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    Monday, September 21, 2015

    People Have Misconceptions About Earnings of State Assembly Lawmakers - Tunde Buraimoh

    Hon. Tunde Buraimoh, who is representing Kosofe Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, has served on the two sides of the coin. He was the Chairman of Kosofe Local Government, but now he is a lawmaker.
    However, the lawyer-turned-politician is not happy about what the people are saying about legislators.
    According to him, people have misconceptions about legislators and they tend to spread unfounded rumours about them.
    The colourful politician speaks on several issues of interest in this no-holds-barred interview he granted us recently in his office in the assembly complex. Oladipupo Awojobi was part of the interview session.

    Much was not been heard about you after you left office as the Chairman of Kosofe Local Government about 14 or 15 years ago, is it safe to say you had been in political oblivion before you came to LSHA?
    It depends on where you are coming from and how you look at it. I have been around in my constituency and I have been with my people. But the problem is that, when you are not in a public office it is very difficult for the people to know much about you. This has not really affected me. I had been relevant to my people even before I became a local government chairman. This is not the first time that I would contest election, when you are not in a public office, you won't have the platform to be known.

    People believe that you are one of the finest brains around here. Was it part of what your constituents saw in you that made them give you the mandate to dethrone the then majority leader, when they know that you could not be made a principal officer as a first term lawmaker?
    I would not subscribe to the word 'dethrone' in talking about the former majority leader of the House, Hon. Ajibayo Adeyeye. He is a fine gentleman and a friend of mine. I senior him in politics, but he is my friend. At the same time, our democracy is still nascent, we should explore others. If he had done it for eight years, another person should be given a chance. Kosofe is a basket of brains, apart from Adeyeye and I, we have many vibrant people in the local government. We are just lucky because we have a lot of brilliant people in Kosofe.

    ...Even when we have somebody that is coming for the fourth term in Kosofe Constituency 1
    ... That is a peculiar one because he has other roles to play here. We donated him to the Lagos State House of Assembly, we need him to stabilise the system here. We just have to take our eyes off him. He is not working for Kosofe Local Government alone, but he is working for the state as a whole.

    Prior to the emergence of the leadership of the 8th Assembly in the state, we were made to understand that the first term lawmakers played important roles in the whole process. Can you let us into the roles you played
    I played no role because, when I read the rules of the House, it was stated there that only ranking members could aspire into the leadership positions of the House, which is contrary to the constitution of the country. The constitution says that membership of the House of Assembly shall elect one of them as the Speaker and elect one of them as the Deputy Speaker. So if the constitution says that, legality and morality are different. The constitution allows you to contest, but it does not allow you to win.
    Did you call the attention of other members to this?
    I didn't have to call their attention to it. Of course, you would contest, but you would not win. I am beyond granstanding or all kinds of scheming. I could have contested as I would not have been bound by the rules of the House, I would have used the constitution. But the truth is that you would contest and you would not win. The rule of the House is made for some conveniences, for some structures and administrative balances or else it would have been a kind of banana republic, where everybody could do anything. I am a first term member today, I would not be a first term member tomorrow. Laws are made for men, but men are not made for law. Laws can be made at times to make things easier. I didn't play any role, it was a consensus, we all agreed on somebody. So, we didn't have to vote at all.

    You played a role at the executive arm of government as a local government chairman, now you are in the legislative arm of government. Do you want to juxtapose the two?
    They are very distinct and different, I am just trying to adjust to the system here. As an executive, I used to implement my thought and I would convince others to believe in what I wanted to do. As a local government chairman, I was doing a kind of agenda setting and I used conviction and persuasion to make people believe in me. But now, I am participating in debates, arguments and articulation and others. Majority might not be right, but they would have their way, the minority would only have their say. I am trying to adjust to that.

    Which one do you find more challenging?
    It is quite challenging here, I won't lie to you.

    Would you subscribe to pay slash for legislators, especially in Lagos?
    Well, the salary of the legislators here is not exorbitant or attractive unless you are trying to grandstand. The pay of the legislator here is a pittance. I am a lawyer of about 27 years and I am being paid a salary of about N500,000 monthly or so. It is not enough to pay my bills. If you talk about pay slash, then you should allow me to do other jobs. I cannot be a full time worker here and you are giving me something that is not enough to take care of my family for a month. I cannot do any other work except from farming. If the people feel that the salaries we earning is much, they should look at the cost of the election. You pay about a million naira to your party to buy form to contest the primaries and pay almost the same amount to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to collect a form and you keep spending money till you win. As a local government chairman, I started with a salary of about N30,000 and I would have to retire the imprest I was collecting at the end of the month. I am not talking of those at the National Assembly, but those of us in the state assemblies are not earning much to generate furore. Even if it is without salaries, those who want to serve would still contest. Like I said, when I was not in a public office, it was not that I was not making money, but I was not as visible. It is a matter of what you want you to be. It depends on my choice, people should stop unnecessary agitation. I have earned some money here and I know how much I earned, and anybody who has a contrary fact should come forward to say I earn more. I am a lawyer by profession and if I am practising my profession, I know what I would be earning in a day on a brief. So, if I can drop all that and I have to feed my family, what do you want me to do. Is it about grandstanding, you cannot compare what a president is earning to what a legislator is earning. Don't forget that what is accruable to the president is totally different. The president is fed, I am not fed, don't let us listen to that. The president is a 73 year old man, he doesn't have to pay children school fees and he is accomplished. I still have school fees to pay. I cannot do any other work, if I do, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) would arrest me and I have to send my children to school or should my children become illiterate. Let the people sit down and look at the constitution. If they get here, they would demand for more than what I am earning, they can say anything they want to say. If you want to talk, base it on practicability and statistical analyses. May be because of envy or jealousy, you just say anything you like. We can even make the job part time or reduce the number of people here. If you say democracy is expensive, try autocracy. If you say the people are many and that they are stealing your money, juxtapose it with just one person ruling all alone. We know what Sanni Abacha did, what Mobutu Sese Seko and others did, when they were ruling. As a Nigerian, am I not entitled to the country's money or am I not entitled to be paid for the job I am doing? They say legislators don't do much, but everyday we are here working, we go to check what the executive is doing through oversight functions because we are the watchdogs of the executive.

    ...But people say the legislators have commercialised oversight functions, is this true?

    That is speculative, it is not happening here. People only imagine things, I don't base my things on imaginations saying that is what they do. We have a lot of dirty minds around you know. For what, if you demand, must the person give you. It depends on your background, I don't see myself going to people to demand for money like an area boy. If you do that you are reducing yourself. You expect me to go to people and start asking them for money anyhow, you would leave the office one day now and you have children, who bear your name. Imagine if my son or daughter becomes somebody tomorrow, they would say his or her father used to do this or that. We have to be mindful of our names. You don't know where your children would be tomorrow. It is just like a policeman, who comes to you and harasses you, if you give him money, you are not happy. You would curse him and tell people that he has done something bad to you. I am not in that kind of category.
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