Approaching very fast is the Local government council elections. Candidates from different political parties have reared their heads in the bid for the Chairmanship position. Some, for a look in, some, to enjoy the party, while some are taking no prisoners. Well…Kosofe Inside-Out has made it a mandate to check in on as many candidates as are willing to talk to us, while also trying to ascertain the credibility of these individuals, and the sincerity behind their will to serve. Below, erudite and veteran politician, Musiliu Alade Aigoro bares his mind on his Chairmanship ambition and a few of the challenges that assail the people of Kosofe community.
My names are Musiliu Alade Aigoro. I was born on the Island to the family of Alhaji Abdul Lateef and Alhaja Baidau Aigoro, a descendant family from Elegushi. I had my primary and secondary education in Lagos and my tertiary education in Lagos state University, where I bagged a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science. For my Youth Corp, I served in the National Population Commission, Ibadan, after which I came back to Lagos. As a young man, after my Youth CorpService, the first thing that came to my mind was politics. The political climate in the country was at a high and being a student of politics and a likeable person within the community, I felt I should run for an elective office. There and then, I contested for the position of House of Representatives on the Island. At that period, I was contesting against Chief Omotilewa Aro Lambo who happened to be the Secretary to the State government in Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. At that period, the then Chairman of Lagos Island local government, Late Prince Adeniji Adele felt that it wouldn’t be wise to play out Honorable Aro Lambo in that elective position. So, many people were sent to appeal to me to step down for Honorable Aro Lambo. After much
consultation with the leadership of the party, and some well-meaning Lagosians, I was asked to step down, which I did.Then the Party hierarchy felt it had to compensate me, because nobody could really say what the outcome of the election would be at that time. That is how I got appointed as the Protocol Officer to the then Chairman of Lagos Island local government, Late Prince Adeniji Adele. During that period, I served him meritoriously and he felt that the agility and brilliance that I exhibited was too much for the office I held. So, they established a parastatal named Lagos Island Sports Commission and I was made the first Executive Secretary of the Commission. To my credit as Executive Secretary of the Commission, we established the J.K. Randle Swimming Pool, the Bombata Sporting Centre, the Chief Molade Okoya Lawn Tennis Court and several others. You know, those times in the early 90s, there was consistent youth restiveness in town. So, I felt all that energy could be converted to sports, because we discovered a lot of talents in that restive youth population, and if those talents were not harnessed properly, they would in time turn out to be hoodlums and disturb the peace of the community. Then, at a point, the military came into power and that administration was truncated. Outside that, I sought employment in several other organizations, and got employed by UAC Foods in Port-Harcourt where I worked for a year before coming back to Lagos, to take up the position of Administrative Manager at the Eleganza Ball pen industry. I did my bit there and went back into politics once the ban was lifted. I contested the Chairmanship of Lagos Island, and the leadership of the party appealed to my sense of understanding to allow Mr. Lukman Ajose to go. Well, I stepped down for him and he became Chairman. As his administration ruled, I was called upon to serve again at the Jabita Intercontinental Hotels as General Manager for years.To cap it all, I established my own construction outfit, named HML Projects Nigeria Limited.To the glory of God, this company has to its credit, a lot of road projects in Lagos state, a lot of schools and Public health centers rehabilitation, street lights and a lot more. That is my background in brief.
As a Political Science student, why did you delve into construction?
Good…at a point in time, during the first tenure of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Governor of Lagos state, it was widely believed that I would be given a cabinet appointment, but it did not come to pass. So, rather than stay and witness all the hypocrisy that played out in that period, I felt the best thing for me to do at that time was to travel out of the country. I went to England, where I conceived the idea of going into construction. Immediately I got back to Nigeria in January, 2006, I registered a construction outfit, but don’t forget that I am a veteran Politician, because majority of the people that were serving at that time at the Local government councils in Lagos state are my friends and colleagues. So, I was quick off the mark, because as we all know, there are road projects coming out from Local governments and my friends felt that they should compensate me with all these contracts. In my own capacity, I engaged the services of qualified Engineers and to the glory of God, majority of the roads we did in the last seven to ten years are standing the test of time till now. I’ll give you names and you can go check these roads out. For instance, I did Akorounfayo in Odi-Olowo local government, I did Olokodana and Badejo in Bariga local government LCDA. In Kosofe local government, I did Anibaloye Street, I did Buhari Street in Ogudu, I did Tunde Hassan in Ifako, I did Surulere, Shokoya and Awolowo streets in Oworo. I did in Badagry, I did street lights in Yaba local government, and I did Asogun Public Health centre and renovation of Pedro primary school in Bariga LCDA, amongst a host of others. For Lagos state government, I have done several other jobs too. You know, if you have passed through the four walls of a University, irrespective of your discipline, for as long as you are in a business or a non-related profession the best thing to do in that circumstance is to learn on the job. Now, I’m not an Engineer, but I can tell you categorically when I look at a road, the amount of asphalt and other necessary things that will be needed to put the road in place. We are in my house right now, if you look around, you will see that enough engineering details have being put in place for this house to come out the way it is. You can see it is the tallest house in the neighbourhood because it is well fortified from the beginning.This is how I came into construction. I was trained on the job.
