Why Nigeria Should Attach Importance To Experience In The Legislature-Agunbiade

The immediate past Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly,  Hon. Sanai Oyeniran Agunbiade aka S.O.B has emphasised the need for Nigerians to attach importance to experience in the legislative arm of government.

Agunbiade, who represented Ikorodu Constituency 1 in the Assembly from 2007 to 2023, said in an interview with journalists covering the assembly in his office recently that the more a legislator stays in office the better for the society and his constituency, saying that he enjoyed his stay in the assembly, while it lasted.

"I love legislation and I enjoyed every bit of my stay in the assembly. It's unfortunate that our society is yet to come to terms with the rules of the legislature, the more you stay in the legislature the better for legislation and the better for the society. 

"You get to know more by being a legislator. But our people still see legislature as where you just go for one or two terms and go back to your constituency. 

"This is a waste of resources because you are trained and the training should show in your performance, in the type of law you make, in the quality of laws you make and in your focus. 

"Here they see it as turn by turn thing, you have been there for so long. We went to the state of Illinois in the United States of America and we were told that the Speaker of their House of Representatives had been there for about 24 terms and a term is not one year. 

"He has become a guru and he could say anything about the legislature. There are some people in some developed countries that have been there for upward of 24 or 30 years and  so on, they are authorities in the field. 

"So, because they have stayed there long, its a motivation for other legislators to also want to do more so that they can continue to go back and it's the best for their country. But, here in Nigeria, once you have spent two terms, it would be very difficult for you to go for this term. They will say are you the only one there," he said.

The trained lawyer then commended the  people of Agege Local Government for returning the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa year in year out for six terms. 

He stated that it's not easy for a person to be sent on errand by votes, adding such individual needs the confidence of the people and that Obasa is the most-experienced person in the Lagos State legislature.

He said further that; "Those of us that are going, who would not be part of 10th Assembly, we have come, we have seen and we have made our marks, that cannot be erased from the history of the legislature. I only give members of the 10th Assembly best of luck. 

"I would miss the house of assembly, the assembly is a public place, it's a house of assembly for Lagosians, you are free to come in anytime. I would still be coming to watch plenary, I will be coming to participate in public hearing as long as I am in the state. 

"I will only stop participating in proceedings on the floor of the House, but I will still be participating in making laws for the state because I will put my ears on the ground for notices of public hearing. 

"It was a opportunity for me to meet with other legislators across the country by my being the Chairman of South West Legislative Reform Committee, as well as met with other majority leaders of the states houses of assembly in the South West. Through that we were able to make all the rules in the states houses of assembly in the South West to become one document with harmonize all the rules of the states houses of assembly in the South West. 

"I thank God that I was the Chairman of the Committee that superintendent that process. Due to the SLRC, we formed the Nigerian Majority Leaders Forum and I was opportune to be the Chairman of the Forum and I will be handing over very soon. 

"The Lagos State House of Assembly made its mark also via the Chairman of the forum. All of these have improved my knowledge of the legislature. I wish the Lagos State House of Assembly and members of the 10th Assembly best of luck."

On what he would have done better if he had been given another opportunity to serve, Agunbiade said that he would have intensified his passion and be more active in what he did in the assembly.

When asked why the people of his constituency did not have confidence in him and return him like the people of Agege did for Obasa, he said that confidence is relative and that every community has its own peculiarity. 

He said; "When you are in a community and you served diligently, it does not stop some people from people from contesting against you. They have contested against you on some occasions and you defeated them, they would be anxious to be there. 

"They don't know how herculean the job of a legislator is. As many times as you go, you would be having armies of defeated candidates, if they are many, they would form a formidable opposition against you. 

"They would say you ought to have left that are you the only knowledgeable person. If they have the attention of some bystanders, they would say they should be given the opportunity to go there. 

"Some people still see elective offices as jobs for the boys, they see it as employment, believing that the more years you spend the more denial you give to other people, but it's not so. 

"No community or system changes the best hands, but that does not apply in politics. Unlike the executive, where the constitution provides a specific tenure, you can't spend more than two consecutive terms as a Governor of local government chairman. 

"They left that of the legislature loose because the drafters of the constitution know that the more you stay there the best for the legislature. Many people look at the remuneration, they look at gains for individuals and not gain for the society. 

"In my community, I am the first person ever to spend more than two terms, most people only spent one term and they are removed. So, they do not understand why I had to spend more than one term. So, the peculiarity of the constituency matters. You also look at the diversity and the orientation of the leaders and how tolerant they are to people serving for more than one term. 

"I thank God that I am not serving another term in the assembly. I am still the longest serving political office holder in my constituency. I give glory to God for that, I thank the members of my constituency for the number of terms they gave me to serve, it cannot be forever, it had to end one day and I thank God for the way it has ended. I thank God that I came here alive and I am leaving alive."