Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Reuben Basorun, the only surviving member of the late Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande’s administration between 1979 and 1983 and the first Secretary to the State Government and former Commissioner for Education, has stated that the late former governor who died recently, succeded as a Governor because of his commitment and determination.
Basorun, who is currently a member of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) spoke on Jakande’s administration and his person, attempted review of the divisional system in Lagos, resolving the boundary crises in Ikorodu, ongoing Igbogbo road reconstruction, proposed Igbogbo stadium and Census among others.
He spoke with Kunle Adelabu, Publisher/Reporter – in – Chief, THE IMPACT newspaper, alongside some student trainees from the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) in his Igbogbo office recently. Excerpts:
THE IMPACT: Sir, we are aware that you are among the first set of people that revalidated their membership in the ongoing APC registration exercise, how will you describe the process, considering the fact that it suffered lack of materials a couple of days ago?
Asiwaju Basorun: The shortage is internal and logistics problems. All the documents sent here from Abuja to the state and later to our council have actually been exhausted. At least, in 18 to 19 wards, all the documents have been exhausted and only one of the wards still has something left as of yesterday (Wednesday, February 17, 2021). The exercise is going on well and it is a well – intentioned exercise as far as I am concerned. I don’t agree with Chief Akande who said it is useless. He himself can now see that it is useful because new people are now joining the party. The boost and the multiplying effects of announcing their membership would not have come up. Secondly, all those who have gone might continue to call themselves members of the party if we have not done the registration. A case of Saraki (former Senate President) for instance, if he had not publicly destroyed his membership card or stop claiming that he’s an authentic APC member, he would have still been seen as an APC member. So, the exercise is very useful and it is going on well without any problem.
THE IMPACT: Sir, I should have started this interview by expressing our condolences on the recent death of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the former governor of Lagos State, under whose administration you served as the first Secretary to the Lagos State Government. How will you describe working with him and also his death?
Asiwaju Basorun: I also served as a Commissioner for Education for a short period before the army came. Well, a pleasant gentleman whom I met in 1974 through a friend, Olatunji Atanda who is also now of blessed memory. We started talking politics immediately we met. I had told my friend (Olatunji Atanda) that I have interest in Awolowo and Jakande was an Awo man. I had confidence in placing my first problem in politics before Jakande. I told him that Ikorodu people were marginalizing us in Igbogbo. This aspect of my life is important for the younger ones to learn. After telling him (Jakande) this, he said Funmi, that’s no problem and said that what I needed to do is to move closer to the leaders in Ikorodu. There was a group called ‘Committee of Friends’ that was meeting in his office then. He recommended that I should meet late Femi Alokolaro who was a lawyer. I met with him and we discussed. Within a short time, Alokolaro took me to the Committee of Friends meeting being held in Jakande’s office.
Within a short time, I became a state member of the committee representing Ikorodu. Five of us were actually representing Ikorodu – late Alhaji Danmola, late Pa Olukoga, late Alokolaro, late M.A Ajisebutu and myself. By working with them, I became the Secretary of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) untill 1983 when the army struck. Some people have been asking me one question regarding how l became the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), but the only thing that I can say is that the interactions l had with people from 1974 to 1979 might have shown certain attributes in me that merited that position. Frankly speaking, in April 1978, he (Jakande) invited me to his office in Broad Street and told me that I would be the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives. That was when we were going into the election. Why? Because l had prepared and submitted a paper on developing agriculture through the cooperatives and he (Jakande) seemed to be interested in making me the Commissioner incharge of that.
I had my mind on that and we won the election in August 1979, and the day he was going to take over from Ukiwe (former Military Governor of Lagos), we were all in his house. Alokolaro was expected to be the Commissioner for Justice as a very senior lawyer who had turned down an appointment as a judge but he was made the Commissioner for Health. He was inviting us one after the other from his sitting room. When I entered, he said Funmi, you are going to be the Secretary of this government. It was a shock. He then asked me to go and liaise with people in Alausa. This was on a Friday, it was September 28 or 29 or so. We were supposed to have our first executive meeting on October 1, 1979. After thanking him, I went out straight to Alausa.
When I looked at the Secretariat, it was blank and sincerely, it was only one person, Seye Ogunlewe from Igbogbo, that I knew in the whole place and he did well when l approached him. He took me to those that matter and by Thursday, we were able to package papers for the executive council. That is Jakande’s method for you.
Meanwhile, before taking over the government, we already had 14 policy papers on education, health, housing, rural development etc. These papers were taken to the meeting and were approved as the programmes of that government and we started working on them. In those days, whatever we call the manifestoes of the party must be tailored alongside the programmes of the government. That was what we did. The manifesto of the party was very simple, that was when Chief Awolowo wanted to be President. They included free education at all levels; free healthcare service at all levels; full and gainful employment and integrated rural development. It was out of these four that we brought out other programmes to get the fourteen policy papers.
