Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas is a household name in Nigeria. He was the Minister For Youths Sports and Culture and Minister of Aviation during Retired General Ibrahim Babngida’s regime. In 1999, he was also appointed Minister for Labour and Productivity and in 2000, Minister of Tourism in ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s cabinet. At his Port Harcourt GRA residence last weekend, Sunday Sun engaged him in an exclusive interview during which he reflected on his early life, lifestyle, family and other issues. Excerpts:

Have you ever been betrayed by those close to you?

Yes, especially by those who I helped. They eventually betrayed me and let me down. I would say my compensation is that I’ve lived long enough to be able to surmount betrayal.



What are your challenges in life ?

No human being can say he doesn’t have challenges. I started my career in the oil industry and after I rose to the top, some intrigues and conspiracies began to surface largely because I was highly favored by the authorities. Some myopic character saw me as a traitor, especially in those days when the expatriates were in control and before we came up with the Nigerialization of the industry.



So what has life taught you?

Life has taught me to be cautious and steadfast . If I have confidence in somebody, I’ve learnt never to betray that person. I’ve also learnt to be cautious of tale bearers. Today, people might say I’m their enemy. I’m not an enemy to anybody. If someone tells me stories about anybody, I call the person and tell him and as soon as the person explains I know what to do. I’m very careful of such tell tales . My house is open to everybody but I’m very cautious.



At what stage in your life did you become famous?

Right from secondary school. Then I went round the country. I schooled at Abeokuta, so I’ve experienced the Yoruba culture . I had a lot of friends. I had my primary education at Government School, Okesuna Lagos. I attended Abeokuta Grammar School to do science after a brief stint at Baptist High School also in Abeokuta. I made a lot of friends in secondary school.



What does Alabo mean?

Alabo means chief. I had the opportunity of being the traditional head of my unit. Everybody was answering chief and I felt it was too common. So, I decided that I was going to take the native interpretation of the chieftaincy, which means Alabo . I answered that name on radio and television interviews I granted.

When anybody says Alabo, I like what you are wearing, I tell them, I will send you yours. Subsequently, I bought them theirs with jewelries to match. You can say I’m fashionable and I love setting the pace in fashion.

Ibos dress like us but they’re not as flamboyant. We embellish our dressing with studs which cost as much as $30,000 dollars. They are made of eighteen carat pure gold and with very expensive stones. They are also made of rubies, sapphire and diamonds. These are things that make me stand out and give me dignity.



How do you unwind?

In school, I used to go to nightclubs a lot. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke but then we were good playboys.



What are you doing now that you’re retired?

I enjoy jazz and contemporary music. When I retired, one of the things I did was to have a nightclub in a hotel I built here in Port Harcourt. I have handed it over to my wife to manage, but she doesn’t like the nightclub, so the nightclub is not there now. I had a casino and cinema all in one place too . The nightclub was very popular.



Sir, you’re a handsome man. How do you cope with women ?

It affected my family because my wives felt slighted. I had a lot of good women friends, but as the years went by I got over it. Due to ill health I became very careful, reserved and cautious. My first and second wives could not tolerate it , but my present wife doesn’t mind. Our parents were very devout Christians. My grand father brought Anglicanism to my town, Abonema. He donated a very large chunk of his land to missionaries when the church came over to this part of the world. That affected our upbringing, all of us. We are all achievers in my family.



Really?

My elder brother is a doctor and was the first secretary of the Nigerian Medical Council. They were the people who set it up. He was a great surgeon at the Hammersmith University Hospital in London. He organized medical services in Rivers State and was also the brain behind the teaching hospital in Rivers State.

One of my brothers was the federal attorney general during General Yakubu Gowon’s regime. He was first the attorney general to Odumegwu Ojukwu . When Ojukwu launched his rebellion , he opposed it and told him “We should try to keep Nigeria one. On that note he resigned though he was almost killed. When Rivers State was created, Gowon enjoined him to come and set up the Ministry of Justice.

Still another brother was the Chief Judge of the Rivers State . These two brothers were Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Today in my family, there are over 10 doctors and over 38 graduates with the grand children. So it’s a great dynasty.



What’s your relationship with your children like ?

I have 12 kids and I trained all of them in England. They are like trained unionists. They love one another very much and you can’t tell that they are from different mothers.

It’s just a blessing to me. One is working as a special assistant to a federal minister and another one a special assistant to the governor of a state.

My daughters are okay too. One is working with Central Bank of Nigeria and one is an actress and a lawyer. My eldest daughter has four kids and she is married to a Kogi man. She is now doing executive MBA at Oxford University.



How did you meet your beautiful wife?

We both attended St. Cyprians Anglican Church in Port Harcourt. My office used to be close to the church. I saw her and I liked her. She doesn’t give me problem. I don’t give her problems too, but I’m strict. That’s all.



What advice do you have for married couples ?

They should be patient and tolerant as well as be good friends of their spouses, especially as they advance in age. I’m 74. She’s just barely 50 years. I was sexually mature when they gave birth to her. That respect is there. Women have a role to play to keep a man like me. You must manage a house well. I’m a bigamist. I can’t eat alone even if it’s groundnuts. I have to share it. It’s been like that all my life. When I was at school, once my brother gave me my school fees, I used it to pay a friend’s school fees.

One day, my brother asked me what happened to the money he gave me. I was a bit petrified to tell him. Eventually, when he heard of what I did, he was happy. From there on, he started paying my friend’s school fees. That was our upbringing and my children have imbibed it.

My children and I devote the first Sunday of every month to fasting . Anywhere we are, we fast and pray to God. We phone round to break the fast. It’s inculcated in their psyche and habits. God has helped us as a family.



What’s your favorite food?

I used to be a voracious eater. I love good food. When I travel out, I take my friends to the best restaurants.

I love going to restaurants that have the best of cuisine but with my health, I’m very careful of what I eat.

I have to curtail what I eat but my kitchen is still very vibrant. When I’m in Port Harcourt, Abuja or Lagos, about twenty people eat with me everyday.



What are your favorite books?

I like to read biographies of great people. You can see, I am a collector (pointing to his shelves) but I watch a lot of movies for relaxation. Perpetually, there is music in this house, my sitting room and bedroom etc.

Also, I love action movies but then I want to relax and not over excite myself. I watch intricate plots which I find difficult to unravel.



Tell us about your childhood

I’m the last of my father’s children and I was a spoilt child. I had everything I needed in life as a child. From the first day I was born to the day I graduated from the university , I had a very easy life and I was given everything I wanted.

Sad ...he got everything as a kid growing up till end of university yet he never made an attempt at bettering the lives of others youths as a minister. Come de brag here about training all kids in UK while here kids can barely learn. God is watching ooo!

The family unity and fasting part made sense to me. You've tried sir!

His 1st son just died!