Hon. Kolawole Taiwo the former Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, popularly referred to as Methuselah, for having spent 16 years in legislative business, in this chat with SUNRISE NEWS Correspondent, laid bare his reasons for jostling to represent Ajeromi federal constituency in the green chamber and the sundry litigations that has attended the move. He said the opposition PDP is jittery and stood no chance. He spoke on other sundry issues. Excerpt:
What is the state of things with litigation hindering the conduct of the supplementary election?
I think that is where
we have gotten ourselves to after the March election, INEC declared the
election inconclusive and we were all looking forward to the rerun that would
come up on the 9th of April, suddenly my opponent in PDP went to court and said
she has won, I was shocked because we have an umpire supervising and conducting
the election who said this is where we are that we still have 43,660 votes
outside and they said she had 31,000 + votes while I had 28,000+ so we had the
difference of 3,224 votes and they now said we will need to do supplementary
election in those areas with problems, I feel when she heard that she realized
it would be very difficult for her to win me because most of the areas in
contention are our own stronghold we have about 71 booths, though some of her
own area are also there, she threw caution to the wind and went to a court in
Abuja using all the connections in the House of Reps because I was told that
the Speaker Rt.Hon Yakubu Dogara was like a pillar behind her, it’s Dogara that
now want to tell us in Ajegunle who should represent us I just wonder, they
took the case to a court in Kubwa not even in Abuja business district court,
but far away in Kubwa, Bwari judicial district, we went there I was not afraid
and the INEC lawyer said the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case, my
lawyer said we should not bother ourselves with jurisdiction we should
rather answer it because when you have an exparte injunction according to my
leaders explanations, it implies that you are called upon to afford the court
with some information and we told them what INEC gave us because they actually
called a stakeholder meeting, to announce the inconclusiveness of the election,
I was however shocked when I saw her complain that INEC did not declare the
result before saying we should go for a rerun,that is not true because INEC did
call us for a stakeholders meeting but the PDP did not show up that is where
they told us that this is the scores of PDP, that of the APC and this is
the difference and they cited the electoral act that says if the difference
between the first and second is not up to the cancelled results then there
supposed to be a rerun and we still had over 43,660 votes outside in 71 booths,
but in the wisdom of the judge though we quoted that in our reply, INEC as the
umpire are the ones that are even supposed to provide the figures but the INEC
said the court doesn’t have jurisdiction and the judge assumed jurisdiction on
the day of judgment and now said INEC should go and release the result of the
collated areas and now tell the world what the situation is, that is where we
are.
The instruction of the judge is for INEC to do certain things and we are
looking at their direction, I know any moment from now they would call us for a
stakeholders meeting and would now do what INEC suggested, but they have done
it ,our party was there it was covered and shown to me.
Hope INEC would not go ahead and declare your opponent winner because there are some areas where such happened and INEC still do that, don’t you see such scenario repeating itself here?
INEC has spoken now and I don’t expect INEC to change their position on that, INEC initially called us to a stakeholders parley briefing us about the situation on ground asking us to prepare for rerun which we were ready for even on the governorship election on the 9th of March we have started voting when we suddenly had to stop owing to an order INEC in Abuja signaled they had stopping us from holding the rerun, I think she took it to National headquarter of INEC claiming she has an exparte injunction and you know INEC would not want to do that with the knowledge of court injunction, they have done it in several situation, like in Bauchi where an exparte injunction made them schedule it for another day, same goes for Adamawa and other rerun held but that does not stop INEC from doing what it needs to do because the judge said the court doesn’t have power to stop INEC from doing whatever it needs to do, that was part of the judgment.
I have been working and I have been talking to people, I am aware that when you are facing election you need do a lot of campaigns like I had done in the past people even commended me that the way I have put myself into this is more than my previous elections and I said yes I don’t want to lose but win, and the only way you can win is by talking to people to let them know why they should give you their votes and not an alternative, I am a strictly law abiding citizen and don’t take short cuts to victory.
What is your assessment of what used to be your political dynasty in Ajeromi and the paradigm shift there now?
