22nd December, 2014
Eromosele Ebhomele
Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has explained why he lost the Lagos State governorship primary of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Among the reasons he gave was that he overlooked certain truths in the build-up to the exercise.
Ikuforiji, who spoke on Sunday evening at the annual Media Meet, an event where he hosts journalists covering the Assembly, confessed that he relied on his close-knit relationship with the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, thinking this would pave the way for his emergence as the governorship candidate of the party ahead of the 2015 general elections.
He believes that he should have taken into consideration other issues that would assist his campaign at that time, but he relied much on this confidence that he is very close to Tinubu.
Ikuforiji, a former lecturer overseas, and others including the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Femi Hamzat, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan, former Attorney-General of the state, Olasupo Sasore all lost to Akinwunmi Ambode at the primary.
The Speaker denied reports that Tinubu favoured a particular candidate, adding that just as he defended the national leader of the APC prior to the primary, he would still defend him if asked the same question anytime.
“We need to be more realistic at times. You all know my relationship with Asiwaju and you know it is not something that can be hidden…maybe that also gave me the over-confidence on this issue of the governorship primary.
“But like I told my wife and my daughter, if someone, not even God now, had been with you for a month, given you whatever you wanted, two months, nine months and if in the 10th month, you wanted something and he wanted something else, should you call for his head?
“Ours is a managed democracy and we can’t fool ourselves,” he told the guests at the event held in his official house in the GRA, Ikeja area of the state.
According to him, in any political party in the world, there must be elders who political office holders must look up to for endorsements.
He recalled how President Barack Obama was all over former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, like a child on the day Obama was endorsed for a second term, adding that with the way Obama behaved that day, if he were a Yoruba man, he would have prostrated before Clinton.
Ikuforiji said he’ll depend on God to show him direction after leaving office mid-next year since right from childhood, he had learnt not to worry himself about the immediate future because while he chose a direction, God had often given him better choices.
“I should not be too bothered about tomorrow because God who created me already knew me before He created me and He had my path laid out…yes, I have to struggle and fight to get things going, there is little you can do really.
“I have so much in my hands that I can’t see any vacuum in my life.
“Many of you may have heard that I am a doctoral student in far-away Liverpool. In fact, it is my final year there now and since the beginning of this year, I have not been able to do much on my thesis.
“I must find time to get that done because I am supposed to finish by May next year, but I’m lagging behind and really need to do something.
“For your information, I’m also in the Faculty of Law in the University of Lagos. I’m registered already as a student there and I also want to join your world (journalism) where I can be free to comment on issues, I want to be a social commentator. Moreover, I told you I’m not tired of politics,” he disclosed.
Rating his administration as Speaker, he said: “I don’t pretend to be a prophet, but it is not very likely that this generation would witness a three-term Speaker of the House again. And if it does, it is not likely that the Speaker would be able to take giant strides as this Speaker (himself).
“In a nascent democracy, a 16-year old democracy, I have been Speaker for 10 years…haba! Let’s thank God now. In a state of 20 million people, everyone here can be a Speaker of the House.
“Somebody asked a question concerning how I was able to sustain peace and calm in the House. Is that not even a thing to thank God for?
“The job of the Speaker of the House is so energy-sapping. It is like I don’t have a life any longer. My life is Lagos House of Assembly and most of you know that most times, I am in my office till 11pm or 12 midnight.
“And so don’t I need rest? If I had been given the ticket as governorship candidate of the state, believe me, I would have taken off for at least, one full month holiday because I need to recover my strength.”
While denying reports that he was planning to return to the House as a member or Speaker having been defeated as governorship aspirant, Ikuforiji said it was time to move on, but wished that some of the defeated lawmakers be returned to the House because of their experience and the investment the state had made on them in relation to the training they had undergone.