LAGOS 2015: I'M IN RACE, SAYS SENATOR SOLOMON!

The name Ganiyu Olarewaju Solomon (GOS) rings a bell in the political circle, across the country. Hence, he needs no introduction. He was once a local government chairman, later, a member of the House of Representatives before moving on to the Senate.

As 2015 draws nearer, the Mushin, Lagos State born grassroots politician has signified his intention to govern the most populous state in the country, vowing that nothing can deter him or prevent him from contesting.

You are so passionate about governance, what is driving that passion?

If you find yourself in a vocation, in a trade, in a calling, you want to move ahead, you want to make an impact, you want to get to the top of that calling. Even as a local government Chairman, I realized how ‘easily’ you could impact on your community at the executive level; moreso when you have access to them and they have access to you, you relate with them, you can solve most of their problems. I know what the problems of the majority or the average Lagosians are, and the solutions to them are very simple; you don’t even need to go to Harvard, you don’t even need to go to Cambridge, just relate with them, and you have the civil service behind you, you’d go places, you’d solve problems and you’d create a legacy which even successive governments cannot change. If a policy is good, if a programme is good, nobody changes it; they just pass it on and on. So, that is my drive, my passion. I believe I can serve, I believe I have what it takes to govern Lagos.

What then can you say about the Oba of Lagos who has practically shut the door against other aspirants when he endorsed a particular aspirant, in the person of Akinwunmi Ambode?

Let me say that in making the pronouncement, Kabiyesi was expressing his preference. He had also expressed his personal opinion. We are talking of a party now; I don’t know which part or provision of the constitution of the party says a traditional ruler should endorse or can endorse. Whatever he says is his personal wish, which is not the same thing as the wish of the generality of the people. At the end of the day, we have a party structure. Let me also tell you that he made the pronouncement at a time when we had not even concluded putting party structures in place. So, it couldn’t have been in consultation, with who? Is it with the political leadership? Is it with the traditional leadership? We have had different opinions since then. We deliberately did not come out to say anything about it because we felt it was a political statement. And what do you do with political statements? You either respond or you leave it. In this case, we decided to leave it. It has happened a number of times when a traditional ruler in one state would say, ‘this is the person we want.’ At the end of the day, the man would not go anywhere. It had happened several times. I don’t want to cite instances. Even in Lagos, it had happened. In our own case, such statements would not deter us. It will not deter the party man. It is not by pronouncement; it is not by proclamation. So, we will just leave it at that – it is political and we, politicians, take it as political, and consign it to its proper place.

Consensus or primaries, which would you recommend to your party?

Now we have a much more bigger party; that means it has also increased our stakeholders. And let me also remind you: recently, we had a very aggressive membership mobilization drive which brought a lot of people into this political party. These people now are interested; how do you do consensus? Do you do consultation down to the grassroots level? Do you do consultation up to the various sectors of the political parties? Because you need to do that. Then, how do you now aggregate their opinions? If you meet a particular group, they would have somebody. If you meet another group, they would have a different person. So, you have to meet various groups at different levels, up to the lowest rung of the ladder, from the top to the bottom. How do you now aggregate their preferences? You have to do it; it has to be very scientific. Whatever you do, you must make sure it can stand the test of time. What is that test of time? The election. So, you don’t take things for granted. What I will recommend is to have primaries. It will put everybody’s mind at rest. What we are saying now – maybe I should let you know the thinking of party members: they are not talking of gubernatorial election alone. They are saying, at every election, presidential, governorship, national and states’ assembly, let there be primaries. We have done it before; we did it in 1998/99, the heavens did not fall. Nothing happened, and that was how Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged. It was direct primaries, everybody voted in his or her ward, and they collated everything and he emerged. At the end of the day, everybody else queued behind him. So, that is my recommendation any time, and it is in line with what the party has already started doing. That is how we can groom this democracy; sixteen years after, we can’t be stagnant. We must grow it.

What would you do if there is a free and fair primary election and you do not win?

A free and fair primary election? Oh, I will queue behind whoever wins. If there was none – we will leave that to that time. We will act accordingly.

We believe you have been consulting with political leaders in the state. Have you consulted with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and if yes, what did he tell you?

Yes, I have consulted with him. There is no way you’d want to run for governorship, or any serious political office and you don’t meet your leaders. I met him and he said, ‘well, you can go ahead with your ambition; at the right time we will roll out the party programmes and so on, but right now we are busy putting up the party structures.’ We agreed that putting up party structures will not stop me from meeting people, going ahead with my plans. That is it.

There are some issues that may shape the primaries – people are mentioning zoning, they are mentioning religion; we want your opinion on these issues, zoning and religion.

I always try not to go into discussing religion, because people can be very emotional about religion and, given what is also going on round the country, it is a very sensitive issue. In this particular part of the country, we don’t discuss religion when it comes to governance. This is the very first time some people are bringing it up. And I can tell you that they are bringing it up because of their own selfish interests. I don’t want to go further, but look at the average family here, you have them as Muslims, you have them as‑ Christians. I have a cousin who is a reverend; my sister is a deaconess. Go to Methodist Church, Palm Avenue, that is the church our grandparents attended. That is where they had their burial. So, how will I do anything against a Christian community, for instance? It has never been an issue. Some people have come out to say governance is not about religion. Religion will not put food on your table. You’d have to look at people you believe have integrity, who have what it takes to govern. And I will not also want to go into comparison, as some people would want to do. The moment they succeed in bringing this, and somebody comes on board, and the only credential he is waving is ‘I am a Christian,’ or ‘I am a Muslim,’ his loyalty, whether we like it or not, will go to that group, first and foremost. And it will now exert a big influence on his policies, on his roles, on anything he does, because he would now think he is obliged to that community. That is about religion – like I said, it is very sensitive, people can be very emotional about it.

Now, about zoning. Again, in the history of Lagos – I challenge anybody to prove me wrong – this would be the first time that anybody would sit down and say ‘we are zoning to this particular person’, and they made a mistake of it. Those people that were doing it made a mistake of saying they were zoning to a particular town. You can only zone to a senatorial district, because that particular town does not constitute the whole district. Let me tell you, it had never been an issue; people would think it may go this way or that, but it had never been the position of a political party; like our party now, has no provision for zoning in its constitution, no provision, whatsoever.

However, in my own case, if they think that would be a deterrent, no. I also have a roof in the East. And also because they have made it possible to move from one senatorial district to another, or even move across – move from a senatorial district, jump over to another senatorial district. So, it is all well and good. Whatever I am saying is not new to Lagos politics; there are precedents. It is accepted, it has become a norm, so we do it.

You said you are also from the East, where?

Ikorodu.

How?

My dad is from Ipakodo. You go to the palace, they will tell you. They will tell you also his role in upgrading the Obaship. My mum is from Ituwolo, and my maternal grandmum is from Ibeshe. So, whatever way you want to push it, I am there. They can’t talk of zoning as a way of stopping anybody.