Would you say that your early life contributed to your personality today?
Yes, I believe so. I had a very good family life as a child. I was born into the average Nigerian family at that time, in the sense that my parents at the time I was born were not flamboyantly rich but were comfortable. They would at that time be ranked as the rich folks wherever they were in their location. We were brought up under a strict condition. Parents in those days believed that female children ought to be brought up in a particular, special way because they were groomed to be good mothers, good wives and must have good education. In order to achieve that, parents were stricter on the female children than the male children.
So I will say that I am from a closely-knit family of many children. My mother had eight children; also strangely enough, even though they were members of the Baptist Church, they insisted that we were brought up as Catholics. They also insisted that we became good Catholics. We attended Catholic schools. We participated in every aspect of the Catholic Church that every good Catholic would participate in.
I grew up well; my mother died at the age of 85 and my father died at the age of 103 and they were still married. They were actually married for over 60 years. They were sitting together when she had what later was found to be signs of heart attack. They took her away and she died few weeks later.
Did you grow up in Lagos?
No, I did not grow up in Lagos, I am what I refer to as a provincial girl. I grew up in Warri. I went to school in Warri and Asaba. My father was a timber merchant in Warri but had his business practically almost everywhere there was a beach, where his timber logs could be delivered to him. My mother was settled in Sapele and then Warri. My father would say we lived in Warri but we also went to those other places to work and come back.
Who influenced you most?
I think I have a bit of both. They were both focused and meticulous. My mother was not educated but some of the things she did were amazing; she was elegant, a designer and importer of textile. She was quite wealthy. My mother built her first house at age 20. That is to show you how focused she was. She was vividly a strict person. My father on the hand was calm, cool and paid a lot of attention to details. Though looking back now, one would wonder how he was able to make wealth because he never struggled for anything, rather he focused on only what he wanted and did it well. To that extent, I think I picked one or two traits from them because I tend to hold everything I do with a lot of seriousness and focus.
When it was time to go to the university, what determined the course that you chose?
I have always known that I would want to be an advocate of one thing or the other. But at that time, I did not know, whether it would be political, legal or the media, I did not know. But when I finished my HSC, my father wanted me to become a lawyer. But I realised that wasn’t the place for me. I realised that inside me was a natural media person and I had a desire to develop those skills. Therefore I decided to go into journalism and mass communication.
Was that what you studied?
I studied Journalism and Mass Communication in Ireland. When I finished my Bachelor of Arts degree, I then went to the London College of Journalism where I decided to specialise and did a Higher Diploma in Newspaper Journalism.
From there, where did you work?
When I left London and came here, the day I actually arrived, I flew in to NTA Benin. Three weeks after my result came out, I was back to Nigeria. For some funny reasons, I was not like most of my colleagues who waited behind to buy things to bring into Nigeria, that didn’t interest me. Some wanted to buy cars, clothes and jewellery, but for me I had finished the bargain I had with my parents which was to go there and do what I had to do. I was done and so I returned.
As a matter of fact, I used to come to Nigeria every year, and the previous year, I was in Nigeria, I had already sealed a job with NTA Benin. So as soon as I arrived, it was straight to NTA Benin. I left my two pieces of luggage at the reception, and I started work. In the evening, I took my luggage to my brother’s place because he was living in Benin at that particular time. I was in NTA for about a year and few months.
What were you doing at NTA?
When I was in NTA, I was handling all the main interview programmes of the station. I was in the News and Current Affairs Department. I produced Guest of the Week, The Debate and Matters of the Moment. These were the three current affairs programmes of the station, apart from the news. I thought I would start with the newspaper, but fate led me to television. I thought I would be in television, then continue to contribute somehow in any of the newspapers.
How did it turn out?
It turned out that while I was at NTA handling those programmes and also presenting them, things changed. Before I got there, they were being presented by the Manager News and Current Affairs, Tony Iredia. He did it for so long alone. After six months of my arrival, he dumped one of the programmes, Guest of Week, on me. He simply told me to go and present it, that after all, if I can produce the programme, that I might as well be able to present it. I owe it to him for being a good boss. Most bosses will not do that. He told me he was going home, that if I liked, I should present it, and if I didn’t like it, I could leave it. But that he was going home. So I presented the programme. But afterwards, I found out that he did not go home, he actually went to the master control room and directed the programme. When he came out, saw me, he told me to clap for myself. That was it, that was how I continued to present the programmes.
