I’m going back to my profession - Outgoing Lagos lawmaker

Mr Dipo Olorunrinu
Mr Dipo Olorunrinu.

Mr Dipo Olorunrinu, the lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday, says he will resume his profession after his tenure in June.

Olorunrinu, representing Amuwo-Odofin Constituency 1, announced his defection to APC during plenary citing lack of structure in the main opposition party, PDP.

The first term lawmaker, who had earlier resisted all pressure to defect alongside seven of the PDP lawmakers that moved to APC in 2017, lost his seat with 278 votes to Mrs Mojisola Alli-Macaulay of APC during the March 9, general elections.

Speaking with NAN on Tuesday, Olorunrinu said: “I am a developer by profession. I am going back to my business and I will be running politics alongside my business.

“Politics, to me, is the ability to impact and affect lives. Politics is service, not a profession; I am going back to the reality of life. I will continue serving the downtrodden even outside public office.

“The day I lost election with 278 votes was a Sunday. I said to myself, life moves on even if I lost it with one or two votes. For me, service to ordinary people is an in-born thing, we will continue to serve school children, youths and others.”

According to him, his free school bus services resumed operation on Monday after the Sunday he lost election because of his love for the people.

“I didn’t say because I lost election, the school buses should stop. They are still working till today, you can make your findings in my constituency.

“It is not the children that didn’t vote for me, these are the people we are in government for. Most of them knew I lost election. We win some, we lose some. When we lose, we are not losers, but we lost to know how not to lose again.

“God crowns every effort and He alone chooses leaders. I have served the people and set a standard of what good representation should be. I have always been a man of the people,” the lawmaker said.

Olorunrinu, who expressed readiness to support the new lawmaker-elect, Alli-Macaulay, said that he had a good relationship with his predecessors and that this has enabled him to succeed as a lawmaker.

“I am not going out to see the new lawmaker-elect for my seat fail, because if she fails, it will affect the people who I have dedicated these four years of youthful service to.

“The best thing I can do is to add up her (Alli-Macaulay) administration and I know she is an enlightened person and that she has something to offer.

” I have related well with members of the APC, APGA and others in my constituency, I am not a party fanatic. My concern is how governance will benefit the masses,” he added.

According to him, the accolades he receives from people everywhere is because he understudied his predecessors and learned to do those things they were not able to do well.

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He expressed hope that the constituents would gain maximally from his defection to the ruling party.

On the number of people crossing with him, Olorunrinu said that so many stakeholders indicated interest to follow him, and they were with him at the chamber to give support.

Some of the stakeholders in the constituency who spoke with newsmen on the defection supported the lawmaker, saying that he needed a viable political party to continue his good work for the people.

One of them, Mrs Kanu Josephine, described the movement of Olorunrinu as a right decision to serve the people better, having performed very well.

“He is a very generous man, he is someone that has the fear of God. He shows so much compassion for women. There is no woman that has not benefited from his gesture in Amuwo Odofin.

“He is a very nice man. He took care of women, their children and he sends many of them to schools. I want him to continue his good works. He should not stop at all. I believe it is God’s time for him to leave,” she said.

An Arewa leader in the constituency, Mr Hamzat Abdulsalam, said that Olorunrinu remained a man loved by many non-indigenes.

Abdulsalam said: “No doubt Olorunrinu has done well and will do well in APC, we will continue to follow him anywhere he goes, his movement to APC is a good development.”

Also, Chief Moses Obioha, another PDP member that decamped with Olorunrinu, said it was a right time for the lawmaker to leave the “problem ridden PDP to a more structured party because losing this election is painful.”

Chief Abimbola Yusuf, a PDP aspirant for the House of Assembly in Amuwo Odofin II in 2019 general elections said: “Everything we need in this world is change. The PDP has no direction, they don’t have structure.

“Honourable Olorunrinu is a man of the grassroots. I heard about this defection two days ago and I spent one day to think about it and join him. He is a man with direction and I believe that if he is moving I should move with him.

“Everybody loves him. He had many votes in the last election and everybody loves him. So, a lot of people will defect with him to the new party.

“We here are stakeholders, there are people on ground that support his cross carpeting. The decision was a suggestion at a meeting and we just have to follow suit.

“They called his attention to it and he decided to listen. A lot of us are moving with him to the new party. It is about Hon. Olorunrinu, Amuwo Odofin is not about party, it is about integrity. The people of the area have a lot to gain from him.”

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