Three-time Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Lekan Alabi, told OLUFEMI ATOYEBI that he missed admission to the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University because he was distracted by social life in a village where he worked as a teacher
Your family is prominent in the history of Ibadan land, what do you draw from that?
History told me that my great-great-grand father was one of the founders of Ibadan land. He was Suberu Ajemgbe, a great warrior and signatory to all the reached agreements between Ibadan and the colonialists. He was the Ekerin Balogun of Ibadan land during the reign of Baale Fijabi 1 between 1890 and 1893. Today, I am the Aare Alaasa Olubadan of Ibadan land. I am king-in-waiting and fighter for social justice.
So where exactly were you born?
I was born on October 27, 1950 in Ibadan to the late Abdulraheem Alabi alias Right Time. My mother is still alive. I attended Seventh Day Adventist Primary School, Oke-Foko Ibadan between 1958 and 1963 and African Church Grammar School, Apata, Ibadan between 1964 and 1969. I later became a village school teacher at St. John’s Primary School, Akinajo, near Arulogun, Akinyele council area in Ibadan.
Why did you choose to become a teacher instead of furthering your education?
After my final secondary school examination, I needed to do something to keep me busy because the result would not be out immediately. Someone then advised me to consider a teaching job in order to remain in educational circle. So I took up a teaching job at a village near Ibadan. But I paid for the choice later.
How did you pay for it?
I was going home every Friday but one day, a prominent person in the area, Atokowagbowonle, who was well revered in Arulogun, called me and asked me the reason for my frequent visit to Ibadan. I told him that I was visiting home. He then convinced me that there was social life in the village if I would not mind. The following weekend, he invited me as a guest to a ceremony in the village and I was spoilt with bush meat and other food. And because of that, I made it a habit to visit the new found haven every other weekend. Meanwhile, I was preparing to read English Language at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University and I had written the preliminary examination. When the letter got to our house in Ibadan, I was at Akinajo village with Atokowagbowonle, drinking beer that weekend. When I later went home, I received the admission letter and quickly opened the letter, I ran to Ife and the man in charge of registration was mad at me because I came first in the examination. He tried to enrol me but it was too late because registration of new students had closed, that was a time when there was standard in the country; you could not cut corners in Nigeria. Immediately after that, I left the village and returned to Ibadan where I worked at Onibon Oje Publishers as the first editorial assistant of the company in 1972.
How long did you work there and what impact did it have on your early life?
I did not stay long because there were other opportunities. But working there kept me in a line I had always dreamt of. In 1973, I moved to the former Sketch Publishing Company, Ibadan, as a reporter, writer and reader on Yoruba desk. I was the first and only dual columnist of the newspaper and I wrote under the pen name of Omo Abikan in the Yoruba version of Sketch called Gboungboun. Between 1974 and 1976, I was the entertainment editor of the newspaper before I travelled abroad for my professional training in London. I returned in 1978 and joined Sketch again but later left to join the then Nigerian Television (now NTA) in Ibadan.
Was it difficult to cross from print journalism to electronic media?
It was easy for me because in the UK, I was trained as a complete journalist with knowledge of all the branches of the profession. I was at NTV until 1982 when I joined the then Television Service of Oyo State (now BCOS) as one of the pioneer staff. I was the first reporter to appear on that channel. The incumbent chief executive officer of the station, Yanju Adegbite, was the first personality to appear on the channel.
Did your move to TSOS pave the way for your emergence as the Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State governor a year later?
It is difficult to establish a link although my performance could have been a factor. But before then, I had established a name as a journalist.
When in February 1983, the late Bola Ige, who was the then civilian governor of the old Oyo State, appointed me as press secretary, I felt honoured. I also served three other military governors, Oladayo Popoola, Adetunji Olurin and the late Sasaeniyan Oresanya in the same capacity. I left the position in 1989 to join Odu’a Investment Company Limited as the first public affairs officer of the conglomerate from where I retired voluntarily as the company’s first general manager, corporate affairs in 2006.
What happened between the time Ige lost power to Omololu Olunloyo as Oyo State governor in October 1983 and the time you returned to work with the military government?
I was simply jobless. Olunloyo is my uncle. When he became governor as a candidate of the National Party of Nigeria, I did not work with him. His government, which lasted three months, sacked, transferred and retired many people they thought were sympathisers of the Unity Party of Nigeria, which produced Ige. The government re-absorbed those who begged but I did not beg to be taken back, so I was jobless until the military government of Popoola came and recalled me to my position in February 1984. He is from Ogbomoso but I am from Ibadan.
Which of the governors did you enjoy working with most?
