Illiterates Must No Longer Lead Us

…Adewale

Segun Adewale, popularly known as Aeroland is the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Lagos West Senatorial District of Lagos State. In this chat with Uzo Chikere, he speaks on his vision for the people of the zone.

What prompted your decision to contest the National Assembly election to represent Lagos West Senatorial District in the Senate?

The reason why we are under developed is that the elite hear you say politics is this, politics is that. As someone who has integrity and is hard-working; if you are not there, it will be in the hands of nonentities. Who will represent your community? Is it the same the, that I am contesting against, parading people whose character is questionable? What educational qualification do they have? Is it the same Rauf Aregbesola who claims he is an engineer? Probably he has OND and claimed he is an engineer. Where did he work? Two years ago via INEC, it was discovered he had OND or school certificate. Those are people leading us. Or is it General Muhammadu Buhari who has school certificate and we are still doubting it up till now. The bane of our society can be attributed to the elite in the society. You know, in life, God will only use those that are ready; those that come forward to ask for things.  Whoever is available is who God uses. That is why you see mediocrity everywhere both in our party and APC.  That is why as an educated person who engages in charity work, I have decided to offer myself for service. That is why people complain of no light; no public school; no infrastructure. Within Ikeja, you can’t get home that has direct pipe borne water; the same thing with Alimosho, Ojo, Amuwo Odofin, Badagry. They are blaming PDP and PDP are blaming them. Why should I keep putting in my hard earned millions doing charity when our representatives have already collected millions of naira for not doing what they are expected to do? That is why I am in the race. I will give you my profile. I have just constructed bole holes. As an individual, I have built over 36 bore holes in Alimosho and Ikeja. As I am talking to you, I have donated transformers to different communities; I have built schools, I have dredged canals, I have provided assistance to the poor, I have opened up communities like Egan town. There is no road linking Egan directly to the world. Or is it Ikola, I opened up. You can go and verify. I am not a government. I train people, I empower people. We cannot keep complaining that Nigeria is getting worse and we are not there. God will only give the people the type of leaders they deserve. So, when a nation has illiterates and semi illiterates as delegates, what do you expect? They are the ones that will elect our representatives. They give us whatever they like. It is the Jacob and Esau in the Bible. Esau wants what he can eat now, but Jacob was planning for the future by saying, give me your birth right and I will give you a morsel of meal. So, these are the kind of people. These are the people that determine our future. That is why the APC is making it extremely tough because they know that immediately we get there, we will open a can of worms. You, what is your political value? You are learned, brilliant, you have integrity, but you are not there. At the end of the day, they will put a mechanic as your chairman. What do you expect from a mechanic that has not been to school or that does not had a school certificate and works in an environment that he does not understand what money is?  They don’t understand what development is all about. In my community, nobody has a degree. Yayi said he has FCA, where is BA, BSC or MSC? Nobody is asking. In conclusion, I blame the elite; I blame us by abstaining from politics.

This is the first time ever we are going to have very acrimonious election. Everywhere you go there is tension in the air. What is your advice for peaceful polls?

I can say APC has leaders who are deceitful.  In the media, you will see a lot of propaganda, but deep down, they are the ones perpetrating evil. In some parts of the country, many PDP vehicles had been destroyed. In the South-South, how many APC vehicles or bill boards have been destroyed? They are the ones that lack tolerance. They don’t want anybody to campaign. Go to the expressway, third Mainland Bridge now, they use paint to deface his posters. We are very calm because we know that we are winning this election.  Same thing happened to my posters, banners everywhere.  We have no business in fighting APC. We want to engage in issue-based campaigns. If you are talking about violence, it is not PDP but APC.  Last week, there was propaganda in the newspapers. Some of them were so foolish that they could not hear me out. Yayi called them to say that I attacked him. Ordinary poster of Yayi can’t be torn by me talk less of attacking him, rather it was Yayi that came to my office at Alimosho, destroyed my posters, bill boards and shot at my campaign office. It is there till today. If you go there, you will see gun shots. It is all propaganda. Last week, they still came to this place pointing at my office. What happened on the fateful day; we had a rally at Ikeja. As we were going, there was traffic; they started throwing bottles, stones at us. You can see my bandaged hand. I called the state Mopol, before I knew it, there were gunshots and we left immediately. The next day, it was reported that Aeroland used guns. Where is the evidence? They are spending a lot of money on propaganda.

On allegation that PVCs are being hoarded in Lagos what is the implication for this poll?

If you look at it very well, no APC member has come out to say, I can’t get my PVC. That is the reason they are not complaining. That is why they are insisting that election must be held February 14. APC is the one in opposition. They are supposed to be the one fighting for the masses for the people to get their PVCs. Why can’t Fashola come out to talk about distribution of PVC.  Are they are fighting for none indigenes who have not gotten their PVCs? The PVCs have been collected on their behalf. They have done the demography of Lagos where PDP won in the last elections. Those catchment areas are where PVCs are not available at all or where they have been collected on their behalf or bought by APC chieftains.  Areas where PDP have stronghold, what they have done is to make sure that a polling booth supposedly for that area is not allocated that same day. My own opinion is that if they allow election to go on like this, even the President will lose this election. That is what I am saying.  In Lagos, if you look at the statistics, in 2011, over 4 million voted. In 2015, it is supposed to be more like in other states. But it is less. This is a deliberate act and this is done in PDP catchment area. All my area from Oki down to Oke-Odo, they complained that the data base has been wiped off or corrupted, so we had to do it again. Some will not come back to go through the rigour again. They created artificial scarcity to make you discouraged and you are disenfranchised. There is conspiracy. If election goes on even like this, Jonathan will lose.  Jonathan relies on South West and Lagos has about five million; that is about 30 per cent. Lagos and South west are key to Jonathan’s victory. Unfortunately, nobody is focusing on me. That is the paradox now. As I am talking to you now, Tinubu, Aregbesola and others are at Alimosho right now campaigning. Right now, I am on my own. Lagos west is going to determine who is going to be governor of Lagos state. Seventy per cent of people that registered are from Lagos west. The emphasis of any political party is Lagos west; that is why APC is pumping all resources to Lagos west because that place will determine who becomes Governor of Lagos State; even the election of the President. It has the largest population, polling booths. The key to winning any election in Lagos is that area. It has ten local governments and high population. That is why I keep complaining to my people about.

What is your programme for the people of Lagos West if elected?

My programme is entirely to tackle and alleviate poverty to the barest minimum.  I also will make sure that registration of voters is continuous. The more we have a lot of people and to make sure the right type of people come up. To manipulate the result of election will be so difficult if the result is so wide. Voters’ registration should be continuous not every four years.  The problem we have is that we cannot even count ourselves. I will make sure there is accountability. I will make sure that money devoted for capital projects will be used judiciously. I have never seen any parliamentarian who tells us how much he or she has collected for constituency project.  All that they tell you is that they built bore holes. How much money did they collect and how much is the balance? Lastly, my plan is to try and extend Federal Government projects, Federal hospitals, Federal schools, technical schools, Federal vocational centre, to open up the economy. I am going to attract Federal presence to my zone.