I WILL END UP AS A FULL TIME PASTOR -Omowunmi Olatunji-Edet

The beautiful lawmaker, Hon. Omowunmi Olatunji-Edet, who represents Oshodi/Isolo Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, has declared that she would end up serving as a pastor and that being in politics is just for the time being. Edet, who is 40 years old this year, believes that life begins, when one discovers himself or herself and the woman of the people has plans for her people as she has been doing over the years.

She spoke with Oladipupo Awojobi recently on the attainment of 40 years of age and her plans for the future.

How do you feel attaining the age of 40 because people believe that life begins at 40

The most important thing is for you to discover yourself, if you don’t discover yourself at 40 and you discover yourself at 60, life begins when you discover yourself because what you are living for starts with self discovery, every human being has an assignment on earth. So, for me, to be 40 makes no difference, the most important thing is self realization, I want to know who I am and do what I am born to do and maximize my potentials, which I can discover even at age 10, I have seen a young child below 15 years of age singing and a lot of people are feeling her impacts, so it has nothing to do with age, so if you are a fool at 20, you will still remain a fool even at 40. If you don’t discover yourself before 40, how are you sure you would discover yourself at 40, it is all about self-discovery. If you discover yourself early, 40 will not make any difference, you would just be thanking God for what you have attained.

Looking back to few years back, like when you were younger than this, would you say your dreams have been realized at age 40

My dream is to affect lives, I started nurturing that since I was a teenager, I have always seen myself as a compassionate person, who wants to touch lives, even at this age, I feel that I have not done much. When a man starts feeling fulfilled, he would start depreciating, I don’t want to have that mentality that I have arrived, once you say you have arrived, you are diminishing, you are depreciating, if you have got to a level, then God would take you away, but I have not reached my goal, I cannot wind up in life without going back to the pulpit, so doing politics for me is like an aberration, I still believed that I am called, that there is a gift in me, which has been deposited by God, the gift in me, deposited in me, given by God cannot emerge if I am in the four walls of an auditorium tagged a church, that is my goal and until that happens, I am not going to feel satisfied.

So, how soon will that be

It is only God that can determine that.

Politically now, do you see yourself moving forward or going to the pulpit

I have always been in the pulpit, I said I want to plant a church for God.

But people believe that politics and religion cannot go together…

That is not true because they are both dealing with human beings, as you have people within the church, you have them outside the church, their thinking pattern may not be the same, but you still owe them a duty the same way you owe your congregation a duty to be steadfast and committed to them and to make sure that their well being is well taken care of spiritually, physically and in all ramifications as a shepherd. The same thing applies as a leader in the political setting, you are still expected to be accountable, their well being is the reason for your being there to represent their interest in the first place. So, it is almost the same thing, the difference is the belief system, you know when I say church, you are talking about the Christian system, but in politics, the person you are dealing with does not have to share the same belief with me, we have different religions, the thing is that I will end up having a congregation, which I can groom and nurture in the things of God.

You are a beautiful woman and you are in politics and we hear a lot of stories about women and sexual harassment, how have you been coping and do you have any regret being in politics

I have no regret being in politics because whatever happens to me in life, I am led by God and wherever I find myself at any given time is because God wants me to be there, which is why I am there. I am there to fulfill God’s divine mandate, so I have no regret. When you talk about women, let us be fair to all, harassment is not limited to women, a man too can be harassed, but it is not as rampant as that of women, we hear that women are being harassed. I still want to correct an impression that women  in politics are wayward or they have sexual issues hanging around them, women in politics are even more discreet, more focused, we have had our rough moments and I think today’s woman is more watchful because you don’t want to be in the bad book of people. A lot of people out there see us as the last hope of the masses, which is why we cannot afford to let them down. If you look at the statistics of women that are in political arena today, they have gone through their turbulent moments and they are getting their bearing because the turbulent is over, we are now seeing those who have succeeded as role models and they are the ones we look up to, and my prayers are that more women would be encouraged by their spouses, more families are beginning to have confidence in women, so allow them to into politics, I think women have a major role to play in the stability of Nigeria as a country because if Nigeria fails today, then mothers have failed, if women do not come out to take the bull by the horn, it would be too bad. I think women are doing extremely well and they need to be encouraged. So, sexual harassment should be addressed holistically because nobody should be harassed sexually.

How do you plan to celebrate your 40^th birthday as a woman that is close to the grassroots

My plan is the usual, there is nothing new that I am doing, it is still the same set of people that gave me their mandates, I will be in their midst, we are going to celebrate as a family and I will use my 40^th birthday to thank God for keeping me alive and in good health and in the midst of the people that love me so much. I am going to empower about 170 people and I am looking forward to commissioning a borehole at the SOS Village, an orphanage in my constituency, I will run a table tennis competition and ‘Ayo’ Game at the Oba Palace. Since I have two local governments in my area, there would the preliminaries and the winners would be awarded accordingly on August 15^th.

As you are crossing to 40, what should your people expect from you

They should expect better representation, a more articulate and more matured Hon. Omowunmi Olatunji Edet and they should expect to see more of government participation in my constituency because that is the essence of my being here in the Lagos State House of Assembly. I am going to make sure that all the agencies that are saddled with the responsibility of infrastructure will come into my constituency and they will do as my people desire from the government because we all pay our taxes and for those that are not paying, I am encouraging them to pay because the government cannot make things to happen if they don’t pay, there must be a participation from the populace and the government.

August 06, 2013