Ige took me as his brother. In 1992, he nominated me as a commissioner under the late Kolapo Isola but I was not considered because I was not a card-carrying member of Alliance for Democracy. When I got the Odu’a appointment, he expected me to quit after five years and join politics. During the Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar transition period in 1999, Ige called me and my wife to his house in Bodija, Ibadan and said that he had nominated me to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives. I did not think the military would go, so I did not take the offer seriously. In 2000, he called me again and said I should be prepared to go into politics in 2003. I told him I was ready but in 2002, he was murdered. That ended my political interest. I did not make any attempt again because of the decadence, violence and money bag politics we play in Nigeria. I wrote in one of my books that my ambition was to be a Premier of the Western Region but I cannot stand the violence.
Did serving the three governors make you rich?
The opportunity to serve did not make me a wealthy man but I am contented. I live a decent and happy life full of emulation. I have a house and I have educated my children. I have served humanity in my own way and I have been appreciated. When I submitted my letter to go on retirement from Odu’a, the management did not open the letter because they thought they could convince me to withdraw it. But I had made up my mind.
How would you compare governors in your time with the ones we have now?
Governors at the time had only one personal assistant, one secret agent, one press secretary and one ADC. Today, it is not so because there are multitudes of people working with governors. It makes governance very costly and crowdy. We were barred from taking contract or benefitting directly from any project. I am not sure it is the same today.
Didn’t life become boring after retiring early?
I planned my retirement many years before I made the decision to quit work, so I have not been sitting down since because I am involved in many activities. I am an author with 15 titles to my name. I am now a motivational speaker, a producer, public relations consultant, first-class chief in Ibadan land, and like I said earlier, Olubadan-in-waiting. I am also a trustee of the foundations named after Adegoke Adelabu, D.O. Fagunwa and Duro Ladipo. I am also a trustee of the Nigerian Society of Information and Culture, which is the authority controlling the former British Library in Ibadan. I also belong to several socio-cultural groups; among them is the Omo Ajorosun, which is a foremost Ibadan social group. I hold a honourary degree of doctor of letters given to me by Achievers University on December 11, 2013. As I wrote in one of my articles published in The Punch Newspaper, it is a privilege to be a journalist because you must be master of all. Journalism makes life lively so I profited from that quality. I am busy in my own way without having to look for favour from government or individual and I pray to God that I will never seek it. My child who read sociology wanted to study law like others but he did not make the cut-off mark and I told him to find an alternative course because I would not go and beg any lecturer to bend the rule for him. All I need is money to feed myself, help people where I can, come in and live peacefully. I never solicited for what I became in life just like I did not influence the choice of elders who put me in the Olubadan’s royal line.
What was the relationship you had with Adelabu, Fagunwa and Ladipo who are all dead?
I was invited by the founders of the foundations to be a member of the boards of trustees. In actual fact, Adelabu, Fagunwa and Ladipo are people I consider as great Nigerian heroes. They were my dream heroes as a teenager. My paternal grand-mother, Asimowu Odunola, was the women leader of the then NCNC where Adelabu was a leader. He frequented our house at Ile Ekerin, Ajemgbe. I was a child then but I knew him very well. In 1957, he came to our house with NCNC party executives and gave me a shilling because I was able to make the radiogram work after everyone had failed to play it. He told my grandmother that she should make sure I attended Government College, Ibadan, where his record of academic excellence is still unbeatable. He was an academic genius in those days. As for Fagunwa, we all read his books in school and I am happy to work with Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Akinwumi Isola, Fagunwa’s children, Olu Falomo and Adebayo Faleti who are also members of the board of trustees. I met Ladipo as a youth watching his plays. He still holds a place of pride in the Nigerian entertainment industry. His wife, Abiodun, is someone I call regularly and I am also close to his son, Yomi, who is also into theatre profession. I am also a member of Yusuf Olatunji Foundation. The late musician played at my naming ceremony on November 3, 1950, while the late Lekan Salami was the master of the ceremony.
How did you know this?
History is a collection of truism, facts and happenings, not fiction or fabrication. I got this through my family history record. Salami also defied a medical doctor’s order to attend the naming ceremony of my son. The picture was published in one of my books.
Why didn’t you attend GCI as Adelabu wished?
I obtained the GCI common entrance examination form in 1963 but when officers from the Ministry of Education came to prepare the primary six pupils for the primary school leaving examination, they said 28 pupils were too small to sit for the exam in a school. So they took us to other schools. I was taken to Ansar Ud Deen Primary School, Oke Foko. In the confusion, our headmistress, the late Mrs E. Ola, forgot to submit the GCI forms that I obtained. When the centres for the examination were announced on radio, my parents took me back to Seventh Day school and the headmistress told us that she did not submit our forms. My grandmother promptly forgave her even though she offered to pay back the fee. The headmistress then told us that there was a new school called African Church Grammar School beside GCI. She bought the form from her own purse and that was why I ended up going to ACGS instead of GCI. But I thank God because what else would I have wished for if I had gone to GCI? But many years later, the link with GCI was established because my first child, Olayemi, attended GCI from 1991 to 1996. Even though I do not belong to GCI Old Boys, I was a member of the higher echelon which is the Parents’ Teachers’ Association.
