The immediate past Director-General of Oyo State Liason Office in the federal capital territory and Lagos, Hon. Wale Ajani, revealed that his desire to raise the bar of governance led him into real politics.
Ajani, who described himself as a political professional, added that politics also allows him to contribute his quota and ensure good governance in Oyo State, particularly Nigeria, in general. “Politics is a vocation to me,” he said.
Hon. Ajani, speaking with members of the Southwest Guild of Online Publishers (SWEGOP) at the Oyo State Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat in Ibadan on Sunday, revealed the role of the former Oyo state governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, in bringing him to local politics.
“I was eventually invited to join the Oyo politics when, as a delegate to the National Conference (CONFAB) of 2014, I met with Baba Rashidi Ladoja, and because of my vibrancy within the National Conference and among Oyo delegates in particular, he encouraged me to come and do the local politics. That was how I joined politics,” he revealed.
Reacting to his feelings when he lost the primary election to secure the Oyo Central senatorial ticket under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ajani said “Of course, I felt bad as a human but no single regret because it is not over until it is over, and for me, God rules in the affairs of men. If God’s will dictates something greater, I remain unafraid and unhurried. Don’t forget His Excellency Gov Makinde was also deprived of his Senatorial ticket at one point, but today, He is the number one citizen of Oyo State. Watch out for that guy; he is on a mission in this country, and grace is sufficient. However, I firmly believe that I could have performed better if I had been given the opportunity, as politics is not a complex field. Politics is engagement, and it is about interest. No matter how much you and I are brothers, if your interest is not captured in what I am doing now, you would work for someone else. And, politics is about negotiation; I might have done it better because I understand the game of negotiation and interest.”
Ajani was appointed as the Director-General of the Oyo State Liaison Office in Abuja and Lagos by Governor Seyi Makinde in 2022. Reacting to his activities and achievements in office, he said, “I want to say this, my nine or ten months in office were a perfect re-learning time for me. However, I wasn’t a person coming to the office who didn’t know what was going there to do. I came in with an apparent understanding, vision and focus because I understand the job assigned to me by my boss, His Excellency Gov Seyi Makinde, as a liaison officer.
“You are to represent your state of interest in the Federal Capital Territory. It is just like a mini-ambassador. Some of us just don’t enjoy appellation. I was one of the first that was given (the title of) youth ambassador in this country in the early 90s. I have also had the privilege of travelling around the world representing young people on different global platforms, so I know an ambassador’s job.
“First thing I did after resumption is to change the image of the Oyo House, which is the Embassy of Oyo State in Abuja, I discovered that many things were not on the right track. You must put everything in order because the image is everything; perception is key. How do you have Oyo House? Looking at the street, you will see Kastina (House), Rivers, Ogun, Ekiti, Lagos, etc. It is only Oyo House that urgently needs a facelift internally and externally.
“Secondly, I was able to restructure the working administration of the staffers of Oyo House that were posted from Ibadan to Abuja. We had a meeting; everyone got a clear duty schedule, so no one was inactive. I checked the office files and discovered nobody has been engaging the MDA on behalf of the state government. With His Excellency Gov Seyi Makinde‘s permission, I could lead the Oyo State team to more than 40 MDA for proper engagement on what Omituntun 1.0 was about and also the achievement of Gov Seyi Makinde. We also tried to make sure that we opened conversations about the short and long-term interests of the Seyi Makinde Administration.
“The third aspect was that one of the missions of the Abuja and Lagos liaison office is to issue the Certificate of Indigene to Oyo State in the diaspora. Before the dissolution of the government, I started the plans to make it seamless, leveraging the latest technology, thereby making it possible to acquire it without travelling long distances.
“The truth is that there are over 300 federal agencies in Abuja. Each of these agencies has one thing or the other that they are doing, and we have 36 states in Nigeria. So, the liaison officers’ responsibility is to ensure you go and ask how my state benefits. They won’t come and tell you. Nobody will come to you and say it because you are a liaison officer or DG. You are just DG in your pocket.
“So you have to go and look for opportunities for your people and engage them because it is not the same grammar that I speak when I get to the Energy Commission of Nigeria that I am going to talk when I get to the Rural Electrification Agency. Before you go to these people, you must do research and know precisely what you will tell them. Otherwise, they would rubbish you or think you are there for a meet and greet.
“So, for me, it was a privilege to do what I had been doing before because, as a former President of the National Youth Council in Nigeria, I could do many things, and it is similar. I was talking to government agencies and development partners on behalf of young people, so it is easier for me to talk to development partners. I want to thank Gov. Seyi Makinde for that opportunity.”
Ajani noted that he spent little time in the office. He got some Oyo state indigenes employed at the federal level.
He said, “At our level in Abuja, we deal with the Federal Character Commission. They base things on quota. We need to keep pushing for more slots due for Oyo State. Within my little sojourn in the office, I got some of our people employed at the federal level, and this can’t happen without the support of the God-sent Sent Man, Gov. Seyi Makinde.
As a former national youth leader, Ajani expressed worry about the high rate of declining values in society, which has hurt Nigeria’s youths.
On his defining moment in life, Ajani said, “As President of the Nigerian Youth Council, I don’t know how many young persons of my age then that had opportunities to enter the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as much as I did. It might not look like an achievement, but I had a boss and a senior professional colleague the day he met the president, and he was shaking with all his money.
“I had been privileged to speak on different platforms locally, regionally and nationally, so nothing would scare me from talking to great people. I have plenty of defining moments but my most defining moments are when I talk to the president of Nigeria and presidents from other countries on behalf of young people. Many people might not like Mugabe, but he was my friend.
