Olanrewaju Osho is the senatorial candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the January 16, 2027 election. In this interview by Muideen Olaniyi, he speaks on the issues in the party, the Rainbow Coalition, State Police debate, leadership deficit and the FCT natives and original inhabitants among other matters.

If elected Senator, what exact legislative instrument will you push to secure full political status, mayoral status, or second-tier benefits for FCT?

The constitution has a position on the status of FCT already as the capital of Nigeria. What caused the agitation for governor or mayor was the unmet desires of the people. The people desire good governance that guarantees better life and progressive development and this has been elusive for decades now.

Where there is good governance that exceeds the expectations of the people, they will not bother so much about how it is delivered or what is the office of the person delivering the good governance to them – whether it is delivered by a minister, a senator, Rep member, governor, a mayor, a local government chairman or a councillor.

My first focus as senator will be on how to use the legislative position to ensure that the existing politically created offices serve the people better.

If the elected officers occupying the various offices that we have now don’t offer to the people good leadership and excellent service, how will creating a state or office of the mayor serve the people better when the governor and the mayor will still come from amongst the current crop of leaders whose services haven’t advanced development as desired by the people?

The primary thing to do is to encourage good leadership first. After using the office of the senator and the instruments of law – making to up the good governance ante, we will then take up the issue of Governorship or mayor via a strategically conducted process that will guarantee success. The issues have been put forward unsuccessfully before. Why did they not succeed? We will look into that and generate the energy of the people of FCT to represent the issue and we will carefully avoid the land mines that caused failure in the previous attempt.

FCT natives, original inhabitants demand for land rights, compensation, and inclusion. Where do you stand on the Abuja Master Plan versus indigenous land claims?

The foundational errors made in the design of the FCT project has done a lot of injustice to the original inhabitants and the issue demands that we address it with honesty, wisdom and resilience.

The Federal Government couldn’t meet up with the amount agreed for compensation on the acquired land at the onset of the FCT project because it was more than a whole year’s annual budget of Nigeria then. The payment was staggered and a lot of other unplanned things happened along the line.

Be that as it may, the original inhabitants deserve land rights, compensation, and inclusion. I will work as the senator for FCT to upgrade every community of the original inhabitants to legacy towns within the capital city. Instead of demolishing any of these communities, we will lay a foundation to see them transformed to what we will all be proud of as beautiful communities that remind us of the original history of FCT.

The master plan must be reengineered to emulate places like Istanbul, Turkey where the old and the new are interwoven into a spectacle that is the pride of the country’s ingenuity.

Area Councils are the poorest tier of governance in Nigeria. What is your plan for constitutional funding and autonomy for the six Area Councils?

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has addressed the issue of directly funding the Local Government already. What is needed is advocacy for compliance by the governors and the minister.

I will use my office as senator to ensure that the law is respected. FCT Area Councils are not branches of the Minister’s office. The Area Council chairmen were elected by the people to serve them. The underdevelopment in these area councils are largely not the fault of the minister. The underdevelopment in most of the area Councils is because of poor leadership skills on the part of the chairmen. If every Kobo received is judiciously spent, people will feel the impact of government more.

As the most senior elected official in FCT, I will work closely with all these elected officials to change the narrative of governance and development.

With 70 percent of FCT residents living outside the city centre, what is your concrete plan for satellite towns – water, roads, primary health centres, schools?

The issue of plan for satellite towns – water, roads, primary health centres, schools are directly under the purview of the executive arm of government which is headed by the minister.

I will use my office as Senator to promote the passage of bills that fast-track development in all of these things where applicable and I will use the means of collaboration to solve some of these problems where necessary.

The satellite towns are growing inorganically contrary to the vision of our founding fathers because many of the development in the satellite towns are not structured. I will promote structured development through robust town planning and infrastructure provision through budgeting advocacy.

Why is SDP in a field dominated by All Progressives Congress (APC) and African Democratic Congress (ADC)/coalition? How do you sell SDP to FCT voters who see politics as two-horse race?

The people of FCT have voted for the candidates of PDP (the then ruling party) over the years. Yet, most of their problems remained unsolved.

In the last election they voted for the candidate of the reigning movement (Obedient / Labour Party) and most of their problems still remain unsolved. All of these make it easy to sell myself and my party SDP as the solution they have been waiting, hoping and praying for.

Good enough, the APC candidate is someone they have tried before for 20 years. And they have also tried the candidate of ADC for four years as the incumbent senator. The Obidients have now ported to NDC. The candidate of NDC had been in charge of our health sector in FCT before and the sector still has a lot of challenges today. The people now know I am their best candidate if they truly desire to do things differently and see sustainable progress happen.

SDP is fractionalised nationally. Which faction do you belong to, and how will that not affect your campaign?

