helinues:


So why should Britain exit from EU but the UK decided not to grant Scotland their wishes?

You can help me answer that question since you support UK over their unpopular decision to merge different ethnic nationalities into unproductive union called Nigeria

viyon02:
Why can't him support Osinbajo for president if he really what good for his people must he be president and rather be the God father he use to be?

.
If you could be president, and I'm sure you have dreamed about it, would you step aside for someone else?......hope you realize the Nigerian President is the Highest Political seat in Africa....not Nigeria......Africa.

guvnor02:
...Continuation...

Q: What role did you play in the presidential election of MKO Abiola?
A: We worked hard for Yar’Adua. The SDP platform and the Yar’Adua machine were a phenomenon at that particular time. We had won the majority in the National Assembly. I wanted to become the Senate President because we secured all the seats in the West and we had 15 senators and Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim, a brilliant politician, mobilised some of the senators in the North; Chuba Okadigbo in the East and Albert Legogie in the so-called South-South. Iyorchia Ayu of the Middle-Belt was very active at that particular time. We had good leaders. Olu Falae was in contention, Biyi Durojaiye also.

We had Olusegun Osoba and the rest of them as governors then. We didn’t pay attention to Lagos and didn’t miss anything. We were not looking at any governor to be politically involved. I was just running my vision. I put my talents into being a strategist and I had got the endorsement of 38 out of the 56 senators belonging to the SDP to become the Senate President. So when the leadership caucus of the party met, the problem of the late Yar’Adua and others had crystallised.

It was then believed that Falae or anyone else among the presidential contenders would be the party’s flag bearer after the disqualification of Yar’Adua. They banned the old politicians and asked that the new breed should come forward. Falae, Olabiyi Durojaiye and others were clamouring that the opportunity should be given to the West. Yar’Adua was very consistent about the South-West and the North-West working together. I was confronted in Abuja, because I was already prepared to be the Senate President. I had 15 senators with me and had gotten the endorsement of the majority of other senators. Senators Kanti Bello (he was my partner in the struggle), Kazaure, Kashim Ibrahim, Lawan Buba, Mogaji Abdullahi and a host of others had already formed a caucus that would work for my emergence as the Senate President.

When we met at the leadership level, the late M.S Buhari asked us if we could honestly say that we must take the senate presidency? Okadigbo might be interested and would rather have the East produce the Senate President; the North, the Vice-President; and the presidency in the South-West because they had blocked Yar’Adua.

My position was that a bird in hand cannot fly away; you have to tie it properly. As if it was a prediction that I had seen, that thing was a banner headline on The Punch’s front page at that time. I was adamant. Falae, Durojaiye and the rest of them came to me and said that the leadership of South-West would want the presidency and we could not take the two positions.

We had to make a sacrifice. My position was then that if your child would go to the class and come first among 30 students, to whom do you give the best prize in the house?

At the stage, I said I wanted to become Senate President, they said I should review my ambition. I made them realise that out of our 15 senators, the North-Central contributed 12 senators, so I said there must be a reward system for the support and loyalty. I told them that if I were to give up the ambition, the position must go to the zone that contributed the highest number of senators to my support base.

Ayu was among the 38. Meanwhile, A.T Ahmed was on the other side. We had internal caucuses and out of 56, 38 of us bonded together. A.T Ahmed and Okadigbo wanted to be senate president. But it was being rumoured in the newspapers that Babangida wanted to remain in power and that Bola Tinubu – because of IBB’s closeness to our family – would be one of those that would be used for IBB to stay. They didn’t know what I stood for. I was laughing.

We were saying the military must exit and we were angry because Yar’Adua had been disqualified. We didn’t even want IBB to stay.

While that was on, Abiola came onto the scene and showed interest in the presidency. Suddenly, I found him in my hotel room with Jubril Martins-Kuye. I realised he was an accountant like myself and I told him he had been severally abused for being anti-Awolowo. He said no, and that he would go to Ikenne.

I told him that he should forget it if he was anti-Awolowo. When you talked to MKO about the country, you saw his vision and everything. If you were well educated and serious about the country, you would be convinced that he meant well. If you were to do an analysis about who was likely to be less corrupt and whose vision would be consistent for the nation, then you would agree with MKO.

