*Says Jonathan architect of own collapse for marginalising Yoruba Land
*Says Diezani Allison-Madueke pushed Jonathan to political grave
*Speaks on his disappointment about Buhari
By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor
There is a polygamous family in Lagos, which continued to keep the close ties established by its late head and renowned Islamic scholar and radio broadcaster, Alhaji Muritala Animashaun, over 40 years after his demise, so much that it is difficult to separate between who is from one woman and who is not. That is the family from where Mr. Tolagbe Animashaun, a retired Permanent Secretary in Lagos State service and chieftain of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state was born. Tolagbe, direct younger brother to late Olanrewaju, father of former Minister of Communications Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd) and late G.K. Animashawun, contested as Senator of Lagos Central in 2011 but lost to wife of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But, in this interview with The DEFENDER, he is rather grateful to God that he lost the senatorial election as, according to him, he would have been a dead person if he were to be in the Eighth Senate, considering its current image status as he would not have allowed himself to be bought into the alleged anomalies prevalent in the upper chamber, currently. Excerpts:
First and foremost, let me start by asking, what is it that we do not know about Tolagbe Animashaun which you think we should know?
Well, what I think you need to know is that I am a very shy but straightforward person. I am not such person that keeps malice. I have a short temper and so I erupt but after about five minutes, everything dissipates. That is my mindset of keeping people’s faults out of my mind because people, of course, would frustrate and offend you. But I ensure that I handle it as fast as possible and forget about it permanently.
What is it that people can do to you that would make you erupt, no matter how shortlived?
When I feel cheated, I don’t take it lightly because what I don’t do is to cheat people and I would not encourage that anybody should cheat the other. I will never, ever in my life cheat my fellow human being and so, if anybody tries to play smart with me, I get very angry with that person. I prefer people to come to me and tell me things straightforwardly.
This kind of discipline, is there anyway one can link it with your background as son of the late Islamic scholar and radio broadcaster, Alhaji Muritala Animashaun known for his being a religious person? And, again, the said over 10,000-member Animashaun family of Lagos, how is yours linked to it?
First, I am a religious person but my religion does not show to the next person. And the religious personality of my father played a role in the type of straightforwardness that Allah has made me to embrace. Secondly, about my Animashaun background, Animashaun is a nickname for somebody who spends what he has and is not stingy. We are supposed to be Asunmon that is the surname. He went from here to Ibadan to marry the richest woman, Obisesan, and came back to Lagos.
The Animashaun is as vast as from Onitsha (Anambra) to Efon Alaaye (Ekiti). The man was a trader even to Ilorin in the North. He traded in fabrics and of course he was a merchant. And when he was in Lagos he had a stable for his horses at a place called African Bethel Church. It linked 45/47 Martins Street and we call it Agbo-Ile (family compound) which currently houses the Animashaun developments from traders and quarters. And I understand he was a very straightforward person who also hated to be cheated. So, that passes through the genes of all Animashauns of the Lagos Island, Olowogbowo fame. And of course there are some Animashauns in Ikorodu but I am not sure about the connection because I am not deep in the history of the Animashaun and so I am not sure where the link stands, not because I have been lazy to find out but because there are some people that have undertaken to do that and be able to give us the connection.
How does the Asunmon Animashaun connect to your own Animashaun?
My father was Muritala Animashaun, I am his direct son just like late G.K. Animashawun, late Olanrewaju father of General Tajudeen Olanrewaju. Our own mother was the last wife of Muritala Animashaun and there are three of us by her; Dotun Animashaun, the former Member of the House of Representatives, myself, retired Permanent Secretary, and Ayoola, a chartered accountant.
A fruit dropping from such disciplinarian tree like Muritala Animashaun must have something so attached to its source. What particular word did your father regularly give you about life of this world and what should be your character, generally as his children?
As his children he told us regularly to carry on with character of truthfulness and honesty. You have to be honest and you have to say things the way you see them. I mean there are no two ways to the word; if you lie, it catches up with you in the future. If you say things the way you see them, people won’t come back to you and say you lie, they will just come back to you say “that is true,” even in the face of death. You need to let people know who you really are. If I give you my word now, if you come back I am not going to tell you it’s not like that anymore.
