Hon. Tunde Braimoh is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and former chairman of Kosofe Local Government Area. The APC chieftain is also an erudite lawyer. In this interview with Ejiro Roman-Adigbo, he spoke candidly on Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State and sundry issues. Read on…
What are your plans for your constituency?
The function of a legislator is to represent, legislate and conduct oversight functions. When you represent, it means you are standing for your people and you champion their course. Legislature is about making laws, another aspect of legislation is appropriation; when you make appropriation i.e. when you allocate resources of the state to various constituencies and ensuring that your area get proper allocations. Lastly, oversight will ensure that whatever you have allocated are well implemented.
I want to assure my people of adequacy in performing these functions, I will have to give my best because it is not easy to represent people, it is not easy to bring out ideas that can make Lagos State attractive to foreign investment and conducive for local trade. We intend to support the governor and ensure that we give him whatever that is required by the backing of the law to see that he actualize his dream for the state. I want to further assure my constituency that we have what it takes to make Lagos better.
What is your take on what is going at the senate?
Well, politics is full of intrigues… for me, it is one of those things that can happen, it is unfortunate it caught some of us unaware. So, what happened is a lesson that we have to be on our guard. Party supremacy is very important, although we are not running a parliamentary system. If it were to be a parliamentary system it could have happened because the party will be the one to structure the government. In life, you look at issues on a broad perspective, you cannot create more harm than the one you see to avoid… what the people did was harmful but trying to fight them back would be more harmful than the one we are trying to avoid. In Nigeria, even when you kill your own mother you will still have supporters. So, we just have to be calm on this issue to see that we don’t create more harm than the one we are trying to avoid. I am happy with the party for having a second thought and taking a political approach on the issue. You cannot resolve any political matter legally, what you will do when you eventually gets to court is to create a platform for division and when you say there is a division in your party that will allow your opposition to come in.
What are your expectations from Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode?
What I am expecting from Gov. Ambode is a better Lagos. Fortunately for us, he is a man that has been around. What I mean is that, he has been at the local level; as the treasurer of Local Government Councils, he has traversed the nooks and crannies of Lagos State; from Alimosho to Badagry, Badagry to Shomolu, Shomolu to Agege, etc. Culminating his civil service career as the Permanent Secretary and the Accountant-General of the state at a very tender age, he has all it takes to be a leader. He has the opportunity to have been in the corridors of powers for so long. I know that by God on his side, Lagos will witness unprecedented growth and development. Lagos will open new vistas, we can’t be doing business the same way, I expect things to go different. We need to explore the opportunities in other areas; you can see what is going on in our oil industry, we cannot continue to depend on oil. We have all it takes to compete with other cities in the world that can live on other resources apart from oil, so, the new government will strive to open new vistas for Lagos and thrive on other resources other than oil.
I have seen that he is a man that will build on the successes and strides of his predecessors; he is coming to consolidate on the achievements of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and strides of Fashola. He is going to build on the infrastructural development and create security for lives and properties. In addition to that, immediately he resumed office, he hit the ground running by creating strategic ministries. He is going to have an office of foreign affairs right in his office; he is going to be meeting with foreign bodies and even Nigerians in the diaspora to encourage them to invest at home. He has created the Ministry of Wealth Creation; not poverty alleviation but he wants to create wealth in Lagos, he wants to create a lot of works, very soon you will have details of his numerous plans.
What is your candid opinion about him?
He is a very discipline person, before his birthday he told us his friends that whatever we would want to give for him that we should gather the resources and use it to fight cancer, he has a dedicated account that we can put the money in… he doesn’t have time for frivolities. He is a man that is simple, humble, down-to-earth and focused. 14th of June was his birthday but the man is not giving to any lavish entertainment or party.
What actually compelled your decision to contest for membership of the Lagos State House of Assembly?
The previous assembly members have done their own bit, coming in doesn’t necessarily mean something was missing or lacking in the house but only that I had the opportunity to serve and my party wishes that I go there and represent my constituency. My dream here is to collaborate and cooperate with my compatriots to see how we can move Lagos forward. I am not interesting in anything personal, I am not looking forward to anything exceptional to what have been in existence, but I am looking forward to make my mark and leave my footprint too.
What is your advice to the people of your constituency who voted you in the election?
My advice to my constituents is to be patient, understanding, tolerance and to pray for me. I implore them to call me to order if I go contrary to their will. By the grace of God I will be a good ambassador to my constituency, any time they need my attention to any issue, I will always be available to interact with them. But they also require a lot of knowledge; knowledge is very important because they must know who is an executive and a legislator. Some constituents have beseeched me with requests to build roads, bridges and to perform some infrastructural duties which are not in my own power. However, that’s not to say that I don’t have an influence to bear in such projects but not directly as if I am the one to do it but we bring those things into focus, we can have a way of imbibing those requirements into the scheme of things in Lagos. We have a way of influencing those in position to ensure that certain things are given to our constituencies. We have what it takes because our constitutional duty is to influence good things for our people, not that we are directly responsible for executing those things.
Why did it take so long for the lawmakers to come out with the new Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly?
It didn’t take any time… everybody is eligible candidate of the speakership except for the rules of the house that forbids first timers from special offices, there is a rule there that seem to reserve special offices for the ranking members; that is contestable anyway. It’s a rule of the house but it can as well be amended. Lagos State House of Assembly did not wait for too long, it was when due. On the day of proclamation, we had our election and not only speaker and deputy speaker but all other key officers emerged. So, Lagos State House of Assembly should be commended because we are one of the first few that did it in Nigeria even before the National Assembly. The truth is that when many people are entitled to one office, there will be constitution that requires different meetings, maybe that was what people felt happened prior to the day of proclamation and election of the key officers but there was no problem.
You were a local government chairman in 2002, yet you still remain relevant over the years in Lagos politics. What makes you a unique politician?
Let’s thank God… some things will happen in your life, if it is so small and that is what God wishes for you, just take it. I was just a local government chairman, and I was grateful to God for it. It’s just like a mystery to me because I have not held political office for 13years. I thank God for good health, I thank God for life, I thank God for my party leaders and elders, I thank God for friends who have been with me; I thank God for my humility. If I was doing politics because of money, I would not have survived this long, it is because I am an enterprising and industrious person; I like good life and I live good life, so I work hard. I don’t depend on politics to survive; I get by with my other businesses. I’m into politics because of the passion and mission according to good politics, but then I get my fund from where I get my funds from, so, I don’t need sponsors. Being a local government chairman shot me to world limelight, I’ve been to places in the world, I’ve had invitations to places in the world. I have been invited to seminars, trainings to deliver epistles and lectures on local government administration all over the world; I have been given awards, there are some eminent personalities that invited me to discuss local government administration with them. There are some important and critical fora like symposia, place of discuss that I have been invited to and I feel so honoured.