We made Ayu the Senate President. Yar’Adua and Atiku got along with us on the choice of Ayu, while Kingibe was very flexible on it. We warned them that we would concede it to the NRC if they refused to let us choose our candidate since they would not be there with us. That was how Ayu won and I became one of the most powerful and influential senators. I was the chairman of the Appropriation, Finance, Banking and two other committees in the Senate.

We started working for MKO to emerge the candidate and we worked hard for him. My corporate experience and the strategic planning I had was brought to bear on what I was doing at the time.

Q: Babangida wanted to use the Senate to stay. How did the Senate respond to that?
A: Ayu, myself and some others knew what the military was up to. The military is politically smart. Don’t underestimate any military officer when it comes to gathering information on any activity. We got wind of their plan and we took a very strong position that the military had to hand over. Equally, the pressure from the media against the continued stay of the military in power was strong. The wind of change was blowing in the direction of a civilian government.

Bagangida made several promises and even declared in a broadcast that the military would disengage from politics in August 1993 and would hand over to a democratically elected president.

So, we strategised and organised a successful joint session of the National Assembly to reach a resolution against military stay. It was very auspicious at the time, because no president had emerged. The NRC and the SDP agreed that they wanted the military to go and, with no apparent successor, the political situation was fluid. In a motion moved by a House of Representatives member and supported by a senator, at the joint session of the National Assembly, it was resolved that the military must hand over to a democratically elected civilian president by August.

The Senate President allowed robust contributions from members at the session, which was devoid of party sentiments and affiliations, and we all jointly agreed to the resolution. That was in 1992, before the presidential election in 1993. Both SDP and NRC were expecting victory. We just wanted a civilian government in place. The resolution was seriously binding because the Babangida administration would have no moral authority to stay, though there were talks about diarchy. It just had to go. So when eventually they brought no-go areas and restricted legislators from discussing certain issues, we went to court.

We were determined that democracy must be instituted in the country and that it could not be headed by any military man.

To be honest with you, Ayu was a good leader. I believe I was the only person with computer literacy and I had a big Toshiba laptop and I was churning out all sort of media releases against the continuation of military administration. It was a challenging period for this country and the international community held on to that resolution.

TO BE CONTINUE...

There is no need to continue, this piece is quite sufficient, we are anxiously waiting for 29/05/2023 to witness the swearing in ceremony of BAT, all hail our next president

With this insight.....it's clear this man is way way ahead of his contemporaries.

Although this doesn't feel like an interview but a memoir, I am impressed with how He sees and handled issues, even in the face of death he held on to his beliefs and convictions, that's the hallmark of a leader.

One thing is clear, the Tinubu of that time is definitely not the same Tinubu of today but I guess he is wiser now and he understands power. Part of me feels he is trying to avoiding the curse of a king maker which is that they can never become King no Matter how hard they try.





BTW I'm waiting to hear his side of the story as regards the rumour that he betrayed Abiola and Nadeco.
Waiting patiently.

nthony10:
Although this doesn't feel like an interview but a memoir, I am impressed with how He sees and handled issues, even in the face of death he held on to his beliefs and convictions, that's the hallmark of a leader.

One thing is clear, the Tinubu of that time is definitely not the same Tinubu of today but I guess he is wiser now and he understands power. Part of me feels he is trying to avoiding the curse of a king maker which is that they can never become King no Matter how hard they try.





BTW I'm waiting to hear his side of the story as regards the rumour that he betrayed Abiola and Nadeco.
Waiting patiently.

