I can still be Speaker if God says so–Mulikat Akande

Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, lawmaker representing Og­
bomoso North/South/Orire Federal Constituency in Oyo State,
has been in the lower chamber since 2007. Having been
elected twice by her people in 2007 and 2011 to represent
them, the House Majority Leader, who is gunning for a record
third term, said she still needs to be in the House to enable
her complete all outstanding projects and make her
constituency the envy of all. The Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) lawmaker urged Nigerians to vote back the PDP
because the opposition has got nothing to offer.
You’re a second term member of the House of
Representatives; why are you seeking a third term in the
House?
I think the reasons are not farfetched because the issue of
ranking is very important in the House of Representatives, and
right now the people of Ogbomoso do not have people at the
top except me, and if, assuming somebody else goes to
represent them, he or she will have to start from the scratch,
that is from the bottom of the ladder. I have been in the
House since 2003. In fact, some of my colleagues will even
say they didn’t know me at that time and this is because
when you just come to the House, you cannot hold any
important position in the House; therefore, there is nothing
really you can do for your people. But as a second timer, you
know that I was supposed to be the speaker but I’m sure it
wasn’t the time for me then. Going there now as a third timer,
I don’t think there will be any reason for anyone to say I
cannot hold any post or she will not be a ranking member any­
more. So, it is very important and my people feel that they
need to be part of government to be able to get whatever they
want from government and if they have a daughter up there,
why remove her and bring somebody new. So, that is one of
the key reasons I am going back for a third time.
And also, projects that I have attracted to this community,
some of them I am yet to complete and you know the status
of the budget this year. Last year, it was just 45 per cent
realised; so these projects will be at a standstill because
when a member does a project, a new member will not be
willing to complete your own projects and they become
abandoned. And there are other things that my people are
looking forward to and apart from even Ogbomoso, talk of the
South West, you can see that in this present administration,
the South West did not really get much and we hope to really
get back to our place in governance in this country and I am
sure between me and my other colleagues, we are very hopeful
that the PDP will have a larger number from the South West
this time around so we can be able to get our rightful place.
Could you give us examples of the ongoing projects that you
wish to complete and those things you said your people are
looking forward to?
State creation is uppermost in my people’s minds. My people
really wish that Ogbomoso will be able to become a state
capital and if the government, I know in the parliament,
nothing about state creation came in during the constitution
amendment but at the National Conference, which we are yet
to get the report, are very much in support of that. Whatever
happens, if states are going to be created, at least Oyo State
will not be left out in the scheme of things. Also, the
Ogbomoso / Oyo axis of Ilorin express road is also something
that we need the government to complete because it is
causing a lot of problems and havoc to our people and
movement from Lagos to Ilorin is not as smooth as is
supposed to be because of this road and that road needs to
be completed and they all feel that with me there, the road
should be completed even though the road was started in
2001 and you know, they have been going back and forth on it
because the amount of money required to complete the road is
huge. Within Ogbomoso itself, we have a lot of projects such
as erosion control because we have a lot of erosion problem
here; we have been able to get the government to start
working on it. All of these projects may be left uncompleted, if
an old legislator from the axis does not return. Definitely,
those who are vying against me are not from the PDP, they
are from other parties, which these projects may not be of
interest to. And you know the way Nigerians behave, instead
of working on continuity, they want to start on something
different and that does not allow for progress, as far as I am
concerned. We also need a federal institution in my con­
stituency, which I have promised my people they will get in
the next dispensation.
As a member of the legislature, you do not have executive
powers to execute projects, which is one of the reasons it is
important that you become a principal officer of the House.
What do you think your chances are this time around, to be
the Speaker of the House if elected?
I believe in only what God says it’s possible. If God had
wanted me to be a speaker at that time, I don’t think there
was anything anyone could have done to stop it. So, we can
only hope for the best and wait for the best. And I am sure
you know that why I did not become speaker then was partly
because my fellow legislators from the South West, who were
in another party did not support me and that a lot of people
were not happy about it. If south west has to get anything at
all, I think we should all work together, irrespective of the
parties because they too will have something to benefit,
whether they are from the ruling party or not, the fact that
you have someone from the south west in that position, things
can be achieved for the zone.
So, to what extend will you say that incident has affected the
fortunes of the South West?
It has affected it a lot because all the positions or
appointments that were supposed to come to the south west,
of course, majority of them were not achievable because there
was nobody from the zone within the top six in the country to
fight for the South West. Usually, the way it is done is for
these positions to be shared according to geo-political zones,
but we didn’t get anything. The North-West took two slots
and so the positions were going to the northwest. If you look
at positions in the country and how they are filled, you will see
that the south west really did not get what they were
supposed to get and these positions could have spread to
anybody in the south west as long as it is being held by
somebody from the south west, then it will benefit the people
of this zone. So, it is very necessary that in the next
dispensation, we get our rightful position and whatever the
position is allocated to the south west must be filled by
somebody from the south west.
If at federal level the PDP wins and you also win, there will
be an opening for the Speakership of the House. Is this
something you are working towards?
