ABH DECIDES 2025: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MISTER ONI AJIBOLA SOLOMON, ABH DEFENCE MINISTER ASPIRANT

With the Alexander Brown Hall (ABH) elections fast approaching, the political atmosphere is charged with anticipation. In less than a week, residents will head to the polls to elect a new set of leaders, and the fervor of the campaigns reflects the significance of the mandate at hand.

The hall is abuzz with posters, fliers, and active canvassing, as aspirants for various positions engage in strategic outreach. Among them is Mr. Oni Ajibola Solomon, a resolute candidate for the office of Defence Minister- a vital role in upholding order and security within the hall. In this exclusive interview, he discusses his motivations, key priorities, and the principles guiding his candidacy.

Can you please tell us about yourself?

Okay, my name is Oni Ajibola Solomon. I’m a student of Biomedical Laboratory Science, 2K23 set, and an aspirant for the post of Defence Minister. I’m happy to be here.

Now to a very important question: Why are you running for the Office of Defence Minister?

Okay, based on my passion for the hall—which was ignited in me when I got to the hostel—the first place that connected me to the hall was the gym. It was there I met the former Defence Minister, Honourable Omoniyi Nicholas. The way he was so passionate about the safety and security of the hall really inspired me and got me interested in the position.

As a result, I joined both the Defence Committee and the Gym Committee during this current tenure. Through these roles, I gained valuable insight into how things operate—especially in terms of safety, security, and conflict resolution within the hall. This experience greatly deepened my interest in the post, and I believe I have now acquired the necessary skills to serve effectively as the next Defence Minister.

You said you’ve gained the skills necessary for the position. What do you mean?

Okay, so the three main roles or responsibilities of the Defence Minister are firstly, the safety and security of Brownites and their properties. Secondly, conflict resolution and lastly, the management of the gym.

Seeing how they’ve been able to attend to these matters—matters of theft, disputes among Brownites, and the present Defence Minister upgrading and maintaining the gym—seeing all those skills, looking at how they were able to handle things, how they could have handled things better, things to implement and being involved in it by being an active member of the Defence and Gym Committee has given me the platform to build the skills necessary for the position.

We are aware that you are almost a regular visitor to the gym. But, apart from that, why do you think you’ll be able to take on the responsibilities of the Defence Minister? 

Having been a regular member of the gym, an active member of the Defence Committee, and engaging in other roles that have improved my leadership skills, my communication skills, and my cooperation skills—like being able to co-operate with others to get a certain job done—I think those roles have built me into the kind of person that will be able to handle the roles of the Defence Ministry.

Please tell us about the position of the Defence Minister and its constitutional duties.

The three main responsibilities of the Defence Minister are: Taking care of the safety and security of Brownites and their properties, conflict resolution, management of the gym.

About the constitutional duties, I know that the Defence Minister is meant to serve as the head of the security committee. The Defence Minister also has the role of managing any form of disputes in the hall and the Defence Minister is meant to serve as a link between Brownites and the security units. 

What plan are you bringing on board to achieve these duties?

Yes, let me just put it briefly. My plans are to improve the security efficiency of the hall. Now, how do I plan to do that?

One, through the awareness and sensitisation of Brownites. I don’t know if you’ve noticed a lot of thefts and robbery that have been happening in the hall. It’s primarily based on the fact that a lot of Brownites are not aware of their environment, they are not security conscious. Some of the thefts that have happened are some people leaving their phones and their gadgets behind in the video room without it being looked after, leaving it while charging. So when that happens, even someone who doesn’t want to steal your gadget, leaving it, I don’t want to say carelessly, can incite the person to take it.

I also noticed that a lot of Brownites don’t even know the people they are meant to report to. They don’t even know that we have a security unit that we can report thefts to.

I was talking to some Brownites and they were telling me that they don’t even know where the security unit is in the hall. So proper awareness and sensitisation would make Brownites conscious. They would also know who to report to in case of any unfamiliar faces in the hostel, strange faces or even after theft has occurred in the hall.

The second thing that I think has been lost in the hall is regular patrols by the Defence Committee. Regular patrolling is necessary in the hall because it deters potential threats. It serves as a preventive measure that we can take. We are all students but these are the basic things that we can do as a Defence Committee, especially the security committee.

Then my third plan is improving lighting in the hall. A lot of bulbs are not working on some floors in the hall and so if a strange face is even passing, you may not even see it, especially during at night. And the second thing about lighting is if the hall is not properly lit up in the night, it can lead to different kinds of accidents which can affect the safety of Brownites in the hall. That’s the summary of my plan.

So you are working on a tripod plan?

No. These are just the ones that I can say. As you know, I do have an opponent so I like to keep some things hidden. Just to keep it as a surprise for the manifesto night. I hope that is okay. So those are little of the plans for safety. And there are other plans that I have to upgrade and maintain the gym that we have. And my plans, like I said, we have three major roles as the Defence Minister.

