Honourable Moshood Salvador one of the political cheiftains in lagos State discusses with SUBAIR MOHAMMED the aspects of his life that are not public knowledge. Excerpts:
How did politics find you?
First of all, I am not a 100 per cent politician. I am 20 per cent a politician and 80 per cent a businessman. I give 20 per cent of my time to politics and 80 per cent to my business. It is the way I handle things that gives me enough recognition to get people’s confidence and represent them.
I would have been busy with a certain installation at the moment if not for this conversation. Venturing into politics was not predetermined. One day, I was in my office at Mushin area of Lagos State when an unfortunate incident happened.
There were two little children from one family trying to cross the ever-busy Ikorodu road from the Onipanu end to the Shomolu axis to fetch some water and they were crushed to death by a vehicle. They died because of water. I was so touched by this sad and unfortunate incident. So, I thought of what I could do as an individual to prevent a repeat of such incident and that was how I started free water distribution for residents of Onipanu, Shyllon, Owodunni and the environs. A water tanker would go round to distribute water to the residents and when the whole tank is finished, it would go back. I did this only on Saturdays and Sundays. I did that out of the concern I have for the people.
And thereafter?
During the NRC/SDP political era, the leadership of NRC within my district came to my office with an invite to join them. They wanted me to represent the party at the polls. That was how I was invited into politics. But the truth is, I never gave politics a thought because I detested it a lot. At that time, there was a man in Mushin, in fact, he is still there till date. He is even a member of my group, Conscience Forum. He was the council chairman. When they started their campaign during election, I would ask my staff to barricade the space so that they don’t go beyond the marked line.
I detested politics so much so that when they came, I rejected the offer. My mother too had kicked against my going into politics. But they were so persistent that they invited a monarch from Ojuwoye to plead with me. I was so humbled with this. What more do I need if I could be this honoured? So I appealed to my mother and she agreed. So that was how I accepted the offer and I was given the ticket to run for the House of Representatives under the National Republican Convention (NRC).
What are the memories from your childhood?
The value and morals inculcated in me by my parents. I will forever live with them. There is something I tell my children, I am blessed with certain wisdom from God. An incident happened when I accepted the offer to go into politics. It is embedded with a lot of life lessons.
After I had accepted the offer to join politics, some leaders of the party came to me saying that I had to package some amount of money for some people. I quickly told them to go away with their offer.
After that encounter, another group came to me explaining why I had to part with some money, that politics doesn’t work like that. Again, I maintained my position that, that was how they have been doing it without succeeding.
I asked them to point to me former honourable members that had represented the party for me to visit them. They mentioned two names and I paid them an unscheduled visit. On getting there, the man was wallowing in poverty. The wall of his room was stained with the blood of bedbug. He was sleeping on a student bed. After seeing everything, we acted as if we had come to greet him and after a short while, we left.
That must have struck a chord
The following meeting on a weekend. I told them not to look at me as if I am spending government money. I am spending my money therefore they should never ask me for anything. If you are not ready to contribute your efforts, if you don’t have money, then contribute your morals for the success of the party. Never say you are selling your ticket to me, to hell with your ticket. This was how they treated the man we went to his house to the point that he got to. Can he ever recover in his life? You needed to see how skinny he had become and the rubber slippers (flip-flop) he had on his feet. Politicians know how to finish people’s life and I tell you, it is still happening till today.
Out of 24 members of the House of Representatives who represented Lagos State between 1999 and 2003, more than eight of them are dead and they died of frustration because they had no money – nothing.
How did they become that bankrupt?
I kept telling them to face their business and then use the proceeds to assist the people. But once they rely only on politics, there won’t be anything to take care of the needs of their followers and they will not stop coming. I will never forget that experience in Mushin and it is still happening. If you see a politician few years after leaving office, you won’t believe the transformation. He would have changed because many of them have nothing to live on outside politics. After four years, he has no cars, no home. What is actually going on in people’s lives? They need to go for business and not rely solely on politics.
I was one of the most popular representatives in the House during my time. I was in charge of their welfare and I would never take or give bribe to anybody.
Go to PDP, if they want to do any congress or primary election and they are looking for an honest person that won’t take bribe, they would say, go and look for Salvador. I was asked to go to Adamawa State to meet with the serving governor then. The money he gave me which you cannot reject because he was sitting governor, I collected it and gave it to the national chairman. These are the values I grew up with.
Why do you strive to be different?
It has everything to do with how my parents brought me up. Look, I have a nine-year old, if I call him out here now and ask him what our number one law is, he will tell you, you must not lie.
Don’t lie; just tell me the way it is. I don’t beat my children but they will never lie. So that was the way my father trained me. I happened to be the last born of my father. I was always with him in everything he did.
By the time, I was 24 years of age; I had started signing his cheque. That tells you the level of trust and confidence he had in me. My father had a safe where he kept his money but I had the key and nobody ever suspected the keys were with me. We were spoken to with sign language and gesticulation and we understood what it meant. These are the trainings I had from my father.
Any life regrets?
Never! Why should I have any regret in life? Both in politics and in my marital life, I have never had any cause to regret. Let me tell you why most politicians regret in life. It is because they are never contented. When they become a councillor, they steal and use a lot of it, to seek chairmanship position. And when they become council chairmen, they steal a lot to seek House of Representatives position and it goes on and on. But as they are stealing, their life is bending but they think they are progressing. They are not progressing but they won’t know until they don’t have anything at all and the society will now detest them and they get frustrated and die quick.
People must be contented with the little they have and know when to move and when to quit. Once you have that, you can never regret. For me, there is no room for regret in my life.
My first child has a PhD in Law and she practises in the United States. When we talk of success, she is successful for her age. My first son is a pharmacist in charge of Lagos East Senatorial District for a multi-national corporation. So, where is the room for regret?
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…
Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train
The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…
and then