Hon. Tajudeen Adekunle Obasa is the member-elect, House of Representatives for Ojo Federal Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. He spoke with ORUKPE NELSON on his victory and plans for his constituency when he assumes office. Excerpts…

To what will you attribute your victory?

I will attribute it to a lot of activities I have been involved in my constituency, yes to my track record. One thing in life is that to be successful as a politician, you must be a man of all people.  I started this race like child’s play and the journey was rough and tough. As it is, I had to mingle with so many people starting from the elderly people by doing some favours. Also I assisted a number of youths to gain admission into the tertiary institutions of their choice and also helped some to secure employment. So all these really helped and contributed to my success in the election. So I don’t discriminate indigenes and non indigenes; whether you are a Yoruba man or not and that is the reason I said I am a man of all people. Whenever there is a problem, I always come to their aid to make sure that everything is solved.

What plans do you have to meet the expectations of your constituents?

The truth is that they expect a lot, and as it is, I have been able to go round and tell them formally that we had the majority at the National Assembly but right now, we are in the minority but that does not mean we would not embark on developmental projects. What we lack from the Federal Government presently, I will try as much as possible to bring some of them but we can’t influence ourselves through the executive arms presently because we have lost the centre. But anything that has to do with the nation, we shall join hands to build the nation together. And in my own constituency, I will always come back and feed them with the information on issues. And in terms of my empowerment programmes for the youths, the women, the aged and other social amenities needed in the area, I shall do my best to provide them.

What informed your decision to contest for House of Representatives?

I had never thought of aspiring for this position. What I was aspiring for then was council chairmanship in the local government election but when the leaders looked into my track records and the good will within the community, not even the Ojo town constituency alone but within the nooks and crannies of Ojo Local Government, they said I should drop the ambition of the local government council chairmanship for the Federal House of Representatives. I wondered how I would be able to cope given the fact that it is a huge capital project but they assured me of their support. So I accepted the offer and we started the race. Like I said earlier, I thought it was a child’s play. The APC candidate I contested with in 2011 was the same candidate of the then ACN and I was the candidate of PDP for the local government council election. He won the election on the platform of ACN and as I told him then, he won because of electoral malpractices perpetrated by Lagos State INEC. But if we are going to conduct proper election, I would defeat him, and it has shown now. He was able to become the candidate of their party. I knew that I would win because I have done my homework; I have my structures in the election wards, the community leaders, the non-Yoruba speaking people, I had cordial relationship with all of them and they assured me of their supports.

Since PDP is the minority in the lower chamber, what challenges do you anticipate?

We are going to run a strong opposition in the parliament there. Secondly, we want to tell them that they don’t know how to run the opposition, they have been in the minority before but presently, we are going to make sure minority becomes the majority in 2019.  And as it is, we want to tell them that there are vibrant hands within the PDP and so shall it be.

Why did you choose to contest under the platform of the PDP?

That is my party from the onset and I can’t defect to another party now. It is a national party. A minority would be a majority someday. A party which does not believe in democracy or in the nation as a whole that so much believes in his own sectional structure cannot be recognised. The only political party that practised democracy is PDP. Whenever PDP is going for their primary or convention, they always make it known and it will be transparent. They do not impose people on the party. But the other party imposes candidates on the electorate without recourse to due process. I like PDP. Had it been it is another party, they would not have chosen me to aspire, they would have told me to go for councillorship due to my stature. I’m actually younger than my age, and I don’t have money, so they would have told me that “since you don’t have money, then you can’t contest, but for PDP the best must emerge.”

What is your relationship with the Igbo community in Ojo Constituency?

I have a good relationship with all non-Yoruba speaking people in Ojo Local Government Area; be it South-East, South-South and the Arewas. Anywhere you go to, you will hear Obasa and this has been going on before the election. Whenever they are in distress, they will call me and I make sure I relieve them from that burden; so all these things were the factors that determined my winning and my success. They should not worry, no amount of threat because I am an indigene both my paternal and maternal in this local government. Besides, I come from a royal house and I am the Secretary of Ojo Town Community as a whole.