Rep. Babajimi Benson is a two – term representative of the Ikorodu Federal Constituency in the Lower House of Green Chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja and Chairman, House Committee on Defense.
He recently won primary election of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) for the third term to stand for the 2023 General Elections.
‘JB’, as he is fondly called by admirers and residents, has impacted greatly on the social, economic and political landscape of Ikorodu Division/Ikorodu Local Government/Ikorodu Federal Constituency with his numerous programmes; facilitation of enduring projects and programmes and sponsoring impactful Bills and Motions.
Suffice to say that Ikorodu political landscape has not been the same since his emergence on the political scene in 2015.
In this exclusive interview with Kunle Adelabu, Publisher/Reporter – in – Chief, THE IMPACT newspaper at the weekend in Ikorodu, Rep. Benson bore his mind on the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the APC Presidential candidate, his own primary election which he won, how he plans to conclude his second term, Ikorodu Constituency I and II Assembly primary elections and allegations that he is scheming to take over political leadership in Ikorodu.
Rep. Benson also expressed his reservations at the way and manner certain political leaders handled political situations in the recent past and how things will be done in future among others. Excerpts:
THE IMPACT: Thanks for this opportunity to have this interview with you sir. First, let me congratulate you on your success at the APC primary election where your mandate was renewed for the third term, and also that of the Aswaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s success at the APC Presidential Primary in which you played prominent role. How would you describe the emergence of Tinubu?
Rep. Benson: I would say that Asiwaju’s emergence was very tough. He ran against the tide and the establishment. During the Convention, I was detailed to speak with Delegates who are politicians and the questions that l engaged them with each time I discuss with them were; are you better off seven years ago? Did you enjoy the dividends of democracy and has the party provided welfare for you? Their responses were mainly “No”. After that, the next question that I asked was, who do they think would take good care of them if he comes into the office as the President, among the list of all the aspirants? To this question, their answers were resounding, Asiwaju. Here is a man that is known throughout the nooks and crannies of Nigeria; his name rings bells for good reasons: capacity, competence and welfarism and also because all of his fruits are doing well. He’s the only former Governor who served over 20 years that has not accepted any political office but still remains relevant till date and also, one of the most powerful men in Nigeria politically. This, everybody knows and made them scare of him. He’s also somebody who has demonstrated his capacity for developments with his track records in numerous fields which speak for him. I always described him as Samuel; using the Biblical story of how Samuel crown Saul. The fear of intimidation was real; they tried to stop him but they couldn’t and eventually, the man emerged as the flag bearer of the APC which further makes them, including the PDP more scared and l am sure, they (PDP) won’t campaign in the Southwest, Northwest and other places because nobody will listen to them. The ‘City Boy’ is taking over Nigeria.
THE IMPACT: Let’s look at your own primary election, did it come as a surprise to you to have won with 89 votes to 1 vote recorded by your opponent?
Rep. Benson: It didn’t. I always like the good people of Ikorodu Federal Constituency for the privilege given me. A lot of people think that the people in power are the authorities but I have always say that they (people) have the authority over me and I am their subject. They have sent me on an errand, and I have made sure that the errand is delivered timely and efficiently, so, they can send me again. The first errand that they sent me, I believed that I was able to showcase what I have efficiently and that made me deserving of another errand and we are almost completing that too. I believe that in all sense of modesty, we have done pretty well.
THE IMPACT: Your second term in office is remaining a year and the practice in Nigeria is that the last year in every democratic dispensation is usually used for campaign while governance is made to suffer, is this going to be the same with you sir?
Rep. Benson: No! I will like to finish strong. I still have unbelievable projects that I like to complete before the end of this tenure.
We want to build a stadium at the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH). I am also critically looking at the Ajose Street in Ibeshe in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA for the construction of the road in that area. I am also looking at Eruwen, the people there have been on my neck. I want to impact those areas too. There are actually more than two roads that I plan to do, but let’s leave it at that for now.
We are also planning to supply homes with thousands of solar light, so that when they don’t have power supply, their homes would still hav light. We have streetlights that we want to use in lighting up many streets. I believe in having power supply, so, with the solar our kids can do their home work under the light and walk at freely at night without fear. I believe in education and that’s why we have built 24 schools till date and I am stopping on school construction for now. When the children gets back home from school and there is no light, the solar light in their homes and streets will provide light for them. I remember former Governor Fashola then, saying that his greatest joy then was seeing children going under the streetlights that he constructed to do their assignments whenever they don’t have light. I will never forget that. I am deploying a lot of that too because it also helps with security. I have been receiving feedback that those ‘Obuns’ (traditional areas in Ikorodu) are safe now as they can now see who is coming into their areas, particularly night.
