Hon. John Campos Ogundare was born and bred in Eti-Osa East Local Development Council Area of Lagos State. He attended Olomu Primary School, Ajah for his elementary education and secondary education at Sangotedo Community High School and Ireti Grammar School, Ikoyi. Subsequently, he obtained his first degree (B.Sc.) in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos.
An articulate, agile, sociable and sporty personality, John loves to play lawn tennis and he is a proud bona fide member of the Lagos State Lawn Tennis Club and he belongs to many other socio-cultural groups.
Before his full time political career, Hon. John Ogundare was into real estate and property development and has through this career contributed immensely to the urbanisation and development of Eti-Osa East, Lagos State.
He is a seasoned administrator, astute and diligent public servant, whose political prominence and pedigree in Eti-Osa East and Lagos State as a whole cannot be overemphasized. From his young age, Hon. John has been a veritable political vessel in the development projects and strategies which has given Eti-Osa East the prominence it enjoys today as the fastest growing neighbourhood in Lagos, Nigeria.
John was the Campaign Director General of Hon. Ibrahim Obanikoro and his strategic contribution and management which are in tandem with the political direction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, translated to the victory of the party in Eti-Osa Federal Constituency at the Federal House of Representatives in 2019.
He is a loyal party man cum public servant that has worked in different capacities under different leadership thoughts in the political sphere of Eti-Osa East LCDA and Lagos State. His political experience runs as follows: Supervisor for the Environment and Health; Supervisor for Budget, Planning and Statistics; under different administration in the LCDA.
After due diligence and wider consultation with the leadership of APC, Hon. John Ogundare expressed his interest to contest for the office of the Executive Chairman of Eti-Osa East LCDA, and won the party’s ticket which eventually culminated into his victory at the 20th July, 2021 Lagos State Local Government Election. He was sworn in on 27th July, 2021 by the Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, as the Executive Chairman of Eti-Osa East LCDA – the Home of Hospitality.
Since he assumed office, Hon Ogundare’s three key point agenda include: Effective Traffic Management; Security of Lives and Property; Sanitation and Health. Interestingly, these three key areas of Hon. Ogundare’s administration focus including Education, which he considers as the bedrock of mankind’s development) are in tandem with the Lagos State’s THEMES agenda
Against this backdrop, Hon. Ogundare John Campos being recognized by The Guardian as one of Nigeria’s Leading Result-Oriented Local Government Chairmen Of Excellence With Impactful Dividends Of Democracy To The Grassroots, was well deserved. Thus, in a brief chat with Ekundayo Smith, he spoke about his childhood, passion for organizing and serving people, journey into politics and ultimate career in politics, experience as the Executive Chairman of Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), impact of his administration in the LCDA, amongst other pertinent issues. Excerpts …
Can you briefly tell us about your personal background and the passion that brought your political career to life?
I can say that my background was a little bit rough and uncertain. I was born in the old Maroko area of Lagos State before the demolition of the sprawling community by the military administration of Col. Raji Rasaki, in 1990. I came from a polygamous family and the only male amongst my mother’s seven children. My father ran a number of brothels within the community and those that lived in the area then will remember People’s Inn. So, at a very tender age, I was already exposed to a lot of things.
On how I got into the realm of politics, I found myself in politics accidentally through the person I refer to as my political father, the late Alhaji Owolabi Sulaimon, former Secretary of the defunct Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) in the 90’s under the late Gen Sanni Abacha’s military government. After the demise of Gen. Abacha and the emergence of the new political dispensation under Gen. Abdusalaam Alhaji Abubakar in 1998, GDM was one of the political groups that formed the Alliance for Democracy (AD) which produced the former Executive Governor of Lagos State and the incumbent President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. At that time, even though a teenager, an under-aged, I was made the Assistant Secretary of the old Ward K3 in Eti-Osa.
Naturally, I enjoyed organizing sports, social engagements, especially music concerts and talent hunts, I even became the first music promoter in Eti-Osa, at some point and the first Entertainment Manager at Alesh Hotel, Ajah. I was also the second notable organizer of football events in Eti-Osa, after Ayo, popularly called 50-50. I even learned through him. The late Alhjai Sulaimon was one of the regular attendees at many of my sporting and social events and he realized the zeal, can-do spirit, character of purpose, charisma and how well easy it was for me to bring people together to attend and enjoy those activities.
That was when he approached me and said “John, you can actually use this talent well in politics” and my response was that my father would never agree to such a move. However, he did not relent; he continued to impress it on me that I will be far well useful in politics. Meanwhile, in the past I had ran errands for him by pasting posters across the community with my bicycle – a duty I carried out without even attaching any importance or monetary value. I just took it up as an obedient young boy. Later, I realized that Alhaji actually relied on my talents and capacity to deliver all those tasks, then. I even invited a few friends to assist in my task, and interestingly, those friends ended up inviting their friends and the rank swelled. After some time, I was made the Youth Leader of the Mandate Group under AD in 1999 when transiting into the current Fourth Republic. I was actually part of the grassroots foot soldiers in the then Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation (BATCO) in Ward K3, for the emergence of Governor Bola Tinubu.
