Then he said: “Why do you want to work directly with me?” I replied that I prefer a relationship that would make it easy for the two of us to work together or to go our separate ways on mutual terms if and when separation becomes inevitable. I further disclosed to him that I didn’t want to work with him through anybody to avoid people causing disaffection between the two of us. “The day you no longer feel satisfied with my performance, please go ahead and sack me. On the other hand Sir, if the environment is no longer conducive for me to work with you again, I will also resign on my own”, I explained. He then gave me the privilege to go and write one or two-page submission for him stating clearly what role I wanted to play in the government. In addition, he authorized me to design, and/or decide my designation. After that, I decided to leave with all sense of honour and respect for both of us. I was half way to the door when he called me back. I knew him to be a very generous man. I thought he was calling me back to give me a Tfare that would be enough to buy me a car. I was ready to turn it down to complete the process of dignity but he called me back for a different reason: “Make sure you bring the memo tomorrow, unfailingly”, he said. “Okay Sir”, was my response. And, I left.
Immediately I left Alausa, I went straight to Femi’s office to give him the gist of our encounter. He laughed and laughed. He made some remarks that were instructive during our discussion: “Ore mi (my dear friend), don’t worry. I am sure the two of you will work together for 8 years. The Bola that I know will enjoy working with someone like you”. “Femi, by the way, which one is eight years? Is it not four years in the first instance”, I interrogated. “In Nigeria, politicians don’t plan for one term, they plan for all the terms allowed by the Constitution and even the ones disallowed by the Constitution. They are incurable optimists”, he said. I was leaving his office when he suggested that I should reach out to Bayo (Onanuga) and Femi (Ojudu) to say thank you. According to him, the three of them were with Senator Bola Tinubu when they were discussing the article I wrote on Gani Fawehinmi titled “The Only Wise Man” published by various Nigerian newspapers in December 1999. It was in the course of the discussion that Bola Tinubu asked them if anyone of them knew where I was staying because he had been looking for me. Of course, Femi Fálànà told him he would contact me because the two of us were seeing regularly. No wonder Senator Tinubu asked me where I had been all these days when I went to his office.
I began wondering how I would cope working for a Governor or a Government for 8 years. Since I started working all my life, and I would have worked in more than ten places, the longest period I had done was in Newbreed and DailyTimes. In those two places, I spent two years plus or roughly, three years apiece. In writing the submission, I had to work on my mental factory, especially my “restless energies” that earlier repulsed against bureaucracy and establishment conservatism when I worked as a civil servant in the Ministry of Information almost a decade ago. Again, I had lectured for almost a year now and I seemed to be enjoying myself in the academia. The rigour and intensity of teaching and writing scholarly papers were a bit challenging but very interesting. As a lecturer, the number of books I had read in one year and the depth of one’s analyses had increased saliently. Alongside teaching, I was conducting extensive research for my dissertation in readiness for my post-field seminar.
This was another enterprising exercise in the gym of intellectualism. There was no doubt that these were indeed challenging times. Equally, my kind of journalism acknowledges the importance of facts in essays to give them the robustness that is academic as different from the archetype of a drooling genre. Journalism, to me, is a pedantic hobby. Anything that is about enlightenment must have all the grains of intellectuality.
It was 9 December 1999 that the Governor said I should see him with the memo. I was there on time for the appointment. It wasn’t easy for me to decide what to wear. One naughty spirit said I should wear a suit. I replied and said how many journalists or lecturers have you seen wearing suits in Nigeria? Do you know the country’s temperature? How many offices and classrooms have air conditioners? I bound the spirit of suffocation with the blood of Jesus. Besides, can I sustain it? I finally decided to wear my shirt and trousers on sandals so that I would know if he was comfortable with it or not. I didn’t have any problem this time gaining access to the office. My powerful pass was there. Let me read it again: “Security/ADC, let the bearer (Dapo Thomas) see me ANYTIME”.
I sat in the ADC’s office waiting for him. I didn’t sit with “others” in the visitors room with the malfunctioning air conditioner. My level has gone beyond that. Mine was now a two-layer ascendancy. I moved from the security desk to the ADC and then to the Governor himself. When the ADC went in to inform him that I was around, he told the ADC: “Dapo is no longer a visitor, he is now a staff. I told him to do me a memo. I will see him soon. Let me finish with the visitors”. I smiled when the ADC gave me the feedback. Who would not? Then, the waiting game started. One hour, two hours, three hours, four hours and I was still counting.
