HENRY OLADELE AJOMALE belongs to that hallowed circle of leaders THE
LAGOSIAN prefers to refer to as the Dreamers of Lagos. In this exclusive interview by SOLA OJEWUSI, Publisher
of THE LAGOSIAN, Chief Ajomale, APC CHAIRMAN FOR LAGOS STATE gives an insight
into his journey to active partisanship,
his relationship with ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU and the magical dossier for the
continued leadership style in Lagos with the attendant development drive of GOVERNOR
AKINWUNMI AMBODE.
THE LAGOSIAN: We’re going to start with
the present government. As the father of the party in the state, how generally
would you assess the Ambode administration?
AJOMALE: Upon assumption of
office, we saw that he was an experienced accountant, permanent secretary, and
in the present situation in which Nigeria is, that is the sort of person that
the state needs - somebody to be in charge of funds himself. It is not that he
needs an adviser. He himself is an adviser. He has been in the system for long
and his pedigree shows clearly. Lagos remains the only state in Nigeria that is
paying the salary of staff regularly while still bringing amazing development
without resorting to unnecessary borrowing. What we started since 1999 (during
Asiwaju’s period) has cumulated into the style of governance that we have now.
That shows to our people we try to choose the best, the best of the best. I
have said it before and people are seeing now that what we say during the
campaign is now coming to fruition. We told them we were going to give them the
best of the best and the best of the best is what we are having now. In Nigeria
today, he is still the best of the best of the governors. So, it is not far
from what we said during the campaigning, that he is a man competent enough to
handle the affairs of the state. I am not disappointed in what we are seeing
today. There is visible development. We commissioned 114 roads and have begun
construction of many more. It has never been done before. It is the first time
in the history of Lagos State. I think they have started working on the Fourth
Mainland Bridge and if you look at the design, it is out of this world. I have
not seen any African country that has such a gigantic programme going.
By the time we finish,
Lagos would have become a different state entirely. Even if you say Lagos is a
country, you are not far from the truth because, though it is in the South-West
of Nigeria, all ethnic groups are making money and doing well in Lagos. Those
that had no kobo when they came into Lagos have turned such bad situations into
profit. To me, I think the governor has tried – he has done his best so far and
should be encouraged to do more.
THE LAGOSIAN: So in a nutshell, you
would say that the decision of the party to nominate the governor has really
paid off?
AJOMALE: That is exactly what I am
telling you; that I am not disappointed that we chose him at the time we did.
The primary was very clear and every one of us voted at the primary. The
primary lasted for more than 24 hours and then, we got a good result. I am not
disappointed that the person who won the primaries is at the helm of affairs in
Lagos.
THE LAGOSIAN: There’s something that we
see as being unique as a party of this present dispensation. There is this
harmony in terms of relationship between the party as the producer of the
government and the government as a product of the party. So, what is the trick?
AJOMALE: The major issue is that
once we elect someone, we stay back and allow him to go ahead and govern. We
don’t interfere. We don’t intervene. Ours is to give advice if we see something
going wrong. Or if we get complain from some community about certain things,
we’ll take it to him and discuss it with him: this is what they want and
perhaps this will be a priority in giving them what they want. At the end of
the day, in the next election, they would have become one of us - the faithful
and loyal members of the party. Look at the road network – the 114 roads. They
were constructed with modern drainage system, pedestrian byways and with light.
The streets are lit up. When you go to those areas at night, you will think you
are somewhere else! Most of those roads are linked. So, when you are driving at
night and you can see everything 100 meters, 200 meters away, it makes driving
so much interesting. It is unprecedented in Lagos State.
So, it is an achievement. As
I was saying, we have a way of informing the Governor about what is going on in
some areas and he listens to us. When he can’t personally attend to the issues,
he would send some commissioners and special advisers to go and look at it and
fix the problem. He has been doing that. That’s why you can’t see any
difference between the Party and the government because we work hand in hand;
because we’re the ones who would defend what we have done in the next election.
So, we rally round and ensure he’s able to satisfy the community as much as
possible. As much as money is available, he’ll use it for the development of
Lagos. I’m happy he is doing that.
THE LAGOSIAN: Asiwaju is an aspiration to
many. He is seen as a leader who, against all odds, has been able to create and
help develop one of the strongest political parties we’ve ever seen in history
of politicking. Has he personally inspired you as a leader?
AJOMALE: Of course, he has inspired
me as leader. I have known him for long and we have been in politics for long.
We met in 1989 when he was coming out of Mobil – he was the Treasurer of Mobil
at that time. At the time, we wanted to find somebody as our candidate for the
Senate. So, since then, we have been working together. When he was in exile we
were communicating. His political group was very solid. Even after exile, we
were communicating. At that time because he was coming from the private sector,
I did not believe that he could achieve what he has achieved. But when contested
the election for the Senate, he had the largest vote not only in Lagos but in
Nigeria. He had the largest vote as a senator, beating every senatorial
constituency in Nigeria. Since then, people knew that this man was on a mission
and the mission some of us believed we could achieve together.
