The last thing Lam told me –His PA for 30 years Fatai Ibikunle

Alhaji Fatai Ibukunle is popularly referred to as Lam’s boy. He served as Personal Assistant to Alhaji Lam Adesina for close to 30 years. In this interview with OSEHEYE OKWUOFU at Felele, Ibadan residence of the late political icon who breathed his last Sunday in a Lagos hospital, the current Special Assistant to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, spoke on his experience working with the late Lam Adesina, his political philosophy and what he told him during his last moments in the hospital. Excerpts.

BABA Adesina was a father to me because he took over my upkeep right from my tender age and brought me up since then. He took over everything that had to do with my upbringing since he became the House of Representatives member in 1979. He mentored me on how to live life and on how to chart the political terrain. How do you rate him as a leader? He was a fine gentleman. Adesina was my own Awo because I never lived with Awolowo, but I have been with Adesina and he was a very kind and considerate leader and he loved people and loved putting his followers in positions of authority. Ask people the question, who made you chairmen of local government chairman? And the answer will be Lam. Who made you commissione? Lam. Who made you the House of Representatives member? Lam. He loved to put people in positions and making people happy. He didn’t even have much time for himself, but was always addressing others’ problems. So, he was a complete gentleman. How do you rate him as a politician? He was a fine politician. He would never harbour any grudge against anyone. He would say things the way they were without fear or favour. He would tell us look, whenever you want to go to for political struggle or contest, make sure you go with your brain and diplomacy, and that as a politician, you must be diplomatic and must succumb to the will of Allah. And that anytime you are looking for something, you should prepare your mind that it is going to be a failure. If you success, okay, but if you fail, it will not be a problem to you because you have already prepared your mind. That’s is why some politicians develop hypertension. Throughout his life, he never suffered blood pressure or undue anxiety because anytime we were going for any contest, he would tell us, look Fatai, let us prepare our mind to the fact that humans are what they are, we should never look for perfection, human beings can change. Let us believe that it’s either we win or lose. And let us put in our best that will make us win. But if we lose, it should not be a shock to us. So, Lam was a complete politician. You know he started in 1979 when he contested the State House of Assembly election, but along the line, Baba Awolowo said no, he should go for the House of Reps. So, his mind was to go to the State House of Assembly, a lower position, but Awo said he should go higher. Then, in 1987, he was prepared to go for local government election, but Babangida banned them and thereafter they said he should come, but he said no, he was no more interested. That was when Baba Alayande’s son became local government chairman. Recall that the late Lam Adesina had made attempt in the late 1980s to become governor of Oyo State, but somewhere along the line, that wasn’t to be. What happened? Well, what happened was that in 1988, his people came to him and asked him to represent them in the Constituent Assembly, and he went. So, during the 1988-89 Constituent Assembly, he and others like of Chief Segun Osoba came together and formed a political movement which later on metamorphosed into SDP. So, he tried to become governor at that time, but people disappointed him. People like Adedibu and co., they sabotaged his effort and he was left resigned to fate. And in 1983, when he wanted to go for the deputy governorship, with Chief S. M. Afolabi, they disappointed him again. But those who believed in him urged him to go for a second term in the House of Reps, but he was still resigned to fate. Chief S. M. Afolabi and others went to NPN, but Baba Lam said he was not leaving the UPN because his own philosophy was tied with the progressives. He said he was not leaving. And he did not leave the party even when the likes of Eruobodo went to NPN. A lot of people went to NPN then in annoyance because Awolowo disappointed them but Baba Lam said no. So, despite the disappointment in SDP, he did not leave the party. He remained there when Adedibu and co disappointed him. At a point in time, it was learnt that Abacha tried to lure him to his side. What happened after that? They were urging him to leave the struggle then in NADECO. A lot of enticements were brought to soften Baba’s stance but he turned them down and later Abacha wanted a reliable politician and sought him out, but he said no, he was not leaving the struggle. He said he was a NADECO member and that they were going to fight Abacha till he left that office. And after Abacha’s death, with all the struggles including imprisonment, they asked him, sir, what are you going for? But Baba Lam said he was not desperate. He said he didn’t know, but God will tell him the thing to do and the right way to go. After some time, they told him to go for governorship and after much consultation, he went for governorship. And he became governor in 1999. How would you describe your relationship with Lam? The relationship was that of a father, mentor and son. A father who loved his son so much. Many thought I was his biological son. But no! It was just out of interest. He took me in when I was very young and for over 30 years, I was with him as his PA. And throughout the period, any meeting he wanted to go, he would call me. Even when at the Constituent Assembly, whenever they had a meeting at night, and if other colleagues of his said I should go out, he would say ‘no, he must be here, I am mentoring him, let him stay with me, he is my Personal Assistant. Then, there was a day in 2011, he wanted to go on a trip with the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, I think it was Maputo. So, when we got there, he said I would go with him. But when we were at the airport, the chief of Protocol to Chief Obasanjo deliberately sidelined me at the tarmac. So, when I saw Baba Lam coming with Obasanjo, I went to him and hold his agbada and said Baba, they said I should not go with you again. Baba Lam immediately told Obasanjo that he was no more going with him again because they didn’t pick my Personal Assistant (PA). Then Obasanjo said: ‘Why this Fatai all the time? Anything you want to do is Fatai. He (Obasanjo) asked where is the Fatai? Lam said here is Fatai. Obasanjo now said oh, is it this young man? No wonder Lam will not do without you. He then turned to his Chief protocol and said you are a thief, simply because you did not want to give him his own estacode that is why you don’t want him to go with you. That was how we went on that trip. So, for many years I was part and parcel of Lam. What was your last discussion with him before he died? Before he died, he called me about 11pm and said Fatai, how are you? I asked Baba, why are you calling me at this late night? He said ‘it’s because I wanted to talk to you.’ I asked, what happened? He said ‘I just want to talk to you about the political terrain of Oyo State and I want to admonish you that everything should take place decently and in order. You should work with the party and strengthen the party and let the party remain united and strong. You know my ways, my ideas, and how I go about everything. You know my associates well, call them, let them rally round Ajimobi. Don’t let the party down, and make sure the party is in good shape.’ And I asked, why are you telling me all these? He said no problem, that I should not fear, and that he will return to Ibadan and when he arrived, he will call me first and I should come and brief him on what is happening on the political scene in the state, and that he will then give his own advice on how to restructure and harmonise the party. He said he would call the governor and three of us would sit down and work out the best way the party would go. I said okay sir, thank you. Thereafter, I called a boy with him, Jide and ask him why did Baba call me this night, I hope there is nothing? He said no, that he was sleeping only to later wake up and asked him to call me that he wanted to talk to me. I asked, what was happening? He said that Baba only said that he wanted to be sure that things were in good position and that he didn’t want anything to happen to the party (ACN). He said he just remembered those things while he was sleeping and he felt he should tell me. I said okay, I will join you in Lagos on Saturday. Then Governor Ajimobi told me that he would be going to Lagos on Saturday and I felt that I should allow the governor to go first, after which I would later be in Lagos on Sunday morning. But on Sunday morning at about 6.am, Jide was called me repeatedly. I felt then that something must have happened. Before long, Dapo, his son, called me and said daddy was in coma. I said that must have been the reason why Jide was calling me. I asked what do we do? I said we would go to Lagos and join them. He said okay, that he will be waiting for me in their house at Felele and that I should pick him up there. About 15 minutes later, the governor called and told me that Baba had already passed on. I broke down. I asked myself, why this time? Just when everybody was expecting him back to Ibadan. And since that Sunday I have not been myself, because there were a lot of things we needed to do. Since 1979, I have never left Baba for a day, except when the military took over in 1983 when I went to get the civil service job. We have been together. Since 1979, Baba had never disappointed me and there was never any day we disagreed. In fact, some people thought I was the first born. I have been with Baba for all season. And anything I have become today, anything that I have, I owe them to God, and to Lam Adesina. Baba would sleep at night and he would wake up very early in the morning and ask, where is Fatai? We thank God that Governor Ajimobi is going to carry on where Lam Adesina left off because before his death, he (Ajimobi) had already taken over people like us. And Lam had told me that the same loyalty I gave to him, I should give to Ajimobi. We thank God that he lived a good life. He was a man that was agreeable to God’s heart and very religious. He went to bed at 1.am and would wake up very early and begin his prayers. He would see all his grandchildren go to school before he got up. So, that was his routine. He had always told me that if he died the next day, he wanted to be seen in the right place. He said I have left everything about this world. I will say the truth, I will stand by the truth and I will say whatever God asked me to say. I don’t want anything on earth again. I don’t want any house, what I want is to be closer to God. And Baba Lam was closer to God. And even when he felt sick, we rushed him to UCH and by 12 midnight, he was praying on his sick bed. So, he was a man closer to God, and a very good family man and role model for all generation. He loved his wife and his children so much. You also worked closely with him when he was governor between 1999-2003, as his Personal Assistant, what was your experience working with him? You see, one thing with him was that if he resumed in the office, I would be with him every day in his office by 7.30am. He would give me all his day’s programme, the people he would see and he would ask me to take the programme to the protocol and I should discuss it with him every morning. So, before his arrival in the office, I would have perfected everything. He would ask me to bring all the files and he made sure he treated all the files. He never took any file home or taken any file on a trip. He would ensure all files were treated in his office. If he travelled for one week and the files were up to 200 or 300, he would treat everything in the day and he would not talk to anybody. I would not go to his office because I knew he would not welcome anybody during that period. After treating all the files, he would call me on the intercom and say I should come. So, he was a dutiful man who loved his people so much. He would never delay any file for a second. I could tell what his body movement meant. And whenever he whispered, I knew the deeper meaning. It was said that Alhaji Lam Adesina never visited hospital except once when he was rushed to UCH and St Nicholas Hospital…? Yes, for close to 30 years that I was with him, I had never seen any doctor treating him for any illness. His only sickness was malaria. And he treated malaria by himself. In fact, when he was in the House of Reps, and he happened to travel for ten days, after four days, Baba would come back to the country. He would say he could not stay abroad. Though he was in his early 40s then, but he would say he was not interested in staying there because the place was too cold for him. That was Baba Lam for you, so he was not known to visiting hospitals throughout his life. While in the Constituent Assembly and House Reps, unused estacodes were said to be returned by Lam Adesina, were you ever privy to this? Yes. I handled the whole thing with strict directive from Baba Lam. He would ensure that all the unspent money was returned to the treasury. When the military took over in 1983, while he was leaving for Ibadan, he told me then that Fatai, if a spoon should miss in this house, I will hold you responsible. He said everything that I would need to return, let them sign the inventory and bring it to me in Ibadan. When he was in the Constituent Assembly too, he said Fatai, if anything should be missing here I will hold you responsible, make sure you let them sign the inventory for you and bring it to me. I said it’s okay, so, that was the true nature of Lam, in fact, I can call him a perfect man. He didn’t want any blemish at all. Why was he given the nick-name ‘Mr. Point of Order’? He was always happy to hear people call him that name because of what he stood for. He was a man who wanted things to be done the right way; a man who had the interest of his party at heart. And the name came about when he was always saying the truth, and standing by the truth. Most times, he would make that statement on the floor of the House to correct any wrong or misgivings about the state of the nation. We will miss him greatly.

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