 |
| Tola Olaiya |
Tola Olaiya, APC Councilorship candidate
from Abesan 1 in the forthcoming Local Council elections visited our office on Wednesday,
5th July, 2017 to clear the air on some information going round
about him not having a job and many others. In the interview he had with the
editor of Abesan News, he talked about his contribution to his community, his
educational background, his source of income and other issues. Please enjoy an
excerpt of the interview.
You are welcome to our office, please introduce
yourself.
I am Emmanuel Tola Olaiya, born
in 1969, September 27. I had my primary school in Yaba Methodist, my secondary
school at Igbobi College and Tertiary institution at Lagos State Polytechnic
for OND and HND.
I have been in Abesan since April,
1982. I left for school, got married and came back to Abesan in 2005 because of
my political career. You know you have to be resident in the place you are
interested in contesting. I have been practicing politics since 1999 and moved
back to Abesan to actualize my aspiration of contesting a political office.
I am a grassroots politician having
been involved in politics from my sector where I was an officer three times,
from there to CDA (Ifelodun) where I was Assistant Secretary two times and I
was also part of the delegates that voted the present AERA (Abesan Estate
Residents Association) executives into power. So, if I am not a grassroots
person, how can I do all that? There is nobody within my Ward that won’t know
who Tola Olaiya is. The Muslim communities, the churches, go and ask them who
Tola Olaiya is, and you will hear what they will say. Even go to Jehova Witness
center in Abesan, they know me very well. When you want to do politics, the
people around you must know you.
When we did the road in front of
the market last year, I contributed more than Two hundred thousand Naira. The
president of the estate is aware. He also contributed money from his purse and
AERA purse. Look at the evidence here with me (showing pictures and videos on
his phone). So how can one person (talking about Abayomi Morakinyo, PDP
candidate) say people don’t know me? Someone who just joined politics in 2015,
came for meeting just twice and left again? I have been in the party since the
days of A.D to AC to ACN and now to APC. In the party, I have been an agent in
charge of Polling Booths since 2003. I have been a supervisor for the party in
elections, does he have the experience I have in politics? Did he even do Primaries
to emerge as a candidate? Does he know how many polling booths there are in his
Ward? I don’t even know if he belongs to the Markafi or Ali Modu Sherrif
faction of PDP (laughs). In APC, we contested and fought for where we are
today. We were five that contested for the ticket. Five of us contested primary.
Kemi Fashola, the only female, Kunle Akinsanya (COCO), Shola 1010, Kayode and
myself. All of us are graduates. The party can’t make mistake in choosing a
candidate. This guy has been telling people that he just wants to be popular,
he knows he can’t win. So why making noise all over about my popularity or
personality? I don’t see him as a match at all. What has he contributed to his
own community? Someone that doesn’t live in this community? Have you asked him
where he presently lives? I live in my own house in Abesan. Even in PDP he is
contesting on their platform, what has he done for them? Experience in politics
is not given on a platter, you go through it and earn it.
What do you do for a living?
I practice Architecture and Civil
works
For how long have you been doing that?
Ever since I finished from
school. You know you can’t call yourself an architect unless you are registered
but you can practice. Presently, I have five buildings (shows pictures on
phone) I am working on, in Omole from foundation to the top owned by a serving
commissioner in Lagos state. On the design, you will see my company name. I
have six graduates working under me as we speak in the office. We collect jobs
from State and Federal government. The last job we did for federal government
is Ile-Oluji INEC office. It’s there with records. I built it from foundation.
What did you study in school?
Architecture
So how come you are not registered?
It’s time and interest. I have
been working since. I have another project in Ibadan (shows pictures on phone).
So it’s funny when an ignorant man says he doesn’t know what I do for a living
and he didn’t care to find out. Is that how he wants to be a Councilor?
(laughs)
Let’s talk about Abesan, what do you think
Abesan people need?
The basic need of people in this
estate is not what the local government can handle. It is electricity. If
electricity is sorted out, you will see that standard of living will be better.
The Barber, Hairdresser, Welder, Business centers will all do well with
electricity. The cost of running their businesses will reduce and their profit will
increase. The people will have food on their tables; the resultant effect of
constant electricity will be massive.
But your party is at the helm of affairs…
Actually what the government met
on ground is nothing to write home about. The Megawatts they claimed to have on
ground was not true, no money in the Treasury and so on. You won’t expect what
has been spoilt in 16 years to be sorted in two years. It takes a process to
right wrongs. I am optimistic the party will deliver on the promises and I am
sure before next congress (next year) we will have positive results.
What’s your relationship with people around
you?
I have just shown you some of our
community engagements. I am a community man with good relationship with
everybody.
What do you think you did to win the ticket
of your party?
I have been trying since 2007. I
also contested in 2011 and this year again. This is my third time of
contesting. I was not imposed, we did primaries and I got the highest mark. I
have contributed my own quota to the party, it is not what I will be saying on
the pages of a newspaper, you can ask the leaders. What has he (opponent)
contributed to his adopted party? What has he done? Where does he live?
Finally, tell us why the people should vote
for Tola Olaiya as the next Councilor of Abesan1
I want to be a listening ear, I
want to be their eyes in this legislative year, I want to make good laws that
will affect the people positively and bring development to the people.
No comments:
Post a Comment