High Chief Solomon Sunday Chukwu, the Otun Amuludun of Orile Agege, Lagos state, served as a Director in the Tinubu/Shettima, Sanwo-Olu/Hamsat Independent Campaign Group in the build-up to the recent election in Nigeria. It was therefore not surprising when the publisher of the Unique Model Magazine, Felix Mbata, and his management team honoured him with the “Pillar of APC Victory Award” in recognition of his immense contributions towards the APC victory. Responding Chief Chukwu who believes that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done well in the last two months of his administration, acknowledged the award and expressed gratitude to the team, and promised to do more in defence of his political interest at all times since politics is an interest-driven game. He further spoke to the team on other issues.
Excerpts:
What inspired your interest in Asiwaju’s presidential project?
Politics is a game of interest and every human being should defend his interest at every time and not when it is convenient alone. For every Igbo man in APC in the last election and who came out boldly to defend what he believes that the APC should continue in power, that was it for me. It was not just the APC for me, it was about the man, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a person because I have worked with him in Lagos state and I know the policy that he initiated as the governor of the state. This is the first man in Nigerian history, to the best of my knowledge who has a plan of 20-30 years for a state and knowing full well that for those plans to come to pass, you must continue to determine who implements those policies. And it has become a tradition in Nigeria that whoever becomes a governor, after his tenure, the next place is the senate but in his case, he shelved the ambition of becoming a senator because he has an ambition for Lagos so that Fashola could become the next governor of the state and today, we can see that Lagos has evolved because he keeps bringing those who share his vision in governance. Love him or hate him, to me, he is still the best man for the job and that was why I supported him. So, I don’t believe that tribal sentiment should be the reason why we should support a candidate for leadership, rather it should be what has he done in the past because you cannot completely wash away the past, what have you done in the past? You can then project what that person will do in the future. For me, he has done very well in Lagos state. He shelved his ambition and ensured that a man who shared his vision succeeded him and Lagos was better off. I think that is sacrifice and having him at the federal level, we believe he will do better.
We know it is too early to begin to assess him but so far, given some of the policies he has initiated, how would you assess him?
I’m of the school of thought that believes that there’s no gain without pain, a woman must go through labour before giving birth to her child and smiles afterward. It takes a man with the courage to take the step he has taken so far. Every contestant in the last election talked about removing subsidies even his predecessor, Buhari, when he was campaigning talked about removing subsidies. But for him to have taken the bold step to remove subsidy, and liberalize the naira exchange, for me it is a good step in the right direction. We are looking forward to seeing who becomes the minister for what in the next few days from now and by so doing, he will now designate powers to others to be able to drive and fulfill his dreams and his vision for the nation. In less than two months, I think he has done well.
On palliative of N8,000 to 12 million poor Nigerians, what’s your opinion?
For me, the level of information you have determines the knowledge you have and the knowledge you have determines the actions you take. So, he is a man I have seen who understands what leadership is all about, he believes that the ball stops at his table. So, he must have seen the real benefit of that policy to the 12 million poor Nigerians before taking that decision.
People believe that it’s another channel of corruption because how do you determine the 12 million poorer Nigerians?
For me, I think we have ministries and agencies of government who should do that. What we should be asking is that when the money is disbursed, we want to know who and who has benefited. Let us leave sentiment and chase the real objective. Let’s not believe that it’s going to be business as usual rather we should ask for the data of those who are collecting the money. If they fail to do that, we can then begin to ask questions. Life should be one thing at a time.
Some believe that instead of sharing the N8k the money should be invested in the transport sector to procure buses so that more people will benefit, What do you think?
We only speak based on our level. To some people, N8k is all they need in life. Yesterday, I was watching a security report where a man killed another man because of N50,000.00. He was given N50,000.00 to kill his girlfriend and harvest her organs. So, it all depends on the level one operates and what N8k means to you. To some people in Nigeria, N8k means a lot to them and you cannot say because N8k does not mean much to you, those it means to should not be given. And don’t forget that we are running a partisan democracy where it’s one man, one vote. Those 12 million Nigerians have equal rights to those few Nigerians N8k does not mean much to them. So we all voted for this government and so we expect them to meet us at the point of need. So, to those N8k means much to, and they should be given, and to those who want transport, I believe with time something much more will be given to them.
In the build-up to the election, you printed very expensive T-shirts among other things, and donated to Asiwaju presidential campaign, what prompted you to do that?
If you believe in a project, it must cost you something. If you believe in a course, you must demonstrate it and not just saying it. What is your investment, what have you contributed to show that you believe in this course? And for me the mandate shirt and other things we did were a means to tell the world that this is where we belong and this is whom we believe on.