The Labour Party governorship candidate for Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has argued that the justifications for following political hierarchy and process are questionable.
He maintained that the only reason such arguments are plausible is because those who are in power in Nigeria’s political sphere have held power for way too long.
“Most of these people that are celebrated today were governors in their late thirties and early forties,” he said.
The governorship candidate made this statement on the most recent episode of Chude Jideonwo’s podcast.
Adding that he is not a conformist, he said that the idea of people queuing up for political positions and associating people of a particular age to holding political offices is one that must be “turned on its head.”
According to him, “If you are passionate about makng a difference. If you have the cerebral capacity empathy for your people and a desire to for excellence, you should push, push as far as you can.”
Gbadebo further disclosed that when he opted to run for a Local Government Chairmanship position, some people advised him against it saying it was too soon and he should rather go for Councillorship first.
Some even argued that he has no business in position especially as a person who graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He continued; “Politics is about a number of things that all comes together. One, it’s about time and season, it’s about a window of opportunity, your preparedness for that window of opportunity, your capacity to take risk.
“It’s not just fun and games, it’s a lot of hardwork, it’s about the network and goodwill you’ve built to even be able to get that ticket in the first place and that’s what has happened in the 4/8years before you come in and your willingness to do the work.
“It’s not something that you just tick a box and feel ‘oh I want to be Governor and everyone is going to support me.
“There are lots of people that will have aspirations but they will tell them don’t buy that form, it’s a waste of time.
“So when your leaders take you seriously and they see that you can be that person; When your name comes up, it’s not a joke.
“Why you’re being taken serious is because you’ve put the work in and you just have to keep going for it, push for it and anytime you come out, you get stronger; that’s what people don’t realize.”