One thing I love doing during a waiting game is to quickly take a nap. But now that I had been tagged a staff, any attempt to sleep might be termed “sleeping on duty”. Even taking a nap as the Governor’s visitor was not honourable. One may be seen as an unserious appointee-to-be. To take a stroll to the corridor was a problem. You could never tell when you would be called in. It was a complicated condition. You didn’t want anything to go wrong. You would want to create a very good first impression. I endured . Finally, I was called in. ” I am sure my ADC told you what I said. This memo thing is a mere formality caused by your special request”, the Governor declared as soon as I entered his office. He collected the memo from me and started reading.:
“HIS EXCELLENCY, THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR, LAGOS STATE, THE SECRETARIAT, ALAUSA, IKEJA
RE: POSITION PAPER ON THE ROLE I CAN PLAY IN YOUR GOVERNMENT
(1) POLICY FUNDAMENTALS:
(A) THE CRUX OF GOVERNMENT IS ALL ABOUT POLICY-MAKING. THERE MUST ALWAYS BE AN INTEGRATING CONDUIT FOR POLICY IN-PUT AND POLICY OUT-PUT. MY ROLE IN THIS RESPECT WILL BE TO ENSURE EFFECTIVE POLICY FLOW VIA CONSTANT GENERATION OF CONSTRUCTIVE IDEAS
(B) ON A REGULAR BASIS, GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO DO ANALYSIS, APPRAISAL AND EVALUATION OF ITS POLICIES TO ENABLE IT ARTICULATE THE IMPLICATIONS AND EFFECTS ON THE PUBLIC. AS A POLITICAL ANALYST, THIS I CAN EFFECTIVELY DO CONSIDERING MY THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ORIENTATION IN POLICY FORMULATION.
(C) AS IT IS NORMAL WITH EVERY GOVERNMENT, THERE WOULD BE AN ENDLESS FLOW OF PROPOSALS AND PROJECT IDEAS FROM THE PUBLIC. THESE NATURALLY WILL REQUIRE A CRITICAL STUDY TOWARDS HIGHLIGHTING THEIR CONTENTS FOR EASY READING AND COMPREHENSION BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE STATE. HAVING BEEN EXPOSED TO THIS KIND OF EXERCISE IN THE PAST, I CAN CONFIDENTLY ASSIST MAXIMALLY.
(2) INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
(A) CONSIDERING THE IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMMES ESPECIALLY IN THE AREAS OF REFUSE CLEARING AND ROAD REHABILITATION, WE NEED TO NOW TRANSLATE THIS PERFORMANCE INTO MEANINGFUL GOODWILL BY THE PRESS._ _THIS CAN, HOWEVER, BE POSSIBLE IF THERE IS GOOD MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT AND ITS ACTIVITIES. IN VIEW OF MY ANTECEDENTS AS A JOURNALIST WHO ENJOYS GOOD RAPPORT WITH ALMOST ALL THE EDITORS OF REPUTABLE AND CREDIBLE DAILIES AND MAGAZINES IN NIGERIA, I CAN COMFORTABLY ACHIEVE THIS WITHOUT MUCH ADO.
(B) BESIDES, GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN ITS RESPONSE TO THE SPATE OF NEGATIVE REPORTS AND FALSEHOOD ABOUT IT IN SOME NEWSPAPERS. AS A WRITER OF MANY YEARS STANDING, I CAN EASILY HANDLE THIS, FACTS FOR FACTS, AGGRESSION FOR AGGRESSION AND LANGUAGE FOR LANGUAGE.
(3) SPEECHES AND PAPERS
(A) THE SPEECHES AND PAPERS TO BE DELIVERED BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE STATE MUST BE OF OUTSTANDING QUALITY IN TERMS OF RESEARCH, CONTENT AND LANGUAGE. AS A UNIVERSITY LECTURER WHO HAS DONE MUCH RESEARCH WORK, I CAN ALWAYS BE OF TREMENDOUS ASSISTANCE IN THIS REGARD.