First of all, I am working now on my winning the elections.
The issue of becoming speaker, I leave that to God.
So, are you sure of your chances of winning this election?
Sure, I am very confident of winning this election with the
support of God and the support of my people, except if hard
work is not being rewarded. But if my people are going to
reward hard work, then I don’t have a problem.
You speak so much about your conviction in your people and
your relationship with them. Why should they give you
another term? What exactly have you done for them?
I am sure I have touched the lives of my people in so many
ways. I am not representing any other place and myself or any
other person; I am basically there to represent them. People in
the community can testify to that, I can testify to that. For
instance, I have a foundation that is basically in line with
poverty alleviation, scholarship programme and lots more. We
also have associations too where we put our money into for
the people to be happy. I don’t believe in giving people money
because I want you to vote for me, I believe in doing things
that will make the people happy and this will make them vote
for you willingly. In this regard, I have done a lot like giving
the community boreholes, schools, and getting involved in
erosion control projects which we are focusing on and this
project is worth N67 million and the work is on going. I
believe in projects that will impact the society, not giving
money. People who are against politicians and other big
people out there are people who have asked of money or
material things from these people and they were not given,
and because of this, they decided in their hearts and minds
that the person is bad, hence won’t get their votes. Or maybe
you might have been giving them, and they are always coming
and I say to them that I can’t give them anymore and they
take you as an enemy. People will tell you that I have done a
lot for the community.
Speaking specifically on the youth programme, what should
the youths of the community expect from you?
We have been doing skills acquisition programme like Cocoa
research, fishery, baking, snailry, fashion designing, amongst
others. The same programmes are going on in my Foundation
now where we have 50 people. In earlier programmes, we
gave N100, 000 each to the participants to start the business
they have been taught. Presently, we intend giving each
participant N50, 000 to start business and certificates will
also be given to them at the end of their training. If you go to
the Foundation now, you will see them and by the time they
finish their training we are going to empower them to start a
business. We also have a computer centre in town and also in
my Foundation, where we train 20 students in ICT to help
them understand computers; these people are either
undergraduates or just youths. And we do that twice in a year.
Widows are not left out. We work with a Micro-finance bank,
through which we give them interest free loans- they pay back
the loan while I pay the bank the interest on the loan. We
teach them how to trade and accounts is opened for them so
that they can save the money they have traded with. I am
sure they are all happy about what we are doing for them. We
also train the aged, train people in tailoring, and give money
to them to start their business.
How do you raise funds for the foundation? Do you borrow or
seek grants from organisations to fund these programmes?
For my Foundation, I set aside N10 million every year, and
that is paid into the Foundation’s account to fund the
programmes that we do. We are also trying to work with other
Foundations to partner with us in our programmes, but since I
have started, I have been the one funding the Foundation with
my personal money. If you go to the Foundation’s secretariat,
you will see a lot we have done for people to help them earn
decent living, because before now, some of them cannot even
afford to eat three square meals daily, and we are trying to
help them make money to help them provide for their families.
Some come back to complain that some of the things we gave
to them got spoilt and some other heart-breaking things like
that, it doesn’t really make me happy when they say such
things.
It is not only in Ogbomoso that I have impacted. At Orire local
government, we have done about 80 boreholes. The town has
700 villages and the problem they have is water.
What are your principles in the politics?
My principle in politics is to put smiles on the faces of my
people. That is my main ambition,. I also want to ensure the
standard of people is improved. That is the bottom line. That
was why I set up my Foundation which we started with N30
million, and our work or ambition is to help the less privileged,
give scholarship to children, give employments to people who
don’t have jobs, and by God’s grace, I have given 120 federal
jobs to people in my constituency. And we are working on
more job opportunities for them. We work with the motherless
homes, blind and host of the others. We touch every aspect in
the community.
PDP has not been communicating with the people, what is the
problem?
From my point of view, I think it is the media themselves that
is the problem. PDP thinks the opposition has bought or let
me say has hijacked the media. People tell me that I don’t
advertise my good works or projects publicly. One of my
cousins has even taken it upon his head to go and print a
report on my achievements to get people updated about the
works we have done in this constituency.
We Nigerians are never truthful to ourselves. And what people
don’t know is that APC cannot do what PDP has done in
Nigeria, if you have the interest of the people in your heart or
mind, then you will surely get there to serve the people. And
not because you want to get there to show the people that
you can do better than those who are there. And if you will
investigate things, you will see that those who are the corrupt
people are part of the opposition party disturbing the peace of
the nation. What APC is doing, they cannot give the people
anything. If you look at Lagos, if APC wins again, I tell you
that they won’t do anything, because they will say the people
do not want anything again, and they will also say the people
have everything they want. But if PDP wins, I tell you that Mr.
Jimi Agbaje will do a lot for the people and change things.
What can you say about Akala’s defection?
Former Governor Akala is a very influential figure in our
community, we respect him a lot. His leaving the party means
that we will have to work twice as hard as we would have. I
believe that every individual is working for the interest of his
or her party.