I wouldn’t want to wash our dirty linens outside, but I know there are interference that caused some of the weaknesses in our party because before now,I know what I did in preparing our people for governorship election, but the interference though baseless some people just felt you are below them and they are making a costly mistake too which caused a lot of problems, it is really not for discussion today I pray there would be lots of time for me to write the story but now I am looking forward to being elected, I would not want to say something that would jeopardize my chances and let people decide otherwise, even there would be a day I would write a book about my life,I have spent a lot of time in public life that I must sit down and write a book for myself not asking people to write on my behalf because there is nothing somebody can say that would match what you want to say. I have seen a lot and need to talk for others coming behind to take cue and get some assistance for future, I know I am getting to the end of this career and I have not fared badly, I have put so much into politics than anybody can ever imagine, until I am able to come out and tell them before they can be able to see what I have done, but I give all thanks and adorations to God that in 2015 we lost with about 20,000 votes for the House of Reps which means I started the race with 20,000 negative and I am here today very close to success and at the end of the day we have won the two seats in the House of Assembly which we lost the last time, we won because we have been trying to let our people know that we must not lose the winning spirit and I think they have gotten that spirit rejuvenated they are ready to fight and win, go to Ajegunle and ask them. You will discover that is why she is running from pillar to post, that is why she doesn’t want a rerun because she has seen now that our people are ready to fight for what is theirs and I know we are going to win, I am confident more than before the election.
Igbo, Yoruba issue in Lagos what will be your take on it?
It is quite unfortunate, we have tried all means to draw them closer my brother this is the only state can they do it in their area for a Governor of a state to pick a Yoruba person and make him a Commissioner, is it possible? Somebody was telling me that there is a state in the East where a guy was born and bred, he schooled there from Primary to Tertiary education level and graduated even there even bags a Doctoral degree and he lectures in that University, they now called him to be their MBA chairman and he won but they kill him overnight. It is as bad as that and we draw them closer, take for instance Akabueze, do you know Akabueze is one of the few that have approving limit as a Commissioner, aside the Governor and the Deputy Governor? It means he is one of the few that can give you direct approval to go and get Lagos money, he is an Igbo man and after his tenure Asiwaju still recommended him for a position at the federal level and he is now the DG in charge of the budget of the federation because we look for quality, we don’t want to be sentimental, we draw them closer, even that local government you are talking about; Ajeromi the Vice Chairman is an Igbo woman, they had two councillors, not that they are depriving them of position there no, there are so many Igbo people that are SSA there but what is most annoying is that yes you cannot say everybody must support your party absolutely not, but you would not be happy having people leaving and benefitting from the commerce here to now be waiting for instructions from the East to make decisions about how we are to run our government here, we have a performing government here? we have turn Lagos around, I always tell people that it takes those that knows where we are coming from to appreciate where we are, if you don’t know where we are coming from, you may not be able to appreciate where we are, I started with the government as a lawmaker in 1999,I can never forget my first motion on the floor of the house calling on LAWMA to get rid of filths in Lagos state within 24 hours and calling on the Governor to reorganize LAWMA that is where we started from, Lagos was so dirty, when they said we have heaps of filth sometimes ago, imagine then that we don’t have structure, we can count the number of roads that are tarred now there is no place they don’t enjoyed tarred road, infrastructural development has gone far, far up, this people some of them came to Lagos with nylon bags with few cloths now they are Billionaires we made life good for them and at the end of the day they would wait for instructions from the East to take decision about our state ,that one is a discussion for another day because I am not happy with the way some of them are behaving, some of them are good to us even till now, Eze Okoli one of the Eze’s in my area gave me a chieftaincy title, he donated 1million naira into my campaign aside that he also did a poverty alleviation on my behalf printed exercise books, school uniforms and more, but some of them are bent on removing us there was a day I was telling them that do you think you can stand us if we want to be violent with you? Go to most of the Igbo markets in our areas you would be shocked that they are not cooperating with us,Trinity market for example, the road leading there is so bad but the adjoining streets some of them are still very good roads that can take three to four cars at a breathe they pack all their wares on the road leaving just only one lane and our people are not fighting them, they are tolerating them because we don’t want anybody to view us as being tribalistic but they are more tribalistic than us that they also want to determine our fate, I was telling some of them, that but you people are pulling us down I know where I supposed to be, I know where your reactions has gotten me to, I was supposed to be Speaker of Lagos Assembly they suddenly woke up one day and voted against us enmasse and we lost, we lost the election, we lost the opportunity I told them that why are you people behaving like this? We have not been fighting you people now, that we