Hon. Gbolahan Olusegun Yishau,
who represents Eti-Osa Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, is
not happy with what is presently happening in Nigeria. For the vibrant and
active lawmaker, we can do better as a nation and the government should start
thinking of how to prosper the masses instead of lording it over them.
Yishau, who has registered his
presence in the House with much participation in debates on the floor of the
House and has even sponsored and co-sponsored Bills, insisted that we can move
forward as a nation if we can learn from the experiences of the June 12 993
Presidential Elections, which produced the late Chief MKO Abiola as the winner,
he said that it is the only way the country can move forward.
The lawmaker is also not happy
that some people are against state police, arguing that it will provide an
alternative as the Federal Police is not capable of handling the nation's
security problems. He speaks more in this interview.
Do
you support quota system?
For as long as the constitution
is saying that you must identify people with some things unless you want to
expunge this part from the constitution. So, there is nothing we can do about
it.
But
in the United States such a thing is never done, there is no quota system or
distribution of offices based on geo-political zones
You know the reason they don't do
that, it is because they practice true federalism, every state has its own
government, so the central government is weak, it is not strong, it is for
everybody, you are just going there to serve. Some of them have been senators
representing their states, governors of states, so they go there to serve. It
is not as juicy as we have it here, and they have strong institutions.
Nigeria's President is the most powerful in the world, he can award oil blocks
as he cares. He can decide to make someone rich and nothing happens, whereas
President Barack Obama of the United States of America cannot hand over state
wealth to any individual without following the normal process.
Is
there an end to impunity and the way we do things in Nigeria, can the system
change even as we are running away from Sovereign National Conference. We
allocate money for projects and they are not executed, is there an end to these
anomalies?
You are asking me for the
solution to the Nigerian problem, the solution is in our hands, everybody is
corrupt in this country, until the day we resolve not to be corrupt, that is
when we can change things. As you are, you are thinking of how to make it,
everybody wants the share of the national cake. You are not interested in
sharing the cake to solve problems, you are just praying for when it would come
your way. You leave your house to go to the polling booth to elect your
representative and you vote for the person that you really want as your leaders
that is when we will grow. There is a disconnect between the voting public and
governance. Let me expatiate; I leave my house, no light, no water, no
security, schools are bad and all that and I go to the polling booth to vote
for somebody that would determine whether I would have light, good health,
education for my children and water or not, but I just get to the booth and
begin to ask people, 'who are you voting for, who are you voting for,' and they
will be discussing that and vote for just anybody, and I go back home to no
light, no water and the old system. Do I see a connection between my actions at
the polling booth and what I actually need?
Let's
talk about your party; ACN, it will produce candidate for elections in 2015,
and they have come up with alternatives to issues, assuming people now decide
to vote for them that they will correct the anomalies in the country, is it now
wrong to vote blindly for ACN candidates as alternatives?
I like your question, if you have
taken time to study my party, which is the party of the progressives and your
belief is that we will continue to deliver and you vote for that person being a
member of our party, then you have researched, and that's all we ask from you
and has ACN failed you anywhere, no. you spoke intelligently now that you
believe in the party, but some people go out there, they don't even know what
the party they are voting for stands for. What you have said is what I have
asked each of us to do so that you will do the right thing and put the right
people in power, not mediocre, not the people you voted for because they don't
have shoes.
What
if you satisfy your conscience and voted for your candidates of choice and the
election was rigged as it is happening in some of our elections?
Yes, it is possible, we have seen
situations like that and the court has redressed some of them, but at least you
would have played your parts voting for the right person, it is a chain, which
is what we are saying. Like I said to some people, if you think your vote would
not count, you won't go out to vote.
The
7th Lagos State Assembly recently celebrated its 2nd anniversary, people
sometimes believe that there is a disconnect between the led and the leaders,
we know you have made some laws like the Coroner's Law, Traffic Law, Oil and
Gas Law, Cremation Law and all that, but how would you say the House has fared
in two years?
You are asking me to score myself
because I belong to the House. Talking about disconnect between the led and the
leaders, the Lagos State House of Assembly has performed its duties, which is
to make laws for the state. Also, to ensure judicious expenditure of the
budget, we perform our duties, so where is the disconnect between us and the
people.
What
I am trying to say is that people are sometimes not educated about the laws you
make, people even believe that some lawmakers don't get back to their people,
so what impact has the House made on the people?
I am not in a position to talk
generally about that, but I am aware that the House has channels through which
it gets across to the people on issues such as magazines, bulletins, we are on
the internet, television stations from time to time. The House disseminates
information to the people, we get back to our people often with information
about what we do here through town hall meetings, some do it through smaller
groups, I use newsletters to disseminate information to the people of my
constituency, sometimes I do it by text messages, but I wouldn't know if it is
general. But the House is trying its best and your question is best directed to
the leadership of the House.
We
are celebrating 20 years of June 12, 1993 Presidential elections presumably won
by the late Chief MKO Abiola and people believe that the ghost of the election
is still haunting and that may be we
would not have been like this if we got it right then, would you say Nigeria
would have been better if June 12, 1993 elections were not annulled?
Of course, I would say any
military regime, any deprivation of the people of their right is bad and Chief
Moshood Abiola of blessed memory was an embodiment of the collective mandate of
Nigerians. We have struggled as a nation to move forward and we have tried to
move after then to pick up the pieces of the election. We should look at how we
could forge ahead after missing that milestone opportunity and one way of doing
that is to celebrate that moment for us to continue pinching ourselves on the
need to get back on the right track. Abiola did not contest for governorship
lection, but presidency, but we hope to get it right. I like his slogan; Hope,
we will keep trying, we never get tired of trying.
