
Comrade Michael Olasoji is the Chairman, African Action Congress (AAC), Ikorodu Local Government and member of ‘Take lt Back Movement’, a human rights organization in Lagos that is committed to defending human and civil rights, and ensuring economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights of every citizen.
He spoke with Kunle Adelabu, Publisher/Reporter – in – Chief, THE IMPACT newspaper, on the forthcoming local government elections.
In the online interview, Comrade Olasoji said that AAC will push for the conduct of the election in the 20 LGAs only, in accordance with the law.
The opposition party’s Chairman also bore his mind on the recently constituted Lagos State lndependent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), readiness of his party for the local government elections and his party’s programme among others. Excerpts:

THE IMPACT: What’s the AAC stance on the forthcoming LG elections, and will your party participate? If yes, are you contesting on the basis of 20 LGs or 57 LGs and LCDAs?
Comrade Olasoji: 20 LGs is what the law says. Asking what AAC would be contesting is the right question. AAC is pushing for the constitution to be obeyed and also the Supreme Court judgement. Nevertheless, we are preparing for the elections. Our stance is that it should be LG’s alone. And we will keep pushing.

THE IMPACT: What’s your view on the newly inaugurated LASIEC by the Lagos State Government?
Comrade Olasoji: The process of choosing a state election public servant should not be from the governor. There should be a process. They always claim there is a process, but it seems not to be so. Lagos State government has a lot to answer. Most of the appointed LASIEC members have always been loyalists of the ruling party, APC. They have always worked to favor the party in every LG election, and the results are there for everyone to see.
We are not expecting anything special, but we will keep monitoring how the process is going and how things are unfolding before, during and after the elections.

THE IMPACT: Is your party ready for the LG elections?
Comrade Olasoji: Yes, our party and the people’s party, AAC, is really ready for the coming LG elections. We are preparing and we will not leave any stone unturned.
THE IMPACT: The All Progressives Congress (APC) as a party, has been in power in Lagos State, for over 20 years and getting stronger, how do you intend to dislodge such a party from the councils that they have held on to for years?

Comrade Olasoji: Firstly, we can only dislodge the ruling APC from the councils, if the election is free, fair and credible. Our people are really hungry and tasty for a revolutionary change that will affect their lives positively and project the community into limelight of progress and economic growth. As a party, the AAC, and movement TIB, we have always been with the people, orientating them about good governance, defending the poor and the oppressed citizens by those presently in power. We have been preaching our party manifestos to them, they are listening and accepting it. We are really penetrating into the grassroots, speaking to them, convincing them, showing them our records and what we are capable of doing when they finally give us power to govern them.
We will project credible candidates through merits, and the candidates would be loved by the people. We will participate in the election with every resource in our capacity in order to give our people the true governance they are waiting for, for so long.

THE IMPACT: How will you rate the performances of the six local government and LCDAs have in Ikorodu under the APC government in the last 7 years?
Comrade Olasoji: The Local government and LCDAs in Ikorodu under APC government for the past 7 years have performed below average. In terms of health delivery, they have performed very poor. What is the status of our health centers and their impact on our people so far? It is very low.
Education sector is also not something we all can be proud of. Ln fact, none of the LG or LCDAs chairmen will send their children to those schools to learn. The level of infrastructure in those schools are poor ls it chairs and tables, uniforms and competency of the teachers, they are all poor.

Most of the roads are in poor shapes, and not motorable. There is no good road network, and no good drainage system. If not because of the few interventions from the House of Rep member, Hon Jimi Benson and Hon AMA (Hon.Aro Moshood Abiodun) representing the Ikorodu Constituency II in the Lagos State House of Assembly, it would have been worse. The chairmen are not doing anything good about our roads, except one or two of them.
In terms of Agriculture, youth development, security, they are really performing below average. We would appreciate they step up their game, because their failure is not our joy.
Due to this lapses above from them, the residents of Ikorodu are looking forward to AAC as the only alternative party to vote for, and would also take them out of the mess they have been enduring for the past 7 years, and we will not disappoint them.

THE IMPACT: What is your message to the generality of Ikorodu people concerning the forthcoming local government elections?
Comrade Olasoji: My message to the people of Ikorodu, concerning the forthcoming LG elections, is to participate massively by voting their conscience and voting AAC into every elective office. They should not sell their votes. They should resist all form of intimidation before and during election. The people of Ikorodu should not make the mistakes they made in the past 7 years. This is the time to take back their local government from APC government that has failed them, and vote massively for AAC.
