A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP senatorial aspirant for the Osun East Senatorial District, Prince Adekunle Olushola Olowoye has identified the high level of poverty and unemployment in the country as the major reasons why Nigerian politics has become highly monetized.
Olowoye, who will be slugging it out with two other aspirants this weekend for the Osun East PDP senatorial ticket, said that the sudden grass to grace picture Nigerians see about politicians made them believe that the game of politics is an end in itself, prompting people to rush into the game while many electorates too believe they have to be tipped financially before they can support the ambitions of politicians.
The ex CBN staff, who spoke in a chat with DAILY POST, while tracing the history of his participation in politics, said he decided to join politics because he wanted to give his people quality representation and also participate in intellectual discourse about Nigeria.
He said: “I started my political career in 1989 during the Zero party of the IBB era. I studied the environment and believed he was serious. When he decided on two political parties, SDP and NRC with visible structures all over the place to compliment the transition programme, I decided to join the SDP and I resigned my job with the Central Bank of Nigeria as a senior supervisor. I left the job and decided to run for the House of Representatives.
“My uncle and some other people, who believed that I should rather make a good career at the apex bank, were not happy with my decision but I insisted because I felt people with the right family background should be encouraged to go into politics and help move the country forward.
“People thought it is only vagabonds that go into politics but I insisted somebody with the right background and pedigree must blaze the trail. I obtained the form and I became the youngest aspirant in the entire state, though I lost to Chief Fatokun who was way my senior. But we have remained friends since then.
“After the 1991 era, I went back to business but then I have remained very active in politics and supported the ambitions of some other people. So for me, it has been a long term ambition to represent my people and serve them”, Olowoye said.
Speaking about the reason for the monetisation of politics in the country, Olowoye said it is basically because of poverty and unemployment. “One of the major problems we have today is that of unemployment; politics is now seen as a means to an end but it is not an end in itself. The level of unemployment is shocking. It is alarming. When we left the University in the eighties, you could confidently say when you look for job for about few months, you will get a good job. But the story is different now.
“There is so much poverty in the land and that has jacked up the need for people to be settled.
“The truth is that today, it is more like survival for the fittest; everybody wants to be a politician. It was not like that before but people can see how some people have gone from grass to grace just by getting involved in politics. It has now become attractive to everybody. That is the major problem we have in this country with our politics.
On his motivation for seeking to represent his people at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Olowoye said he is not motivated by money, adding that when he joined politics, it was not an attractive game.
“Not at all; when I joined politics, it was not attractive. I left a lucrative job with the CBN to contest for the House of Representatives. I did not do that because of money. I wanted to be part of the intellectual discourse about the nation, give my people quality representation and attract dividends of democracy to them.
“There is so much that can be done for Osun East Senatorial District and it takes quality representation to get those things. I want to give my people the voice they have always lacked. I want to be able to proudly say that they have a senator that is speaking for them; a senator who will not be detached from but work for their interest”, Olowoye said
On his chances at this weekend’s primary election, Olowoye believes the delegates will determine who gets the ticket and that the delegates also should look closely inwards to choose the best representative of the people.
“The job of deciding who gets the ticket is left for the delegates. I will appeal to the delegates to look inward and choose who will best serve their interest. This should not be about money or name but about capability. It should be a ideas and the intellectual capacity of each aspirant to give the people the best representation they can get.
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