As a seasoned administrator and consummate politician, who has demonstrated competence and capacity over the years, how can you describe your experience as the Executive Chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area and your approach to governance in the Council Area?
Sitting on this seat as the Executive Chairman, Eti-Osa East LCDA is not misplaced because in truth, I have been well groomed for the task of leadership and went through all the requisite stages in political activities. I have represented my Ward at the Local Government and State levels. I later became the Youth Leader of Eti-Osa East LCDA when it was newly created by Governor Bola Tinubu. With my antecedents as a grassroots mobiliser, I was being given different assignments and subsequently, I got the opportunity to join the administration of the former Chairman of Et-Osa East LCDA, Alhaji Owolabi Sulaimon, as the Supervisor for the Environment and I learned a lot from him as a father. Like I said earlier, he remains my political father.
Concerning the challenges of heading Et-Osa East LCDA, which is considered as a very critical area of Lagos State in terms of its economic viability, cosmopolitan nature and the need to provide primary healthcare, road infrastructure, security, youth empowerment, amongst others, the experience I had under Alhaji Owolabi Sulaimon sustained me. I recalled that as youths, our mentality and expectation were quite different from the Chairman’s based on his experience and ideology. As youths, then we only wanted to get something from the system and live in ostentation but he made us understand that whatever money we see budgeted is tax payers’ money – a public trust. According to him, he would not risk going to prison because of anybody. He warned us against youthful exuberance, careless spending and other excesses. Meanwhile, he was watching everyone of us, especially me and he saw that “John Campos” in me.
Thus, because of that interest, he guided me in all my assignments even whenever I had to make presentations at the cabinet meetings. It was through that mentorship and training that I was able to create a blueprint when I got the opportunity to mount the saddle as the Chairman of Eti-Osa LCDA. Also, under the immediate past Chairman, the late Hon. Rafiu Olufunmi, I served as the Supervisor for Budget and Planning for four years. With this background, no one will expect anything short of the best from me. Sometimes, when I reflect on what the LCDA has achieved under my watch, I felt we have not done enough because I know the expectation of our people is huge. And before they gave us the mandate they had so much hope on me because they
know my antecedents. So, I am very mindful of what will be my legacies when I leave office.
In the Nigeria’s federal arrangement, the local government is the third tier of government and there are shared responsibilities and collaborations. Can you tell us more about the support or assistance from the State Government or any other entity?
When I assumed office, it was very tough because there was very limited resource, at the time when the entire world was confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic and there was a global economic downturn. Recall that our situation in Lagos State, especially in Et-Osa LCDA was made worse that same year by the #EndSARS crisis. Those two events, especially the EndSARS brought out the very worst negative side of our youth, in this axis of the state. A situation whereby somebody from Oke-Ira Nla could not go to Ado, somebody from Ado could not go to Badore, a person from Badore could not go to Langbasa, and vice-versa. It was really a bad time whereby by 4 or 5pm, the entire community looked like a graveyard. People could not open their shops or carry out their daily activities. At that time, the very first week I assumed office, I was held hostage with my staff for over two hours by hoodlums. Thankfully, this was in the past. Although, I cannot tell you that we have eradicated that level of social disturbance by the miscreants but I can beat my chest that we have reduced such to barest minimum within our communities.
What will you say were the lessons learnt from the EndSARS crisis and how to prevent future occurrence of such calamity?
For me, political leaders should always be sensitive to the plight of the people, especially the downtrodden. What happened was the failure of leadership at the top. Anyone aspiring to ascend the mantle of leadership must be someone who perfectly understands the feelings and the condition of the people he/she wants to govern, understands the environment and even lives amongst them. It is like the case of he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches.
Like I said earlier, when we came in and met the deplorable situation, we immediately set to work by putting on our thinking cap. Knowing full well that the police is overstretched with limited manpower, we set up a vigilante group tagged Digbolu-Kolu. This was done with the assistance of all the local chiefs, the Baales and the Oba of Langbasa, who was a politician before he was installed. He is a king who has the heart of his people and he understands their challenges. Initially, the activities of the vigilante group was being funding from my personal pocket but at some point about seven communities within the LCDA came together and donated N1.3 million each to support in getting gadgets, vehicles and other equipment. Concerning the manpower, we started with thirty able men on patrol and I have been maintaining them in a dedicated office with effective welfare and functional logistics. Interestingly, a number of other neighbouring Local Government Councils have been coming around to figure out how we have been doing it.
The traditional rulers within the LCDA are our stakeholders and I have a very fantastic relationship with them. They are always in the know anytime we want to execute any policy that has direct impact on the people, It is a tradition here every year, especially between November and December, we hold a security meeting with the Chiefs, Baales, CDCs, CDAs, and other security agencies. For example, the directive at the end of 2023 was a ban on the use of banger and street carnivals. This directive was communicated to all the stakeholders being the ones closer to the people. The compliance rate was high because any shop found selling was sanctioned. We also carry out show of force and mop up black spots across the communities within the LCDA to ensure the good people of Eti-Osa East have a crime-free yuletide.
