ONLY STATE POLICE CAN SOLVE BOKO HARAM PROBLEM -Lagos Deputy Speaker, Musibau Kolawole Taiwo

The Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Musibau Kolawole Taiwo, fondly called HKT, is an interviewer’s delight any day. He was a guest at the weekly ‘Time Out With The Press,’ of the Lagos State House of Assembly Correspondents Association (LAHACA).

Kolawole, who has been in the House since 1999, took the pressmen down memory lane on issues affecting the House with precision.

The statistician-turned-politician speaks on national issues, especially the one relating to the dreaded Boko Haram Sect saying that their activities would have been solved easily if there were state police.

The Deputy Speaker also speaks on his early years, lawmaking process in the House and other matters of interest during the session.

Can you tell us about your self briefly?

My twin brother and I are the last children of our mother, my twin brother is alive. I was born in the month of July in early 60s. I was born at No. 8 Odunfa Street, Lagos Island. I also lived in Agbole Ajagun in Lagos and later went back to Odunfa Street. I attended a Baptist School at Broad Street, Lagos beside the Baptist Church there. I didn’t know much about English Language in those days, but I was so good in Mathematics.

My parents later relocated us to Osogbo in Osun State. I attended a private school then, I went to Ifeoluwa Children Boarding School in Osogbo.

On my first day in the school, I scored 98 in Mathematics and 15 in English Language, when they added the two marks, I scored above average, so I was admitted. I later put in for common entrance and I passed. After the written exams, we were asked to come for oral interview. I knew I wasn’t good in English Language and to face a panel for oral interview was a problem. But, after my colleagues went there, they told me what they asked them and I crammed everything as a good mathematician, that was how I passed and I was admitted to St. Charles Grammar School, Osogbo.

From form one to five, I performed brilliantly in Mathematics, and in form three everybody expected me to be in science class and I went to 4A, which was for pure mathematics. I remember our Chemistry teacher looking for that boy who was good in Mathematics, but scored low marks in Chemistry. My mathematics teacher saw me as a very good student. I had A1 in Mathematics, but my English Language was bad in mys SCCE. I spent another two years trying to pass English Language, I just managed to have P8 in it. I was later admitted to study statistics; I didn’t want to struggle to get admitted in school. Before I finished my ND Programme, I was regarded as the best in the school as I won many awards. God answered my prayers, I got admitted for direct entry to pursue Bsc in Statistics in the University of Ilorin the same year I finish my ND.

 I later pursue and Msc in the course and I had a Phd proceed grade during the programme. I was so hopeful then that the late Chief MKO Abiola would win the June 12, 1993 election, but our hope was dashed with what happened eventually. I got married in 1993 and my supervisor advised that I should go and look for job to take care of my child and that I could come back later for my Phd as he was traveling out on sabbatical leave. Since then, I have not been able to go back for my Phd, they denied me admission because I had ordinary P8 in English Language. You know what I did, I put in for GCE and now I have a B3 in English Language. Now, I realized that there is nothing you cannot achieve in life, it all depends on you. I worked briefly as a lecturer at Yaba College of Technology, and I was later given employment as a planning officer in Triple G where I did so many things, I would attend to customers, I was the quality control officer, but I am proud that after I left, they couldn’t get a replacement till today because I am always dedicated to my job. I am conscious that I am from Ajegunle because once you do anything wrong, people would say ‘what do you expect, he is from Ajegunle.’ That was what I brought to the house of assembly, nobody gave me a chance. I remember I was one of the 21 people that brought in the speaker then, and I was later made a principal officer.

We heard that you abandoned those who worked with you when you tried to become the Speaker of the House in 2011, can you give us your own angle?

I didn’t aspire to be the speaker, but I tried to. On the day of swearing-in, I had opportunity to ask someone to nominate me, so I did not aspire for the position; I tried to be the speaker. We are politicians; we held several meetings before the day. Secondly, if somebody said he supported me and I abandoned him, I don’t want condemn anybody, but I am surprised.