Jakande was a level – headed, simple and obedient servant of the party. The party never directed that he should not live in a government house or uses a government car, but he followed Chief Awolowo style who lived in Oke – Ado throughout the time he served as Premier of Western region and also used his own car. So, he (Jakande) served for four years and three months and during that period, he lived in Ilupeju (2, Bishop Street) where he died. He rode a Toyota Crown car. The secret of Jakande’s success was his openness and not being a leader that shouted at others. He believed that we would only succeed if we work together. One of the amazing things he did which made success possible was treating files overnight. We would take all the files to him overnight and the next day, all the files would be returned to the ministries treated. Any file that was not returned meant that the person in charge of such Ministry had a query and he would not pretend about it but let the person know. He would either call the person or write him the query. Take the case of education for example; there were three shifts because of the lack of classrooms which we inherited. This was eradicated in six months. We made it possible by providing additional classrooms and to do that, we had to build the type of classrooms that we built then; no window, no door, no decoration. We called them ‘functional classrooms’. This enabled us to entirely phased out the three shifts system.
Unlike what we are experiencing now, he chose a cabinet that had no choice but to be cohesive. This divisional system that they are talking about now was applied in picking his cabinet. The first set was thirteen in number and if you add me, it will be fourteen. He gave Epe Division two slots – Sanu Shobowale from Agbowa Ikosi and Ganiu Osineye from Eredo, Ikorodu Division – Femi Alokolaro, the Commissioner for Health and Olorunfunmi Basorun, the Secretary to the Government; Lagos Division had an edge over others with three slots – Ganiu Dawodu, Alade Masha and Olawale Idris who was the first Commissioner for Education. For Badagry Division were Richard Ege from Ojo and B.S Hundeyin from Badagry and Ikeja, the largest Division, had five – Fagbenro (Shomolu), Sola Agbabiaka (Isolo), Sheu Olusegun Coker (Commissioner for Works, Ikeja), Ganiyu Ajimotopon (Commissioner for Sports from Agege) and Alhaji Mufutau Olatunji Hamzat ( the father of the current Deputy Governor) from Mushin.
The Deputy Governor then was taken from Odo –Ogun, Rafiu Jafojo. So, the divisional system was reflected and from the day one of the government, there was a sense of belonging from those that were working. I do not sense that there is none today, but there was a better picture of the representation in the government. That was how we ran the government. When we finished the first term, he (Jakande) was re – elected and retained almost everybody (members of his first cabinet). This time, I was no longer in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, I was appointed as the Commissioner for Education.
Everybody doubted the possibility of Jakande’s Housing programme and that is why I have looked at the Jakande’s style critically and discovered that two things are important for you to succeed in running a government. You have to be committed and determined. He was totally committed to serving the people and his choice of who benefits and who does not was not difficult for him. The people were his main focus. These two attributes were the cornerstone of his administration and anybody who wants to go into government or any venture whatsoever, must be committed and determined. Other attributes may follow.
THE IMPACT: Sir, let’s look at the five divisional system which you said was reflected in Jakande’s administration, in view of the proposed bill by the Lagos State House of Assembly, aimed at reviewing the five divisions in the state, a development that has caused uproar across the State. As an elder statesman who is well in tune with the creation of the IBILE structure, what is your view about the proposed bill in relation to how the divisional system has been run in recent time?
Asiwaju Basorun: The divisional system is historical. It was designed when the state was still very young, with the aim of getting people together and work together and they did work together. In fact, Ikorodu became a division in 1968 and that coincided with my 30th birthday. I was on the queue to shake hands with Gov. Mobolaji Johnson when he came to Ikorodu. Former Kabiyesi of Igbogbo, Oba Omolaja Ogunlewe, regarded me as one of the elites in Igbogbo at that time and picked me alongside others eminent personalities when they asked him to bring some people along with himself for a meeting with the governor. I was on the queue with the likes of Oba Ladega, the then Oba of Ikorodu.
It was at that event that he (Mobolaji Johnson) announced that henceforth, Ikorodu would be moved from the Ikeja Division and become a division by itself. In 1972, the government promulgated an edict to that effect. The implication of that is that if there had not been any edict, they (members of the House of Assembly) would have sat down in their office and adjusted the Divisional system. That edict is equivalent to the law which they want to amend.
