He has an intimidating stature. He’s heavily built at over 6 feet plus with the image of a heavyweight boxer. But a deeper contact with him reveals a man that can hardly hurt a fly. He says he owes his humility to his humble background. That’s Adeyemi Ikuforiji for you. He has been the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly for over ten years; an unprecedented record in Nigeria. The story of this son of a peasant farmer from Epe is a typical grass to grace story. Growing up, the challenges were enormous. He lost his parents early in life but soldiered on.
With hardwork and grace of God, he rose above the limitations of his background to achieve success. Ikuforiji is not satisfied. The urge to help the less privileged in the society is intense in him. He dreams of changing the world. He dreams of changing his beloved Lagos. A Lagos where the masses will have access to basic things of life such as water, quality public schools, health facilities and the rest. He believes he can only do this by holding a public office. This gentle man from Epe subsequently went into politics so that he could positively impact on the society. He’s not any way near there yet because there is still so much poverty in Lagos. He’s hoping that things will improve if he attains his dream of becoming the governor of the state. Ikuforiji, a Muslim, married to a Christian/pastor shares the story of his life, pains, victories, dreams and aspirations with Yemi Adebowale and Ahamefula Ogbu
Give us some insight to your background, growing up?
Well, I started from Epe. I had my early education at Epe as well at the Local Authority Primary School and then to Epe Divisional Grammar School (Epe Grammar School) for my secondary education. Of course, in the local setting, you virtually know everybody. In 1975, I sat for the West African School Certificate Examination. We were 105 candidates presented and I was the only one that made Division One and that was breaking a four year jinx in the school because for four years running, nobody made a Division One there. And after that, I was awarded a scholarship to study in Romania.
I was 18 years old then and I studied at Bieber Foyer University in Cruz and later at Academy of Economic Studies where I got my Master of Science Degree in Economic Planning and Cybernetics in September 1981. On my return to Nigeria, after Youths Service, I joined the defunct International Bank for West Africa. While working there, I enrolled in Unilag for MBA.
What were the early challenges of your growing up in Epe?
It was a rural/mini urban setting. We grew up in that communal life, raw, playing with our age mates. In my own case, my parents were peasant farmers. We usually stay in Epe during the week but on Fridays, we would join them in the village where they farm. Then, on Sundays in the afternoon, we get what we need for the week - garri, fish, meat and everything we will need to sustain ourselves for the week - board the canoe and return to the main town to resume school on Mondays.
How would you describe your parents?
My parents were humble peasant farmers who saw the need for good education for their children. They put in the best they could to see me through my early education. There was this interesting story about my father. He desperately wanted a male child. He had eight boys before me that he had had to bury with his own hands from my mother and other wives. The number of wives, I still cannot say even today and unfortunately, by the time I grew old enough to ask this question, he was not there any longer. I was not interested in how many, but I can still remember that from the names mentioned, he must have had about four or five wives along the line. Those eight boys were from different wives and you know in those days, if a woman stays in a place and loses one or two kids, she probably moves on to go and try her luck with another man. From the story I heard, my father lost eight boys before I was born. The very last one that died was from my mother and he died on the day of the naming ceremony. He chose to go back on the eight day. So, the old man was very sad.
Did the previous ones die before christening?
Some before christening; some after christening. But this last one was on the eight day and my father threatened to drown himself; and of course the clerics called him, they rallied around him and counselled him. They went into serious prayer session on that particular day, offering their supplication to him, saying, ‘look He will replace this loss if He is the God we serve. This boy has put sand in our garri now. Everyone is here and you have provided the drinks, the food and he cannot disgrace us. We are going to talk to God on your behalf. Now we want you to sit down and tell us, make a pledge of what you will do when God answers your prayer.’
The clerics said ‘A new child to replace this one must come and must be a boy because it is a boy that you are really looking for.’ He had girls and he also had many girls that died but you know this African thing where a male child is all they crave for. The clerics also prayed that the child must be from the same woman and thirdly that he must come within a year. You know when clerics were clerics; they were able to talk to God directly.
Interestingly, my mother gave birth to me. I survived and became a very big dude and my father was more than excited. He was around 50 years old when I was born and I became his closest. I was not just his first son but also his friend, his confidant, his partner. He told me stories at very early age that you will rather not tell a child; so I grew up a mature boy very early because of some of the things that transpired between us. My father will discuss family issues with me that those who were old enough to even be a father to me wouldn’t even understand how to go about them. He discussed all these with me and I grew up more than matured at a very early age.
