Chief Kenny Martins means different things to different people. To some, he is a businessman and top socialite. To others, he is a politician. Yet to some others, he is one of the unseen hands behind the goings on in the country. The son of a pastor who flew around in a jet doing missionary work in the mid 1970s, Martins believes that life is about leveraging on the values of friendship and building a network anchored on trust. This, he told PAUL IKPABIO, he has successfully done over the years..
Which part of Nigeria do you come from?
I am related to the popular Martins of Lagos Island. Recently, I was with the Alaafin of Oyo, and he recalled that he was in a bus in the 1960s with my dad and the Alake of Egbaland who was sent on exile through Mama Kuti’s influence. They were all heading to Oshogbo where the Alake was going on exile. He asked if I was in that bus and I replied that my father, Joseph Martins, was there. He was the private secretary of the Alake of Egbaland. The Alaafin said he was with the Alake of Egbaland as a prince student, because in those days, princes were usually sent to other palaces for princeship studies. If you are from Oyo, they would send you to Abeokuta. So my dad left Oshogbo when the man was on exile and came to Lagos where he worked at the Ministry of Health.
My mother used to do what was called lessons; that is tutorials after school. She had about 50 pupils. It was the colonial days when the Oyinbos (British colonial masters) monitored everywhere. The colonial officer who was the Inspector of Education came and said that she could not handled that large number of students, particularly because she was pregnant. She was advised to stop or register a proper school. My father then left his work and registered Premier School, which later became one of the biggest schools in Nigeria. I was running the school much later in life.
But going beyond my father, the man Martins that gave us this name was a Prince of Oyo who was a good businessman. He gave out loans and if you could not pay back, he took your farm or wife, and they were not happy with him. They harassed him, but being a prince, they could not do him anything. He relocated to Oshogbo where he continued the business. These ones didn’t give a damn that he was a prince. When the slave traders came around, they bundled him and sold him off as a slave. That was how he went and became Martins, a Brazilian-American, and came back to Lagos where he started the same business and acquired Martins Street and so on. So, I am a Yoruba man.
Did you also grow up in Lagos?
I was born in Lagos. I grew up in Surulere in those good old days not knowing crime in the dimension that it is today. We went to school having the best. That is why I believe that Nigeria is definitely in a far worse state than when some of us were growing up. That makes me to have some form of sympathy for the younger generations. We have not been fair to them. But that also speaks about the country Nigeria, which I say is the only country I know where our yesterday was the best. But even then, our today is even looking good as compared to the fears that I have about tomorrow Nigeria.
What influenced your decision to go to school early in life?
I was born into a family of educationists. My father was a school proprietor before he died. He had some of the biggest schools in this country. My mother also was a proprietor, a founder of schools until she died. I have also been involved in the founding of schools even up to the university level. So I think I had no option but to go to school.
I grew up in a home where my father was a pastor. He was the proprietor of what was called Premier College then. I went to a primary school that was owned by my father. He had a secondary school in the sixties and even till now.
I went to Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro, for my secondary education and afterwards, I left Nigeria for America where I studied in California. So in terms of education, there were no two ways about it. Getting education, a sound education for that matter, was more or less compulsory for me.
What was life like, living as the son of a pastor in Lagos?
That I must say shaped my personality. Right from childhood, I was used to being in a large crowd. I was used to the stage and being in the choir. I was always involved in what is now called revivals and church camping activities. I remember that I used to go with my dad in my younger days to various church ceremonies. I must have been between age four and seven then, touring the whole of the western region then, from town to town and village to village.
Which church was that?
That was Gospel Mission. He was the first Pentecostal pastor in that context in Nigeria. He brought up so many other pastors in the 70s; people like Reverend Ezekiel of CPM, who came to our church from eastern Nigeria after the civil war. My father brought up such pastors. They are products of his Christian ministry. They were people like about 50 or 60; people in that class of pastors.
My father was Pastor Martins. I remember that when we used to hold our church revival services, there was no national stadium. The biggest open space in Lagos was Rowe Park, Yaba. The national Stadium had not been built. The present gate of the National Stadium was the only thing standing in the swampy place that was expected to be the National Stadium. Though I hear people say that they are faking miracles now, but even then, after those revival services, people would have to pack away crutches whose owners had abandoned. Nobody knew the owners of those crutches because probably the owners just abandoned them after getting their healing.