The full version is here

https://www.thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/03/29/tinubu-my-struggles-through-life/

leokid866:
.
If you could be president, and I'm sure you have dreamed about it, would you step aside for someone else?......hope you realize the Nigerian President is the Highest Political seat in Africa....not Nigeria......Africa.

l can see you and Tinubu share some genetic coding, which is greed, see his reputation is too dented for presidential position, it is better he save his image as a kingmaker and still remain relevant than cook himself in a pot of shame.

techmo:


The full version is here

https://www.thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/03/29/tinubu-my-struggles-through-life/

Bless your heart mate.

viyon02:
l can see you and Tinubu share some genetic coding, which is greed, see his reputation is too dented for presidential position, it is better he save his image as a kingmaker and still remain relevant than cook himself in a pot of shame.

please explain yourself on his dented image? he has never been to jail, he is an academic who has worked with Deliotte and Mobil, a Senator, two time Governor that showed the rest of Nigeria you don't have to suck up to the center, demystified Obasanjo, everyone who has come across him has prospered from Osinbajo to El-rufia and everyone in between, the current prosperity Lagos enjoys can be traced back to his tenure as a governor, he has been out of office for 12 years plus and has remained relevant politically. Where in all this is the dented image?

Akiara:
[s][/s]DEM DON START AGAIN.....DEM SUPPORT BUHARI ...HUNGER, IGBO MALTREATMENT AND INSECURITY EVERYWHERE

NOW THEY ARE CHAMPIONING THIEFNYBUUU BECAUSE OF ETHNICITY AND IGBO MALTREATMENT...

THAT IS HOW THE CHAMPIONED ABIOLA----FAILED

THAT IS HOW THEY CHAMPIONED AWOLOWO-----FAILED

NOW ITS Tinubu-------FAILURE SURE!!!

WHEN A PEOPLE THAT CLAIM TO BE EDUCATED REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKES ON A REGULAR IT MEANS THAT THEY ARE EITHER WIVES...SLAVES OR EXTREMELY FOOLISH.

EVERYBODY IGBO DONT SUPPORT TURN OUT TO BE REAL DISAPPOINTMENTS......BUHARI CASE STUDY!!

BUHARI USED IGBO "VICE PRESIDENTIAL" CANDIDATES TWO TIMES AND FAILED.......IGBO PEOPLE REJECT AM.

EVEN BEFORE HE CHOSE THE FAKE PASTOR OSIBANDE

IGBO PEOPLE WILL NEVER SUPPORT Tinubu EVEN IF HE IS IGBO.

THEY KNOW A VERY BAD MARKET...
[s][/s]

They can go to hell with their useless 5% votes

viyon02:
I know there is connection between Ibb and this devil's incarnate. Ibb is enjoying all what he has ever done ( i.e halve of his body paralyzed with stroke and guilty conscience) don't worry yours will be more horrible, it is just the matter of time. No one can beat the law of karma.

The Haters have arrived

Fahdiga:
All this long epistle from the Pablo Escoba of Nigeria himself. to what end if I may ask? does this Opolo eyed thief think all this propaganda will make him president? talk about a desperate man with his inordinate ambition

Elections aren't won by abuses/insults on social media.

Fahdiga:
What do you benefit from all this blind support if I may ask?

What exactly do you benefit from this blind hatred for Tinubu if I may ask?
He only wants to contest, it's not compulsory that you vote for him. You can vote for Atiku.

November1857:

Tinubu is apparently suffering from a protracted case of mental illness or battle with accasional fits of schizophrenia which manifest in his speech..

Instead advising him to staying of politics and take care of his Heath, you're here supporting mediocrity..

But he has a right to support whoever he likes.

viyon02:
ok let me give you one, cost of transportation is high because of his boys (agbero) in the street of Lagos and other neighboring states: and his daughter iyaloja do collect handsome amount of money from market women.

So you think Agberos started existing in Lagos because of Tinubu or they are only in Lagos?
Is Tinubu also the cause of Agberos in Onitsha, Aba and Lokoja?

viyon02:
Tinubu is the Oga of the agberos in Nigeria all money gotten must be given render to him

Okay, so it's no longer in Lagos but the whole of Nigeria? Any evidence of this assumption/declaration?

oyatz:

What exactly do you benefit from this blind hatred for Tinubu if I may ask?
He only wants to contest, it's not compulsory that you vote for him. You can vote for Atiku.

So speaking the truth now means hatred according to you

guvnor02:
“My struggles through life” - Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT)

Q:How did you join politics?
A: We decide to support Sarumi Gradually, I moved from raising funds to getting involved. I brought some money to Nigeria out of my dividends. I was comfortable because my investments in America and London were already yielding dividends. Then came the crisis leading to the ban of Professor Femi Agbalajobi and Chief Dapo Sarumi. I threw my weight behind Yomi Edu.