can start problem for them, now that we even had the federal we can lobby that they be dealt with, take for instance some of those pits where they are selling fairly used cars are pits we can turn around and decide we want to plant flowers, we can do it if we want to retaliate, but we don’t want that, we want to make life bearable for each and everybody but I give thanks and adorations to God for where we are and I look forward to INEC because the court has sent that thing back to INEC but I know INEC has released the result before because there is a concluded case in that direction, that inconclusiveness of an election is a result at that particular point, so says INEC that they are still going to have supplementary election would anybody want to remove 43,660 people from the register and think that anybody would announce such election, no we have been to court now and we are back, the lady thought she is superior to everybody now because she is in the House of Reps, I was in the House of Assembly for sixteen years, when I lost election people were shocked because they thought I should go to court because they rigged me out, you see that is another aspect of it that is annoying, you are in another person’s land those people are not rigging you but because you have concentrations where they are living they may be occupying the whole street they would now be rigging, thumb printing the ballot papers it is easy to know that because when you check, you would notice that the booklet is still intact, it is not possible for a fair and free ballot to stick together like that because everybody will open and fold at some point but when done together it sticks together that is what they are doing.
But you didn’t contest it then?
I wasn’t happy with
what has happened because if people weren’t lackadaisical about it that HKT
would win they see me as a spirit that can’t be demystified and just left
everything to chance maybe it would not have gone that way, that night somebody
now advised me that I should not contend for it again, I say ah! we are going
to lose the Speakership, he said I should forget it, you know some of our
Yoruba people the way they reason, just picks up quarrel with the party that
they did wrongly and I just kept mute because I have never been to court on
electoral issue, I have never had any contention in getting elected or
reelected and I decided not to force my self to lead people. The difference is
glaring for all to see now go to our area now, most of the roads are now
getting bad since I left government no meaningful development has happened.
I was passing through a road and it was bad, the present honourable has moved
to our party you cannot now go out and start criticising them, I see that oh
this people have not gotten the orientation right o, because while we are in
the house you must write letter every time, keep pressing the public works
people that they should come and do rehabilitation in your area, pressing the
Ministry of works that you also need infrastructure in your area, those things
don’t just come anyhow, when I was talking about constituency development fund
that they are benefiting at the federal, it all started from here in this
state, we were in the house if the present day Deputy Speaker about six of us, then
Kako Aare just introduced to us that this development should go round, because
our government want to do the city with the believe that if you do the city
people would pay taxes when they see development, but we that are the from
suburb are now suffering, that is why he now said let’s try to look at this
thing and force them to set aside 15percent of the capital expenditure of the
budget to be distributed evenly amongst the constituency that is how the
constituency development fund started and we came up with something, up till
today it is the only law that was passed by two- third in Lagos because the Governor
refused assent and we passed it, the law was signed by Mamora but you know we
had a leader then, not just a Governor, he invited us and told us that
come you guys I love what you have done but you should have at least give me
sometimes to think over it before you now force it on me, but let’s look at it
this way, our budget is anticipatory budget, we anticipate revenue it is not
like where for instance federal can fund budget through our foreign reserve and
more but ours we wait for allocation not being determined by us, we will also
wait for Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) that comes in trickles, some pay in
January while others pay in December, he said how are we now going to set
aside that money, are we not going to be creating problems for ourselves? We
now agreed that we are at home with his take, all because we are not interested
in the money perse, we are interested in all round development because
even if you look at our laws we are not saying they should give the money to us
,even the press does not want to assist us back then, they said the House of
Assembly want to be collecting money, no that is not what we said, we said the
money would be domiciled with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget and
awaiting the trigger from the committees that we will set up in our respective
constituencies, the committees would meet and decide what they want to use
their own quota for they would now write the ministry, if it is drainage
they would write that we want to do drainage with our money, then it is their
letter that the drainage department would now attach to their own costing and
send to economic planning for the release of the fund. Therefore it is
not that we want the money and it is the ministry that would still award the
contract but the committee at home would now supervise to ensure the project
was done to specification what they have in mind and that would have bring
about rapid development and the 15percent every year would bring even
development, because we are only interested in development, that was how I
started my life as a public officer, up till now that is how I reason, I want
to do things for my people. I want the government to look at our area, now it
has stopped.
