Bankole’s first speech in 2007 on his assumption of office as House leader
Speaker Dimeji Bankole
Quote :“I have a vision I believe that from this hallowed chamber shall flow robust debates, exciting motions, timely bills, and quality legislation that will significantly impact on the standard and quality of lives of our expectant people” Dimeji Bankole.
The report:
The three-month crisis in the House of Representatives ended on Thursday with the election of Mr. Dimeji Bankole as the new Speaker”.
The new Speaker, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, in Abuja on Thursday. Photo: Sam Adeko.
Also, Alhaji Usman Bayero Nafada, a two-term lawmaker from Dukku/Nafada Federal Constituency in Gombe State, emerged as the new Deputy Speaker through acclamation. No member from his North-East zone opposed him.
Bankole, a 37-year-old lawmaker, represents Abeokuta South Federal Constituency in Ogun State. He is a bachelor.
The new Speaker, who was elected to the House for the first term in 2003, defeated his only opponent, Mr. George Jolaoye.
The election was conducted by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Nasiru Arab.
Bankole polled 304 votes as against 20 votes by Jolaoye. Four lawmakers abstained from voting.
The election was conducted through the calling of each of the names of the 328 legislators that voted.
Each member of the House was directed to mention the name of the candidate he or she wanted to vote for.
The process began at about 11.50 am and ended at 12.44pm.
Currently, the House has 355 lawmakers as against the statutory 360. Three lawmakers had died since the House was inaugurated on June 5, while two seats have not been filled yet.
Bankoles nomination was made by Mr. Sampson Osagie, a lawmaker from Edo State. The nomination was seconded by Ms. Lynda Ikpeazu.
Osagie said the nomination of Bankole was based on Order 2 (3) (a) of the House Standing Order.
He described Bankole, who was born on November 14, 1970, as humble, amiable and gentle.
Osagie said, Bankole ‘possesses the intellectual capacity and capability to lead the House to greater heights.”
He also said that the new Speaker was an economist, with degrees from the University of Reading, and Oxford University in the UK.
He added that Bankole attended Harvard University, where he obtained a Certificate in Public Finance Management.
The Speaker had passed selection to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK.
His rival, Jolaoye, a lawmaker from Osun State, was the choice of the Peoples Democratic Party and the former Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Etteh.
But the lawmakers defied the partys directive to elect their preferred candidate.
Nigeria House of rep seal
At exactly 1.35pm, the new Speaker took the former Speaker pro-tempore, Mr. Tergu Tsegba.
The clerk, who administered the oath of office, was assisted by the Acting Clerk of the House, Mr. Niyi Ajiboye.
Upon sitting down, Bankole quickly adjusted himself, put on the microphone, turned to right and left and smiled.
Then, he picked the gavel and rammed it to the admiration of his colleagues, who gave him a standing ovation.
But Etteh and a few of her loyalists remained glued to their seats.
As if the rap did not reverberate enough, he hit the gavel on the table a second time, and his action triggered another round of applause.
Before Bankole took his seat, Tsegba had vacated the Speakers chair amidst a standing ovation too.
Midway to Tsegbas return to the floor, Alhaji Farouk Lawan, the leader of the Integrity Group, met him and they warmly embraced each other.
*In his maiden address, Bankole urged his colleagues to be prepared to serve the country and live above board.
His speech delivery was flawless, as evident in his diction and candour.
He said, Honourable colleagues, we stand here today upon the threshold of history. The event of the last few months have certainly brought to ourselves and our nation mixed feelings.
We recall the great expectations of our people with the inauguration of this noble House some five months ago, and hereby promise to rekindle those hopes by rising above and across the crises that followed in the aftermath of the unfortunate events from which we are presently emerging
There is no gainsaying, therefore, that we have been elected to leadership at a most trying time.
A period when the need to restore public confidence, set the agenda and machinery for legislative business, evolve best practices for public procurement, ensure judicious use of public funds, entrench transparency and accountability, unite our honourable members, and mobilise our energies towards the critical business of lawmaking and constituency representation is at its most urgent.
I have a vision, a vision of a House of Representatives which shall once again be fondly referred to as the House of the Nigerian people.
I believe that from this hallowed chamber shall flow robust debates, exciting motions, timely bills, and quality legislation that will significantly impact on the standard and quality of lives of our expectant people.
Our nation is at a period when she is not only reforming, but has also evinced a strong resolve to emerge as one of the 20 largest and most viable economies of the world by 2020.”
He said that the House under his leadership would not shirk this responsibility.
He added that a robust oversight of ministries and agencies would be pursued.
Also, he urged his colleagues to be prepared for the consideration of all issues that may arise in the constitution amendment, prepare a legislative agenda with the people as the focus.
He reiterated President Umaru YarAduas zero tolerance for corruption, institutional independence and interdependence of all arms of government.
While calling on his colleagues to form a synergy in order to attain his envisaged legislative agenda, he paid glowing tribute to the media for being robust in discharging its constitutional mandate, just as he thanked the Nigerian people.