So, how did you join the Unity Party of Nigeria?
I will never forget Prof. Uche Uche; he was a professor at the University of Benin, an activist who interacted with NTA a lot. He was one of the reservoir that we had back then, who we used to fall back on for views on current affairs. When the job of Senior Publicity Secretary job arose in the Unity Party of Nigeria, he informed me about it and told me that it would be good for me. Anyway, there weren’t women in any of the political parties in such high ranking executive level. He urged me on.
I applied and luckily I got the job. My interview was led by Chief MCK Ajuluchukwu, who was a giant in the media, one who I could only dream then that one day I would be opportune to meet. To have him on the panel that interviewed me was a great privilege.
Which came first, your appointment with UPN or your meeting with Chief Obafemi Awolowo?
Before that interview, I had actually interviewed and produced all the presidential candidates that we had then, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Alhaji. Waziri Ibrahim, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.
How did you meet?
During the presidential programme, I was particularly impressed by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. It was actually in my quest to be particularly critical during the presidential interview, that I ended up being a convert! I dared to ask him every question that people would have loved to ask, he noticed me. I told him point blank that we heard that he was a tribalist;… I asked him why he agitated for derivation when the West was producing Cocoa and why he was agitating for something else. There was no issue under the sun that I did not touch on. When Nosa Igiebor saw me writing those questions, he asked what was wrong with me. He exclaimed, ‘why are you putting up all these questions?’ And all I could reply was, ‘let him answer them.’
Then, for each of the presidential candidates that came on the programme, the advance party usually arrived earlier and when they came, they usually asked for the questions ahead of time to vet them. But not Chief Obafemi Awolowo! I even offered the questions to the advance party because the interview was to be a live programme. But they declined to look at them. And when Chief Obafemi Awolowo came, I asked if he would like to see the questions before the programme went on air, he replied that it wouldn’t be necessary. I was baffled.
So we were on live and Tony Iredia did that particular interview and Chief Awolowo answered all the questions so well that at the end of the programme, I told him that he was a wonderful man. He asked if I was the producer of the programme and I replied in the positive. His replied was, ‘you are a bright girl.’ That was before I applied for the job.
So you eventually got employed with Unity Party of Nigeria.
Yes, as Senior Publicity Officer. But by the time that I left, I was Assistant Director of Publicity under Chief MCK Ajuluchukwu.
What were your duties then at the party?
I was responsible for the political campaign of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I was also responsible for research. So along with Chief Ajuluchukwu, we did all the research for the party, the publicity campaigns and media releases. We were also there to reply to every propaganda that came up. I was actually with him on every trip; I was in charge of the media. We were on the campaign for 44 days and nights. It afforded me the opportunity of being in places that other people can only read about.
You were a young lady, fresh from school in London, and here you were jumping into the political arena, and not into marriage. Didn’t marriage occur to you at that point?
No, that didn’t; my profession was more on my mind. Prior to that, when I was in school in Ireland, I was the President of the Nigerian Union in Ireland. Young as I was, at the age of 20, my Vice President, was a PhD holder.
Where did activism come from?
Really I don’t know, I guess I was born with it. For me I had a dream. I had a picture of what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be.
What was the campaign like then, can you compare it with the country’s recent experience?
The campaign then was hectic. As said by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the electioneering campaign was a contract between the candidate and the electorate. You sell to the electorate what you will do. And when you tell them that this is what you will do, it becomes a contract signed when you win. And therefore it is important to go to every village, every hamlet to let the people see you so that you tell them exactly what you want to do. If they accept what you have sold to them and vote you in, then you are duty bound to do what you promised.
