For Honourable
Segun Olulade, who is representing Epe Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House
of Assembly, it is time for change in Nigeria. He insisted that the merger of
some parties such as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), a faction of
the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and others to form the All
Progressive Congress (APC) would give the country the desired change.
Olulade, who is
also the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy, Security and
Publicity bares his mind on matters of interest in this interview.
The
opposition are coming together to form the APC, do you see them taking over
from the PDP, which is controlling majority of the states in the country
It is not about
the governors in the PDP or APC, a lot of people have seen the difference in
those who are in APC and those who are not in APC. So, people are yearning for
change, we want change in all ramifications. Nigerians are tired of PDP as a
government, they are tired of the leadership of the country, they want change,
it is not about the governors, the people put the governors there, some were
even done in error, some were done because of rigging. Now, everybody is aware
of what is going on in the country, Nigerians are tired of all these. They are
tired of lack of electricity, unemployment rate is going higher, hunger is
going higher in the country, no sound education, no good transport system, they
have not done anything well, the security of lives and property is being
threatened. Why do we think any right thinking Nigerian would want to vote for
any PDP government again, so Nigerians are tired of them, it is not about how
many governors they have, it is about what the people want. Once we can have a
credible election, I am sure that their days are numbered.
People
are thinking some people want to promote their selfish agenda, for instance,
they feel Gen. Muhammed Buhari (rtd.) and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu want to
promote their selfish interest through the merger, do you agree with them?
Those who are
thinking like that are being myopic because I would say that people like
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is playing his own part by putting everything down on
the change that Nigeria deserves, same goes for Muhammad Buhari. Everybody is
eligible to contest, anybody has the right to contest and whoever has an
ambition to contest can do so. Buhari has said that if he sees anyone that is
better than him, he would step down for the person. It is a good start, APC is
the in-thing, it is beyond a party now, it is a movement tailored towards
change, true federalism and good governance, which is why you see people of
like-minds coming together irrespective of the political party they are. APGA,
Labour, PDP, wherever you are, we are saying enough of this rotten or tattered
umbrella that we see around, so come and join us. It is time for us to see democracy as it
should be, so Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I have the right to contest
for the presidency of the country. Everybody has the right to contest, but once
we know there is anybody that has a better thing to offer, we should be able to
support the fellow and if he has the support of the people in the party, that
person would contest in 2015 and I want to assure you that APC would present
the best candidate that anybody can think of in 2015.
What
of the issue of too many competitors in 2015 as there would be many candidates
contesting for the same position from the APC
I don't see any
threat to anybody, it is good for our democracy, competition is always good,
people should come out to say they want to serve. If it is all about service,
it shouldn't be a do or die affair, so everybody has the right to contest,
people can come out to contest, the party members can then choose their flag
bearers and the final judgment will come from the people of each state, who
would determine who they want as governor, members of the state houses of
assembly and the National Assembly, and even the president and the
vice-president, that is the beauty of democracy.
Do
you think INEC can conduct a free and fair election in 2015 or they would be
controlled by the PDP, and do you see the PDP conceding power to APC if the
latter wins?
A lot of us have
the fear that INEC may have merged with the PDP, but that would be disastrous
because Nigerians would defend their votes this time around. I know they would
not try anything funny now because every Nigerian wants change, it still lies
on INEC if they are going to write their names in gold in Nigeria or they want
their names to be dumped in the dustbin, we will wait for them and see the way
they are going, but some of us have not seen any sign of seriousness on the
part of INEC to conduct a credible election. We know there are so many bad eggs
in INEC, but we should just continue to see how it goes, I know Nigerians are
prepared for INEC this time around.
Some people have
said that we need a revolution in Nigeria, is that okay by you?
Revolution in what
term, is it peaceful or a violent revolution, I believe that what we need is
the commitment of the youth and the determination of Nigerians to say we want
to get it right this time around and we will get it right.
Members
of the Boko Haram sect has been agitating for Islamisation of Nigeria and we
see what is going on around, even MEND is threatening, there is insecurity
everywhere, what should be done to curb all these?
That is one of the
reasons we are shouting for change everywhere because the President does not
have an idea of what to do. When there is poverty all over, no electricity, no
job for the youths, this is what it would give birth to; I think all we need is
change. I want to appeal to Boko Haram members to drop their guns and
contribute to the change of government. Once people are sure of the provision
of their needs; good and qualitative education, constant power supply, employment,
all those things would be in the past. The bane of our problem is bad
leadership, it did not start from President Goodluck Jonathan, it started from
1999, when PDP came into office. That was the genesis of Boko Haram, we
expected that when the military was being chased away, the then president would
give us what we wanted. You can recall that as far as year 2001, Asiwaju Bola
Ahmed Tinubu talked about Enron on PPP, which is what we now want to do, if
that had been done then, the issue of power supply would have been solved, but
unfortunately we do not have such. But a foundation has been laid in Lagos
State, which is why everything is working; there is continuity. The actualiser,
Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola has done well and when he would be leaving
office in 2015, we would ensure that someone who has experience in governing
Lagos would be there and follow the pattern.
Are
you satisfied with the efforts of the legislative arm of government in the
country generally?
Yes, I must say
that the legislative arm has done well across board in Nigeria. In the past, we
used to hear about impeachment, but now that we have sound and solid arm of
government, it is better, we expect the National Assembly to do more, while the
state house of assembly should wake up and we should uphold our legislative
tenets across board.
.jpeg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment