Hon. Segun Olulade, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, who currently represents Epe Constituency II, is not just the House Committee Chairman on Health, but also one of the most visible on the floor of the legislature. One other thing, however, stands out the two-term lawmaker among his peers-he’s the legislator most decorated with chieftaincy titles in the assembly.
But how does he cope with combining his primary responsibility of being a serving lawmaker and the functions of his numerous chieftaincy titles? Olulade says he has nothing to worry about as he’s not compelled by the honorary chieftaincy titles conferred on him to function the same way as a traditional chieftaincy title holder. The numerous chieftaincy titles, he says, are just given to him in recognition of his leadership qualities and performance by the people and traditional rulers of the various communities within the confines of his constituency.
He says, “I have the highest number of traditional rulers in Lagos State domiciling in my constituency. So, I have so many chieftaincy titles. I am the Mayegun, I am the Olu Omo and so on. But the issue is that those are honorary chieftaincy titles; not traditional chieftaincy titles. I am just being honored by those communities to say we have felt your leadership, we have felt your service and we want to honour you on that. That is how it has been. So, I am not to serve or work in the capacity in which a traditional chief would act.”
I got challenged with what I saw in Alhaji Lateef Jakande. I was the senior boy of my primary school, when he (Jakande) came on a visit to my community and in the course of that visit, I was privileged to have a handshake with him and this served as a motivation for me because something in me just said, ‘I want to be like him’
While growing up, he never thought of going into full time politics. But a chance encounter with the first civilian governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, while in primary six, changed everything. It took just a handshake with the visiting governor for Olulade to develop the interest and nurse the ambition to climb the soapbox one day to ask his people for their mandate to serve them. And ever since the lawmaker took that decision in his primary school days and placed his hands on the plough, he has not looked back.
“I would say it was Alhaji Lateef Jakande that motivated me to join politics and that is why I am so concerned about young people, pupils in primary school and so on, because that was where I started from. I got challenged with what I saw in Alhaji Lateef Jakande. I was the senior boy of my primary school, when he (Jakande) came on a visit to my community and in the course of that visit, I was privileged to have a handshake with him and this served as a motivation for me because something in me just said, ‘I want to be like him. I want to be like Baba kekere, I want to be like Alhaji Lateef Jakande.’ When I look back today, I am happy I took that singular decision as a young boy in primary six,” Olulade recalls.
On the impact he has made in making life better for the constituents he’s representing in the Lagos House of Assembly, the lawmaker declined to assess himself, saying the people of the area are in the best position to issue him a score card.
The lawmaker says, “I don’t think I can speak for them because this has to do with me. I think the people of my constituency should be the ones to speak about what they feel about me. But I can tell you without any iota of doubt or fear that we have done things that are unprecedented. We have reached out and touched so many lives in a very unique way; we have represented them well. I have been part of that constituency since day one, even from the first time we had the first member representing that constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly in 1979. Of course, I was young but I was old enough to know things that were happening around me.
“I am the seventh person to be a member of the Assembly from that Epe Constituency II and we can go back to the records to see how every one of us has fared. I can’t blow my trumpet but I know I have served my people diligently and adequately and I will continue to do that in any capacity I find myself to serve them.”
Speaking further on his law-making activities in the legislature, particularly regarding the ongoing crusade against corruption, Olulade says the Lagos Assembly would not treat such a matter with kid gloves, regardless of the personality involved.
“As far as Lagos State is concerned, I don’t think there is any case they reported that we chose not to investigate. We pride ourselves as common standard of excellence because of what we do. There are procedures and we abide by the law. If for any reason anybody is accused or caught for corruption, why not? The fellow will be probed. We perform our oversight functions and where we see grey areas, we point it out. But we don’t have any reason to attack or accuse anyone of corruption when we don’t have reports or evidence, just because we are looking for corrupt people,” he explains.
Olulade, of course, believes he has not reached the zenith of his career in politics. He still has his eyes trained on the highest political office in the land – the Presidency. That’s his ultimate goal in politics!
“I want to serve as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is my ultimate goal. At that level, I will be able to reach out to more people as against the very few I am restricted to touching now in my community. I want to expand my frontiers to the level of becoming the President of the Federal republic of Nigeria,” the ambitious lawmaker says.
Being a public figure, who is always in the full glare of the people, does his wife not entertainment some fears about other women around him? Olulade says, “I have never noticed or seen anything about her that suggests she doesn’t feel secure or makes me think she’s jittery that another woman may snatch me. I think this a fundamental and foundational issue. I mean what kind of person do you know your spouse to be? Can you predict his or her actions? What I am trying to say in essence is that it is all about trust. When trust is lacking in a relationship or marriage, that is when you begin to feel insecure or have funny ideas or funny interpretations of
actions.
“My wife knows the kind of person I am. So, she would not have any reason to feel that her husband will have anything to do with another woman. Besides, I love my wife so much and she makes me happy. My wife is a very beautiful woman; so you can as well ask me if I am jittery when she goes out, too. But the truth of the matter is that we are Christians and we trust each other. We love each other, which is primarily the major issue. So, in terms of marriage, I and my wife are together for life, for better for greatness, for joy, peace and prosperity.”
The dapper lawmaker, however, says coping with his numerous female admirers is not difficult, as he always draws a red line that they dare not cross while relating
with him.
“Surprisingly, I don’t keep them at bay. I embrace everybody. But there is a line that you don’t go beyond and that is what matters. You just know your boundary. You just know it’s an official thing. When our deal is about my duty and when it’s personal, there is a set boundary that it does not get to The Point you may be thinking of. Don’t forget, I said marriage or relationship is about trust and when you know your spouse trusts you, you find it hard to cheat or do any other thing that will break that trust. You know how so much it hurts when a mere friend breaks the trust you have in him; now imagine what it will be like in marriage. So, you have to keep the trust intact,” Olulade says.