My plans for conflict resolution is to create a body, shall I say an impartial body of students or Brownites that can settle disputes amongst us. Like minimal disputes that don’t involve any form of violence, that can be reported immediately. Disputes that have not led to violence can be settled among ourselves. So my plan is to create a body, which will constitute the president of each department, some executives, and some respected members of the hall. Creating a body that can serve as a judge or an impartial judge for matters in the hall. So these are the main plans that I have if elected as the Defence Minister.

You mentioned improving lighting in the hall. That will be really commendable. But, how do you intend to achieve that?

Okay, my plan is to collaborate with the Hall Chairman in writing proposals to the hostel management to take this into consideration and see what can be done about it. It’s not something I can decide to do on my own. It has to be with the permission of the hostel management.

Please share with us some of your previous and present achievements that you think we should know.

I think the major one has been assisting the present Defence Minister, being a member of the Gym Committee, assisting in renovating the gym to achieve its functionality and aesthetics that have brought commendable patronage today. 
The second one would be being one of the primary fitness instructors in the gym, helping people to achieve their fitness goals.
And the third thing would be assisting the former Defence Minister in patrols. Even though I wasn’t a member of the Defence Committee then, but I assisted during some of the patrols.

Also, I’m the present co-head of the Mr. Macho planning committee for ABH health week this tenure. And I was a participant last year for the Mr. Macho competition.

Outside ABH, I’ve been the co-head of hotel reservation and welfare of members for my department South-west Convention. Also, I’m the social director of my department and I’ve been the assistant class representative of my class since 200L. Also, I’ve been an active member of the Red Cross, an active member of JCI (Junior Chamber International), being their school representative and an active member of various directorates within it.

Looking at the present administration, in what areas or circumstances do you think the Defence Ministry has made some success and perhaps some failures?

There is no time that you call Jimoh that he would not respond. Yeah, he’s very active. And he’s very good at relating matters to the Defense Committee, asking for advice, asking for plans and making sure that everybody’s plans are put in order.

And number two, he has been very good at conflict resolution. He’s always a very calm mediator between two or more people in conflict. He’s always making sure that everyone’s heard. Always making sure that everybody is settled to avoid further conflict.

Then, he did well with improving the gym and making the gym more women friendly and improving the functionality and aesthetics of the gym- even that I plan to improve on that. But, some of the things that I would like to do better would be to bring back the regular patrols. During the tenure of the present Defence Minister, we did not have regular patrols during his tenure. Patrolling was reduced, which is something I would like to bring back.

If elected, how would you improve on these outcomes, but it appears you’ve answered it partly. You said you would improve the membership of the gym. Are there any other things you would like to do?

Okay. Like I said, I am going to bring back the idea of regular patrols in the hall. And I must say, I’m a big believer of regular patrols. I really believe that it can reduce some of the security breaches even though we don’t have  much thefts in ABH. And because I think that sometimes the porters kind of leave the gates unmanned, especially at night. So working well with the security team of ABH and also the porters too will ensure that the hall is well guarded as much as possible in the best of our capabilities. So that’s one of the things I would like to improve.

With the gym, I would promote women inclusivity. I would say the gym is male dominated. And a lot of female Brownites would also like to be part of the gym users,  but due to some fears and shyness of women, they don’t feel like they belong in the gym. They feel like it’s kind of a male thing. So, my plan is to collaborate closely with the Female Affairs Minister to attract interested parties to the gym while ensuring that the facility adheres to proper regulations and standards, and also create a more inclusive and female-friendly environment.

I believe short-staffing would be a big hindrance to the activities of any committee. So what is your plan to avoid that?

The plan is mainly to increase the publicity of the defence committee. A lot of people don’t know what we’re doing in the security committee. They don’t know how it works. So working, showing people what we do, publicising what we do is the main way to bring people – interested parties, into the defence committee. Which would prevent short-staffing.

I’m aware you have an opponent for this position. So what quality or qualities do you think makes or make you a better candidate?

Okay. The first thing I would say is experience. I’ve witnessed two tenures of the Defence Ministry and I’ve worked very closely with the last two Defence Ministers. Seen how they handle things, seen how a lot of things were done concerning the security and the gym. So I’ve seen things I would like to remove, things I would like to implement, things I would like to improve on.

So experience is one of the main things that I would say I have over my opponent.
The second thing concerning the gym aspect is that I’m a certified fitness instructor. So I feel like I’m one of the best persons to handle matters of the gym and physical fitness of ABH. And I would say that I have practical solutions to the problems of ABH. Those are the three main things that I can say I have as an edge over my counterpart.

Any final words for Brownites?

Okay, I would just implore them to stay security conscious. And of course I would appreciate it if they vote for me. And win or lose, we’re all Brownites and I appreciate them all. And I want to really thank those that are on my side – those that feel that I’m the best candidate for this. 

Thank you for your time and responses.