PDP Leaders in Alimosho Are Greedy And Selfish - Barrister Olayinka David Sanni

Barrister Sanni recently cross carpeted from PDP to APC, a move he says is the best for him politically. He sought to be a member of the House of Assembly several times but lost while in PDP. In this interview with Alimosho Standard, he speaks on his political ambition, his former party, his new party, his calling as a pastor, the current situation of Nigeria and many more. The interview was conducted in his house by five of Alimosho Standard’s Reporters. Please enjoy the excerpt. 

Barrister Olayinka David Sanni

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: Good afternoon sir, tell us about yourself and your background.     

 BARRISTER: My full names are Olayinka David Sanni, I am a legal practitioner and also into business, my law firm is purely based on property and litigation frames from property. I am also into politics.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: You have a promising career in law, why delve into politics?

BARRISTER: My stint in politics came... will I say… someone prompted me. At times you might not even know your strength until maybe you go out there and feel the pulse. I have Buses I use for transport business, and that transport really gave me a lot of fame, I have cordial relationship with the Nigerian Police. There was a day during fuel scarcity myself and some pastors, by the way I am also a pastor in Redeemed Christian Church of God.

We went to buy fuel and it was so rowdy on getting there, when I alighted from one of the cars, the touts known as Agberos saw me and started screaming and shouting The-law, they were clearing the road and the rest of the pastors said “this man we never knew that you were this popular” and I told them I didn’t know myself. On our way back after we bought the fuel, Seyi Taylor said “do you know if you go into politics you will really make it?” My lifestyle has always been built on impartation.  When I moved into this area, I looked at what is missing in the environment and I wanted to fill that vacuum so that it can be my way of contributing back to the society. I found out that water is their major challenge and I put a Borehole in place for people to come in and fetch from all over. You will see people from Baruwa Area coming to fetch water here. To this effect, I never knew people were watching and that’s how my interest in politics began.

Barrister Olayinka David Sanni

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: As a politician what would you want to be known for?

BARRISTER: What I want to be noted for... That word politician really scares me, at times I don’t want people to call me politician because it comes with a label. Politicians will tell you I want to build a bridge as one of their campaign tools but when they get there they will see reasons why their promises cannot be fulfilled.

I want to be known for someone who wants to say a word and keep to it, when I am in the group of politicians I always try to clarify between deceit and what people call politics because people have not been able to draw the line between both.  When you are doing deceit, they call it politics and to me it is not. I have a track record in PDP, Bode George will tell you that if you want to hear the truth in Alimosho go and meet Lawyer Sanni because I don’t play deceit, I believe in fair politics, say it the way it is and let them like you or they may hate you. As for me, I came to show how governance ought to be.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: You were a strong member of PDP in Alimosho before you defected to APC a school of thought has it that you left PDP because you did not win your bid to run for House of Assembly on the platform of PDP

BARRISTER: Firstly, I started up in PDP, my first stint was House of Assembly, I and Aeroland vied for the primary. Before the advent of Aeroland, I was the sole financier in PDP, before he ever came. The ticket was mine for the grabs, there was a day we were called to Kareem Ilaka to come and give manifesto and defend our bid to the people. I don’t believe in money tackling, I don’t believe in saying what people want to hear, I don’t believe in waging off sentiment. When Aeroland came he said I am buying you 11 buses that will spread across the Wards, I am going to give everyone 1 million Naira each, and everybody applauded him, when it came to my turn, it’s on record, what I told everyone was that if the party is in need of any thing you know how it has always been done, come to me. I remember Honorable Shodiya Akeem, he came to meet me and he said look at what your opponent said, say something even if you don’t mean it, so he said they are creating another 5,5 minutes for us to come and recap so that I can say something alluring to their hears. I repeated the same words and sharply a day afterward, I donated N10 million at that time when PDP was still at the embryo. Myself and Aeroland made PDP spread like wildfire in Alimosho.

I bought truckload of poles, not ordinary poles but thick poles carrying PDP flags and spread it across all parts of Alimosho, I put 10 to15 in Ipaja, everywhere, it was like a vigil throughout, there was a place we were that people thought we were armed robbers and police came to challenge us, until they saw me and apologize that they did not know I was the one and we told them what we were doing so before everybody wake up PDP flags will be everywhere. People saw it and were so happy. I will rather project the image rather than put money in the pockets of some selected few.

