Category: Interview

We were least prepared for war when Biafran soldiers attacked my command in Ore Major Iluyomade
Interviewing Major Raphael Iluyomade was an alluring mission prompted by information supplied by Brigadier-General Godwin Alabi-Isama in his recently released war memoir, The Tragedy of Victory On-the-Spot Account of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War in the Atlantic Theatre. In the thorough tome, Alabi- Isama named Iluyomade as the soldier who led the fighters that foiled the Biafran rebels in their ambitious march toward Lagos, the then federal capital. This episode of the civil war was momentous and memorable. Indeed, in popular lore, so fierce was the combat at this front that it created an immortal expression in Yoruba language, Oleku Ija Ore, meaning, the battl of Ore was tough like no other. So, when Iluyomade surfaced at Alabi-Isama’s well attended book launch in Lagos on July 18, it was an opportunity to ask him for an interview, which he readily agreed to. Four days later, in the war veteran’s tranquil home in Ibadan, Oyo State, it was time to relive his experience at Ore as well as other combat situations during the hostilities that spanned 1967 to 1970. Just before the interview in Iluyomade’s spacious sitting room, the 76-year-old retired soldier from Ondo State demonstrated his enthusiasm for books, especially those that had to do with warfare, by opening his equally roomy and impressive library to the visitors. This unexpected excursion spoke volumes about the man, and validated his nickname, revealed by Alabi-Isama at the book presentation. Iluyomade, known as Hitler by his colleagues, had a rich collection of books on the German megalomaniac, and said he must have read no fewer than 23 books on the infamous war lord. There was no dull moment during the interview as Iluyomade served his narrative with arresting spice, punctuated by one or two occasions when he went to the library and then upstairs, first to fetch a Bible to back his credibility, and then to get pictures to buttress his claims. He spoke to two members of The Nation Editorial Board, comprising its chairman, SAM OMATSEYE, and FEMI MACAULAY; and BISI OLADELE, Oyo State Correspondent.

What would you say were your most memorable recollections of the Nigeria Civil war?

I have a very vivid account of how I participated, beginning with the Ore battle. I was the only officer that commanded the troops there, and they were very few on the ground. In actual fact, we did not prepare for any war then because we were not aware of Ojukwu’s intention to invade Lagos and the West.

I had been sent there with about 32 soldiers two weeks before then. I was a full lieutenant. We had gone there to conduct internal security, just to make the villagers aware of the federal presence. There were no road blocks. We were just there, moving round, marching here and there.

Some of the villagers hadn’t seen soldiers for some time because there had been no military base at Ore. Ore road was constructed as far back as 1961. That was my last year in secondary school. It linked Ijebu, Sagamu straight to Benin. It is good for the economy of the country.

The road must have been narrow…

Yes. And it was so commercially based. A lot of vehicles were plying the road. So, by the time the Nigerian problem cropped up, Ore was a strategic village. I took my 32 soldiers there. That was a platoon. A platoon comprised three sectors, and nine men made a sector. So, we were moving up and down. We didn’t carry any riffle; we didn’t mount road blocks. Some of the villagers were familiar faces because my home town was only a few miles away.

The battle started immediately Ojukwu declared the State of Biafra. There was panic all over the country. Immediately he declared the State of Biafra, level headed people knew that war must follow, because it was not the intention of the Head of States then, General Yakubu Gowon, to have his own country broken into pieces. The moment that was allowed, other people would pull out of the federation and armed struggle would definitely be the result.

At the time the State of Biafra was declared, General Obasanjo was in Ibadan. We hadn’t formed the second division then. So, I moved. Then Gen. Obasanjo called me on the radio or telephone that I should not allow anybody to come from the Midwest, and that if anybody came from the Midwest, I should arrest and treat him as a prisoner of war. But by then, all the Igbo people were moving out, including their families and their cartels. They were moving through the Midwest to the East.

How was it like when the Igbo were moving? Were there incidents?

There were no incidents. They were going peacefully because they had been called home by Ojukwu, their leader. So, every one of them from Lagos, and even Ibadan, started moving towards the East Central State. The moment they called all the Igbo back home, I knew that something dangerous was in the offing.

What did you observe as they were moving back home?

It was peaceful. They were moving peacefully because they couldn’t afford to fight. They had no weapons, nothing. They were moving with their families. It was peaceful. There were so many vehicles; I couldn’t count them.

When Obasanjo said you should not allow anybody through, was he talking about civilians or soldiers?

Anybody! You don’t know who a spy can be. A spy can be a labourer. He can be crossing on a bicycle, but he has an agenda; maybe a camera, powerful weapons and so on. So, definitely, you don’t give chances to such people. He told me that immediately I saw anybody from there, the person should be taken as a prisoner of war.

In what capacity did Obasanjo call you?

As the GOC; the commander of the unit in Ibadan. Well, we can call him area commander. He was in charge.

So, did you see anybody coming from the Midwest?

There was nobody except the people that were moving towards the East.

You were to prevent people coming from Midwest to where?

To the West. So, he told me that I should move my headquarters and my troops to Ofosu. Then I told him that I was very thin on the ground with only 32 soldiers, myself being the 33rd. What could we do in case they wanted to cross over? He promised to send some troops to reinforce me, and he sent about 150 soldiers, mainly from the second battalion based in Lagos.

What was the ethnic composition of the troops you had?

(Sighs) The first batch of 33 we were all Yoruba, and we were young, duly trained soldiers. We took them from the Iwo Road barracks, which was created by Adebayo. He allowed a Grade 11 teachers training college to be converted to a barrack. There was a small history behind that. So, we created the first 150 soldiers of Yoruba origin that passed out from The Nigerian Army Training Depot in Zaria. I was the first to command them. Those were the people I moved 32 of them to Ore before I was reinforced.