He lost the election and our group was devastated. I went to Ahmadu Abubakar and IBB. I wrote a report and I was strongly against the Structural Adjustment Programme introduced by the military government. The idea of the new generation banks came from those reports. Abubakar, from being a permanent secretary, became Minister of Finance.

IBB saw the significance of the advice as well as the short, medium and long term vision that were in the report. That man was great. He was a good listener. You could think with him. He is still alive. This probe of NNPC dates back to those periods. You can give the NNPC a bank draft for 120 days and you will still be using that money!

They started touting the idea that intelligent, brilliant and dynamic people like me should be in the Senate and must change Nigeria. The idea gradually started coming into my head. People like Kola Oseni, Alhaji Hamzat, Busurat Alebiosu, Demola Adeniji-Adele, Prince Olusi, who were members of the Primrose Group at that time, started persuading me to go to the Senate.

The Primrose Group was piling so much pressure on Alhaji Kola Oseni to persuade me.

The MD of Mobil, Bob Parker, thought I was crazy when I told him I wanted to join politics. I also told the Finance Director, Akinyelure, that I wanted to join politics and use my brain for my country and that I couldn’t continue to be an armchair critic.

The two of them could not believe what I said. They said, given my career path in Mobil, if there was any chance of anybody becoming something there, then I would be the one. I stood my ground and said I would give it a try.
I told them that people do it in America and Bob Parker agreed.

They said they would give me a leave of absence for four years, during which they would not fill my position. They later said that they would not stop me because it would rub off positively on them if I became successful in politics.

They told me to come back and take my position if I found it uninteresting and unchallenging. So I contested the Lagos West Senatorial district election.

Q: Why not Lagos Central?
A: Lagos West was where our weakness was apparent. The political leaders in the Social Democratic Party just assigned Lagos West, which was the most challenging district, to me and said I had the money, personality and the wherewithal. Lagos Central was preparing for me and they wanted me.In our group, we wanted to help Wahab Dosunmu to stay in Central, so I went to the West. It was a big battle, but I won the nomination for Lagos West.

Wahab Dosunmu got nomination for Lagos Central, but they got him disqualified. The battle was then left to Shitta-Bey, Towry-Coker and Bucknor-Akerele. Whatever happened in the primaries is history. It was a crude primary election, but a most transparent one. That was how I got into politics, which nonetheless was an adventure for me.

Q: What role did you play in the emergence of Michael Otedola of NRC?
A: I didn’t play any role. I was politically naïve, though a strategist in my own right. Those at the forefront weren’t paying attention and there were a lot of intrigues, which I had never seen before. We could have been flexible and compromised when Sarumi and the late Femi Agbalajobi were disqualified, leaving Yomi Edu.

There were two groups then. Baba Kekere (Alhaji Lateef Jakande) would call them “ase”. I recommended that we should have given them the deputy governorship slot.
Democracy is about conflict and conflict resolution.

Otedola would not have emerged if each side had yielded. We found out later that some people who didn’t mean well didn’t want Yomi Edu to get there. If they wanted, they would have allowed flexibility and compromise.

The late Prince Adeniyi tried so hard to resolve the impasse up till the night before the election. The impasse was unresolved and the party ended up giving Otedola a chance. I learnt a lot from that experience.

TO BE CONTINUE...

.

Keep Lying to your ewedu brain followers, Gani Fawehimi would have had you sent to KIRIKIRI Maximum prison if he was still alive
No criminal disguised in whatever form will rule Nigerian again

oyatz:


So you think Agberos started existing in Lagos because of Tinubu or they are only in Lagos?
Is Tinubu also the cause of Agberos in Onitsha, Aba and Lokoja?

.

In those places how many of the Governors have promoted touts like Tinubu?

Can identify touts associated with Fashola unlike man that are linked with Tinubu

KingOKON:
.

In those places how many of the Governors have promoted touts like Tinubu?