Barrister Sanni(Left) with Mr. Jimi Agbaje (middle)

So, when that one didn’t work out the same people that said they have gone to herbalist and they were told I was the one selected that can liberate Alimosho, using the Yoruba word Iwo ni Ifa mu (the Oracle has chosen you), but all of a sudden when Aeroland was able to bribe his way and put them in a Hotel and also gave them money, the same baba that said iwo ni Ifa mu came back to tell me that they have rechecked and it involves some sacrifice, overnight, it was changed. So I kept calm, I did not do anything, that was in 2010. I did not use that against them, I supported AEROLAND with my own money, put boys across to ensure that ballot papers were not missing. I didn’t jump ship at that time that it was so annoying. The LG officers made sure they monitored the whole process because they were not going to allow me win; they didn’t come to meet me to step down. Even at that, it was so shocking that Aeroland scored 110 and I scored 59 votes. With my 59 votes, they were so sad. I made a mark and after, I called Aeroland that call these people aside that rather than them victimizing the youth and everyone that voted for you, we should team up and see how you are going to win, not going backwards.

The time for chairmanship election came, Mosan Okunola, I can say it anywhere, even Mafe (erstwhile chairman of Mosan Okunola LCDA) and the ACN will tell you Mafe never defeated me at all,  it was a rollercoaster one way direction where the party was heading to. In the local government election SIEC(State Independent Electoral Commission) is responsible for the administration and not INEC, so they had everything, it’s like in a competition they were the referee, so what they did in other local governments is different from Mosan Okunola because I had everyone at the grassroots who were rooting for me. They now ensured that they disenfranchised the masses, they did not bring ballot paper out for people to vote in Mosan Okunola especially, it was 50,50 ballot paper per polling unit and the least polling unit in Mosan Okunola was about 700 to 800, in some places, 1000 registered voters. They asked ACN to come out early to vote so as to ensure that the 50 were used. Around 11am to 12 noon, the election had already ended when people were just coming out. That was not an election. Mafe was always asking around to meet me because it was a losing game for him. In spite of all that, I was still with the Party, Then this last election was very painful in the sense that I came out for the primaries of House of Assembly, I was supposed to be given the ticket, Bisi Yusuf (Hon.) already dread my coming out, he was happy when he heard that it was the same Nejo that was given the ticket. Quoting him, he said “won ti funmi ni iyawo mi, ma tun do again” (they have given me my customer, I will win again). Because this is somebody (Nejo) that polling booth 11 on his street, he cannot win his street and when the party chairman, late now, came to meet me and said, “Barrister Sanni, you are the best, you can win and deliver but you have to give me 2.5 million Naira”, I was annoyed, if I gave such money, what would be spent for election, I decided I wouldn’t bribe my way, whatever will be will be, I cannot call myself a Christian and behave like an unbeliever, my conscience will prick me that I bribed, and I told him, let’s go out for primaries and if Nejo is able to defeat me that’s fine, but the power that be this time around because of the bribe that I refused and because I was the coordinator of SURE-P for Alimosho at that time, they felt so bad that they ganged up and the primaries was not conducted fairly. So it was very painful, this last election, if anybody told me PDP wasn’t going to win, I would say go and sleep because for the first time we had the right candidate, the person of Jimi Agbaje, who is very well sellable at that time, so we had no business in losing that election, but I found out that looking backward, where I have been coming from and spending millions of naira trying to articulate a particular ideology and there are some people who will not just, who do not want to see it, shouting they want to win but their actions says different thing entirely, they don’t have any act of willing, they are only waiting for the election money to come, after the election money, they take it and put it in their pocket then everybody goes to sleep. I then looked at myself that if I stay like this, there is no how this idea will ever see the day light. Now, coming to APC, it was an easy choice, even before then, I had many APC friends romancing me and calling me to come over.

Barrister Sanni declaring for APC

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: Before we talk about APC, I remember when you defected to APC; you took to your facebook page to talk about the elders of PDP. What about them?

