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By Christy Anyanwu
Desmond Oluwashola Elliot is a Nigerian actor, film director and politician. He is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Surulere Constituency 1 since 2015.
In this interview, he speaks on his 11 years as a lawmaker and why he wants to return to the Assembly, among other issues.
You’ve been in the House since 2015. What roles have you been playing?
I have been a part of some very important bills and motions. Bills like the Cancer Institute, the Neighbourhood Corps, the Tourism Promotion Agency and harmonizing the environmental law. Then the one I’m currently working on, which is going up for second reading, and we’ve done a public hearing, is the Lagos State Public Works Corporation Law. That law seeks to have an even distribution of public works in every division.
They call it the Ibile Division, I-B-I-L-E, across Lagos State, so that one part is not suffering from that kind of development. And then public works seeks to have an immediate response to deep issues when it comes to road infrastructure in Lagos State.
So, these are part of the laws I’m excited about. There are still many more. There’s one about the digitalisation of the medical sector. That is a motion that I brought personally, where, if you are in Randle General Hospital, for instance, and you decide to go to Gbagada General Hospital, they don’t need to now start finding how your case can go; with your code, everything is already imputed, on the spot, real time. Everything about a patient is already known. If you go to LASU, maybe there’s no bed space, and you go to LASUTH, your history is already known by whomever. So, all that, carrying all these reports, all these things about, you must get a referral. Referral goes already into your system. By the time you get there, they just log into the system, put the code, and then they already know everything about your history.
There are other things outside the House of Assembly. You know, the kind of system we live in now in Nigeria, all the things we do in Nigeria, you can’t just say you are there to go and make laws alone. You must be seen to be responsive to your people. For instance, you are here now at the burial of one of our aunties, Auntie Bose Osiji, who passed on last week, very sadly, from BP. We feel very bad. I should have been at the burial ground now, but one of our leaders just passed on again, too.
So at the end of the day, you have to be responsive. You have to be there for the people.
We organise football programmes just to bring communities together. Like the one I did last year, the Femi Gbajabiamilla football competition. We bought new kits and every other thing
We got 32 schools involved across Surulere. We’re also helping widows in different programmes. We give them stipends every month and we do it in batches.
One good thing I know is that I can beat my chest over the changes in the power supply in Surulere. Ten years ago, we had an epileptic power situation. It was bad. Today the story is different. How? I’m not Eko Disco, I’m not NEPA, but we tried in making sure we revamped equipment in a lot of places. Where they didn’t have transformers, we made sure transformers were readily available. In areas where they did not have prepaid meters, I facilitated a whole lot of prepared meters for the people.
Anytime there’s a scheme, like when we had the zero map schemes, I made sure I put in a lot of our constituents in it. Now we just finished the zero map schemes. I also made sure a lot of our constituents benefited from it, where you don’t have to pay for it.
In the area of roads, I also facilitated a lot of roads, close to 30 roads across Surulere. And the roads are all there.
There is also LagRide that we also facilitated by giving our constituents LagRide, so that they can benefit from it. I did the first startup and I let them pay the rest. As they start to make their revenue, they pay.
I do a lot of work on the environment as well, constantly.
Why do you want to return to the House?
When you’ve been proven to show capacity, like I want to believe I have, by the time you go back, you become a ranking member. Anywhere around the world, ranking members get benefits of democracy in the House before new members. It is a rule, although it’s not constitutional, but even in America, when people want to talk on behalf of different committees, you see them tell you, leader of the caucus and so on. They don’t become leaders as first-timers, second-timers, and third-timers. Sometimes in America, they would have been there for almost 10 terms before they became leaders.
I’m not saying I want to be there for that long, God forbid, no, but I’m saying that the same applies.
By the time you become a ranking member, like I will be, being one of the most senior, a lot of things accrue to us. It comes to us first before it goes to our younger colleagues.
In my first term, second term, I had seniors take all that into their constituencies. I think Surulere deserves the right to benefit from those things.
Jobs become multiple, if not quadruple. Different things come, you understand. Basically, it is out of the fact that it will be for Surulere. A very clear example is my leader, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, when he did his fourth term.
The benefits he got were way enormous. More than three times what he got as a third timer. The benefits he got as a fifth timer, that’s when he became Speaker.
So you can imagine what it is in the legislature when you send people to stay longer, especially when they have demonstrated capacity.
