Prince Aroloye who recently celebrated his 1st year in office as the Executive Chairman of Idanre Local Government Council, spoke to Event Diary Lifestyle’s Princess Adeola Shittu on his foray into politics.
For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us who Prince Kayode Aroloye is?
Prince Kayode Aroloye was born into the ruling Aroloye family of Idanre in Ondo State. I started my primary education at UMC Primary School, Molete, Ibadan, between 1969 and 1975, and proceeded to Christ's High School, Ibadan, for secondary education which I eventually completed at Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure in 1980.
I subsequently bagged a Diploma in Journalism in 1985 from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos.
I started business at a tender age, then I was doing cocoa business, I later moved to timber business and now I am into construction before I came into politics and was elected the Executive Chairman of Idanre Local Government Council over a year ago.
Congratulations on your recent award as the Best Local Government Chairman in Ondo State. How does this make you feel?It makes me feel good just like any other human being. When you are working and people are looking at what you do and they appreciate your impact, it will make one feel he or she is making impact and the zeal to do more. A lot of people are working and no one notices them but when you work and people are looking at what you doing and giving you reward for it, it makes me feel good and fulfilled.
As a successful businessman, what inspired you into politics?
The zeal to serve my people, but it will interest you to know that I didn’t really know how I got myself into politics because before I joined politics fully, I love reaching out to people, supporting them in my own little way, and this has been part of me since I was young. There is nothing I can’t give to people, I am not praising myself and it’s very difficult for me to change myself.
I am aware that politics can be dirty but till we have some decent people in it. If we all run away from it because it’s dirty, then who will now play the game? My coming into politics is because the likes of my mentor, Arakunrin Akeredolu, is into politics and I felt if Aketi can do politics, then nothing should stop someone like me to join politics because Aketi is known to be a forthright and disciplined person and he doesn’t believe that nothing is impossible and that same spirit inspired me also. So when I took the decision to join politics, I felt what can I do for my people or better still how can I better their lives and also serve them in my own level, I then felt let me start from Chairmanship and thank God for where we are today, we contested and won the election and today we have no regrets.
I will be honest with you, it has not been easy and many of them don’t even see me as a politician because there are so many things that I do and my people will say, if I was a politician truly, I will do it different but as far as I am concerned, I see my people as one irrespective of their political affiliation. I have taken some decisions that my close political associates told me that: ‘Kayode, you shouldn’t have done this and my question to them was, are these people not Idanre indigenes? But I will use this medium to apologize to my political associates that I might have offended by my actions or steps, but the truth of the matter is that we need to forge ahead and unite among ourselves. Again, don’t forget that my name is Aroloye, I am a Prince from this town (Idanre), so the name is bounding and so I can’t avoid to be seen to be partial. I have no problem with my people and they know me to be a straight forward person, I don’t have biased mind with anybody and I say it the way it is with the fear of God. So I have no problem coping with politics. Even before I went into politics, I am close to my people, I am always in Idanre with them and they know me as a ‘homeboy’.
Why Chairmanship and not any other elective position, like House of Assembly, House of Reps or even the Senate?
Hmmmm, the truth of the matter is that, the Local Government Chairman is the closest person to the people and we act as an intermediary between our people and the government. As a Local Government Chairman we feel their pains before they complain, we give them listening ear unlike members of House of Assembly, House of Reps or even the Senate. I was a successful businessman before I ventured into politics, I am not here for money making rather than to serve my people and if there is a need in the future for me to go to the Senate or Assembly or Reps, I will leave that decision for my people and political party to decide but now I am happy where I am. It will interest you to know that I get this personal satisfaction when I put smiles on people’s faces and the last one year as the Executive Chairman of Idanre has given me greater opportunity to reach out to more people and I am happy and satisfied with that.
You came into office over a year ago, let us into your achievements in the last one year?
To the glory of God, for the journey so far. God has been able to use me in Idanre. When I look at the money generated and what we have been able to do, I am so overwhelmed because you can’t compare it. We have been able to come this far through prudent management of funds. We have been able to grade over 30 kilometers of roads, we have completed road that has been abandoned for more than 16 years, now it is passable. Though we have not finished it, we want to do the drainage but the rain has been our major challenge and once the rain stops we will go back to work. In the meantime, it is still passable for vehicles. Also, the Local Government Secretariat building was constructed 20 years ago but abandoned. Work has resumed there and it is almost at completion stage, hopefully before the end of the year, we will commission it. More importantly when I came in last year, we got baptism of fire when the late Alade Okun of Alade died and there was violence between Alade and Odode. That singular act opened my eyes to the age long rivalry, misunderstanding, and hatred among my people but with the help of God and some personalities in town, we were able to set up a reconciliation committee and this committee brought the people together to express themselves and find a way out. I am happy to say that we have achieved much in this area and any time from now, we are expecting the committee report that will provide lasting solution to the rivalry crisis between Alade and Odode. It’s a great achievement to me and I am happy that our people keyed into it. Also, we have done a couple of culverts in some areas, we are about filling the roads, so that the Okeodo road will be passable. We have been able to open up roads and also link many of them and as we speak, we are working on the farm road, this will enable our people to transport their produce or goods to the city. All this are achievable with the help of God.
