Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), ENOCH AJIBOSO, wants a seat in the Senate because he thinks he can turn things around at the red chamber, writes Senior Correspondent, ISHAYA IBRAHIM.
Former Commissioner for Agriculture and a two-term local government chairman in Lagos State, Enoch Ajiboso, seems to have ideas on how to make things work at the Senate. For instance, his legislative proposal on a relatively ordinary subject as shopping is fascinating.
“Even common things like making a simple law to compel people to put a price or use scale on their wares can solve a lot of problems. It may not be everywhere, but at least 80 per cent of Nigerians can use scale. It will save a lot of time in argument,” he said.
Currently, there is no legislation regulating how people conduct their trade in the country. And as Ajiboso observed, without such a regulatory framework, shoppers could be vulnerable to manipulation.
His words: “You can buy something for N10,000. I can buy the same thing for N1,000. And you waste a lot of time in argument. Time is also money because once it is expended, it is expended. So, common simple things like that can bring economic development.”
Consider also his proposed law on a complex subject like politics. “We can make law, for instance, that once you are a minister or commissioner, when you are being paid from public money, you must not take part in politics, until you resign.”
He explained the merit of his proposal: “Anything a minister does is seen from a political perspective. For instance, the Minister of State for Education from Rivers State (Nyesom Wike) left our education and was fighting with the Governor (Rotimi Amaechi).
“Once you are there for that period of time, you should be loyal to the people, to the constitution of Nigeria, because the money you are spending belongs to everybody. Whether you are of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or All Progressives Congress (APC), it is tax-payers’ money. If we are paying you from tax-payers’ money, you should be available for everybody. If there are regulations like that, we won’t have all these problems.”
He stressed that such regulation would bring sanity into the political environment.
“Even if you pick somebody based on his political activities, that must end once he is in the cabinet. If we can make regulations like that, you will see that Nigeria will move forward. When that person says let us do this, you will not see it from the angle of APC or PDP,” he said.
The APC chieftain, who is gunning for the seat of Lagos West, currently being occupied by governorship aspirant, Ganiyu Solomon, fondly called GOS, said the APC will make a clean sweep of the 2015 election.
Ajiboso enthused: “In fact, the target of APC is to take the federal government. We are winning the federal government, all other things being equal. That is, if we do these things rightly.
The formula, to him, is for the party to field its first 11 (best candidates) to go for election.
“First 11, the way it is defined currently, is in terms of naira and kobo. But that is not the first 11. The first 11 is the community-based candidate; the candidate who has been there for them to make sure things are done,” he stated.
But getting into the Senate has always not been about having fine ideas or being in the first 11. In the real politics, it might require an incredible war chest, or the endorsement of a godfather.
Ajiboso said the APC cannot afford to make that mistake.
According to him, “there are so many people jostling for the position, but we want to give it to the best. Those who are coming were supposed to be known. We must know their antecedents and know if they can represent the people, if they can bring change. I was a local government chairman for two terms. The little change God helped me to bring about still subsists. I went into the Ministry of Agriculture as Commissioner; we brought about change without even making noise. So, that is the kind of antecedent a contestant should have,” he said.
For Ajiboso, “there are senators, and there are senators”. He hopes to be a senator with a difference; one whose radical ideas can change the face of politics in Nigeria.
, ENOCH AJIBOSO, wants a seat in the Senate because he thinks he can turn things around at the red chamber, writes Senior Correspondent, ISHAYA IBRAHIM.){kind=link}