Category: Saturday Interview

Dr. Leemon Ikpea is billionaire business mogul, and Chief Executive Officer of Lee Engineering & Construction Company Limited, with investment in major commanding heights of the economy including oil and gas, aviation, real estate and logistic. In this interview with IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF, the Edo-state born philanthropist shares interesting insights on his foray into commerce and enterprise vis-à-vis his challenges and victories. Excerpts:

Without a silver spoon

For those not born with the proverbial spoon life sure can be anything but smooth. The young Leemon Ikpea many years back suffered the humiliation of being ordered out of his secondary school’s dining hall and his food confiscated because he couldn’t pay his school fees. A shoeless Leemon had to trudge over 50 km back home to give his parents the bad news. It’s something really better imagined than experienced – trekking from Orerokpe to Warri.

Eventually, he had to drop out of school and resigned himself to fate. But that did not kill his deep interest in questing for knowledge. But then, God who discerns the inner man, took a hand. Today, he sits atop a multibillion-naira conglomerate with a private jet to boot.

In the beginning

Starting a business in this terrain sure comes with grit. The story of the growth trajectory of Lee Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd is not an exception in this regard. Incorporated on November 11, 1991, the company is 30 years old and the Board and management, led by its Founder and Group Executive Chairman, Dr. Leemon Ikpea, has chosen to mark the special age with a thanksgiving service in Warri, Delta State.

For anyone close to Ikpea, it is difficult to fault his decision to celebrate the company’s successes and survival through the ages in the house of the Lord. This is because his faith in God as the sustainer of his pursuits is unparalleled.

Indeed for Ikpea, life has turned full circle for him. From a very humble background today he has not only made good but his life surely reflects one of abundant grace. Speaking on how he has been able to get this far he said, “First and foremost, it has not been an easy journey considering the environment and terrain we operate in. But when you have faith in God and you know what you are doing, the sky will be the limit. As somebody from a humble background, we are not lazy in my family – we worked very hard to cross so many hurdles.”

Talking about working with the intent to be successful, Ikpea is quick to point out that he does not take pride in envy or being jealous of others. “The good thing is that in my family we don’t look at what belongs to somebody else. We concentrate on what belongs to us.”

Combined with lots of prayers, positive things are bound to happen, he said, stressing that without prayers, nothing happens. “So we have that zeal to continue to pray to God to direct us, direct my steps and to show mercy on me,” he stated.

Reflecting on how it all started, Dr Ikpea said, “This year will make it my 44th year in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. I started from the scratch, working with specialists, working with great thinkers and builders.”

“At the beginning, we were taking notes of what they were doing during the construction of the refineries. And you know the Warri Refinery was commissioned as far back as 1978. I was already there as far back as 1976. I was able to put my head down to know what was going on and what was happening.

“My experience in the refineries helped me to learn more about the industry because I was able to work with the British people – that’s my first point of call. Thereafter, the British handed me over to the Italians – After working with one Italian company, they handed me over to another Italian company.

“I was with them for 14 years. When I was convinced that I’ve gotten the experience I needed, and having also been able to make a few contacts, I resigned and established my business, which is today called Lee Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd.

“By the grace of God, on November 11, which we call ’11-11′, we clocked 30 years in business. It’s a journey that wasn’t so smooth. There were ups and downs, but we give God the glory that, at least, Lee Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd has attained 30 years. And by the special grace of God, we still have so many years to make and leave a special legacy for the younger ones coming behind us.”

Many opportunities to explore

Aside laying a solid foundation in the construction subsector of the oil and gas industry, Lee Engineering is now venturing into manufacturing.

According to him, “We are not just into construction, now, we are also into manufacturing. Very soon, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will come and cut the tape of manufacturing factory. I’m sure before the second quarter of next year, by the special grace of God, the President will come and commission our factory in Warri.”

The concept of transiting from seeking contracts in construction to manufacturing of necessary equipment and spare parts for the oil and gas industry is a giant stride that deserves commendation as its economic benefits to the nation are enormous. First, it engenders technology transfer, save foreign exchange, build capacity alongside many other multiplier effects.

The emphasis is the fact that the factory which is said to be 90 per cent completed will help reduce the amount spent on importation and procurement of tools and parts use in the oil and gas industry hitherto imported from different parts of the world.

And upon completion, employment opportunities will be created for Nigerians and foreigners with the right expertise.

As usual, the company did not come this far without its fair share of challenges, but Dr. Ikpea’s faith in divine interventions has seen him through to this day.

“Like I said at the beginning, I am a man that believes in God. And when you pray to God with all your heart, He will answer your prayers. Challenges are numerous – is it operating community challenges? Is it bank challenges? There are lots of challenges, but we surmounted majority of them to get to where we are today. There is the determination, and if determination is there, and with the backing of God, definitely you will get to your destination.”

Contribution of employees to company’s success story

Speaking on the contributions from employees who have stayed with him through the period he said, “This is our 30th year. Some staff who started with me a long time ago, are still with us. Some have been with us for 28 years, 29 years, 25 years, some 26 years respectively. “Sometimes in 2-3 months, you are not able to pay salaries. Some people jumped out because they could not endure. Sometimes, salaries are delayed but it will be paid eventually. But some couldn’t wait because they were on a fast lane. But there were some that, in thick and thin, remained with us and some of them are now directors today, some general managers and some managers.”

Interestingly, as a way of further rewarding the dedication and commitment of those who stayed with the vision, some of them have become shareholders in the company as they have been offered shares by the company.

“I have to give some of them some shares in the company because of their hard work and dedication to the company. This was to encourage them, and let them know that there is hope; to let them know that, we appreciate the thick and thin periods we were together, and that when the sun has started shining, we are still together,” he said.

As an indigenous company that has to compete with foreign firms in the sector is definitely a serious task that only those with thick skin and focus can scale through. Asked how his firm was able to gain strength in such environment where most of its peers died before their fifth or tenth anniversary; Dr  Ikpea identified commitment to delivering quality jobs on time  and to specifications, as some helpful tips that stands his company out.

“There are some contractors or business people that you give opportunity but they trash it. We are not that type of company that you give an opportunity and then trash it away. We are a very responsible company.

“We ensure we discharge our responsibilities creditably. We don’t abandon projects, we don’t abandon any responsibility, even from any of the IOCs that we have worked for. We take them seriously and we give them first-class quality jobs.

“So in some cases when you are told it’s a Nigerian company that did this job, you may doubt and think it’s a company from France or Germany, or from somewhere else. But we are Nigerians and we do it to the best of our ability. Everybody admires our performance, everybody admires the services that we are rendering in the industry. There is no one who doesn’t likes good things. They like our performance and they patronise us. They give us additional responsibility and we carry it out and everybody is happy.

“You cannot go and give responsibility to someone and after you rely on the person, eventually he disappoints you. You cannot go back to the same person, next time. So for us, if we have signed an agreement or contract, we face it squarely, we ensure that we deliver and that has been what we do to always stay afloat.

“There are many companies that we started together with – they are no more on the radar. You can’t find them today. They are no more existing – more than 80 percent of them.”

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Eyes on the future

For Dr. Ikpea, although the celebration of 30th anniversary is a major milestone, his eyes are set on how to make more impact and remain relevant to the economic development and growth of the nation.

Asked what his plans for the company in the next 30years, he said, “By the special grace of God, I pray He keeps us alive, I’m sure in the next 30 years, the oil will still be there, and if oil is no more there by then, gas will still be there. So in the next 30 years, the company would have gone to the top because I’m laying a solid foundation for the group.

“So in the next 30 years, a lot of Nigerians would have been trained. And those who are trained would have also started establishing their own companies, and then the economies of Delta State and Nigeria would have also improved greatly. So that is the goal and that is my vision.”

Addressing Nigerian entrepreneurs still nursing the idea of venturing into the oil and gas industry, he said, “I don’t think we should always focus on oil and gas. The thing is that: let everybody focus on their talents or skills. Some people think when you come into the oil and gas industry, the next day money is everywhere. It doesn’t work that way.

“The reason why my own is different is that, that is my first place of getting the job, and I was able to use my brain to study and discover what was going on there and developed interest. And with that interest, I was able to grow for 14 years studying what was going on in the industry. Then from there, I said, Okay if this was what is going on in the industry, why can’t I do the same? So that inspired me.

“So for somebody to just come out of school and say he wants to go into the oil and gas industry, Well, if you get a job in the oil and gas industry, fine. But you must first learn and cross so many hurdles. If you just jump into the industry and you want to become an entrepreneur overnight, you may crash.

“The best thing is to learn the rules and ropes go for training and let people teach you, have friends. when they have taught you, then gradually you begin to climb the ladder. it’s not easy to think you can just jump the fence – it’s not as simple as that.”

Assessment of indigenous companies operating in the sector

Analysing the performance of indigenous companies operating in the sector, he said, “The problem with us Nigerians is that some of us are not serious. Some of us are just concerned about getting the money right away. Money is not everything.

“The first thing is to ensure that you ask your conscience ‘Am I ready to learn and grow?’.  So if that mindset is there, that ‘yes we are ready to learn, we are ready to do things the right way without cutting corners’, then you can get to your destination.

“But if your mindset is that you want to go into it and that you want to get the money immediately, then you would crash. I would advise the younger ones coming in to, first of all, take a pause and be patient, learn through the ladder thoroughly. When you learn thoroughly, then you know that you are now ripe to go into it properly. And I think that would be a good idea.”

Tongue lashing those who engage in blackmail to secure job, he said those who do so usually don’t go far. They eventually crash, he noted.

Giving a word of advice, he said, “You can’t climb that way. Get what belongs to you, handle it properly, deliver it properly, then as you are delivering, you go back to them tomorrow and they say “yes he has delivered, let’s give him another opportunity.

“That is how it works. That’s the same way we passed. We never for a day blackmail somebody to get what does not belong to us. Never. So if God says that this is your own, it would be difficult for somebody to take it away from you.”

Success in the oil and gas industry as in any other enterprise come with tenuous striving, thus Lee Engineering engages in lot of biddings. They bid for different projects, while they win in some cases, they may not be very fortunate in others.

But losing does not course them to lose hope or resort to unwholesome acts, adding that “The ones we win, we do them very well so that when newer opportunities come we can also grab them. The ones we lose, we say they are not for us. Those we lose due to blackmail from other people, we discover that, at the end of the day, they crash. So that is life,” he said.

Expectations from the government

It’s often said that he who wears the shoes knows where it pinches, thus as a key player in the Nigeria oil and gas industry, Dr. Ikpea said if he has the opportunity to be in government, he would do more to encourage indigenous companies to excel and even advance to the global market space.

“You can see all these big companies today – they are mostly companies from South Korea and other countries. If such companies have been encouraged in their countries to the extent that they have been able to go international, what stops Nigeria government from supporting those of us who are serious.

“Now we are building a factory and we have more than 2000 people on our payroll. What stops the government from encouraging us with loans, tax holidays and several other incentives to allow us to grow.

“They can say there are some projects, let Lee Engineering do them because if Lee engineering does them, it will be able to absorb thousands of Nigerians that have no jobs. So if such an opportunity is given, you can imagine how many people will benefit directly or indirectly. But what happens here is that more opportunities are given to foreign companies.

“I’m not against it because for a foreigner to come here it means he or she is very solid. But the fact that they became solid was because they were encouraged by their governments before going international. So nothing is stopping government from also encouraging some of the indigenous companies in Nigeria to be fully empowered so that they can put in lots of capacity and start to also go international.

“We can start from Ghana and then to Angola, and start moving towards Europe and to other parts of the world. Nothing should stop that because the money comes back to the country here.”

Indeed, while the likes of Lee Engineering should be commended for their commitment to the country and the courage to pursue their entrepreneurial dream in Nigeria, the government and citizens vis-à-vis communities must support their zeal to move the country to its economic stability.

Life as a philanthropist

One important dimension of the Ikpea persona is his passion for touching and lifting lives. Better than many, he deeply appreciates what it means to be deprived of basic needs, especially school fees for education. He set up the Agbonjagwe Foundation to take up issues that concern the less privileged, especially as it affects their education.

Not a loud personality, he has also made quiet donations to several educational institutions and social welfare programmes all-round the country. So many who have come in contact with him have had their lives touched positively, whether they are family members, friends, colleagues and the general public. It’s worth recalling here that during his 60th birthday celebration, the reception venue – Saint Leo’s Catholic Church Ikeja, Lagos – was built by him and donated to the church.

This would not have been public knowledge if the officiating priest had not mentioned it himself during the service. In his own words: “I concluded that since God has blessed me, I needed to be a blessing to others.

My first priority are orphans, children that are passing the same road I took some years ago, because I know what it means when you cannot pay your school fees and when nobody cared for you. Somebody needs to comfort them and I feel that I should be that person. So, I established a foundation in 2012 called Agbonjagwe Leemon Ikpea Foundation.

“As of today, we have 385 students that have passed through us. We are also taking care of widows, old people who do not have people to care for them and they need to eat. So, every month, my foundation gives them allowance, as we are paying our workers’ salaries. We draw up a scheme for the widows for them to have some trade to enable them care for themselves and their children.

“We train artisans on welding and electrical works, pipe-fitting and train women in some communities on sewing and hair dressing. We also assist some people with serious ailments like liver and kidney problems, and even cancer. We sent about 15 people to India but we lost one and the others are still alive today.”

With all these, it was not surprising that an appreciative society tracking his humanitarian interventions move to recognise and fete him.

He was honoured with Doctorate Degree in Business Administration (Honoris Causa) by Benson Idahosa University; in 2004, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma feted him with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Business Administration (Honoris Causa) for what he is doing for humanity.

Chief Leemon Ikpea is a loving husband, dotting, big and dependable brother to his siblings, compassionate to his staff members and colleagues, loyal and faithful to friends, especially those he had known from childhood. From Ikpea’s life story, the essential truth of Maya Angelou’s insight that, “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within,” cannot be disputed or denied.

Mrs. Bọlànlé Oduyale is Chief Executive Officer, CreditWise Financials Limited, one of Nigeria’s fastest growing financial lending companies operating within the micro and retail lending ecosystem. The consummate banker who has bestrode the banking sector for over 25 years including working with Standard Chartered Bank for over 12 years both in Nigeria and South Africa before relocating to Canada to focus on Regulatory and Compliance in the Canadian financial industry. She was also a onetime CEO of Safetrust Mortgage Bank in Nigeria, amongst other milestones. In this interview with FUNKE COLE, Oduyale who has degrees from the University of Ibadan, and University of Lagos and is also an alumnus of London Business School as well as that of the prestigious Lagos Business School, shares her experiences navigating careers and family. Excerpts:

Early riser

A typical early riser, Bọlànlé Oduyale starts off her day exactly at 5am, which requires a devotional prayer meeting and a walk within her estate before dropping her 16 year old son at school at about 7:30am, ‘my son and I use the morning ride to catch up on his plans and expectations for the day and I am at my desk at work by 7:45 am’, she had concluded. According to her, this is a routine she had observed to help her brain function properly especially in the mornings.

Management style

The ever-hard working and versatile woman who has been doing exceptionally well describes her interest in creating a conducive environment for the application of a combination of styles to manage both situations and team members. In her words, she explores “A collaborative style to create a harmonious office vibe and encourage employees to speak out about any issues they may have.”

She reiterates on the need for exclusive high ranking management approach especially to tackling cumbersome tasks which requires the use of multi-dimensional skills to extract a unilateral decision needed both for human and work management. Speaking further, she narrated her experience on the use of questionnaire to draw responses and suggestions.

Management philosophy

Her management philosophy revolves round numerous approaches to creating an enabling environment for a number of diverse ideas.

“To be open to diverse ideas, perspectives and the way others think is an important leadership attribute. This led me to develop a philosophy that focuses on diversity. I adapt my communication, direction and feedback to each staff’s unique and individual needs and work styles. This way they know that I am available to provide guidance and support when they need it, but I will not hover over them. This also motivates them to use their creativity to the best of their ability, which can directly benefit company growth.”

Besides, she says, she also leads by example. “I work hard and bring the same learning and positive attitude to the job that I expect of my staff. I try to inspire my team members to be their best by watching me and following my behaviour, and work ethics.  However, this sometimes put a lot of pressure on them when they feel they are not measuring up to my standards. So I make sure I provide guidance and growth by giving important and timely feedback and to ensure am accessible to everyone.”

Delegation of responsibility

Interestingly, she feels that having the abilities to delegate effectively and give clear direction, while remaining available to provide guidance or assistance are important qualities for a leader. “Even where I delegate, I still ensure that my team members can obtain support and guidance from me every step of the way.”

Team-player

Quite frankly, she says being a team player is situational. “I sometimes need to work independently and at other times with others. While some projects only need one person to complete, having more than one person on the “team” will be counterproductive, other jobs need teamwork to get them done properly and efficiently.”

But by far, she says, “Ability to compromise, show respect to others and listen to the needs of teammates is an important attribute of being a team player.”

Other areas of interest

Not your regular CEO, Mrs. Oduyale plays the role of a doting mother so well. “I have always loved to read and to watch movies, especially thrillers. My children are all boys and having to watch movies and shows with them over the years has affected my genre of movies which tends towards thrillers and action. Anytime I feel under pressure, I put on a good thriller on Netflix.”

Enjoying leisure

Naturally, she says she enjoys hanging out with my friends. “I have kept the same group of girlfriends for the past 40 years. We see each at least once a week. We speak almost daily. We laugh together, cry together and we are staunchly loyal to each other. We are each other’s support structure, and it has been an amazing journey over the years. I also have an amazing family and that has gone a long way to relieve whatever pressure I feel.”

Last book read

A bookworm, she reads everything in sight. Shedding light on the latest book she read, Indra Nooyi’s new book My Life in Full, she says, the book was a gift to her by her coach for birthday last October. “Indra Nooyi was one of the world’s most admired CEOs, being the first woman of colour and immigrant to run a Fortune 50 company. The book provides an insight into Indra Nooyi’s world of corporate excellence, deep sense of purpose and her rise to the top as she transformed PepsiCo and reinvented the company’s image.

“Any woman managing the challenges of building a successful career by juggling a demanding job with a growing family which includes children and a husband would absolutely relate to this book.”

Choice holiday destination

Obviously, Mrs Oduyale enjoys the good life. “The Caribbean – Beautiful resorts. No friends or family members to go and visit, no Nigerian food, no shopping available. All expenses already paid upfront. Eat and drink all you can. Sleep, Eat, Exercise, Read, Play, Repeat.”

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Self-motivation

Two things motivate her. “Number one, passion for what I do and number two, the fear of failure. The passion I have to help and improve the lot of women and alleviate poverty moves me to persevere despite the fear.”

Sense of style 

She describes her style as authentic. A style aficionado, she further informs that, “Style should be all about self-expression. I wear whatever works for me and my body.”

Expatiating, she says matter-of-factly, “Having great style to me means being comfortable in your skin and dressing for your body type with confidence and not necessarily in line with fashion trends. What looks great on me, may look bad on you. My mantra is Know Your Best Feature – And Show It Off, Always. Be it your curves, booty, legs or an hourglass figure. All your outfits should work towards enhancing your best features, without being in your face (more like other people’s faces).”

Maintaining looks

Her recipe for maintaining the good looks begins right from choosing what she eats. “I eat small portions. No matter how hungry I get, I don’t ever eat to be full. I drink only room temperature water even at parties. No sugary drinks or alcohol for me. I never leave my house without using sunscreen, I never sleep with makeup on. I only use natural products like black soap on my face. And I take long walks at least four times a week. When I need to sleep, I sleep.”

Staff motivation

Her approach to staff motivation is strictly following corporative style.

Stick and carrot approach

She also adopts stick and carrot approach sometimes.

Best decision

Starting Creditwise Financials is the best decision she has taken ever she says with a tinge of excitement. “I wish every day that I had started it much earlier.”

Worst decision in working career

Her worst decision was joining the board of a company without doing proper due diligence. “Joining the board of company (which I will not name) without undertaking proper due diligence on the state of the business, company ownership and the existing Board members. The environment was extremely toxic, I experienced various health challenges due to the diverse problems. I am very grateful that it is all over.”

Influence

While most people rue polygamy, Oduyale says it sure has a positive to it considering how that has changed her total mindset. “My father had four wives and we are 12 children in total. Each mother had to provide the basic needs for their children while my father was primarily responsible for our education up to BSc level only and that was it. Everything else was borne by ours mothers. I grew up believing that a woman must be empowered to make financial decisions for herself and her children. So right now, I have no sense of entitlement where my husband or my marriage is concerned. I do not advocate for a joint husband and wife account. A woman must be financially independent and must be actively supported and encouraged to achieve such independence. When a woman has money, the whole community is positively affected.”

Cooking

She cooks sparingly and not as a matter of course. “I hate cooking. It’s one of the reasons why I couldn’t stay too long outside of Nigeria where it is all DIY. I had to teach my children who are all boys to cook and fend for themselves domestically so that I wouldn’t have to be in the kitchen.”

Culinary delight

A proper naija groomed-lady, she loves Eba and any kind of soup.

Life lessons

Her life lesson is encapsulated in the mantra is living life to the fullest. “Live life to the fullest. Love God wholeheartedly. Pray without ceasing. Be thankful for what you have. This life is not yours, the owner can take it at any time because no one promises you tomorrow. Forgive easily. Always reach out to your loved ones at every opportunity. I have lost quite a few people close to me in the past one year and that has given me a new perspective to life.”

Hobbies

Her hobbies include watching movies, reading, travelling, and hanging out with friends and siblings. “I have the best siblings in the whole world. Even though we have different mothers, you wouldn’t know if I didn’t tell you.”

Definition of success, career-wise

Short of pontificating,

People tend to confuse a sense of accomplishment with career success, she says, adding that such is not always the case. “There is a big difference between the two. Many people are accomplished, with fantastic credentials, high profile jobs, sought after careers but they are desperately unhappy. Because these items represent accomplishments, they do not necessarily equate to career success. We have seen cases where supposedly “successful” people become clinically depressed and sometimes even commit suicide.”

Career success, she admits, “Is a combination of achieving a reasonable level of financial stability while doing what you enjoy and then finding that you are also happy and fulfilled with your life and career choices. If you love your job but the job doesn’t provide you with financial self-sufficiency then career success is reduced and if you have a high paying job but lack joy or interest, career success is also diminished. True career success requires that these two factors align.”

The newly installed Olona, Dr. Oyetunde Olumuyiwa Ojo, the traditional ruler of Ada community in Boripe Local Government Area, Osun State, spoke with TOBA ADEDEJI on the lifestyles he is missing as a traditional ruler and his plans for the community.

What memories of your early years can you recall?

I was born 57 years ago to the Adeitan ruling house. My father, Prince Gabriel Oyewole Ojo, died in the year 2000, having retired from the Lagos State Civil Service as an Inspector of Education. My mother, Olori Abigail Olayemi Ojo, also retired as the headmistress of a school, St Luke Primary School, Ororuwo, a community that is very close to us here, in 1992.

I attended John Micheal Primary school, Ita Olookan, Osogbo, completed it in 1976 and gained admission to Secondary Commercial Grammar School Ada. I did my WAEC Exam in 1981 and passed in flying colours. I gained admission to the University of Nigeria, Nzuka in 1982 where I obtained a degree in Political Science in 1986. I served the nation at Luba Comprehensive High School, Ijebu-Ode.

In 1988, I was given an appointment as a teacher in Army Children High School, Epe, 311 Field Artillery Regiment, Epe. I was transferred in 1990 to Army Cantonment Secondary School Ikeja and in 1992, I left the teaching profession and joined Colored Chemicals; a private company where we were producing screen printing materials.

Then the urge for me to pursue my education was so much, so in the year 2000 I went to University of Ibadan and obtained Masters Degree in Public Administration, so I obtained a proceed grade to do my PhD, and it was that qualification that handed me an appointment in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, where I was employed as an Assistant Lecturer in 2008.

I registered for my PhD in 2014 which I completed in a record time of 2018. Currently, I am a holder of a doctoral degree in Management Science with a specialisation in Human Capital Management and Public Management, so I continued my job with LAUTECH, Department of Management and Accounting till January 28, 2021, when community duty beaconed on me to be the Olona of Ada.

At what point in your life did you know that you could become a king?

There are two answers to that question. It could be answered positively and negatively. The moment you are a prince, you are a monarch in embryo, it is your birthright, so every prince is a potential king. But whether it had occurred to me that I would mount the throne of my father and probably it had been occurring to me persistently, I would say no. As at the time community duty beckoned for me to become the king of this community, I never expected it.

My predecessor, Oba Abimbola Abioye II, mounted the throne at a relatively young age of about 43, and he was on the throne for about 24 years and his performance was sterling, fantastic and very spectacular.

On April 4th 2019, I heard that my predecessor was dead and people started calling me to proceed to Ada to become the next king.

It is the Lord that that anoints kings. There were 50 of us from the Adeitan ruling house that obtained the expression of intention form, and through the careful selection process of the Almighty, it was reduced to 26, later to 13 and later to four, and from there, I emerged. There was agitation and we went back to 13 again, and from 13 it became four, and from four it became one.

But in the two final selection exercises, there was one that was conducted by the traditional chiefs. I was among the four that were selected and among the four that was eventually selected in the interview by the elites of the community, I was among the four. So two did not make it, and there were two that made it among the four that were chosen by the traditional rulers, but they never made it to the level where the elites conducted the interview.

It was myself and a banker that consistently made the list of the four with the one traditional chiefs conducted. And the interview conducted by the elites at that time, I was having the feeling that let this cup not fall on me. After all, let the will of the Almighty be done.

Where were you when your name was announced by the state government?

I was in Ogbomosho. I was in my office when people brought the news to me. People were calling me from Ada.

How did you feel about it?

I was glad about it even though I was not desperate for the stool. At the same time, I am not a reluctant candidate. It is the stool of my forefathers and it is the wish of God that I should mount it and I accepted it with joy and gladness.

Everybody around me was glad because it had eluded my father twice. My father was even much more loved than myself because he was a complete community man when he was alive. Whatever my father had, he would share it with everybody without bothering about his upkeep. When Oba Abioye, the father of my predecessor departed in 1969, my father was a teacher in Igbajo. He was a young man of 35 years, so people in our community approached him because the desire for an educated elite to be on the throne had been long in Ada. But my father declined.

He said he was relatively young and there was somebody, his uncle in Ibadan, who was a successful contractor at that time. He said there was no way they could be mentioning the name of that man and he would be competing with him, because the two of them are from the same Adeitan Ruling House. But cruel fate played the fast one on that one he was not crowned.

The second time was after the departure of Oba Samuel Oyedele. My father was the choice of everyone and we all felt that time was right. But man proposes and God disposes, so it eluded him again. I thank God that since I am on the throne, it has not eluded my father.

Would you say the goodwill of your father worked in your favour?

Definitely! That was where I got my title “Bibire Kosefowora”. My parents were known for good works. Definitely, my mother, who is still alive, is known for her good works too. For more than 16 years, she was the treasurer of the Anglican Church and she was a reference point. She ended up being given a chieftaincy title of the Iya Egbe Aya Bishop by the entire Anglican Church. Then within the community, she played several roles. Some mothers or other Obas would adopt Ilufemiloye and whatever, but I adopted “Bibire kosefowora” because the good deeds of my parents tremendously contributed to my emergence as the Olona.

Is there a kind of lifestyle you would miss as the kabiyesi?

Ehmm…There are a lot. The moment you are the kabiyesi, you are no longer a private man. You will miss your privacy a lot. There are certain things you want to do but tradition would restrict you. The social conditions too would restrict you. You cannot eat in the public. I don’t like being worshipped, even when people come to me to state their case, after they might have knelt, I don’t feel comfortable if you have to subject them to kneeling for long. I will keep telling them to get up and they would say they are kneeling for the throne and not for me. Things like that are not my way of life.

Hitherto, I had been a private person but right now, I no longer live that kind of life. You are a public figure and everything you do before, you can’t do them again. You cannot socialise with your friends, you cannot go out and drink or go out and eat. I’ve attended several functions where I would be hungry but cannot eat there while others will be busy eating. And they would not want you to go, because when people do ceremonies, they want you to be there. So when you get there, you just have to tolerate whatever circumstance that you meet there. It is not in all circumstances that you have privacy to go and eat. You cannot go out with your friends and interact with them and because they don’t want to incur the wrath of tradition. They just have to measure whatever they say to you. I missed all those things.

What are you doing to develop the community?

We have the contributing council under the leadership of Engineer Prince Tunde Ponle who has done so much for this community. And there are other people too who have been working with him to make sure that Ada is developed. We have Asiwaju Kola Oyadeji who was a contractor. We also have somebody who retired as a Director of the Leventis conglomerate, Prince Demola Adetona. Then we have Chief Segun Alalade. These are the people we should describe as the architect of development of this community.

When we take it one by one, probably social welfare, educational affair, economic affair and then tourism. There are volumes of ideas and vision which we’ve been putting in place. We are trying to institutionalize and within some few periods, they will begin to yield their dividends. If we take the issue of social welfare, the time I was installed was the time of COVID-19. Without soliciting with anyone, people were bringing in food with which we were sharing with our people, our women, the vulnerable ones, particularly the widows and the poor.