Based on your confidence and passion for development for your constituents, what would be your appeal to them should INEC decided to go ahead with the rerun?
I am appealing to them
to look at my direction,I am HKT,in my constituency HKT is an household name in
Ajeromi,I am HKT you know me and I am ready to serve you,that is why in one of
my posters it says I am ready to serve,because I have sat down and made that
decision in my private life,because I am a workaholic I would not rest so I
considered my fitness for the task and I still feel I am good enough and feel I
am going to do better than anybody that has been there before because I know
when I get there they would know there is an Ajegunle boy there and I know what
I am going to tell my people to look at our area with pity for them to come and
assist us because Ajegunle is the only area in Nigeria that if you are coming
from anywhere in Nigeria you will find your kinsmen at least one therefore if
that is where your people live and we are not rich we are downtrodden then you
must be ready to assist us, we have a very good heart see what is happening
now,the constructions they are doing at Tincan port we feel the pinch the more
because we are their neighbour we can be hostile to those trucks but we know
that there is no way they would be constructing something good for your
neighbour that it would not affect you those are things we are going to use to
appeal to the federal to look in our direction we have assisted them they
should give us development.
I also know that Ajegunle is about talents, opportunity and development,
Nigeria’s development can start from there. We only need to harness the talent
and come up with things that would stretch them to their limit for them to come
out with unique features,we are talented. This rerun is a must and you must
make it happen because I am going to fight for you when I get to Abuja.
What is your assessment of areas represented by none Yorubas in Lagos?
The major problem is
that these people just wanted to hijack power they don’t have any spiritual
attachments to all those place they are jostling to have their reigns,imagine
someone that came to Lagos with nylon bags,just want to be rich they are ready
to messed up the whole place get all their monies and move out before you say
Jack Robinson,we want them because when we are targeting mega city status we
know the implications, in Nigeria today migration to Lagos is per seconds,it is
so difficult for you to know the number of people that are living in
Lagos, it changes everyday,that indices usually brings a lot of problem to the
development of state,that is why we need to keep constructing roads,opening
roads multiple roads,like the ten lane roads going to Badagry now it is because
of the influx of these people and they are taking over the whole space and they
are not just taking it for economic reasons alone but for political reasons as
well,we Yoruba’s because of the education no Yoruba man would want to have four
children now because they know it’s going be very difficult for you to send
four children through University at a go,so Yoruba man would want to limit
their children at least to two,but I know of a woman,whom anytime I see must be
pregnant and before now they are six and she would still have more,then by the
time they are grown they would say they are Igbo’s so they don’t want to see
Yoruba’s how can you say you don’t want you don’t want to see Yoruba’s in their
state? That is why you would see those reactions those are the aspect that are
not good.
In Ajeromi our youths take after wrong models,cultism are on our streets no
longer within the walls of the tertiary institutions as in time past, we now
had cult clash every now and then I am going to build a youth centre with
lecture theatre where inspiration will evolve through periodic interface with
individuals who had attain great feats in their chosen field for all the age
grades,there will be training centre for women,it will also house an ICT centre
as well the positive instance of money making via ICT will be afforded to them.
I will as well include the AJ radio ,as the new Lagos conception can’t overlook
AJ,I need to restore Ajegunle, I was allowed to grow in legislative parlance so
I want to pay back having started since 1999 in fact there is no way you will
do a research on Lagos legislature that you won’t mention my name. I will ask
for compensation from federal government by construction of inner roads,as
budgeting guru I know I will be involved at the green chamber,I am good
at lobbying as well for favours here , just few weeks ago a truck fell by the
road sides but for grace many would have died,give me this position and I will
speak with the chairmen to do things better,even governor would listen to
me to bring about many good dividend of democracy here.