DESIGNATION RECOMMENDATIONS:
HAVING REGARD TO THE ABOVE, I WISH TO HUMBLY SUGGEST THE FOLLOWING DESIGNATIONS TO HIS EXCELLENCY:
(A) SPECIAL ASSISTANT (POLICY AND PROJECTS)
(B) SPECIAL ASSISTANT (MEDIA RELATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
(C) SPECIAL ASSISTANT (GENERAL AFFAIRS)
(D) SPECIAL ASSISTANT (GENERAL DUTIES.)
HOWEVER, THE FINAL DESIGNATION, TITLE OR POSITION IS THAT OF HIS EXCELLENCY.
I THANK YOU SIR FOR THIS SPECIAL PRIVILEGE AND FOR CONSIDERING ME ABLE TO WORK IN YOUR GOVERNMENT AND I PROMISE THAT YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED WITH THE QUALITY OF MY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR ADMINISTRATION.
Dapo Thomas
December 9, 1999”.
In my presence, he scribbled some notes on the memo. He changed “Policy and Projects” to “Policy and Programmes”. This was the designation he chose: Special Assistant (Policy and Programmes). He wrote that I should assume duty immediately. That was how I started working for BolaTinubu as Special Assistant (Policy and Programmes). The moment he signed the memo, I stepped into the “Emporium of high-voltage Politics”. I was not scared. I had enough experience already. What I garnered from the Akinjogbin-Anjorin episode and the Aluko-Ojo saga coupled with my Dodan Barracks political triumphalism and my being Obanikoro’s Special Assistant should be sufficient for me to leverage on. In addition, I had received one year training in theoretical application at the Political science department, University of Ibadan, as a way of fortifying myself for a period like this. If I was still scared of office politics with these ample “amulets”, I should admit that I was not ready for the battles that come with survival.
The first battle came from my Head of department, Prof. Deji Ogunremi. He would not release me to work for the Governor in any capacity. He was very forceful and unyielding in his position despite the intervention of the Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Fatiu Akesode. One, he insisted that he would not allow me to leave the Department unless I was ready to resign my appointment. His argument was that he declared the vacancy because he needed a very strong person to teach some core courses in international relations.
According to him, most of the lecturers in the Department were History lecturers whereas the Department was for both History and international studies. It was, therefore, part of his plan to strengthen the department by recruiting lecturers with degrees in international relations. I had an M.Sc in international relations from the University of Ife and as at the time of my recruitment, I was a doctorate student at the Department of Political science, Unibadan, studying international relations. Two, he couldn’t release me because I was not yet a confirmed staff of the University. He was more or less suggesting that I was not entitled to study leave or leave of absence. Three, he refused to release me because the department would be unable to fill the position for as long as I was with the government.
After a long drawn controversy on the matter, the VC invited the two of us to his office for amicable resolution. The Governor had earlier called the VC to let him know how much he wanted me as his Special Assistant. He directed him to find a lasting solution to it. At a point, he told the VC: “When you want money from me, I always give you. When you want infrastructure from me, I often give you. Mr VC, have I ever failed to approve any request you brought to me? Then, he joked: “I know I am a Visitor in the University and you are the Landlord. But don’t forget that my own Visitor has more power than the Landlord”. There was laughter from the other end. I could hear it because I was with the Governor when he called the VC on his land line. It was some days after receiving this call that the VC invited the HOD and I to his office.
At the meeting, Prof. Ogunremi remained adamant as he reiterated all his previous claims. The VC, however, made it known to him that there was no way the University would say No to the Visitor and that the purpose of the meeting was to find a common ground.
The HOD now told the VC that the request was coming at a time when the students were enjoying my lectures. This was why he was not happy. Immediately he said that, the VC exclaimed: “Now, we have a solution. Dapo, can you be teaching the students every weekend and we will still be paying you your salary. The University will consider whatever arrangement you have with the government as a special assignment”. That was the breakthrough to the gridlock as the three of us laughed out of the meeting.
The second battle was from within. It was between the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Lai Muhammed and me. Before the commencement of the Tinubu Administration, Lai Muhammed had been blocking every move I made to see the Governor. When I told the Governor, when we eventually met, that Deji Tinubu and I made several attempts to see him at Sunday Adigun Street, but we were blocked. The one I had in mind was Lai Muhammed. I never heard of him until Tinubu made him his Chief of Staff. So, I really didn’t know what his problem was with me. For almost two months after my appointment, I had no office. I was sitting in the conference room.