No tribute can truly and sufficiently capture our gratitude to the very robust Nigerian media. A Fourth Estate of the Realm which has remained a dogged signpost, in the recurrent elucidation of the core values to which Nigeria must adhere, if our democratic journey will lead us to that promised land,” he added.
The Speaker later adjourned the House till next Wednesday to allow lawmakers to participate in the primaries for local government poll.
Etteh did not stand up as her colleagues lauded the Speakers address, though she clapped, perhaps in appreciation of the issues encapsulated in it.
Bankole and Etteh embraced each other, as the new Speaker walked out of the chamber after adjournment.
Earlier, Tsegba had in his valedictory address as Speaker pro-tempore said there should be healing of wounds and reconciliation by lawmakers against the backdrop of division and acrimony the contract scam had provoked.
He noted that the members of the House were guilty of the collective failure of appreciating their role in sustaining the nations fledgling democracy.
He said,Because we have collectively contaminated the moral environment of this hallowed chamber and our respected legislative institution, we are thus here today to celebrate General Yakubu Gowon after the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970) when he said, ‘no victor, no vanquished and proceeded to implement his 3Rs policy that led to phenomenal healing, reconciliation and restoration.”
Quoting a former US President, Abraham Lincoln, he said, We are not enemies but friends, with malice towards none.”
He said that the new leadership in the House had thrown a challenge to the lawmakers, which should be displayed by showing that they were mature and disciplined representatives of the people and not rascals.
Let us bring forth a new Speaker, a new leadership for a new House, to heal the wounds we inflicted on ourselves, on our democracy, on Nigeria, who will speedily restore our tarnished personal and institutional integrity and who will reconcile us with our constituencies, ourselves and with Nigerians.”
Tsegba received a standing ovation from his colleagues for his homily.
However, the expected reconstitution of the other principal officers of the PDP sacked on Tuesday did not come up, as some of the zones still had issues to resolve.
While sources said the South-South returned the House Leader, Mr. Tunde Akogun, and the Deputy Chief Whip, Alhaji Waziri Tambuwal, from North-West, the Chief Whip, Mr. Bethel Amadi, might find it hard reclaiming his seat.
At Wednesdays session, Mr. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, a lawmaker from Enugu State, acted as the Chief Whip pro-tempore, just as the Deputy House Leader, Mr. Baba Shehu, from North-West, appeared to have lost his seat.
The vacant seats, it was gathered, will be filled next Wednesday, when the House reconvenes.
Independence Newspapers.11th November 2007.
An article in the Independence Newspaper on the eve of Bankole’s inauguration as the Speaker read in part:
*Bankole is a bachelor, for crying out loud! One can only hope he realises the enormity of the challenges in front of him versus his downside as a man without a wife; a helper fit for him! Even his father, the more experienced Bankole, who must have surreptitiously lobbied for his son to be made speaker, had to say things to journalists that would shore up public confidence in his son.
The older Bankole cried: “My son won’t disappoint Nigerians. The fact that the House voted overwhelmingly for him (304 votes to his opponent’s 20) shows that his colleagues repose much confidence in him. I have no doubt in my mind that he will live up to the expectation of Nigerians and perform creditably.” Not once did Dimeji’s father, Alani, hit on the fact that he didn’t succeed in making his son take a wife on time.
I have asked around the House and, believe me, the consensus is that the new speaker ought to take a wife, ASAP (As Soon As Possible). Interestingly, Bankole used to be a director on the board of a company called ASAP. Some calculate that he would get married before or around the turn of the year. Others argue that the longer it takes him to do that now that he is the speaker, “the more unnecessary pressure he would have to face from ladies who would now desire a romp in his bed, if nothing else or a more permanent contract like marriage. So let him just do it,” they say.
I say no! Bankole should not just fulfil righteousness by rushing a wedding band onto some girl’s finger, although one young and pretty damsel, Olaitan, seems to be the favoured bride-to-be. Olaitan was the one Bankole purposely took with him when he paid a courtesy visit to his home governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel (OGD), last Monday. It was deliberate. Bankole knew that such a visit would attract the prying cameras of photojournalists. But if he must marry Olaitan, he’d better make a success and respectable show of it.
At OGD’s, he knew that at some point, some zealous reporter would ask for the correct name and description of the lady in the picture. He was ready for that. What isn’t clear is who gave Olaitan’s name as ‘Olaitan Bankole’ -– she or Bankole?
Although she looks confident enough to call her own shots – bespectacled and looking an inch or two taller than Bankole – I suspect that Olaitan would have cleared with her ‘boyfriend’ if she has his permission to act as his missus as well as introduce herself as such.
Again, looking at the way Olaitan bared her left shoulder in a picture published on page five of the National Mirror, Tuesday, November 6, 2007, I think she is not just self-assured but also diffident enough to announce to the press that she is ‘Mrs. Speaker Bankole’ even when she knows that is yet to happen, formally.
That photo-caption gaffe is only one in a series of little mistakes that a bachelor makes. It is not a costly mistake, but more serious ones may soon come if Bankole isn’t careful. Being a young man – the parlance is ‘young, free and single’ -– also means that he must lead the House like a wizened old man and not with the exuberance of a bachelor that is ‘young, free and single’.