As at the time we were keeping records we had kept records of almost 2000 people that we were able to touch their lives. So I have a vision to empower my people economically. I will help our graduates in this community to secure jobs. Some of our people now are coming in to impact skills. One of my sons based in Thailand is already floating programmes where people are being retrained so that they can acquire skills. These are some of the visions that I have, and that was why my son had to partner with me to mobilise people. We went to talk to them. We were together when they started the programme and these are some of the things that we need to do to transform Ada people, because it is the people that make a community.

I want an Ada community where virtually all our children will be soundly educated. And of particular importance to me is the girl child education, and I think that was the first battle I had to fight when I was installed, because when you look at the poverty-stricken societies, some of our young girls might be thinking of getting married or pregnant for somebody as an escape route from poverty. But I fought that battle. I did much to discourage our children that they shouldn’t look at it from that perspective. If you don’t have a skill and you are into marriage, you are a liability and you will eventually become a punching bag of your husband.

These are some of the things we tried to do in terms of counseling. In terms of social mobilization, I was moving from one church to another, preaching the messages that when you train a boy, you trained a nation, when you train a girl, you trained the whole world.

On tourism, I think one of the gold mines that Nigeria is eating at the top without our awareness is tourism. Her potentiality is using tourism to be revenue-earning sector. Regardless of the petrodollar money that we all focused upon, the tourism potentialities of every community is so much. That of my particular community here, we have several potentialities and they have not been tapped, but we’ve been able to liaise, and we’ve invited the commissioner for tourism.

In fact, the rescue tourism initiative that they organised in Osun State, I was made the father of the day where we went and the people who came on the need for them to focus on the development of our tourist potentialities.

We have several cases in Ada the size that you cannot determine. You cannot even know where it ends; you can only know the beginning. And some of them has fine architectural designs that when you enter it you will feel like you’re in three or four bedroom flat, some of them with natural water inside the rock, and you begin to wonder what nature has created with that kind of circumstances and who has done it. Then in the farm of one man that we called “Ojuloge” there is a rock there that you will see fine carvings, handwriting that you begin to wonder who has done that. So these are some of the things that abound in our community.

It is my vision to showcase our potentialities so that they become the source of revenue, particularly for Osun State which is a civil service-oriented state. I also intend to preside over a community where there would be peace and tranquility; where it would be crisis-free. I thank God I’ve been on the throne for about two years now. We thank God that the community has enjoyed relative peace of all the communities that we have in Boripe Local Government.

Between myself and my chiefs, nobody has had to settle any dispute among us, and there has been no case they brought to us that we have not been able to do justice to. So these are some of my visions and I thank God for putting them in place.

How are you managing security and the issue of herders and farmer clash in Ada?

People in Ada are peaceful. In fact, I intend to make one of the Fulani leaders the “Seriki of Fulani”. So ours is an inclusive administration. We don’t look at them as if they are not our people. They’ve been married to some of our daughters, and when we have this issue of cattle, we settle it amicably. We don’t allow it to boomerang to such a level that it would lead to inter-ethnic crisis, so we bring in these people from time to time and they counsel them on the need for them to maintain law and order and not to allow their cattle to stray into people’s economic strength and destroy them.

Then we have the hunters, vigilante and Amotekun, the Agbekoya; they are all here. Those who watch over the community every night are more than 60 now, and the community tries as much as possible to respond to pay them. So we thank God we are living in a peaceful environment.

Do you think giving a constitutional role to traditional rulers will address the challenge of insecurity?

That is the reason a handful of us are advocating that we should be given constitutional recognition. You see, we have had instances when the legal-rational authorities run into trouble; it is the traditional rulers that they run to. And that is the reason some of us are advocating for a constitutional role with a specific role to play so that we can complement the effort of the government. Where there is no justice, there can be no peace.

Some of the things that are happening in our society today, why there is so much insecurity is as a result of the fact that the economic system is killed against many. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Under such circumstances, we will have some people who would just go for the killer. That is why it is the extremely deprived that will be interested in violence. When you are not deprived, when you are a stakeholder in society, you wouldn’t want the society to be in crisis. So I think what we equally need to do and what the government has to do is to complement the efforts of the traditional rulers, because we are the closest to the people, we fill their pulse.

If somebody is not hungry today he walks into the palace that he needs food. I don’t know how many invitation cards I get weekly. People will ask for donation in one way or the other and we don’t have the money. They feel free to approach us than to approach the politicians because our doors are open while the politicians will keep the police at the gate; you cannot go to their house unless you are allowed. But we allow them in even with the police at the gate. So we are very close to the people, and I think if they can assist us, we will assist the government in the real distribution of income. And when you do that, you will discover that those who have been disgruntled with the system will have no cause to do so.

As part of the preparations for the 40th anniversary of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) and its annual convention themed Exceeding Glory, the presiding bishop, Mike Okonkwo met with select journalists to bare his mind on the church at 40, the security situation in the country and sundry national issues. ADEOLA OGUNLADE was there.

The church is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Could you recall how the journey began and what has been your experience?

There is no way I will be able to articulate all that God has enabled us to do in 40 years. But suffice it to say that for me, it has been 40 years of adventure of faith; 40 years of foundation laying; 40 years of seeing God for who God is; 40 years with all the blessings and goodness of God. But they are never without the challenges that come with them. The good news, however, is that in spite of the challenges that we have, because it is not just what they call a walk in the park at all, it has been like 40years that I ventured into faith. That means you don’t see everything manifest before you take your step. You take out the step because God told you to. And, when you take the step, God helps you to take the rest of the step.

That is the way it has been and through it all. I must tell you that it has been quite a very inspiring and encouraging experience which I won’t take for granted. God has helped us from the days of small beginning from where we have moved from to the days of convenience where anyone will desire. But God took us step-by-step and every step has been an experiment. So, I really give God the praise for what he has done with us so far, but I know that it’s just a tip of the iceberg just like ours.

What is the indication to the ministry?

Just like I was sharing with the congregation during our close of fast last week, which was on last Sunday evening; that whatever we have been able to achieve as a ministry so far, that God is saying that is just a foundation we laid.  And being first generation or the founding bishop of the ministry and God kept me alive so that I can be able to ensure that a solid foundation is laid for the next generation that will now take it up to another level. Mindful of the fact that one person does not accomplish the vision that God has for a people. Not one person if you want – If you understand that concept it will enable you to apply yourself.

The scriptures in Psalm 90 said teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart to wisdom. So, there is limitation by mortality. So no matter the desire and aspiration you have for the work that God has called you, you still have human limitation, which you cannot accomplish in your lifetime. And that is scriptural, because when you check the scripture, you will find out that most often not one person accomplishes a vision. When you don’t understand that fact, then the vision will die in your hand, which I don’t intend that it does as far as we are concerned.

What are some of the peculiar challenges faced by the ministry in last 40 years?

At the Inception of the ministry; there were challenges. First of all is the difficulty in believing that which God was telling me. I had a hard time believing some of the things that God was telling me that we were going to do in my lifetime in Ministry, because looking at my background and how we were, I didn’t see the possibility of it happening.  There were things that would have been a source of discouragement to me at the inception of this ministry. I lost my first child at the age of two plus, and by then we were just coming up. That was enough to discourage me. And while I was still thinking in terms of that and how with all those challenges, I lost another younger brother of mine, my immediate younger brother who was a medical doctor and a surgeon lieutenant in the Navy.

