We Weren’t Sent To National Assembly To Fight Executive – Adejare

Dr. Samuel Adejare, a two-term member of the Lagos State House of Assembly is currently representing the Agege Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. 

In this interview, he speaks on the activities in the Lower Chamber saying the 9th House of Representatives has been proactive in its activities. He also speaks on other sundry issues. AYODELE AJANI brings excerpts:

How strong is the corner chain between law-making and democracy?

Let me start this way, democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people. And if you agree with this, and you look at it very well, democracy without a legislative arm is no democracy.

How do you mean?

You know democracy is made up of three arms combined together to work for the well-being of the people. The three arms are the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature. 

When you look at it under Military rule or other forms of government, other arms of government would be there, it is only the legislature that would not be there. 

Therefore, it is because it is there now, that it is being called democracy. And you see the legislative arm, it consists of the Representatives of the people in the government. 

So, if you now say democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people, the legislature is the representatives of the people in government and therefore the legislature is the critical segment of the government that makes it democracy.

As an experienced lawmaker, you served two terms in the Lagos House of Assembly and you are on your second term in the House of Representatives, how has the 9th Assembly of the House of Representatives fared generally?

We have not done badly at all sincerely speaking. You should not also forget the fact that it is that aspect of government that has always been lacking when the military was in charge. So we don’t have too much experience in it unlike the other two arms of government. But by the Grace of God and the support of our leaders, we have been able to sustain democracy for more than 20 years now. Believe me, sincerely, we are really coming up with more experienced, exposed, and diligent lawmakers nowadays. That is good for our democracy.

So much is expected from the 9th Assembly but it is as if people are getting less from them. People expected the Assembly to intervene when the prices of petroleum products were recently increased. Others see the last #endsars protests as the failure of the legislature. How will you react to this?

I don’t want to agree with you. Let me tell you this, some of us are just in the House for the first time and they don’t have the experience but they have to be there to garner the experience before they can be active. You don’t go to school to learn it. 

There are some things you don’t even know until you get there. It is by being a member and participating on the floor and in the activities of the House that you can get experience. To get experience, you have to be part of it, to get it, you have to be there. That is why if you look at it very well, the support of our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu made some of us return repeatedly to the Lagos House of Assembly. 

That has really helped some of us. Look, representation is about you representing your people, listening to them, and doing their biddings as well as listen to what they want. Then you have to be on the floor of the House to create enabling environment for our people by passing good laws that will affect their lives. 

We need to also listen to them, talk to them, hear them out and that will guide our contributions on the floor of the House. All that you need is experience, I had two terms at the state and I am having the second term now in the House of Representatives, you cannot compare me to somebody that is new, with due respect to them. 

I am not trying to belittle those of them that are new. Some of them come there and are so vibrant. They need that experience and you only get it by staying there, participating in the activities of the House. For instance, I am on the Healthcare Committee and we have done a lot.

The COVID -19 pandemic, what has the House of Representatives done to ensure that people are adequately educated on the pandemic?

Let me tell you categorically that this 9th Assembly is one of the most pro-active.

In terms of what?

In terms of doing what it needs to do at a critical time and effectively. Also by not dodging issues. For instance, you will found out that it is the House that will react first on any critical national issue. You would see our Speaker, Right Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, speaking about it or some of us debating it on the floor of the House. You are talking about what we have done to make sure we get rid of COVID- 19 pandemic. 

When it started, there was a lockdown, I was in Lagos. I stayed with our people. I did my own bit, contributed to providing foodstuffs for them. Thereafter, we were summoned to Abuja, that they were to need additional funds and that we needed to pass a law for the executive to spend the money. We went to Abuja and we did what we needed to do. The House of Representatives was the first to pass the bill. We invited the Director-General of the NCDC to brief us about their plan. When the man came, the Speaker asked him a question as to whether he has been to China to know what was happening and get more details about COVID -19, few days later, the man was in China. That was a question that generated a reaction from the gentleman. Then, if you compare us to the whole World, we have not done badly in our management of the pandemic. We have not done badly at all. We have really tried as per the number of deaths and recovery.

People believe that because the majority of you in the National Assembly and the president are in the same party, what we are having is a ‘ paddy – paddy’ arrangement and that you people have not put the executive on its toes. How true is this?

In the first instance, I was never sent me to the Assembly to fight the executive but to complement their efforts to provide our people with good governance and improve the well-being of our people. That is all, and if I can do that, not by fighting them, or always disagreeing with them, I don’t see anything bad in that.

If I can do it in a gentlemanly way by common sense, that is better than all of us fighting ourselves there. We put our feet down when we need to put our feet down and we won’t hesitate in doing so.

But recently you invited the president and he refused to honour the invitation and nothing happened.

It is true we invited the president and he agreed to come. Later, we learnt the president would not be coming because the issues have been discussed and settled with the leadership of the House. They came back to brief us and we agreed that with this kind of briefing, so be it. We accepted it and it did not take anything away from us.

I can assure you, however, that Mr. President has a lot of respect for us and we have a lot of respect for him too. But when it comes to the issue of betterment of our people, we don’t and we won’t compromise at all.

In the Agege Federal Constituency, how well have you used the business of lawmaking to improve the quality of lives?

First I want to say this, as a legislator, I am not primarily supposed to make roads, provide all these things that are expected of the executive. I am sent to the House so that their voices can be heard and no matter the faction of Agege they must be heard. I have been making sure that is being done. I still live with them and believe me sincerely, I have done some empowerment too. Some of my constituents were trained in wealth creation and we gave laptops to about 100 of them.