you look at what the previous administration did, it was in the already developed areas like Akure, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo, Ore; but in the case of Akeredolu, he makes sure he goes into the rural areas directly and make it easy for the farmers. This he does by fixing the roads for them to bring our their products to the market. I think it is commendable.

As a politician, what is your reaction to the decision by Buhari to run a second term bid?
Well, it is a very good development but you know Nigerians, we believe in one term and there is no how you can satisfy everybody, we are all insatiable.

If you take a look at Buhari, and his anti-corruption war, I think he is fighting it well. To get to the room of a former minister and be able to recover billions of Naira and Dollars there, it has never happened. Look at the previous administration, it just believed in, lets take whatever we can see. For the actors, it was a situation of, “this is my own, this is my share of the loot”,, but immediately Buhari became the president, it changed. He started during the electioneering campaign that, he would fight corruption to the last, and I think he is fighting corruption and that is why they say they don’t want him.

Also, you’re talking about Buhari not performing,  and that is because our people are not looking at the grassroots, they are not looking at the Senators, House of Representatives, those representing them. They ask,, are they making good laws for us? Are they working well with the executives? Do they want progress for Nigeria, whatsoever? And they say, no!

You see, majority of them are former governors, they packed themselves into the Senate and House of Representatives, how will they allow the president to work well? It is because they need money from him, N10bn, N30bn and he refuses, so they begin to campaign against him. They say he is an old man and all that.

When Obasanjo was the president, he was  an old man; Mandela was eighty something years, when he was ruling in South Africa, look at Mugabe and co, look at Ronald Reagan of America, they are aged people.

Here, because of ‘Operation loot the Money’ that is why they are after Buhari, because he is not allowing them to do that.

But the public opinion is that Buhari has been shielding his party members from the corruption fight, just like cases of the former SGF, former NIA boss and yet, he is fighting the opposition party, accusing its members of corruption, what can you say to that?
My dear brother, that is politics at the highest level. Buhari is not shielding them. I know Buhari has been prosecuting most of these politicians and some of them are from the APC. You look at the former governors of Rivers and Bayelsa States, they are being prosecuted; look at David Lawal himself, he is being prosecuted.  There are a lot of them being investigated and prosecuted, yet they say he is shielding his party members; they are lying.

And let me tell you, most of these politicians are ready to cooperate with the government to return their stolen loots. They won’t be prosecuted once they return these loots; there is plea bargaining, there is no need to be prosecuted, when they defrauded the federal government of N80bn and able to recover N79bn, is part of it and that is what is happening.

Is plea bargaining the right way to go, instead of convicting and sentencing them to imprisonment?
Don’t let us deceive ourselves, in other climes, if they arrest you of corruption you’re going to be shot but in Nigeria here, they arraign them in court, put them in prison yard and in the night they go to their houses to sleep, in the morning they come back. You better don’t let us deceive ourselves, the best bet is to retrieve the stolen monies. Is it until they bury them or they die, that we will retrieve the money? No. While they are alive, let’s recover the stolen money, and let them be on their way.