BARRISTER: Alimosho is the decider of elections in Lagos State, if you have won in any election in any local government and you haven’t won in Alimosho, don’t start jubilating yet. For example, Aeroland won in 7 local governments but in Alimosho, his votes was rubbish. PDP at the apex ought to pay more attention to Alimosho but they left it. Alimosho PDP elders are full of people who are very greedy, people who are so self centered, people who are just looking for avenue to make money. For example, during the last election, Jimi Agbaje had series of meetings and interactions with one of my leaders, chief Bode oyedele. We had been meeting and I had dreams concerning him and in Alimosho, majority of them were for Koro(Senator Musiliu Obanikoro) but I was the only one for Jimi Agbaje, and because of that, it affected me in my primaries. These leaders who could not have a clairvoyant view said we’d rather not allow you get there. I will blame the apex because they saw the handwriting on the wall and they could have put these people in check. The late chairman embezzled millions of Naira before he died. It was Alimosho that made PDP to lose because they were ready to sell their conscience. I have people in APC who give me information of leaders receiving money from them. They were engaging in antiparty activities; to them it is business as usual. When election is coming… one of them is Akindele Ojo, this is a graduate who has never worked all his life, all his life, it has been politics, its 4,4 years syndrome. When election is coming, that is when you see them, that is when they make money. The person of Shodiya and the rest, it’s all about making money. Now they are in their doldrums, nothing is happening; they are all struggling now trying to get the party machinery so that they can be in the next exco so that during the next election, they can get money. These same people collected money from all gubernatorial candidates during the last election and knew they were not going to do their bidding. They have no conscience. For example, that same Akindele Ojo, when he was doing his 40^th birthday, I did it for him, but this same person now because he didn’t win the SURE- P, he was removed and I was given the coordinator because they wanted somebody that is fair and I was there. I did not even want, I never lobbied for it even when they told me, I said I don’t want, but they said you are the only one that can do this thing and the benefit will get down to the grassroots. So, that is what is happening in Alimosho and these same people are still there now, they are running helter-skelter to get form into the next exco.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: let’s talk about APC, Now that you are in APC, will you say that the APC is a better Party than the PDP?

BARRISTER: Let me be sincere with you, none of them is fair, political Party wise, APC is a shade better, they have a drive which is winning. They have leaders who are very sensitive, who have winning focus, who will even put down their money to win election, who are not looking at their immediate gain now and they have everything set by them down to the grassroots which PDP doesn’t have. PDP is full of … Look now at the DasukiGate it’s quite a big revelation on who gets what and what from this PDP. You will be shocked what amount that went to their private pockets alone. Did they get to the grassroots? In APC, it will get to the grassroots.

My first meeting at the Ward level, I was very happy, I saw them distributing even down to the grassroots. In PDP, there was one particular case and it is very shocking, a cow was given to Alimosho and an old man came and said the policemen caught the cow on the road (laughs). A whole cow got missing and he was so bold. The people put Tyre on his neck and nearly burnt him almost about some decades ago and these same people are still in leadership till today.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: You spent a lot of money in PDP trying to get nomination ticket to contest for House of Assembly, now that you are in APC, are you saying you won’t spend as much money?

BARRISTER: Now, I am in APC. My first objective, how do I project this party, I do not have any ambition, I have zero ambition, my ambition rather is whoever the party in their wisdom decided that is going to be the flag bearer, I, Barrister Sanni am ready to spend my last dime on him or her. That is my first contribution and of a truth, If eventually in the nearest future, they look at me and say this guy did this, let’s give him that, I won’t spend up to what I have spent in PDP because APC already has what it takes. So with the right candidate, it is going to be a smooth sail.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: What do you think about godfatherism and politics and do you have a godfather?

BARRISTER: One, I have God the Father who is above there and I have some leaders I look up to. Well, godfatherism was almost the doom of the then ACN in the era of BabaSope, but you found out that all that has gone down. Now, there is internal democracy in the APC. I have seen some leaders in APC that share my goals. I share ideas with people I know are progressive in their thinking and ideologies.

I have worked closely with Alhaji Yisa Yusuf and I saw how selfless he is, he reminds me of Adedibu. When you go to his house, you see people there eating and drinking every day. It’s like a jamboree. Very unusual in PDP, when you go to a leader’s house in PDP, you are going to drop, when they come to visit you, they are coming to collect. No  leader in PDP here in Alimosho that people go to their house to go and felicitate and people are relaxed, rather than when you go there, you are going to drop something. The first time I visited Y.Y (Alhaji Yisa Yusuf), I saw people eating and drinking and I asked what is happening here? Is there a party sir? And he said this is how we do it here every day. He is a giver, not a taker and the Bible says “givers never lack”. Not somebody that will say ride on, I am watching you, he doesn’t sell lies. I have somebody like that, one of our leaders (in PDP), Afuwape, the day of the Primary, he came to meet me and said he was going to support me and he requested for Toyota E.O.D before he could vote for me. So I asked him how much he had, he said his money remained N400, 000, so I told him to pick it, I will balance up. This man will come to my house and eat every time; he has never given me a dime in his entire life. During the primaries, he ran because he had also gone to meet them at the other side and he collected money, they were calling his name but he was nowhere to be found. So after the primary, I went to his place to collect my own money that I added for him to buy the car.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD:  Are you regretting your time in the PDP?

