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Presidential ticket: S’East must parley S’West, S’South –Lagos lawmaker, Jude Idimogu

The lawmaker representing Oshodi/Isolo Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Jude Idimogu has revealed that winning an election in Lagos State as an Igbo man was by the grace of God and through his popularity with the people. In this interview with OLADIPUPO AWOJOBI, Idimogu speaks on why he believes the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is the most qualified person to be the next president of Nigeria.

How were you able to break into the political setting of the South-West as a South Easterner?

The first thing in life is to trust God and the second is to believe that nothing is impossible. If you don’t play lottery, how do you expect to win. It was difficult because many people never gave me chance, including my brother from the South-East. But with God and hardwork, anything could happen. I am from banking background, I believe in marketing, I see myself as a product; I am a Catholic and I participate in church activities. Catholic is big anywhere in the world including Lagos and Nigeria. They have a lot of members and if you believe in the activities of the church and you believe in charity and social work, and games such as football then the sky is your limit. I won the first Catholic Bishop Cup donated by the current Bishop of the church. All the Catholic Churches in Lagos participated in a football match and in SS Peter and Paul, we won the Catholic cup. My name was a household name then. I have always believed in giving back to the society even before I joined politics. People called me a philanthropist, which does not mean that you must have a large purse. It is your attitude that matters. When I built my house and I wanted to pack there around 2010, the road around there was very bad. I felt that with this beautiful house, how could I live in such an area with a bad road, what of if my people wanted to come and visit me, so I hired a company to work on the road. That is in Canoe area of Isolo. Even the motorcycle riders there were wondering if I was a government official. Those who know me well call me Mr. Nigeria as I believe in one indivisible country.

And what was life like then?

When I was building the house, I used to eat with the workers and we would recite the National Anthem and the national pledge together. If you don’t join us to do that you would not eat with us. I put green white green flag in my house, so people called me Mr. Nigeria before they started calling me ‘abundance.’ Your words and desire matter a lot. If you say you don’t love Nigeria you might not do well because your mind is somewhere else. I never planned to vie for election in Lagos State. You know I am not a Yorubaman, I am just a Lagosian. I used to go to Imo State, where I come from before the 2011 elections and I told my people I would still contest election there. But a friend of mine, a neighbour just called me around 2013 and said “Oga Jude, that thing you had wanted to do, why not try it again this time around.” We were just sitting down in front of my house then. Already, I was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the South-East. Then I was into Bureau De Change business, but I had some problems with the Central Bank of Nigeria, which affected my lifestyle. So, I now had time for myself. I was organising the BDC operators in Lagos State then. They have over 1,500 BDCs in the state with two or three staff each.

How then did you join the mainstream politics in Lagos State?

I now discovered that I had time and one woman from my church asked me to join the PDP in the state and I discovered that I was better than some of the people there, but I am not a Yorubaman. I had a leader then who is dead now and I asked him if I could vie for election in the state and he said yes I could. Also, my wife is a Yoruba woman. Then, former President Goodluck Jonathan was trying to mobilize Igbos in Lagos State then for us to have a platform to operate. We have an Igbo political group in Isolo then. I then did a banner that was different; I put my picture and that of my wife with our names and I wrote the name of the family of my wife, “Kuku” in Ijebu- Ode in the poster. That was what caught the attention of people. Then the Yoruba people there too started supporting me. The primary election was tough and I defeated four Yoruba men. From there my Igbo kinsmen started supporting me morally and they believed in me. I later contested with the son of Hon. Dele Ajomale, who was the Chairman of the APC in Lagos State then and I was not known politically in Lagos State then. But my church programmes and philanthropic activities helped me. One day, I just remembered the story of David and Goliath in the Bible and I said I was David and Ajomale’s son was the Goliath, which was what helped me. I must also thank my wife for her efforts. I even threatened her that if I lose the election our marriage would be over.

Do you still have a good relationship with your people?

I am even more acceptable and more popular among them more than before. I am with them and they are with me.

….But, you are now in the APC and not the PDP?

That doesn’t matter, it is about the people, you are just their representative. If you don’t relate with them, a time will come that you will need them. Most of the people that voted for you are not party members. Some party members don’t even like you because you defeated their candidates at the primary. Representation matters a lot, which is what some of us lack. Once you win, the competition is over and everybody is under your umbrella.

What are your guiding principles because people believe that some politicians go into offices to satisfy themselves?

That is not true about me, I believe in giving back to the people that sent me. I used to pray that God should give me a larger platform to give back to the people that sent me. Governance is not where you go and enrich yourself. You live a comfortable life, but you must give back to the people because you will get other benefits. You should not go there to amass wealth. You must give back at least 60% of your earnings to the people that voted for you. If you want to go far as a representative of the people you must give back to them. If you are selfish you will fall by the way side. If you give to them, they will always support you. Service is the key thing; your electorates should matter to you.