Is he still alive?
No. He passed on in January 1975 when I was in class five in secondary school.
But it didn’t affect your education?
No. I actually got state government relief scholarship in form three in secondary school because I was bright.
What of your mother, you didn’t say much about her?
Oh, my mother was an extra-ordinary woman and I tell you even today at my age, when I remember her, I still feel the sense of loss. I wish she were around. She was so hard working, she was so supportive of her husband and the larger family; she was one woman who sees in other children, her own children.
Are you a polygamist considering your background?
You know we are Africans. Sometimes, some of these things require proper definitions. I started out very early in life. While I was in college abroad, I met a young woman and we fell in love. She was from another part of the country. Of course, we were also worried that when return to Nigeria, they won’t allow us to get married.
That was in Romania?
Yes. So, towards the end of our programme, we decided to officially get married and we also had a child. She was from the part of the country where the tradition is very strict. She was an Igbo from then Imo State. But unfortunately, when she got here, just the month she finished youth service, she passed on. After that, I married my present wife. She was brought up in Ife, her mom is partly Ife and the dad is Ondo. I play with her that she is ‘a beast of no nation.’
So you have kept to one wife despite your background?
Well, background or no background, these things are just… sometimes we play around it but it is not the background that determines what you eventually do. Yes, it may affect your outlook about life but eventually you are your own person. In fact, in most cases, those who were brought up from a certain background, for example this polygamous setting, those who had terrible experience will run very far away from polygamy. Whereas, there are those who were brought up in monogamous settings and along the line, they are interested in finding out what is happening at the other end.
But was it an advantage?
We didn’t have the type of nasty experience that people talk about. In fact, today, my two siblings alive are from my mother’s junior wife but we were brought up in a manner that we don’t even see ourselves as half brothers or sisters. Things like that didn’t really happen despite the relatively humble background. We grew up seeing ourselves as one.
How did you meet your present wife?
I met my wife during the graduation ceremony at Ife. My close friend whom we schooled together in Romania, Dr. Wale Atoyebi had his own fiancée graduating and I was the one who drove him down for the graduation ceremony. Atoyebi’s fiancée invited us to go and say hello to her friend and course mate who had been so close to her and also graduating. But on getting to the friend’s house, I was fascinated by the young woman that came to welcome us. I mean the beauty was irresistible and I told my friend’s fiancée that ‘this one must not go unattended to’ and she laughed and said ‘Ade, don’t worry, we will talk.’ We started talking eventually and at the end of it all, things materialised.
What were the attractions apart from the beauty?
Eventually I found her to be very homely, very very brilliant young woman. She was under 20 when she finished from University of Ife and she reads voraciously. If you give her this your novel, I’m sure by tomorrow, you will take your book back; she would have gone through. I’m a slow reader but she reads like she is only flipping through and I found her to be morally outstanding; the confidence was there. I met her a virgin; that was very exciting too.
How old were you then?
I was 26.
How long did it take between when you met her and when you married her?
A year. When I first met her, we thought she was a bit off; she didn’t take it seriously. She later travelled out and by the time she came back, my friend and the fiancée were getting prepared for their marriage; so it was during that period of their marriage that we met again and …
Was she already a pastor then?
No. She was just a young Christian
What can you remember as your greatest challenge while growing up?
Well, like I told you, from a very humble background, a lot of things could not be taken for granted. To even get the basics that you need in school and so on, you keep reminding your parents so that whether they are going to make esusu (local contribution) or whatever they need to do to get you going, they must have to set something aside. Of course, they will wake us up early in the morning to go and fetch water from a distance that is probably close to a kilometer. My part of Epe is the hilly part; Epe is a town that rises right from sea level all the way up. We are on the mountain top.
How did politics come in? When did you transit?
Well, like I told you, even as a student, I had always been interested in what affects majority of us. In the place where I come from, because I grew up there, because I had the experience of what life is in that place, I had always been interested in finding ways of making life better for people.
Which was you first elective position?
It was into the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2003. That was my first, my very first and I came from the US then to contest. I was lecturing in a college in the US but my mind was at home.
Comparatively, you were lecturing in the US. You saw democracy at work there and here you are in Nigeria. What comparism can you draw between the two?
It is tough drawing comparism but I can tell you, perhaps the exposure I had, the opportunity of watching some of these things at play in another man’s land really helped. It helped my outlook of life generally and what democracy should be like and I think Lagos State has benefitted tremendously from it because today, Lagos can boast, beat their chest and say look, we have an outstanding legislature; one that is a role model for the rest; one that is generally acknowledged to be the first among others in the country and a leading light even in the continent.