Etteh messed up a unique opportunity to celebrate the dignity of womanhood and disciplined passion of motherhood while she was the speaker. Instead, she simply disgraced those who got her into the top seat. Her proponents had thought that since she had gotten a basic Law diploma from the University of Abuja, she would talk, behave and lead like a ‘learned colleague’ and not just like the hairdresser they all know her to be. They were dead wrong; Etteh simply tried to turn the House into her salon.
Now that 304 legislators have chosen a bachelor to be the nation’s number four most important citizen, Bankole can choose to be recklessly stupid (and claim, God forbid, ‘after all, they all knew I am only 37 and a bachelor without domestic responsibilities before they picked me’) or he could choose to be wise by consulting widely before he slams down the hammer on crucial legislative decisions.
“To help himself, the new speaker should just go ahead and marry the woman he has in hand rather than hope that he has a better chance now to start experimenting afresh as an exalted speaker. Believe me, his legislative responsibilities would choke him out of private life the longer it takes him to get married,” a female lawmaker told Man-U-Script a few days ago.
Now don’t get me wrong and I wouldn’t like to have other elderly bachelors asking for my head. Marriage is definitely not a prerequisite to holding a political office, but you will agree with me that the word ‘responsible’ makes more sense to a married man than it ever does to a bachelor. You need to be in it to feel it.
Bachelors are carefree, but Nigeria does not need a carefree speaker. So Bankole’s top legislative action must be to legislate himself into marriage. Believe me, all of Nigeria would applaud him for that. Though he is a Muslim, I would like Bankole to quickly survey this Christian scripture of Paul to Timothy, a young man who was entrusted with the responsibilities of the elderly in leading a church.
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example (for everyone) in speech, in life (and in the House)” (1 Timothy 4:12). The verse is quite apt for Dimeji Saburi Bankole. He must realise that 304 lawmakers like him have simply voted in an all important paradigm shift that challenges the status quo. Bankole must, therefore, jettison all tendencies of youthful exuberance and, like a Solomon, must demonstrate that wisdom is not a Methuselah function.
All Nigerian youths now have an ambassador in Bankole; if he fails, it may become thrice as difficult for any Nigerian youth to be taken serious in politics until another bright light shines through from the dungeon of geriatric neglect. I can almost hear the Nigerian youth sending Bankole a phone text to say: “Yo Banky. Enof respect. Listen to ur popsie and don’t fail us. We’re banking on you. Remember Etteh. Let the boys win this time, OK? Grace.”
PROFILE
Oladimeji Saburi Bankole born November 14, 1969 was a businessman before being elected to the House. A Muslim Egba, Bankole was born in Abeokuta to Alani Bankole, a businessman, former National Vice Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Seriki Jagunmolu of Egbaland and Oluwo Iporo Ake; and his wife, Atinuke Bankole, Ekerin Iyalode of Egbaland.
He attended Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta from 1979, Albany College, London, England from 1985, University of Reading, Reading, England from 1989, the University of Oxford’s Officer Training College, Oxford, England in 1991, and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. in 2005.
Bankole is a polo player, and is a member of the Lagos Polo Club, where his position is defence. He also enjoys football. He was the Director of Freight Agencies Nigeria Limited from 1995 until 1998, Executive Director of Operations of West African Aluminum Products Limited from 1998 until 2003, and Director of ASAP Limited from 2000 until 2003. He is an economist. He established a charity, the Emma Skipper Foundation. Among the tasks the organisation has undertaken are giving micro-credit loans and awarding scholarships.
In 2003, Bankole was elected to the House of Representatives on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to represent Abeokuta South Federal Constituency of Ogun State. He was Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Finance while Aminu Bello Masari was speaker, and was also previously Chairman of the House Committee on Land Transport. Other committees he has sat on are the panels on Defence, Internal Affairs and Banking, and Currency.
Bankole was re-elected in April 2007. He considers his legislative interests to be those related to defence and finance.
A large segment of the PDP, led by Hon. Farouk Lawan and including Bankole, called for Etteh’s resignation at the peak of her N628 million scandal. It was reported that Bankole, among multiple other contenders, hoped to succeed her as early as October 5, 2007.
After Etteh’s resignation from the post on October 30 (along with her deputy, who was also caught up in the scandal), Integrity (anti-Etteh) Group member, Terngu Tsegba, became Interim Speaker. Samson Osagie of Edo State nominated Bankole for the post of Speaker, and Lynda Ikpeazu of Anambra State seconded the proposal. On November 1, he was elected to succeed Etteh. His challenger was Osun State Representative, George Jolaoye, whom he beat by 304 votes to 20 (and four abstentions). Etteh was among those who voted against Bankole. The new deputy speaker is Bayero Usman Nafada.
On his election, Bankole said “I am taking over the mantle of leadership at a very difficult time. But these are hard times; we need to build confidence again and assure the populace that we are still their representatives. I want an independent House that Nigerians will be proud of, this is my first task.”
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