Why it was too painful to me was the fact that he was more or less the only person out of my family who stood with me. By then he had not been to the university. He studied at the University of Lagos. By then, he just finished his higher HSE in Government College, Sokoto. But he was the only one out of my entire family who supported me when I answered the call. No one believed in me. No one accepted that I should because I had to leave the bank to go to answer the call of ministry. I was walking in the bank successfully, doing very well and suddenly I left the bank for the unknown. Not like today when ministry have become something that people are talking about and are  attacking ministries and complaining and talking about ministries interested in money; collecting people’s money.

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In those days, to even think of being in ministry was a curse. If you told somebody that you wanted to marry their child, it was an anathema. Why would you? Who are you to come and marry? That was when I started a ministry. And so, this young man was supportive of me. He just believed that somehow God was going to see me through. But somewhere along the line, after he had been through school and he was working with the Navy as a medical doctor, he was shot by armed robbers. It was when armed robbery was just starting in Lagos. It was armed robbers who shot him right inside the church, but not outside the church. Then we were at Akoka.

He was shot inside the Church when he came to carry out an assignment that I gave to him. So you can imagine that; I mean that will raise a lot of questions in your mind. This young man came to the Church after service on Sunday to come and carry out the assignment I gave to him only for him to lose his life in the attempt. So it was very painful. That’s another one, and I can tell you many others that transpired. So those are some of the experiences. And that incident caused me to lose my father. And, of course, after that, my mum and I lost two other brothers. So, it’s been one tragedy after another in terms of death. And, of course, while growing up, we had to fight for our property. There were many properties we bought but lost, which are some of the things you face in ministry.

There concerns about succession disputes in churches. Can you give a fatherly advice on this? 

I don’t see why succession should be an issue for any church that must have longevity. Like I said earlier, why should it be an issue? Let me start with Archbishop Idahosa’s issue. Archbishop Idahosa’s wife was in ministry. I quite believe that it is not every pastor’s wife that is called to ministry. The fact that your husband is so, so, so or you are the pastor or general overseer does not automatically bestow upon you the right to become a person. But I also believe there are people whose wives are called in their own rights into ministry. In their own rights they are called by God just like their husbands are called. And so, I know very clearly that Idahosa’s wife was involved in ministry. The fact that people are agitating does not change anything; the woman was called to ministry. And as at the time the man passed, she was the only one among the people who had the capacity of holding that ministry if there was going to be continuity.

I know a lot of people who are in that organisation. Some of them were very close. But the truth is that at that time, she was the only one that could keep the ministry going until now. I am not just going to advocate for anybody out of sentiment so that it may remain in the family. For instance, the Redeemed Christian Church, Adeboye was the least person to be appointed of all the leaders of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who were older than him. So, for him to be appointed shows that it is not about family. Actually, the man had children but he did not appoint them, to show that it is not about family. So, transition should not create any problem.

Foursquare, for example, they have a written document. So, if there is any rumble in the place – it shouldn’t be. There document reads that there will always be tenure change. So, it’s not the case of you are a general overseer, you remain there forever. So, you do your tenure and then step down for another person to take over. So if somebody decides that he wants to remain there, obviously, it will create problems. But that should not be at all. So, we as a ministry also have in our document the base of transition. If anything happens to me, the Church will not stop, because we have in our document how transition should take place. And so for me, it should not be a problem.

And everyone knows, as far as this ministry is concerned, even though God used me to start it, there is not one thing that has to do with this ministry that I own personally.

What is your view on insecurity in the country?

Everyone knows that the country is at the cusp of trembling, and it is not a hidden thing. And the situation transcends any human being. It is beyond what you should be apportioning blame to this person or that person. No, it is much more than that. We need God to help us. That’s all I can tell you as far as this country is concerned. Like never before, we should stop playing politics. Let’s not politicise our security situation.  Before I came for this interview I was just reading the news of how bandits invaded the University of Abuja and the man was lamenting and crying – one of the professors lamenting and crying. They are attacking Katsina, the President’s home state, Zamfara and all over the place.

So, I am saying this so we can leave politics aside and Nigerians should be honest for once and sit down and let us put our heads together and solve it. We should not play politics with people’s lives. My pain is that we play politics with people’s lives – it goes beyond parties, to the point that they blew up the rail line. If that is not telling us something, then it means somebody must be blind or something. So, it is an unfortunate situation and if I am to proffer a solution, I would say probably the presidency needs to profile our military and find out. Are there infiltrators who have infiltrated our security architecture (army, police, and other security agency) to find out if we have saboteurs within the system, then you can be sure we are not going to get anywhere.

It is a business. It’s a racket. People are making money and it is unfortunate that people are making money with people’s lives. People are dying like chicken. So, there needs to be honesty and sincerity.

Henry Chiago, a Nigerian based in Switzerland, is the Chief Executive Officer at Polifuds Group, a company involved in the processing, sale and distribution of non-specialised wholesale foods, beverages and tobacco. In this interview with Sheriff Atanda, Henry, as he is fondly called by friends, shares his experience working across continents of Africa and Europe in the last couple of years.

Typical day

Henry Chiago is an early riser no doubt and he has been like that for as long as he can remember. He said that much during the chance interview session with our correspondent.

“My typical day begins early. I’m an early riser. I rise as early as 6am. Of course, I meditate and pray so I’m grounded to do the work of the day armed with my daily to-do-list.”

Management style and philosophy

For Henry, simplicity is bliss and this reflects much in his management style and philosophy. “I’m quite flexible and adaptable. My outlook on management is very simple. I’m very strict on principles because life principles that govern humans do not change. However, my first approach to every management scenario is to first identify the overarching objective or goal; I can then adjust my management approach per time to empower the people I’m managing in a way that supports the strategic direction of the business as a whole.”

While elucidating more on his management philosophy, the suave and gentlemanly native of Ngor Okpala in Imo state, holds the view and very strongly too that, “A true leader is that servant leader who knows the way, shows the way in a way that will make people believe the way so they work in a way that moves everybody forward including the key stakeholders of the business.”

Delegation of responsibility

The young man who studied Applied Chemistry at the University of Calabar and also bagged a degree at Ecole de Migro, in Switzerland, respectively, says naturally, he has a predilection for delegation of responsibility.

According to him, “Delegation is leadership training for the entire team. As someone who believes in grooming others, I delegate responsibilities to team members and with our robust feedback system, we work to achieve our set goal.”

Expatiating, he says matter-of-factly, “There is no way I can do all things and be all things. So I pay great attention to my team members. I address my team members as colleagues and partners, within the service industry where we currently play in, team cohesion, and ensuring that every member of the team brings their ‘A’ game to work is critical to the success of our organisation and the great customer experience we create for our international clients and partners. We consistently ensure that we avoid psychological lacuna within teams, so communication is free flowing from top-down, bottom-up and across.”

Other area of interest

On his other areas of interest besides business, he says he has a deep-seated passion for everything agribusiness.

“I’m deeply interested in agriculture in Nigeria and this includes the entire agriculture value chain in Nigeria. I see Nigeria as a goldmine that the owners are spending unending years sitting in meetings to discuss on the way to kickstart gold mining and exploration. Most of the things we import from Asia into Europe can really be found in Nigeria massively so we are looking at cluster processing parks as well since we have our ready market Europe as off takers.”

