Let me say for clarity that the IDPIL is not contesting any position with them. We appreciate the fact that they are government officials, we appreciate the fact that they are the chairmen of various local governments and that indeed was the reason we invited them at the initial stage, we were even not treated well when we went to their office for this meeting. When we called meetings for 10:00 or 11:00 clock, you will see them strolling in at 12:30 and things like that.
But for him to now come out in the open to say that we never invited them, it shows the kind of a person he is, and the way he behaved yesterday – nobody and I repeat, nobody who has aboriginal status, a genuine aboriginal status of Ikorodu, will ever misbehave in the presence of the Kabiyesis’ the way he did yesterday. I don’t know what he was trying to prove or the courage he was trying to present, I think what he did further diminished, further discounted his personality within Ikorodu division and if he heard the comments of people on that day, he will be unhappy with himself.
We are not saying we are alternatives to local governments; we are not saying that, neither are we saying that we are alternatives to the Nigerian Police, even he is quoting some sections of the constitution, he is not quoting rightly. If he reads downwards, he will just realize that he is shooting himself in the leg.
But what we are saying is this, there must be exhibition of decorum whenever we are in public, for him to have publicly said we did not take him into cognizance is indeed very disappointing and unbecoming of his status of a person like that. We are not confronting them, we are not fighting with them
Even at that event when they were expressing some annoyance, the Chairman of IDPIL in person of Odofin Ogunsanya was even begging them “eni suru mi o bayin ja,” something like.
The complaints they were making is simple, they said we always abuse them, the chairman always abuses them, things like that. But you see the position alone carries a lot of responsibilities and they must discharge those responsibilities, I cannot see the feasibility of handling something that concerns Ikorodu division and you invite the Local Government chairmen to that kind of a place and they will not come, you invite industrialist, you invite the people that manage the economy of the division, you invite them for a tete a tete
Ikorodu Oga organization did an event and invited them, none of them came, we also held a security parley, none of them came, there was also a discussion on cultism, rampaging cultists in the division, none of them came. You see all of this will show what is happening. So, people should not think they are here today, somebody will be there tomorrow
We in the IDPIL want to collaborate with anybody who would make what we want to achieve realisable, we didn’t just come to the security architecture of the community. All of us are witnesses to what was happening in the recent past where cultist gangs were killing themselves all over the place counting scores; 1-1, 2-1, 3-3, that was what they used to do. And everybody was afraid to come into Ikorodu, not to even do business or to live in Ikorodu and these local government chairmen; were there, what did they do, nothing. They did absolutely nothing.
As stake holding in the security architecture of this community, the Royal Majesties now called some set of people; please come, the way we are going about the security of this community, it is becoming too dangerous, let us do something about it and that was the genesis of this IDPIL, and ever since we came into it, you will agree with me that the security in Ikorodu has improved tremendously, people can now sleep with their 2 eyes closed, in those day you could not, what were they doing before then, they did nothing, they were just publishing things on the social media, we are not for that, we are not fighting with anybody, we just want them to always tell the truth. Whenever you have the opportunity to speak to the community, tell the truth.
As the executive secretary of IDPIL, I am saying it with every sense of responsibility that we respect them, we give them their due respect, we believe in what we are doing. None of us wants to become commissioner in Lagos state, no member of IDPIL is looking forward to being nominated to be a commissioner in Lagos State, we are just rendering community service. We have people who have made their mark in their various chosen careers. We have a SAN as the chairman, we have Asipa Kaoli Olusanya, a two time commissioner, we also have commissioner Elesho, I am there, I retired as the Permanent Secretary/Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly, we have a retired Colonel there, so we have different people who have made their mark in their chosen endeavors.
For a Local Government to now come out and speak as if he is a super lord is to me very unbecoming and I think the community must know the truth on the matter, we did not just wake up one day to say we want to come up with this IDPIL, some of them are in various committees, their names are still there till today, what is it that they are doing that is making so much noise, is it the social media hype they are making, it’s not a matter of pride, if I handle one local government within a year or 6 months, you will see the difference, what are you talking about.
I want the press men to know the genesis of all of this thing so that people would not be given wrong information about what is happening, we have tried our outmost to bring them into the fold to let us meet together. Asipa Kaoli has done so much on this issue, he has met with them; even some Obas had equally met with them that they should sheath their sword let us come together and work as one so that collectively, we can make Ikorodu a prosperous community, these are point I want to let them know.
As far as I am concerned, conclusively, we are ready to work with any agency of government and they should bear in mind that we are not only on security, our five-point agenda with the acronym SHEER means
S- Security
H- Health
E- Education
E- Environment
R- Road rehabilitations
We first of all handled security because without having a formidable security architecture, no other progress or development can take place and I want to say that IDPIL represents the interest of the people, we are proletarian, we are not talking about politics, we are not concerned about who ever becomes the governor, it is not our business, our business is to see to the development of our community and we will continue to do that to the glory of God.
It is rather very unfortunate that a man elected by the people of this community could be audaciously rude and arrogant before all the Royal Majesties from this division. The chairman of Igbogbo-Baiyeku LCDA succeeded in degrading himself before the dignitaries at the IDPIL event at Adeboruwa palace. If because they have made money in office by virtue of their position, he should not be so inebriated with power that he should throw away emotional intelligence. As rightly said by Ayangbure of lkorodu, he will be there for a short period of time before he naturally exits from office and what he does today will determine his political future.
The claim that the IDPIL did not invite the chairmen at d embryonic stage of d formation of the operatives is totally mendacious and misleading. We even went to lkorodu Local Government two or three times to discuss with them, Asipa Kaoli Olusanya, Otunba Ayodele Elesho, Alhaji Babatunde Rotinwa, Engineer Kayode Shoderu, Hon Akinsola and my humble self met with them to discuss the modus oprandi, but because they had their own motives, they did not cooperate with us. All of them till today are members of one committee or the other and to publicly deny it, speaks volume of his profile.