At 17, you wrote a letter to challenge the then Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon. What gave you the courage?
The letter was written in 1967 when Soyinka was put into prison by Gowon for visiting Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, I wrote three letters to him and copied the editor of Daily Times, questioning the action. I also wrote a solidarity letter to Soyinka in Kaduna prison which was given to him on his release. He acknowledged the receipt of the letter, thanking me for supporting him. I did this because I believed in social justice and human rights. I am a fan of Mohammed Alli, so when the World Boxing Council stripped him of his heavy weight title and licence, I wrote a petition to the body.
What is the meaning of your traditional title?
It is one of the 22 steps to the Olubadan stool. Olubadan succession system is unique and the best in the world because it eliminates tussle for position. As the Aare Alaasa Olubadan, I am the foremost chief in the protective army of the kingdom. I am the defender of the land. My role is similar to that of my great- great grand-father in the 1890s, which was to protect the city.
When did you get married?
I got married to my wife at St. John’s Anglican Church, London on August 12, 1978 and today, God has blessed the union with two sons and a daughter. One of the children is a sociologist while others are lawyers.
How did you meet your wife?
I was a student in the UK and I lived at 82, Prince George Road, Stoke Newton, London N16. I have been sociable from my youth. I had a co-tenant from Benin who was celebrating his birthday. Someone then started pressing our door bell and I had to check who it was. I saw a lady at the door who said she wanted to see her friend, Tutu, who also lived in the house. I told her that Tutu, now late, was not in. I invited her in but she refused. When I asked for the name, she told me it was Tokunbo Wiliams, when indeed her name was Tokunbo Laditan. When I told Tutu, she told me her real name. Tutu, who was at the time relocating to Nigeria, then gave me some items to give to her. But when she came for the items, I told her she was not the one I was instructed to give them to because she was not Tokunbo Laditan. She apologised and that was how we became friends. In August 2013, we returned to the same church where we got married to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary and the same Reverend who officiated at our wedding did the same at our anniversary just as he did when we went there for our 30th anniversary. His name is John Ranking. He is retired now but he honoured our invitation to pray for us in the church.
Why did you have to go back to London for the anniversary?
I am sentimentally attached to London. I studied, worked and married there and by the grace of God, I will return to do the same for our 40th anniversary and pray that Rev. Ranking will be there again. Each time I visit London, I go to special places that mean a lot to my stay in the UK.
With your social status, how were you able to hold on to just one wife?
My father had eight wives and the younger brother had six wives. But at a stage in life, they told me not to marry more than one wife. I wanted to marry more wives like they did. That was what kept me in check.
What kind of relationship do you have with juju musicians, Ebenezer Obey and Sunny Ade?
The former editor of Sunday Sketch, the late Bamidele Adedeji, encouraged me to write a review of prominent people after he published the one I wrote on a band called Makanjuola who played like Obey. There was rumble of noise in the newsroom because some senior journalists queried my emergence as a reviewer, being a green horn. He later gave me the duty of writing a column on the review of arts, records and places in the western states of the country. That was how my relationship started with Sunny, Eddy Okonta, Batile Alake and so on. I was the chairman at Obey’s 70th birthday and book launch. I was also the chairman of the planning committee of KSA’s 50th anniversary on stage. Till today, we are best of pals even though he is older than me.
Is it true that Sunny and Obey were sworn enemies?
It was a commercial strategy by the recording companies that produced their music because it was easy to market their works when people heard that Sunny had replied Obey in his latest album. The recording companies, Decca and African Records, did the same with other musicians like S. Saka, Ojindo, Aruna Isola and Kasumu Adio. The strategy was also used to market the late Sikiru Ayinde and Kollinton Ayinla’s works. Obey and Sunny are best of friends.
Do you have any of your children who followed your foot step?
I don’t know what happened but none of them is following my line of work. I did not force them to do so because I supported what they chose to do. In any way, I did not follow my father’s foot step. I did not marry more than a wife and chose what I wanted in life. Every parent must allow their children to choose what they want.
What is your philosophy of life?
My life philosophy is live and let’s live. I will not disrupt anybody’s life and I will not expect anyone to stand in my way. What you sow is what you will reap.
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