My father bought buses for each of the states. There were about 21 states then or so. The buses brought people from each state to the revival services. He also used to fly in top ministers of God from abroad. Right from the 60s; he used to invite top preachers from South America to Nigeria.
You mean pastors owned jets as far back as the 60s?
Now they say Pastors have jets. Although I cannot remember whether my father owned it or not, I remember he used to travel in a private jet then to places; even Benin where he had the late Pastor Idahosa. I even presently have a picture of the late Bishop Idahosa receiving him and also boarding the plane together. Those were the people he brought up. I also remember that he used to distribute evangelism tracts from the sky in Lagos and Ibadan as far back as the 60s and the 70s. Those were the things that fashioned the path that I eventually took to in life.
But how come you did not toe his line to become a pastor?
Right now, I am a pastor-prophet. I am involved in many churches and I also give predictions and prayer guidelines to some big people in this country and give prayers on different situations too. I tell them what will happen. My advice to them is usually done quietly. I really do not need to noise it. Though once in a while, I could speak out and say ‘I told you!’
I remember when ex President Obasanjo was pursuing his transition, Gen. Babangida was also going to run. Gen. Babangida, for whatever reason, was not inclined because of some circumstances and I remember telling Gen. Babangida that he should leave OBJ alone, that whoever Obasanjo ended up picking, the government would terminate half way and there would be crisis in the country. I didn’t even know who OBJ was going to pick, but he picked Yar’adua and that government had problems midway. There were instances like that.
Why did you go to the United States?
It was for educational pursuit. My parents granted my wish. They believed so much in education, so anything that you wanted them to do, just weave it around education and they would support it.
How did you see the lifestyle of Americans?
That is another part of my life that influenced my personality. That is because America turned out to me to be a great pragmatic society; a forthright society where you can always know where you stand at any given time. Nobody does prosecuting or double-dealing in regular lines. That is not to say that they do not play their politics, and that they do not have their crimes and so on. But there, the average citizen is also forthright and everybody knows where they stand. In Nigeria, we do not care for the less privileged. The leaders do not care a hoot what happens to the followers. The idea of seeking power is not for the betterment of the majority but for a person or some group of persons who want their personalities to be worshipped. This is very sad for Nigeria, because over there, people are selfless in their service. They think of the country first and that is why they are where they are and we are where we are too.
So at what point did marriage come in for you?
I got married pretty early in life. I was in my early twenties. Now I have five children with grandchildren.
Was it that your mom put pressure on you to get married?
No. Incidentally, when we met, she wasn’t even talking about marriage! She was just laughing. I was the one that was more concerned about marriage. I had an incident which influenced my desire to get married. It changed my perspective about life. I had an accident while I was on the way to see the governor of Ogun State over some issues that had to do with the family school business that I was running then. Then there was no Lagos-Ibadan Expressway like we have it today. To go to Ibadan, you would go through Ikorodu and Sagamu. Between those two places, I had an accident and my driver died. He ran into a Sketch newspaper pickup van, which was taking newspapers to Lagos. The two drivers died on the spot, I had a fracture and was taken to Igbobi where I was hospitalised for three months.
There, I was a high flier, happy-go-lucky guy, who usually found himself in night clubs at least three nights in a week to have good times, who used to travel every other week or twice a month to Europe on my regular business trips, but was now immobilised for three months. I grew up quickly within those three months. My friends came to see me. I had a special room there in the hospital.
The window of the room overlooked the car park. So they came in their sports cars with their girlfriends. They came with entertainment, after which they would leave for the club while I was stranded there on the bed. That was when I started asking myself salient questions like, ‘what if I had lost my life?’ ‘Is this what life is all about?’ I suddenly saw life not in night clubs or in popping drinks or in five star hotels or in travelling to Singapore today and London tomorrow. I resolved there and then that as soon as I left the hospital, I would settle down, get married and start a family. That was how I became the first person among my colleagues to get a wife and also have a child. I was twenty-three when I had my first child, but they are all grown up and married now. So that was a turning point in my life in the 70s.
