Why I am contesting for House of Reps, by Banky W

Bankole Wellington (a.k.a Banky W) is a media entrepreneur, musician, filmmaker, and advertising practitioner. He was at the PDP secretariat to submit his nomination form. He is contesting for the Etiosa Federal Constituency of Lagos state seat in the House of Representatives.

In this interview, he says he is into politics to serve, believing that the PDP is a better platform to realize his ambition having failed in 2019. TUNDE JOSHUA brings excerpts, The Trumpet gathered.

You have a fledgling career as a musician. What informed your decision to delve into the murky waters of partisan politics?

Well, I’m getting into politics because I have a genuine desire to serve. I think that for me, politics shouldn’t be about servant leadership, it should be about people that recognize that there’s a reason they call government public service, because you’re supposed to be the servant of the community.

And in the capacities that God has opened the doors for me, in the arenas that God has opened for me, I’ve tried to serve my community. I’ve served young people. I’ve been a stepping stone to many young people in various industries and I believe that the greatest impact that we can have is when we engage with our political system, and try to participate in a political system and try to use the powers of that office for the benefit of the community. So I’m in politics to serve.

I’m in politics to build, I consider myself a builder. God has used me to build people in various sectors and I believe that by the grace of God, if given the opportunity and the mandate of my constituency, then he will use me as a stepping stone for a choice and for all the young people in it to stand around Nigeria.

All Progressives Congress (APC) is the party in control in Lagos. Why did you join PDP.?

I believe that with the PDP there’s a genuine intention to give young people a seat at the table? I believe that we have a chance to build a bridge between those who have been in the political terrain for many years and those of us who’ve been protesting from the sidelines.

And at the end of the day, if all we do is shout from the sidelines, then we’ll never actually change anything, we will never have any impact. But if impact is truly the goal, if making a difference in Nigeria, is truly the goal, then we must engage with Nigeria.

And that’s been my message to young people to say, listen, we can sit and complain and shout from now till thy Kingdom come or we can join a mainstream platform that gives us a chance to play a part in the rebuilding and the rescue of our nation.

And I believe that the PDP is welcoming us with open arms and open doors. And it’s an opportunity for us to join hands together and rebuild Nigeria and rescue Nigeria.

And so I’m very grateful to the party for the warm reception. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to come, have a seat at the table and I believe that working together you know, God will help us to do what he has destined us to do.

What’s the relationship between music and politics?

I think part of the problem is that we’ve left politics to politicians. There are some people in politics who’ve never had to build a business, they’ve never had to provide jobs, they’ve never had to struggle to build a career.

They’ve just been kind of in the place of entitled politics because that’s just what they do. Whereas I’ve had to build businesses, I know what young people go through to build a career, to provide jobs for other young people, to go against the grain in the very difficult terrain that is Nigeria and try to make something of yourself and trying to make something of the people around you and the people that God brings to you.

And so I think there needs to be a change or there needs to be a difference in the selection of people that we choose to enter office. It should be people who have built something and I’ve been fortunate enough to have been used by God to build things in music and film and food and advertising.

In my spiritual walk in my community and community service, these are all areas that I’m extremely active in. And that should be the requirement.

It should be somebody who has experience across multiple sectors, who knows the pain of young people in Nigeria, who has experienced some of that pain himself and who has also learned how to channel that pain into purpose, and channel that journey into fulfillment, not just for himself, but for the other people around him. I think that should be what we expect of people who are entering politics.

So it’s not so much about the fact that I’m a musician, but it’s about the fact that I’ve had to put my hands to the plow and make something of myself and others in this kind of country.

And I think if we have more people with like minds like this, then it will spell a better day for government as a whole, for our National Assembly and for our young people. You know, I think that the way that we make it out of the situation, the mess that we are in as a country, is through innovation and reform and innovation doesn’t happen in government offices, Innovation happens in the private sector.