We have also recently acquired a grader but they don’t like grading anymore. Whenever we want to grade their roads now, what they tell us is that, “carry your grader away, you are fixing their roads here and there, and here you are bringing grader to us”. It makes me laugh (prolong laughter) but I am happy with the roads that we have done so far; commerce is now thriving and property’s prices have gone up but none of the beneficiaries has given me my own share (another round of (laugher), rather, I do get lots of prayers when people see me and on the radio. That’s more than money (he said with sense of satisfaction).
The Lagos State Government is doing so much in Ikorodu and we have not really given them the kudos that they deserved. They are building everywhere in Ikorodu despite the paucity of funds. Gone are the days when government just closed its eyes on Ikorodu. Now, we have 57 councils and everyone yearning for one development or the other. This is our own Ikorodu, where they are doing the Ishawo road, Igbogbo Road and they are going to start the Bayeku road now. They are also doing the Ijede road and they are about completing the Oba Sekumade Road. If you calculate the cost that the Lagos State Government has sunk into developmental projects in Ikorodu, I am sure that no other Division has that. Our prayer is that they should finish strong just like I want to do, because that is when those construction projects would be useful to the people. If we embark on projects and it’s been delayed due to fund, people won’t appreciate it. They usually appreciate when projects are completed within time for their use. That’s when they are happy and I am sure that before the end of this administration, those projects will reach advance stages and they will be happy with the government of Sanwo – Olu.
THE IMPACT: Sir, one of the areas that you have also intervened is health. You have facilitated many Primary Health Centres, an 80 – bed hospital facility in Imota and also ensuring that the abandoned Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Igbogbo is revived. Will the facility in Imota be equipped after completion and what is the situation with the FMC?
Rep. Benson: The hospital in Imota will be equipped with infrastructures and modern equipment. They have plastered it and the tiling work is going on at the moment. I am sure that within the next two months, everything will be in place. I am also sure that they had procured necessary equipment that will be there. I don’t leave those contractors alone. I am always on their necks to ensure that they are on their toes.
We have two options on the FMC. One is that we have budget for it and the SDG is also interested in developing it. They have asked us to demolish it so that they can start from the scratch. To this end, I am going to thank the Executive Chairman of Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA who also played a key role as well as Kabyesi of Igbogbo, whose role has also been excellent. Recently, Senator Seye Ogunlewe was at a meeting with me and the head of the SDG and Senator said that he was going to prostrate for her (SDG Head) to ensure that the FMC is completed. We are going to get it done as well. Ikorodu division is blessed with good leaders who meant well and want to see the division turned to an headquarters as sang by the late musician, Muse Agbaku
THE IMPACT: Work has now resumed on the very first road that you facilitated, the Paul Palmer road, after it has been abandoned for two years. And not just that, the road has been expanded to link Igbe Road, another road that you facilitated, what can you tell us about the project?
Rep. Benson: Paul Palmer Road, oop! (sigh a relief). That’s a road that I facilitated and people started laughing at me. With best of intentions, I wanted us to get on the road and complete it. It was meant to be completed within three months but has dragged forever, because we didn’t get a good contractor. What people don’t understand is that my job is to lobby. The job of awarding and sending contractor is that of the agencies, but they didn’t give us a good contractor. Unfortunately, the contractor also died during the period. So, I had to lobby again to get another help for that job and it has been extended in order to compensate people for the shoddy job done by the other contractor. We are also going to ensure that the road has street lights after completion, so that residents will appreciate it at the end and commend us. During the period the project was abandoned, they wrote petitions to everybody but some of these things you have to endure as a politician. You mean well but also your good intention may also cause grief. I remember that the contractor dug up all the area which caused people hardship during raining season and led to several curses. The curses will now be blessings because we are not only completing the project but also compensating the people with an extension.
THE IMPACT: Many of your constituents’ houses at Oke – Ira in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA were demolished about two weeks ago with allegations that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu gave the directive. We are also aware that you intervened after your attention was called to the development. Presently, people are agitating and seeking for justice, what are you doing about this as the representative of the people?
Rep. Benson: tt’s really sad, because I always attached great importance to property like Machiavelli said, “…man is quicker to forget the death of his father than the loss of his patrimony”. I actually got a call from Seidu Shakiru, the Chief Executive Officer, MegaXpression, that they were demolishing their homes and I put a call through to the government and I was told that they are acting on a petition from the Nichemtex Cooperatives. It is said that the Cooperatives validly bought the lands from some Omo -Oniles (land owners) and went ahead to rectify the land with the Lagos State Government. In addition, I was also told that Nichemtex Cooperatives also paid compensation to Omo – Oniles, but on getting to the lands, encroachers had built on it. This was related back to Seidu before the demolition. He (Seidu) also confirmed what I was told but then added that the matter is in court and that to that extent, the government don’t have any right to come and demolish their properties. Thereafter, my attempts to ensure that those properties are not demolished fell on deaf ears. They had already made up their minds. What has happened is really sad and we are still talking to the authority to find a solution. I feel sorry for the people that had invested their hard earned money in building properties and all of them were demolished. Some of these victims are purchasers of valid land without knowing the antecedent of what they were getting into. I am sure that there would be succour at the end of the day. We are still talking.
