Hon. Victor Akande is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member of the Lagos state House of Assembly representing Ojo constituency 1. He spoke with Oziegbe Okoeki about his experience as an opposition lawmaker. He also spoke about the Akinwunmi Ambode administration, the anti-corruption war and other issues.
As a PDP member in the Lagos State House of Assembly dominated by the APC, how will you describe your experience in the past one and half years as a minority member?
It has been a very good experience. Specifically, I want to denounce the word minority. You chose to be a minority when you want to be a minority. When you say minority, you are talking from the party affiliation. But, the moment you cross the borderline and you come into the august assembly to serve and represent your people, then, you are no longer a minority; you are in the majority. Because what matters most is getting the dividends of democracy to your constituents at the right time. And when you are still leaving in that dreamland of the minority, then, you are not doing yourself good; you are doing disservice to yourself and to your constituents. But, by and large, it has been a very wonderful experience. Thank God, the opposition should be encouraged because it brings out the best; I mean the best of legislative work. And where there is opposition, the citizenry can enjoy that opposition because everybody will be watching themselves. They want to perform. If you hear your counterpart doing well, you want to do well also and it is to the benefit of the Lagosians. In that wise, having two, three political parties representing people of different constituencies is very good. Secondly, it has been so wonderful because of the kind of leadership that we have in this House. When we talk like this, they will think we are praising them because we want to be or decamp to the APC. But, if somebody has done well, it is good for us to applaud him so that you”ll be encouraged to do more. The leadership of the House has really tried and he gave us a level playing ground so that we can be heard. Unlike in a situation where since they are in the majority, they will not even allow you to say anything on the floor of the House, but, our leadership here is not like that. He has been magnanimous to the extent that everybody is given an opportunity to be heard. And in his wisdom, he has tried to carry everybody along for the betterment of Lagosians. And that is what we have really enjoyed and I pray that we continue to enjoy the good relationship, because it is only when you have good relationship and rapport that development will come to Lagos and you would be able to do the legislative work the way it is supposed to be done.
There is a believe that the PDP members in the House have been swallowed by the APC …
I want to say to a larger extent, there is no time; at no point in time that the PDP issues was brought to the floor of the House that you wouldn’t hear my voice, even if that is the only voice you will hear, you can attest to that. Even apart from talking about PDP, there are no topical issues that is on the floor of the House that I, Hon. Victor Akande will not talk, not just talk, but make a very good contribution on the issue. So, I don’t know, I can not say for others, I can only talk for myself. I only know myself, I know why I am here and I am doing that which my people sent me, I am doing that which Lagosians want and that is to represent the people in the best way possible. If issues concerning the PDP are raised and the issues are germane or critical, I will talk. And let me tell you the truth, I am not supporting Mr. Speaker. When there are issues like that, he would definitely call one or two PDP people if their light is on. But, you can bear me witness that most often, myself and Hon. Jude Idimogun have always been talking. We are both in this together and I give it to Mr. Speaker. He would always call any PDP whose light is on to speak, he would want to hear our opinion, but when your light is not on what do you expect. You see, there have been this synergy that is working for us, when you are doing the job there is no need to fight. It is not a matter of buying you over, why am I here in the first instance, I am here to represent the people, in which way, to make good laws and if we can expunge or amend the anachronistic laws we will do that and again to attract dividends to my constituents. How? Looking at the problems and presenting it on the floor of the House in the form of bills or motion, that is why I am here. Aside that, if I am fighting the opposition that are in majority continuously, I am not going to attract anything. Will I now be applauded when I get back to my constituency for fighting them; no, that is not the issue and you don’t fight unnecessarily and there is nothing to fight about. You see, I have talked about the general hospital in my area and it has been approved. It is in this budget now, I have talked about some roads which they have started doing. I have talked about some schools and there is work on that already. So, if I continue fighting what is going to be my gain or what am I going to take back to my people to show them what I have done.
A lot of people believe that Lagos under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is working. What is your view?
I have gone on air to say Ambode is trying. There was a time when he just came in, I was watching the man; and I say the man has what it takes. I want to say this, whether you like it or not, I want to say this categorically, Ambode is far, far better than Fashola. And when you look at what he has achieved within the short space of time, go and compare it to when Fashola came in. He has performed wonderfully well. But, you can not say Ambode is working or has performed without taking the glory back to the House of Assembly who put him on his toes. We are the lawmakers; we talk. He is just been proactive. Immediately we reach a resolution, before evening, the governor has already reacted to it. And that shows that he is a very good governor. He is performing. Nobody will take that away from him. Forget about party affiliation. But, the truth is that when you talk this way, people do not want to see. I don’t follow the bandwagon effect. I want a situation. Somebody is working. I tell you the truth. If you are not performing, I will tell you the truth. I don’t care what they are going to do to me. So, the man is trying. He is putting in all his efforts to make sure that he improves on what he met on ground.
What is your assessment of the war against corruption by President Muhammed Buhari?
If some people say it is one sided, I want to add salt to the injury. It is not just one sided, it is a course in vengeance. When you look at the way the whole thing is going on, why is the president only concerned about PDP? And not just the PDP, he is only concerned about some clique of people that he has had issues with or some people that were not doing his bidding. So, based on this, he is not just one sided, it is a kind of revenge. He is on a revenge mission because it is not only one sided, but one-sided that has revenge as an undertone and that is why you could see that, instead of focusing on developmental projects and policies, the president or the current administration is foot dragging. Nobody wants to go on revenge and will have it all. If you are not on revenge, you get people from here and there; get the best brain whether they are from the PDP or the APC. They work and you get result. But, because you are on a revenge mission, then, what do we have? You forget to develop the economy and the economy is dwindling every day. Look at the dollar rate now up till today. And it is a pity if the current administration does not see the good programmes and policies that was put in place by the past administration, which has agricultural undertone, entrepreneurship and which build the youths for the future. But now, we are going back into the stone age era. The era where men walk on foot alone, where we use the locomotives before we achieve the result, that is appalling. A situation where an eighty or seventy something years old man is now given an ambassadorial position, what is he going to do or add? Which quality is he going to add? When we have a lot of people from 30 to 40 to 50 years languishing in abject poverty, no job, and you are still going to re-cycle an eighty something years old or 78 years old to come and take political office or appointment. That is a disaster.
What impact have you made on your constituents?
Let me say that, if I do well, my people will bring me back. If I don’t do well, let them not bring me back. But, I would do my best to make sure that I have it back in Ojo Constituency. Not individuals. If you are putting money or building castle in individual stomach, then, that is a problem.
