By June, 2015, Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, would have spent 12 years as a lawmaker, 10 of which he would have spent as the Speaker of the House.
In this interview, he speaks on himself, his position, his governorship ambition which did not materialise and his next line of movement.
TON caught up with the Speaker and he was willing to reveal his plans and experience in the house.
We will like you to tell us your next move after leaving office as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
That is a very tall one for me to answer. I have learnt that when I set my eyes on a particular cause, most times, it gets so tough, it becomes near impossible, but God opens wider doors and even the cause I choose for myself usually turns out to be far shorter and smaller than the one that God chooses for me. It has been like this since the beginning of my life and I can give you so many examples from the beginning of my life, even from as early as leaving primary school deciding on what next and the struggles that followed and where I ended eventually.
Really, I know that I have so much in my hands that I have to do that I can’t see any vacuum in my life.
How tasking is the job of a Speaker?
The job of the Speaker is so energy sapping, I don’t have a life any longer, my life is the Lagos State House of Assembly. I am even in my office till 12 midnight. Don’t I need a rest? If I had been given the ticket to be the Governor of Lagos State on the platform of, the APC, I would have taken off immediately after February 28, 2015 for one full month of rest. I need to recover my body, me strength, I need to sleep, work out, no phone calls and where I would not attend to any guest for one month. Now I have more time, I can close anytime I like. The next five months is to put things in place and ensure that things work out.
We once heard that the governorship aspirants of the APC in Lagos State had a meeting with the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, where you all accused him of favouritism. We also heard that you defended him after that, will you still defend him now?
You were not at the meeting, you said it as if you were there. I don’t know where you got your information from. Nobody accused the leader of favouritism. I remember people said that a level playing ground should be given to all the contestants but Asiwaju Tinubu was not accused of favouritism. I defended him then and I still say even today I would still defend him. We need to be more pragmatic and realistic about life. You all know my relationship with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it is not something that is hidden. May be that also gave me the over confidence on this issue of the Governorship. But, like I told my wife and daughter sometime ago, if somebody had been with you for a whole month, two months, three months, nine months and in the 10th month, you wanted something and he wanted something else, should you call for his head.
Ours is a managed democracy, we have to be honest about that, we are not in the US. Even in the US, there are certain things that they manage. I attended the National Democratic Convention years ago with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, where President Obama was adopted for a second term of office. If certain leaders did not come out openly to endorse him, he wouldn’t have been able to make a second term. On the stage, I looked at him and wondered if this was the President of the United States of America. He was like a toddler, who saw his aunt who usually brought things for him when former President Bill Clinton came. He knew that ‘if this man makes a speech on my behalf tonight I would make it’.
If he were a Yoruba man, he would have prostrated for Clinton before he started the speech. We exaggerate some of these things here, sometimes we go very far with them, but issues of endorsement, supports and all that happen everywhere. It is not only here. If it happens in the most widely acknowledged democracy in the world, who are we; a 15-year-old democracy. I say it again, Asiwaju Tinubu was not accused of favouritism, I defended him then and I would still defend him now. I won’t tell you what he told me, it is between two brothers or father and son or whatever you want to call it.
We discovered that 16 members of the 7th Assembly would not be returning in 2015, what is the implication?
That is a very tough one, but in 2007, we fought very had for 17 members to return to the House. In 2011, it was another battle to get 22 members to return. Yes, we have 24 who already have tickets, but it is still my hope that even some of those who haven’t would still get the tickets. I want to tell you, ours is a very young democracy, a lot of hitches are still on our path. I personally would not like a situation where we have seven women in the 7th Assembly and we cannot have eight or 10 women in the 8th Assembly. If the number reduces, it doesn’t portend good omen for our democracy, not just for Lagos State House of Assembly. In 2003, there was only one woman, Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, when we resumed in June, Bola Badmus joined when there was a bye-election after we lost one of our members few months into the tenure.
In the sixth Assembly, we had five women, in the 7th Assembly, we have seven women and that made me feel proud and happy that we are progressing. The womenfolk should be given more opportunities which is how it is everywhere in the world. I still feel there are still a number of members who would still get tickets. Yes, we say no one is indispensable that what of if someone dies, all those are just side talks. If someone is not dead, he can still contribute, if someone is dead, he is gone, we don’t have to cry over spilt milk. But if the person is not dead, we can still work on that. We spend a lot of money to train lawmakers, it is not something that the state should continue to do every year. We should allow the training to have impacts on the institution and then on the state.
What makes it possible for you to survive as Speaker for so many years?
You should have asked my colleagues why they did not impeach Ikuforiji, they are in a better position to tell you that. I can tell you from my own side that it is one thing to look at a job and see the peck side of it and it is another thing to see the job done. Even in 2003 when we were coming in, I fought very hard to be Speaker of the House. Thank God I was not made the Speaker then, it gave me room to study the House and know it better before I was made Speaker in December 2005. There are many things you need to understand and know if you want to lead the legislative arm. Unlike any other arm of government, the Speaker as the head should also be a great follower; he is the servant of his people. Unlike the Governor, who has the power of hire and fire, the Speaker can only persuade. If the Governor asks any of his aides to send out a message that he would be hosting the pressmen on a particular day and he says they are invited, about one quarter or half of them would make sure that they find their ways there. But, you cannot do that with the members of the House, they would attend at their own convenience. If you understand that they are your boss and you are not their boss there would be no problem.
Of course, you cannot satisfy everybody. I am never carried away if they praise me that I am powerful because they delegated the powers I have to me. You need to know your onions. Also, you have to be selfless as a leader; you have to think of them more than you think of yourself. Sometimes, I feel like crying, when I see them say or do certain things, and I say these people, what else do they want? But that is leadership, it comes with its own pain and you would have make sacrifices at all times, you have to let go sometimes and you have to be very frank sometimes. Sometimes, we are like toddlers in the House, you would see old men behave sometimes and you feel bad, but with God everything is possible.
We heard a rumour that you plan to return to the Assembly in 2015. How true is that?
Well, it is not in my plan, I never thought of this. Even before the governorship primary election, every opportunity I have heard to talk publicly, even at the Hijrah lecture, I said that it is not my intention to return to the Assembly. God has his own plan. If they want me back, all of them must be seated with our leaders and they have to bring my mother from heaven to come and tell me to come back. Honestly, it is time to move on after a decade. Really I am tired. Let me just go and rest, it is not in my plans.
Was there a time you felt like things were getting out of hand as Speaker?
Yes, every second has been challenging since December 29, 2005 and I have always faced the challenges with a lot of courage. Anyone who tells you that the position is not challenging is not progressive-minded, he is not serious-minded and he is not going to take the House anywhere. Think about it, today everyone in the country agrees that Lagos State House of Assembly is the number one in the federation. In fact the National Assembly cannot compete with Lagos State House of Assembly. If I am Speaker of the House for the next 10 years, everyday would come with its own peculiarities; there are still so many things to be done and I would want to get them done. Those are challenges, and we must always take up the challenges and do our very best.
Recall, that, a few months ago, the speaker had plans to run for the 2015 elections; a plan which did not pan out.
Ikuforiji has been at the receiving end of quite a few scandals during his tenure. Some months back, Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, discharged and acquitted the Speaker of laundering charges.
No comments:
Post a Comment