Interviews
‘My JUNE 12 Story’ -Abimbola Davis
There is no way you want to talk about Nigeria and its democracy that you will not mention June 12, and there is no way you will mention June 12 that you will fail to remember Otunba Abimbola Davis, why? He was part of the dramatis personae of the play that shaped the political history of this country. He has a story to tell and that was what he did some days ago when he divulged all that transpired and which many didn’t know during the historic June 12 era…
Otunba, you have become silent these days. What has been happening to you?
It is the same thing that has been happening to you that has been happening to me, nothing serious. I have been concentrating on my business and my life, maybe. That is it.
What have you been doing and what are you doing right now?
I’ve been doing quite a lot of things, I’ve been busy. You know I represent a section of the royal family of Dubai in West Africa, consulting for them in both the business and political angles and my company, Capital 3 has been doing a lot of consultancy services, what we call structural consultancy and we have been developing businesses for a couple of organizations as in retail businesses. That’s all.
The name Otunba Abimbola Davies is one that comes to mind any time the June 12 1993 election is spoken about. When you cast your mind back, how do you feel about the actions you took back then?
The same way! Nothing is bad and nothing is good, things are the same. It depends on the way you see them.
What was actually on your mind back then? What did you have against the conduct of the election?
Not the conduct of the election. You have actually mixed records. I had nothing against the election, I had something to do with the process entirely and the project itself is whether I wanted the election to happen or whether I wanted it not to happen. It had nothing to do with Abiola so you have to get that straight.
Otunba, can you shed more light on what happened?
How did you come about what happened, when somebody was telling about the history now? Go and find out what happened
So that the records can be set straight…
There are many ways to tell a story. Let’s put it this way, the first question asked is what I had against and I was trying to tell you that I had nothing against the elections. Abiola was not even in the picture. ABN was just about looking at Nigeria, looking at the politicians. I don’t know if you are comfortable and happy with what the politicians are doing in the country today. So if you have to juxtapose that with what happened then, then you will now justify whether we were right to say the military should go on then.
Now, I don’t want the military again but the point is that you had people that were just not reliable. You had people there that were not out to do something good for the country and we were saying we don’t want these people. Apart from the personal ambition of General Badamasi Babangida or my own personal ambition, the truth remains that one was just not comfortable with the events of that period. Simple.
Abiola came in and Abiola was just a child of circumstance. And even at that period that we are talking about, you have to realize and remember that primary elections of two parties actually took place and those two were cancelled and the same Abiola was actually out supporting the military as at that time. He went to France, he was doing that. It was Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Femi Falana that even attacked him at that period that he, Abiola shouldn’t have been doing that. And when Abiola came out everybody believed that he was actually Babangida’s lackey because they were friends and even recently in the book written by Dan Agbese about Babangida, that fact was further established. Babangida said he gave Abiola N35 million. Who is supporting who really? Who really was the betrayer? Was it Babangida or was it Abiola? There are so many things both of them should shed light on. Abiola is not in the position to talk about them now but there is quite a lot that IBB needs to talk about that he has really been shying away from. So the truth that I will say clearly here is that nobody was against Abiola or the election. It was against the process. But the process consumed every other thing.
Now, back to your question about what happened during June 12, I will advise our youths to try and study this part of Nigerian history, because some of them don’t even know, they should check it on Google. They will have more facts about that. Otherwise, they should wait till next month when my book on June 12 will be out.
Do you regret any role you played then?
I am a man, I am also human. It is only someone with no feelings that will tell you there is nothing he regrets. I have certain things I will repeat all over again, yet I have certain things I will pray to God not to happen again. When you look at the issue of June 12, it was a court process and everybody expected you to go back to court even if you feel otherwise about a particular group’s action.
Now, when people took to the streets and they were burning things, fighting here and there, some people lost their lives, some people were maimed, and then it became regrettable. That is my thinking. It was not meant to be something everybody would go all out and start fighting for, kill each other. Like I said in my book, I have taken up one or two lawyers on, even a judge – at one time that a judgment was given by a High Court in Abuja and a court of equal jurisdiction took another position on the same thing. I now asked ‘is that the normal thing that ought to happen?’ He said ‘no’ that was not supposed to have happened. They were supposed to have gone to a court of higher jurisdiction to set that judgment aside. But they did not and I remember very well that day that it was not the judge that wanted to give judgment that day. It was actually Femi Falana and Late Chief Fani-Kayode who appeared as amicus curiae in the court that day that requested the judge to actually give the judgment no matter how late so that they would be able to file an appeal in case one of the parties loses. That was when Justice Bassey Ita-Ikpeme decided to give her judgment. The judgment was given around 7.30 p.m. That is to show you the little clique that controls the media, the way they can use it for or against. Then they called the woman “the Midnight Judge”. The woman that was turned to a midnight judge was the creation of Late Chief Fani-Kayode SAN and Femi Falana who is my friend and brother.
The power and the influence you wielded back then led to insinuations that you were ‘being used’ by the powers that be. Who were you fronting for then?
I will answer you this way; I will rather be an errand boy to a king than an errand boy to my peers. It has answered it.
Who were your peers that time?
Ah, think about my age mates (general laughter). I will rather be an errand boy to a President than to a Commissioner. It is a very simple point. If that is what you are saying that I was being used by Babangida, you better come straight. I will rather be an errand boy to Buhari than to anybody I know I am more brilliant than, or someone I have been more blessed than in all faculties. So I will now be an errand boy to the person because he has money? No. I will rather be an errand boy to the President, not to a Governor anyway.
