Mr. John Mayaki is a former Chief Press Secretary to Governor Godwin Obaseki. He previously served as Executive Director of Media under former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and was also the Director of Communication and Media for Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu's Campaign Organization in the 2020 governorship election.
Mayaki, who served as the Chairman of the Edo State Media and Publicity Directorate in the APC Presidential Campaign Council, in this interview, explains why he declined to work for APC governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo. He reveals why he prefers Dr. Asue Ighodalo, candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as a better-prepared option to govern Edo State.
Can you give reasons for saying that your party candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, is not prepared to become the governor of Edo State?
I have had the opportunity to observe him from close quarters and discovered he lacks even the most rudimentary understanding of what governance entails. He has instincts only for politics, unfortunately the retrogressive kind in which some so-called stakeholders are assembled and promised exclusive benefits, which will come at the expense of the state, in exchange for their support. He never engages in discussions about important things such as policies, investment attraction and multiplication, and sectoral reforms and upgrade.
Even worse is the fact that he is unable to inspire confidence and hope for the future, either in speech or appearance. During meetings, he is easily subdued and browbeaten into silence. He is unable to set the stage intellectually or offer any meaningful contribution. The leadership of the party can bear witness to this and that he rarely contributes to deliberations and even if, they are too pedestrian. It is very clear that he is merely a tool used and marketed by a few political overlords to sieze control of the state and regain access to the treasury.
I have also listened to those who worked for his emergence as Senator who have also distanced themselves from him saying he's a used and dump person. They said he is not the type that appreciate people because he believes he paid people to support him and so, they do not deserve anything further in governance. People say he doesn't keep to his words and this I have experienced too. He has never kept to his words and whenever I ask him, he would claim he was too busy and overwhelmed. That is simply not the type of person prepared for governance.
Don't you consider your action as anti party activities?
I consider my action to be patriotic and I do not think that my party, or any party for that matter, should have a problem with that. Every citizen is encouraged to prioritize the interest of the state over and above all other considerations. This is explicitly stated in the pledge we are made to recite at state functions. Additionally, democracy protects the right to disagree. While I retain my membership of the party, I will speak very loudly about our failure to present a good candidate to Edo people just because some people wanted a pliable man that they could dictate to and control doesn't mean I should fold my arms or clap for them. I just discover our leaders are leading us wrongly and for their selfish purpose. Same leaders supporting him now had their own candidates they supported at the primary but because superior interests outside the state foisted Monday Okpebholo on the party, they negotiated their way into the project as against the interest of the state. And so, I decided to support a candidate who has the capacity and competence to develop Edo state and take it to the world stage than someone who will simply come and satisfy his godfathers with state resources. If that is anti-party, so be it.
Canvassing for Ighodalo seems an aberration, what is fueling your action?
I am genuinely convinced that Asue Ighodalo is the best candidate in the race. It is the only reasonable conclusion to draw from a truly objective analysis of all the candidates seeking the office. He has the experience, education, temperament, and network to unlock opportunities in the state and combine human and material resources for sustainable growth and development. This is not mere rhetoric. The man's CV screams competence and accomplishments. He has served meritoriously at firms where only the best are given the opportunity to walk in the door. I don't engage in politics of dishonesty, in which the people are lied to for partisan and personal advantage. I also believe that if more people shun narrow partisan interests for collective good, every party in the country will know to present strong candidates in elections, not barely-literate characters who are completely clueless about leadership and governance.
Do you have any plans of joining the Peoples Democratic Party before the election?
No, I have no such plans. I will remain a member of the APC because it is a party I care deeply about and wish for it to succeed. This is why I consider it important to challenge and defeat the retrogressive actors strangulating internal democracy in the party and whose selfish desire for total control and domination is the reason our party is presenting a candidate for governorship position in 2024 who cannot complete a sentence in the English Language without making ridiculous gaffes that land in the headlines.
Having served as the media director of the APC Campaign council in 2022 and working in APC government in the state, don't you consider your action as a bad example for youths in your party and an affront?
I think the youths should emulate my action and not maintain a slavish devotion to an arrangement that is not in the interest of the state or their own future. They must join me in this struggle to wrestle our party from the retrogressive actors who continue to manipulate and distort our internal selection mechanisms to produce candidate whose only merit is that they will serve as puppet and take instructions. No party can survive this way, and if such candidates make it into office, they will certainly jeopardize the future of the youths. Membership of a party should never be to just hail in docility; young people in particular must form a strong enough wind to compel the party to take their governance interests seriously. Institutions and processes must be reformed to produce outcomes capable of leading the party and the state into the future. I don't think that the youths of my party are happy to have a candidate who lacks the basic capacity to express himself, even if they won't admit this publicly for obvious reasons. I have interacted with the youths and they have voiced their frustration and misgivings too but because of their fear of the consequences of disagreeing with the political leaders, they remain mute like the candidate. Let me say here that I will not live my life for leaders, they have their lives to live just as I do and take responsibility for my decisions. Our young ones should be encouraged speak up rather than allow themselves subjugated by clueless leaders who simply want to continue to perpetuate themselves in power.
Do you think this is the best way to treat a party that you have benefited immensely from?
