Suddenly, Prof. Fatiu Akesode died. He died 30 March 2001. He died just a month after he got his second term of four years. He was first appointed in 1996/1997. Before his appointment, LASU was becoming notorious for its incessant crises. Students riots. Cultism. SSANU/NASU strikes. ASUU strikes. Vice Chancellors’ dramatic exits. The death of Akesode came through one of these dramatic fashions-conflict. The conflict had to do with the renewal of his tenure for another four year-term. He had been on it for some time but there was nobody to do the follow up for him. But with my appointment and the role he played in ensuring my release by my department, he knew he could go to sleep.
I didn’t disappoint him. I was there for him. I was the natural Ambassador plenipotentiary for Lasu in the government of Tinubu. Akesode was a man of peace. If he was a Christian who lived in the time of Christ, he would have been a perfect model to illustrate the beatitude of peace. He was so peaceful that no one needed to advise him to sleep in peace when he died because when he was alive, he was living in peace. During his tenure, Lasu was a peaceful citadel. He paid workers’ salary on the 20th of every month. For this, the workers loved him. It was only in very rare circumstances that workers’ salary would be delayed till the 22nd of the month.
I couldn’t say if he was the one that started the tradition of early payment of workers’ salary in LASU but it was a tradition that has endured. He carried the students along with his regular parleys with them. The government took note of this too. His very close friend, Alhaji Adebola Adegunwa, Chairman, Fototek Nigeria Ltd, gave him a building worth 200 million in year 2000 at Nathan Street, Yaba, to establish a private hospital after his retirement, he declined and persuaded him to give it to Lasu to establish the School of Communication (Surulere campus), government took note of that. Unfortunately, there was a strategic constituency in the University that he overlooked: the “Politicians Academy”.
In every institution, academics whose major interests are in appointments and elective offices, form the “politicians academy” to promote and protect their common interest. It was shocking to the government to discover that despite favourable reports from the University Governing Council and the entire university community about Akesode’s giant strides in LASU, six Professors of the institution engaged in an acerbic campaign against a second term for Akesode. The Governor was very much concerned about the situation that he was looking for how to reconcile the parties involved. The Professors allegedly accused of leading the campaign were: Adele Jìnádù, Ayo Agbonjimi, Isaac Olorunfemi Osafehinti, T.K Obidairo, Ajibade Rokosu and Victor Adisa. I was the one assigned the responsibility of bringing the Professors to the Governor. I made frantic efforts to get the Professors to come and see the Governor but they ran to Femi Fálànà just to give the impression that the case was out of their hands.
In short, they didn’t want any intervention from any quarters. I also made extra efforts to make them come for a meeting. On the day LASU was commissioning the School of Communication building given to the school by Alhaji Bola Adegunwa, it was the Governor they invited to do the commissioning. The Governor did not want to attend the event because of other pressing state matters. He had made up his mind to send the Special Adviser or the Commissioner for Education to represent him. I intervened by convincing Oga to attend the event for two reasons.
One, I told him that there could be no better way to appreciate Alhaji Adegunwa’s gesture than for him to be at the event personally . Two, I informed him that some of the Professors he wanted to talk to were likely to be at the event. It was therefore one event with two opportunities for him. With those two reasons, the Governor changed his mind by attending the event. I was with him at the event when he was talking to Prof. Adele Jìnádù. After shaking his hand, he told him in Yoruba: “Egbon, mo fe ri yin. When can we see?” Prof. Jìnádù did not give a particular day or time. The Governor now said: “Anytime you are ready, you can always inform Dapo Thomas. He is one of you in LASU”. For about two weeks, I was dropping Professor Jinadu’s name with the Security details at the Governor’s Office. He did not show up. The Governor could no longer delay the approval for Prof Akesode’s second term which came on 8 February 2001. The moment the “Ogoni 6” (as the six Professors were fondly called in the University) saw that the Governor had called their bluff, they intensified their campaign against the VC. When the whole crisis began to escalate, the government decided to sack the “Ogoni 6” on 26 March 2001. Unfortunately, four days after the Professors’ sack, Prof Akesode died of cardiac arrest on the night of 30 March 2001.
Fálànà and I discussed their case on several occasions but I didn’t know what his clients were telling him. One thing that was obvious was that the Ogoni 6, before and after the sack, were excited about the fact that they took the case to court. I didn’t know what happened along the line that made the professors to change their minds. Sometime in October 2001, Kayode Fayemi visited the Governor to plead with him to reverse the Professors’ sack. But the Governor told him to discuss it with me. As my friend, Fayemi got in touch with me and informed me that he wanted us to meet outside the office environment to discuss an urgent issue. He didn’t tell me what the meeting was all about. We both agreed to meet somewhere in Maryland, Ikeja, on a particular Sunday.