This is how you promote the orderly relationship between the legislative and executive. It is one of the reasons why longevity in government is good.
We control the purse because we are the ones that say, no, you can’t spend here, you can’t spend here, and you can’t spend here. And they are the ones that do the implementation. So with people like us, we try to stabilise that kind of relationship.
But people are saying, why go back for a fourth time? Why can’t you return to acting when some people in Surulere are saying they’ve had enough of you?
I don’t think they said they’ve had enough. Yes, everyone is entitled to his opinion and I have the right to say, this is how far we’ve come. This is my scorecard. If you give me a better opportunity, I can go bring home even better deals than I’ve done already.
I’ve been able to create more jobs. I’ve been able to do roads. These are things that, for a first-timer, it’s going to be very difficult to do. They would just be learning the ropes. Then don’t forget my member of the House of Representatives, the one that just got into the House of Reps, Hon. Laguda, has just started. So, you also have to give him time to understand the ropes.
Are we saying we should have two legislators learning the ropes at the same time? It’s going to affect Surulere adversely.
When you have issues with NEPA, who’s going to rush there? It’s me. When you have prepaid meter issues and so many things, I sort them out. I already have established relationships with a lot of people in different ministries and parastatals. To get people into federal universities, federal schools, I fly to Abuja. I go there and get it done.
I don’t look at the fact that it’s beyond my jurisdiction. Being an actor is wonderful. I love the profession. I don’t deny it. But I want to give the dividends of democracy in making sure that my Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope programme is achieved. And how can it be achieved? When we, the legislators and the other appointed people, do the best that we can in delivering these things. And I think I’m trying my best at that.
So to those who are a bit sceptical, asking, why are you going for a fourth term, look at it as continuity that leads to more progress.
How sure are you that you’re going to clinch the party’s ticket in the primary and you’re going to win in the election next year?
As a Christian, I will first and foremost say, I have faith that I will win. Secondly, all power and authority belong to God. I rely entirely on the will of God. It is God who has made it possible.
Don’t forget, during my entrance, we had almost 10 of us who vied in different places. And I make bold to say that I was the only one who got it. It is not because I’m more intelligent than those people.
It’s the grace of God, so no one should boast. I am not going to boast about myself. Even for the third term, I think God has blessed me.
So, if I want to vie for a fourth term, I would say I leave it entirely to God. And I pray God will make everything go well. And, if I win, to God be the glory. If I don’t, to God be the glory.
How much of engagements do you have with your constituents?
I do that. I do consistent engagements with the people. But don’t forget, it’s not everybody that comes to the engagements. Number two; you must understand politics. I am not the leader in Surulere. You must not outshine your master.
You can’t try it. So it’s only when an opportunity like this come that you can now talk about your scorecard. So, do the things, let the people understand for the party’s sake. Then when it’s time to bring out your scorecard like now, you bring it out. It comes with its pros and cons, unfortunately. But we are living in a society where even if your leader does not complain, like Hon. Femi Gbajabiamilla doesn’t complain, I must use my brain to think and be wise enough to say, wait, hold on, don’t overstep your bounds, don’t go too far.
What is the difference between your life as an entertainment personality and your life as a lawmaker?
It’s too plenty. As a lawmaker, if you don’t hold God, you are gone. You can’t afford to mess with God.
You looked better as an actor…
I look very ugly now. I’m stressed out. It’s a lot of prayers. There has to be a reason why God put me here, I don’t know why. I ask God every time, why did you bring me here? Yes, I enjoy the fact that I have been able to bless lives, people have gone abroad through me on scholarships, and so many other things. Trust me, it’s not money from the Assembly. But at the end of the day, we all must give account. We are not in this life to just come and enjoy ourselves. What have you done for your fellow brothers and sisters? God is going to ask you and this is a message to all politicians. What you are doing, is it right?
What are the tangible deliverables you can promise your constituents if you get re-elected?
More jobs. We are facing jobs squarely. And then more empowerment for the youth.
We have been doing it. It is documented.
So, these are graduates already. But we took them through different skills acquisition programmes in Surulere. They were trained as fashion designers. It was a six-month programme.
I was giving the trainees stipends. These entrepreneurs are wonderful people. I gave them money for training them. Because I didn’t have enough funds, I went to the Lagos State Government, through the wealth creation programme, they gave them start-up plans to start their work. We do about three different programmes every six months.
