Hello!

Hi. It's 3:00am here in Lagos, Nigeria. I can't sleep and I have been thinking a lot. At the moment, my heart is full of gratitude to God for a whole lot of things. I'm grateful to God for my beautiful parents, my siblings and their spouses, my beautiful niece, my Uncles, Aunties, Cousins and my great friends. And of course I'm grateful for my Life also.

Another thing that I'm also forever grateful for, that I have thought about for the last hour and I decided to write and share with my people was my time (2018-2019) and experience as a Corp member at the Voter Education and Publicity (VEP) department of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Great staff at the VEP department, from the Director (You can Google Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi) down to the Cleaners and Security guys. I just cannot get tired of talking about this, because it was really a beautiful and high moment in my life.

I traveled to Rivers, Bayelsa and Plateau states for the first time through INEC (Now I've been in about 22 of the 36 states in Nigeria including FCT). 

Let me talk about my experience at the National Situation Room & Collation Centre in Abuja which was at the International Conference Centre (ICC). Been at the Situation Room for days before, during and after the election(s) and then at Collation Centre was a whole lot of work but it was a beautiful experience and very enjoyable. As an INEC staff at that time, you're a very important person. 

I remember the day the Senators-Elect were to come get their certificates of return at the ICC, as at the time I left the Collation Centre late the previous Night, the information was that the Senators would come in at noon or thereabout but unknown to me, the time was brought forward. On my way to the centre, there were so many people walking (Mostly the family members, village people of the Senators and some political party members). The roads were blocked by security operatives and it was hard to pass through with your car. I remember telling my cab guy to drive closer to the men and the barricade. He was like 'Who I be?, I see big people parking their big cars and walking and I'm telling him to move forward'. Long story short, he drove to where the security guys were and I introduced myself as a staff at the Collation Centre with a Valid ID of course and the barricade was moved for us to pass, that experience made me and the cab guy feel somehow important, you know. 

During the Collation of the Presidential election results, from the beginning to the declaration of Muhammadu Buhari as the winner, the likes of Festus Keyamo (now Minister of state for Labour and Employment), Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Customs Comptroller General) were the APC guys at the Collation Centre. Osita Chidoka (former Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of Federal Road Safety Corps and past Minister of Aviation) and one other person were the PDP guys at the center. Believe we all slept and woke up for the four days of the Collation at that centre. Well they obviously go home in the morning to change their clothes and return before the result of the next state is announced.

Fast forward to the declaration of Buhari as the winner and he was meant to come in the afternoon to get his certificate of return at the Centre with his Vice, Osinbajo and their family members. The declaration was made early in the morning around 4 by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. Mr. President was to show at about 2pm or so. From about 8am till the end of the ceremony (i.e till the president collected his certificate and left), that building (ICC) was probably the most protected building in Nigeria, best believe. And I tell you, being in the most protected building in Nigeria that is not the Presidential Villa, comes with it's own challenges like numerous security checks even with the use of scary dogs, no loitering and of course no network, yeah, the network around the building was jammed. We couldn't even stream the president collecting his certificate on the INEC social media pages cos the network wasn't working for that period. I think the media were able to do the live transmission because their transmission buses were parked outside. 

This day, I met or should I say I was in the same room with the most important people in Nigerian Politics (Mostly from APC though as Buhari is their guy) at the same time. Name every prominent politician in Nigeria, yes, most of them were all there. This was the President coming to get his certificate. The next day or so was the turn of the Senators and Honourable Members of the National Assembly. This day was when I knew the Buhari we see on Television is very different from the Buhari that was in front of me. Buhari is so fresh, tall and his skin is not even like that of an old man. And VP Osinbajo is a short man o, short and agile. 

Ganduje (Kano state governor) was one of the first guests to arrive the venue. Looking at him in his big agbada, the only thing coming to my mind was the video of him putting all those dollars in his babariga, I was thinking, I'm sure this man would probably have plenty dollars with him now. So, more guests kept coming, Tinubu, Oshiomole, all the APC governors at that time, Ministers, diplomats, Some service chiefs, name them, and then the man of the moment arrived. By the way, Mr. Ambode (Lagos state governor at the time) came late and didn't get a seat, one of his boys came to me, of everyone in the hall, to beg for my seat for the governor, and as a gentleman that I am, I gladly gave up my seat for him to use, it was an honor though. Who am I not to stand for a whole governor that can buy my entire village. Jokes aside, I was a fan of Ambode and I even had pity on him for what Tinubu and his party did to him in Lagos then. I remember people hailing him as an incoming minister then, they all thought he would get the appointment as a compensation, SMH.

Should I mention that I met the Senator representing my senatorial district. Michael Opeyemi Bandele 'MOB' (Ekiti central) at the Collation Centre, we spoke. His village/town is next to mine. After he, Adeyeye and the other senator got their certificates, I walked up to him to introduce myself as Olatomide Olatile from 'Igede'. Igede-Ekiti is the neighboring town to Iyin-Ekiti, where he is from. We had a little conversation as he was struggling to make his way out of the venue, he then gave me his number. All these politicians though, the number that he probably barely uses. Or maybe I should say it was probably his public number. He was the one that wrote it on the paper himself but no one has ever picked any of my calls on the number or even responded to the messages, we move sha. 

And for those who do not know, every state in Nigeria doesn't have equal number of House of Representative members at the National Assembly. Most states have 6, which is the minimum while some other states, especially states in the north have more Federal constituencies. I think few states in the south too has more that 6 though. But it's more of the Northern states. I found out the day 'they' came for their certificates. Some states have about 9 or even more. Well, I heard it's because these states are very large and there won't be equal representation if they are divided into just six federal constituencies. That's what makes a total of 360 house of Representative members.

A whole lot of things to talk about. Our awesome Director, who is now retired. How good the staff of the VEP department was to my colleagues and I, they gave us the opportunity to really learn and work. But I'm tired of typing now as it is past 5am. If you read to this point, Thanks for taking your time to do so and do have a great Weekend and a beautiful and fulfilled AUGUST. Cheers 🥂.

OLATOMIDE 'Tommy King' OLATILE