Was it the training college that metamorphosed into the current 2nd Division?

Yes. Because of what happened when they attacked us on 8th of August, which was a Sunday.

What year was that?

1967. After the reinforcement, they joined me there and the Midwest was invaded by the Igbo. They possibly wanted to use the Midwest as a buffer, so that by coming to Midwest, if any attack happened, the region would bear the shock before it got to the East Western states or Igboland, starting from Onitsha. So, we bore the brunt of the fighting; only very few soldiers. By the time I counted the number of soldiers, it was 179.

You talked about 32 of the soldiers being Yoruba. What about the others?

Yes. I couldn’t determine or find out where they came from, but there were so many Hausa among them.

The point was made that at the beginning of the hostilities, the position of the Yoruba was not known and was not sure, because nobody was sure where the loyalty of Awolowo and the Yoruba leaders of thought was going to be. So it is believed that because of that, the central command quickly sent a lot of Hausa/Fulani soldiers into the West so as to compromise the position of the Yoruba. Would you say that meant you had a lot of Hausa/Fulani soldiers with you?

Precisely! I think that was exactly what happened. Prior to the outbreak of hostility, there were minor but annoying things that had happened in Ibadan here, if I can go into the depth, because I was involved and I knew exactly what happened. The barracks here in Mokola was the Third Infantry Battalion. So, the northerners were harassing the Yoruba because it was one of the wishes of Ojukwu that every soldier should go back to his own state of origin: the Midwesterners should go to the Midwest and the Yoruba people should stay in Ibadan. The northerners should go to the north so as to accomplish the Aburi convention requested by Ojuwku.

So, when every soldier is in his own state of origin, Ojuwku would be confident to come and have a meeting with General Gowon. They (northern soldiers) refused to go. And by that time, there were threats to Yoruba officers by the Hausa/Fulani, particularly myself, because the battalion commander then, Major Sotomi, didn’t know what to do. Every now and then, he would call me to go and speak to the Hausa soldiersI don’t want to use the wrong wordso I would go there and talk to them as directed. They refused. They would say no. So, every day, they were arming themselves with rifles and ammunition inside.

You mean the Hausa/Fulani soldiers?

Yes. They were carrying ammunition with weapons, which meant that if any war broke out, they were at advantage, and they could shoot the whole of us.

Who was giving them instructions? Were they reporting to their immediate officers?

They were becoming unruly and they were not listening to instructions, except it was from their own people.

Which officers do you think were giving them instructions from the higher command?

There was one Captain Bugaji who was the adjutant of the battalion. He was a pure northerner. He himself disappeared during the war. He was one of the people captured, and we can’t trace his whereabouts any more. There was a day Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina came to Ibadan to speak to the troops. The governor, Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo, was with him. Some people from the army headquarters in Lagos were also with him. They did not allow any journalist to enter the compound. Then he spoke to us in a bad and undiplomatic way. He said that the (Hausa/Fulani) soldiers would not leave Ibadan and that if they were threatened, he would use 40 soldiers to defeat the Yoruba.

So, he boasted and boasted, saying, ‘Give me the green light, I’m going to produce Ojukwu himself.’ He hammered on that. He came with two other officers. Three Yoruba officers were theremyself, Makanjola who is no more now, and Adedipe, who is still alive. He lives at Iwo Road (Ibadan). What type of threat to a whole nation by a single man? We looked at ourselves and said we were done for, if we didn’t do anything or if our leaders didn’t do anything.

But Chief Awolowo was in Lagos. Maybe he heard what happened. And that was the only man we trusted. That was the only man. The military governor then, Adeyinka Adebayo, was (shaking his wrist) you understand what I mean?

You mean he was afraid?

He was perturbed. He didn’t know what to do except to report what had happened. But Gen. Usman Katsina came to Ibadan, maybe with the permission of Gen. Gowon who was the head of state then. Maybe he took permission from him to say what he said, nobody knew. As I said, I was a full lieutenant, so a junior officer. But I have every detail in my head, and that’s what I’m reproducing today.

Were the soldiers of northern extraction more in number?

They were more in number because the infantry soldiers, those who carry guns, those who fight the real battles, were predominantly northerners. The soldiers of Yoruba origin and those who came from other parts of the country were clerks, medical men, administrators and supply and transport officers in the petrol depot. So, when they ran away from the north, I was the one that trained them and converted them into infantry men, so that if there was a threat, they had to fight. I thought them the way to handle the rifle, tactics and a lot of things. I was the one nominated to train them, and I really did.

The intimidation by Usmam Katsina could be considered an affront on the Yoruba. What did the leaders do? Did you get the sense that the Yoruba leaders had their feet in their mouths?

As I said, journalists were not around. It was you journalists that would have brought this type of thing to the public domain. A lot of them did not know what really happened within the barracks. I was there. Makanjuola, who is late now, Adedipe and a few other Yoruba were there. So, the thing did not filter to the public. But maybe eventually, Gen. Adebayo told some men. But he would not state the details in order not to annoy the northerners. You understand my point? I’m boldly saying this, and nobody can contradict me because I was there. I was mature enough.

Many times, I would not sleep in the barrack because they (Hausa/Fulani soldiers) were carrying rifles. I didn’t want them to surround me and shoot me at night, because nothing would happen if they did. So, I had to go outside and sleep several times. There was a day my wife refused to follow me, insisting that whatever happened, she would sleep in the barracks (Iletimo barracks). It was like that until the whole thing started escalating and I was sent to command the troops at Iwo road. We called it 11 Battalion. I was the first person to command the place until they sent a senior officer, Olu Bajowa, to take over, and I became his adjutant. From there, a detachment of 32 soldiers was given to me to go to Ore.

Since there was no overt threat, what informed his decision to send you to safeguard the West? The war had not broken out, so to speak, and he couldn’t have read the minds of the Biafrans who were trying to come to the West?

It was a crisis situation and we did not know how it was going to end or how it was going to be quelled. There was a sort of indiscipline in the barracks. What I mean by indiscipline is that soldiers were allowed to carry weapons with ammunition attached to their rifles, which meant they could cock and fire at any time. They were ready for battle, but some of us were not.

But your station, so to speak, was on the federal side. One would have thought that you would have a sense of safety?

Yes!

Why then would Obasanjo ask you to safeguard the West from people coming from the Midwest because the Biafrans were still fighting?

By that time, they hadn’t declared a state of Biafra. But normally, as I said, to make the federal presence felt in Ore, they dispersed people there. I did another one immediately after the counter coup of July 29, 1966. One Lieutenant Obeya and myself were dispersed to Makurdi. We left Makurdi and went to the East and North border to find out or to enquire whether there were clandestine movement of the easterners towards the north to build bunkers or to make some military installations and so forth. We went to so many places. We did our jobs until bloodshed occurred again and a lot of people, particularly the easterners, were killed when they were going home in the train.

Remember they killed a lot of people in the north on July 29. They killed a lot of them. Two of us participated: myself and Colonel Yakubu Anifowoshe. Two of us were the only officers to join them when they held a conference to nominate somebody that would represent our unit. I represented the Third Battalion. Anifowoshe also came. So, we met at the brigade headquarters in Kaduna then. It was there the acting brigade commander, Major Abba Kyari, announced that Fajuyi had been killed and the head of state then, Ironsi, was killed. What would you say? Then someone said he felt sorry that Fajuyi was killed.

Who?

Abba Kyari. He felt sorry. Then I put up my hand and I said, ‘Sir, when you know that you were not fighting with the Yoruba, why should you kill that man? He’s their popular governor.’ I said the only thing you can do is to free Awolowo to please the Yoruba and Fajuyi’s death would be another thing. They would want to welcome their leader. That same night, Chief Awolowo was released.

There is this question about Awolowo’s release; we need to go back to that issue about the tension between the Yoruba and the Hausa, because in the military, there was tension but in the outside world, outside the military in Yoruba land, the Yoruba were not sure what was going on. They were not devoted to Biafra and they were not against Biafra. That was when Awolowo made that famous statement that if the east was allowed to go by any means, the west would not have any option. How did the west move from the position where it was harassed by the north to the point of fighting, as it were, for the northern cause?

Yes! That question can only be answered by the people in power in Lagos, especially Chief Awolowo himself. He was the second in command of the federal executive council. He was next to Gowon. Maybe the decision came between them and few Yoruba leaders. So, that one is outside my knowledge. So in actual fact preceding the war, lots of soldiers ran from the north to come to the west.

What sort of soldiers?

Yoruba soldiers: clerks, paymasters, those who are not fighters but they handle administration in the army. So, when they ran, they came here. We had to create that battalion plus 150 soldiers who were trained in the north. Recruits, I took part in their recruitment. They were trained and they came back. We did not want them to mix with 3rd Battalion. So, Gen. Adebayo created that place. He told me to go and put all the soldiers there at the Grade Two teachers training college. The Grade Two teachers training college was moved out to Molete, so the place was vacant and we occupied the place. I was the officer to handle that place, and by that time, we had no rifle, no weapon at all. So, what I did: we went to the bush, we cut trees and used them as weapons. We did some training with them: how to pick up a rifle and how to do bayonet fighting. We did exercise with them. That was tremendous courage. So, until things came up, we heard what Chief Awolowo said, we were all jubilating then. Another person you can interview is Wole Soyinka. I know the reason why I said so and I won’t divulge it.

Could you tell us why?

He was brilliant; an intellectual. He wanted to go and convince Odumegwu Ojukwu to change his mind about seceding from the country. He went there. By the time he was coming back, I saw him at Ore. I knew the type of car he was using. He was dressed in a round neck singlet with a towel around his neck. The car he was using was Fiat. I can’t remember the car’s registration number because I saw him at Ore heading towards Ibadan.

He was one of the few you allowed to come back from the…?

Yes, before the proclamation of Obasanjo. He came out. He’s a Yoruba man; a prominent Yoruba man too. I wouldn’t ask him to go back. He wouldn’t even obey me (laughter). So, that was the case until eventually the Aburi convention collapsed. Ojukwu refused to come and he went back. Many international people intervened but to no effect. He had made up his mind. In actual fact, the killing in the north was too much. The bloodshed was heavy. I witnessed a lot and the way they were killing people was barbaric. How can you kill a pregnant woman? After killing her, you take a bottle of beer and put it in her private part? My landlord, Mr. Edward, his throat was slit as if you wanted to…

Edward what?

I can’t remember the surname.

Where was he from?

He was from the east.

Did you witness this?

I witnessed it. I was in his house. I rented a room from him. They just killed him and left him there in the gutter.

They cut him into pieces?

Well, not cut him into pieces. But they slit his throat. Then I came back. One sensible officer then was Abacha. Then they arrested all non-Yoruba and the Igbo. Even if you were a Midwesterner then, you would be arrested. They put them in the car at the Third Battalion in Kaduna. Then they came with lorries. They were pushing them in tens, twenties, forties in a lorry, and took them to Jos Road where they were massacred just like Adolf Hitler killed the Jews.

With the Yoruba people too?

No, not Yoruba.

You mean the Mid-westerners and the Igbo?

Yes. If you could not pronounce toro, they do not know you to be a Yoruba man, you were done for. So, on one of these occasions, I was broke and needed money. I dashed to the bank. Mind you, I said I was the only officer and Anifowoshe to come out to join them. Anifowoshe, I can show you his office. He will tell you the real story, corroborating what I’m telling you. I went to the bank. That day, I took three pounds and came home to give it to my wife.

Then Abba Kyari stopped the killing. He said the killing was too much, they should stop. He even employed Ferret, that’s the armoured vehicle without tyre. The one we were using was Salladin. Ferret was predominant in the army then and Abba Kyari used few of them to go and stop the killing. Then after that they were still bringing some people out. Then Abba Kyari who knew this shouted against further killing. But coming out from the bank, they thought I was the one that went to reveal the secret at the beginning to the headquarters. So, I was arrested.

Who arrested you?

The Hausa soldiers. They took the people I was commanding. They arrested me, Omolade, Ukpong , Adedipe, Makanjuola, I think about five of us. We were arrested in front of our company headquarters and they made us to sit on bare floor. Then they surrounded us with their rifles. If you made any false move, they could shoot. This was in 1966. So, it was Abacha that came in the nick of time. He saw us and came out from his Land Rover. He said, ‘What is this, gentlemen? What is this? Come on, get up and go home. Leave these officers alone.’

Then he told the soldiers to disperse and we were released. Sani Abacha and Babangida were my mates in the military. We joined the army the same day, attended the same training. I went to India with Babangida and Abacha went to England. We all came back to be officers of the Nigerian army.

How did it get to a situation when from harassing the Yoruba, the same Yoruba soldiers had to fight for the northern cause?

By that time, Chief Awolowo and Gowon must have held protracted meetings, because it was dangerous. The Yoruba couldn’t fight. We had no soldiers of our own. If you move all the Yoruba soldiers in the army then, we could get about 1000. And this 1000, about 800 of them would be servicemen, no infantry. Very few. But some officers who were Yoruba were many in infantry. But the officers couldn’t fight this. We had to command some men, move to the field, but these men were not there. As I said, I was the one that converted some of these men to pure infantry. I trained them because I had been a trainer for some time. So, eventually the discussion on the political disagreement between Gowon and Chief Obafemi Awolowo came to the limelight.

Felix Obada,  Group Managing Director  and Chief Executive Officer at Global Biofuels Limited, is credited with inspiring and leading the race for Nigeria’s entrance into space by facilitating the design and launch of the country’s first satellite (NigeriaSat-1). He started his professional engineering career at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 1977 and retired in 1995 as a chief engineer. He later became the pioneer Director-General and Chief Executive of the Materials Management Institute of Nigeria between 1996 and 1998 and served as a consultant to the University of Surrey Space Centre, United Kingdom, between 2000 and 2003. Dr. Obada also pioneered the creation of the National eGovernment initiative. In this interview with Olayinka Oyegbile (Deputy Editor) and Seun Akioye, he speaks on why Nigeria should embrace cleaner energy using the biofuels technology.

Let us lay this background first, in simple terms explain what is biofuel?

BIOFUEL is simply ethanol; that is one definition. It can also be biodiesel or biofuels. They are fuels that are generally derived from agricultural products. They are grown and they are not mined or drilled that’s why they call them renewable energy. For as long as you continue to grow your crops you will be producing, whereas if it is something that occurs naturally the moment you drill and you extract you cannot replace it. But for biofuels, you grow the crops you harvest you process it and then you grow again you harvest again and you process again continuously on the same piece of land. And you can continue to do that, that’s why they say its sustainable, renewable. It is an interesting area which Nigeria should embrace aggressively.

One of the arguments against biofuels all over the world is land grab, there are human right groups who say over 100,000 hectares have already been seized by companies like yours. So why should Nigerians support your project if it is going to displace the local farmers

Our own initiative does not result into land grab. What it does is to enhance land utilisation. You are able to optimally utilise the land that you have. Land grab is for certain aspects of bio-fuel production. You may say yes, but in the kind of initiative that we are implementing there is no such thing in the sense that the raw material that we are using will be produced by the farmers themselves, the land will still belong to them. We have an out grower’s scheme that the farmers are part of. They produce the feedstock and sell to us. We’ve been taking a large portion of what we use in processing our biofuel from the out growers that is why we have to work directly with state governments and local governments wherever we go. The state government will organise the farmers into co-operatives, then we sign what is called the out growers’ agreement with them so there will be no question of displacing any farmer, instead it enhances their take home pay.

There are other more fundamental issues that have been raised about biofuels. One is that it competes with the food chain,

Yes we are coming to that. It is true with some kind of feed stocks. In every country they have feed stocks that are well suited for their own biofuel products. Brazil uses sugarcane. The whole country is full of sugarcane; they have an abundance of sugarcane. Also, surrounding countries like Uruguay produce and export to Brazil. Their climate is good through the year for cultivation so it’s okay for them to use it for biofuel. It’s economical for them. They are in the Amazon region where the climate is wet throughout the year. But for us in Nigeria, sugarcane itself is food and then we don’t even produce enough of that. Plus not every part of Nigeria is suitable for sugarcane cultivation. From plant to life it takes between 12 – 18months, so you cannot plant and harvest within the same cropping season. So really if you say someone who wants to plant sugarcane that they will do land grabbing I would support that idea because someone who wants to plant yam and other things you would deprive of doing that because the way sugarcane is grown it does not permit intercropping. In the United States they use corn, yes, I mean real corn. That is actual food that can be consumed, unlike sugar which is to a large extent not considered as real food; the Americans use actual corn to produce biofuel and it is encouraged vigorously by the government.