At a time, you left Nigeria. Where did you go? Why did you come back?
Is Nigeria not my country? Or what are you asking me? Good you have also traveled out of the country at one time or the other, so why did you come back? (asks reporter)
Okay, where did you go and why did you leave? I mean when you went on exile?
Oh, you should have said when I went on exile, they believe it was only people like Tinubu that went on exile and Tinubu was abroad before he was met in exile by others but people always believed it was only people like that that went on exile. Why did I go on exile in the first instance? Because I decided to support MKO Abiola like any other person and it was a risk. My life was at stake; so many people were arrested after I left. So I was in the Republic of Benin where Chief Alao-Aka Bashorun was and I traveled outside the country once in a while just monitoring. Then at a stage I felt that the agreement between me and Abiola was not being followed. What Abiola ought to have done, what we agreed upon was not being followed. You will read all of them in my book. What he was supposed to have done at that time, he ought to have declared himself the President earlier, during Babangida’s time.
Babangida wouldn’t have arrested him. That would have empowered him. That was the promise he made. He didn’t fulfill it. Then when I was in exile, so many things started happening. I was in constant contact with two people, MKO Abiola and Kudirat Abiola and in the course of that, I told them, look what you are doing is still wrong. There are ways you can still go about it.
So I told them, look, I will come to Nigeria because I am going to take another risk and I said that risk is like a sacrifice. She, that is, Kudirat said what is it? I said I will not say it on phone. So I came to Nigeria. Isiaka Adeleke was the Governor in Osun State then, he lodged me at their Liaison Office at Cooper Road and I went to see Chief Gani Fawehinmi the following day. Beko was there, Seye Kehinde was there, Seye was then with Tempo Magazine. Seye was the only one that I allowed to interview me later and that is why I still trust him because Seye made a promise saying ‘I will not disclose your location, but I will tell them I interviewed you in Nigeria’. If Seye had wanted to fix me, he would have fixed me easily. But Seye kept that part of the bargain. That is why till today, I still see him as my good junior brother. I now came in, I told Gani Fawehinmi why I came back to Nigeria because Gani was shocked, he said ‘ah ah! Why are you here? Have you swallowed a crystal ball or what?’ I said no, Egbon, I am here because this battle is not being fought the right way and you have lost so much. Now I will do something, I am ready to go back to court, file a paper that all the documents we used then were fake, that we were tricked into doing it. The moment that happens, you fix it in a court in Lagos, get judgment, I will stand by it, then Abiola can declare himself President. If you are using a court of equal jurisdiction, let’s use it, this is a new case entirely, not that particular one.
He asked if I had discussed it with Abiola, I said no. So I went to see Abiola. Abiola was totally against it. He said ‘your life is at risk, I still want you, when I become the President, I want you to be an Ambassador, I have discussed with people severally and I know you are very intelligent. I need somebody like you around. I said sir, let me do it. We didn’t resolve it, but by the time I met with Chief Gani Fawehinmi, maybe Abiola had told him not to do it, I realized Chief Gani Fawehinmi at his Anthony Village office was already like this, like that. At the end of the day, I left. As at that time, Shonekan was in government, Isiaka Adeleke told me they were making some moves and that before the end of the week, something would happen. So I came to Ibadan. He also asked me to stay at the Premier Hotel; he was paying for where I was so they didn’t take anybody for the whole of the wing of that floor. So while I was there, when I realized that Chief Gani Fawehinmi was not moving forward, I went to Baba Afe Babalola. I was in Baba Afe Babalola’s office, we were perfecting our discussion when I got a call and the person told me, ‘don’t go back to the hotel, Abacha has just taken over’. As I was dropping the phone to tell Baba, his phone also rang and they told him what was happening. I left.
Instead of going away, I went to the same hotel. Where they said I should not go, I did not run. I went to the hotel and I called Kudirat. We always joked, I said ‘my sis, see what is happening o’ . She said ‘ah, we are aware now’. I said ‘if you have not reached any serious understanding with this man, declare now. Don’t allow Abacha to settle down. The moment he settles down, you will lose. There is no military man that will take over government and hand over to you. She said to me ‘ah, Bimbola, if they try, this country will be divided into six regions’. I said ‘I will call you after this time’. Then Alhaji Adedibu came to my hotel, we had a discussion, he felt the same way I was feeling that that was the right thing. At the end of the day, a decision was taken; it was late before Abiola could do what he did. And by the time he was doing it, the man had settled down. So the purpose for which I came to the country was also defeated.
Come to think of it, after that period, so many people have asked me to join politics. There are so many ABN men in Nigerian government. What are we even talking about? There are quite a lot of them. How many ABN have been created after that period? Even in the name of so called political parties.
I was going to ask sir that a lot of people that identified with Chief Abiola have been compensated…
(Cuts in) Even those who were very close to Abacha. Who was Baba Gana Kingibe close to? Didn’t Baba Gana Kingibe write a letter to Abiola that he should relinquish that post? I can give you a copy of the letter if you want. He wrote it that he should relinquish and forget about it. Who was he working for? Who was Anenih working for? Iyorchia Ayu, I think it was Iyorchia that really faced some problems. What about the House of Assembly that passed a resolution that Babangida should stay back? What about the governors that wrote a letter and said ‘our dear father’ to Abacha?
Let a Governor come out and tell me that he was not part of that plot letter. ‘Our dear father’. When a Governor is calling the President ‘dear father’. Some of them were older than him.
Where were you and how did you feel when you heard that Chief Abiola died?