I relate with everybody freely now even those who did not support me for the position.  I don’t know what the person mean by abandoning them, after we held meetings, I called them that we have reached an agreement and it is not limited to the lawmakers here, even some people outside including journalists know about it. I said ‘let us join hands to help the Speaker, he is the Speaker, the ordained person.’ I was so conscious of the difference between the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. In 2007, when I became the Majority Leader, I know there is a difference between an ordinary member and a principal officer, the difference is that you have to agree with the outcome of their meetings even if you don’t support what they did. People would cast aspersion on me if I speak against the decision of the House. I don’t know what they mean by that unless you give me their names. On coming back to the House to be the Speaker, I tell people that this depends on my constituents. If they feel it is time for you to leave you, you would leave, but I thank God because it has been a privilege. It is not because I have what others don’t have; it is just because it is what God wants me to be. If my leader calls me today and say ‘HKT, you are no longer going to the assembly,’ I would thank him, go back to my constituency and kill three big cows, I won’t buy them, I would take them from my farm. But if God wants me to come back, I would come back in any form, I won’t even make any decision on my own, I have passed that stage. My plan in 1998 was to be the chairman of my local government, but I wasn’t given. One day, I was playing draft, when they called me that I should come and pick a form for the state house of assembly.

So, it wasn’t even my plan to be here, when I was in the university I was a member of the Students Representative Council (SRC), I didn’t even know that it was a training ground for me. Therefore, anything God gives me after this, I will take it. I am not like the first term members, who will want to come back for the second term.

I believe so much in God, you may not see me going to the mosque every time, I was so happy, when I was made the Deputy Speaker because I won’t even have any function other than the one given to me by the Speaker. I am enjoying my work as Deputy Speaker; I am still speaker’s friend. Atimes, when we discuss, I will tell him he is wrong and he would tell me, ‘you are stubborn,’ and we will settle it. I don’t feel bad because anybody can be Speaker and if God has put you somewhere, you better take to it.

Having been in all the four assemblies since 1999, which would you consider to be the best?

Well, the fourth assembly, which is my first, is the precedent laying assembly, we were so fortunate to have a very meticulous speaker in Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora. I remember one of our secret meetings, Senator Babajide Omoworare brought the constitution and he was reading out our powers, we agreed that we were not going to touch many of the powers because many things were not well defined there. We said we would not touch the power, but we felt people should have reference points. People came with motions, we had a lot of establishment bills on our hands, it was a period of establishing agencies and parastatals that we could not even finish. We learned about the rules of the House and practiced them because we had rivals. We closed late in the night, we discussed with our governor then on every issue. We normally returned from our meetings late in the night and our cars moved in a convoy. It is not like now; it was a serious business then. My first motion was on LAWMA, I got the governor to reform LAWMA. I remember Hon. Ope tongue lashed me once and I could not raise my hand on the floor of the House for three months as I was afraid of being tongue lashed.

The fifth assembly was nothing to write home about, it is not good at all, where returning members were not allowed to vie for the post of the speaker and somebody that had just been there for few days became the speaker in person of Hon. Jokotola Pelumi. He was unable to get his bearing, he was not part of the precedent laying House, he didn’t know how the House think, how the members think, he assumed the seat all the same. He was just a good guy, he was very fluent in English Language, but he came at the wrong time for a wrong purpose and he lost. He made the house terrible; it was very weak and vulnerable because our speaker could not even stand the governor. We had an experience, when a former commissioner was to be made an SA,  we told the governor that the man should be made a commissioner. We proved it to him and he agreed, the speaker was too far away from the governor and that was the beginning of the end of his reign. Later, (Rt.) Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji came, and since he has learnt the ropes for over two years, he now knew the difference between the old and the new members, and that there is a far distance between the two of them.

The third coming, which is the 6^th Assembly, was interesting and I became the Majority Leader. In the fourth session, that is the 7^th Assembly, we are too relaxed, I don’t know why. The Speaker would always rebuke us and scold us atimes. I don’t see that as a problem anyway because we have almost exhausted all the establishment bills. We have taken up the duty as alternative adjudication process, we are now dispute resolution centre, people now rely more on our decisions more than before. Instead of going to courts, they prefer coming to the House. Our committees are now more important such that people obey our decisions more than those of the courts. There is no house that does not have its peculiarities; we are going to another area entirely now. You would see us debating more on budgets because it is very important, it appears every year and that is the only way people feel our impact. The road in Amukoko in Ajegunle used to be bad, but the road there is like those in Victoria Island with street lights now.

What can one do to develop interest in Mathematics?