Fortunately, I was a member
of a group which was opposed to the Jakande group then because we believed that
being in a democracy, there should not be what is called ‘Ase n be loke.’(Order
comes from higher authorities). We should all sit down and resolve. We believed
it is not by dictation but the will of the people. At that time, we were young
and we belonged to that School of thought that everything must be done
democratically. So, that was what we took to the primaries for the Senate and
we won. We won a landslide. It showed that people believe in what we’re talking
about. So, that was how we started.
In 1999, when he came back
from exile, he indicated interest that he wanted to become Governor. I had no
doubt that his leadership quality would attract people to him because I know he
has a heart of gold. He doesn’t want people to suffer. Educationally, he has
made a lot of people to become what they are today. Some of them outside the
country had their tuition and welfare taken care of. So, there is no way you
will not follow such a person because like the Yourbas would say, “Ko mo ila t’owo
ko” (He is a devoted philanthropist). If he has 200 million naira today, he can
spend that 200 million without batting an eye. That is why God always provides
for and bless him. Whatever he spends, by God’s grace he always has much in
return. Then that political touch to me is something people should emulate. We
believe this type of leadership is not usual among politicians.
He is a type of politician
that is not a politician. I was running my chamber when he left Mobil. So, we
joined hands together to build what we have now in Lagos and in Nigeria.
When he was Governor, I was
his Special Adviser (Political and Legislative). After that, I became
Commissioner for Special Duties and in 2007, when he was leaving, I became the
party’s Chairman. Because the trust had been built and the experience was
there, he had no doubt in asking me to go for the chairmanship because both of
us knew each other. We have studied each other; we have the same mission, the
same programme for this country. So, it was easy for me to work with him and to
achieve what we have together.
By the time we left, we had
only one government and I was Chairman for the only government. Afterwards, we
went into alliance to form APC (ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS). We then became the
senior party because we had in our kitty, six governors then. CPC had only one
and ANPP - two or three, so we had six. If Asiwaju had being greedy and had not
been loyal to this country, he would have insisted that he wanted to become the
President because we went in with six governors, the CPC went in with only one
governor. Who should have been the President?
It is our group, it is our
party that should have the President of this country but he looked at it and
said NO, this is the man that should go. This is the man that the people want.
Therefore, he sacrificed himself for the good of this country and that is one
part of him that I respect. It is not the personal thing but what is good for
Nigeria. What can we achieve such that Nigeria will turn around or become like
every developed country. That has been his passion and equally has been my passion.
That has been the passion for those of us who follow him; who are part of his
political machinery. So to me, I think there’s no sacrifice bigger than that.
Because of the loyalty that he has for Nigeria, because of his belief in
Nigeria, he had to forget about his own personal gains and interest to leave
everything for Nigeria. And today, we have the President.
THE LAGOSIAN: Sir, you just mentioned
that you have been at the helm of the party’s affairs since 2007.What would you
say is the highpoint of your leadership and the lowest?
AJOMALE: I thank God that I started
from one governor and then ended up with 22 governors today. That has been an
achievement that I think somebody has to be beat. While we in ACN had just one
governor, PDP had virtually all the governors. Then we graduated to 6 governors.
From just 1! And really PDP could have destroyed the governors then! They could
have destroyed them. And some of us would have moved to PDP because they were
in the majority and we would have forgotten ACN because PDP could have crushed
us any day. But because of determination, we believed we could do better. We
asked ourselves: “Why do we want to join them? Why don’t we create something in
the opposition to liberate this country from those tenants who believed that
they are the largest political party in Africa?” And how did they end? They
ended up woefully because Nigerians now saw the truth; that these PDP were
thieves, armed robbers.
THE LAGOSIAN: So, you were never
overwhelmed by the claim that they were going to be there for 60 years?
AJOMALE: I wasn’t because I knew it
wasn’t true. People were getting to know their tricks because things were not
moving the way they should be. They were too over-confident and they were
taking us for mugu (Fool) and that’s why failed. It happens that when you are
too over-confident, when you think no matter what you do people would vote for you.
That’s when you have to watch it. Today, when you are in government; try to
improve every time on the dividend of democracy that you are giving to the
people. Then they won’t get tired of you. But when you don’t satisfy their
yearning, you’re in trouble. Don’t be too over-confident. When I go into
election, I don’t look down on my opponents. I fight them as if I am fighting
an enemy. My plan is how do I win this election? Then we plan our strategy, and
our strategy always works.