With the disciplined background you are coming from, does it ever cross your mind that your losing election into the Eight Senate was a blessing and you don’t regret not being there, in the sense that, with the image issue rocking the Red Chamber, your integrity would have been rubbished or what kind of Senator did you set out to be?
I thank you for that question and I really appreciate you raised it. I don’t regret not being in this Senate. Actually I thank God that I didn’t make it. I would have been the kind of Senator that Ben Moray-Bruce was trying to be. You know he came in with intent of being above board by not trying to join the bandwagon. But I don’t know what happened along the line that he derailed from the path he laid for himself when he came in to make a change and then fight the rots in the Senate. So, he is not that kind of a Senator anymore. I think they probably must have gotten to him. You know his background, from a family that is highly commercially successful and he was trying to live up to that and live up to being fair. But along the line, I think they got to him and then showed him some unpalatable things and all that. So, he is now back to joining them, so to say.
So, I really appreciate the fact that I didn’t make it to the Eighth Senate because if I were to be there, I would have been killed because I would have been tough and rejecting all these things they fight for; all the largesse. I mean we have troops fighting against Boko Haram, they are not talking about giving those troops adequate things that they need but you find Senators riding around in SUVs, fancy cars and bulletproof cars and all that. Are the soldiers not the ones to be supplied with bulletproof vehicles? That is the issue and so, I am so happy I didn’t make it to this Senate because I don’t believe in that kind of politics. The only politics I can see myself practicing now is that of trying to make the society right, not through election as a Senator or as member of the House of Representatives. It’s just that I am not serving by elective means.
But how do you play politics without being through elective means?
Well, I am still a member of the PDP. I am seeing that the party is on the right path. There is quite a lot of divisions, a lot of infighting. I am part of the team that is trying to make sure that we settle the issue of Lagos State PDP first then we expand to the South West PDP and from there to national PDP.
You have a party that has just been saved, so to say, from going into extinction by the Supreme Court. But you also have governor who is supposed to be the chairman of the party’s governors’ forum doing all the things he has been doing to the extent that you have a serving Senator of the party having to give him back the hard way. Would you say what Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose is doing is actually fighting the course of PDP or he is fighting his own personal course?
Well, I am happy you are coming with this observation. You have to remember the background of this disagreement between the two persons; I am sure when you said Senator you are talking about Buruji Kashamu, who was with Sheriff and Fayose with Makarfi. Now, I don’t believe that the purpose of the party will be served by the two of them going toe-to-toe in the national dailies or in the media.
But this happens in democracy; you have infighting by people jostling for positions, relevance in any party. I am very, very happy this is happening in the PDP. You can’t find this kind of thing in APC or the AD of hold because you know the guy that controls the party is the one that tells people what to do. We don’t have any tyrant like that in PDP. People have to accept themselves.
The issue here is that, by and large, people are aware of the divisions and you know the kind of governor Fayose is and I like his style. But sometimes he has to understand that whatever fight he is fighting is for the betterment of the party. Everybody in the world has some kind of aspiration to be whatever he wants to be. There is a freedom to be whatever you want to be if you are a popular person or if what you are proposing to sell to the populace is what is going to do them any good. Within the party you will find some level-headed persons who will call the two of them to order and settle the rift.
It is healthy but I would expect that they put a stop to it now that each person has laid out his idea of what is going on. We are in the reconciliation period within the party. Those on the other side and this side, we are going to reconcile them because, it is going to be very good for the party and I look forward to that.
The issue here is that, by and large, people are aware of the divisions and you know the kind of governor Fayose is and I like his style. But sometimes he has to understand whatever fight he is fighting is for the better of the party. Everybody in the world has some kind of aspiration to be whatever he wants to be. There is a freedom to be whatever you want to be if you are a popular person or if what you are proposing to sell to the populace is what is going to do them any good. Within the party you will find some level-headed persons who will call the two of themselves to order and settle the rift.
Let’s talk about Lagos PDP. How far so far?
My own take is, like I said, that we would settle the issue of Lagos PDP before we move to the South West PDP. In Lagos we are in the midst of settling whatever rift exists and talking to those that are aggrieved and those that believe that they are not included in the affairs of the party.
I am part of the group that has Salvador as Chairman. It is not possible for me to be on the side of (Segun) Adewale because he has his eyes on the governorship of Ekiti State. We should do away with the issue of having people coming here and using Lagos as testing ground only to go and develop their own states. Go to your place and and do that. I have nowhere else to go except Lagos.
Which brings us to the issue of indigeneship, so you agree with those who say the Lagos indigenes have always been shortchanged?
Lagos indigenes have been shortchanged and I really, really hate that to the core.
But it is said that you that are Lagos indigenes are yourselves not serious about emancipating Lagos. Or what do we not know here?
We were in the process of emancipation of Lagos. The issue here is that, it was very, very bad during the period of former President Goodluck Jonathan; we made so many visits to him and tried to let him know that the minister that he had for us then, Olusegun Aganga, should not have been our representative. Jonathan never supported the South West and I am not afraid to say that.
But you all worked for him. How come?
Yes we had to work for him because, it was the party’s policy to work for him. Whether he hated Lagosians or not, he is a member of our party. He said he wanted to run for presidency and I had no choice but to work for him. But it was very, very unfortunate that his downfall was that he did not listen to the advice about the need for the inclusion of the South West in his administration. So, that was why he found himself outside of the Aso Rock. And the person that worked with the South West is now in Aso Rock.
So, it did not matter who the person was?
It did not matter who the person was and at one point there were people in the PDP who actually worked against him (Jonathan) because the rot at that time was so overwhelming and he was just being booed here and there by every Tom, Dick and Harry. He was not a man of his own. So, it was very unfortunate that we lost the course. If he had stepped down after his six years run and allowed Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State at that time to represent the party, what I am talking to you now would be a different kettle of fish entirely.
So, automatically you wouldn’t have supported Jonathan contesting the 2015 presidential election if you had your way?
No way!
But where were voices like yours?
Did he listen? He didn’t listen. Of course you know his Niger Delta people were telling him, “It is our turn, it is our world.” At that point he served the two years of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua and won his own four years. That was more than adequate. He should have just called it a quit. The likes of Diezani Allison-Madueke were just the ones egging him on and talking sweet things to his ears.
Your mentioning of Diezani just reminded of me of what Garba Shehu told me in an interview that it would get to a point by the time revelations of corruption of the past government were fully out, somebody would be asked if he is a member of PDP and he would say no. At this point that more and more billions in dollar, pounds sterling, naira are still being revealed and forfeited of Diezani, when you hear things like this, how comfortable are you within the umbrella family considering your discipline background?
It makes me so sad because if you go to the background of this same Diezani, I was made to understand that her father was well to do and that she was not wanting and that she wore shoes to school. I mean, how could anybody that was so raised and even got married to a military top rank who became a military governor be so corrupt? How could she be so stupid?! I mean they say absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Believe me sincerely that sometimes when I sit and take the case of the lady that bought two BMWs, this was someone that had money and had been going back and front to England. The gangway of the Airport (Ikeja) where you have the zenith is so discorporate and so dilapidated. You couldn’t spend the money (as minister of aviation) to repair or even change the gangways but buying some stupid BMWs! You wonder why people like these could be so corrupt! And I want to believe Dr. Reuben Abati, therefore, who said as soon as they went into Aso Rock, some demons took hold on them. May be when these people got into office they got exposed to demons and started behaving differently because you can’t justify that people that came from wealthy families would all of a sudden start behaving like nonentities because the power got to them.
Where is Diezani today? Did she ever think that she would one day go into self-exile? The former President himself is not even talking anymore. If he had done what he was supposed to do, he would have been a hero. I can understand when Reverend Kukah said we should celebrate him for relinquishing power.
Or what do you think?
But the truth is, people were so tired of Jonathan and so he had no choice but to relinquish power. If he was working for the people as President, he would probably still be there but he was working for some interests, listening to people he was not supposed to listen to. Where some people started singing and praising him, some others would start praying for him asking him to kneel down. That was not what we needed. The Nigerian public would have prayed for him and wished him well if he had it at the back of his mind that I am supposed to lead these people out of penury, lead them out of poverty and work for them.
