G5 only create anxiety, can't disclose any other candidate other than Atiku —Gbolarumi

In this interview with WALE AKINSELURE, former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi comments on the "Atiku Freedom March", held in Ibadan, flag of Governor Seyi Makinde's second term campaign, the G5 agitation and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) state in the state.

You were not present at Thursday's rally where your party's man, Governor SeyiMakinde, launched his second campaign. Was it intentional?

I wasn't invited. Why do I have to go where I have not been invited?

You contested the gubernatorial primary with Governor Makinde, and in that event, it seemed like you had embraced reconciliation and were now on the same page with the governor. One would have thought that you would have attended the meeting of your party colleague.

I wasn't invited to their show. We are all PDPs; we do ours. He didn't say he defected, so we work for the party and we believe in the principle of party leaders.

But, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, with whom you organized the freedom march for Atiku the day before the Makinde event was present.

She probably had her own reason for coming. Probably she was invited and she thought she could be there. I can't speak for her anyway. She is ripe; she has every right to use her discretion.

You organized the Freedom Walk with Atiku last Wednesday. Have the objectives of the organization of the rally been achieved?

We thank God that the objectives have been achieved. What we planned to do was to sensitize our people and let them know that Atiku Abubakar is coming, that Atiku will be president of this country; that they should come out in droves and vote for the PDP presidential candidate for the next election and we succeeded. We marked ourselves and the people of Oyo State marked us. I think our success that day was no less than 90%.

Is this walk enough? What more do you plan to do to convince the electorate to vote Atiku?

The next is to go for door-to-door campaigns, town hall meetings, piece-to-piece campaign, market-to-market campaign. Additionally, the Principal himself and the Presidential Campaign Council are coming to Ibadan this month. We are preparing for this visit and a much larger crowd will attend the Atiku campaign in Oyo State.

Just like the Governor handled the procedure during Atiku's last visit to Ibadan, how would you ensure that a similar situation happens again during Atiku's visit?

I'm always fine because I believe the more the merrier. If the Governor really is with Atiku, that's fine. He is the governor of the state and he is more or less the leader of the party in the state, according to the principle, although it is not in the constitution of the party. We all appreciate and acknowledge that. If he came in good faith, no problem.

There were chants of Atiku Atiku at the Makinde gathering, what did you deduce from what happened that day?

That is, the people of Oyo State want Atiku; this is to tell you the love they have for the party and for our presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku; it's telling the whole world they love it.

Contrary to expectations, the G5 did not declare its preferred presidential candidate at the Makinde rally. Why?

The G5 just can't. Oyo State is not Rivers State. The people of Oyo State are very smart and they are all politicians. It is the political capital of Nigeria. If Oyo State sneezes, the whole country catches a cold. If they had that plan, I'm sure they changed that plan when they saw all of Ibadan singing "Atiku" "Atiku".

But, they have promised to keep their word to disclose their presidential candidate, in the coming days.

They can't do anything. They're just trying to put everyone in some anxiety. It doesn't work that way. For example, they said that they are all PDP and have not left PDP, and they have candidates competing for positions on the PDP platform. They have candidates for the Senate, the House of Representatives, the House of Assembly on the platform of the PDP. If they have these candidates, what are they talking about? And they said they are not leaving the party. The only thing I can do is ask them to rethink because the sooner the better.

Do you think there are any consequences for Makinde's ambition if he does not openly declare his support for Atiku's presidential candidacy?

I can't beat anyone but I said it during the Freedom March for Atiku that I can...