THE IMPACT: Let’s look at the Ikorodu politics. There is no doubt that the Ikorodu political landscape has changed in the last seven years since your emergence with quality representation and impactful laws. Now, people are saying that JB is taking over Ikorodu while others are saying that he’s trying to take over the leadership in the division. In addition, they said that you have installed Council Chairmen, Councilors and other political appointees and that also you are trying to installed Assembly representatives in Ikorodu Constituency I and II, what can you say to all these sir?
Rep Benson: (Laughter) I always laugh whenever I hear all these things. They called me ‘James Bond’ who likes to enjoy life and getting the job done. I am not interested in being the leader or the numero Uno. It’s a campaign of calumny to malign me. I like to be principled; I like justice, fairness and good conscience to be at play and I love my leaders and hold them in very high esteem. They should continue in their roles but things ought to be done in the right way. The last Assembly (primary) elections were eye opener for me. Some people that you think are your leaders and fathers turn you to their enemy when they know that you are supporting another aspirant that is different from their own. I don’t see politics like that, I see it like a game of football. My daddy can be an Arsenal fan and I can be a Manchester United or Chelsea fan and I want my Manchester United to win Arsenal, that’s the way I see politics. But in Ikorodu, people take it to the extreme. The Ikorodu Constituency I election made me understand that Bolowotan (Mr Oluwatoyin Gafaar) is strong because he didn’t lose that election. He actually won. He won because he fought against Goliaths – the LGA Chairman, the GAC, the former this and the former that. Just one person wrestled them all. The man got 16 votes. I supported him but not wholeheartedly, but what if I had really supported him? May be I even regretted it (not supporting him fully), because everybody are pointing at me and they even marked me as if I had done something wrong. No, I have a choice. At 50 years, I can decide on who to support without fighting about it. The only reason that I didn’t go full throttle was because I respected DG (Prince Abiodun Ogunleye whose son contested against Bolowotan and others). They put a lot of sentiments into it that I am fighting him and that, ‘Mo fe gbopa lowo arugbo’ (that I wanted to displace an old man), but Bolowotan was strong enough to face all of that even considering how the delegates were stylishly selected to favour a particular aspirant and still went ahead to get 16 votes and others got nothing. May be if I had gone full throttle with him, the game would have been different. This is a lesson for all of us. Ikorodu is Ikorodu Oga and our processes should be clean and clear in such a way to give opportunities to everybody. I saw Eniola Wakeup who was phenomenon; I saw SHIFT (Bolaji Isikalu). Those are guys who should also be given level- playing ground to also play. The chairmen were partisan because they had a candidate and it was a process that I could have fully involved in but for the involvement of a GAC member. We live to see the other day, henceforth, things have to be transparent, free and fair and those youths have to be able to grow and take up positions. I am grateful for what God has done for me and not in any way trying to hijack anything. It’s only when you are principled that they tend to tag you with what you are not. I know DG to be a very principled person and had seen him take principled position and I also like to follow in his footsteps and whenever that I do so, I shouldn’t be tagged as this or that. In the fullest of time, we will ensure that the process is free and fair and I believe that our Senator share everything that I am saying too.
I must also place it on record and on good authority that I did not give Bolowotan a dime and he shook the system. I also did not give him a dime in 2019. But I allowed my associates to determine where they want to be; in Constituency II, some of them worked for Solaja, while others worked for other aspirants. Even in Constituency I, I know some of them that worked for Gbolahan (Ogunleye) but I have a soft spot for Bolowotan and I wish that I had gone full throttle.
THE IMPACT: What about Constituency II where you were also alleged to have sponsored an aspirant?
Rep. Benson: Hon. Solaja is my friend and I told him times without numbers; leaders backing him and his associates, that Ijede ‘o se mi’ (Ijede people did not offend me); they always deliver their votes for me; they always honour my requests and I do not want to be seen to be going against Ijede’s interest, but I put a caveat, I told Solaja that he would have my support if he can lobby and persuade them to allow him to represent them again and they accept, then, I would be 100% behind him. Politics is about interests. My interests lie in ensuring that Ijede is okay and they don’t come against me. I told him that I would support him but he’ll not see me going out to campaign for him. However, there is a rotational principle that was berthed during the Irepodun era by our fathers and I think that if they (Ijede) insist that it’s their turn, I can’t go against it. That was my own principle and stance but people interpreted it to say I was the one doing this or that.