Henry, who obviously loves the good life, says he is a travel freak and bookworm combined. “I love reading and travelling. I enjoy books and they provide me lots of insight, fun and mind escape,” he enthused.

“Travel,” he observes, “Is very therapeutic for me and moreso our business involves much travelling for exhibitions, including visiting our suppliers, inspecting factories where most of our products are produced. Of course, we keep an eye on the innovations in our industry around the world and discuss on how best to meet up with the standard requirement for destination countries of each product.”

Interestingly, he says one of the last books he read is Rhapsody of Realities, a daily manual from the stable of Christ Embassy.

Holiday destination

On his choice holiday destination, he chose some famous locations in Greece. Santorini, in Greece, is the port of call when he craves a holiday resort outside Nigeria. “You really can’t have enough of that country,” he says of Greece, with a tinge of excitement in his voice. I have been there a couple of times, it’s fascinating, Santorini, Greece pops up first on my mind anytime I think of where to relax. Amazing Islands spread across that country.”

Personal motivation

According to him, what motivates him as a Christian is spreading love that all men must feel, hear, see and touch as a language that all men must speak. “Love has the potency to solve most of the problems on earth. Love motivates me.”

On what makes him tick, he says that would be his depth of spiritual awareness.

Sense of style

Though a man about town, he loves to keep it simple all the time, especially his dress sense. “I love to keep it simple and comfortable. I wear anything I’m comfortable in and simply smart anytime. You know I was asking a friend of mine a few days ago. How come when people get to their 80s they don’t care much about what they wear and how you see themselves? The reason is there is this wisdom that prevails as they begin to remember they came to this earth alone will leave alone as such they pay less attention in impressing people.”

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However, to stay healthy, he follows a simple-keep-fit-programme as part of his regimen. “I take lots of water to keep hydrated and I take a lot of walks, it will shock you to know most of them are in the forest. I learnt that in Switzerland and it pays especially if you are the type that prays a lot and I can tell you will not lack inspiration.”

Staff motivation

On how he motivates his team, he says he does so by making them have a sense of belonging. “We make our staff have a sense of belonging within our organisation, we show them the growth that is possible and of course, we reward with fair wages and other benefits, we equally encourage flexible hours.”

Applying stick and carrot approach

Life, he says metaphorically, is about carrots and sticks to get the balance. “But you may be surprised to hear this from me, I believe everyone is a good person as such it is always best to sit and negotiate.”

Best decision thus far

A businessman, no doubt, but he says one of the best decisions he took in life is becoming a born again Christian. “I have a life I never knew existed before from that one decision. Not only that, everyday I discover a better version of me with layers of depth of awareness of who I’m and what I’m capable of achieving on earth. It’s intriguing.”

Worst decision in his working career

His worst decision in his career as an entrepreneur is importing palm oil from Nigeria that had colourant Sudan IV. That decision got his fingers burnt literally, he says. “I lost all my assets because of that costly mistake. Funny enough, whoever introduced that colourant must have done that just to gain some thousands of Naira… What that individual didn’t know was that that singular action stalled the business of exporting Nigerian palm oil in Europe. That act was set to destroy a business with a prudent assessment in millions of dollars, brands built over the years. Our containers were flagged at every port in Europe. My error was that I decided to extend our sourcing to my home country-Nigeria with the intention that jobs can be created for some people.”

Greatest influence

Not born with a silver spoon, he says growing up was anything but smooth as they had to scrap by. “We didn’t have a lot of money growing up but we were loved and taught the principles of hard work. When I was in primary school, I watched my late grandmother, then a widow trade on stockfish. She always had this unique comfort that comes from counting money after making good sales. Most things we learn at a young age stay with us and become the filter with which we view life thereby moulding our destiny.”

Life lesson

He has learnt to be patient and hopeful. Waxing philosophical, he says, “You know they say every broken clock can be corrected twice a day.”

Definition of success, career-wise

Life, he says, is a moving train, a sort of Marathon and not a sprint. “Fundamentally I view success as increasing my ability to set goals and achieve my set goals within the set time. Success for me is improving my personal capability to produce results. This is exactly what I’m focused on daily.”

Favourite Nigerian dishes

His favourite Nigerian meal is ogbono but he regrets that these days to get good ogbono is indeed difficult. “You get all sorts of offensive taste in ogbono now unlike in those days.”

Oba Adedayo Olusina Adekoya, the traditional ruler of Ode Ule Kingdom, Remo North Local Government Area, Ogun State is both a medical doctor and a herbalist. The President of Wakamdo Health Industry Programme of Losi Group Limited and President General of the Worldwide Isese Agbaye Community (WIAC) spoke with GBENGA ADERANTI about how he managed to combine orthodox and traditional medicine, the role he played in the emergence of the late politician and business mogul, Bashorun MKO Abiola as the Presidential candidate of the defunct Social Democratic party (SDP) before the Ibrahim Babangida-led junta denied him his mandate and how he reluctantly became the traditional ruler of his community, among other issues.

How did you become  the President of WIAC?

I had always been very innovative. I see things from the point of being a Nigerian. One way or the other, I participated in the politics of that time. I became the board chairman of the Ogun State Council for Arts and Culture.

Some of the old men and women, cultural people, requested that they wanted to be holding meetings at the June 12 Cultural Centre, but were asked to go and pay for the hall. These people didn’t have money, but I assured them that we would find a way of bringing them in. I called the director and requested that they should allow them to use the hall for their meeting because the place is a cultural centre, and since that time, they have been holding meetings there.

I asked them, ‘What unifies you? Christians are called Christians, Muslims are called Muslims. What are you people?’ Some said they were olorisa (idol worshippers) some called themselves elesin abalaye (traditional religion practitioners) and so on. But I said they must have an identity. I did my research and found that the only word that combines everybody together is isese, and they all agreed to that. Without my knowledge, they said because I gave them an identity, I would be the one to lead them. That was how I became the President General of Isese people.

Isn’t orthodox medicine in conflict with isese?

There is no conflict. Medical practice is a profession; isese is a way of life or religion. There are medical doctors who are Muslims and there are others who are Christians. What is conflicting about that? Nothing!

You said you could claim to have come from six different states in Nigeria. What does that mean?

I can claim to have come from Ogun State. I can claim to have come from Ikorodu in Lagos State. I can claim Oje town in Oyo State. I can claim Osun State. I can claim Bauchi in Bauchi State and I can claim Billiri in Gombe State. Those are the six states.

Are you saying you have roots in all the states?

I was born at Ode-Ule in Ogun State. I have some ancestral links with Ikorodu. We are descendants of Oba Mero from Ife, and that takes care of Osun. Talking about Oyo and Oje, Bashorun Ogunmola of Ibadan was from Ode Ule. Even in Ekiti, my great, great grandmother was a princess. I have a marriage certificate from the registry in Bauchi because one of my wives is from them. My other wife is from Gombe. So I’m related to all those places. They all happened before I became a traditional ruler.

What took you to Bauchi and why did you eventually marry from there?

What took me to Bauchi initially was the national youth service. After the youth service, I eventually settled there. I did very well. Wherever I find myself, I do my best. If I resumed duty at 8am, I won’t stop working until 6pm. Most of the patients preferred to join the queue before me.

There was a time the governor came and noticed what was happening. He asked why the queue was so long. They said it is that doctor that is actually working. I’m an Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) trained medical doctor. We don’t leave cases unattended to; you must do that surgery before you go. You must see the patient.