When I was in primary one, our teacher came to the class one day and she was so happy. One of us asked her why she was so happy, and she said she was happy because she saw one of her former pupils, who brought her to school that day in his car. We then asked her the job the man was doing, she said he was an accountant. We asked her to tell us what one needs to do to become an accountant; she said you should know mathematics, which was how I fell in love with mathematics. I wonder what would have happened if she had said mathematics and English Language. So, I fell in love with mathematics because I wanted to be like the guy. My ambition in life was to live in a three bedroom flat and have a car. When I look back at my life ambition and what God has done for me, I always give thanks to Him. Mathematics is the simplest course in the world; summation of X over X can never change, but the method of speaking English Language changes regularly. The Almighty Formula is constant, it cannot change. What the person needs to know is just the rules, I tell my daughter, who looks so much like me, to know Mathematics. My children speak good English unlike me, I tell them I am from Ajegunle and they live in Ikeja. I always tell them the story of my life, my daughter now tells me she wants to study statistics and I am happy. Statistics is the most important aspect of mathematics and the most important tool of our life until we get that we won’t get it right. That is why University Ibadan would always admit a Bsc Statistics for its Masters in Economics; they know we are trained to handle complex situations. Our situation in Nigeria is very complex. You are lucky, you love English and you are doing it, me I am doing what I did not study.

What would you say about the fact that the Lagos State House of Assembly is a one-party house?

It is the best, if you have not experienced the other way, you would not know what we are saying. The economy of the United States of America was ruined because of the sharp division in the House. I imagine the problem we went through in passing bills from 1999 to 2003. It was not that we were from different parties like that, but we were divided into two camps. At least, we held meetings twice a week. I remember Hon. Kako Are brought a motion that the House should be speaking Yoruba Language once a week; we rubbished it because he was fighting our speaker then. It took the House another 10 years to pass the motion, but it was moved by another person entirely. We were fortunate to know that he was the one that first moved the motion. Now, it is so easy, and it is easier for you to judge the performance of our party. If our party fails in this kind of structure, then we have failed. Lagosians love us so much that we have performed very well and they gave everything to us.

What do you think the government should do to the menace of Boko Haram Sect in the country?

It is very hard to see any President that is so blessed like President Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria. The other person that had such luck was the late Chief MKO Abiola. Nobody voted for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in Lagos in the eight years that he ruled. Jonathan was lucky to have been voted for in Lagos, if you have votes in Lagos, you should be happy because the state is about 75 to 80% elite and they know what they are doing. If you think you can throw money around, you cannot give everybody money. In my own polling booth, the people love me very well, but on that day, 50% of them told me they would vote for President Jonathan and they still came to take my free drink. So, he ought to have the fear of God. Former president Ibrahim Babangida once said we will always have problems with decision making. He said, when you make a decision, some people will like it, while others would not like it. But, if you refuse to make decision at all, you would forever be blamed by everybody. President Goodluck Jonathan has refused to make correct decision, it is a shame on all of us from the southern part of Nigeria because Obasanjo was there for eight years, he refused to make the right decision. They rubbished the decision they ought to make. The late Tai Solarin said that we don’t know how to solve problems in Nigeria; we go round and still come back to the same thing. We need state police; the Boko Haram problem can only be handled by people who know the area well. Me, I know Ajegunle very well, I move in the place at night and I know the dark areas. So, if they say I should be the DPO of Ajegunle Police Station, there won’t be problem because I know the place very well, I know the people that are radicals, I know those who can corner people and attack them.  Somebody that gets out of Police College in Kano, you transfer him to Ajegunle Police Station in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government in Lagos. I did my NYSC Programme in a remote village in Abuja before it became a Federal Capital, there you hardly see 10 people in a day and when I got back to Lagos I couldn’t get myself, when I saw crowd. The person from Kano is now made to join the traffic section, where he will stay in one place till 6pm after that, he goes out with his colleagues and collects bribes from motorists. Later, they would give him N2,000 and he would not be paid salaries until six months and that bribe money has become part of his expenditure and this becomes problems. We must do the right thing. Let people police themselves, if there was state police when Boko Haram was starting off they would have been able to nip it in the bud. It is unfortunate that it is now he is suspending people up and down. I don’t even feel what he is doing because I didn’t vote for him; I campaigned against him in 2011.

How would you describe the suspension of the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi?