No matter what, of course he would still have his enemies but, those enemies would never have been the Nigerian people. May be the interests he worked against would have been his enemies but Nigerian people would be his friends.
Quite good the PDP has fresh air blowing within it now but the PDP needs to do some serious image work. Tell me Sir, how can you put it to Nigerians that, with PDP, you don’t throw the baby away with the bathwater?
You see, I am very, very much encouraged by the likes of Alhaji Sule Lamido still in the PDP. I am happy too that Buruji Kashamu is still in the PDP. I am happy Fayose is in the PDP. Whatever differences we have are going to be looked over.
Having said that, I would say that the first chance that PDP has is that APC that came and promised 81 things, not a single promise it made has been fulfilled. And they too are in disarray; they have four or six factions now within their national body and so you know that they came to governance unprepared. We made our mistakes but the APC are repeating the same mistakes that we made. Now look at somebody who cut grass for over N200 million.
The only difference between this present APC and the old PDP is the fact that they wanted to chase the old PDP out and then bring in their own corrupt money chopping machine. That is it. But we are a new PDP now, we have learned our lessons and I know that the Nigerian people are going to be the best for it. They had, had the old PDP and now in APC. So, it is the same old thing.
Meaning that it was the same PDP that chased PDP out of government that came into the APC and continued to behave the old PDP way?
Exactly! So, now we the remaining ones are the new PDP. We are the honest ones, who want to correct the anomalies and the wrongs the current APC and the old PDP are perpetrating on the Nigerian people.
But the APC appears to have taken from advice similar to yours…?
(Cuts in) It is too late.
How do I mean? They are now saying that anybody who decamps to APC would no longer have access to vital position?
It is the same thing with us. What we are doing now is reconciliation on a very, very different and new platform. Those ones that we are going to take back at the ones that were aggrieved but are genuine PDP members. The ones that messed up in APC, of course, we will have to grill them and make sure that they discharge their own ways of corruption before we take them in.
Let’s see somebody like Saraki, who appears to be aggrieved in APC now, if he decides to go back to PDP tomorrow, so he won’t be given a red carpet?
Well that is not up to me. It is not up to anybody in the PDP. It is up to his ward in Ilorin or his state of Kwara for them to see through and see that this guy is ready to mend his ways and no court has convicted him in anything. He has not said he wants to come back but if he wants to come back, I think that will be for his state to decide how.
But do you agree that all along as APC Senate President, Saraki has been working for PDP in the Senate against the interest of his governing party as alleged by many?
Well, I would agree that he has been working for the progress of this country in the Senate. If you work with PDP, that means you are working for the progress of this country. Now, it is no more a personal but national thing. You have to cross the divide to reach out to the other side for you to be able to pass the legislations that will be beneficial to the people of this country.
But why does he (Saraki) need immunity to carry out his legislative job?
Well, I think you have to direct that question to him. (Laughters).
I think this interview is very interesting but on a final note, what is your word to the people in power presently because they are yours as their actions and inactions affect your life and your word to the Nigerian people?
My take on this nation is that, even though we are now 19 years in democracy, we are still very, very nascent. For instance, I am looking for a law that Senate should pass that anybody running for office now should not have any child abroad schooling, should not be going abroad for medical treatment and should also not be seen as patronizing foreign goods.
I was optimistic about the inauguration of President Buhari when he first came in 2015. I was very, very optimistic that this man would do justice to the whole country and that he was going to be a new dawn. But unfortunately, in his first few weeks in office, the managing director Peugeot Automobile Nigeria unveiled a new set of Peugeot cars for the Nigerian populace. Of course you know that Peugeot series of cars are manufactured in Kaduna, Nigeria here.
I don’t think Buhari was one month in office yet at that time. For the purchase of vehicle for the Federal Government, I think for the conference visitors unit, instead of taking advantage of the new luxury edition of Peugeot cars just unveiled, Buhari signed approval for the purchase of BMW cars to be supplied from Germany. I was thoroughly shocked and said this is not the Buhari that we knew.