I was actually in Lagos and when I heard that Abiola was dead, I was like that, it is not possible, because I used to speak to Jamiu (Kudirat’s son) often. Everybody was expecting him to come back when it happened and we were just like what is all this? To be honest, I became very close to Abiola, closer than many people claiming to be Abiola’s friends today. He discussed tough things with me during that period, he availed me his diary, he spoke to me about individuals.
When you climb his wing of the house, after the staircase, when you enter, there is this private room he has by the left, like a study. It is not the one in which he has all these awards everywhere. This one is a bit dark. We would sit down there and talk for long periods of time. At times he would just call like that and say “Bimbola, moferi e o”(Bimbola, I want to see you) because I would tell him what he was not ready to hear as it was. I remember one of such things was that Primate Olabayo predicted that he would win but he would lose, except he could pray so that he would not die. So I drew his attention to it and he said ‘okay, I will think about it’. As soon as I got to Ibadan, he called me, ‘Bimbola omooba, come back, I need to see you’. So I had to turn back to Lagos. I got to his place around 9 O’clock that night. So many people were there at the end of the day he said I should just go somewhere. I saw him around 2am, so he told me I should see him the following day by 4. I saw him; he said I should find a way of bringing Primate Olabayo, so I went to Primate Olabayo. He can confirm this, he lived at Ilupeju then. I went to him, I knelt down, he prayed and he even predicted some things about me that came to pass and he said ‘the Lord I serve has not directed me to go to any politician’s house or any billionaire’s house”, that he has predicted, he has told him what God asked him to tell him. He said if he thinks it is important, he should come to either his church or his house. I went back, I told Alhaja Kudirat, Kudi said ‘how do we get Bashorun to do it?’ I said we have to do it. I went to Bashorun again and said this is what the man said we should do. He said ‘okay, we will find time to do it.’ He never did.
I was the one who moved the Agbekoyas in Ibadan. All those things you heard aboutAgbekoya in Ibadan, I was the one behind it then. Some people will be talking about June 12, I might have been against first, just as there were people in PDP that crossed to APC. So what is different about me crossing from anti to pro? That is the truth.
You haven’t pointed out how you felt when you heard that Abiola died.
I was sad that Abiola died. I just told you how close I was to Abiola and how close I was to Kudirat. We were so close that when Abiola was in detention, I was actually taking food to Kudirat’s house. I would buy food in bulk and take it there. The popular designer, David Kolawole, Dakova’s mum can confirm this. I used to meet the woman there.
Few weeks before Kudirat died, I actually warned her. In front of people, I said ‘many people that sit down here, they only come to hear information. What are they contributing? Be careful.’ I didn’t know that she was going to die.
You proposed a substitute to the transition process then, how would you have felt if that substitute had scaled through?
That would have been a subsidy (laughs). Everything anybody does, we should always believe there is one interest or the other. I had my own interest, I believed it was what was good for the country, I believed strongly that the politicians then were not ready, they were not prepared, they were not together. But what happened then was far better than what happened thereafter, the way politicians were behaving and all that. Then you will thank God that you had the politicians of that time instead of these ones because they didn’t steal with impunity. Even when they stole, they were careful because the military could pick them. So they were very careful.
I think with time, because everything is about learning. I think it is a learning process. With the change that has just happened, I believe if we could vote a sitting President out of office, then our democracy is actually developing and I believe at one time or the other, it will have a firm root.
Now that you have delved into it, let’s have your assessment of the Nigerian democracy over the last 16 years.
It’s growing. I think democracy is growing.
You just said the politicians then were not ready. Can you say today’s politicians are ready?
They are ready now for their pockets! They are very ready now. It is even paying, they are getting the dividends. You see, we have a country that at times when you look at it, you will feel sorry for the people in it, you will feel sorry for yourself.
And I realized that Nigerians, they might have suffered for 10 years, not eating, managing rubbish and suddenly, when they get food for one day that should last for another ten or twenty years, they will forget about the twenty years and eat it at a go. That is what is happening in Nigeria. It is not as if we don’t have intelligent people but we don’t give room for people that are intelligent to operate.
Then at times, one would want to trust the military because when they say ‘we will do’, they will do. I remember Baba Adedibu told me a story, he said during the First Republic, if a politician gives you a note to a Minister that they had two types of notes. One is ‘the bearer is from me’, that immediately you take it to him, they know that they are not to waste their time. But there is also one that says “and please revert back”. He said that means they want you to do something.
It is only in Nigeria that you have the Ade Bendels and those other people and you are ready to kill them because they are 419, then you have a pen robber that has stolen billions and has devised so many things including the lawyers that can go technical to ensure that the judgment is not delivered through technicalities and the lawyers will tell you that they are doing their jobs. And the truth is they are doing their jobs.
You said earlier that you were invited to join politics. Why aren’t you into active politics now?
Why must all of us be in politics? I don’t think it is right. I met a pastor and he told me everybody has his own ministry. You have your ministry in the church. Maybe because you are a journalist, you can propagate the gospel in the papers through writing about salvation. Yours is to develop the choir, contribute to them, yours is for the children’s church, everybody has his ministry whereas the Pastor is the Governor of that place. The trustees form the commissioners.
The only thing that is lacking is for the government to realize the importance of the ability to discover that this person is brilliant and this person can assist the government whether he is part of the government or not.
I read Baba Obasanjo’s book, My Watch, as much as everybody can say he was talking about this and talking about that, I saw so much positivity in that book and I learnt a great deal from it. I don’t have to care if he has attacked this or attacked that person but there are some facts that are in the book. He spoke about his coming into government. When he was to establish his cabinet, he thought about spreading it to other people who he believed could do it, regardless of their party affiliation. I think that is the only problem we have in this country, the ability to recognize that somebody is intelligent or somebody is talking from a good angle. By then maybe we will not be owing eight months salaries or eighteen months salaries.