On several occasions, the Governor would direct those in charge of office accommodation including the Permanent Secretaries of the Public Service Commission (PSO) and Governor’s Office to find an office for me unfailingly. They would still not do anything. After sometime, I realized that politics was involved. I decided to play it with them. I knew the Governor was always seeing me sitting in the conference room through the monitoring cameras in his office. Any time he gave them fresh directive and they still didn’t carry it out, I would go and sit in the conference room just for the Governor to see that I was still there. The problem with the conference room was that when there was any official function, I would have to pack all my files from the table and go to another person’s office until the function was over.
Sometimes, when there was high human traffic in the Governor’s office, I would have to be moving in and out of the Conference room like a refugee appointee. Finally, when they realised that I was not getting frustrated rather I was getting energized, they decided to give me an office. There was this empty space in the Round House on the ground floor. The Ministry of Works, under Rauf Aregbesola, had concluded plans to partition the place into new offices for office-less appointees like me.
On Friday, 3 March 2000, the Governor received in private a prominent member of NADECO, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi. That was my first time of having one-on-one conversation with the indefatigable erudite scholar. I was in charge of the courtesy call. Before the official meeting started, I had a very interesting seminal session with Prof. Akinyemi on a cocktail of national and international issues. We would later become two jolly good fellows as he offered me the use of his well stocked library for my doctoral dissertation. The Governor later met with him but it was a very short meeting lasting 20 plus minutes. The reason was that the Governor had to go for the jumat. Realizing that he would not be able to make it to the mosque, the Governor had already directed that they should prepare the space in the Round House (the one to be partitioned for office use) for the jumat. After the Jumat, I went to meet the Governor at the spot to thank him for praying on the ground. He asked me why and I told him that work would begin on Monday at the spot for the construction of our new offices.
He didn’t like the idea of building offices in that place. He said the place should be left as it was in case a similar circumstance occurred. I agreed with him but I said that would mean begin again for the office search. On the spot, he summoned all the Exco members present to follow him around the complex. On getting to the Exco Chambers, he assessed it again and again and said it was too big. His decision on the spot was that almost a quarter of it should be partitioned for my office and that of the P.A. He actually asked me if I could use all the space alone and I said it was too big for only me. Not only that. He asked me to meet with the Managing Director of LSDPC, John Bede, to begin the construction work with despatch. Almost a month later our offices were ready. One had a toilet, the other lacked a toilet. However, while the work was going on, I never knew that Folarin Coker (PA) had requested for the one with the toilet from Lai Muhammed. Confident that the keys to the two offices would be handed over to him as the Chief of Staff, Governor’s Office, Lai Muhammed thought it was an opportunity for him to show me that he was my boss because I never genuflected to him.
Unfortunately for him, all the keys were handed over to me by John Bede. I took the keys to my own office and gave the rest to Coker. I was surprised when Lai Muhammed called me to his office and ordered me to submit the keys to him. What came to my mind immediately was the incident that happened between Baba Ibikunle and me when I hid “something” under my tongue and was commanding Baba Ibikunle to recall me from my indefinite suspension under the impression that I was begging him. I said it in my mind: “Wrong charm, wrong target”. I refused to give him the keys. He said he was the Chief of Staff to the Governor and the only person that could allocate office spaces. I didn’t even reply him. It was such a petty intervention that gave me the sneaking suspicion that those who engage in office politics have no boundaries of actions -such actions can be petty, messy, grievous, mean, harmful and deadly. Their mission is to humiliate and ridicule you in order to weaken your defence mechanisms to the point of surrender.
They are like the grave diggers who are uncaring about what killed the dead for as long as the dead is strewn in the grave. He now went too far when he said I must obey him as one of the staff under his authority in the Governor’s Office. I had to spell it out for him that I was not under him because I negotiated my position and my autonomy before taking up the appointment. I left his office and went straight to my new office to flenjor and continue to do my work as the Special Assistant to the GOVERNOR on Policy and Programmes. He got up from his seat as I stormed out of his office and went to the office of the Governor. The next thing I saw was a memo signed by the Governor directing me to.
To Be Continued…