Corn is food that is dangerous it is like making food for vehicles. In Canada, they use wheat which is also food. In Nigeria, the Obasanjo regime attempted to use cassava, there is hardly any household that don’t depend on cassava. It will be unfair for Nigerians to use food. That is why we decided to use raw materials that do not compete with food chain. We use sweet sorghum, we don’t even use the grain or the leave, we use the stem that is useless. We harvest the grain for food, the leaf we feed to the cattle and then the stem is what we crush, extract sugar and use to make fuel. Our initiative is waste to wealth; it does not compete with the food chain at all. Nigeria is one of the largest producers of sorghum in the world, we have over eight million hectares under cultivation as we speak. Those are green sorghum; all we need to do is to switch from green to sweet sorghum.

What is the difference between the two?

They are the same. But the stem in green sorghum has no juice and it is not sweet. The sweet sorghum has a juicy stem and it is sweet.

How do you source seed for the sweet sorghum?

It is available. In a huge plantation of green sorghum, you may find just one stick that will be sweet, it’s an error of creation those ones have been isolated by our scientists and developed into a large plantation of sweet sorghum. They produce grain just like the green sorghum, so rather than use grain or cassava or wheat we use sweet sorghum.

Coming back to land grab, when your project becomes profitable, is it not possible that some big capitalist would exert influence to grab land from small farmers to plant sweet sorghum?

For somebody to grab someone else’s land, the man has to agree to be bought over isn’t it? And if someone has grabbed a land, we are in a civilian regime; the court is there to give justice.

From your experiment of switching to sweet from green sorghum, how easy has it been for the farmers to do this switch?

Very easy. It is just a question of giving them our seeds, we have developed our own seed. The farmers that we are going to be working with, we will help them to cultivate their land, fertilize and put pesticides. During harvest time, whatever they harvest will be brought to us, we will weigh it and buy from them. That is the kind of agreement we have signed with many of the farmers. Every part of sweet sorghum is useful, the leaves, the grain of course is food and even the stalk, we crush, extract the juice.

How will that work and how much will it add to Nigeria’s power generation?

It will add tremendous amount. For instance we are trying to develop our pilot scheme in Ekiti State. It is going to generate 15 megawatts of electricity and all of that we will utilise about nine megawatts for our production and the remaining six megawatts we will distribute to the surrounding locality because it is too small to go into the national grid. In the fully developed plant, we will be producing 30 megawatts, which gives you additional money. So from waste, we are making money and the leaves also you will feed to the cattle because it is very nutritious. In 90 days, the cow becomes huge. Feed them with sorghum leaves and in 90 days you will have huge cows. So if you buy the cows for N30,000, feed them with sorghum leaves, in 90 days you are ready to sell for N120,000. Every part of a sorghum plant is useable, even after the process, the waste water is also fertilizer; you mix the effluent water with animal drop and pump it back into the land.

So this is not only about producing clean energy, it is also about agriculture?

It is an agro allied industrial complex where so many things are linked together. The farmer produces the grain, leaves and stem. That’s his own job, and then moves to the man who crushes, moves the juice to the one who will ferment, the bargass moves to electricity generation and part of it is used for the national grid and produces more electricity for more Nigerians. Then your cow is dropping for you every time because you feed it with the leaves. After your refining process the water that is left is mixed with the droppings and then pumped back to the land. So what you take from the land you return to it, that ensures sustainability, it is a foolproof sustainable production process.

The Ekiti pilot project, tell us about it.

We are working with the state government because of the share quantity of what we need. But the details are not for public consumption yet, we are developing in other states as well, it is such an important programme that Nigeria cannot afford not to develop. We have the potential to surpass Brazil in biofuel production. Presently, Brazil produces about 70 percent of the biofuel that is consumed in the world, we can surpass Brazil and this is what the Brazilians themselves told us. We have the land and the people to cultivate.

We are learning from everybody, we learnt from the Brazilians, we know that the Brazilian method will not work in Nigeria; we only have spots in Nigeria where you can grow sugarcane. We have also learnt from the Americans, the Canadians. There has never been any record of them failing. We heard about that from the Chinese themselves.

You speak about biofuel and the need for Nigeria to move away from the current system. What is wrong with the present system with fossil fuel, after all we are not the largest contributor to climate change.

Fossil fuel destroys our environment, on daily basis it throws up millions of carbon in the atmosphere. We have about 2.5 million cars in Lagos; you imagine how much carbon they are throwing in the atmosphere, which sticks together and can stay for up to 120 years. This is the greenhouse effect which excessively warms the planet earth. There is excessive heat on one place and the other it is flooding. In Nigeria, are suffering from the worst effect of climate change. For almost 20 years now, but people are not paying attention, in school in the old times did you ever hear of sand dunes inside Nigerian territory? Never, in those days when you are travelling abroad, you would have left Nigeria before you see sand dunes. But today it is only about 35 nautical miles from Kano. It has eaten up a large chunk of the north.

Desert encroachment has greatly affected those living in that area and they are cattle rearers with thousands of cattle. One day they wake up and see their land has been taken over by sand so what do they do? They take their cattle and move on, in their thousands. Now the sand dunes move at the rate of 380 meters per annum, it is very gradual but it goes on steadily. Now the farmers who moved their cattle will move into other people’s land. You wake up one day and find thousands of cattle on your farm. Then we have clashes as far south as Anambra, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo. There is social unrest, 15 million people have been displaced, where will they find work? This is the effect of climate change. Lake Chad had a volume of 24,000 square kilometres of water in 1963; today it is less than 10 percent of that volume. There is no more Lake Chad in Nigeria, it is now in Cameroon. All the 15 million Nigerians who depend on it are now jobless. This is caused by excessive consumption of fossil fuel. Look at soil erosion in the East, the flood of last year. Climate change is a subject that has to be addressed.

What has been government’s response to this project?

