The All Progressives Congress (APC) Assistant Publicity Secretary in Lagos State, Mr Abiodun Salami, one of those jostling to fill the vacant seat of Kosefe constituency 2 at the Lagos Assembly following the death of Hon Tunde Braimoh, few weeks back, has explained what he would better the achievements of the late lawmaker. Tope Musowu brings excerpt.
Why are you in the race now?
The late Hon Tunde Braimoh was my friend for well over 30 years. Nobody ever thought he would die soon. When he contested as a member of the state house of assembly in 2015 and later in 2019, I was there. Nobody ever thought he would soon die, but God knows the best. I am not happy over his death and I pray that God will be with his family.
Whatever Hon Tunde Braimoh was doing well for the people, I was part of it. He never settled for anything less than quality representation. The way you represent your people matters. A responsible politician should be accessible to his people, feel what they feel. You should identify with them. Anything you are doing should be for the people, and you should be selfless. Public office is about being selfless.
My own is to get the job done. I know what your people want. I have been in Ketu since 1976. So, I know everything about Ketu. If somebody says I am a Ketu man, it is true. I know everywhere up to Somolu, and I know what my people want. I know how to go about it and I have both legislative and executive experiences and I am also a party man. I can move mountain with this.
What qualities you think give you the edge over other aspirants?
I have always been an activist and with this l think I have an edge. In my days at NIJ, I was the Assistant Secretary of the Student Union. I have always been active anywhere I am. I have been involved in Community Development Association (CDA). But it is not just about politics, you have to go through the process, and the experiences I have garnered surely have given me the edge, which I think people would consider.
What stands me out is that I am a clean person. I am not saying others are not fantastic, but I am more fantastic and superior than them because I mix easily. I am not a proud person.
I know you are a party man that is involved in publicity for the party, what is your relationship with the people at the grassroots?
I have contested elections before and those elections had to do with the grassroots. I was staying in a face me and face you house before I packed into this apartment. I am a free person and I am proud to be like that. I have always been a grassroots person. My Principal then wrote on my HLC testimonial that, “He mixes freely with his mates, we expect him to do well in life.” I am quoting him verbatim. It has always been in me to mix with people. I have always been a grassroots person. So, winning an election is not a problem for me based on my antecedents.
I have always been here among my people. Even when I was in Abuja, I always come to Ketu every weekend in those days that we used to go through night and day buses before we started going through airplane.
But people change when they get into office? How are you going to correct some critical issues in the assembly, if elected?
Going to the Assembly is a different ball game. When you are in the assembly of about 40 people, you have to really understand the setting. In journalism, there is what we call house style. You must understand the politics of the house or else you would have problem. What makes you stand out is when you understand the intrigues there. I am not too old and not too young so this will help me. My experience in the legislature will help me. Nigerians would appreciate it if you are a good person. They appreciate good people no matter what happens. It is easy to operate in the house if you know your onions.
Whatever is not good can only be corrected if you know the system. You cannot correct it if you don’t know the system. This is something that is inborn, this is something that has been in me. When the principal wrote about me, I was still in my 20s. I appreciate the word ’empathy.’ I was never born with a silver spoon. I struggled a lot, and I am still struggling, I want legit money, legitimate things and I want to be myself.
What will you correct about the performances of your predecessor?
I am not going to correct anything about his performances, I will just improve on what he had done. The late Tunde Braimoh was somebody of value; someone I cherished and respected his native intelligence. It is not about education alone, your native intelligence matters as well. The one that is in you is always there. That is what I respected so much about the late Tunde Braimoh, forget about being handsome, being rich or being a lawyer. He was a man, who knew where he was going and he was very accessible.
He was my kind of person; I don’t just follow people blindly. It is about the totality of the assembly, it is not about Tunde Braimoh. Lagos state House of Assembly used to be a model to the entire nation. I will ensure that there is absolute unity in the house. Based on my antecedent as a party man, I will not encourage division in the house. I will always encourage unity in the house. You should see yourself as the image maker of the system and the party generally.
On my constituency, I have never been far from them, the kabiyesi, the okada riders, the market women, people in the motor parks and others. Go and ask everybody about me, they know who I am and I am not ready to destroy the name and I would not encourage my children to destroy it. The only legacy I am giving my children is education and morals.
Also, I will encourage sporting activities as a footballer myself, a big time footballer. I will encourage football and other sporting activities. Nowadays, you see our youths roaming about and the talents are there. We should encourage sports, which is what I cherish about the present governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu.
The youths would go to school and participate in sports. I will also encourage the CDAs to relate more with me. Some of them want employment, the more you are accessible to them, the more you would get things done easily for your people. When I was the Personal Assistant to the then Minister of State for Finance, Senator Jubril Martins Kuye, I facilitated employment for many persons. We get people employed into the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Customs and other paratstatals under the Ministry of Finance.
There is news going round that you have stepped down from the race, what is your reaction to this?
Those that are peddling such rumour must be afraid of me. How could they imagine that I will step down? Step down for who and why? That is not to say that we don’t have system. It is about the leadership, they give directives on how the process would go, it could be through consensus, direct or indirect primary. If they want to go for consensus, I don’t see anything wrong in that, I have always been a party man. If the leaders say that it is direct election, no problem and if it is general primary and somebody wins, no problem.
But, when we have not gone midway, how can I step down? I am still very much in the race. I would be going to the LGA now and I would meet the leaders to submit my application. Why should I step down for anybody having suffered and laboured so much for the party? No, there must be reason if anything would happen. All of us are still in the race, we have not picked anybody.
What advice do you have for other contestants who might see this as a do or die affair?
My advice to all of us is that we should see this as game; you lose some, you win some. We should ensure that we do this thing with decorum. We should respect ourselves and the party. The moment you start doing to the contrary, you give those of us who are the image makers of the party problem and it is neither fair and good nor responsible.
I am still an aspirant, if I become the candidate by the grace of God, I would represent the party. If I win the election, what will concern me will be Kosofe constituency 2. I want to advise my colleagues not to see this as a do or die affair because that would be irresponsible. We should see ourselves as one family, the APC is one family.