But critics say the Lagos State House of Assembly is a mere rubber stamp for the governor?
If anybody says that, that person is not even a lover of Lagos. He doesn’t want anything good for Lagos. That a legislature is not at loggerheads with the governor does not make it a rubber stamp and that you fight everyday does not make you a good legislature. Look, today, we still have Lagosians who even see me and other law makers as those legislators who wanted to remove Fashola; so how do you place the two side by side and feel comfortable? A legislature that is a rubber stamp? a legislature that is giving the governor trouble? You can’t have the two together.
But was there ever a time you people actually wanted to remove the governor?
It is the figment of the imagination of the people. You will remember the story of the group called True Face of Lagos, where the governor was accused on the pages of the newspaper of a lot of wrong doings and the petition was sent to the house and the house said it would investigate it; that was all. That we were going to investigate it was all that led to the accusation that we wanted to remove him.
In the course of being in politics, have you ever been threatened or attacked?
My life has been under threat several times, not just by area boys or by local thugs. I have had a stint with assassins in the past.
How did it happen? How did you survive?
I was attacked because there were issues that you really cannot start opening up in the public carelessly because you cannot start accusing one of wrong doing when that thing had not been investigated. You may know that the accusing finger should go towards one but then if the issue was not investigated and proved, it may become libelous. We had some political issues and people who felt I did not do their biddings decided to send assassins after me and I survived just by the grace of God. On this day, I was driving a car; it was fully tinted. When crossed me and came out with their arsenal; it was in Isolo and I used to live in Isolo then. They came to the driver’s side; one went to the owner’s side but instead of me stopping or panicking, I just put the car on the reverse.
I am a very good driver; in fact, a smart driver. I pride myself as one of the very best drivers you can find anywhere. I reversed to Mushin Road and when they saw that I was not stopping, they started firing.
Was your car bullet proof?
No it was not. But it was an ordinary Prado jeep but brand new. The firing was going more towards what you call the owner’s side but I was driving. In fact, we had more than 24 Ak 47 bullets picked from the vehicle the following day. They shot the tyre but the thing was still able to move and they kept firing. The whole place was scattered but I just kept moving and they felt they had achieved their target but did not know I was the one driving.
You are the longest serving Speaker in Nigeria with almost ten years on.
What has been the magic?
Well I think that first and foremost, it is the grace of God; then many other things also come into play - a good understanding of my terrain, knowing my onions and placing common interest above personal interests. You see, the legislature in this system is the most complex of the three arms of government. It is the most difficult to understand and it is the toughest to handle. If the common goals are the ones that you put as your priority, I think with prayers you can get it done but I must confess to you that it has been tough.
Are you still interested in the governorship in 2015?
I don’t know why you are asking this question
Because we learnt that your party already has a candidate…the godfather (Bola Tinubu) has picked a candidate for the party?
Well, that cannot be true and I can tell you categorically that it is not true.
But the Oba of Lagos confirmed it at a public function…(cuts in)
The Oba of Lagos is not the leader of the party; the Oba of Lagos is not even a member of the party.
Has the leader of the party told you that he has picked a candidate?
That is why I am saying this. Everybody in Lagos knows that I am close enough to him and I can tell you categorically that there is nothing of sort; anybody saying so is just saying the figment of his own imagination
So as at now, APC has no candidate in the State?
We have no candidate yet
What about Akinwumi Ambode?
Akinwunmi is just a bona fide Lagosian like you and me. If you say that you are interested in the governorship today, will I go to the press and say you are not? Or that you should not be interested? He is interested, that is all, like any other person who is interested; like every other aspirant
He is the only one endorsed by the godfather ...
When did the Godfather tell you that?
Does that mean you are interested or not interested in the governorship seat of the state?
Don’t worry, my interest will not be limited to this discussion alone. When the time to kick off fully is here, I am sure you my friends will be part of it
The primary is around the corner and we are yet to see your posters?
There are many things about this, although we all violate the rules, but you know there are guidelines. If it is a question of poster, know that poster does not fetch votes. I am consulting. Don’t forget that if you want to be governor, it is not the poster that matters; you must first get the ticket of the party and to get the ticket of the party, you need no posters at all. Posters are for the general populace, the voting populace, the voting public but the ticket is from the members of the party. So, you first have to go round and see and that is the process we are in right now
It then means you are still in the race for 2015?