THE LAGOSIAN: Coming to Lagosians, what
else should Lagosians expect as the years go by in terms of other areas of
development?
AJOMALE: The major problem in Lagos
is that we can’t afford to stay idle. We must always look for what will improve
the standard of living of Lagosians. The monorail will start working very soon -
the rail to Marina. Once it is finished, there are still a lot to do. Sometimes
people think we have done enough. We have not even done 1% of what we intend to
do because when you open up Badagry, you are opening another country entirely.
Like when we opened up Lekki, you saw what Lekki is today. We opened up
Ikorodu, you saw what Ikorodu is today. So, we still have a lot to deal with. We
are always challenged as to what is next and we must be able to ensure that
development spreads evenly among Lagosians so that Lagosians can benefit from
the quality governance that we are giving to Lagos. To me, we are doing it to
ourselves because we are all Lagosians. Whatever we gain of it is our legacy
for the next generation. What do you hand over to the next generation of you
are idle? You don’t give them an empty shell and call it a state. You must do whatever
you can to ensure that you take over from the last tenure and improve
drastically on that. Fashola improved on what Asiwaju did. Asiwaju laid the
foundation that they are all improving on. There must be an encouragement for
whoever steps into that shoe and we have not failed. We thank God that Lagosians are enjoying the
improvement in facilities in Lagos, in infrastructure development. You can
sleep and close your two eyes. You can walk at any time – night and day without
being molested. So, I think security wise, we have tried; infrastructure wise,
we have tried; education wise, we have tried and I believe that there is still
a lot to do.
THE LAGOSIAN: As part of our efforts to
see the different areas of the achievement of the government, we were at Ayinke
House and were really wowed in terms of the machines and gadgets. We also learnt
that the first ever Kidney Transplant in Nigeria was done...
AJOMALE (Interrupts): Have you seen
the Helipad? That is the first in Africa because I don’t see any Teaching
Hospital that has a Helipad. That someone has an accident in Ikorodu, you call
the Helicopter to airlift and within 5-10 minutes, he is landing there and
immediately the doctors will take over. Many lives are being saved through that
system.
THE LAGOSIAN: With all these fantastic facilities,
how are you keeping the government on its toes to see that the equipment are
well maintained and the standard retained?
AJOMALE: You don’t buy these engines
from the shelf. If you buy it from the shelf, if it breaks down, then you have
to be looking for someone to repair it. Having bought it from the dealers, an
agreement has already been signed for the maintenance. So, if anything happens
to that machine, it is the responsibility of these professionals that have
signed for the maintenance of this equipment. Those they bought it from still
has the responsibility to take care of those machines as long as possible.
THE LAGOSIAN: Considering the idea of a
megacity, what is the kind of Lagos we should look forward to in the next 20
years?
AJOMALE: I believe Lagos can be like
Dubai in the next 20 years. Interestingly, there is a Dubai-like city project
that would soon be opened in Ibeju-Lekki. The MOU has been signed; Land has
been provided and this city is going to be self-sufficient in everything.
THE LAGOSIAN: Apart from the Atlantic
City?
AJOMALE: Apart from the Atlantic
City. This one is about three times the Atlantic City and they are going to
have Hospitals, Clinics, Universities, Colleges, Secondary schools, sufficient water, power generation – everything. When you
have the kind of road they have in Dubai, what else do you want? Like I told
you, we are not sitting idle. We must be working to ensure that what we are
handing down to the next generation can be taken it up from there. Maybe they
are going to build houses in the moon or so, that I don’t know but while we are
alive, we must ensure that we provide everything for the comfort of Lagosians.
THE LAGOSIAN: So in the next 20 years,
you see a Lagos standing at par with other cities of the world?
AJOMALE: Yes. Like London, Paris and Dubai. That’s what I see.
THE LAGOSIAN: Lagos is a cosmopolitan
state. You have people from different ethnic groups -Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa etc.
It is agreeable that the government has been able to create the perfect
harmony. How would you advise the people to work together to continue to help
the government to achieve its goals?
AJOMALE: People are our assets, no
matter where they come from. Inasmuch as they have the productive capacity in
Lagos, I don’t believe that anybody is useless. Unless he is tested, you won’t
know how capable this individual is. Maybe he is idle; he could do something
with his brain if he has the encouragement. Don’t declare anybody useless when
you have not given him the opportunity to prove himself. I don’t. If the man
has no opportunity like I have, how do you expect him to perform? Those people are
usually an asset to the city. If you go to London now, what is the population
of the whole of England or what is the population of London? You find that
everyone is in Britain. An Irish man is there, a Welsh man is there, a Scottish
man is there, everybody is in Britain and that is why London is progressing. It
has progressed than any other city in Great Britain and that is what is going
to happen in Lagos. Everyone wants to be in Lagos.