What would you say is your greatest asset in life?
My greatest asset will be that people call me Mr Fix It. People believe that I can press buttons when things happen. But I know that I am in the hands of God, the destiny maker of us all, who helps me to help people to become what they want to be. I am like a stepping stone for countless number of people, small and big. When they come, the solution comes naturally to me. One person who helped me to sharpen this aspect of my life which has now become a reality is Justice Mamman Nasir, the Galadiman Katsina and former President of Court of Appeal. I met him in the late 80s. He told me that there would come a time that I would not rest for Nigeria and Nigeria will not rest for me. That one day, Nigerians would want to know what I’m doing. I laughed and told him that he was talking politics and that I would never be a politician because I was a businessman.
But today, the business of Nigeria has become my business. I’m not a miracle worker. It is not me that makes things happen. I’m not the Mr. Fix it; it is because I have a network of credible friends. When you have friends or relationships, you can be sure that nothing can go wrong for them or for you because the strength of a man is in the kind of network of friends that he has. It is the level of relationship that he has been able to build. So who are your friends? How bonded are you? Once you have been able to find such a network of friends, then you can count on them and they can count on you.
You are dressed in Babaringa today. What is your dress sense like these days?
I love to dress nice, whether I am putting on French suit, English suit or Babaringa. It could even be the Niger Delta outfit. I just love dressing and looking nice with whatever kind of cloth I am in. Sometimes I love to be casual in my tracksuit and trainers. Sometimes I am in jeans. When I travel, I am usually in that a lot. And I love wearing jackets.
Do you still travel a lot?
(Laughs) I still do. Usually I love it when it is cold over there. My birthday is in January so I usually travel a little before Christmas and wait to do my birthday before coming back. I love it when it is cold out there and traditionally, I have done that for over 20 years.
Which is your most memorable holiday?
I cannot remember which one was the most memorable because there have been many of them. It is a tough one to answer.
What eventually led you into politics?
That was a serious one. I am in the shipping business; that is wet cargo, petroleum products, and I have been doing it for 15 years with my partners until 1991 when I called my friends and partners and told them that we had done enough of this business locally. We had three vessels and two tug boats. Our vessels took products from NNPC to foreign lands. We had served all the coastal areas of Nigeria. I told them we should try and raise our stakes, ‘Let us buy a crude oil tanker and go into crude oil shipping proper.’ Everybody wondered how we would do it. We registered a company and I took off to meet my friends abroad. Before you know it, we were able to acquire a vessel. We named it MT Asaba Queen.
I met with the chairman of this company, after we had signed for the vessel in America and the vessel was set to sail into Nigeria. We put the Nigeria flag on it, and the next thing was that, our chairman criticised the sitting government then about their transition programme. That is why I usually say that the President is sometimes not responsible for acts of government; it is the system, which at times is stronger than the President. That is why when Lady Diana died, the Queen said that even as the Queen, she did not know what happened. There is a system that takes care of such things and they do not answer to anybody. So, the system descended on me and my company and I was called and told that the vessel would not come to Nigeria because our company chairman criticised the government.
We recorded a big loss because of tha. We had paid several millions of dollars for the vessel, and we had to return it. We counted our heavy loss as even some of our existing contracts were equally cancelled. And when I was invited by the Minister of Petroleum, I took a decision that day to go into politics so that I could go there and make this country better, so that people like me can do their legitimate mega businesses in Nigeria without political considerations or witchhunting and the country can run right. I went to the chairman and told him that I was told the vessel could not come into the country; that I was going into politics and hoped that he too would go into politics so that he could become President and criticise as much as he wants and also rule the country. So in 1992, I went into politics. The chairman became the President later, and I am what I am today.
Any regrets in life?