We have been on it for five years. Government is sympathetic. We have signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), with the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment to develop our project in 15 states of the federation. But it has not been easy because the banks will not touch anything green. We have shown them everything and even taken them to China but they still ask can this work in Nigeria? It is not easy for an individual or a group of people to develop a project of this magnitude, we require government support and I have a firm believe that the present administration will do something. The multiplier effect is huge, the job creation, our infrastructure will develop. A state with 20 megawatts of power is okay, that means you are self sufficient.

Talking of job creation, you said the project will create 8000 direct employment and 50,000 indirect. How do we measure this?

This is very simple, we have done the calculations. A standard biofuel farm needs about 7,000 hectares of farmland, one farmer is able to manage five hectares, you divide 7,000 by five and know the number of people you need. There is the supervisor and the superintendent then the boss. That is the farming. Then you need massive number of people to do your cattle rearing, and other things. You have the housing estate because we are going to house all our staff, the plant employs about 230 people. For direct employment we are looking at 8,000 and indirect is 50,000

When is this going to start?

Soon. I will not be able to give you the exact month but the pilot will start this year.

But when you start what will be the initial capacity

The first plant will be producing like 103,000 litres per day that is like a drop in the ocean, we will blend up to E-5. That is five percent ethanol mixed with 95 percent gasoline. Ethanol is cheaper than petrol. It will help to force down a bit the price of petrol. In China, they introduced the blending city by city. Nigeria can do something similar, we can start from Ado- Ekiti, whatever we produce, and they blend in Ado- Ekiti and get designated station to sell it. The beauty of this is that we can easily replicate the model.

If I am using fossil fuel in my car, and I want to switch to bio fuels, do I need to drastically change the mechanical and electrical components of my car in order to accommodate bio fuels.

Up to the point of E-20, that is 20 percent ethanol and 80 percent gasoline, you don’t need any special switch. But above E-20, you will need to change the rubberized components of your vehicle. It is a simple operation, you change it to Vitol, ethanol will dissolve rubber in high concentration. It has happened in Lagos before, when some marketers brought in E-22 because it is cheaper and it destroyed many cars.

Will importation not affect your business?

Government ideally must not allow importation, because it will stifle the local industry. The government will not encourage it. The NNPC tried to do that before, we fought them to a standstill and the importation never happened. So we are looking forward to starting this industry in Nigeria.

Would that not lead to monopoly by your company?

There is no monopoly, for instance our raw material is patented, we have been franchising with other people. I cannot go to Oyo State without bringing people from there who would like to be part of it. They will own the plant but we have the technology and we are happy to share, we will work together. It’s better we franchise with like minds. The rate of unemployment in Nigeria is massive; all the people that have been displaced by global warming must be re-engaged. If we start planting sorghum in those places we have desert encroachment, it will be checked and it will prevent farmers from moving south with their cattle. The cattle will be fed sorghum leaves and they will be fine. So, it will reduce the level of tension nationwide.

You are passionate about most of the things you do. You have been credited with pioneering a number of things in Nigeria. You spearheaded Nigeria’s entry into space, you are pushing cleaner energy and a number of others. What drives you to become the first?

It is not about me trying to become the first but God that pushes me into all these things. At the time we went to space, we faced a lot of challenges, but we had a president that listened to us. World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) worked against it even Britain that collaborated with us on the project challenged us. But thank God space industry in Nigeria is now well developed; we are no push-over. If America can hear us from space we can also hear them. We are equal in that aspect. Some of the spin-off industry attached to the space is broadband. That was how E-government came to be. In those days when you want to check your WAEC result it is a whole day affair. Today, you can check it on the phone. When we said this is possible, thank God we had a government that believed in us. You can move money in your bank today without going to the bank, I don’t go to the bank anymore, I do my transactions online. It has made life very easy for us. I believe the biofuel project will succeed. It may suffer like the others but it will not die.

Beyond all these how do you relax?

I play golf (laughs). Unfortunately, when you are doing a serious project like this you don’t have time for anything; every other thing is a distraction, even to listen to music. Look at me I used to love music so much but now you are disturbing me playing music. It’s work and home and my life has been really boring. My children complain, I don’t go out with friends, but I do that once in a while.

Relaxation is good; I go to church, read my Bible and exercise in my room. I try to eat well, and take a lot of rest. So I am not stressed.

You don’t have to look further than Justice Fati Lami Abubakar for the truism in the old  dictum  that behind every successful man, there is a woman, following her full disclosure of  the moral support she gave her husband, General  Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), towards  voluntarily handing  over power  to a civilian government  after 16 years of military rule in 1999. The Chief Judge of Niger State, the amiable, soft-spoken one-time Nigerian First Lady, is  the first female Chief Judge in Niger State and the second in   northern Nigeria. She told  MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN, ASSISTANT EDITOR, how she stood behind her husband in those heady days of transition from military to civilian government. Excerpts…

Until recently when you were made the Chief Judge of Niger State, nothing much has been heard about you since your husband (General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd)) handed over power as the Head of State, was it deliberate?

It is quite possible that you have not heard much about me personally but I’m sure you must have heard about my pet project: Women Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA). WRAPA is a Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO) which we started towards the tail end of my husband’s regime as the Head of State. In fact, WRAPA has become a model for so many others who started NGOs after us; WRAPA is all about social justice for women and children and it addresses gender issues and human rights. Though I have not always been in the corridors of power, I grew up along and I have been privileged to attend so many conferences where women usually lamented about the fact that they were not enjoying equal rights as the men folk. So after due consultations, I thought the time was ripe to have a body to be at the vanguard of women issues and that was what gave birth to WRAPA to cater for the rights of women. We give legal advice as well as supporting women in difficulties. We believe that a lot of the abuses and intolerances we have in the society today are against the women. Women have to deal with a whole lot of issues and they need to be empowered in order to get freedom and be self sustaining. This is part of what I have been doing and by my own nature, I prefer to act than to be all over the place just talking; and that may have accounted for why I have not been in the public glare. But WRAPA is doing very well in propagating some of my ideals.