It was the same mentality I took to Bauchi and everybody appreciated what I was doing. The governor just said, ‘You are special adviser!’. It was during my service year. That was why I couldn’t leave the state immediately I finished. The kind of problems (insecurity) we are having now was what drove me back. That time, the Maitatsine crisis was on. When people got hot headed, they would just start misbehaving. They burnt the staff quarters of one of my friends, a medical doctor from Rivers State, with his wife and two children inside the house. There was no way I could continue stay in the state in spite of everything.

You are one of the admirers of President Muhammadu Buhari. What is the fascination?

Buhari is the saviour of Nigeria. People don’t understand what is actually happening. In 1983 when he was the head of state, they said he was good and this and that. The same persons are now saying he is bad. What went wrong? What is happening now is that Buhari, whether as a military head  of state or as a civilian president, has changed the pattern of governance from the conservative way to the progressive. If you want to change a system, you have to overhaul everything.  We are going through overhauling now, and by the time he finishes, the infrastructure for that change would have been set. We no longer depend on oil to run our budget. I feel so proud of what Buhari is doing. I feel so proud of being a Nigerian. I’m not saying that there are not people that are better than him outside the government, but right now, this man is good for us. He is doing the right thing for us. You are talking about insecurity; did it just start now? There are lots of deteriorating decadence Buhari came to meet, and they are gradually being corrected. If we didn’t have such a man, I don’t know what could have happened.

What are the memories of Bauchi you would not forget in a hurry?

Bauchi was a very good place, because anywhere you go and the people give you their daughter to marry, the people must be good.

At the time I wanted to marry and we got to Konta Billirini, my father-in-law asked me, ‘Where are you from? Don’t speak English?’ I said no.

‘Don’t’ they speak Hausa?’ I said no. ‘Don’t they speak Tangali? (their indigenous language)?’ I said no. He asked, ‘What language do they speak there?’ I said we are generally Yoruba and we speak Ule language, which is a variant of Yoruba.

He looked at me, and asked again, ‘Do they have God there?’ I said plenty plenty. He said, ‘Go take my daughter.’ I can never forget that.

The way people suffered there made me work and work, because I found out that there was no one that could satisfy the needs of those people, so I took it upon myself.

There are some people there who have just got hot heads. I’m very vocal, so I was lucky that I got out of that place without being hurt. I don’t know why there are some people that are just bad. If you could go to a place, surround the house, burn the doctor’s house thinking he was in and unfortunately, burn the place with the wife and children in it, it was a bad thing. I will never forget that.

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You had become a medical doctor before you became a traditional ruler and herbalist. How did you feel leaving your profession?

The thing had been long coming because before I was born, my father met someone at Ifaki, Ekiti State, who told him that his wife was pregnant with a baby boy and the boy should be called Olusina. He said it was their great ancestor and oba that was coming. I left Bauchi to stay in Lagos, but due to one reason or the other, the place where I was staying was not conducive,  so I came home and started treating people without having staff. I remember how a girl poured hot pepper on herself and she had 75 per cent burn surface area. That was how I started the Losi Clinic in Ode Ule and people started coming for treatment. There was no doctor managing a hospital around here then. I’m saying these things because they were the things that pushed me to stay here (Ode Ule). I was also told that as a child of 18 months or thereabouts, each time my parents woke me up because they were about to go to work, I would tell them not to wake an oba up. That was when they knew that this man was their ancestor.

There was something that happened that I didn’t know, and I was just being myself. By the time Oba Funso Adeolu (Chief Eleyinmi in the Village Headmaster) became the Alaye Ode-Remo, they told him that Legusen owned the land. If he wanted progress he must move with Legusen. Oba Adeolu now asked for an educated young member of the royal family. Then, my father’s uncle was the Legusen, and he stepped down for me. That was how I became the Legusen.

At that time, I didn’t realise that I was being moulded for a particular role. It was the reemergence of Odo Ule and the people. My crown was one of the first 16 crowns created by Obatala.

When I started a pilgrimage programme with Isese people, I didn’t know that something was pushing me towards a particular objective. I took people to Ife on pilgrimage. We now reached a point that was the Obatala shrine. I was not meant to go there. I’m an ifa man, a practising babalawo, medical practitioner and herbalist. My friend encouraged me to visit Obatala, not knowing that the Legusen crown taken in 1783 was taken to Ife. It was not until about 222 years later that I got it back from Ife.

When they gave me the letter to become Oba Amero, it was Oba Adeolu that encouraged me to take it. That time, I was gunning for the Senate.

How did you take that crown? Did you just pick it from Ife?

No. By the time we reached Ife, each year they were holding the Obatala Festival, the crown would be telling them that it wanted to go home. But nobody knew where the home was because everybody felt the place was its home. When we got there, the crown said the people that would take him home had come. I didn’t know what the elders at the obatala grove were talking about. The elders at Ife now gave me a letter that I should become the Oba Mero. I said no because anything that had oba in it would stop me from politics and sincerely, I was planning for the 2015 presidency and that was in 1999. Because in 1993, after the elders had agreed, I was the one that dialed the phone before my grand uncle, Alhaji S.O. Gbadamosi, told the late Chief MKO Abiola to pick a Social Democratic Party (SDP) card. I was the one that dialed the phone and told Chief MKO Abiola that Alhaji wanted to speak with him. It wasn’t me that spoke with him; I was just a dialing agent. That was how he started what became of June 12 now. With that, however little my part was, it was a very strong part. I was still feeling bad about what happened and somebody was telling me that I should become an oba, I said forget it. I ran away for more than four years.

You said some armed robbers attacked you on Ife/Akure Road and your vehicle was stolen. How did you recover it?

We were to attend the funeral of my father-in-law at Ijebu-Ijesha. Our car broke down, some guys just came and they took the car away. I am a babalawo (native doctor) and before we went, I consulted ifa and ifa told us what was going to happen and we made the necessary sacrifices.

It happened exactly the way it was predicted by ifa; that they were going to take our car and they were going to leave us there, but we should pray that they would not take our lives and that whatever was taken from us would come back. I just prayed that one of them would survive, because that was the only way we would recover the car quickly, because I knew none of them would survive.

The woman they sold the car to took the car home for re-registration in Ilorin. An eagle-eyed road safety officer found that something was wrong with the number. He later found that the car belonged to my wife. That was the way we recovered the car.

What is the relationship between a herbalist and a medical doctor?

It is a very simple thing. What is the practice all about? It is about human beings. You want to get the best of human beings, western medicine, indigenous medicine. There is something we had been doing before western medicine came and it had been taking care of our people. When people say bad things about our indigenous medicine, I just laugh because the indigenous medicine of Europe is what they brought to us and call western medicine. So, when you say the indigenous medicine of someone else is better than yours, I just wonder what you are talking about.

What they did in Europe was to regulate it in their own way. Here, we have regulated it. The fact that it does not agree with that of Europe does not mean we don’t have a regulation.

Instead of demonizing our thing, we should find out what is going on. We have brought religion into medicine.

As a traditional ruler, do you still practise medicine?

Yes. The mistake people make is that they think the doctor’s work is at the hospital. Ninety-five per cent or more are outside the consulting room. One of my areas of specialization is management in medical practice. I was one of the first set of postgraduate medical college Lagos trained management experts in medical practice. They found that doctors are not in management; they are in administration. They had to then train us. That was in 1985. As a management consultant, there were lots of things I recommended. Every political ward in Nigeria has a primary health care centre; that was part of my consultancy, I did that free of charge.