LEADER OF DREAMERS: THE HENRY AJOMALE INTERVIEW

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.