The first headache that they had (the promoters of the bill) was the rejection by the Eti – Osa people of their merger with Ibeju – Lekki and Epe. Even the Kosofe people that they are moving here (to Ikorodu) said that they cannot come and play a second fiddle to Ikorodu and that they are Aworis.Are they not? Starting from Agboyi, Ikosi down to Isheri and you want them to move here. Shomolu people have, however, kept quiet. It was only two days ago (Monday February 15) that I saw that the Badagry people rejected Alimosho from joining them. They all cited history and their working together for several years which they enjoyed, as reasons for their rejection. They don’t want anybody to come and break their existing arrangement. I am also happy that our own people met last Sunday and came up with some resolutions in the same vein, rejecting the proposed review of the existing divisional structure. We heard about it last week and we were told that they have had the first and second reading and that there would be a public hearing on Friday (last Friday) but when I enquired if it would still come up, I was told that it has been cancelled and that made me to know that the thing was having a problem.For now, I think that we should forget about it in the interest of everybody.
THE IMPACT: Sir, there is this issue of boundary crises in Ikorodu, especially between Ikorodu Local Government (LG) and Ijede LCDA, between lkorodu LG and Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, and between Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA and Ijede LCDA. The apex leaders in the division intervened in the matter by constituting a committee which was able to resolve the crises. Can you please shed light on how the issues were handled?
Asiwaju Basorun: We have been on this matter for sometimes but when we heard that the House of Assembly was invited to come into it, we decided against it because they can't know better. We then set up a committee with Asipa (Asipa Kaoli Olusanya) as the chairman and six others as members to look into the matter. The committee did a good job and even the six chairmen signed the report submitted by the committee, which means they are satisfied. However, the details of the report are not good for the public now. All that I know is that the disputes between Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA and Ijede, between Ikorodu LG and Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA and between Ikorodu LG and Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA have been resolved. No more boundary disputes in Ikorodu Division and we are lucky that we have just resolved the matter when the Census people came for enumeration, if not, we would have had problems locating where the disputed areas belonged.
THE IMPACT: Let’s just go into the Census issue,particularly the ongoing area enumeration, how prepared is Ikorodu for this exercise?
Asiwaju Basoirun: We have held a series of meetings with the commissioner in – charge, Mrs Abimbola Salu – Hundeyin, and their officers, particularly one Mr Makinwa. All our Council Chairmen are ready to support them and in fact, we learnt that 170 personnel have been posted to various local governments for the demarcation and enumeration exercise and they are on it right now. Some of the inputs from us have been generated by the six chairmen to help them. Some areas that are thick bush have become towns, we have done a lot of work by identifying those areas and letting them know. Let me take the issue of Agbede for instance, we used to talk of seven Agbedes but now, they are ten. We also used to talk of seven Igbes, we now have 11 in Igbogbo and three in Ijede. All those places have Baales and are communities that are recognized and by the time that they finish their exercise, we will be able to boast that the lkorodu population has increased. The last Census that was held in 2006, it was 525,000 that was recorded but the final count in the gazette after adjustment puts Ikorodu at 527, 000 and that’s what has been and which has been adjusted with percentage increase every year to whatever it is. But as of 2006, the gazetted population of Ikorodu is 527, 000. I believe it should be more than 1.5 million this time.
THE IMPACT: A major issue that you have been pursuing is the full reconstruction of Igbogbo road, what can you say about the state of work on the project because residents have been agitating that the work is going at a slow pace and are also complaining about the failure of the government to pay compensations for their houses that were demolished to create right of way?
Asiwaju Basorun: There are two roads being handled by the contractor (Arab Contractors) in the division – Isawo and Igbogbo roads. The construction company has been slow and we were informed that those who gave them the work are running after them to improve on their performance because the rainy season is approaching. That's not the only issue bothering my mind, the issue of Igbogbo stadium is also so dear to my heart and the history of the stadium is such that, I believe the government will do something about this year.
That stadium was built by the Community Development Committee (CDC) in 1983 and in fact, 17th of February 1983 was the day the match was played on that field (exactly 38 years today). It was a novelty match which late Lateef Jakande watched as the then Governor. Seye Ogunlewe (former Senator and Minister of Works) was the goalkeeper of the side that l played for. It is 38 years today that the first match was played in that stadium that was developed by the CDC. When the Ministry of Sports, headed then by Prince Ademola Adeniji – Adele, knew about it, he took some steps and took over the stadium in 2008/2009 and got the place fenced. The stadium, as it is today, belongs to the Lagos State Government. What we are asking for is its development into a standard stadium which can be used by the people of the division. That is a project that is on my mind every minute.
THE IMPACT: What is your message to the people, regarding the ongoing Area Demarcation ans Enumeration exercise and the main census coming up later?
Asiwaju Basorun: The one for the party (APC membership registration and revalidation) is personal, anybody who is interested should join t APC. But everybody must participate in the enumeration. We should all cooperate 100% with the Census officials when they come so that we can be able to get the exact number of people who are in Ikorodu Division.
THE IMPACT: Thank you very much sir.
Asiwaju Basorun: Thank you.