Can identify touts associated with Fashola unlike man that are linked with Tinubu

You are just shifting goal posts.


Who is a tour and how do you define 'association with to it's?


Listen and listen good, it's better you start wooing people to support Atiku than complaining daily that Tinubu wants to contest for the presidency of his country.

Fahdiga:
So speaking the truth now means hatred according to you

Which truth that is very partisanly and peculiarly tailored against a particular citizen in a most bias way?

Q: What country was that?
A: No, please! The African country that helped us with the diplomatic passport was showing gratitude for the help Abiola had done to its president before. So, you can make your deduction. Then, I was shuffling and coordinating our activities in the UK, Benin Republic and Cote d’Ivoire. I used the passport to travel to Cote d’Ivoire to hold meetings at the Hotel Continental, because we were planning to make another broadcast that would be aired in Nigeria. By the time I returned to the hotel, the military assailants had broken into my hotel room and taken away my briefcase and diplomatic passport. They dropped a note, saying: ‘You cannot be twice lucky.’ I was taken over by panic. Fortunately, in my back pocket, I had the photocopy of the sheet of paper on which the British had stamped a visa for me to travel out of Benin previously. I took that to the British High Commission in Abidjan. They listened to my story and asked me to come back at night. They did all their verification and found my story to be true. I returned to them and they gave me another sheet of paper and wrote the number of the flight that would take me out of that country.

But I had no money. Somebody suddenly drove in. The person is a well-known name I don’t want to mention. I met him and explained my condition. He had a traveller’s cheque, but the money was not enough. I went back to the British High Commission and the woman said she could assist me with her own personal money to bridge the shortfall in cash.

We founded and coordinated Radio Kudirat and Radio Freedom and we continued to organise. I didn’t see my family for two good years. They were in America. Bayo Onanuga, who also was part of the struggle, joined us there in December 1997. The law of political asylum stipulates that your first country of landing and acceptance is the safe haven, so it’s not transferable.

That was how Cornelius Adebayo was stuck in a United Nations camp. My wife had to invoke a family clause that exists in America to fight for her husband to join her before they granted me a special privilege to leave UK to join my family in the United States.

Q: Where were you on 8 June 1998 when Abacha died?
A: I was shuttling between the United States and UK. We were working really hard as NADECO. We went to our NADECO meeting in the UK to finalise the second leg of the strategy to make a broadcast and enforce certain actions. Before then I was reading Jubril Aminu’s interview in The Punch, where he said Nigerians should not worry about Abacha’s transmutation into a civilian president; but they should be worried about what followed. We were persuaded during a brainstorming session that we should get nearer to Nigeria to do something about it. It was agreed that we should stop him, even if we would have to start guerrilla warfare to achieve that.

Tunde Olowu had been with me in my flat for a couple of weeks and on the night Abacha died, we were just eating when a phone call came through that Abacha had died. We could not believe it until we saw on TV his body being taken out in a van. And that changed the texture of the struggle. Suddenly, there was this news, announcing General Abdulsalami Abubakar as the head of state. We started analysing General Abubakar.

I wish to state that out of all the military generals I met through Abiola while he was lobbying for the restoration of his mandate, Abubakar was the most sincere and straightforward. He pointedly told Abiola that no military officer would want to help him to realise his mandate, unless the military general wanted to get himself into trouble. While other generals we had met lied, Abdusalami was different. He simply said: ‘Look, I am a professional soldier and I want to retire a general. I don’t want to be involved in politics. I cannot help you. I don’t want to be involved.’

When we heard that he was the head of state, I challenged the rest of us to interrogate Abubakar’s sincerity. Good enough, he was straight-forward. When we met him, he told us that he wasn’t going to spend more than nine months because he was not interested. He promised he was going to pardon us and urged us to return to the country. That was the situation of things before the death of Abiola.

So, we were coordinating with Abraham Adesanya and the rest of them, who were on ground here. They sought and we granted them our permission to meet with and size up Abubakar. So, they honoured his invitation. He sent people to us and there was a strong debate, which nearly divided the group, whether or not we should return. The suspicion around Abubakar arose because of the manner of people they saw around him, including Major Hamza al-Mustapha. Some people within our group felt that we should evaluate the situation carefully and not look at isolated occurrences. A big debate ensued after his announcement that he had granted pardon to those of us who had been declared wanted. There were a lot of intervening incidents that I cannot publicly discuss.