You are not actively involved in politics but you definitely belong to a side. Which side are you on politically?
The winning team.
You got married recently, let’s talk about her.
You have said I got married recently, what do you want me to say again? What is your problem? (general laughter). I married a beautiful woman, an intelligent woman, a supportive woman. Maybe I married late but the good thing is that I got married and I have been happy since. It is one of the conditions of God that you must be married.
It is usually said, especially among those who know you well that Otunba Abimbola Davis knows how to get whatever he wants anytime he does, even a court injunction at 7 p.m. How powerful are you?
Did I get a court injunction by 7 p.m? (general laughter). That is blackmail. I never (general laughter) I told you about the circumstances surrounding that. It was Femi Falana and Late Chief Fani Kayode who insisted the judge should deliver her judgment that day. How can you say that I got judgment at that period? I did not.
But let’s be humble here, I think I should thank God that there has been nothing I focused my mind on that God has not done and I think it has to do with being positive. It has to do with you thinking thoroughly believing in yourself and being ready to face challenges. As long as all those things are there, it may delay but you will always achieve it. Just like you were talking about my wife, the first day I saw her, I said you are going to be my wife. She said ‘me?’ I said you, you will soon be my wife o. And very soon she will be coming to me, ‘hello darling’ and I too will go to her and say iyawo. That is the greatest achievement so far. But to be honest, being humble, being positive and above all, trusting in God is the main thing.
Let me just joke about this, Baba Obasanjo said when he heard about Atiku wanting to be the President, that after he has said every other thing, the only thing that came to his head was that he has not said he wants to be President because he has God in the plan. Whereas Obasanjo said before he decided to contest at all, he called Pastor Adeboye and said ‘Pastor, please let us fast for three months for God to direct me’. It’s in the book, he said because Pastor has been fasting for 100 days before this period, before it was made public and they did it.
When you look back, would you say you are fulfilled?
I hate when they describe a man and they say he is a contented man. They are telling you that the man lacks ambition. Every human wants to aspire to be something. You want to aspire as far as your hands can go. But for what God has done, I am very happy but I want to say I’ll be more fulfilled when I can sit down one day and somebody will say to me how many people has God used you to uplift, I will say I don’t know the number again. Then I will know I am fulfilled but for now, I thank God for what He has done.
What was it like when you were growing up, how did you grow up and where did you grow up?
Ah! I was rascally, no doubt (general laughter). I grew up on two streets, business street and real local street. I grew up in Oniyanrin in Ibadan, Inalende area, OopoYeosa was on one side, Beere was on the other side. I am from Ibadan, born in Ibadan and I know quite a lot about growing up around that area. That time, the country was peaceful. At the back of our house, you had the Catholic Seminary College, the first Ibadan Grammar School was there, the Rediffusion at the back, then towards the right if you are facing the east, you had the Nigerian Telecommunications, that’s the telephone company at Nalende. It was a good place, that is where you have the Adebisis, the Lanlehins that is the area you have the Agbajes. I grew up in a headmaster’s house. The house was built in 1944; I am talking about an aristocratic house with nine porticos. I went to public schools. In Ibadan then, there were only two private schools, Omolewa and Alaafia or something like that. So I went to United Modern School, Inalende, Ibadan then. It was fantastic and growing up was quite exciting.
in this exclusive interview with AYOTUNDE AYANDA, the Oluwo dissects major issues in Yorubaland, his background and how he wins all his battles…
By November this year, you will be marking eight years on the throne as the Oluwo of Iwo kingdom. If there is one thing you have enjoyed about being the king of this town, what could it be?
As soon as you are made the king, you must be able to define the position you are holding and why you are being called the king. My prayer everyday on this throne is that I should be greater than my forefathers who once occupied this seat. I also pray that by the time I leave this throne, whoever is coming after me should be greater than me. When I first got on the throne, we realized that some of the things we knew were things we were made to believe but we found out that things were what they ought to be. So, the first was to challenge the status quo by asking questions and making your research.
What did you find out about the throne and what has changed in almost eight years?
We found out that kingship in Yoruba land is more spiritual than the physical. I am not the real king, the real king is actually Olodumare and Olodumare cannot be seen. Kingship is not the position of humans but one that was created by God. When you greet the king in Yoruba land, they say Kabiyesi o. So who is the Kabiyesi? I can’t be the Kabi o kosi (Unquestionable One). Olodumare is the owner of the odu, which literally means the codes of life; the owner of creation. There is nobody in history that answers that name. Olodumare simply means the one who knows where all of us are going and where it will all end. So for me, being able to define what kingship means and propagating it across the Yoruba land. Many who aspire to take the institution of kingship don’t know that they are talking the institution of God. What they don’t know is that the institution of kingship is a different one entirely and shouldn’t be compared to worshipping deities. You don’t mix God’s institution of kingship with Ogun or Obatala or Sango. But people get it wrong when people worshipping will use water to make rituals for the king is supposed to be the representation of God.
You a monarch who doesn’t believe in worshipping deities but you couldn’t have become a king without some of the traditional rituals you don’t want to have around you. Who do you worship now and do you worship it?