That’s where Burna Boy and Wizkid are earning Grammys. That’s where Flutter Wave and Paystack are unicorns you know, the successful companies they’re in the tech space and FinTech innovation is happening in media and music and entertainment where you need reform as well.

And the only way you get reform is to put people with like minds at the table of policymaking in the country so that while innovation is going on reform is there to support it.

And if you have innovation and reform that’s how you fix an economy. In 2019 you had an unsuccessful election to the House of Reps.

What actually went wrong with that election and what do you need to do differently to come out successful?

You said something interesting, you said that 2019 was unsuccessful, and I completely disagree. The reason I say that was that for us, if you recall in 2019, I didn’t declare for office until I think three months before election day, which is completely unheard of. It’s insane.

So for us in 2019, it wasn’t about winning a seat, It was about planting a seed. And I think we successfully did that because what we did was we came third, and we won in some areas as an independent candidate, we won in some areas in our constituency where it was completely unheard of.

We won in wards and polling units that were previous strongholds for either of the big two parties. But at that time, it was about showing young people that this is something we have to get involved in even though we’re late to the race. We just planted a seed, let’s just stick our toe in the waters.

You know, there are some things that you cannot learn unless you are in the trenches yourself. So the entire goal of the 2019 campaign was to plant that seed, was to get involved, was to learn what it was and also to become a rallying point for the younger generation to see, to say, Hey, this is something that we have to do and we’ve planted that seed. Now.

It’s about winning the seat and I believe that we’ll be successful this time. If you take what we did in 2019, and you take what the PDP did in 2019 in my constituency, we would have won decisively if we were working together at that time and we’re working together now.

I think that it spells good things for the Lagos PDP and for the PDP as a whole, where young people are now seeing because of what we are doing that okay, you know what, maybe this is something that we can do, maybe this is someone we can go with, maybe we can join forces, maybe we can be a part of the system and and help to fix it and help to reform it from within. So that’s what we’re trying to do and I believe that will be successful.

Honestly, it’s so much bigger than the race that I’m running for. I think this is about the future of Nigeria, the destiny of Nigeria. This is about where we are going from here, you know, and I’m just grateful to be playing my part in that story.

I think that if we all did that, if we all just played our part, then we would have a better nation. So I’m content to play my part and hopefully that inspires other young people to do the same.

What are your chances of winning the election?

I think for me, first of all, you know in a David and Goliath situation, I’m more comfortable being David. You know, the stakes are high, the big machine is against us, but I do believe that what we may lack in money we have in meaning, we have a mission, we have a message.

And I think that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.I think that if Lagosians are truly happy with the way everything is happening, then maybe you know, we don’t stand a chance but somehow I suspect that that’s not the case and that people are ready for something fresh, something different, something unique, something that speaks to the heart of someone who wants to serve and who wants to see the nation better.

Read Also: How PDP can regain power, by Yero

So I’m content to stand on my own two feet with the support of the PDP and the support of our young people and the support of my community in saying that, because I know that we represent something different. I think that that’s what my people have been waiting for.

They’re waiting for a representative who truly cares about the community and who has a track record to show. They’re waiting for a representative who truly cares about Nigeria’s young people and who has a track record of being a stepping stone for those young people.

They’re waiting for a representative who is not there for selfish interests or selfish ambition, but is truly there to serve and to help build. They’re waiting for a representative who will be transparent and accountable for them so that they will know what their representative is doing for them in Abuja, but also seeing what he’s doing in the constituency. And I think these are the things that we represent.

And I believe that by the grace of God and with the support of the people, we will get the mandate. Yes, it will be history in the making, it will be the first time that PDP has ever won a seat, won this seat in Etiosa. It always seems impossible until it’s done.

I believe now, like Nelson Mandela said, the only people that change the world are the ones crazy enough to think that they can. I’m crazy enough to think that we can pull off an upset and and have a lot of people that are crazy with me so we’ll see what happens.