There are people who believe that the common man cannot actually obtain justice in the Nigerian system, are you not worried about such scepticism?

I believe that the common man, in fact, both the rich and the poor, can get justice in Nigeria particularly if he knows the right thing to do and the right place to go. If the people go to court as at when due and seek redress, surely they can always obtain justice. I think the problem we have overtime is the public perception that it is only the rich that can get justice because of the challenges the country is facing. Of course, the judiciary is part of the system but I don’t think it is true that it is only when you have money that you can actually get justice in Nigeria. The Nigerian judicial system has passed through many stages and reforms down from the colonial era till today and over time; there have been meaningful reforms which have allowed the courts the power to dispense justice without fear or favour. Of course, there are various courts that the people can avail themselves of in order to seek justice and that is why it baffles me when some people believe it is only when you have money that you can obtain justice. Yes, you have to pay some money when you go to court because the courts are not been run like a charity organisation; but what you pay as filing fee and all that are mere token particularly at the grassroots, the magistrate level, so that more and more people can revert to the court when seeking redress. Yet, the issue remains whether people avail themselves properly and use this opportunity or if the operators of the system are doing their work well. I know over the years, there have been issues of corruption in the system but I believe it is the responsibility of every aspect of the society to ensure that we put a stop to all these unbecoming problems.

As the number one person in the state’s third arm of government, which is the judiciary, how are you going to deal with the issue of corruption in the system vis-à-vis your priorities during your tenure?

My priority is to ensure that the judiciary is put in a position to discharge its constitutional duties to the extent that the confidence of the people would be deeply rooted in it. Of course, there are constraints and challenges that go with all human endeavours, but I want a situation that people would take responsibility, for their actions. I want to strengthen the Judicial Service Commission which is responsible for appointment, discipline amongst other duties, to continue to deal with any unwholesome attitude and behaviours. We are going to ensure that we clean the system in order to repose confidence in the public about the judiciary. Of course, we need the help of the people to weed out the bad eggs in the system because without any report, we can hardly do anything. Even in reporting any infraction, we want people to be very honest without being frivolous; all genuine cases would be dealt with. By and large, we shall equally protect our own people from spurious allegations, because, unfortunately in this country, the only time people give credits to the courts is when they have won cases and it is only when people lose at the court that you hear all manner of stories. We need to educate people to know that in every situation no two people can win the same case at the court at any given time because what the court deals with is the truth in the eyes of the law. In fact, that is why there are alternative actions in resolving issues amongst which is the ATR- the Alternative Truth Commission- which at the end of the day can help people resolve their grievances and shake hands. In fact, I believe people can be happier if they make use of these alternatives in resolving their disputes not forgetting the fact that the regular court is the last refuge for the people.

Was it part of your dreams to read Law while you were growing up or was there any particular thing you actually wanted to do?

Really, I don’t know (general laughter). First and foremost, you have to go to school and that was a dream; and you don’t actually know what you are going to do until you get older. At one point, I wanted to be a doctor but of course, I jettisoned it in my Form Five when I had to drop physics which was giving me problems. Though I had chemistry and biology, I did not have another science subject which was a prerequisite coupled with the fact that mathematics was a no-no for me, I had to give up the dream of becoming a doctor. Yes, of course I knew that I was going to go to the university but I never gave a thought about what I really wanted to be as things changed due to other significant factors. So as I said, it was Physics that actually stopped me from doing my HSC (Higher School Certificate) in science. I then had to do Literature, History and French in HSC to be able to do something else. Even then, my first choice was Sociology but I changed to Law afterwards. There was no regret that I finally ended up reading Law because basically, Medicine and Law are quite important because they are professional courses that are very important in the life of human beings.

Did you envision yourself rising to the position of a Chief Judge of a state when you eventually picked Law?

No. I never thought as much. What I was sure of was that I was going to have a university education, given the fact that my father (the late Waziri of Minna, Alhaji Umaru Audu) put a lot of premium on education. There was no dichotomy about whether you are a boy or a girl and he had always impressed that on us. He gave all of us the same opportunity in furthering our education. He did the best for all of us…

How many were you?

We are seventeen, altogether.

How did he manage to raise all of you (general laughter)?

Obviously, he didn’t have 17 children at a go. Really, I wouldn’t know how he managed it because we all went to some of the best schools. But I suspect he must have done a lot of budgeting to be able to put us all through schools but I think he was not that kind of person that was obsessed with unnecessary luxury. He was spare in his ways of life because we didn’t lack anything really. But I think we were very luck in our time for obvious reasons. I went to the mission school for my primary education and did my secondary education in government school. In those days, particularly in northern Nigeria, there was something that was called pay as you earn and it was organised in such a way that if you have four children or more in government schools, you only pay for a maximum of three children while the others are tuition free irrespective of where they are schooling so far it’s within the northern region. Again, we were virtually on scholarship for our tertiary studies in as much as you were able to secure an admission. I remember I had admission to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife) simultaneously and when I went to the scholarship board they asked me which one was my preference’ and I told them I wasn’t sure of what I really wanted.’ I was asked to come back when I’m ready; I don’t think that can happen now. Obviously, that did help my father in some ways. I remember that after my secondary school (Our Lady’s High School in Kaduna), I went to Federal Government College for my HSC where I didn’t pay any tuition at all because I was on scholarship like indigenes of that state. The same was applicable while in the university with my other siblings.

What do you think is stopping government today to replicate such laudable programmes?

I think the major hindrance would be the size of the population we have today compared with what we had then. Frankly, I don’t think the government can do as much as they were doing before. Of course, government is trying the best it could but I don’t think it can be done at the same level as we had then.