I worship Olodumare without having to go through Sango, Obatala or any other deities. My role as a king is to put people who are worshipping their fathers on the right track. The king does not practice all religion. The king should not be involved in any religion that needs you to pass through another god to talk to Olodumare. When kings these days want to defend this, they will say they are following what they met as tradition but I always tell them that they are following what is from the Dark Age. You must learn to correct the mistakes of your father. As a Yoruba man, I believe that tradition can be done without worshipping deities. Worshipping deities is not tradition; it is not culture. It is a religion of some people but worshipping Olodumare is the widely acceptable religion and way of life. That’s why I feel bad when I hear people calling on angels to come and rescue them or help them take their prayers to God. You cannot call an angel to come and do anything for you because they are not responsible to you. It is like somebody working for me in the palace who suddenly disappears and when I found him and asked where he went to, he told me that a man called me to come and work for him. That maid as far as I am concerned does not have a job in the palace again. That’s the same way you can’t call angel Gabriel and angel Michael because he can’t help you. Unless his master, God sends him to you, he will not answer your call. It is same way you can’t send an angel to God; he will not deliver your message because you are not his master.
Do you believe in magic?I don’t believe in magic, I believe magic is just like a dream comes true. You will hear people say somebody attacked them in their dream but they woke up later. That’s not true. If that person has such power to attack you in your dream, you can’t wake up to tell the story. There are many deceits out there that they use to trick people. These things are not real. But God made us kings over everything He created. I am not under any deity or traditional influence; I am far above all deities known to man. What people call Orisa simply means the specially chosen ones, so everybody is special in the face of God. But Kings reign supreme over those who are specially chosen such as Ogun, Obatala, Sango and other deities known to man. The people erroneously say Oba alase ikeji Orisa but that’s not correct. Oba is not the second in command to any deity, he’s above all deities. Other Obas who have not discovered the truth can continue to play second fiddle to the deities. I just want people to know and change. If you look at the Bible, who did Moses, David and Jesus Christ, Noah and even Abraham consult before having access to God? They spoke directly to God alone. So why do we have to speak through somebody before we have access to our father? So, why do Yoruba people want to see God through somebody else? God is indescribable. So, the king represents God on earth. If I go to church or mosque, I have gone there to bless their prayers because I am the only one empowered by God to bless people’s prayers as God’s representation. If a king recognises God and worships Him alone, if he goes to a mosque or church, he has gone to bless them. That’s why I said the Yoruba race is the most blessed in the world. God blessed us so much that we don’t have to be worried about anything as long as we can call Olodumare and worship Him. Christians and Muslims need to understand that they don’t have to bow down to any other deity. The future of the Yoruba is very bright.
Recently, the Ooni of Ife and veteran actor, Pete Edochie were in the news because the latter greeted the Ooni by shaking hands with him. As the custodian of tradition and culture of the Yoruba race, what do you make of that scenario?
I believe that a king should know his office. When people see their religious leaders, they want them to pray for them and bless them. But do you know that the blessing of a king is greater than that of any religious or spiritual fathers you can think about. But the problem is that people don’t see that a king’s blessing is greater than that of any religious leaders. Many kings belong to a secret society where you see that a road side mechanic is not only a member, but the boss. Kings have become so hopeless in their offices that they don’t know that the day you become a king, you are not expected to be part of any secret cult. Do you know we don’t have the Yoruba Council of Obas? We supposed to merge the kings in Yorubaland together which will be greater than any other secret society. But some people won’t let that happen because they want to weaken the traditional institution. So, as first class kings, we must come together and take back our institution but it can never happen because the kings will never agree that Olodumare is the owner of the stool. In Ogun State, they worship Agemo and their kings worship with them, Oyo worships Sango, Ife will say it is worshipping 400 deities. I don’t know how they came about 400 deities. They need to tell us the names of each of the deities. If all kings come under the umbrella of Olodumare, we will enjoy the respect they desire. If you attend functions in the North, only the President can sit with the traditional rulers. Ministers, governors and other political office holders will sit behind their Emirs but in Yoruba land, they relegate the Obas to the back seats, you will be seeing Senators and House of Reps members at the front that even state house of assembly members will sit ahead of their Obas. Kings have become powerless in Yoruba land. That’s why I was talking about secret cults, imagine a Sultan in the same secret cult as a mechanic, what do you expect? You can see what is wrong with the Yoruba kingship, they have signs and will signal to him, they can even tell him they would kill him, that’s why they are powerless.This man, Pete Edochie is probably in a cult with his own king over there. The Igbos lack respect, they greet their fathers standing doesn’t bow to their elders; they shake them.If you were in that situation, what would you have done?I will not shake Edochie. We’ve seen the likes of billionaires like Dangote, Taiwo Afolabi bow when they want to greet me. Otedola bows, even the President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu bows, Baba Lai Mohammed bows, these are great men but symbols of humility. I can show you their pictures, you can see where President Tinubu greeted me, a whole President! But If I were in the shoes of the Ooni, I would not shake hands with that man. If you are coming to greet me and you can’t bow, then keep your greeting. I have met eminent Nigerians who would greet me with humility and I will in return extend my hand to shake them.Nigerians are groaning under the yoke of fuel price hike occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, what do you think of this decision by President Bola Tinubu at this critical time?
Removing subsidy is the best thing to do for the survival of the country. Subsidy is an organized crime with some elites sharing the money. Who are they subsidising for? Do you subsidise petroleum products? You subsidise housing and healthcare. Petroleum is luxury, so you don’t subsidise it. Let’s build our railways with that money and our roads as well. Let the government start giving palliatives and increase the minimum wage.
You have brought a lot of class and royalty to this throne in the last seven years, but some people argued that the standard you have set for the kingdom is too expensive for the town to manage. What does it cost you to be classy?