Q: When you returned from exile, how did the idea of Lagos governorship arise?
A: Myself, Beko, Fasehun and others met. The death of Abiola was quite devastating for us and we debated whether or not to return. We also examined whether or not there was a conspiracy surrounding Abiola’s death. There were so many questions being asked at the same time. The previous elections contested by Abacha’s five political parties got me seriously worried. After giving it serious thought, we decided that we were not going to declare war against our people, but that we should believe Abubukar by returning home to participate. At a meeting presided over by Enahoro, I told them that I would want to return to my mother because I missed her badly. He said no one could stop me if that was the case. The military, in my absence, broke her soak-away, believing that I kept guns there; carted away the generating set and cut our land (telephone) line.

I came home with three pairs of trousers and three jackets. But because I gave her notice and some other people noticed that I was arriving, unknown to me, they had mobilised people to welcome me. I was shocked at the huge crowd when I got to the airport. I was carried shoulder-high. That was the day I was totally convinced that Nigerians could be very honest, if they care about you. Because as they carried me, my ticket, passport and 2,000 pounds sterling fell from my inner jacket. I didn’t know they had fallen off because I was carried away by the euphoria of the crowd. I didn’t know how they got to Sunday Adigun. At night, they told me someone was looking for me, but because the people around me didn’t believe that danger had finally cleared, they prevented the person. But he insisted that he would not give it to anybody and showed them my passport. So they allowed him and he handed everything to me.

Meanwhile, I had no Victoria Island home to return to. It had been taken over by Abacha. They dispossessed me of the house, as well as my office on Saka Tinubu Street. My vehicles and everything else I owned. They claimed they found bombs in it and dispossessed me of it. I was totally cleaned out. I had only five shirts, the 2000 pounds and the jackets. Before then, Akinyelure came to America, looking for me, with one briefcase. He was detained for four hours by the immigration because they were wondering how someone could come to America with one briefcase. They didn’t let him off until they contacted Mobil and Mobil confirmed him as an ex-employee. He didn’t get to my house till about 3 O’clock. He told me I had to come to Nigeria even if I wouldn’t participate. But he said I should participate. I got back home and each time I moved out, people would shout ‘Governor’.

The day I went to our group’s meeting, they were to decide who to endorse among Wahab Dosunmu, Shitta-Bey and others. They asked me if I was interested and I asked them to give me two weeks to go round since I was just returning. Alhaji Hamzat was there. The chairman at our group’s meeting on that day said they would grant me the two weeks. So I started moving round. My late sister got me some clothes to wear, whether they fitted me or not. I went to Mushin, Agege and other places and people were hailing me as ‘Governor’ and urging me to run. On my first tour of my senatorial district, people were saying governor. Even people who had gone to another party started coming back into the Alliance for Democracy, AD, and that was how I decided I would run. People in Lagos West, East and Central said: ‘You must run for governorship.’

Q: You spent eight years in government, what will you consider your best legacy?
A: My best legacy is the financial engineering of Lagos State, especially to bring financial autonomy to Lagos State and eliminate wastage and mismanagement. That was just one aspect of it. My greatest legacy is Governor Babatunde Fashola. I identified and endorsed him. That was when my corporate background as a recruiter and talent seeker for Deloitte came to play. Part of the training when you go on operational audit is that the first thing you evaluate are the personnel and the questionnaire given to them and how they answer it. You look at the ability of individuals to really take and develop others. There is nothing unique about any leadership. Everybody can come up with different ideas.

You can take different routes and arrive at the same answer. No matter how much steel and metal you put together, the greatest achievement and legacy is the ability to develop other leaders who can succeed you, otherwise your legacy will be in shambles. It was a very difficult and challenging period for me. I thank God I stuck to my guns.

