Honourable Kemisola Adesanya, is the lawmaker presently representing Akure South Constituency 1 at the Ondo State House of Assembly. In this interview, she speaks on why she is aspiring for the Akure South/North Federal Constituency seat in the 2019 elections under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among other issues in the state. Abiodun Awolaja brings excerpts.
Why are you aspiring to be a federal lawmaker in the 2019 elections?
My aspiration to represent the people of Akure South/North Federal Constituency is born out of my obedience to the call by women, youths and people from the grassroots in my constituency. So many youth and women groups, after seeing my achievements as a two-term state lawmaker, said they believed that if given a higher platform, I would make better impact and add greater values to their lives. There has been a vacuum: Akure South/North has not enjoyed effective representation in the last eight years. The people of my constituency clearly understand this, and that is why they believe I am the most suitable to fill such vacuum. And it will not be fair if I ignore this call. The people may never forgive me if they fall into another wrong hand in 2019.
And again, our children, the youth and the women who should be given the most attention in policies and programmes of government, have been highly neglected; they have been left in the throes of poverty and it is someone who better understands this that can change this tide. As a lawmaker for close to eight years, I have had the privilege to have very close contact with people at the grass roots. I know their plights. Some of them don’t even believe there is a government at the centre because those who are supposed to serve as the bridge to channel their needs to the government at the center have neglected them. They have abandoned governance for good life and politics in Abuja, leaving the people to suffer.
Considering the large number of male aspirants jostling for your party’s ticket for this office, do you think you stand any chance?
First, we must understand that it is only God who enthrones. Bearing that in mind will help us and guide us as politicians and aspirants not to be too desperate or see any office as a do-or-die affair. As a politician, I will put in my best to effectively put my plans and manifesto forward to the delegates and the people of my constituency. My antecedents are there to speak for me and win me the party’s ticket and the general election. I am not a neophyte in the constituency. The people know me; they believe in my good work and the great values I have added to lives. I strongly believe my good deeds will speak for me anywhere any day. It is not about the gender; it is about competence, effectiveness, experience and antecedents. These are what I have to offer, and I know masculinity or feminity doesn’t play any role in election in my constituency. If it did, I wouldn’t have been elected to represent my constituency at the State House of Assembly for two terms.
When you talk about capacity to face the ruling party, you must also not forget that there are two state constituencies in Akure South Local Government. My party lost one in the 2015 elections to the APC and we also lost the House of Reps seat and the Senate too to APC candidates from Akure. I am the only candidate who won election in Akure in the 2015 elections. That alone is enough to tell you about my popularity, acceptability and the love the people have for me at the grassroots, which cannot be matched by the APC’s candidate.
You have spent seven years serving as a lawmaker in the Ondo State House of Asembly. What have you done in your constituency that gives you so much confidence that the people will vote for you to represent them at the House of Reps?
In the past seven years, I have been effectively and actively performing my legislative functions. I have sponsored and co-sponsored bills that add value to lives of the people of my constituency and Ondo State at large. As a bridge between the government and my people, I have been able to bring dividends of democracy to my people in terms of physical and non-physical values. To mention few of the physical projects, I was instrumental to the donation of transformer for rural electrification of communities in my constituency. I have been able to equip health facilities in my constituency, especially in the rural areas; empowerment for the women has not stopped in the last seven years. And in the area of education, I have assisted and made financial donations to indigent and non-indigent students in my constituency to aid them in their academic pursuit, among many others.
Also, the Kemisola Foundation Skills Centre has trained over 300 people in different skills like tailoring, computer skills and hair dressing skills and many other skils. We don’t just train people: after training, we empower them with the necessary facilities and equipment needed to ply their trade and make a living for themselves. These are the things we have done and still doing for the people. So many of them are doing fine in their businesses and from their testimonies or whenever I have encounter with some of them on the streets, they are always full of appreciation. This always fills my heart with joy and excitement. It makes me appreciate God for the impact He is using me to make in the lives of the people.
These and many other achievements, coupled with the fact that the people themselves have been calling on me to go to the National Assembly, give me the confidence that I have been faithful with the first and second mandate given to me, and the people will always stand by me.
and then