It can cost you so much and it can cost you less if you are confident in what you are wearing and how you carry yourself. You can use an Ankara to propagate your style. You can even use Kampala to elevate your status as a king. It depends on how you move with confidence and boldness no matter what you wear.
You are a luxurious king, but they say luxury is not cheap…
It doesn’t come cheap but the way you carry yourself will make people come and ask you what are you wearing and who makes what you wear. That’s why I tell people that a king’s luxury is his people. If you are milking your people as a king, you will be enjoying luxury in fear and that doesn’t add up to being bold and confident. I am the first king in the world that the people rose to fight on his behalf when some people said they wanted to dethrone me. My people will fight for me because I don’t take anything from them. So my people are my wealth, my strength and boldness because power lies in the hands of the people and I am serving them.You will clock 8 years on the throne in some months time, there had been attempts to depose you, you’ve fought different battles…which of these shook you the most?None! Nothing in life that I pass through that I don’t expect, they are tests. There is no peace in the world, every day we fight, the only place where there is peace is the grave. You wake up and fight every day, even God doesn’t sleep. So, no attack shakes me. If you are in a school and you write an exam you’ve prepared for, you must pass. I’m always prepared and God is my strength.You mean different things to different people. Some people believe you are troublesome and some will say you are different. How do you really see yourself?
When I get to an event and I am not given the right seat, I will tell them that I am a First Class Oba; you should treat me with royalty. Anywhere I am, I always ask for my right because nobody is going to give it to you on a platter of gold, you have to demand it. When I first became the Oluwo, I realised that this throne had no respect or dignity. The royalty and dignity had been beaten down and almost nonexistent. My first outing as the Oluwa I was placed in the 16th seat and I said no, this is not my seat, even in Abuja, I would say no! I know my class in the comity of Obas, so I don’t take anything that falls low of my class. In the Western House of Chiefs, I am number three.People can say I’m troublesome because they don’t understand what I fight for, I fight for my rights in a diplomatic way, that is me! I always tell the truth. I don’t like the situation where people ask me about myself and I won’t be able to answer. I’ve gone through a lot in life, do you know I was in the Liberian war…As A Soldier?I fought under Charles Taylor in the war. Ive passed through a lot, this is a story for another day.How did your journey to throne begin and what prepared you for this seat?
You know that we Yorubas are very deep spiritually, so our kings are chosen by the Olodumare Himself. So I was chosen by God to be king, especially for the role I am playing in the Yoruba land today, which is to bring all kings back to Olodumare. My father was a prince, a very high prince from Iwo, known as Prince Kola Akanbi, he was an Insurance man that worked with Marine Engineering owned by Fajemirokun. I grew up in that house beside Bovas fuel station at Total Garden in Ibadan. I attended Omolewa Nursery and Primary school. On the eight day of my birth, somebody came and told my parents that they should not give me the names they had prepared for me. He came with the prophecy that I would be a great king and dropped the names I would be called- Adewale, because he would bring the crown home, the crown that has been lost from our family for over 400 years, and I would also be called Olusegun, because he would fall to no attack and also Akorede and Abdulrasheed. He warned them that if they call me any other names, people would be dying. They said the man turned back and disappeared. That was what happened on the eight day. I was at Iwo Grammar School, but some spiritual issues happened in 1981 that I had to leave, later I finished at Oba Akinyele. Along the line I lived in Akobo where I met the family of the present Ooni, it was part of my kingship journey. The Ooni was younger than us then, but his elder brother, Tunji Ogunwusi, was my friend, we used to play soccer together, he was in St Patrick’s. God later used me for them in the future.
You contested against 40 other princes of Iwo but you emerged winner. Did the Ifa pick you at that time?
Tell me one king that Ifa picked in Yoruba land. The person who is picked by the governor is the one God has ordained to be the king. There is no Oba in Yoruba land that will say Ifa picked him. It is after the governor picked you that you now become a king. Ifa doesn’t have any power over the governor. May be you watch too much Nollywood movies. Even during our forefathers, they would make the most powerful person at that time king. At that time, I didn’t even know the governor because I had just returned from Canada but I told other contestants who are far richer and popular then that I am the next king even if you know Barack Obama and the governor, it will not change the fact that I am the next Oluwo.
How did you become the Oba if you didn’t know the governor?
When Olodumare wants to work, you can’t even understand how He would do it. Just for few months before I became the king, Olodumare just opened a channel. I didn’t even meet the governor until the eve of the day I would be announced as the king. I met him at 1am and that was all! It was the work of Olodumare, the god of the Yorubas, the god of our fathers and you can’t understand it. When God brings a king, He brings him for a purpose.Has this throne made you richer?No, I’m just here serving and that is the purpose. I’m here to serve, nothing else.You recently married a wife from the North, many would have thought as a Yoruba Oba, you will marry a Yoruba woman, what informed that decision?many Yoruba women listen to rumors and they don’t give rooms, they judged, many rumours were being peddled and I was judged. The former Olori was a set up, she was part of the attacks, and they paid her to do a lot. She poisoned me twice. She even lured me to a mall in Canada where she paid an assassin to kill me. But as God would have it, the assassin was someone I’ve helped in the past, and he couldn’t do the job. I don’t smoke, my people can attest to that, but she coerced me to help her do some things, you know she is a Jamaican and she made me believe she must smoke to survive. You can imagine a woman you don’t have problem with recording you in your own bedroom, it showed she had an agenda. All my friends back from Canada know I don’t smoke.I married from the royal family which I see they are loyal and honest to their husband and I married from where I’m comfortable with.
