His election victory as representative of Alimosho Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly did not come easy; despite being popular, Hon. Prince Bisi Yusuf engaged in an energy-sapping campaign.
Today, he says any sensible politician would only take the people for granted at his own peril. This is because the people now know where the true power resides.
Hon. Yusuf shares his experience in this exclusive interview with Naij.com
Q: Let us get your thought on the just-concluded general election in Nigeria.
The election has come and gone, but the memory remains with us and it is evergreen in our minds. It was the first election in the country that would take vigorous exercise as it was full of intimidation, harassment, use of money, political apparatus that belong to the Federal Government were used to the maximum. The whole electoral process was done to favour the ruling party, but thank God that the people of Nigeria were ever determined that change must come and they stood to see the change. I will ever remain grateful to the people of Lagos State, especially because what happened in Lagos was like a miracle. The Federal Government did everything possible to upturn the electoral process in the state; I can say that what they did was like neo-colonialism, which is worse than colonialism.
The use of money was paramount, you could see the margin between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the results of the presidential and governorship elections. Where the APC had every structure on ground, the PDP was not feasible in most places in the state and because of that they resorted to the use of money. They brought money to every segment of the state. They didn’t bring naira, but hard currencies, but thank God that the state belongs to the progressives. Else, they would have changed the destiny of the state. I am so happy that what has not happened in the past 55 years has happened; the progressives have never been at the centre. Now, you would see the synergy between the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government. This is the first time that the state would be in the same party with the Federal Government.
Q: Why did you say this sir?
The late sage, Obafemi Awolowo tried, but he was unable to achieve the feat. He however predicted that it would come to a time that Nigerians would fight for themselves. We have to give kudos to that man, the calculator and the determinant, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that, from one single state, the APC is now controlling about 19 states in Nigeria. You would recall that some of the arch-enemies of the late Awolowo said that he was the best president Nigeria never had, but that was after his death. But in the lifetime of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, people like Kashamu Buruji say Tinubu is a role model. I am happy that Tinubu lives to reap the fruit of his hard labour through self-determination, self-discipline, and self-sacrifice at the risk of his own life. He has given everything he has to ensure that the people of Nigeria are liberated; we have to give kudos to him. We have to thank God that he used him and he is the man of the moment. If you see him now, you would see him radiating happiness. I am happy to be part of the struggle and I pray that Nigerians would be able to sustain this cherished value that we have now by supporting the government that is coming.
It is not just about changing President Goodluck Jonathan, it is about total transformation and that starts from our attitude. We have to change our bad attitudes. If you are driving and you see someone throwing something down from a vehicle, wind down and say ‘change’. If you are on the queue and you see someone trying to jump the queue or you see someone messing up a public place, say ‘change!’ With this orientation, you can start from somewhere and you would become a catalyst and without anybody watching you, you will see that people would start doing the right thing. If we do this, most of the money we are spending to enforce some of these things could be used for something else that would favour the masses. Imagine if all Lagos residents cultivate the habit of not throwing refuse on the streets, you would see the money that would be saved from cleaning the state and such money could be converted to other areas. Imagine somebody going to work and because of carelessness, he causes hold up and waste man hours. I am happy that the dynamism of the man that would be at the helms of affairs is spreading like harmattan fire.
Q: People have condemned the use of political thugs during elections. What is your opinion about this?
The person you are talking to now would have been a victim of political violence or even killing. My personal car was ridded with bullets. Even someone as high as a serving minister and governorship candidate of a party was involved in the attack. It is not good and most of these people sponsor their children to political positions, House of Representatives and all that, yet they use the children of other people to foment troubles all over the place and to champion the cause of their own children. Whether they kill them or not, they are less concerned. They just want their children to get to big positions. It is never done; let me warn here that with the new arrangement, nobody would go into thuggery anymore because the government of General Muhammadu Buhari would provide jobs for those who are ready to work. Most of the people would be engaged and nobody would leave a lucrative job to go into uncertainty, not at all. It would start from providing foods for pupils in primary schools all over Nigeria; you can imagine the multiplier effect. Farmers would not wait for any market, those who have poultries would sell, the cooks would have jobs to do, transportation would boom since goods would be taken from one place to another. The oil boom or “oil doom” would not be the only source of income for Nigeria again as there would be diversification of the economy. People who have fertile land would engage in agriculture, the people in the north who specialise in producing cotton, hide and skin as well as groundnut would be back. Rubber plantation and palm oil business would boom and within a short period, the whole world would focus on Nigeria and the country would take its position back.
Q: What should the people of Alimosho Constituency expect from you in your second coming?
I have been doing a lot for my people and the in-coming government of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos State saw the role that the people of Alimosho played in the last elections. We generated about 90,000 votes, my own votes was over 56,000. You could see the political factor we have added to the state. I have written to the in-coming Governor that we cannot be adding such political values without having something concrete in our area. Once they see what is coming from us, development has to be brought to our area. I will use my political experience and lobby the executive that you don’t kill the tree that bears fruits. You must water the tree so that it can germinate very well.
Q: Any lessons to be learnt from the last elections?
The lesson is that non-performing governments can be changed at anytime whether at the local, state and federal level. It also shows that people are politically sophisticated and now you don’t be a rubber stamp legislator or docile Governor, people are watching you and what you think they don’t see, their eyes are there and before you know it, they would vote you out. Also, the kind of candidates you present for elections matters. You can see what happened to Buhari, he has become a phenomenon; everywhere he goes, people accept him. It is now a lesson for any political candidate; he or she must be credible, just like I am.
No comments:
Post a Comment