Can you highlight some of your major achievements since the commencement of your administration at the LCDA and what others can emulate from your track record of enviable performance?
Truly, our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is nothing to write home about, and for us to fund and execute multiple projects across Eti-Osa East LCDA we turned our attention to commerce and market development, including construction of lock-up shops. Therefore, in less than three years, we have built three modern markets with necessary facilities while the fourth one is nearing completion.
Before we assumed office, moving from VGC to Ajah took more than two hours simply because most of the traffic gridlocks were caused by street trading, indiscriminate parking by commercial buses; dumping refuse and blocking drainages; ditto, inward Ado towards Ajah, especially along NEPA Road. To restore sanity around the area, we built a market named Hon. Yisa Owolabi Modern Market and took those traders on the streets into the market by creating a very easy payment plan for them. By initiating daily contribution as little as N1,000 by over 200, today they have paid over eighty percent of their.
In Ado, coming from Langbasa by Red House B/Stop a journey of just two minutes took 40 minutes which was caused by street trading. I went to meet the people and consulted with a number of stakeholders about the LCDA’s intention and strategy to solve that problem but many were in doubt of my capacity to succeed. They said “John you cannot do it; Mr. Chairman, forget it! They cited the case of Tejuoso Market during the administration of Governor Raji Fashola, a lot traders could not meet up with the new cost of shops. But I told them to trust me, that I was binded by my word and I should be given a trial. I got Hon .Yahaya Dosunmu Ebudola as my guarantor/collateral and he stood by me to achieve the project by putting his personality on line. In less than nine months, we built a market in Ado named Hon. Yahaya Ebudola Modern Market.
According to recent report, Lagos State Government will commence the construction of the Fourth Mainland Bridge which is located right in the heart of Eti-Osa East LCDA, what can you say your administration is doing in readiness to take full advantage of this rare transformation?
Change is the only constant thing in life. The forthcoming Fourth Mainland Bridge already has impact on us already because it has consumed our proposed LCDA Ultra-modern Secretariat having been in the right of way. Nonetheless, since it is a positive development that will open the entire Eti-Osa East, we had no alternative than to readjust and plan for the emerging development. Our first plan is to make sure all the inner roads are well rehabilitated and as we speak my administration has completed over sixteen inner roads within the LCDA in less than three years and we are still doing more. From Baale Street, Ajakaiye, Okumopo Road about two kilometers to Okun-Ajah which is also under construction – all these are coastal areas. This year, we have also fixed Sikiru Oloko Road in Oke-Ira, Itu-Egbe Road in Ado.
Meanwhile, currently, we are fixing four roads within Alaguntan, a resettlement area, with twenty-seven communities. We have done the drainages and layed the paving stones because of the terrain and it cost a lot of money. As mentioned earlier, the fourth market within my administration is being built within this resettlement area and it is ninety percent complete. In truth, Eti-Osa East LCDA is a rural area that is just transiting into an urban setting therefore there are quite a number of challenges with very limited resources to tackle them.
On human empowerment and distribution of palliatives to cushion the effects of the harsh economy being experienced across the country, before the FG palliatives, Eti-Osa East LCDA has been greatly involved in taking life-saving measures including giving out minimum of N100,000 to a number of elderly street traders to take them off the risk of street trading. Unfortunately, after receiving these monies a number of them still come back to the road within a short time. So, we resorted to enforcement but there is a limit to what we can do because many of these people are really old and frail looking. Recently, I have to give five shops in our market at NEPA Road with the instruction that the market authority should not collect any fee from them for the first six months. We have also assisted over 500 residents in their various businesses.
Apart from our Skills Acquisition Centre at Alaguntan, we are fully involved in sports. We just concluded the Eti-Osa East LCDA Chairmanship Football Cup Competition which is a veritable way to further development sporting talents amongst our youth population.
Against the fallout from how your party, APC performed at the 2023 General Elections, how were you reconciling the apparent gaps in your support base and what magic did you use within such a short time to reduce the opposition in Eti-Osa East LCDA ?
The 2023 General Elections opened my eyes to the huge gap between the government and the people. After seeing the result of the Presidential Election, I felt shocked because Eti-Osa East that we claimed to be the base of the incumbent President Bola Tinubu with his foot soldiers well entrenched here, I felt really disenchanted. Therefore, I took it upon myself to visit all the communities meeting with the youths to support APC in the Gubernatorial Elction but the shocking thing is that most of them did not have Permanent Voter Card for the elections! The ones that had PVC were not encouraged, the ones that were encouraged were already brainwashed through social media and they voted for the opposition. I saw these. But because I understand the street well, I started working on them. I fixed some into available opening and I encouraged a number of them to enroll at our vocational centres.
Furthermore, every three months I visit all the Wards in the LCDA holding meetings and engaging stakeholders, youth leaders, Baales in order to bring government closer to the people. They continue to express their appreciation as we use such engagements to address the immediate needs of the people across the communities. For example, amongst the 8 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in Eti-Osa East LCDA, the PHC at Okemupo which was in a very bad shape, but to the glory of God, we have started fixing it just as other communities are asking for road, school rehabilitation, construction of drainages, amongst others.