Interviews
We Are Planning To Revolutionize Nigeria’s Real Estate Industry – Idowu Lamidi, CEO, Dollar Construction Company
Idowu Lamidi
The CEO of fast-growing multinational construction company in Nigeria, Dollar Construction Company, Idowu Lamidi, recently shared his view on how he ventured into construction business and why he decided to build quality estates in Ibadan among many salient issues… Excerpts
Can our readers meet you?
My name is Idowu Lamidi, I started my life in Ibadan, before going to the North. I bagged my HND in Land Administration and I am currently studying Business administration in Nasarawa State Polytechnic. In Dollar Construction Company, our lives have always been on business and we are in Ibadan not just to make money, or build estates but build homes for people. Once you people have a good home, crime will reduce. For someone living in a tattered house and you are threatening such person with prison, he will even tell you that there is no difference with where he is staying and that is why when people go to prison, they come out hardened, but someone that has comfort runs away from problem. That is why an adage in English says “the owner of a glass house will not throw stone” that is why we are here.
You said you grew up in Ibadan, you were born in Ibadan, but you are from Oyo town. Why did you take your business first to Abuja before you came to Ibadan?
In the course of doing my Industrial Training in Abuja with a company, called ADCAN and it was from there that I started the company.
What brought about the name Dollar Construction Company?
In 2007, when I wanted to register the company, I and my wife trying to form name from our names but could not come up with one, then I told her that we should sleep over it When I woke up, I just tell her that the company will be called Dollar Construction Company. She said what kind of name is that and I told her that is a name that everybody would always remember.
Today, people know my company name more than they know my real name. In some area in Abuja, if you say you are looking for Idowu Lamidi, people asked you, nobody bears that name here. But once you say Dollar Construction, everybody will know that because everybody need promo and they see that currency as an achievement even today if you take one dollar which is not up to a thousand dollar, even some adults if you give it to them and you give them one thousand naira, they will prefer to take one dollar. It’s about something catchy that anybody can remember, like if you are coming to any of our estate, I’m going to dollar estate, the only question they will ask now is which of the dollar is it the dollar phase one, two or three. We make it so easy to remember.
The situation of the third phase is formerly Oyo State Trade Fair Ground, how did you acquire this kind of massive land for your project?
The land used to be for Trade Fair ground, which is under Oyo State Ministry of Commerce and Industry and it acquired Wemabodtech to build neighborhood market. When my company joined Wemabodtech, we told them this is a land locked area, and that it would only be good for building homes.
If you are planning a market, many things have to be put into consideration. Good road network must be one of the considerations and the situation must be between three or more communities. The proposed site, which is eleven hectares, is too big for a one-community market. If you look at where this land is situated, apart from Aerodrome Estate, every other thing here are like educational institution. To our left here, we have The Polytechnic Ibadan, to our right we have Aerodrome and Ventura Plaza, directly opposite us, and we have University of Ibadan. Surrounding us, there is no community as such; then who are you now building the market for? Secondly, the road to access the market is not there, you do not create local streets to access a market of this magnitude because it will cause a lot of traffic. You cannot tell people what to sell in their markets, people that will be bringing rice in trailers, people that will be bringing beans, tiles, lightening in trailers, and different kind of things. That is why you see today, iwo road is always jam-packed, it is not because of too many cars, but because of too many tucks accessing the place at a time. Look at Gbagi Central Market also, because of those trucks also coming to drop goods, they are not cars that you can just quickly reverse and move on. Before a trailer can turn, it will take nothing less than 15-20 minutes and you have like 10-15 queues to turn, you are going to have issues. We now advice that we cannot use it for market, it has to be used for residential, because one, this area again at night, it’s always like a ghost town, the schools close by six, four, three, everybody goes home, there will not be any activities. However, making it a home, by 6 o’clock, people start coming back home, it gives life to the place because when you have a home, you will have transportation system that runs 24hours around that place. It gives the police also comfort that are there that there are people who will call the police when things go wrong or if there is any crime trying to take place. If it is a market, once it is 6 o’clock, the market will short down totally that is why we now applied for change of use to the executive governor of oyo state through the ministry of land and the governor gave us the change of use and that is why we are now doing residential and not marketing.
Talking about the phases that you have, phase one, two or three, is it a strategic kind of progress for you to keep having different phases, even if the phase one is still not yet developed. What exactly are you trying to achieve by that?
To make estate ready is not all about the building alone. We may have the building and I do not have money to buy furniture because if you are moving to a new house, my mindset maybe different from yours. In Dollar Phase one, most of the houses there is completed but the owners have not moved in maybe because, some want to move in with a new car or I cannot move in with my old furniture but once you have made the road available, security, light and water, the estate is ready for you to move in. That is what we have been able to achieve in our phase one, and in our phase two, people have already moved in. If I did not move in to my house does not mean that the estate is not ready. The estate is ready but how I may look at it with this kind of hose that I might have, I need a Bentley Car to accompany the house, I need to move in at my wedding ceremony, I need to move in with this, these furnitures are too old, it now depends on you. Some people will even move in and even say it is even breakthrough for me to have finish this house. Moreover, it is not about moving phase one to phase two, I can assure you that we are going to have up to phase 5. Now, the prices of these estates are different, if you cannot afford to buy in phase one, you can go for the phase two because our phase two is cheaper, phase 3 is more expensive than phase two and phase 1. Your taste in the environment you want to live in, I keep telling people, our estate, we are going to provide same quality of infrastructure; it may not be same quality of house. In our phase 2, we allow bungalows, but in our phase one and three, nothing like bungalows. These are houses of contemporary, if you ask an architect; they will tell you contemporary houses are what we are building and not what we are used to. The phase 2 is a bit cheaper so that Civil Servants and the middle class can also afford it. Those are the reason we keep opening different phases to accommodate as much people as available that need houses.