I am surprised at this question because your statement is far from the truth. The forces of destabilisation came to destroy SDP but they failed. The Supreme Court ruled twice in favour of the SDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had no choice than to comply. SDP is not fractionalised. The SDP has one National Secretariat, one National Chairman Prof. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe, one presidential candidate Prince Adewole Adebayo, and one senatorial candidate for FCT, Olanrewaju Osho. It amounts to ignorance on the part of anyone to embrace the narrative of factionalisation in SDP. It is not true.

The Rainbow Coalition – President Tinubu is bringing opposition governors into his Presidential Campaign Council (PCC). Are you open to aligning with Tinubu’s government if elected?

I am a member of SDP. I am not in any rainbow coalition because our political ideology in SDP is different from that of neo-liberal ideology. We care about the people. That’s why our manifesto is Farewell to Poverty and Insecurity. That’s why my personal manifesto is fix FCT. The other candidates want position. We want solution to FCT challenges. The rainbow coalition is not bothered about challenges in the FCT. We are. I can’t also be part of rainbow coalition because I don’t support one party state ideology, no matter how it is well disguised.

FCT in 2023 voted massively for Peter Obi/Labour. How do you break Labour Party’s stronghold in AMAC, Bwari and Kuje in 2027?

I was the best senatorial candidate in the 2023 election. There was a debate in Abuja which revealed it. The Obidients’ surge made me to come 4th because our type of voters are the same people with the change mentality. Many of them, after seeing the performance of the people they got elected have reached out to me privately to apologise and promised to grow above sentiments in the next election. They know that the party and the movement will move to the background after the election. The quality of the candidate will determine what happens from then on. The Obidients who truly care about competence and capacity know that we are the best for all FCT people who truly desire to be served by a brilliant leader.

If elected, what will be your first three bills in the 11th National Assembly?

The FCT has no law-making body. The National Assembly makes law for FRSC. This is why the Senator of FCT has to work extra hard to ensure the passage of laws that will move FCT forward. I will push for the following five bills within our first 24 months. FCT Affordable Housing and Urban Development Reform Bill. This bill is to address housing shortages and improve access to decent housing. FCT Security and Community Safety Bill. This bill is to create stronger collaboration between security agencies and communities. FCT Transportation and Mobility Improvement Bill. This bill is to improve transportation systems across Abuja and satellite towns. FCT Agriculture and Rural Economic Development Bill. This bill is to unlock the agricultural potential of rural FCT communities. FCT Tourism, Culture and Creative Economy Development Bill. This is to make Abuja a leading tourism and creative economy destination.

How will you ensure FCT voice is not drowned in Senate debates on budget, security, and allocation?

I will ensure FCT’s voice is heard by ensuring that my voice is not drowned. I will ensure that my voice is respected by doing my home work very well before presenting our position. I will speak with data, logic and passion on every issue I am pursuing on behalf of our people.

Evidence – based presentations will be my tactic. With that, we will move hearts and brains to see the reasons for our advocacies.

FCT hosts over 100,000 IDPs. What is your legislative plan for them?

Many of the IDPs in FCT have been here for over a decade. This is terrible and every well meaning people should be bothered about this. It’s a bad thing for anyone to be in IDP camp in their country for this long and this is on us. I have a robust plan in my manifesto to work with the appropriate ministries of government to help these people return home or settle properly and restart their lives.

We will use many creative ways and programmes to achieve this.

Rent in Abuja is now higher than Lagos. What practical intervention can a senator push?

The solution rests in building more affordable housing. Our affordable housing development programme will partner with the Area Councils to introduce council flats. The private sector will also be mobilised to support providing solution through the introduction of rent to own programme and other innovative solution. Addressing the issue of affordable housing, affordable transportation and boosting economic activities will reduce the cost of living. Our Fix FCT Manifesto will help address this issue in partnership with the executive.

Kidnappings in Bwari, Kuje, Kwali and Abaji have become routine. The last Senate called for a security summit but nothing changed. What will you do differently?

The headquarters of all the security agencies are in the FCT. I will engage with them to promote intelligence gathering and effective policing. This will help in addressing the security challenge proactively. We will promote investment in community surveillance programme to boost proactive security system. We will also champion the provision of better training, equipment and better encouragement for our law-enforcement officers. We will support community security advancement efforts to reduce crime and criminalities in our communities.

Do you support state police and FCT-controlled security outfit given FCT’s special status?

We are running a Federal System of government. The system respects the right of the federating units to establish their own security outfit. So, I support state police and we will promote it in FCT to make our people safer. I also support Local Government Police because each tier of government is supposed to be in charge of its security with Federal Police coming in only where support is needed.

FCT youth unemployment is masked by civil service jobs. What is your plan for tech, creative economy and artisan clusters in Lugbe, Kubwa, Nyanya axis?

Our manifesto, FIX FCT. It is actually an acronym that provides solutions to the various challenges of the FCT. We want to show that the office of the Senator of FCT is a powerful office that could play a major role in addressing the challenges of FCT. (Saturday Tribune)