‘I HAVE A CONVENANT WITH MY PEOPLE

Barrister Tunde Braimoh has a lot of experience in Lagos State politics, he has been former Chairman of Kosofe Local Government, now a member of State House of Assembly representing Kosofe. In this interview, he spoke on many sundry issues as they concern Lagos and President Muhammadu Buhari.

After so many years, you are back in elective position as House of Assembly member, how has it been?

It’s all good but there has been no time I was away from my people, even all the time I wasn’t in elective position, I have always made myself available for their demands and wellbeing, that has been part of me. Just that it will be much more now like when I was Executive Chairman of Kosofe LG, so I have been part of the system; that is why it has been much easier to relate and get along well with my colleagues at the State Assembly.

How was the election in terms of the processes and other contestants?

It was challenging not because of something serious but you don’t take people for granted. I knew it was going to be a matter of competition, people are more aware of what is going on; so it’s your personality that they know very well that will make them give you their votes and not by inducement anymore. I was only surprised that some people were trying to play tribal sentiment to get votes; all along, we are not used to that in Lagos especially for me, and in my area, we all live like one, so this kind of dirty politics played out which wasn’t good for the unity of the country. I did my best and God did the rest.

Now that the work has begun, how has it been in the Assembly? 

The Assembly is doing very well, I met the structure very vibrant and we have started building on that, doing our oversight function, and the House itself is very functional; things are going on smoothly.

What about some official duties you  have embarked on?

It’s the House Publicity Chairperson that could say on that and we are yet to constitute that, but things are going on very well.

What could you say about the relationship between the executive and the legislature at the moment?

It’s been very cordial, not like a rubber-stamp House but the governor has been very pro-active to anything we call his attention to. He is not like a governor who will say what’s the business of the House with one issue or the other, we have called His Excellency attention to something in terms of oversight and his response has been very prompt. You will see the attitude of somebody that is ready for the job, he has been part of the system for long. We are co-operating very well; for example, we never knew the Judicial Service Commission has re-appointed commissioner for the agency without clearance from the Assembly. When we got wind of this, we had to write to the governor who immediately ordered the dissolution and the appropriate thing should be done, that is how it should be. With the kind of governor we have, I don’t foresee any problem at all because he’s a democrat to the core. The issues of  waterways, armed robbery and so on which we have all talked about he has been active on all since he came in. He even sent a letter of recommendation to us that most of the issues we discussed here are so helpful to him. That is how it has been.

The House comprises of two major parties, PDP and APC, how has it been in terms of cooperation?

So far so good, we have been working together and we have been friends irrespective of party affiliations, if they continue like this, there won’t be any issues.

How true is the fact that some of your party members who are your colleagues travelled overseas with their wives while they left the PDP members out?

That is not true, I am an APC member and I am here in Nigeria, if people have travelled with their wives; it must be from their personal pocket. Nobody should worry himself about that, I am aware some people travelled but not aware of their wives’ trip.

What are your plans for the people of your constituency?

If you are really talking about what some people do in open field calling world press conference, some of them promote corruption, you don’t need to be cosmetic about empowering people by way of propaganda. People need solid footprint that will give them lasting hope. These are areas I will concentrate more on, not that I won’t support in terms of empowerment. If you are a legislator and you have the wherewithal to buy some of these things for genuine people who need  welding machines, sewing Machines and all those equipment used for small scale business, it is a good idea but why should you call a world Press conference for that. People spend more on publication than what they even give to their constituents. My covenant with my people is that, whatever is entitled to them from the coffers of the State, they will surely get that, I have promised them that. Just like now that the governor wants to establish wealth creation programme. I have my ears on ground for that. I will not play to the gallery or use propaganda because I want to assist people by displaying some equipment and calling the whole world to come and look.

What is your view about President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode so far?

To start with, the President has been very fantastic so far, he has been putting frameworks in place by trying to reorganize the decayed system, President Buhari did not promise magic but performance, he never said he will turn water to wine, go and listen to what the President said when he was at the Chatham House, not what other people who are campaigning said, he promised to review the structure and let the institution function as it should be because it has all been bastardized, by the time he finishes with all that, the result will be so amazing for everybody to see. You can see the barrels of crude oil they have been stealing before, all these leakages have been blocked, soon we will start seeing result of all these blocked leakages, so many waivers that are being granted illegally in Customs will be open with the new person at helms of affairs, the President has also volunteered to head the Petroleum Ministry, so it’s not likely we see any minister in that ministry, we can all imagine what will come out of that, we all remember what he did as PTF Boss. This is a man that will not steal your money, despite all the positions he has held, look at the paltry assets that he has, yet some people are still questioning that. Go and check out what many people  have as assets and compare it to that, Buhari is not God, for anybody that has worked in all his capacities to have such assets in this country that corruption has been institutionalized, we must commend him, he is the kind of person Nigeria needs. We must be honest; already, we have seen how much we have in our foreign reserve, we learnt it has gone up. If the president of a country shows you that he is not corrupt, the followers or appointees must be careful because if you dare steal, you will find yourself to blame. We need iron hand in Nigeria as far as it’s within the law. For the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, he knows where the shoe pinches, he has been in the system, he has started on a good footing, now we are restructuring the civil service in the state, the Wealth Creation Ministry will be on, he has been strengthening all the sectors, healthcare services, road construction, security. Like I said earlier, he has been pro-active, he concentrates on crime prevention, you can see the actions he took recently on LASTMA, the agency is being sanitized and restructured so that they can serve the masses well without rancour. When the agency is sanitized now, it’s only the habitual law breaker that will suffer for it. My appeal to people in Lagos is to give Governor Ambode the support and cooperation he needs, with the kind of way he has started, he will succeed, he is not a propagandist, he loves us and we should love him back.

What kind of Lagos State do you want to see after four years?

I want to see a more secured state, a  freer state in terms of traffic because that causes a lot of untimely deaths. As we have seen, the governor is working towards that, a state where we can all be proud of regardless of party affiliation. I have my covenant with my people, they will not be short-changed, I will serve them with my heart as it concerns legislating. I am open to all of them. Basically, we want people to enjoy life better than what we are witnessing and I am sure APC will do it.