Congratulations on your 70th birthday. How does it feel to reach this milestone? I wonder how 70 years have gone already because I feel as strong as ever. I give God the glory for bringing me this far. As a lawyer, how did you find yourself in the murky waters of politics which landed you in the Maximum Security Prison for 18 months? For me, politics was always a thing. Law was a means to end, not an end in itself. When I was very young, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the source of my inspiration because the ideals he stood for brought values to the society. As the president of the student union in the University of Lagos, I wrote to him [Chief Awolowo] and asked for a meeting and he gave me audience. He was then the Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council. He gave me an appointment. I was with him for about one and a half hours. It was as if he had no worry in the world. I struck a relationship with him at an early age and when politics was coming, we were on the bandwagon of the committee of friends of Awolowo in Apapa in those days, participating in policy formulation for the party on various issues. One day, Pa Awolowo noticed our contributions and asked us one day where we were playing our politics as they hadn’t unbanned political activities at that time. We told him Ilupeju and he said Ilupeju? Go home! He called Sir Olaniwun Ajayi and told him to take us back to Remo, in Ogun state. That was how my political activism started. I needed to understand law in order to understand government. When I chose to study law, it was with a view to preparing for a political career. I chose politics before law. Politics was something that appealed to me; I always wanted to help lift the society. Service was a thing for me. But not much was heard of you politically after you served as a commissioner in Ogun State, during Chief Olabisi Onabanjo’s administration… I didn’t hold any political office any further but this was not because of lack of effort. I tried to run for the Senate but I didn’t make it. The same conclave that rejected Bola Ige and had preference for Falae chose Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye from Ijebu Igbo. They also chose the deputy governor from Ijebu Igbo, which was an injustice. Did that discourage you from politics? No. I have always been in politics. I left the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in protest against the dictatorial tendencies among the leaders. They virtually threw me out almost literally though, rather than me leaving. I joined the [Peoples Democratic Party] PDP and, to an extent, was like a fish out of water. I tried to get the gubernatorial ticket but we were like the endangered species. We were Omo Awolowo (Awolowo’s followers) and there was always that suspicion. I participated in the campaign but they gave the ticket to Gbenga Daniel. That is a subject for another discussion. I was nominated for ministerial appointment three times during [the late President Umaru] Yar’Adua and [Goodluck] Jonathan’s administration but the powers that be sabotaged it. In politics, you must have critical support at a critical time. That is what that makes all the difference. In any case, the politics we grew up in has largely been disrupted. General Ibrahim Babangida did a lot of destruction. There was a time he said that we were members of the old generation. We are young but old, according to Babangida’s definition. We were banned from participating in the [Social Democratic Party] SDP and the [National Republican Convention] NRC at that time. A lot of goodwill was lost. A lot of our leaders died and it made a lot of difference. It was like a structure in which you fitted so perfectly being removed. Again, participation doesn’t necessarily mean holding office. I am an APC chieftain and I participated actively during the last general election. I also expressed my view very strongly in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari when his quality and integrity were being queried not only nationally but also internationally. But President Buhari as military head of state in 1984 sent you to jail where you spent 18 months, why the change of heart towards him? I used to believe that even at gun point, I won’t vote for Buhari. And I never voted for him until the last presidential election. I used to joke that if they took me to a polling station, put a gun to my head and gave me the ballot paper to vote for him, I would eat up the paper. But I had a change of heart because things had become so bad in the country. Former President Jonathan took us to the lowest ebb ever. There were incredible amount of corruption and utter lack of integrity in governance. These boggled my mind. It wasn’t about your interest but the interest of the country. Did you leave the PDP and start singing Buharis praise because your ministerial nomination was sabotaged during Jonathan’s administration? Well, people can always say whatever they like but the thing is that, I cherish values. These are the things that attracted me to Chief Awolowo and the late Chief Bisi Onabanjo, one of the finest politicians Nigeria ever had. For me, governance has always been about creating values and taking the society to the next level. Life is too short. When you are in government, you must be in a hurry because you will not be there forever. As a member of the PDP, I disagreed with Jonathan on the lack of integrity and the dirty politics. We disagreed with Gbenga Daniel on the running of the party because we believed the way he did it was not the way to go. I have never been afraid to air my views, even as a commissioner in Chief Onabanjo’s government. I was the youngest member of his cabinet. I was 33 years old when I was appointed Commissioner for Health and Social Welfare, then Commissioner for Forestry and Water and towards the end of the administration, Commissioner for Local Government. I was never afraid to express my view and on one or two occasions, I almost lost my job as a commissioner. After government, we were thrown in detention. We were guilty by association and everybody who was a commissioner or a minister was jailed. What was the experience like? It was a humbling experience for me. It taught me that if you think that without you, everything would stop, nothing would stop. From Abeokuta prison, which is directly opposite the governor’s lodge, every day, for 18 months, I looked at the same gate that swung open every time I [as commissioner] got there with my orderlies. Everything was going; children were being born, marriages were being conducted and people were dying. It just did not matter whether you were there or not. One day, you will be dead and life will continue. Detention taught me that. The present Emir of Suleja, Alhaji Anwali Ibrahim, was with us then, so also was Tai Solarin, deputy governor and commissioners. I found in detention that many people you thought were strong outside were, in fact, weaklings. Some cried like babies saying ‘what am I doing here?!’ Until June last year, you were the president of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, what do you think Nigeria should do to stabilise its exchange rate? I have made pronouncements before on Nigeria and export. I started what is called ‘Export Nigeria’ when I was the president Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce. I led teams to campaign in the United Kingdom, trying to promote Nigeria export but, unfortunately, the export promotion council didn’t know their right from left. Again, the government that appointed them was not a serious one. Government’s policy on export must be clear. It is a long term thing, not short term. We have been living on borrowed times consuming things we don’t produce; wearing clothes and apparels that we don’t manufacture. We are not adding value to own materials even for export. Since 1959, Nigeria has been producing crude but we are still importing refined petroleum. How can your economy be strong? It is not possible. A currency is only as strong as the economy. Our textile factories are all gone. We import everything almost to the extent of importing the air that we breathe. No economy can make it that way. Our currency can’t be strong unless we become serious and go back to production. We bring in toilet roll and soap from abroad. The perfume you are wearing, young lady, where is it from? What you are wearing, from your shoes, clothes to your wrist watch, they are all imported. That is what is ruining the economy. Oil polluted our heads, not just the land. We have to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods. by KATE ANI Source: tribuneonlineng]]>