Chief Akanni Emmanuel Aluko, publisher of defunct Third Eye newspaper, businessman and philanthropist, recently marked his 70th birthday. In this interview with OSEHEYE OKWUOFU, he speaks about his childhood days and how he became a wealthy businessman. He also narrates how he became a close associate of the late politician and business mogul, Bashorun
What memories do you have of your parents?
My father, Cornelius Ogini Aluko, was a trader. He opened a shop in Ifon, Osun State where I was born, and he was doing well. My mother, Victoria Abejide Aluko, hailed from Ilesa, also in Osun State. She was also a petty trader. She was involved in many things, including frying akara.
Which of your parents were you closer to?
I loved both my father and my mother a lot because I believe they did so much for me. I came from a polygamous home. My mother was number three or four. But the other women in the house treated me fairly, and whatever duty they gave me, I quickly did it. They would give me food and commend me for being a smart boy. If they sent me anywhere, I would go quickly.
At my spare time, I would go to our church compound where there were mango trees and others. I loved to climb the mango trees to the highest point, such that when I had climbed to the top of the tree, I would look down and wonder how God created all the things I saw around. I would be the only one in the compound; a very large church compound in Ifon. So, I used that to widen my knowledge of the environment and see what was going on. When I got tired, I would pluck some mangoes and go home.
During the vacation periods, we would go to the farm for two or three weeks. We made sure that we cleared the farm so that we could travel to Ilesa at least to enjoy and see our friends and change environment as children would like to do, and also eat a lot of food. And occasionally, my father would come to see me.
You said your father had four wives. What was your position among the children?
My father had many children but a lot of them died. I had a brother, but it was after a lot of children that were born after him died that I was born. So, I was like the second child in the family. Then, after me, there was a sister and then another boy. The last one was born in 1964. He is also a chief in Ilesa.
How will you describe your teen years, especially growing up as a primary school pupil in the village?
In primary school, I was dutiful as a young boy. In the house, I was trained by running various kinds of errands, go and buy this, go and do that, and so on. And during market days, especially during the holidays, I would go to the market to sell wares like cutlasses and so on. One thing that was almost certain was that whatever I carried to the market, I would sell all. My father would give me between six and ten cutlasses and I would sell all of them. I never came back home with any because I always made sure that I sold all. I think I was the best seller of all these things when I was young.
How did you come into the limelight as a wealthy businessman, philanthropist and socialite?
Well, let me first say this that after my primary school in Ifon, my father was desirous that I should further my education, but there was no secondary school or modern school in Ifon even though in 1965, Awolowo introduced modern schools so that a lot of people would be able to go to school. At that time, I was always looking at newspapers for advertisements. The Daily Times always had some small advertisements, but not every school in the country then could place adverts in the papers because it was also very expensive to them.
I remember one that was very constant at that time; they called it Molad High School. A lot of applications were sent to them, so it was very difficult to get in. The headmaster of my primary school took me to Ife where he had a classmate as the headmaster of the secondary/modern school which the Catholic had just built. They had done their admission, but they gave me some tests and I passed. They then interviewed me orally and offered me admission. So, in January 1958, I started secondary/modern school in Ife. After three years, I graduated with a very good result.
When I passed out from Ife, my father thought his son had become a very big man. He took me to our Catholic Prefecture of Osogbo. We didn’t have a diocese then, but the Catholic had what they called prefectures and Osogbo was a prefecture area. So, my father took me to the bishop, Monsignor Mc-Coy, and before you know it, he gave me an appointment as a teacher in Ifon at the age of 16 or 17. After the staff meeting, the headmaster put me in charge of class three.
After one year, I started looking for school again because my father wanted me to further my education. There was something at that time they called grade 1, 2 or 3, and it was when you studied that you were graded. So, my father wanted me to have the highest grade and we were looking for a school but couldn’t find one. One day, I saw an advertisement in the newspaper and applied. That was how I was admitted into one of the schools some people were trying to build[ an unapproved school . That was where I started training in accountancy, book-keeping, arithmetic and costing.
