By Sunday Ani
Former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Dipo Olorunrinu, has given reasons why the acclaimed national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wants to lead Nigeria in 2023 after President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said that Tinubu has been sending people to do the job but, since they have not been able to carry out the real change 100 per cent, he wants to be in the driver’s seat to give Nigerians the real change himself.
Olorunrinu, who contested the APC primaries for the chairmanship of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area in 2021, equally called on Tinubu to ensure the restoration of his mandate.
In this interview, he spoke on Tinubu’s presidential bid and why he wants his mandate back, among other issues.
It is no longer news that you have dragged the APC to court over your mandate in the July 2021 local government election in Amuwo Odofin; what is the position of things now?
First, I am Oladipupo Olorunrinu, a former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly. I represented Amuwo Odofin Constituency 1 between 2015 and 2019. During the 2019 general election, something happened. It was not that I lost the election, but we are in Nigeria, where the slogan is: “If you cannot beat them, you join them.” Moving forward, I joined the APC and contested the council chairmanship, which was more like compensation. I did and, of course, with the support of our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I won the primaries democratically because people voted for me. That was why we went to court and we have been in court for the past six months. It’s quite unfortunate that the case is still on, even when an accelerated trial was granted. But, good enough, we are in trial at the moment; that’s the good news. A lot of people thought we wanted to settle out of court. My democratic right has twice been infringed upon now, in 2019 and 2021. I would not toy with the people’s mandate. So, I sought the court’s audience. At the moment, we have been asked to give evidence and we will be back in court on January 27, 2022.
The case got to court in July 2021 and it was supposed to be accelerated; why are you still in court?
Well, I don’t know but, as I said, we are still in court. I wouldn’t want to question the personality of the judge; maybe we can question the judiciary at large. As I said, it is about the judiciary generally. Once acceleration is granted, the matter ought to have been dealt with quickly. But, as I said, I wouldn’t say that the judge has not been pressured, but as a politician and from my experience, I know how some of these things work. Going by the personality and level of integrity of the judge, I don’t see her giving in to some of these things. She is a mother and she has pedigree. I want to believe that, with her level of experience, she would do what is right. Based on her personal integrity, the right thing would be done, and the case is too sensitive to be thrown aside. The only unfortunate thing is probably because it is being delayed even when the case has been granted accelerated hearing. It’s quite unfortunate.
So far, has the leadership of the APC in the state reached out to you?
Don’t forget that we don’t have structured leaders yet as a party in the state. We still have an executive leaving office, yet to hand over to a new one. People just want to use me to settle scores or score goals. My case is totally different; I am an aggrieved person. People are equally aggrieved on my behalf; we are talking about people’s rights. You can’t just tell people not to go to court. I just had to go to court. That is what will make people like myself happy. I have to do it even, if a few people have problems with that. It happened in 2019, and I didn’t go to court. Why is it happening to me again in 2021? No, I’m a stakeholder in this state and I know my onions. I have spent a lot of my personal earnings on the party. I worked in the government as an opposition member, so what’s my gain in the party? What have I gained? I have gained nothing and the party took something from me.
They took my victory in 2019 and they repeated it in 2021. I am fighting for myself and the people that stood for me. I am also using this opportunity to call on our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who just made his intention known to President Buhari to contest for the position of the President of Nigeria, to remember that we, his children at home, are aggrieved over some issues. It is worrisome, appalling and so painful, and we are calling on him to see to it. As I said, he knows about it and I wouldn’t want him to keep looking. I want him to do something about it.
Have you been contacted by the chairman of Amuwo Odofin LG, Valentine Buraimoh, who the party gave the ticket to eventually?
Well, I have never been contacted by him. He doesn’t have the political influence to do that. He has the mindset that it is the party. Even if it is the party, it has to be by consensus. You don’t just treat people like that, as if they don’t have feelings. So, it’s a very sensitive and painful issue. It’s not just something that he would send some people to me. It’s not as if anybody wants to use it to malign the party, because the party has come to stay. As I said, there are always a few bad eggs. There is a new chairman of the party now. My case was part of the reasons the former chairman was removed, not the main reason anyway. He just manipulated the whole thing and removed my name from the list.
There were claims that you planned to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party with the Lagos4Lagos group in the APC then led by Mr. Olajide Adediran, aka Jandor, could you clear the air on this?
I was the only member of the PDP in the Lagos State House of Assembly for four years. That rumour came up because, when my issue came up, the enemies instigated them to suspend me. It’s quite unfortunate. They felt that I had the temerity to take the party to court. So, they felt I should be suspended from my ward. Don’t forget that Jandor is from my division; he ran towards me and said why should I be suspended after mobilizing so many people into the party? For Jandor, it was an addition; of course, everybody is playing politics. You don’t expect me to drive someone who wants to rescue me away. Everybody has his own agitation and Jandor has his own agitation. He was in the APC; he is now in the PDP. I was in the PDP, and I was a stakeholder there. I am equally a stakeholder in the APC. Yes, he had a press conference, where I was present, and my enemies tried to use that to blackmail me. I don’t dwell on blackmail, but you should expect that in politics, especially from people who know how to lie. Just because they have access to our leader, they go to him to lie. But we don’t know how to lie, that is why they call me “talk and do.” We say it the way it is.
Will you ever drop this aspiration if they give you any alternative?
I don’t shy away from any commensurate alternative presented by the party. I am a party man and I have invested a lot in the party to be considered for a reasonable elective position to serve our people. Even our people who believe in ‘Talk and Do’ will further appreciate the party and sustain their commitment to the realisation of the vision of our National Leader.
I can still remember vividly that when I went to the APC, I didn’t wait for anybody to come to me; I went to our National Leader, Asiwaju Tinubu. I didn’t have any agreement with anybody in the party. I had an agreement with our National Leader and I know he is a man that fulfills promises and never breaches agreement. As I said, I want to use this opportunity to call on him to intervene in the matter, though I know he is aware. You know he has started his presidential campaign now, and we started earlier. Immediately I was told, we were the first set of people that started the campaign in 2019, even when people were not sure. That is why I said I have gained nothing and I want to gain. You put your money where your heart is. I have put a lot of my resources into the party. When you serve people, you should also gain. I agree that I am a philanthropist, but I also want to gain. I am not stupid.
Talking about the presidential ambition of Asiwaju, you were one of the few people that started the support group in 2019; now that he has declared his intention to run for the coveted position, people have said a lot of negative things about him. What would be your charge to Nigerians and to Asiwaju himself?
Politics is not played on social media. People would definitely say what they want to say because talk is cheap. But, give it to him; he has said that nothing stops a kingmaker from becoming a king. When you hear such a statement, it tells you that he wants to get the job done. He felt that rather than supporting people, he should do it himself, and you might tie it to ambition, but he is not desperate. If you look at him, his personality is that he wants that actual change and he wants to get the job done by himself, not by proxy. He has been sending people, and asking them to do it. What is he looking for that he doesn’t have? What he is looking for is that there are some lacunas in that change that he wants to get done himself. He has asked people to do it, they did it to a large extent, but it has not led to that actual change. If you look at him, you will see the consistency of the power that he has been able to sustain. You wonder why he wants to do it himself, he has sent people to do it before, but he knows that this is not what he wanted them to actualise 100 percent. He wants to get it done. I want to answer people that are saying that he should go and sit down and that he is too old. The best legacy he needs in life is this. You can influence somebody into office and he might do something else. Whereas you that put him there would be questioned and it’s like your fingers have been burnt. If he has helped people to get there, we should give him a chance to do those things he wants those people to do.