As things are now, whoever is against restructuring does not love Nigeria – Setonji

Setonji David, a civil engineer, is a lawmaker representing Badagry Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly and head of the House Committee on Information. In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he speaks on the state of the nation, offering solutions to the spate of insecurity in Nigeria, among other issues. Excerpts:

What is your take on the spate of insecurity in Nigeria presently?

It is a very precarious situation at the level that we are now, but we all saw it coming and here it is. I share the view that the problem of this country is the 1999 constitution; and until we sit down to discuss the way forward from this constitution we would always have this kind of problem.

There are somethings that are under the exclusive list which are not supposed to be there. Look at the governor of a state, they cannot appoint the Commissioner of Police of their state. So, these are the things we should not be having and it is breeding this insecurity. It is the problem of this country and it would continue to linger if nothing is done. Let us review the constitution and restructure the country.

Do you think President Muhammadu Buhari has done enough in tackling insecurity in Nigeria?

I don’t want to say much on that; it is obvious even to the blind that things are not being done right. I mean great leaders in this country have said it again and again that what we are having is not justice. There should be fairness in the way people are treated. When you are not treating everybody equal then there is no justice. They are holding weapons and you are not taking the right decision on them; then there would be consequences. It is all over the place that people are disenchanted.

But your party set up a committee on restructuring headed by the Kaduna State Governor, who submitted the report to the President; up till now nothing has been done?

My party is best on the issue; maybe, it is taking too long; at the end of the day justice would be done on what we are clamouring for.

So, you think restructuring is the way-out?

I have said it again that we need to restructure so that we would have peace in Nigeria. There is no peace in Nigeria. Presently, if you are moving from one state to the other you would be afraid; we need security to have peace. Nigeria was not like this before. Election is not the issue now, how do we have peace when there is no justice? That is why we say let us look at restructuring, great minds have been saying this.

But the President and Northern leaders are opposed to it. Does that worry you?

Whoever is against restructuring does not love this country and does not want peace for this country. That is the way out; nobody has a monopoly on ideas, but we have seen the way things are done in the current system which negates justice. That is why we are saying we need to sit down, but if some people are against it let them come up with solutions to our current problems.

Just like what I said earlier, can you imagine the chief security officer of his state not being able to appoint the head of the police in his domain? Whoever is against restructuring is turning a blind eye on issues affecting us now.

We saw some North-East Governors speak in support of state police recently. What does that mean?

It means that it is now coming to their senses; we need to rejig the system and find solutions to our problems. Nigeria is a great country but if you see right now we are bedevilled by challenges; why can’t we tackle them? If you go abroad, Nigerians are doing well and you wonder. We have been saying let us address this so that we can move forward, except we don’t love this country and the unity of Nigeria.

What is your take on the agitations for zoning of the presidency in 2023?

For us to have peace, no part of the country should hold on to power forever. Others cannot be subservient to them. The presidency should come back to the South and it is the turn of the south-West to produce the president in 2023. It is in the North now, after Buhari’s tenure it should come back to the South-West.

Because of the contribution of the Southwest to the emergence of this government and its success, it is important that it comes to the region in 2023 and we are prepared for that.

But the South-East says it is their turn to rule in 2023. You don’t agree?

Well, it should be a function of your contribution to the party and nothing else. The South-West have contributed to the APC victory. I think it is the time for us to produce the next president.

Should that candidate be Bola Tinubu? We can see that his political associates are already selling his candidacy across the country.

We are appealing to Asiwaju to contest in 2023, because we know he can do it and change things. We know he turned Lagos around. So, we are still pleading with him to come and do the wonders he did in Lagos State. We told him to come and take over the country, salvage the country. He has not responded yet, but we are sure that when he emerges, the country would not be the same again.

There is the perception in some quarters that the Lagos State House of Assembly is a rubber stamp of some individuals and of the Executive. How do you react?

That is untrue, it is the most vibrant House of Assembly in the country, others do come to learn from us, and if we are rubber stamp would they come? It is a House of excellence, we have never been, and we are a role model to others. Some months ago, a state in the North came to copy what we are doing here. So, it is not true, nobody is a rubber stamp. We are very independent.

You were recently appointed as the spokesperson of the House Assembly; how are you responding to that task?

We are very lucky to have a vibrant, hardworking, efficient and knowledgeable speaker in Mudashiru Obasa who was recently elected as the head of the House of Assembly Speakers in Nigeria.

So, my focus would be to continue to project this House to the outside world. We are doing a lot that people should see.

Some people may say you would have a hard task in selling Obasa, considering that he has been in the news lately for the wrong reasons?

I want to disagree with you on the fact that there is no perfect human being. You know that some people would like to project us for the wrong reasons because of their motive, but by and large the speaker is doing excellently well and he has not been found wanting of any wrongdoing. So, we have nothing to worry about.

He is the Speaker of Speakers; 90 percent of the members of the Lagos House of Assembly are solidly behind him. We are the ones that elected him as our Speaker and we would continue to support him. He has not faltered. We are not bothered about negative comments because the public knows he is doing well.

Which Bill have you sponsored that is dear to you since you were elected into the Lagos Assembly?

I have sponsored a bill on the provision of infrastructure and so many others that have been passed. I don’t have a record; there are so many others that we are working on that would improve the lot of Lagosians.

What is the pertinent infrastructural need of your constituency in Badagry?

The immediate challenge is the Badagry expressway; it is owned by the Federal Government and it has been under construction for some time and has not been completed. We are hoping that will be completed before the rainy season comes to make matters worse. I want to appeal to the government to speed up work on the road, pay the contractor.

Some weeks ago, I constructed a six block of classrooms; I dedicated it to one of the schools in my constituency that did not have a classroom. The news was all over the place. The speaker came to commission the project. It was sponsored by me, a personal project.

I provided benches, a maker board etc. We are still going to do more and encourage, government to come and do more. Badagry is going to be the next face of Lagos, because most of the other parts of the state are getting full. Government needs to repair that road so that people that are moving into Badagry can move freely.