On getting to the apartment for the lunch meeting, I met Prof. Adele Jìnádù already waiting in the living room. We knew each other very well. We were both appointed into the Centre for Development and Democratic Studies under the Chairmanship of Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi. Other members of the Centre established by a grant granted by FORD FOUNDATION included Prof. Abisogun Leigh, Prof. John Muibi Amoda, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, Prof. Isaac Adalemo, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere and Ambassador Brownson Dede. Kayode and I discussed the matter for a lengthy period of time without any major resolution because the case was already in court. The Jinadu issue almost caused disaffection between three friends- Femi Fálànà, Kayode Fayemi and Dapo Thomas. The three of us were on a Ford Foundation, sponsored trip to Uganda for a conference on “Constitutionalism in Transition:Africa and Eastern Europe”, from 14 to 18 January 2002. For the five days we spent in Kampala, we kept discussing the “Ogoni 6 “.
I made them realize that where the “Ogoni 6” missed it was when they shunned the invitation of the Governor and the fact that they did not take the admonition of the Governor that they should allow peace to reign in the school. But for people like Dr Siyan Oyeweso, Senapon Bakare and Engr PAO, three strong loyalists of Prof. Akesode, who made sure the crisis did not escalate by managing the students’ ire, the situation would have gone out of control.
I arrived Nigeria from Kampala on 20 January 2002. Seven days later, precisely, 27 January , 2002, I saw myself coordinating another major assignment for the Governor. It was the bomb blast that occurred at the Ikeja cantonment, Lagos. It was a national disaster which claimed the lives of about 1,100 people with the number of injured persons estimated to be close to 5,000. The number of people displaced was about 20,000 while those declared missing were in the region of 3000. Some of the missing people were said to have fled Lagos State on the day of the blast but later returned after everything had subsided. In showing their support for the state government’s efforts to alleviate suffering of the victims especially the internally displaced people, corporate bodies, MDAs, financial institutions and eminent personalities in the country began to pay solidarity visits to the Governor. In the course of the visits, they would have to “drop something”.
I was appointed by the Governor to handle the logistics of the visits meaning I was in charge of the visits. My responsibility was to arrange the visitors, either in order of importance, or in order of arrivals. In addition, as soon as the Governor had been presented the cheques, he would hand them over to me for onward transmission to Sunday Adepoju for proper recording before transferring them to Wale Edun, the Commissioner for Finance. In the course of carrying out this assignment, I experienced some dramatic incidents and some interesting encounters. On 12 February 2002, one of the groups that paid the Governor a solidarity visit were the “Isese” worshippers. After making some remarks on the consequences of abandoning our culture and ascribing the disaster to the anger of the gods, the leader of the group caused a stir. Seeing that the Governor had stood up, ready to receive their cheque, the man said that they did not come with any cheque. He told the Governor that they had come with two big bowls of “ọsẹ dudu” ( black soap) to cleanse the land of the marauding evil troubling the State. Oga didn’t allow him to finish when he said in Yoruba: “Emi ko ni mo ma gba ìyẹn lowo yin. E gbe fún Dapo Thomas (I am not going to receive that from you. You can give it to Dapo Thomas)”. I didn’t know when I shouted: “Ahhhhhhhh, Oga”. The whole Conference room erupted in electric laughter. Oga left the Conference room for his office in the midst of the laughter and I also vanished from the “radar” amidst the cacophony.
The second incident happened on the same day but some hours later. While going up and down trying to organize the visits, a man had stopped me along the corridor to exchange pleasantries with me. He was in suit. He said his name is Femi Pedro. He told me that my face looked familiar to him. We asked each other some pertinent questions trying to trace sources of possible familiar connections but at the end of it all, it happened that our paths had never crossed. I greeted him nicely and went about my work. Later, I went to Oga’s office because I was told Mr Akin Kekere-Ekun, the Managing Director of Habib Bank was around. He too was on a solidarity visit. Normally he was supposed to sit in the Visitors room but because of his closeness to the Governor, he was taken straight to Oga’s office.
Inside Oga’s office, I saw Wale Edun, Yemi Cardoso, Akin Kekere-Ekun and Oga at the Visitors’ corner. I joined them but I didn’t sit with them. Oga was about to eat. On several occasions he had invited me to come and eat. I did eat on few occasions but I stopped eating with him when I observed something about him. I will come back to that much later. While Oga was eating, we were still laughing at the incident that happened with the “Isese” worshippers. While reacting to the incident, Oga dropped a bombshell. He told me point-blank that he would no longer be attending to people who brought less than 5 million Naira. He directed that I should take such people to Wale Edun or Yemi Cardoso. When I saw that he was about finishing his food, I left his office to organize the courtesy call room for Mr Kekere-Ekun’s visit. I didn’t want us to use the Conference room because Mr Kekere-Ekun did not come with a large entourage.
