mission and vision for the state in 2015. DR. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, the Commissioner for Works in Lagos State is interested in governing the state in 2015 Excerpts:
By Dapo Akinrefon
WHY do you want to be the
governor of Lagos?
You have asked a very serious question. About
nine months ago, I asked myself this same question. All of us learn through
various means. For me, I see that the challenge of the black man generally is
lack of sustaining development.
Obafemi Hamzat
The issue is that we deal
with the wrong things at home. We talk about Igbo, Yoruba and South-South, does
it matter?
The currency we spend has no colouration. The road that you drive on
does not know or ask where you come from. When a plane crashes, it doesn’t know
if you are from the South or North.
So, why then do we focus on
the wrong things?
That is one of the reasons I said we must look at the right
approach to solve our problems. We must have somebody that possesses the
experience, humility, integrity and what it takes to do the job.
I believe I represent those
values. That is one of the reasons I’m presenting myself as a candidate for the
office. Our party, the APC, is lucky because we have many people who are
qualified to do the job. We don’t need to go and hire people from outside,
borrow someone or be begging. Within that number as well, there will also be
ratings based on various factors that as a people we must determine, in terms
of experience, background, education and the rest. But I believe that at the
end of the day, I will carry the day.
How would your party handle
the issue of religion in the choice of who emerges as your candidate?
I don’t know where that is coming from. Every
time I remember Chief Obafemi Awolowo or Azikwe, I don’t even remember their
religion. What I remember Awolowo for is the building of OAU, Ife, setting up
the first television station. I don’t know what religion Nelson Mandela
practiced but there are many Christians and Muslims in South Africa who took
money from the white government and betrayed their people.
I have said it before that
one of the problems with the black man is that we deal with what we cannot
measure. In my view, it has absolutely
nothing to do with religion and I think we are getting it wrong as a people
especially when we start that in Lagos. For example, since Ogun State was
created, all the governors in that state have been Christians.
The first one that would be
a Muslim is Amosun. We did not have a single agitation, why should it have to
start from Lagos?
It is absolutely ridiculous and I think as a
people we must not allow those types of nonsense to happen. What is important
is how to move Lagos forward. We must be
careful because this is a state where we have about 40 per cent of bank branches
in this country. Which nation in this world has dabbled into religious issue
and came out successful?
Your party, APC, has been
accused of always carrying out magic primaries to pick its candidates for
election, what is your comment on this?
I don’t know what you mean by magic primaries.
The truth of the matter is that everybody will have specific interests, so the
leaders like Asiwaju will have a particular candidate. He is a leader, he is a
human being, but he has only one vote.
What I am saying is that as
a candidate, I don’t worry myself with that. What I am worrying myself with is
let me present what I represent to the party and the people of Lagos, you leave
your faith in God, so whatever happens, so be it.
How would you assess your
chances among those who are jostling for governorship position?
What is your
relationship with the party leadership and kindly react to what the Oba of
Lagos said at a book launch that a son of an Ogun State Oba will not become
governor over him
First of all, in answering your question, I
take myself serious. If I don’t believe in something, I don’t do it. I take
myself very serious and whatever I want to do, I face it. So if I don’t believe
in my chances, I would not waste my time. In November, I am going to win that
primary.
Two, I wouldn’t discuss
Kabiyesi (Oba of Lagos) issue, I wouldn’t do that. You know what is
interesting; Kabiyesi tells me more about my grandfather than my mum does. My
mum and Kabiyesi, they are like family. My mother is from Ija Egbe in Lagos
Island, my maternal grandfather is Pa Collins, he (Kabiyesi) tells me more
about him than my mum. I learnt more about him from Kabiyesi so I will not
respond to what Kabiyesi has said.
No, it is not. You know why it is not, because
it doesn’t matter, it is not that there is a law that restricts you, but two,
it is okay for anybody to lie about his roots. I will never lie because, where
then do you get your integrity from? If you lie about your heritage, or roots,
then you will lie about anything. I cannot even lie because a lot of people
know my dad and if my father had said he is from Epe, nobody can dispute it.
If by November, you didn’t
win the governorship seat, do we see you moving to another party?
No, no, no, I wasn’t brought up that way, you
must believe in something.
What exactly do you have as
agenda for Lagos?
It is very interesting as you can see, it is a
document I keep reading and writing. It is called ‘Building A State That
Lasts’, this will be the manifesto.
Knowledge based economy
There are four major pillars. The first one is
building a knowledge based economy. Now, it is also important that we encourage
technical education. So for education, we must do technical. The well-being of
the people is also a priority. We spend more money treating the side effect
instead of using that money to build water works, among others.
Those type of
infrastructure must also continue. The truth is that we have identified seven
rail lines in Lagos, we are building one now. The truth is that no foreign
investor wants to invest in rail in West Africa.
Why?
When people invest in such a thing, they want
their money back. It is somebody’s investments they want to bring, how do they
get their money back?
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