Why do you want to be Chairman when it is clear for all to see that you are a well to do man via contracts from the government and all?
That’s a very good question. It is one thing for me to benefit from the system, and another for a lot of political activists within the community to benefit. It is on record that it is not possible for an aspirant to successfully win an election with his own contribution alone. An aspirant or a candidate of a party will win an election through the involvement of men and women, young and old, who are politicians within the locality. Go and ask questions from majority of the Politicians that have contributed to the success story of our party in the Local government. Ask them what their benefits have being all these years. I can tell you without mincing words that it is zero. Now, if you talk of me benefitting from this system, yes…this is my business and it took the glory of God to direct my mind into construction. It also took the glory of God almighty to get people to patronize my business. It is my personal business, this is what I do. A lot of other political office holders have jobs they do in different professions. So, if your profession warrants that you get contracts from the government, so be it. I bought over ninety five percent (95%) of the projects I did in Kosofe local government, they were not awarded directly to me. My track record and resilience spoke for me, and the individuals or companies who were awarded these contracts felt the best person to pull these jobs off successfully and effectively and at an affordable price was my company.That is why they sold the projects to me.In Kosofe local government, the roads I did in 2009 and 2010 were originally given to some political leaders, from whom I bought the jobs. The now Sole Administrator of Kosofe local government and the then Chief of Staff were awarded Tunde Hassan Street which I bought from them. The Vice-Chairman of the Local government at that time was awarded a job which I bought from him. The women’s wing of the party at the Local government level were awarded a contract which I bought from them too and several others like that. So, to say that I benefitted directly from Kosofe local government, I say a No to that. I can tell you affirmatively that the jobs I did are still as intact as at the time I did them. Some of the money is still with the Local government…yet to be paid. The major reason why I want to contest in this coming Chairmanship elections is because of the level of suffering I see our people go through. Successive Chairmen of Kosofe local government have tried their best, but that best is not just good enough for the people that elected them. You see…you really cannot give what you don’t have. You dispense to the people, what you have based on the level of knowledge you have.This is my house, I have a fleet of cars, I have kids in the university and to the glory of God, I am able to foot their bills. I have a kid studying in a university in the United States of America and I pay his bills. So, this contest is not about me alone.The vogue now is to wait for Federal government allocations to come down before anything can be done. I have ideas…I have being in the system for quite a while. I know how to alleviate the sufferings of our people. There are several programs that need to be put in place that I haven’t seen any of our Chairmen do. The things we intend to put in place will benefit all and sundry, be you an APC or PDP member or an apolitical individual. You will feel the presence of the administration in Kosofe local government.
Can we get an insight into some of these plans?
Yes you can, though these are programs that should be guarded jealously, but because I mean well for my community, I will touch on one or two of them. One is the creation of employment opportunities for our people. Asides the fact that the Council can engage the services of less than a level six officer, there are several other ways our young graduates can be gainfully employed.Majority of the corporate outfits doing business within the Local government employ people, but the mode of employment is what is creating problems for majority of applicants. This is what we are going to do as a government; the moment we get into office, we will have an interactive session with all the corporate bodies within the Local government. Majorly we will discuss the employment of our youths and support for the women in the Local government. Most of the Banks employ people, but the problem faced by our people is that of providing a Referee. Banks do not want to employ just anybody with a Referee that is not known to them. So, we will create a Labour Exchange Unit in the Council. The unit in itself will create employment for people that will work within it. The primary function of this unit is to generate applications from our teeming unemployed youths. Once these applications are generated, the unit organizes them in a way that every applicant gets what is due them in terms of actual employment. Applicants are fixed based on their course of study. You study finance, we know where to put you, you study Yoruba, we know where to put you etc. These applications will be accompanied by various references from their wards. For instance, we want to engage you from Oworo now, we’ll tell you to get a letter of reference from the ward Chairman or a notable elder of the party in that ward. This will be attached to your application, but at the end of the day when we want to send these applications to the Banks or corporate bodies, we will not attach that letter. What will be attached to the applications will be our own reference letter as a government, being the backer of these applicants. We would have had a parley with these corporate entities, so, they would always keep us posted about openings they want to fill, because if they take from our community, they must be able to give back to the community. Also, sports is another way of creating employment for the youths. There is so much talent out there, but because these youths lack sponsorship, most talents go to waste…never tapped. Some of these corporate bodies can sponsor our people, they can sponsor the renovation and perfection of sporting facilities within the Local government. They even get free advertisement as their sign boards will be placed at these facilities. Also in the pipeline is getting well-meaning Lagosians and Nigerians to sponsor particular sporting eventsat regular intervals where we catch variant talents young, and then create an avenue for them to access the national and international sports market. This is just a tip of the iceberg…more plans will be rolled out when we get into office.