THE IMPACT: Now that PDP and other parties have their own aspirants to contest against you, what should people be expecting from you and other APC aspirants in term of improving your number of votes in the coming General Elections compare to 2019?
Rep. Benson: You know there is a game changer and the City Boy on the ticket. That alone would energise our people to come out and vote but there is a caveat. A lot of our people do not study the new Electoral Laws, there is a new device called the Beavers, which means that you will only be allowed to vote if you are captured through the finger print or biometrics and if any of these don’t work, you cannot vote. Secondly, if they work, you will vote immediately because there would be no accreditation that would make you come back later to vote and once the results are out and agents have signed, results are transferred straight to the central server. What that means is that there will be no use of incidence form again. In the event that the Beavers don’t work in any location, the election will be postponed in that ward or booth till another time when efficient machines can be deployed to the place. What that means is that our numbers (votes) will be low. Again, what this means is that we need to double our efforts to sensitise our people that will not be captured through biometrics and Beavers accreditations, that they should give way for others to be captured. We need to do a lot of voters’ education on this. This would affect not just Ikorodu but the entire country. I am scared that the results would not be as high as we expected due to the introduction of technology, but the process will also eliminate young voters and fictitious people from voting.
THE IMPACT: In view of the polarisation within the party caused by the last primary elections, what do you have to say to members of your party and generality of Ikorodu people?
Rep. Benson: Ikorodu people are on one side, that is what I know. I know what their views are and what they want, though, some of them won’t say these in public but I know what they want and l know that they are bitter. As leaders, we all need to come together. There have been some reconciliation moves. I learnt from Asiwaju Tinubu that you have to be magnanimous in victory. A leader that leads from the front must be humble and modest in victory. There have been a lot of in – house reconciliation so that nerves are calm and everybody on the table will be able to focus on one agenda. That healing and reconciliation must start soon. I am disappointed in a lot of leaders for the various roles they played. I am really disappointed but we still have to move on and I would always be an advocate for truth, justice and fairness. Everybody makes mistakes and the day that we stopped learning is the day that we die. We should have handled things better and going forward, we’ll handle things a lot better. There is a lot of appeal that have been made here and there and a lot of soul searching. Followers have to be very careful. For instance, they are the ones that take story to town that Jimi said this; he wants to be a leader; he abused this and that. I do not dwell on such. I have tremendous respect for my leaders and we’ll never disparage them anywhere and in anyway, but I am not scared to say my mind and speak the truth to them in their faces, so, I won’t sent any emissary to say anything about them. That’s why I got disappointed when some of them heard some of these things and they believed that.
THE IMPACT: There are also allegations that you are covering most of the local government chairmen when people are saying that they are not performing. They alleged that you brought them under your umbrella. What do you have to say to this sir?
Rep. Benson: For that, I feel sorry for our local government chairmen. They are punching beyond their weights. Most times, I am at their forum with other chairmen and most chairmen outside Ikorodu usually feel sorry for our own chairmen that they don’t earn anything and that whatever that they earned is divided into six. Information is power and our people don’t understand the predicament these guys are facing. By the time their money comes, it barely enough to pay salaries and there is always nothing to attend to capital projects. But what I don’t really know is their IGR. I don’t know how they generate and what they generate. My sympathy for them is based on the fact that their allocations are nothing to write home about. Where I also fault them is that I have told them to give me papers on how much that they get so that l can make an appeal to his Excellency for it to be augmented. Once we can get the augmentation, the leaders can sit down with them and tie those new sums to specific projects. I also blame them as well for not being transparent with information. I remember what Dr Okonjo Iweala used to do. She would publish all the releases per local government, they too should adopt this style and let people know that 80% of the allocations are usually for staff salary and where the remaining 20% will be going so that there would not be any suspicion or counter claim on how the monies are utilised. I think that they need to improve on their transparency. I don’t cover them in any way but we work together on most of those roads and other infrastructures that we do, they are usually the ones that bring up the needs assessment on what they needed. Tunrayo (Chairman, Ijede LCDA) for instance, made us do that road in Ijede and we also built a vocational centre there. These are through her efforts. Daini (Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA) is on my neck for Akin Ogunlewe road and I told him that we just did 2.2km road at Igbe. I also like them because most of them are still young and we need to have more younger elements who are dynamic to be incharge of our councils and do great things.
THE IMPACT: Alright. Thank you for your time sir.
Rep Benson: Thank you.