Q: You waged several battles against Obasanjo on issues like fiscal federalism, seizure of local council funds etc. Which of these wars did you consider the hottest?
A: If I have to rank them, I think the creation of the local governments was my favourite because the processes are clearly stated and well articulated in the constitution. And if you do all of that and comply with the constitutional requirements, then you should not be denied. I believe in true federalism. I believe in local government administration, which I think is a service centre for the state. The constitution is clear. It is a misnomer to even think that there are three tiers of government in a federal system of government. There are only two – the state and the federal. It is because the constitution was put together by a group of military people, who believe in command and control that we have this kind of anomaly.

They tinkered with it and they tailored it in a way that would suit a unitary system and I believe that was the problem. We still don’t have a constitution of ‘we the people’. The battle was not personally directed at Obasanjo.

Q: Let’s move to matters personal. How did you meet your wife?
A: Through a dating agency! On a serious note, it was through a family connection.

Q: How many hearts did you break?
A: I don’t know, because I don’t look back and I am not a psychologist or medical expert to test for broken hearts and emotional instability. You pray for luck. Sincerely, you don’t know whether my own heart was broken, too. I am a very lucky person and it was through family connection that I met my wife. It is true that I had many dates. Until I met her, I didn’t even want to be married because I loved my freedom. I had also been disappointed along the line, my expectations dashed. I was going to be totally free before I met Remi. She was innocent, homely and very quiet. I was surprised by her manners and I was hooked.

I was a DJ to my friends. I love music and my house was a boys’ rendezvous. Remi used to cook for all of us. She is the best woman I ever met and fully endorsed by all my friends. They were very close. My friends said: ‘Bola, you now have a woman and you have to settle down.’

I was a successful corporate person. She is totally urbane and seriously committed to my professionalism and career. I met somebody who enhanced the value of my life.

Q: Who was your favourite musician then, and now?
A: I was interested in music. I enjoy music, from the days of James Brown. I told you I followed Roy Chicago to Ado-Ekiti, without knowing. I was just lucky. God just made me a professional because I could have ended up with the late Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister! We used to follow him about for were during the Ramadan, to the extent that I would be locked out. Whenever there was competition around Lagos Island or anywhere, we were always there. There was always the possibility of violence because of the competition.

But when I was an in-house DJ, not commercial DJ. Teddy Pendergrass was my favourite and I kept myself updated on the music scene in America. You don’t have music now. You now have O foka sibe, O gbona feli feli. I love listening to jazz a lot.

Q: What is your favourite food?
A: Amala and ewedu. But to be honest with you, I love rice. Rice first, amala second. I don’t like eba that much. In any form at all, I can eat rice three times a day.

Q: People say Asiwaju is the richest Yoruba man. How rich are you?
A: If you are talking in monetary terms, it is a lie. But I want them to continue to believe that I am rich. The fact is that I cannot prepare for my death. I want to live long and I believe in people and I believe in sharing. So, whatever you ascribe to me in terms of wealth is your own imagination. I will not do two cheques – one to the Central Bank of Heaven and the other one to the Central Bank of Hell – cashable when I am dead. The money will remain here. I don’t want to be greedy, but frugal with the little I have and be contented. There are certain things they can’t dispute and one of these is that I wasn’t a poor man when I joined politics. I financed the struggle during the NADECO days. Before the NADECO days, I financed political goals and aspirations. I financed political groups and individuals.

No matter how you dream, it is empty without financial success. If you have no concrete financial progress for a state or an entity, it will not endure. I have not taken Lagos to bankruptcy. It was bankrupt before I took over, I turned it into a success within my two-terms as governor. It had existed for so long before I became governor.

During my tenure, former President Olusegun Obasanjo described Lagos as an urban jungle and uninhabitable. But he chose to celebrate his 75th birthday in Lagos! There was a dispute on the Bar Beach during my tenure, but if I didn’t rigidly follow my vision and my belief in Lagos State, Victoria Island would have been submerged.

oyatz:


You are just shifting goal posts.


Who is a tour and how do you define 'association with to it's?


Listen and listen good, it's better you start wooing people to support Atiku than complaining daily that Tinubu wants to contest for the presidency of his country.

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Close ya mouth, this is operation Tinubu goes to Kirikiri prison