How Sanwo-Olu can succeed, by Razak

Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Advisory Council (GAC) member and Balogun of Epe Chief Lanre Razak is 73 years old this week. He spoke with Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU on his foray into politics and public service, why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has always failed in Lagos and challenges before Governor-elect Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

HOW do you feel at 73?

I feel satisfied and I want to thank God for being so kind to me. I want to thank God for the life I have lived and the way He had made it possible for me to get to this level. I never thought I would be here. My parents though from royal families were not rich. My father is Pa Razak Ajayi of Ita Osugbo quarter in Epe while my mother is Alhaja Amudalat Abegbe Ajayi, one of the daughters of Chief Muhammed Oloto of Ebute Metta, Lagos. I was born on March 20th 1946 and what we cherish is good name. Like my father would always tell me, ‘a broken character is the worst bankruptcy’, don’t tell anybody you want to do something when you know you can’t do it. Don’t give a promise that you can’t fulfill, remember you have a name to protect and cherish and that had been my guiding principle in life. I went to primary school, to a modern school and a secondary school. All through my life the education I had is self acquired. At the early stage of my life I witnessed Chief Obafemi Awolowo preached the gospel of light and what life is all about, how life should be and how he was able to acquire his own  education through self help. Those were the things that propelled me and I said if the late sage could do it , I should try my best. I strongly  believed in his stand on having an egalitarian society, a fair minded person and achieving a just situation in the country.

My working career started with Albert Awofisayo. After working there for some years, I left the place, got a job with British American Insurance and rose to the level of a manager before I left to establish my own business and it has not been bad as God has been kind to me. At a stage, I was a councilor in Epe local government area during the era of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, later appointed a supervisory councilor and along the line I was made the chairman of the local government and eventually the Commissioner for Public Transportation in Lagos State.

I was a member of the UPN and a former publicity secretary of the party in Epe local government area. At a stage I was the chairman of Social Democratic Party, SDP in Epe local government area. It was one of the two political parties established by former military president General Ibrahim Babangida. Thereafter I became Lagos State Chairman of the All People’s Party, APP and later deputy national chairman of the same party. I have attempted more than five times to be governor of Lagos State, but failed and I have also made attempt to be a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria even in the just concluded elections. Though I tried my best, it was a failure. But, my belief is that failing to achieve a target is not the end of life. I just sit down whenever the failure occurs and reflect on the factors responsible for it.

Who is your role model?

My role model is the late Chief Obafemi  Awolowo. After reading his books and  analysing his lifestyle, I try to emulate him. You will recall that Awolowo even said that it is not life that matters but the courage you bring into it. Another role model is the former governor of Lagos State Alhaji Lateef Jakande. I was with him throughout his tenure from 1979 to December 1983 as governor of Lagos State. I was in the Works Committee and one of the responsibilities of the committee was to identify a particular road that would enhance the development of the rural areas and by extension that would enhance the economic development of the state. We worked so hard to identify same and gave feedback to the governor and that was why Jakande was able to stop the three shift system of secondary education in Lagos State within a short period of three months when he was sworn in as governor. In Epe local government area, as a council chairman, I was able to provide a housing estate of over 250 units within my tenure of 9 months. The estate is still there and remains a point of reference to many people including those who succeeded us in office to serve in the local government. I was able to discover that the land of three communities, Ise, Igbogun and Obada is very fertile for rice cultivation and now the Federal Government is encouraging rice farming in Nigeria I plead with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN under its Anchor Borrowers Programme to assist farmers in that community with soft loans. There was a discovery when I was the council chairman after I met over 60 rice farmers in the area and they appealed to me to assist them with soft loans to grow rice. I asked them: how much money do you need? They said ten thousand naira each which is N600,000 (six hundred thousand naira). That amount was huge then considering that the total budget of Epe local government both recurrent and capital expenditures was N3million. If I had taken N600,000 from the money I would be left with N2.4million. So, I approached Mrs. Maria Sokenu who was the pioneer Managing Director of People’s Bank of Nigeria and told her that I would be happy if she could provide the loans and she agreed though she is late now. She agreed but insisted that I provided a personal guarantee and also get the local government to guarantee the loans. I was vey happy and this I did and within a month the money was made available. I consulted with the head of the community who assisted in identifying the genuine farmers and they all got the money. Upon their harvest, I was shocked at the volume of the rice yield. Consequently I bought them rice mill to clean up and process the rice and everybody was happy at the end of the day because they produced rice worth over N5 million from the N600,000 loan. Therefore it was not difficult for them to repay the money to the People’s Bank of Nigeria. Later when we had glut and the market in Epe could not absorb all the produce due to the volume of the rice produced I took over 50 percent of the rice and asked my council officials to bring the food item to Lagos for sale. Even though it was sold at subsidized rate we still made good profit and the loan was repaid and all the farmers were happy at the end of the day.

As the Balogun of Epe, how have you been discharging your responsibilities?

