Page14 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> FEBRUARY 9-<strong>22</strong> 20<strong>22</strong> Politics Otunba Adewale Adenaike: I want to leave a legacy of selfless service Continued from Page 13< profession within my first two years of being elected. Human Capital Development is the fulcrum of development. It is therefore imperative that a lot of premium would be placed on capacity building. Please take note of my promises and confront me with them as at when due. <strong>The</strong>re’s been a lot of controversy about constituency projects... the main argument is that legislators have no business awarding contracts and that a lot of money is stolen... what will be your justification for the continuation of this regime? <strong>The</strong>re is nothing wrong with the concept of Constituency projects. <strong>The</strong> project earmarked for a constituency is intended for the development of that constituency. Democracy is about who gets what, where and when. Constituency project is also supposed to help speed up the pace of development. What we therefore need to look at is how to make people become more accountable for whatever they have done in contrast with what the law states. Looking at elections proper, what ways do you think Nigerians can have free, fair and credible elections? Free and fair election is a product of strengthened institutions. Democratic institutions include a free and responsible media, unfettered judiciary, an electoral umpire that is independent, a vibrant and effective communication architecture, etc. Once all democratic institutions are strengthened, elections will be free and fair. I must however say that we have improved in the area of electoral management. You don’t want to know what happened in the NPN/UPN days when ballot boxes where openly snatched. <strong>The</strong>re has been immense improvement in our electoral management systems. I trust that in the years ahead, more improvement will be forced on us by our realities. I must mention the role of money. While acknowledging that campaigns are expensive, vote buying is a problem... stomach infrastructure as it is called... why is this a major strategy for winning by the political class? Is it We are recruiting: Independent Sales Consultants <strong>Trumpet</strong> Media Group - an international media organisation targeting Africa, Africans and Friends of Africa in the Diaspora and on the Continent was founded 24 years ago - in 1995. Our growth has given rise to the need to engage the services of self-employed Independent Sales Consultants and organisations to sell some (or all) of our growing number of products and services on a Commission-only basis. <strong>The</strong> Opportunities Opportunities to earn revenue through Commissions are currently available by way of: · Sale of Subscriptions to our Print <strong>Newspaper</strong>s. · Distribution and Sales of bulk copies our <strong>Newspaper</strong>s. · Sale of Advertising Spaces in our Print <strong>Newspaper</strong>s. · Sale of Banner Adverts on Website. · Sale of Banner Adverts, ‘Highlights’ and Mail-shots in Email Newsletters. · Sale of Advertising posts on our Social Media channels. · Sale of Sponsorship, Advertising, Exhibition spaces and Tickets for GAB Awards and other events. To apply, please email: info@the-trumpet.com Otunba Adewale Adenaike a function of poverty or ignorance among the electorate? In response to one of your previous questions, I clearly stated that two major issues that I will pursue with unrestrained vigour are: economic and mental poverty. Those two factors fuel money politics in our country. When a man has not eaten, his thinking is skewed, it becomes so warped that he or she is unable to have clear-cut thinking. Until you cure him of that hunger, nothing else is meaningful to him. <strong>The</strong>re’s a lot of anxiety in the build up to 2023 as usual, how do we douse tension especially within party ranks as people jostle for positions? Tension is an in-built feature in any form of contestation. As the day of the political contest draws near, gladiators and spectators become apprehensive and worried about their position not because of anything other than the fact that in any competition, humans get worried. Even on the day of marriage, the man and the woman are apprehensive – will she come or has she changed her mind? <strong>The</strong> woman too will be asking herself silently whether she has taken the right decision and whether the man will not change his mind over night and put her in a state of shame. In the case of Nigeria, our tension is further accentuated by the fact that we run an expensive electioneering campaign. Democracy all over the world – whether in the US, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, etc is not cheap. <strong>The</strong>refore, when the reality of losing so much money as a result of the loss of the election hits you, there is bound to be tension. But we can douse this from different perspectives. First, is that our language of campaign must be devoid of belligerence. We must also find a very creative and innovative way of cutting down the cost of electioneering campaigns. It is also very important for us to look at the process of how party flagbearers emerge. <strong>The</strong> idea of direct primaries looks like a strategy that will help remold some of these tendencies. Do you support direct primaries? It has its own benefits that we can examine again and again. Allowing party flagbearers to emerge through direct primaries underscores the concept of ‘power belongs to the people.’ I think it is an idea that has some utility embedded in it. INEC has introduced lots of reforms to the voters registration and polling procedures... relying more on technology... do you see this as sustainable given that lots of voters are not tech savvy or even literate? I have no issue whatsoever with the innovations that INEC has introduced into our electoral system. <strong>The</strong>y are welcome developments. I fully endorse them. It is also important to state the need for INEC to continue to research into ways and means of further improving on the current height the body has attained. Give a few years more, some negative things commonly associated with election and the entire electoral process will be impossible in this country. So, we must give credit to INEC for their efforts to give us an electoral process that is error free, an electoral system that is so sound and reliable that contestants will find it unnecessary to approach the judiciary for any form of adjudication because the process will not only be transparent, the outcome will simply be acceptable by all and sundry. What sort of legacies would you want to leave behind as a politician given that a lot of Nigerian politicians are forgotten as soon as they leave office? I want to do those things that will last from one generation to the other. In the next 50 years, Chief Obafemi Awolowo will still be remembered in this country because of the positive ways he affected the life of his generation and future generations. <strong>The</strong> legacy I want to leave is the legacy of selfless service like that of the likes of Aminu Kano who was an apostle of talakawa politics, the politics and service that take people out of the dark alley of mental and economic poverty.
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