The Executive Chairman of Agege local government area of Lagos State, Hon Ganiu Egunjobi, speaks on the controversies that trailed the recently held All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmanship and councillorship primaries for council polls scheduled for July 12, and his achievements among other sundry issues.
The May 10 primaries of your party, APC, for the forthcoming council polls in the state were marred by controversies as some dissatisfied party members accused party leaders of imposing their preferred aspirants on the party. Can you share your view on this?
I think the reactions in those quarters where they are lamenting ‘imposition’ are in the character of politicians in our clime. I’m sure if the results had gone their way, they would be lavishing praise on the electoral process and its handlers. The reality is that politics in Nigeria is evolving, and one day those of us that are involved in it will be guided by the spirit of sportsmanship and selflessness. In my estimation of the just-concluded primaries, the process was transparent, free and fair. The election committee put up a good show and should be commended, same with the leadership of the party in the state.
There was a joint protest in Agege LG and its sub-council, Orile-Agege LCDA, by some members of the APC against the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa. They accused him of imposing his subordinates and son on the will of the people as the party candidates in both areas for the coming elections. Was this the case?
Well, I watched the video of the so-called protesters, and I was amazed to see those who led it. A political neophyte, who is a charge-and-bail lawyer, anchored it. For your information, this man, until recently, was gushing about the Speaker, thinking that singing the praise of Obasa would get him the party chairmanship ticket for Orile-Agege. The same goes for Sola Osolana, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairmanship candidate for Agege in the last council poll. He just returned to our midst, APC, about two months ago and coveted to have our chairmanship ticket in Agege. This is someone who is not qualified to contest for election in APC, going by the party guideline that forbids persons who drag our party to court from seeking elective office on the party’s platform. We allowed him to contest because of our magnanimity, and he is now trespassing on our hospitality. He is based in the UK like his co-travellers, Biodun Ogunji, a chairmanship aspirant too and Bukola Sofidiya who also wants to be Agege local government Chairman from the United States. We know that they are not alone in their ill-fated bid to belittle our leader, Obasa, by bad-mouthing him. We know some of their paymasters in the persons of a certain serving senator from Ogun State and a three-time House of Assembly member in our area, to mention but a few.
A full list of APC candidates for the council poll has been released by the party with that of Agege having Obasa’s son as the running mate to the party chairmanship candidate in area. Does that not validate the concern raised by those aggrieved leaders that Obasa wants to turn both Agege and Orile-Agege to his private fiefdom?
One of the oldest democracies is that of the United States, and JF Kennedy, during his time as President, appointed his younger brother, Robert, the country’s Attorney General. When George Bush was U.S President, his son was Texas Governor and later became the country’s President too. The latter’s brother, Jeb Bush, was Florida governor from 1999 to 2007. That’s the democracy Nigeria patterned her own after. Now let’s come down home, at a time when former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was Kwara State Governor while his sister, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, was representing Kwara Central in the Senate at the same time. In this country, precedents are abound, even in other industries like the Dafinones who are all chartered accountants: the family patriarch, Senator David, and matriarch, Ego, and their three sons and two daughters. I dare say that people blabbing ‘imposition’ in respect of the Speaker’s son’s matter are not fair to the young man and Agege. This is someone who is well-read, a PhD student for that matter, and who has been touching the lives of Agege long before now. In fact he deserves to succeed me. For your education, Osolana’s father, Alaba Osolana, is a former Council Chairman of Old Agege, Sofidiya’s late father was a councillor here in Agege and they’re aspiring after the council chair. Now, Agege people want Obasa’s son as the Council Chairman and these mutineers are banging their heads against the wall. They must be suffering from selective amnesia.
You just touched on your succession. In about two months’ time, your tenure will come to an end. What would you say are your administration’s achievements?
We have done quite a lot in terms of physical infrastructure and human capital development. We built primary health centres in almost all our seven wards, roads were either constructed or rehabilitated with drainage put in place in nearly all the nooks and crannies in our community. Several classrooms were built in public schools by us, and some were rehabilitated while we regularly provide pupils with uniforms, bags, tables and chairs and writing materials. The local government now has a Computer-Based Test, which my administration constructed and equipped, which now enables JAMB candidates from our area to sit for the exam at their doorsteps. We also built a conducive legislative building for our councillors, one of its kind in Nigeria. Furthermore, in the area of human capital, our vocational training centre was upgraded on my watch, and many of our graduates in tailoring, hairdressing, graphic design, and other lines are pulling their weight in their various businesses. We have a deradicalised programme for louts, which came into being immediately after EndSARS. Under this programme, repentant louts are made to acquire skills of their choice at our vocational centre, with each placed on a monthly stipend. You may not know that the Local Government Service Commission, a Lagos state government agency, employs councils’ staff in the state. But in our own wisdom, and on my watch, we employed over 700 non-pensionable staff and placed most of them on a monthly stipend of N30,000 each. In that league are officers of our security arm, codename Paramole, who get N50,000 each, every month, to maintain peace and order in our community.
The Awori and non-indigene dichotomy has always been a fault line in Agege politics. As a stakeholder, where do you belong in the political divide?
Well, I think weaponising some of these fault lines, such as religion, colour, tribe and tongues, is doing a great disservice to the human race. As a matter of fact, we are all born and bred in Agege. Come to think of it no Awori person in Agege is more Agege than me. Besides, the origin of all Aworis is either Isheri Olofin or Ota, and both are under the Egba traditional council. In Egbaland, I am a statutory chief as Otun of Egbaland. To me, the dichotomy doesn’t hold water and is inconsequential.
READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then