I think the question you should be asking is if the party has done right by us young people that continue to breathe life into it, through our personal networks and resources, with the embarrassment of imposing an uninspiring Okpebholo as candidate in an important election. I speak of a man who could not complete a two-minute interview, even after he was handed a script to read from. He has no chutzpah or gravitas and lacks the education and strength of character to inspire primary school pupils, let alone the teeming youths of Edo state who seek a modern style of leadership. I have emptied myself into the APC, constantly choosing to serve even when others deserted it because it was neither fashionable nor lucrative to do so.
Unfortunately, this has caused some people to take my support for granted, including that of other likeminded young members of the party, and they continue to make appalling decisions they expect us to accept without question. I am saying no to this, and after the election, we will take stock and determine the future of our party.
I have contributed more than enough to the party than I benefited. My support for the party has put my life on the edge and risk. I have fought battles for the party with personal resources and galvanised the party even when the leaders were disillusioned and disenchanted. I have organised workshops, conferences, seminars, roundtables among others to shore up and galvanise support for the party. For me it is about value addition to the party and I don't see the party giving me opportunity if I have nothing to bring to the table. Unfortunately, our leaders encourage prebendal politics, ethnic politics and nepotism.
How do APC members perceive your action against the party candidate?
Interestingly, a lot of members have expressed support privately. Many of them share my criticism of Okpebholo. It takes only a few days of observing the man to know that he is completely empty. So the members that have reached out have commended my courage and are already looking forward to resisting a repeat of this disaster in the next cycle, because they are also worried that the APC will lose the election. The contrast between Okpebholo and Ighodalo of the PDP is too glaring, and they know Edo people will settle for the obvious better candidate. However, there are some who are critical of my decision and make a public show of it to impress their paymasters in the party. I respect their disagreement and welcome the debate. If only they can justify Okpebholo's emergence with actual facts, not base insults that distract from the meat of the matter.
Have there been moves to reach out to you by party chieftains for you to reconsider you stance?
Yes, but I have politely declined such overtures. My respect for them and love for the party notwithstanding, I cannot willfully mislead the people and encourage them to make a choice I know will set the state back. My conscience cannot abide this. Those who reached out to me to continue to support the APC candidate were also not altruistic but for selfish interest.
Your party members believe a "homeboy" is needed to pilot the affairs of the state in the next dispensation, what's your take on this?
It is the kind of divisive dog-whistle you expect from those who have nothing to campaign with. They simply want to make the leadership of Edo State the exclusive preserve of their ilk who know nothing except politics. They have no professional expertise, which would have made them sought-after in other parts of the country and across the globe, or made any noteworthy contribution to any human endeavor beyond gathering to do what we call 'obubuyeye' at home. This is not what it means to be a homeboy.
A true homeboy is one who makes the state proud with his accomplishments, who can stand on his own two feet, like our ancestors, because of his education and exposure, and who can inspire the state to greatness by leveraging his network and experience, acquired through travel and leadership of organization and projects advancing change in important areas of human life and society. Ighodalo is the most electable candidate as far as I know. That he did school in Edo State does not make him unelectable after all, Okpebholo didn't school in Edo State too. How does being born and bread and living in Edo state qualify anyone for election? For me, it's about competence, capacity and leadership.
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Okpebholo as a homeboy doesn't know how long it takes from Uromi to Akoko-Edo, is that a homeboy? Someone who doesn't know the direction from Esanland to Akoko-Edo? You need to listen to him when he was invited to speak to Akoko-Edo people in diaspora to hear the disaster they call homeboy. The video is available, I can avail it to you and then be the judge.
Do you think not falling into the category of "homeboy" will work against Ighodalo at the poll?
He is the true homeboy making the state proud, not his opponent opening us to ridicule from all and sundry. The people of Edo state have no scales over their eyes, they can see through the cheap gimmick. If you place Okpebholo and Ighodalo before an average youth in Edo state and ask them whose career track and accomplishments they find impressive and choose to emulate, who do you think such a youth will settle for? It is definitely Ighodalo. And he has presented a well-reasoned plan to give every youth in Edo a chance to attain success like he did. He has done this in private capacity for decades, but now wishes to use the instrument of state to bring about widespread and sustainable impact on the lives of all.
For me, the homeboy is that candidate who knows that Akoko-Edo is the most backward local government area in Nigeria. The candidate who agrees that this largest and oldest local government area deserve to be split into two or three just like others. The candidate who understands the uniqueness of the people and their solid mineral resources and knows how to tap into it for the benefit of the people and the state and not Okpebholo who knows nothing about Edo state.
You talked about the diaspora mobilising massively for Ighodalo, do you think this could be one of the factors that will propel him to victory?
Yes, definitely. The support of the diaspora is critical for success. And it is funny that those who are shouting 'homeboy' are equally jostling for the support of the diapora, despite trying to alienate citizens like them with the ill-thought, divisive message. In any case, the diaspora appears to have pitched its tent with Ighodalo, because he mirrors the kind of leaders bringing about development in the first-world countries that they live in. They are donating massively to his campaign and speaking to their relatives back home to give him their support.
Okpebholo was in the US to also seek the support of Edo people and that was were he couldn't differentiate between a zoo and museum? Or the man that was described as a 'slowed engine' by former Governor Adams Oshiomhole? The video is there, I can also oblige you.