But the other schools in our range started together with the school I enrolled in. Fakunle Grammar School, Osogbo, which ran into trouble with the government recently, was one of the schools started at that time by different proprietors who were making efforts to get government’s approval. The government would allow you to start and then send some inspectors to see whether they qualified to get approval. Unfortunately, until I left that school, we were not recognised. So, I started reading on my own. My brother was taking some tuition from Rapid Result College, London. When he finished reading his own, he would pass them to me. And at that time, there was what we called the Pitman College Examination, which I think they are still doing now. There was also what was called the RSA (Royal Society of Arts), which was also more of commercial subjects.
So, my father gave me money to take the forms and start sitting for the examinations. In Royal Society of Arts, there were stages one, two and three. So, when I started the stage one, I cleared all the subjects and I was very happy. In Arithmetic and Book Keeping, I was on higher level credit. I was encouraged by this. The following year, I entered the stage two. I did about four subjects. Then I felt that if I had done these exams and passed, I should go and start looking for a job. During that time, I came to Ibadan and met a friend, Dejo Oyewo, who is also from Ifon. He took me around and said when I was ready to work, I should come. I said yes, I could look for work now because I had the stage one certificate of the RSA and I was awaiting the result for stage two. So, I decided to go to Ibadan.
When I got there, true to his word, he started looking for work for me. By February of that year, the result of stage two came and luckily I was in that my house, because I used Dejo Oyewo’s address in Ibadan. Then I said, ‘Ah! I want to go to the toilet.’ I didn’t want to open it in the presence of everybody. Quickly, I went into the toilet and my heart was pounding. When I opened it, I saw that I passed all my subjects. Book Keeping and Accounts came with distinctions; then English, Arithmetic, Commerce and International Finance were all cleared with distinctions.
There was a man that lived in Dejo Oyewo’s brother’s house. He was working as the administrative secretary of Nigersol; an Isreali construction company. They were the fore-bearers of Solel Bonel. This company teamed up with the Western Region government at that time and they called it Nigersol. They said I should apply and I did. They conducted an exam for us and I passed. I also passed the interview. Then they said I must look for our political leader in the zone to give me a reference letter and stand as my guarantor. I was asked to go and see the lawmaker who represented Ifon and Erin, and I went to meet the man who then gave me a letter. That was how I was employed.
Then I got a surprise. The Isreali Chief Accountant asked me how much I would like to take as salary. My friend who was helping me to look for a job was working in the Ministry of Works as an architect assistant, and they were paying him eight pounds, three shillings, four pence. I said, ‘Sir, anything you want to pay is alright by me.’ He took my papers, assessed them thoroughly and said they would be paying me 16 pounds, three shillings, four pence. I said what! I was surprised. Sixteen pounds in the 1960s was a lot of money. That was how I began a new life and joined the working class.
How then did you become a wealthy businessman?
At Nigersol where I was working, people loved me because when I was working, I always concentrated on my job. They also knew me as Akanni a ma yara (Akani is smart). I started having rapid promotion. In 1967, the Nigerian civil war broke out. I met with my friend who was working at the Ministry of Works and we agreed to start looking for little contracts. We also had a friend who was a captain in the Army. He was the commanding officer of a military formation at Eleyele. That was how we started with a 30-pound contract. We started saving money and later went into auto business. We would buy vehicles in Ibadan and sell. That was how we started making a lot of money.
How did you leave Nigersol?
Well, at Nigersol, something happened. Solel Bonel started their own company. They broke away from the Nigerian joint venture with the Western Region government. So, we had the Nigerian Chief Accountant and the Nigerian Chief Accountant went ahead to do promotion. From all indications, there was no reason I should not be part of that promotion, but the man left me out. I became very annoyed and turned into a unionist to fight him. So, we started a lot of problem with him, and that was how he found a way to push me out of Nigersol. But immediately he pushed me out, the Isreali Chief Accountant who employed me was still there at Bodija where Solel Boneh office is located. I went to see him and he said I should start work the second day. After about two months, the Nigerian Chief Accountant became aware of my presence at Solel Boneh and he went to the place and ensured that I was removed. They had to pay me off and I started looking for a job again.
