A Veterinary Doctor, Suleiman Badmus Adeniye, is contesting to represent Ikenne State Constituency in the Ogun State House of Assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The former speaker of Ikenne Local Government Legislative Council speaks to DARE ADEKANMBI on his vision, the governorship and presidential contests next year, among other issues.
You have indicated interest in vying for a seat to represent Ikenne State Constituency in Ogun House of Assembly. What’s driving this intention?
In the years past, the name Ogun State was symbolic. When you mention Ogun State, the names of those who had laboured to build the country would come to mind. The likes of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, that was appropriately referred to as the best Nigeria never had by the late Biafran warlord, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the Late MKO Abiola, Professor Wole Soyinka, former military head of state and ex-civilian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and so on. But today, Ogun State has been in the news for negative reasons, ranging from cyber fraud, money ritualism, kidnapping etc. What’s even more worrisome is the fact that people of these tendencies found their way into government. The state is now the butt of jokes in many circles as the headquarters of yahoo boys. You now begin to wonder how such personality scaled through the screening of the House of Assembly without anyone raising dust about their persons. It’s my considered opinion that with effective laws of the state such trend can be reversed and our dear state will restore its fast diminishing glory.
So, I am driven by the passion to ensure that Ogun Assembly is not a chamber for ‘yes boys and girls,’ but a parliament of robust debates where we will incubate laws that will engender good governance and wellbeing of the residents of the state.
A lot of people who don’t have experience in lawmaking or politics go to the legislature only to spend much of their term learning the rope. Politics is now the biggest industry. How are you different from such people?
One of the reasons we have failed legislatures is the fact that that arm is often populated by in-experienced people. Many are just elected to warm the benches of the assembly. I›m bold to say that I have acquired the requisite experience in law making when I was elected the councillor representing Ikenne Local Government between 2004 and 2007 and I was even further elected as the leader of the legislative council. I ran the tenure without hitch and delivered dividends of democracy to the people of the council area. It is on record that our achievements then are yet to be equaled let alone matched by subsequent successors. Our tenure continues to be a reference point when there is a discourse of good governance and running a legislative arm of government that is packed with men and women of vision. This opportunity had exposed me to various trainings in the process of lawmaking and how to manage your the expectations of the constituents. Aside the political exposure, it was a robust experience.
You are running on PDP platform which is an opposition party in the state. Is this not a Herculean task for you?
So it may seem. But I can tell you that since my declaration, the rate at which my aspiration is being accepted is commendable and this may not be unconnected with our sterling performance when serving as the speaker of Ikenne Local Government Legislative Council, which I did without discrimination or favour. Furthermore, my diligent commitment to every community responsibility on my laps since I left office has always come with resounding applause. So, the acceptability is there already and as God will have it, it›s across all party lines.
Talking about PDP, I can tell you that, that is the party to beat in next year’s elections. APC has become a pariah party that is synonymous with inflicting pains and untold hardship of the generality of Nigerians. When PDP was running the country, things were moving smoothly. When APC, which has been rightly described as a special purpose vehicle, was formed in 2013, its leaders pumped a huge amount of propaganda into the political ecology to tag PDP a bad name so that Nigerians can hang a performing party. Seven years after the party took over, Nigeria has become Thomas Hobbes’ state of nature where life is short, brutish and nasty. The economy has been run around. The country has been thrown into humongous foreign and local debts. The list of woes Nigerians are facing under APC is endless. So, the 2023 elections is going to be a contestation between a continuation of a do-nothing party and restoration of tested PDP, between darkness and light. And Nigerians will do well to make informed choices by going with the PDP. I am sure APC members are themselves not proud of their party. We can’t continue like this or else there won’t be a country called Nigeria.
Ikenne State Constituency is at the moment being represented by Honourable Kunle Sobukanla from the same Ogere Remo where you hail from. Governor Dapo Abiodun is from Iperu-Remo also in Ikenne Local Govt, just as the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. The odds seem stacked against you on the surface.
Yes, Ikenne State Constituency is being represented at the moment by Honourable Kunle Sobukanla, side by side my achievements as House leader for three years by far supersede his as a state Assembly member who has also coincidentally been there for three years. Yes, the governor and the vice president may be from the Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State as well, but these opportunities haven’t transmitted to the expected developments in the council area. Let me equally remind you that the voters have grown beyond party politics to personality-based politicking. And like I said earlier, my acceptability cuts across party lines and we’re not relenting in our efforts to ensure our victory in the 2023 elections for the PDP.
The governorship contest is looking like a contest between APC and PDP. Many are of the opinion that PDP is no match for the ruling party. Do you agree?
Honestly, I don’t agree as it has become too obvious that the electorates are too tired of this APC government. The new electoral law has been designed to reduce rigging to the barest minimum. When injustice goes round, its correction becomes so easy. This unjust government of APC is felt by all classes of Nigerians, and the only way to correct it remains at the ballot in 2023. We shall all see.
Your party is playing hide and seek over zoning of presidential ticket. If PDP takes a northerner as presidential candidate, many fear your party will lose support from the South. Do you see it that way too?
Nigeria’s situation at present needs a leader that that can clear all the mess of this bad APC government. One of the reasons that led us to where we are today is our seeing ourselves as a Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo man before seeing ourselves as Nigerians. Nigeria hasn’t been as balkanised as we have currently. Therefore, we need a leader that will heal the wounds of division to bring unity and the desired development, irrespective of his geographical location or tribe. All those primordial sentiments of tribe, religion etc will lead us nowhere. We all criticize as unjust the preference the current APC-led Federal Government gives to the Fulani, if we elected a president from another southern tribe, are we saying that he too should give preference to his own tribe as well to further balkanise us? We need a president that will dissolve all divisions to rebuild a Nigeria of old glory. Therefore, the decision of the PDP hierarchy to throw open the presidential ticket is a welcome development and should be embraced by all sane-minded Nigerians
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