Nigerians should elect people who live, dwell among them into public offices — Adewole Gbenga

Chief Joseph Adewole Gbenga (Obanla), a retired teacher after serving for 35 years in the Kwara State government service, jostling for a senatorial seat in 2027, was part of the team that produced curricula for primary and junior secondary schools in the state. He speaks to BIOLA AZEEZ on the planned review of the salaries of elected public officials and the prevailing socio-economic situation in the country. Excerpts:

You can be described as an educationist and businessman, what is your interest in politics?

When I was in service, I was a politician because I have my interest and I’ve been participating actively in politics. So, immediately I retired. Because I felt you cannot blame the government if you cannot participate in it. When you see them doing it wrong, and you become part of them, you can at least effect a change. So, you cannot just be a spectator outside and start seeing faults. I felt my involvement in politics will bring about a lot of changes. I have the love of my people in mind, as well. And I believe that those in the saddle are not doing it as it is expected of them. We have been taught in the school that democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, if it is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, I have interest in participating in the government of my people so as to assist my people.

There are many political parties in Nigeria, why PDP?

Yes, PDP, from my own personal assessment, has been the best of the political parties. If you look at PDP from the beginning, it has been the only consistent party. It is the only party that has not been metamorphosing into this party or that party. It has become a well-stabilised party. And if you are consistent, the fact that in my state, PDP did not win in 2019, does not take me out of the party. I love the party. If you look at the performance of PDP, there is no other party that can compete with PDP. There is a saying in Yoruba that, “Àpapò opè ló ma n pa ta”, when people that are opposition join hands together, that is why they are able to. And look at it now, are they able to do it better than the PDP? What we have as APC was not APC before. Do you know that? They came together to gang against the PDP before they won PDP in 2015 at the national level and 2019 in our own state. It does not mean they are better than PDP. Since PDP relinquished power to them, I have not seen anything better. I have not seen that anything tangible is done. There was no complaint during the PDP government as we now experience. So, to me, PDP has put in the best in government. So, I have love for PDP and I remain in PDP and I will continue to remain in PDP.

What are those things the present government is not doing well that you want corrected?

Yes, I have a belief. For example, in my capacity, I’m aspiring to become a senator in my district. My principle is this, I believe that when you are an elected member of any of these federal posts, either the House of Representatives or the Senate, there are three things that I expect, that I focus. One is to see that what belongs to my constituency comes to my constituency. What is meant to take care of my constituency will have to come to my constituency. For example, if you look at it, we have the constituency allowance. The constituency allowance to the senatorial district is into billions. If that is the case, I’ve not seen what is being done with this constituency allowance. If you look at the federal government presence as well, that’s another thing. I said I’m looking at three things. Bring what is for the constituency to the constituency.

Secondly, the federal presence, there should be federal presence. I’m looking at a way of bringing federal presence to my own constituency. We don’t have much in my own constituency. Federal College of Education, federal health institutions, federal agricultural facilities, these are the reasons why we have sent our representative to the National Assembly. Look at our roads, even our federal roads are not in good order. I believe I cannot be there and we leave our roads like that. Whatever it will cost me, I think it is my responsibility. Another thing is the issue of the security. Day in, day out, everybody is crying. Take, for instance, Kwara South, which is my constituency. There is a lot of problems here and there; kidnapping, banditry, killings. Every day, they kidnap people and they collect ransom. I felt whoever is being voted for should have a lot of concern for the electorate.

Elected members that have government funds within their reach to settle this problem should come together and see what they can do, to at least, sustain the security of the electorate in that community. Look at areas like Babanla, Omu Aran, Ekiti local and government areas, everywhere is being affected by kidnapping. It is not a matter of intervals. It has become so constant. Almost every week, we experience kidnapping. As a representative of my people, I think I should be able to do something about that. Another thing is that as a representative of my people, I should be able to lobby. Bring employment opportunities for our youth empowerment. Empower them for skill acquisition. They should be able to be given the opportunity to acquire skills and be self-reliant. So that they can even live on their own, and not depending on governments. These are some of the issues that ginger me to come up and see what I can do for my people.

How do you think PDP can assist you to achieve this task?

Let alone that PDP is not in government at the national level, otherwise, I think PDP is the most prepared party. Presently, they have had series of meetings. They have put in place reconciliatory committees to reconcile people. And from the look of things, the timetable for every congress is already out. So if you look at it very well, you see that PDP is getting ready for the forthcoming elections. Aspirants are already coming out. And at the national level, I’m assuring you that very soon, you will see that PDP will come out in a very big way to win the 2027 election.

What is your assessment of the APC government in Kwara on the development efforts made so far?

People in the APC government in Kwara State are doing their best. It is only that the best is not enough for the people. In all areas, I’m seeing that there is more to be done, most especially in the area of security. The government is not taking the bull by the horn. So, we had expected that a lot of things should have been done. In those days, during the government of PDP, there used to be security meetings that involved virtually all stakeholders. And that addressed a lot of things. Prevention is better than cure, they say. But this government is not even, from my own perspective, taking the bull by the horn. You cannot give what you don’t have. With PDP in government, we have all the tactics. We have what it takes. We know how to do it. I see APC as people who are not experienced. With the experience of PDP, we wouldn’t have had this type of menace in our area. I am assuring you that very soon, when the government of PDP takes over, the situation will change.

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What is your view on the recent move to increase salary of political office holders in the country?

Why? I don’t think elected politicians need more salary. Instead, I’m expecting that we should focus on the civil servants. We have already heard that senators are getting millions of Naira. House of Representatives are getting millions of Naira. So also House of Assembly and all of them. The civil servants that carry out this job are left to suffer. They are suffering. Even the N70,000 minimum wage is nothing to write home about. If you go to a roadside bukataria to feed now, there is no way you will not spend N2,000 to N3,000 Naira to feed. Even if civil servants are given N200,000 as salary, it’s not enough to feed. And the government, with the permission or let me say with the confirmation of these elected politicians, only pegged minimum wage at N70,000. How then are they expecting that their own salaries, that are in millions, should be increased? There is no justice in it. There is no justice in it. We keep saying the economy of this country is bad. We want it improved. Then is that how to improve the economy? By syphoning away a good percentage of the economy?

I’m not in support of any increase in the salaries of politicians at this time. The area that brings about a problem in this country is underpayment of our civil servants. If I have my way, if I’m given the opportunity to speak where my speech will be heard, it is because of this underpayment that led to a lot of this menace, armed robbery, kidnapping, banditry. It’s because most of these people don’t have good jobs. Let me tell you, no bandits will come from the external without an internal involvement. Before somebody comes to your community to exhibit banditry, it means he must have gotten a connection. And why is it easy for them to get this connection? It’s because there’s hunger everywhere. Even in those days, we believed that civil servants were well-to-do. Nowadays, the poorest set of people are the civil servants because they are grossly underpaid. So, instead of thinking of increasing the salaries of our political office holders, the government should see to the increase of our civil servants’ salaries. It is not even ideal to come up with the topic of increasing; on what ground?