There is the issue of insecurity in the country, how would you want the government to tackle it?

The Federal Government is doing its best, may be their best is not good enough, but a lot of factors are responsible for what is happening in the country. However, insecurity is not only in Nigeria, it is happening in other countries too. Unfortunately, the challenge we have is that in the north, where they have much security issues, they have a vast land that are undeveloped. We don’t have enough people to man their borders. Remember that governance is a continuum and even when this government leaves office, whoever is taking over from them will continue to work in the same process. Look at when the issue started, it was not when handled. Look at what former President Olusegun Obasanjo did in Odi in Bayelsa State that was not good for democracy. Also, the late former President Musa Umaru Yar’Adua tried and former President Goodluck Jonathan was overwhelmed by the whole issue and there was a kind of sabotage in his government. These Boko Haram people stay among the people and people are even using it to make money.

What about kidnapping and bandity?

People are using it to make brisk money. It is now reigning, armed robbery and attack on banks have reduced. They make more money with little risks, it is a network thing. Security should not be left to the government alone, as they also have challenges such as finance. We don’t have money and we don’t produce arms and ammunitions. There is also dichotomy among the tribes as we don’t see ourselves as one.

…Don’t you think we now need state police?

Yes, we have been talking about it and the Lagos State House of Assembly as well as the Lagos State Government have been talking about it. Our able Speaker in LSHA, Mudashiru Obasa, has been championing this. We cannot do it alone since security is on the exclusive list, they have to agree with us and amend the constitution. Neighbourhood Watch and ‘Amotekun’ are helping, but Neighbourhood Watch doesn’t carry gun. We need state police as they would know where the criminals are and they would arrest them easily.

The legislature is an important arm of government, how do you think we can make it better in Nigeria?

The power of money is very strong. The legislature is number one, but the executive controls the money of the state. He who pays the piper dictates the tune. Some of our Governors are power mongers, they have the money. We make laws, do oversight functions and amend the law. But financial autonomy is very key, the executive releases the money and if they refuse to release money, what happens. Legislature should be on first line charge so that they can have the power rather than begging the executive money. Though it is difficult to have absolute independence, the executive needs us and we also need them. When we have any issue, we can sit down and discuss. The executive always wants to brag, I pray that the governors would understand the need to give autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary. The governors even challenged the President, when he signed the Bill on financial autonomy to state legislature into law.

There are insinuations that the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should contest as the president of the country in 2023. Also, the South-East is agitating for the same office. What is your take on this and the rumoured plan by the former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, to contest for the office of the president through a new party in 2023?

Rochas Okorocha is always a unique person. He is eccentric, so I will not talk about him. On Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, amongst the assumed aspirants for the office, he is the man that is ready and prepared to go for the office unlike some other people. Tinubu is experienced, he was a governor and a senator. Out of nothing he did a lot in Lagos State. When he was governor, the local government fund of the state was seized for years by the Federal Government because he created Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs). But out of his commitment and sincerity, he still did a lot in the state without the fund. He grew the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state and Lagos could do without federal allocation. Lagos State is being cheated as a former capital of the country and the commercial capital of Nigeria, but we deserve a special status. Tinubu is learned, he is experienced, he is an activist that has championed the goodness of this country, he is detribalised. When I won election under the PDP, they wanted to take me to court, but Tinubu said that they should leave me alone. He empowers those that come across him. He has worked as a chartered accountant and he has connection far and wide. Any good leader must have good friends both externally and internally. When Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was our Minister of Finance, she used her connections to ensure that our debt was written off because of her contacts. Tinubu is hungry to achieve much for Nigeria, he wants to help the country. President Muhammadu Buhari has tried to be president on three occasions; he succeeded at the fourth time because Tinubu rallied round for him. Tinubu is a man with resources that is ready to give out to get results. We need those kinds of people with visions. He is gifted. He doesn’t need to take the money of the country, he is too old for that, but he wants to ensure that Nigeria has the best as a country. For the South-East, with due respect, I am an Ibo man. But my brothers from the South-East are not yet ready for the presidency. You mentioned Okorocha, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State also joined us, but some members of Ebonyi State House of Assembly are still in the PDP. In Imo State, the governor and some members of the Assembly are APC members, but how many are they? Even in the PDP, the South-East alone cannot produce the president, how many are they. We saw the voters registration, one region in the north is more than the whole of South-East. If they do primaries how many delegates can you get from the South East? Nobody can serve you power easily, you have to pull it, the one that pulls it better will win. They should start lobbying the South- West, South-South if they want to win the presidency. I know that power will come to the South, where will it go, South-West is stronger and power will likely go there. All that the people of the South-East need to do now is to dialogue so that by the time the presidency is coming later, the South-West will support them. They must meet the leaders of the South-West region and agree on what they are losing for them.

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