It will interest you to know that, my Local Government (Idanre) is the most peaceful Local Government in Ondo State, if not in Nigeria. What we did, 3 weeks after assuming office as the Chairman was to call a meeting with all the ethnic leaders including the fulanis, I mean the Miyetti Allah, and I made it clear to them that, we have been living together for long and that we have no plan to send anybody out of our community, rather we are going to live in peace and harmony in Idanre and we all agreed. The issue of insecurity in our society can be solved through dialogue. They all know that my doors are always open to them and we do meet quarterly to interact apart from our Security Council meeting and we sometimes invite the leaders of the communities to address us on their needs. They all have a way of reaching out to us and we are always ready to attend to them as much as we can and where they need advice, we give them. This and a couple of other activities, have made Idanre peaceful and I thank God for that. Security is about engagement and dialogue, as long as one group is not feeling inferior to another, if I offend you, tell me, and we are able to talk it out and I am able to say sorry, then we move on. I want to appreciate God and the good people of Idanre for the peace we are enjoying in the kingdom.
With the issue of paucity of funds, how have you been able to generate funds to actualize projects?
Like I told you, it was through prudent management of funds and we have been able to raise our IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) in my Local Government in the last one year by 300 percent. We have been able to block leakages and we are doing more of it. Recently we engaged another group of people for the blocking of more leakages, I got the information through some intellectuals within the system. It is about right thinking and the cooperation of my people as well as my ever supportive management team. They are fantastic, they have come to know me that I have passion for my people and I have come to work and not play. My people first and other follows.
As one of the active and vibrant LG Chairmen in Ondo State, how will you rate the administration of the state Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN)?
You can only rate when you compare Arakunrin’s tenure with the past governments in the state. Even the blind can see that OndoSstate is better off in terms of infrastructure across the 3 Senatorial districts. Like I said earlier, I was happy when people like Aketti won the election, I knew that Ondo State is in for a good ride, many of us are not surprised by this and I can tell you that people of Ondo State are yet to see anything. It is just unfortunate that Arakunrin is coming on board when there is shortage of funds in the country, but yet his achievement in the last 5 years can’t be compared to those of previous administrations. I will urge our people to continue praying for the Governor, the state and Nigeria as a whole, that things should get better and also pray for more funds, so as to achieve more project implementation.
What is your opinion on the issue of Local Government autonomy?
You see, there are many things that surround the issue, and naturally I will support it because it means that I can do and achieve more as a Local Government Chairman for my council, and more money will come to the Council. Though it has not be put into Law and I will say it has not been pushed the way it should. A lot of things are tied to it, you have to look at the workforce per each Local Government, what is coming in per Local Government, there must be a restructuring before we talk of Local Government autonomy as far as am concerned. I will rather for now say our first step should be agitation for redistribution of money that comes from the federal allocation to the Local Government purse, this should be the first step because if you give money to Local Government and yet some of them can’t pay salaries, what then is the reason for autonomy? Don’t forget that Local Government is the closest to the people, and any establishment the Federal Government is setting up is sited in the Local Government areas. So what we need to do is to redistribute the money, where more money will be available to the Co with more projects executed and prepare them for the future. To me, I think that should be the first step, but if we say autonomy, then the question should be, are we ready for everything attached to it, or else there will be problem, I can assure you of that. What is more important is greater redistribution of money so that more developmental projects will be achieved at the local level. That is my view.
How have you been able to strike a balance between your social life and politics?
Both work together and they help each other. Though before coming into politics, I enjoy my social circle with my friends and because of this I am always coming to Idanre to catch my vibes and now that I am into politics and as LG Chairman, we attend functions, we try to make our people happy by gracing their events, even if I will be there for just 10 minutes. I am not a party freak but due to my position, I have to attend functions. Blending the two together is very easy and of course my people are enlightened and this makes it easy for me.
Prince Kayode Aroloye is a ladies’ man, no doubt about that. How do you cope with and handle female admirers, especially in politics?
The question should be: how are they coping with me (laugh). We give God the glory, everybody is born with his or her own peculiarities and for this description you are giving to me, I return all the glory to God. But the fact is, you don’t need to be a politician before you become a ladies’ man. Yes, we have so many female politicians, especially at the local level and most of them are there for one reason or the other but if you want to have a good reputation and respect in politics, you must know when to say no or yes if you see a female politician who is interested in you. I thank God for the grace He gave me in handling matters like this, I don’t turn them down because before they come to me, I have gone to them and we relate nicely and I put everyone in their place because I don’t want them to have a misinterpretation of me. For instance if you are hostile, they will say don’t mind him, he is too full of himself, so I am able to balance it. Women are part of our daily activities, even among my business associates, I have a larger percentage of women working with me and we get along very well. Prince Kayode Aroloye is just himself but I appreciate good things.
How do you relax?
Let me tell you this, I can be very boring because I am more relaxed when I am alone in the comfort of my house and that is the time I have to think and refresh myself. However, I play table tennis with my friends in my house. I work a lot, I task my brain a lot and when I have the opportunity to relax, I want to be alone.
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