We have seen some of your achievement in previous projects like phase one and phase two, and this one, one will be pushed to ask that how do you plan to finance this project considering the current unfavorable economic situation in the country. What is your plan for this project?
Well, financing of housing project, they say it takes community to raise a child. That is our strength and that is why you see that we do not have good car, because our priority is to deliver these estates. Our plan is to have a good road, neighborhood, a place you can raise your child, like in this estate now we always have an open space where we call green area. We also have a recreation Club house, I don’t mean night club. Like on Saturday and Sunday, you are not going out, you just stroll with to the club house with some games for the children, where adult can take cool drinks and listen to countryside music those are the things we are doing in all of our estates. All these are planned, these are not after thoughts. I always tell people that we have limited estate in Ibadan. What we have in Ibadan mostly are GRA because the property owners came together and put gate doesn’t make it an estate. This is comprehensive development, we have a clinic here, and we have everything here.
So what you are saying in essence is that what differentiates these estates is not the infrastructure bodies but there are buildings and structures.
You started in Abuja, what attracted you to Ibadan?
Yeah, our plan is to conquer the southwest because if you are doing well outside your home, it does not talk good about you. First, how many people can afford to buy our kind of houses in Ibadan? We look at that first, how many people can afford to buy same houses in Abuja? A businessperson will use that to plan. We are planning to conquer the south west to provide housing, but it may not be possible for us to build building in Oyo or in Oshogbo, Ede or in towns and villages across southwest, but it is possible to provide site and services in those area so that people now build their strength.
Dollar Construction is it only for Estates. What other things do you do there?
We are among the category B in Federal Government contractor list. We have category A which are the Dantata, Berger, Chinese, CCECC, and others. We are doing government contracts very well, year in, year out that is why you see that it is very easy for us to provide infrastructure in our estates. The only equipment we have in road construction is the spreader because it is not what we use often but we have all other equipment and it is so easy for us to build roads in our estates.
There are lot of estate/construction companies in Ibadan and some will say, buy one take one free, what stands dollar construction over all these construction companies?
Housing is something that everybody prefers. In my lifetime, I plan to have as many as possible houses because it’s one way of transferring wealth to generation yet unborn. Those people saying, buy one land and take one arm free they have their targeted audience and in which it is working for them because somebody that bought land which is 600 thousand and you give him ram that is worth 350 thousand, I think the person has his mindset tied somewhere. We are targeting our own audience. They are targeting their own audiences, that is the reason you see most of those estates will not see the light of the day because it takes a lot to build an estate, not Baale that will just sell land and call it one estate, which is still good because they are also providing services to people. If you that can buy land of N100million, I do not think ram will be your priority. However, it is nothing out of place to appreciating our clients by getting those gifts during festive periods but your primary reason of buying property with us is not for ram.
Having successfully exhibited the previous estates the phase 1, what is your mega plan for year 2023?
What develops cities mostly, not just the housing. When we have good houses and nobody to live in it, it does not make sense or so. Our mega plan for 2023 is that we want to make industrial layout. Oyo-Ibadan road at least we should have so many industrial lay out there, Lagos-Ibadan, we should have a lot of industrial lay out so that we can have industries coming in and that will make our houses affordable, because if I’m working in a good place and the company can provide affordable housing, my problem is half solved. Our houses are very affordable with the kind of amenities that come with it. There are houses for N3billion, N5billion, in Lagos, Abuja, I have build house that I have sold for N3.5billion before, N1.4billion before and almost N2billion before. If we are having same kind of structure that is much lesser here, I do not think it is not affordable. We are into site and services, which means that you have gotten your land, and we’ve made the infrastructure, street light, water system, perimeter fencing and you sell to people in plot maybe 500, 600 and individuals build what they feel like, that is what is called site and servicing.
One of the challenges faced in real estate not only in Oyo State but in every other place is scandal…how have you been able to be scandal-free? And, how have you been able to be free from the ‘omo onile’ factor?
Experience has taught us a lot of lesson, even people buy property from us knows that we have a milestone payment plan. If the person dies in the process, in all our form, we have the next of kin to the person on it. We will contact the next of kin of such person. It doesn’t allow us have issues, and when the issues are cleared, everyone hands off. For us now, all our offices are always at the site, you come to us at the site, and you meet us at there so that you can easily know quickly if anything is happening. For every site we have sold, we also report it to EFCC. Every month we report our transaction back to EFCC to know who own the site or house. Our workers know so it will be difficult for you to say that person is no longer the owner of the house because there will be too many testimony against you. When we are selling house to you, we give you speculation and it is not that you will just buy the land and you will now run to Abuja and say maybe after 20years you will come and resell it, we will revoke it. We have not had issues of selling land to one person and we say this land does not belong to one person again, we can revoke If we sell land to you and we give you payment plans and you default 3 times. We will revoke and it shows that you do not have capacity for that kind of project and there will not be any need to embark on it.
How do you stay focused with what you are doing?
I started real estate at a very tender age, when I was just 24 years old. I have worked with some big companies in the real estate sector before I started my company. I believe that the greatest enjoyment is for someone to sleep and this is what I do, and if I see one bottle of cold drink, I can take if the opportunity provides itself.
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