It is another election time, when politicians, especially public office seekers, go cap in hand, sugar tongued and pockets lined with wads of money to canvass for votes and for all kinds of supports.
Who are eligible from Ikorodu to seek the top positions in the state or the nation? What vacancies exist for them to vie for?
No one is coming out for the nation’s president or vice president. What about the Lagos East Senatorial seat? It is yet unclear. What about House of Representative? Since it is Jimi Benson’s first term, he may be an untouchable as at now for a second term.
Down the line at the state level; is Ikorodu providing anyone to challenge Governor Ambode? The answer is capital “No”. What about his second term deputy?
We will say it is another no go area or at best “No comment”
What about the two house of assembly seats for Ikorodu constituencies I and II?
Many believe that Ikorodu Constituency I manned by Hon. S.O.B. Agunbiade ought to be vacant since he has spent three terms in that office. Others say he’s eligible to run for a fourth term.
What happens to Constituency II manned by Hon. Nurudeen Saka-Solaja? For Igbogbo/Bayeiku/Ijede/Imota zones? Many political watchers think that the man is just about to complete his first tenure and so like Jimi Benson, he could be allowed to run for a second term.
If the six council area elections have been completed last year, what then happens during the 2019 election campaigns? Does it mean that Ikorodu will be silent like a grave yard?
The answer by many concerned citizens and stakeholders is that the hottest seat to be contested is that of Ikorodu Constituency I. This means that Hon. S.O.B. Agunbiade will be challenged to step down having spent twelve (12) years in office by 2019.
But he is qualified according to the nation’s constitution to contest for even a fifth term? Yes, but that is for areas of this state or country where there are no qualified and eligible persons. Ikorodu, according to many politicians, has over qualified candidates to step into Agunbide’s shoes.
They argue that many young, brilliant, patriotic and faithful politicians willing to sacrifice for the community are more than ready to take over the baton from S.O.B.
Some of these agitating politicians in support of a change over believe that S. O. B. has nothing new to offer the people. They point to the fact that he, S.O.B; had been patronizing his supporters and not necessarily building infrastructures and leaving legacies that will benefit the entire society.
They quickly point to wrong claims to constituency projects by some assembly men and the use of such funds to provide bags of rice and beans, motorcycles, tricycles, sewing machines, grading machines, etc. to their party or personal supporters as a negation of the true dividends of democracy to the larger populace.
According to some watchers, if a politicians in public office cannot provide schools, hospitals, boreholes and other infrastructure which will outlive him or her, that person has no done much.
According to this group of thinkers, if a politician in office cannot bring out money from his or her personal packet (salary and allowances) to build infrastructure that person cannot claim to have done much.
May be this is why some are challenging SOB to publish what he thinks he has achieved for Ikorodu in his twelve (12) years in office for the people to assess his future relevance or not.
Some people even pointed at a recent story making the rounds that SOB bought ten used Kombi buses for his supporters which he gave to the head of AGBEROS ( Otunba Waliu in Ikorodu) to manage and make the returns.
This Agbero man is said to be his political supporter. But can this man be trusted completely? Can anyone invest hard earned money on a venture that can crash the next day? What if these vehicles have accidents, what if they are stolen, or damaged in a riot? When will the beneficiaries of these buses start getting returns?
On TV where Hon. SOB went to announce this investment, he did not tell the constituency how much the vehicle were bought, how it will benefit the masses and how long his investment plan will become beneficial to the people except Waliu.
Of course, this is politics, and the opposition camp is entitled to heap blames. Can anyone say that SOB did not perform? Will anyone say he did not play his legislative roles which brought him up to become the incumbent majority leader? Will any opponent truly say that SOB brought disrepute to Ikorodu? Or is his crime only that he did not venture into infrastructural development?
Whether SOB, Jimi Benson, Hassan or any other politician the message in this opinionated write up is that the public are watching every politician especially those seeking public offices to account for their actions and inactions.
One of such times is now for SOB, for Jimi Benson, for Nurudeen Saka-Solaja and for the new politicians who will desire to step into their shoes.
The youths say they are hungry to take over for a change. Will they fare better? Do they have the guts and wherewithal to overthrow the entrenched old politicians? Time will tell.