I was going to inform the Chief Press Secretary, Segun Ayobolu , of the change of venue when I saw Femi Pedro again. This time, he stopped me to tell me what he actually wanted. He first apologized for stopping me when I was busy working. Then he told me that he didn’t know I was in charge of the solidarity visits. He was told by the Chief Protocol Officer, Segun Osiyoye, that I was the one in charge. He too had come on a solidarity visit to the Governor. First, I told him that it was not possible because Oga had told me that he was tired and that he wouldn’t take any more visits after Mr. Kekere-Ekun’s. Secondly, I told him that he was not on our manifest at all. He pleaded with me to accommodate him irrespective of all that I had told him. Then, I asked him how much he was donating. He said his Bank would donate one million Naira. “Oh, you are a banker”, I asked. He said Yes and went ahead to introduce himself as the Managing Director of First Atlantic Bank. He also introduced his PA, Ms Yemi Lawal. I made him realise that as much as I wanted to help him, the amount his Bank was donating was too small because Oga just instructed me not to accommodate those with less than five million. He said I should direct them to Wale Edun or Yemi Cardoso.
Pedro declined to meet with any of these two. He insisted that I should help him to meet with the Governor. I understood his game plan. As the MD of a bank, he saw Wale and Yemi as his colleagues. His target was the Governor. I told him, I would try. I went back to Oga’s office to inform him that he was going to do two visits since both of them were bankers. He agreed. I knew he was going to ask me how much they were donating, so, I ran out of the office pretending to be “very busy”. I told Femi Pedro to be on standby as soon as Oga was through with Mr Kekere-Ekun. When Mr Kekere-Ekun presented his cheque, it was five million naira (cheque No. HNBL23447). Oga smiled and we all clapped. The Press took pictures and we were done. Then, I invited Femi Pedro to sit with the Governor and make his speech. He spoke for about 5 minutes and presented his cheque to the Governor. As soon as he collected it and saw the amount, he didn’t know when he said “Ahhhh”. I kept a straight face as I collected the one million naira (cheque no.FABL 44) from the Governor. Mission accomplished. I avoided going to his office for the rest of the day.
Femi and I became friends. I organized one or two meetings for him with the Governor after the solidarity visit. We spoke regularly on call. He helped one of my students with her NYSC primary assignment. He was so nice all through. On 3 January 2003, I was traveling to South Africa for an international workshop but I decided to come and see Oga before leaving maybe something would drop on top of the official estacode. As I entered his office, I met Femi Pedro and Dele Alake with Oga. I was not the one who arranged the meeting. I greeted all of them and told Oga about my trip. Of course, he dropped something and I left. From South Africa, I heard that Femi Pedro had been made the Deputy Governor of Lagos State. I was happy for him and I rejoiced with him on my return. The two of us had the opportunity to reminisce on the bomb blast solidarity visit and how small the world is at a photoshoot we had at Fototek at Adebola House on Opebi road. We had gone for the photoshoot in preparation for the Second term. Tayo Ayinde, the Governor’s Chief Detail, and I were the ones helping both Oga and his deputy with their clothes while they changed from one attire to the other. The pictures were for the posters. Femi and I were just discussing life and its mystery. Here was a guy who barely knew Tinubu before (otherwise he wouldn’t be lurking around looking for help from a Dapo Thomas), but found himself becoming Tinubu’s deputy in less than a year that they met. Needless to say that he came to Alausa with his PA, Yemi Lawal and an aide called Jide Sanwo-Olu.
Meanwhile, my dominance and influence in the Governor’s office had become a very serious problem and embarrassment for Lai Muhammed because his influence had dwindled. Between the Governor and Lai himself, a face-saving exit from the Governor’s Office had to be devised. The Governor did not help matter as he kept telling the whole world to “see Dapo Thomas” for everything they wanted from him and those who wanted to see him. At every programme and during interviews on radio and television, he was always directing callers and listeners to “see Dapo Thomas”. The deluge of correspondence that flooded my office during this period was sufficient to build a skyscraper. Even the number of people looking for me increased outrageously and the only thing my Oga could say to me was: “The reward for hardwork is more work”.
Knowing that Lai was practically redundant as a result of my dominance, the Governor sent him on a fool’s errand to go and be the Gubernatorial candidate of Alliance for Democracy in Kwara State, his State of origin, where the Sarakis were holding sway. Of course, the Governor knew he could not defeat Bukola Saraki, but he just wanted him to avoid me in a head-on collision. We were almost getting there because I just couldn’t stand him or tolerate his antics. It worked. We won our own election in Lagos State in 2003 but Lai lost his own. There was no way he could have returned to Lagos because Oga had already brought in one Babatunde Fashola as the new Chief of Staff. A new Cabinet had been constituted with people like Rahman Owokoniran and Muiz Banire joining the team. It was Rahman Owokoniran who wanted to know from me what advice I could give him as the new Commissioner for Housing so that he would be successful. I was almost telling him there was no problem when I remembered a very critical advice I should give him as my Aunty’s husband: ” Don’t eat with Tinubu because it is very dangerous especially when you.
To be continued