How did it feel being Nigeria’s First Lady at some point?

It was quite an experience….

Can you please share some of those experiences?

What exactly do you want me to say because it’s a whole lot of experiences?

Okay, was it deliberate that there was no elaborate project on your part as the First Lady vis-à-vis what was obtainable before then and even now?

I think we didn’t stay too long (general laughter). But seriously, I don’t really know what you mean by elaborate project. I did what I needed to do in my own simple way because that is just my style. I complemented the efforts of my husband by undergoing visits during that period. Of course, I’m not in a position to judge others because while I was there, I was only interested in doing the NGO- Non Governmental Organisation- I mentioned at the outset which is just to help people. After wide range consultations, I decided to do something that I could continue with long after I might have left government, consequently we sourced for funds outside the government. It would have been easy to use my position to seek for donation here and there but that was never in my plans and we deviced other means of sourcing for funds. We tried as much as possible not to involve the government because immediately we do that, it becomes a government thing which will not outlive you in the office because others who are coming have their own ideas of what they want to do.

What other things interest you?

I love reading…

Which book are you reading now?

Right now, I’m not reading any particular book, rather I’m engrossed with Law books because there is no time. But one thing I can’t do away with when I have free time is to do my puzzle. I like puzzle.

Why puzzle?

Doing puzzle stimulates me and I like the challenge because it helps in adding to your vocabulary…being able to do cryptic as against the simple ones and the rest of it. Even my grand kids are so fascinated about it that anytime they come, they always want to do puzzle with me. This is one hobby that I have long cultivated. I socialise as much as I can.

I think there is no way I should be talking with you without asking after General (Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former Head of State); what kind of person is the General?

(Laughter) Yes, he’s my husband who is a very good father. What do you really want t me to say about him other than the fact that he’s my husband? Okay, he’s a very generous, very considerate person and what is the word that I can use (to give a complete description)? Of course, he’s very kind hearted and he is somebody who has filial feelings for other people; he is very soft and very firm.

How did General come your way or did you have the premonition that you were going to marry somebody like him?

You know we all grew up here in Minna in the same neighbourhood and in fact, our family houses are a stone throw from each other’s about four or five houses away. Our parents were friends and you know in those days, it was a very close-knit society and our families were particularly very close. I grew up knowing him as an elder brother for a particular time until something changed (general laughter).

What happened at that point that ‘something changed’ because this was somebody you used to see as an elder brother?

Of course, the change did not come suddenly like that, you know what I mean. It didn’t come in one day rather it was a gradual process and our attitude towards one another changed gradually.

How did it work since both of you were pursuing different careers since. He is in the military and you were pursuing your career in Law, did it affect the raising family?

Actually, I did Law in his house. We got married in 1972 just before I went into the university. So I did by LLB in Law, NYSC and all that in his house. Obviously his attitude to life had a lot to do with my success because he gave me all the opportunity to do all that I wanted to do in terms of pursuing my education and my professional career. It was easy because he gave me the support all the way. In fact, I was actually having children while I was in the University and I didn’t employ a nanny, rather it was his step mother who actually brought him up that was taking care of my children. You know it was quite easy in those days and when I had my first child, his step mother came for the naming ceremony and she didn’t go back until she died. The same thing with my grandmother who came almost about the same time…so they were the people taking care of my children for me and that really helped because I can go anyway knowing well that they were in capable hands. My mother-in-law actually died about seven years ago but my grandmother is still very much alive, but of course, I have got nannies to take care of her now (general laughter).

Longevity must be running in your family if you still have your grandmother around, how old is she now?

Yes, I think you are right and we thank God for that. Definitely, my grandmother is well over 100 years of age; in fact we don’t know her exact age rather we just hazard a guess based on some of the things she had said happened when she was growing up.

What about your mum, is she alive?

My mum died in 2009…

By the way, why didn’t you prevail on the General to stay a bit longer when he was the Head of State?

My interest always is to do anything that would enhance my husband’s integrity and his welfare and I would never do anything or encourage what could jeopardise that. There is no way I could mount any pressure on him to do anything that is against his interest or anything that he is pursuing. That can never arise at all.

But stories abound about some first ladies who mounted pressure on their husbands to extend their stay longer than necessary…

I think there is no truth in some of these stories; it is all just about perception of people outside the corridors of power. There is no woman that would want to put the life of her husband in danger or put her husband in a position that would be detrimental to the welfare of her family. I want to believe that no woman would want to do that but people make a lot of conjectures and perception about some of these things.

You actually spoke about the General as somebody who is nice and kind-hearted, but how do you respond to allegation that he had a hand in the death of Chief MKO Abiola?

I have nothing to say about that because it is not part of my purview.

As we are rounding off this interview, what are the things going through your mind?

A lot of things are going through my mind and the most important is that I want to close and go to meet my family. But frankly, you cannot just sit down and start processing all what is going through the mind, my focus now is the interview with you.

How do you define your fashion’s style?

Style from me? I don’t. Anybody would tell you that they have come for fashion advice from me though I won’t say I’m not conscious of fashion. But I like wearing simple things; anything that suits me and I feel comfortable in it. Sometimes when I buy things that I thought they are very good and fine, my daughters would tell me that ‘ it is not okay because they are old stuff ’ and that is to tell you that I’m not a fashion follower as such. I love it simple and I like good things.

Finally, what will WRAPA be doing in the coming five years?

As I told you earlier, we are networking with both local and international organisations in order to achieve our goals and objectives. At present, we are in partnership with the government of The Netherlands and we recently opened about 10 skills acquisition centres which we donated to communities across the country for women and we are going to continue to do more. We also act like a pressure group on gender issues so that government can put in place policies that are favourable to women. We would continue to do things within the limit of our pockets and pray that God continue to bless our modest efforts.