I am not just in the race, I am leading the race
Has God spoken to your wife about it since she is a pastor?
I think she is around and preparing to go to church, if you ask her she will speak for herself but I know I have spoken to God about it myself.
Have you heard from God?
My God is a faithful one and He does not lead me into darkness
As a Lagosian, are you not worried that in eight years, the state has accumulated almost N600 billion debt?
You see, in economics, and I think others will also agree with this, it is not the size of the debt that matters the most but I think we should be more interested in what we have done with the money, the ability to repay and would we have done better without the loan? So really, these noise about the debt; yes it should give one some concern but you will also agree today that not minding the revenue sharing formula that gives certain states advantage over others, Lagos State remains viable, the only self-sustaining state in the federation. So, if out of 36 states, it is the only one that can stand on its own, it is also expected that whatever it has may not be of the same size with others.
The most indebted nation in the world is the United States. It is able to do so because it is the most economically powerful in the world.
But has Lagos done well with the loans? Does the size of the loan match development on ground? Critics say Lagos is full of bad roads, tattered hospitals and public schools without water and toilets and all that?
I am recording everything you are saying and I want to assure you that I am running for that seat and I have over the years allowed most of these things to go into my conscience and I have taken my time to also look at the ways and means of alleviating the pains of our people. We have to be honest with ourselves; the problems we have today are not problems that came up just this morning and they cannot be taken away in seconds. Yes, everyone will have his own style and his own way of looking at some of these issues but I think I am the wrong person to ask the question you are asking now because I am part and parcel of the government.
That is why we want you to answer the question; you legislators approved the loans…
What I have told you, look at it critically too. I was in Badagry yesterday and on my way back we saw the heavy work going on, on that road and I know that given a stable and steady government and conditions, in a few months, the first phase of that job should be ready and we will see a more beautiful and serviceable road that will serve our people better. The suffering of our people on that road is horrendous to say the least. But most times, there is no gain without pain so we will manage up this period so that tomorrow will be better for everyone.
The metro or light rail stuff is also coming up on that same corridor. If you travel along that corridor, you will see that a lot has been done; I don’t know if Fashola will commission that before he leaves office but if you go there you can see that so much has been put in place; so much work has been done along that line. I am not trying to justify anything or cover up anything for anybody at all but we can see certain things. Look at Mile 12 to Ikorodu, you can see the stage the construction there has attained. It is a heavy work too which in a few months, should be winding up too and be ready for the use by the people. By the time those things finish, there will be relief.
I think so far, a lot has been done. Many of us will forget easily some of the things we have gone through and the stage we were yesterday, we only talk of what is and what we want to see, that is right but then, we should not forget that we started somewhere. There were days when the traffic on Oshodi-Gbagada Road could send you easily to the hospital.
What would you say has been your saddest moment so far in life?
There have been sad moments, but I must confess, not many. I told you of the lady I first married. The day I learnt that she was going to die, that was very sad.
What has been your happiest moment in life?
There have been so many of those that I don’t know the one that is the highest. To me, God has been so merciful. From my background, I see life differently and I believe that God has been very partial in my favour. Happy moments come and go and I remain myself, giving praises to my God for what He has done. From the day I got my school certificate result to know that I am the only one with Grade One to the day I got scholarship to travel out; you know my first child went to LASU here and from there she made a 2.1, narrowly missed first class and got admission to do her masters in three of the world best universities - Imperial College, Columbia and Yale. We eventually asked her to go to Yale; she has her masters from Yale. She got a job with World Bank. She has left the World Bank and now with African Development Bank. All those events are heart-warming. My second girl is 24. She is a medical Doctor. She has finished her horsemanship and is on youths service. These are things that make you extra ordinarily happy.
The day I won the general election at Epe in 2003 was also memorable; to be honest with you, I am the first from my own section of Epe to win a general election and I did not only win I went ahead to break another jinx in that nobody repeats a tenure from my area. No matter how good you are they don’t return you but I was returned to the House which was another jinx broken and it is a peak of joy. I got back to the house and I became the first person to be elected Speaker twice in the history of the State. I went ahead to be elected a third time, is it not a thing to be joyful about?
If you become governor of Lagos State, what would be your topmost priority?
Infrastructure and I can explain that to you. You see, I am not in a position to start pointing out this and that now; but the way I will handle infrastructure, I am sure Lagosians will be amazed and ask ‘how did it happen’
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