Mathew Oye Oyerinmade is a quiet but acknowledged philanthropist who has contributed consistently and immensely to alleviation, empowerment and community development in different parts of Ondo State. Popularly called MATO, Oyerinmade is a successful businessman, an entrepreneur of international repute, and as a man of remarkable character. The oil and gas magnet turned politician who was born in Oke-Igbo, an ancient town in Ileoluji/Oke-Igbo Local Government Area of Ondo State is an alumni of the then Ondo State University, now Ekiti State University. He also hold a master degree in Business Studies and Business Administration from Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. In this Interview, Oyerinmade expressed his undying love for People’s welfare and well-being which draws him into partisan politics and why he will be contesting for a seat in the Red Chambers of National Assembly to represent Ondo South Senatorial District in the 2023 Election.
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Q: The name Mathew Oyerinmade (MATO) sound new and fresh within the political circle of Ondo State in particular, and Nigeria in general?
A: As you might have read in my profile, I have been operating in oil and gas industry in Nigeria since my National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) days which I did with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in Port Harcourt. However, during my undergraduate studies as a student of Ondo State University, Ado-Ekiti (OSUA), now Ekiti State University, (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, I was actively involved in students’ union politics where I emerged as the Speaker of Students Representative Council (SRC). My role as Speaker of SRC of OSUA exposed me to the national politics of that time of military transition programme of former military Head of States, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. Nigerian Politics then was coalesced around two political traditions deriving from the country’s pre and post independent periods, the progressive and the conservative. The military headed by General Babangida created two major political parties; the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under which the 1993 Presidential Election was held. My believes in the idealogy of the progressive made me as at that time, joined the youth wing of the SDP, and later recruited to advocate for the emergence of the late business mogul, Chief M.K.O Abiola as the Presidential candidate on the platform of SDP in the 1993 Election. The annulment of that most free and fair election in the history Nigeria by the Military Government made me to join the struggle for the actualisation of the June 12 mandate. That was the beginning of my political engagements. At the returned to Democratic rule in 1999, I was still in active service of Shell Petroleum, but I was passively participated in politics both in my home States, Ondo and Rivers where I worked. I supported my friends who had gone into politics, both morally and financially. And since I retired into private practice, those my politician friends and associates have continued to troupe into my residence at home in Oke-Igbo and Port Harcourt, enjoining and persuading me to seek elective position in the forthcoming National Assembly Election in 2023. I am only heeling their calls to serve my people as their representative at the Red Chambers of the National Assembly.
Q; You will be contesting for a seat in the Upper Chambers of the National Assembly in 2023 as a green horn on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State. How do you want to scale through the party primary and go ahead to win the election proper on February 18, 2023?
A: Part of the task I am taking now is to come home to heel the calls of my people who has long before now, persuading me to come and seek elective position to compliment what I have been doing for them on my private capacity. As a good listener who’s ready to serve his people at any time, I start to engage my family, friends and close associates in my new venture. It was after their positive responses and encouragement that I went deep to meet my people at the Grassroots, to meet my party elders, leaders, local government areas executive committee members, past and present political appointees and party faithful in all the wards that made up the Ondo South Senatorial District. Like you said, I may be a green horn in the race, but my early entrance into the race, coupled with my pre-degree, highest standard of patriotism, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, generosity of spirit, loyalty and maturity that I am bringing on board, I can boldly say to you that I stand tall and soar higher and well above my closest rival, in my party, APC or any other political party for that matter. The acceptance of my aspiration and ambition by party faithful in the Southern Senatorial District within these few months of making my intention public, is massive and overwhelming, even beyond human comprehension. That is why this project is tagged “Iyonu Olorun” (God’s Mercy).
Q: As the 2023 General Election is fast approaching, one of the major concerns of stakeholders and aspirants getting ready to participate in the poll is the ongoing amendments to the Electoral Act, especially the Direct mode of primary election as suggested by the National Assembly. What’s your reaction to the said amendments.
A: For me, I believe that the exercise (amendments) is till work in progress, and it also need the full and genuine contributions of all of us, first as patriotic Nigerians before our political affiliations and interests. From all sides, both the National Assembly and the Governor’s Forum are rights within their purview, but we must all allow the overall interest of the Country guide of deed and not personal or sectional gain. In all honesty, those clamouring for the Direct mode of primary as the most democratic system of electing party candidates are right in their own rights because the system will give power to all card carrying members of a political to have influence on who’s going to emerge on the platform, unlike the indirect where only selected and previleged few are to elect the party candidates. But we cannot shy away from the fact that the direct mode will also come with it own difficulties such as huge election budget and authenticity of the memberships of the party. We need to take all these into consideration. The indirect mode, in the interim, can be modified and made to be more transparent, independent and acceptable, thereby, making it difficult to be manipulated and summoned under a Governor’s control. The most important aspect of this is that, let all political parties, at their free will, choose the mode of primary election, be it direct, indirect or consensus. Later, when our democracy get better and stronger, we can then Introduce the direct primary as a sole mode.
Q: What are you going to do different if eventually, you are elected as a Senator of the Federal Republic?
A: My vision, as I have been telling my people, first is to
be a voice for the voiceless and a defender of the cause of the less privileged through Legislative Advocacy.
I assure my people of commitment to ensuring that Constituency Projects and Intervention Programs nominated across my Senatorial District are duly executed and delivered according to specifications and within the specified period. I shall prioritise the welfare and well-being of the generality of the people in the Senatorial District, to the extend that a new lease of life and rekindle hope shall replace their present predicament. The kind of youths and women empowerment initiatives that will be put in place will transect the traditional way of sharing motor bikes, sewing machines, clippers and the rest to a selected few; but a well researched, formulated and executed policy that will totally eradicate poverty and lift the people into financial independent and breakthrough.