The only regret I have came through a political situation. When the then General Obasanjo was arrested, my name was on the list of those to be eliminated by the Abacha government and I got to know. I ran to the current President and Justice Mamman Nasir in Katsina and General Buhari assured me that nothing would happen to me, though I was seen as an Obasanjo man. He went to Abacha and told him that nothing should happen to Kenny; that if he had a problem with Obasanjo, that shouldn’t extend to Kenny. General Buhari called me later and told me to go and see the NSA, Alhaji Gwarzo then. I saw him and the DSS was told that nothing should happen to me because the former President, the current president General Abacha and the Justice of the Appeal Court Justice Nasir had said that nothing must happen to me. So, nothing happened to me. But unknown to me, my closest partner then, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji’s name was on that list alongside with mine. Two weeks later, she was shot dead! If I had known that her name was on the list the day I was invited to the villa by Alhaji Gwarzo, I would have just told them that the woman too had not done anything, and that nothing should happen to her. The day she died remained the saddest day of my life.
Is there any special thing you are during at present?
Yes. I am writing a book titled The Nigerian Project: My Testimony. In the book, I’m mentioning some NIgerian heroes who Nigerians do not even know. Take for instance, Chief Ernest Shonekan. He was the president in the Interim National Government. Then there was instability in government, the NADECO palaver and so on. So I suggested that Chief Ernest Shonekan should visit Ondo State and they wondered why. As usual, I insisted that as a sitting President, he should visit Ondo State, which was seen as the NADECO headquarters, thereby Nigerians would know that they had a president, because we needed to be seen as a nation. I then went to Baba (Adekunle) Ajasin, one of my friends Fasawe was involved. I told Baba Ajasin that Mr. President wanted to come and visit his governor. Segun Agagu was the deputy governor. Olumilua was the governor then, but he was on leave while Agagu was standing in for him the week I went. Baba Ajasin said no, the man could not come on a visit; that it was a fidihe (interim) government. I told him that the President recognised him because he had been an educationist, a commissioner for education, a governor and Ondo State was the only state I knew you could come into and see a farmer and you ask a question he will respond in English. I told him that the president felt that Ondo did not have the money to educate her people anymore and Ondo should be an oil producing state but had a dispute with Edo State over oil bloc and boundary disputes among other issues. I told him that President Shonekan was ready to use his influence to ensure that Ondo state became an oil producing state and the state could get its percentage. He agreed it was a good one because they would have money for educational development. He then said the President should come, but he should do so in the night! I told him the President could not come in the night, so he said the President should just go straight to the Government House when he arrived and should not branch to his house.
So I went back and told the President. The President therefore went to Ondo State where he pronounced the state an oil producing state. That was a major achievement that the Shonekan government did for the western part of the country, making them to benefit in this regard.
There are other such quiet heroes that the book will bring out; those who contributed to stabilising this country. However, my book will not be one that will cause rancour and explosives between people. I will be kind to some people who though were not kind to Nigeria but instead will point out areas where they enhanced the country.
But why do these your powerful friends trust you?
That’s a big question. The way I talk to you is the same access I have to IBB and to OBJ. It is the same access that I have to Chief Shonekan, the late Pa Ajasin, General Akinrinade and other leaders. I believe that it is God-given. It is the strength that God gave me. People believe me. They know that I say it as it is. I play a regular role, maybe that is why I am a poor man (laughs).
I remember when I was at the Police Service Commission and some people said that we had to share the money. I said no, we could not share this money. I told them that if we shared the money, there would not be problem then, but there would be problem later and I still had some things I wanted to do in future. Your network of friends and their value for you and your value for them determines how far you go. I have found strength in that.
How did you get this network of friends?
Some people would even think that I am an old man. I cannot even here announce my age because people will wonder. At 21, when I came back from America, I was already running big businesses, giving car loans to top business people. I have been relating more with older people; that has been the story of my life. I was closer to MKO as a man, but Kola is my friend. I knew Chief Saraki the late father, but the present Senate President is my friend. But I was with the father running the politics of Kwara State. I remember suggesting to him that he should make Lawal, who was working with me then in another party, a governorship candidate. I was there when he felt disappointed with Lawal and then I suggested to him to make his son the governor. His son eventually became the governor. It was OBJ I first knew before his daughter Iyabo and so on.
Someone on a radio programme said to me, ‘You have always been there since Tafawa Balewa.’ I replied no, and asked him how old he was. He replied that he was 60, and I told him that he was far older than me; that I was not even 40 yet! That was some years back though. So I am not even as old as people imagine that I am.