I went to Lagos to look for work but the condition in Lagos at that time was not encouraging. I want to tell you a story of what happened to me in Lagos, which even discouraged me from entering the city. I went to Lagos to stay with my friend and I wanted to go to Ikeja, which I didn’t know. I thought the Mainland area where you had to cross and go to Airport Road was Ikeja. So as the bus that I took to Ikeja was moving, I asked the driver, ‘My friend, have we reached Ikeja?’ He said yes, this is Ikeja. I paid him, not knowing that Ikeja was still far away. I had to trek the remaining distance of about five or six kilometers because the driver had taken all my money. I will never forget that day.
Thereafter, Dejo and I started running to meet our business partners, and we were expanding and socialising. At that time, I liked Sunny Ade so much. That was how we met Arisekola (Alao) between 1969 and 1970. We started socialising around the town, from Lafia Hotel to Premiere Hotel. At times, after leaving Premiere Hotel, we would move to Greenspring Hotel. Those were the major hotels in town as at then. Whenever Sunny Ade came to town, we would go there with our babies to ‘rock’. You know at that time, there was always this rivalry between Sunny Ade and Obenezer Obey. Very serious rivalry. The rivalry wanted to create a problem between me and my friend, Arisekola, but I called him and said no, this should not bring division between us. You are Obey’s fan and I am Sunny Ade’s fan; let’s put everything together and be one. So, when it was Sunny Ade’s time to play, we would go together, and when it was Obey’s time, we would go together. If any of us was throwing a party, we would go together. That was how we brought the two musicians together and settled their dispute.
You were also very close to the late Chief MKO Abiola. How did that friendship blossom?
Chief Abiola was a very good man, an exceptional man. He always ensured that everyone was okay and appreciated. If he identified you as a growing star, he would not leave you until you had fully tapped your potential. He was a man who always encouraged the people around him and ensured that in whatever he did, he carried you along. So, he was loved by all. Now, he was doing a burial ceremony, I think it was the mother of his wife or father of his wife, around 1978 in Abeokuta. I went there with Arisekola because Ebenezer Obey played at that ceremony, and we were very welcomed. We were treated as very important personalities.
That was not what brought me and MKO together, but he knew me right from there. The person that actually brought us together was Alhaji Abdul Azeez, the then Editor/Managing Director of The Herald newspaper. Abdul Azeez started talking about me to MKO, but how we hooked up happened by chance. I went to Abuja to pursue a contract. When I was returning, we met around Kotonkarfe. He was with Abdul Azeez and they were going to hold a rally at Kotonkarfe near Lokoja . So, as they were coming, we landed at Lokoja airstrip. I was also going to Ibadan, so we met. Abdul Azeez, because he knew my car, asked me to join them for the rally and I did.
When we finished the rally, I said I was going to Ibadan. MKO said you can’t be going in your car; let your driver bring your car to Ibadan while you fly with me. So, he put me in his plane and told my driver to continue his journey to Ibadan. That was the opportunity for me and MKO to meet. In the plane, we started talking politics. He saw the level of my contributions, the way I explained issues and my reactions to matters. Then he told Abdul Azeez, ‘This your friend is very sound, I want to be his friend.’ He asked Abdul Azeez to bring me to see him in Lagos.
So, he took me to Ibadan and landed at the old Ibadan Airport. I alighted and they continued their journey. Now, at that time, I was already pursuing one of the biggest contracts in Abuja and I had tendered because I had a friend on the Board of Directors of the company, Kunle Sulaiman, from Ilorin. I did very well and won the contract. Winning the contract was like a magic because it was a thug of war. I didn’t have powerful ‘connections’ for me to push the thing, but Abdul Azeez went to tell MKO about the contract, taking my documents along with him. He said, ‘Waoh! Akani did this?’ He said I had almost finished the process, but they should join me in pursuing it. He started fighting for me.
At that time, NPN was just coming into power. The person who wanted to snatch the contract from me was being backed by Alhaji Umaru Diko, so it became a thug of war between Umaru Dikko and Abiola, who insisted that once a Yoruba man can do something to this level, you can’t take it from him. This was part of the crisis that Abiola had with the NPN. They said we should go and meet Dikko, because President Shehu Shagari asked Abiola and Dikko to go and resolve the matter. But all the appointments Dikko gave to Abiola, none was honoured. So, you can see the extent to which Abiola used his time and resources on behalf of his friends and Yorubaland. He was a good man.
