Why lawmakers abscond from constituencies —Gbadamosi, SDP Rep candidate

How did your academic background and experience in unionism prepare you for politics?

That alone, I believe strongly, is a very good weapon for the political process I have engaged in right now. I will say that my political antecedent started from my student unionism days at The Polytechnic, Ibadan essentially. You know unionism itself involves some politics. Thereafter, I was involved in workers’ unionism at the Ministry of Defence, which was very intense and challenging when I was there because we had quite some issues, but it was a very good experience. Then, I moved to the area of cooperative and poverty alleviation and that in itself also involves a lot of politicking, intrigues and nerve-soothing here and there. I believe that the cumulative of these has strengthened and prepared me because one of the things that I observed is that, over time, people have complained that when political office holders get into position, what they do most times is shut their door and throw away their mobile phone SIM card, so they can no longer be reached. I have been able to handle the pressure that comes with demand of about 4,000 people all over the country and that has strengthened and got me prepared for this position.

 

So, are you saying you won’t be a truant or runaway representative, if elected?

Definitely not; we would be most accessible. In fact, by the grace of God, we would be the most accessible member of the House of the Representatives by the grace of God. It is so unfortunate that some politicians do that. But we are going to turn the political landscape and narrative around for the better. How? One of the things that happen is that most of these people have never handled pressures before and what we intend to do, by the grace of God, is to create a scenario where we can access information from the people. They would have continuous access to us in terms of phone calls, e-mails and even text messages. I keep telling people that if you call me most times and I do not pick, please send me a text message and I am most likely to call you back. Some people do not even require money; they do not require anything from you. They just want to hear that they called and you picked  up their call. For them, it is enough.

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How do you hope to win election with SDP, a party not considered to be in reckoning in the state?

No, that is not correct. The party is strongly in contention in Oyo State. If, as you said, SDP has gone down, it is a matter of revival and we are working very hard to remind the people of what it meant for the; what it did for them and we are succeeding. The party is bouncing back because, luckily, the people have not forgotten. All the places I have been to, immediately you tell them SDP, they will tell you about what former Governor Kolapo Ishola and the party did for them, especially here in Lagelu and Akinyele Federal Constituency because the late Chief Ishola constructed all the rural roads in this area within a period of just one year and three months in office. They reckoned that if a man like that could do all that within such a short space of time, then it means that people who come from this party must be of integrity, have good luck and mean well for the people. The same thing with the late Chief MKO Abiola: When he was elected, the national economy started blossoming, prices of goods started reducing in the market and there was this kind of good omen until when the election was annulled. So, SDP has this good fortune of having people with very good intention and care for the people. That is exactly what we intend to push.

 

You don’t look like a moneybag, so how do you hope to win the election in a highly monetised political system?

The political system has been rigged against the people of this country that they have become skeptical. If you promise you would do this and that, they will say ‘we have heard that before, bring the money you have stolen so that we too can know that we have gotten our own share’. It is most unfortunate. In my campaign so far, we have been able to make our people understand that if we want to change the system for the better, we need to identify good leaders. You should know people you can hold accountable and that is what we are selling to them. To a large extent, the message is sinking. And so people will say ‘are you using some magic and I will say there is no magic to it, what we are doing essentially is being honest’. We believe that, by the grace of God, on February 16, they would go out there and vote massively for us because they can see our sincerity. This may be the first time we are coming out, but we intend to do things differently, really make a positive difference in the lives of our people and reposition our community.

 

What is your assessment of the quality of representation this constituency has got in the last few years?

From people’s reports, I think the incumbent has done fairly well but that is not to say that there are no gaps that have to be filled in terms of improving on what has been done so far. With regards to people in this constituency, we still need a kind of representation that would be a strong voice at the national level, which, I think, is really missing. We need somebody with good charisma, understanding of the intrigues, the political system and the people and all of that to be able to push the position and interests of Akinyele /Lagelu Federal Constitutncy constantly at the National Assembly.