Let us talk about state police;
many people believe that the governors would use them for their selfish aims
like the Inspector General Police once said that a governor asked him to
prevent someone from getting into a state, when he was a state Commissioner of
Police, but that he told the governor he couldn't do that
That is a lame excuse, there is a
superior law with federal laws that prevents you from stopping anybody from
moving, if we are saying that state police would be abused, one person cannot
tell anyone not to go into a state, if they did that, they have breached the
law. It is not that we would not have the Federal Police; it is like you have
the FBI, and state police in the United States. Just like you have the state
and Federal Governments, there are certain issues that would fall under the
respective police force, terrorism can be under Federal Police, just like
customs, certain crimes can be under federal police, some can be concurrent;
some will be exclusive, while others would be residual. I think we are just
making cheap statements; we are not addressing the problem as it is. We have
had Federal Police for so long, and it is not working alone, let us try
something new, change is the only thing that is constant. If it doesn't work
well, we are a nation, we can reverse it. Definitely, let us do something
first. From what we have seen in other countries, it would work; those grey
areas can be managed and fine-tuned overtime.
One other fear the people have is
that with what is happening now, especially with the election that took place
amongst Nigerian Governors Forum, (NGF), the situation is serious, and that if
35 people could not elect a leader, how would they conduct a national election,
does this portend a bad omen for 2015, can we still trust our leaders that they
can conduct credible elections?
I don't know what you saw, you
said 35 people could not choose a leader, which was not what I saw, I saw 35
people choose a leader, then some people decided after the election that the
person elected is not their leader and they went to choose another leader.
Those other people I am talking about are the members of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP). If you have any fears about the 2015 elections, the PDP is the one
you should be afraid of. The two people that contested for the chairmanship of
NGF are PDP members, just like the case of the Speaker of the Federal House of
Representatives, Malam Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, when he was being elected, the
opposition helped him. The same thing the opposition helped Governor Rotimi
Amaechi of Rivers State to win NGF elections for the second term according to
what you saw. But you can see how blatant, how boldface, bullish, the remaining
PDP Governors chose to be to go and elect Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State
as their own NGF Chairman. And you can see them speaking from both sides of
their mouth, I am sure, when they watch themselves on the video, they would
wonder if they were the ones speaking or not. But, when a man has something to
hide, he would come up with something. So, for us, in ACN, which is merging
with others to form All Progressive Congress (APC), we don't have a problem of
such, it is PDP we need to watch out for.
But do you trust the Chairman of
INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega to conduct credible elections in 2015
We don't trust anybody, but the
rule of law must prevail and whether Professor Attahiru Jega likes it or not,
he must do his job. Well, from his pedigree, he is a very good person, but trust,
we cannot trust anybody; we will monitor the election as much as we can and
pray so that God would be in their hearts.
How do we bridge the gap between the rich and
the poor, especially with the high cost of living in the country, the political
class is getting the millions
I don't agree with you that the
political class is getting the millions; I have not seen the millions. But more
seriously, for as long as the prosperity of the country depends on oil, there
would be problem. For as long as your government can prosper without you
prospering, then there is something to worry about. If you see Lagos State, we
always shout 'pay your tax, pay your tax,' we need it for development. The
Federal Government does not need your tax, they have oil money, and they don't
care whether you have money or not. That is why the various members of the
cabinet can stand on their mid-term review and tell you the country is
prospering, it is doing better, when the common cannot see anything. In the
United States, when they had the meltdown and the financial meltdown, the
Federal Government asked their banks to loan money to people at 0% interest
rate. They need the people to prosper so that they can pay their taxes because
if the people do not prosper, the government cannot prosper. But if the
government can be declaring surplus, telling you investment are coming into the
system, when it is not so, that is the problem, the key to the problem. That is
why whatever the Federal Government is doing does not reflect in your life because
they don't care for you. They can declare windfall this year and yet you have
not made a kobo as a person in a whole year. 80% of the people of this country
might not have made any money and they would declare surplus, and they would
spend money. Why do you think every year, when the budget is not read, the
economy is not moving, the Federal Government is just like a Plc. For you to
feel your government, you need to have a good government. For instance, all
your oil money should go to infrastructural development, overhead should be
paid from taxes. When you pay your tax, you won't handle government money with
levity, you won't vote for someone simply because he does not have shoes, you
would investigate the person because you will be putting your money, where your
mouth is, we need to pay our tax and the Federal Government needs to provide
services for the people. Tax evasion is crime anywhere in the world, prosperity
of the country must be directly proportional to the prosperity of the people.
When the people are prospering that is when the government should prosper so
that your leaders can strive that you prosper.
We
have seen two years of your vibrant contributions and you have sponsored bills
and co-sponsored bills, what should your constituents and the state expect from
you in the next two years?
I find your comment very
flattering, I am only doing my job, I just want people to pray for me for
wisdom and God's guidance so that I can continue to serve them to the best of
my ability.
So,
where do we expect to see you in 2015, is it Abuja?
We all knew what happened
yesterday and we know what is happening today, only God knows tomorrow, let
2015 comes, and let's pray for God to spare our lives. I am not new to the
political environment. I have offered myself for people through my party. So,
wherever my people and party feel I will be more useful to the populace, I am
at their service.
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