Mr. Oladele Bankole Balogun contested the House of Representatives election for Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost to incumbent member, Mr. Peter Akpatason. In this interview, he spoke on the election and other burning national issues. Excerpts:

By Gabriel Enogholase

What is your expectation from the tribunal in your case against the declaration of Peter Akpatason of the APC as the member representing Akoko-Edo Federal constituency?

Because the matter is in tribunal, I really cannot go into the details of the matter but all I can say is that the Electoral Act allows for a number of grounds for you to be elected and one of those grounds is that you must have a majority of valid votes count; that is our case, the majority of valid votes count in Akoko-Edo was for Oladele Bankole-Balogun.

What is your opinion on the recent happenings in the National Assembly over election of Principal Officers?

Oladele Bankole Balogun

The time is going to come in this country when politics will truly be for the people by the people and of the people. What has happened in the National Assembly is fantastic for Nigeria; it is a fantastic blow to godfatherism and in quote this business of one or two people being supreme as a party in the name of party supremacy. The National Assembly of which by the grace of God I am a member in waiting has its own rules about electing its principal officers, the rules are very clear, it is for the house to decide and not for any party.

The PDP tried sometime ago and it backfired and one would have thought that a so called progressive party would have learnt from the PDP, but they failed to realise that Nigeria is moving so it is good for our democracy that the rule and the law must be allowed to run its course so I am very happy that Senator Bukola Saraki has emerged as the President of the Senate, I am also happy that Yakubu Dogara has emerged as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, it is good for our politics and I think this is the beginning of sizzling changes that we are going to see in Nigerian politics. It is also for those who think that this might even portend an inclination as to the shaky foundation of strange bedfellows.

 What is your position on the call by Nigerians that the country’s electoral system needs more reforms?

I agree with you that our electoral system needs continuous reformation until we get to that stage where the will of the people will truly be represented in governance.

We know that the Electoral Act we are using now is an amended Act, I foresee further amendments to enhance that provision but I will suggest that I will like to see a provision where our politics is now focused centrally on ideological basis for the benefit and interest of our people.