BARRISTER: I won’t say I regretted because somehow we made name. If the last Chairman (Mosan Okunola), Mafe, during the rallies could be looking round and saying he wants to see Barrister in order to greet him, despite the huge crowd following my entourage, when we met them on the road, we allowed them easy passage, there was no confrontation, no guns, when you are campaigning to people and shooting at the same time, will they vote for you? A particular candidate, I don’t want to mention his name…

ALIMOSHO STANDARD:  (cuts in) this last election was marred with violence, PDP entourage escorted with uniformed men were damaging property and shooting randomly at people. You were still in PDP then, what happened, what was the plan?

BARISTER: Yes I was in PDP, let me correct that impression, I was in charge of security, as I have said I am a security person, the first fight started from APC, at our first rally, there would have been a fight at Ipaja, I stood at the entrance of APC and was directing everyone. When they came, they were trying to pour sand at PDP entourage, they wanted to retaliate, but I told them they don’t need it. At Ile-Epo, when the first violence started, every sticker that carried PDP were destroyed with the escort of RRS. So the next time we had a mega rally when Obanikoro came (to Alimosho), we had a major confrontation at Boys town, immediately Bisi Yusuf (Hon.) saw us, he escaped. The boys wanted to cause trouble but I told them not to cause any, but you know it’s not easy to control mob action. There was one idiot from APC who probably thought he had charms and he started saying a lot of things. It was then the boys retaliated. It could have been avoided but unfortunately even my inlaw’s car was damaged. But you see, a candidate in PDP has a mentality that anywhere I go, I must shoot, and unfortunately he is reducing his vote, there is something we call schizophrenia when someone has dual personality. You are the same “Aeroland the Philanthropist” and also “Aeroland the Thug”, selling two objects when you can hardly sell one. There are some people who hate Thugry and there are some people who love it, why not sell one? I was with Eniolobo, he was telling me that before the advent of Aeroland into Alimosho politics, politics was fun, we sang songs without fights or guns, it was exchange of ideas. That’s how politics ought to be. You can’t intimidate the electorate and still expect their votes.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: You are a pastor and also a politician, two contrasting occupations, how do you manage the two?

BARISTER: It is not contrasting at all, if you go and read the bible very well, the bible says: “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice” there was a day I was having my bath and this same question came to my mind, I asked myself if I was doing the wrong thing because I was confused at how to marry politics with also being a Christian. The scripture says “when the righteous are in authority” the authority the bible is talking about is power, how can you ever be in control if not in power? The scripture tells us that we are the salt; we are the light of the world. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was never a politician, but one thing led to the other during the tenure of Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he was looking for someone in the Public Administration Department in the University of Lagos to do a Symposium for people in his cabinet and fortunately, Osinbajo was in charge. He did a perfect job which got Governor Tinubu marveled and Osinbajo was given the position of Attorney General of Lagos State. Before then, he worked as PA to former President, Olusegun Obansanjo and also Prince Bola Ajibola. I believe if such people are in authority, the people will rejoice. Mind you, you have to be a strong Christian because politics has trappings that can change you from who you are. It takes a man who has the fear of God to be in power and not misuse such authority.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: What do you think about the present anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari?

BARISTER: I will be sincere with you, I haven’t seen anything for now, Corruption has eaten deep into Nigeria, anyone who wants to fight corruption must be sincere. They will start taking Buhari serious when members of APC are also being tried. I believe in the Rule of Law and for that purpose I believe we should follow due process. People should not be incarcerated without trial. It’s a pity, corruption is not an economic policy, it is a crusade. I want to see the economic policy. There is no economic plan for Nigeria. We need to sit down to proffer solutions to our economy.  On the economy, on a scale of 1 to 10, I will score Buhari 3 on the economy.

ALIMOSHO STANDARD: You are a Role Model to so many people, especially in Alimosho. What will you advise people that are looking up to you?

BARSTER: First, be yourself so you don’t die a copycat. Be a problem solver. When I started Transport business, nobody supported me because of the many things attached to it, today its police, tomorrow its driver but I had wisdom to go round it and I made it big in Transport business. The business that made me a millionaire was a case I considered as smelling. It was a divorce case that had been with me for years but I didn’t work on it. One day, the Holy Spirit said son, do you want to be rich, go and do that case. I looked for the address and after I finished, I was counting millions. When you find problems, try to solve. If you are not a problem solver, you can’t be rich. Be a solution giver, don’t add to problems.