It is unnecessary, it is a distraction though I don’t like some of his policies, I argue severally against him, I even came up with a motion to condemn one of his policies. The cashless policy does not stop me from getting the amount of money I need from the bank, it is only that I would be surcharged for the extra. I don’t support his suspension, it is one tool I am against, why do you need to suspend somebody that is winding up, and he has said he didn’t need a second term. For example, the way the former president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami was suspended till the end of his tenure is unacceptable.

We want to know how much members of the LSHA collected before passing the 2014 budget because we were told it was part of the reason its passage was delayed

If there is anything we don’t collect money for from the Governor, it is the budget of the state. The House has never collected money to pass the budget, the House Committee on Budget was having problems with some MDAs, which were not ready to supply them some information and they were not ready to use my method of getting information from them. I told them pass the budget and hang those of the affected MDAs, but they said no and that they would tell the Governor about it. It was delayed for just about seven days, the Governor is our own, we are financially autonomous, we would have implemented the autonomy since 2005, when it was passed. It is an advantage to us, we don’t need to go to him for those common things, if I go to him, he knows it is not about direct money, we don’t have problem with finances again. So, you are getting it from a very bad angle. You said the recurrent and capital expenditure are at par. There are some overhead costs that you cannot ignore; to repair the roads is under recurrent. If you don’t know these things, you might not understand. The payment of facility managers is under recurrent expenditure. They are repairing roads everyday, we don’t bother ourselves on these, even if it is 40 to recurrent, 60 to capital, it is not a problem. There are so many things that are going on in Lagos that are PPP, the demand is on the high side, all these are on recurrent. The one we will not have is that of 80% recurrent and 20% capital like that of the Federal Government.

Can you mention some of the Bills you have passed in the House?

Most of the Bills in this session are private member bills, for instance, the Anti-Smoking Bill, which is now a law, is a private member bill. We have passed so many Bills into law. The security number bill that was passed is an executive bill. Most of the new bills are private members and they are good for us, the government has almost exhausted the establishment bills. We were in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom and they told us that it is NGOs that normally come up with Bills that relate to their own areas of coverage. Take for instance, the Domestic Violence Law, it was introduced by an NGO and they made Hon. Funmi Tejuosho buy into their thinking such that when she talks about domestic violence, you will be amazed. NGOs should come up with bills and convince us on it so that it would be easy for them to get things done. We will check the impact of the laws as we are moving. Look at the issue of education, people talk of education, but we want quality education for all. There was a time that if anybody says I read law at the Lagos State University (LASU), people would bow, but we know there are some lawyers now who know nothing about laws. Some of us were all here when 11 courses were de-accredited in LASU, I can never be happy with that. The Speaker set-up a committee that I headed then and we went to the office of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja, they told us that most of the courses in LASU had been on probation for three times and they said that was why we did not change what should be changed. I was conscious of where I was coming from, when I was in the polytechnic, they used to give me N1 per day for food and in the university, I used to earn N3 per day for feeding from our parents. When we came back from the visitation, we went to see the law that established LASU, we realized that the Governor needed to send Visitation Panel to LASU every five years and they had not done that for 10 years. We now passed a resolution that the visitor (governor) should send visitation panel to LASU. We told them to give us six months that we would change LASU. The best law faculty in Nigeria few years ago did not even have a single professor, whereas the condition of NUC is six professors for a law faculty. He then set up a visitation panel and they told him to introduce fees, they came up with a white paper. We said we would not take it that those in the school were paying N25,000, where would they get N250,000, we said they should be exempted from it, then somebody drew our attention to those that were awaiting JAMB results, who did not know that fees would be raised. We had an argument, and it was agreed that they would still pay N25,000 and we would have a scholarship fund to pay the balance, but that those who are coming fresh could not claim ignorance of the new law. When we were in the university, we didn’t fight internal wars, we fought external wars. I was a member of SRC, I couldn’t even remember when we fought for issues in the school, we only fought for NLC issues and other national matters and issues affecting lecturers. It is not even the function of the state government to fund universities, but they are to fund primary and secondary education. The reason former governor Lateef Jakande established LASU was because Lagos was being classified as educationally backward state, we have University of Ibadan and University of Lagos that were not admitting our indigenes. But because Lagos has changed, we must be doing the right thing, now a lot of projects are going on in LASU, I don’t know what our people are complaining about.