For you to be able to discharge your responsibilities effectively you must have passion and love for the job. You will discover that among two communities they would start fighting over nothing concrete including boundary issues. When such happens, I always move in to resolve the dispute amicably and I can confidently tell you that I have resolved many of such disputes. I was appointed the Balogun of Epe town but in recognition of my efforts, in 1996 when all the Obas and Chiefs in Epe Division were attending the 70th birthday party for Oba A.K. Hassan, the Abowa of Agbowa, they invited me to attend the occasion. They resolved that my humble self should now be the Balogun General of the entire Epe Division.

What’s the most difficult assignment you have handled as the Balogun?

There is one particular assignment I find very challenging. There are two communities  in the riverine area of Epe towards the Lagos axis. At a stage, their members were fighting over land and you know land matter is a serious issue. A gentleman by name Alugbin, now of blessed memory, a leader of one of the aggrieved communities, came to me in the council and said sir, by the grace of God you are the Balogun, the council, chairman as well as the chief security officer of the council but if you don’t intervene very quickly the people of the area will carry arms and attack each other because of land dispute. So, I quickly sent the Divisional Police Officer to the area with an appeal not to arrest but invite the two parties to the dispute. Fortunately they honored our invitation and it took us five days to resolve the matter, it was a marathon meeting. I started by asking them if their great grandfathers who originally occupied the land in the past were still alive? Who allocated the land in dispute to them? Where is the certificate of occupancy issued to them by God? I told them that their forebears came and took possession of the land because they were the first settler and that whether we like it or not we are going to pass away in that biological sequence we came. I advised that we shouldn’t kill each other for something you can’t take away when you are dead. I told them that like former military administrator of Lagos State Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola would always say ‘why worry about life that you can’t get out of life alive’. I made it very clear and it is the truth that one day we would die and the only legacy you leave behind as humans is peace among your people and not destruction. I believe God intervened and we were able to resolve the dispute amicably without any loss of life.

How do you view the recent victory of the Lagos State APC governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu?

If you take a look at the political career of the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, right from the time he was elected a senator and later, governor of Lagos State till now, you will discover that he is  a man who is committed to both human capital development and infrastructural transformatio. So irrespective of what anybody may be saying I strongly believe that Tinubu has done a lot for Lagos State and Nigeria. And  for him to have  thrown up Sanwo-Olu within a short period to the general election and the acceptance by Lagosians to be this massive tells you how much the people appreciate Tinubu’s contributions to the social and economic development of Lagos State. We also thank God for the landslide victory recorded by the APC candidate. And that is why I don’t believe in people saying O to ge (enough is enough) should apply here because for us in Lagos State it is A du pe (we are happy) and we are grateful to God that we have a rare gem as a leader in the person of Asiwaju Tinubu. That brings me to Marcus Buckingham in dynamic management who described leadership as primarily the act of creating confidence. Give it to Tinubu he is our Man of the Year; Man of the Century. What Tinubu is doing could be compared with what the late Chief Awolowo did in this country and whether you like it or not God has allowed him to surpass the achievements of the late sage who worked tirelessly throughout his lifetime to become the president of this country. And to have brought about a political party that is nationalistic in shape and content like the APC that recognizes him as a leader, Tinubu has achieved what the late Awolowo could not achieve.

Also you can’t compare his achievements while in office with that of the Saraki dynasty in Kwara State which made many members of their family very rich and there are no much visible infrastructure and social amenities in that state. Tinubu is very generous and a kind person who is nice to a fault and I am sure leaders in Lagos State and Lagosians acknowledge that he is a man that has touched many lives for good. This to me our people appreciate and have spoken very loudly with. You recall that while  Mr. Sanwo-Olu scored 739,445 votes as against 206,141 votes polled by Mr. Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This shows that Asiwaju is a leader of uncommon courage and integrity and we Lagosians believe in him. I see him as a role model for those who want to genuinely play politics.

Are there areas you want the incoming governor of Lagos State to focus on immediately he resumes office on May 29?

They are many. Although the APC has a manifesto that must have been given to him by now, there are many potholes on Lagos roads today that require urgent attention. The new administration should address that  and repair the bad roads. Sanwo-Olu should also take a holistic look at the health and education sectors in the state. An educated society, according to a popular saying, is an enlightened society and we have less problems governing such a society. He should, therefore, consider education as a very important. Of course, it’s only somebody that is well fed that will give society peace therefore agriculture and food security is very important. As a matter of fact, food security should be part of his immediate priority which government should address seriously. The youths are very important segment of society so the government should create jobs for them to be engaged adequately. The governor should also establish additional sports facilities to keep our youths busy. The Lagos State government should reintroduce farm settlements similar to those that were first established by Chief Awolowo when he was premier of the defunct Western Region. I mean agricultural settlements where farmers will be allocated land, given money and relevant professionals employed to train people engaged in agriculture. Would be beneficiaries would have peace of mind because whoever is involved in agriculture government won’t talk of feeding him or her again. They will produce a lot of products, feed their children and train them in schools and the society is better for it. Government should also concentrate in training those who would be in charge of Information Communication Technology, ICT who will develop the right technology required to develop the State and the country. I wish Sanwo -Olu and his deputy Dr. Obafemi Hamzat a successful tenure in office.