How I will change Lagos East if elected senator —ex-Assembly clerk, Abiru

Ganiyu Olusegun Abiru, the immediate past Clerk/Permanent Secretary, Lagos State House of Assembly, has indicated interest to contest the senatorial seat in Lagos East. Abiru, who asserted that he would not be a greenhorn in the Upper Chamber if elected in 2019, speaks about his vision and mission, among others, in this interview by BOLA BADMUS.

Towards the end of your career in the civil service, you were clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly; invariably, you were in the midst of politicians. How were you able to manage them, and to

I would say that Lagos State is very lucky to have the kind of honourable members that we have. I’m not saying this to patronise them. I’m saying this out of a sense of responsibility and out of the fact that I worked with them. When you look at the quality of members there in terms of education and exposure, you will agree with me that the clerk or secretary who works with them can hardly have problems.

The members are there for the interest of their constituents and to make laws and some other functions. So naturally, everybody has different backgrounds, and these are party members with different qualifications, with different family backgrounds, with different orientations and for you to be able to manage them, you have to come down to their level. You have to be extremely patient, you have to persevere, you have to endure, you have to be knowledgeable about your job.

 

Will you say your last experience in the service influenced your decision to go into full time politics and wanting to aspire to the Senate?

I saw how laws are enacted. I know all the intricacies around the law. I know political intrigues and I know everything that you can talk about politics. If you are talking about Lagos politics, it begins from the Lagos State House of Assembly. My interactions with them also have exposed me to a lot of things and good enough, the Lagos State House of Assembly, like I said, is a well focused and well structured organisation that places high premium on human capital development.

But having gone out of the service and consequent to the demands of my people having seen my performances through the last Ikorodu Day, which, perhaps, was the best of the celebrations ever since they started 26 years ago, people opined that if I could, within few months, organise a festival in such a grandiose and unprecedented manner, I should be encouraged to go to the Senate. Initially, I didn’t want to go to the Senate. There was something that I was looking for, but my people said I should go to the Senate and here I am. I’ve been trying to consult and to see what I can do to realise this political ambition and with God on our side, it is something that is doable. It is a familiar terrain.

 

Somebody is occupying that position right now and from the way things are going, it is obvious that he is interested in going back. How do you intend ensuring you are victorious at the primaries?

There is no harm in anybody in the legislature wanting to go several times over, because the constitution allows that. The legislature, unlike the executive, is not tenure bound. The more you spend your years there, the more experienced you are likely to become and I’m not saying that I’m better than the person that is there, but I know for sure that I can improve on what he has done. I’m a retired public servant and I am not an advocate of money politics. I don’t even have money to spend, but I know that I want to offer myself in service to the improvement of Lagos State, the improvement of Nigeria and also the improvement of Lagos East Senatorial District.

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Talking about dividends of democracy, what are those things you know that your constituency needs that you want to pursue if given the opportunity?

When you look at the population of the youth generally, in every nation, they constitute over and above 60-65 per cent and that means that segment of the population is a critical factor in the development of any nation. There is wide unemployment, but then there is employment. More of our youths should look inwards.

If on a yearly basis, you are able to train 30, or 40, or 50 people, you would have done a lot of good for a lot of persons because it’s a system that those persons you are training will also train some others and that person will also train others and by the time you know it, by the time you look at the four years of your tenure, you would have trained about 200, 300, 400 people and taken them off the streets.

By the time we come on board, we will have offices in all the local governments which are under Lagos East Senatorial District. When you look at this side, the Lagos East Senatorial District, we have not really tapped into our agricultural potential.  In Ikorodu here, there is a place that you find crabs; we call it crab colony. It’s there, there is never a time that you go there and will not see crabs. The tourist attractions are numerous.

 

You talked earlier about being propelled from your constituency to go for elective position. Who are those power blocs in Ikorodu that you are sure are behind you?

I wouldn’t want to sing my praise. I don’t want to exaggerate issues but you can do your investigation and see that God is with us and our people are equally with us. Like I told you initially, I didn’t want to come out for Senate. I had my eyes on something else but the pressure was so much to the extent that even the traditional ruler around and the elite and particularly the youth came to me. I can say for sure that I know what I am doing and if elected, we will change the face of politics in Lagos East Senatorial District. The dividends of democracy will be felt by the people in the place. Not in terms of monetary gifts, but in terms of what will impact their lives eternally.