What’s your take on God-fatherism?
As a student of politics, I know there is what is called god-fatherism, but my take on that is this; you see, in a democratic setting, there is something called representative leadership and that is exactly what is happening in Lagos state. It is a situation in which you entrust some level of power to a particular leader who is trusted, who must have demonstrated a high level of patriotism, intellectual ability and other sterling qualities. Instead of going into primaries when at times it could be very expensive, rough and cumbersome, this leader will call on the leadership of different localities to seek their opinions regarding the aspirants there. Now, the system has being bastardised, such that the leadership in different Local governments display blatant nepotism and god-fatherism, rather than playing the role Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu plays at the top hierarchy of that strata.These are some things that affect good governance. We must learn now to put round pegs in round holes, and let the voice of the people be heard. Let the voice of the majority hold sway, while the voice of the minority should not be jettisoned at the same time. God–fatherism is neither here nor there, but when it comes to good governance, I don’t believe in it. It is an abuse of the system and affects negatively the performance of political office holders.
Are you a grass rooter?
Oh! Most definitely…it is obvious.My nature as an Isale-Eko boy is hinged on the fact that we don’t really attach much importance to riches. We see ourselves as one, irrespective of status as long as you do not have a dubious character. We are all equal before each other. When I was building my house, I discovered that the PHCN poles in the neighbourhood were wooden and the electricity supplied here was not that good. So, the first thing I did was to erect concrete poles all around at my own expense and we did away with the wooden poles.I can tell you that I brought a Transformer to this community even before I moved into this house. If you go around and ask about my relationship with the community and the people on an individual level, you will be hit with a barrage of positive comments. I have helped our men in various parastatals and law enforcement agencies when their rights are abused. I am a Muslim, and to the best of my ability, I am working in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad.
Do you consider yourself easily accessible?
Oh, very well, a little while ago, I was in the Mosque, there was no light, until just now when they brought it. Majority of the people that give water free in the community to people that do not have, normally lock their taps when there is no light. In my own case I tell my people to open the gate and allow people come in to fetch water. My kids have about five bicycles in this compound, and many kids from the neighbourhood and around come to ride these bikes, on a turn by turn arrangement with my kids. The only thing I tell them is do not scratch my car. My kids do not discriminate, they are well trained. So, accessing me is not a big deal and it will remain so, even in political office.
The 114 roads have being commissioned, another set of 114 roads are coming. Are you bidding?
This is me, Alhaji Musiliudeen Alade Aigoro, but HML Projects Nigeria Limited is a limited liability company that has people that run it. Of course I am the Managing Director, definitely the company will bid for jobs. If we win, it’s to the glory of God almighty, and if we do not win, we have nobody to blame for that. That is part of business and also part of our beliefs as Muslims.
What’s your take on the projects?
It’s a very good one. It’s a laudable program by the Lagos State Governor, His Excellency, Akinwunmi Ambode. The good thing about it is that this is the first time in road construction in Nigeria that you’ll see one hundred and fourteen roads (114) commissioned about the same time. It has never happened in the history of Nigeria, to be specific, Lagos. Even though the funds for the roads came from the Local government councils, the Governor has done very well by his expert coordination of the projects and seeing them all come to fruit. Also, the issue of Contractors being owed money for only God knows how long did not come into play. That is a very good one, because when you invest your money in a project, you expect to be reimbursed. It is a good thing for the beneficiary communities and their people.
What’s your take on the Change mantra…the Dollar is almost N500?
As much as I appreciate the fact that what you said is true, we cannot rule out the fact that there is never smoke without fire. The problem we are in today, economical and otherwise in Nigeria is inherited from previous administrations and regimes. We just have to thank God almighty for giving us APC this time around at the national level, otherwise the Dollar would be a thousand Naira by now if the PDP government remained in power. All I have to say is we need to be patient, because to put something that is rotten back in shape, it takes time. There is no gain without pain. So, I appeal to our people to endure, persevere and be patient with His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari.
A final word to your supporters
I preach peace to my supporters over and over again. I preach it again now. With peace and patience you can get a lot of things done. As a Muslim, I have being thought by the Holy Quran that God almighty is with the patient.If I want to go by a lot of political wrongs that have being done to me in this Local government, things will not be the way they are today. The whole place would have being turned upside-down, but for the fact that I have faith in God almighty and I pray to him who is the best at seeing my conscience clearer than myself. He knows what I have in mind and how I will affect his people in this Local government. With such intentions, my prayers will be answered. At the end of the day, I will be the next Chairman of Kosofe local government and you will all feel the presence of that government in a positive way. Insha Allah.