That is why when I read in the papers that members of the Senate stood up to give a vote of confidence to the Senate President Senator Bukola Saraki then I feel oblige to remind them that Nigerians voted for change and that Nigerians are yearning for change. And if they in anyway want to stop the wave of change that Nigerians are calling for, then it is likely that Nigerians will rise up against them and tell them that
nobody can be an impediment to what the people want. Power belongs to the people and not to the senators. We sent them there to be senators; so power belongs to the people.
After UPN, where did you move to?
I went to set up an advertising company. My erstwhile boss, Chief Ajuluchukwu, had gone to work with the Concord and thought that it would be a good idea to join him. But while at UPN, I wrote and published my first book, which was actually launched by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I even though that I should go to work in a newspaper or even on television. However, after working for Chief Obafemi Awolowo for five years, I was so well groomed that my ideologies were so well grounded that it would have impossible for me to go and work where I will take the angle of the proprietors of the newspaper or television.
What did you call your advertising company?
I called it Mahogany Limited and then ;later, founded the Hallmark of Labour Foundation.
What is the foundation about?
Hallmarks of Labour Foundation was set up in 1996 to identify Nigerians who have achieved success through hard work, honesty and integrity in their fields of endeavour to project these great Nigerians as role models of rewarding and fulfilling honest labour, to promote positive attitudes among the youths in particular; encouraging them to reject fraud, greed and impropriety as means to success.
Why did you start the foundation?
I started the foundation when the political activities in the country were at their lowest ebb. That was a period when people said Nigeria was bad. Drug peddlers took over; whenever one travelled outside the country, you were stripped naked. Almost no one was exempted; every Nigerian was a suspect. I thought there were lots of Nigerians at that time who could match their counterparts all over the world. Hallmark of Foundation was therefore set up to identify those Nigerians who by dint of handwork and moral uprightness had done Nigeria proud, to put them on centre stage and tell their stories all over again so that the younger generation will get to know them and celebrate them.
I also thought that if we do not do that, then how will we be able to convince a child who saw his parent’s houseboy of yesterday suddenly become a multi-millionaire without going to school or doing any notable work, that being diligent is worthwhile? So we have to show our children that there are proper ways of achieving lasting success and respect in the society. It is important to show our children that we have people in this country who we can emulate and who can hold their own and gain respect all around the world. So we try to say if you are a lawyer, then try and be like Justice Oputa, Hon. Justice Kayode Eso, or Hon. Justice Obaseki or any other of our role models.
What can you say about the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his recently departed late wife?
Our present President Muhammadu Buhari actually reminds me of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They are similar. For instance, Awolowo wanted to be that man that changed the course of Nigeria for the better. We lost him, we have missed him, but today in Nigeria, his replica is Mohammadu Buhari; they have the same trait, Awolowo wasn’t a rich man. Those of us who know he wasn’t will tell you so. Buhari is the other person in Nigeria today that has the same vision as Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Then, Baba Awolowo’s wife, HID, was a woman par excellence. When her husband went abroad to study, he had little fund. She stayed behind and in addition to taking care of the children, she was sending money to her husband abroad. Whenever Chief Awolowo went to bathe, when he came out, the clothe he found on his bed was what he would wear. Mama used to lay it there for him. She was in control of the home front. She tended her husband. She lived and worked for her husband. Women should emulate her. When her death was announced, it occurred to me that a strange thing happened. Awolowo’s last outing was the coronation of the Olu of Warri; he died afterwards. Also the day that Olu of Warri died and his successor was publicly presented, HID departed. It is strange.
What is your fashion sense?
I am not much of a lover of fashion but I believe in proper dressing. If I am going for a wedding, I love to wear buba and iro or Itsekiri traditional dressing. If it is an evening outing, I dress to fit in. I am a classic kind of person. Which means that I dress not be to offensive. I am not someone who wants to walk into somewhere and want people there to remember me for what I wore. But if being well dressed and being proper in dressing makes you remember me, that is okay with me. I will not advise a lady to wear a dress meant for nite club to a church or vice versa. There should be moderation in what we wear.
What fashion accessory do you not do without?
My earrings, I wear my wedding ring and I wear my bangles.
What makes your style stand out?
(Laughs) I don’t know if my style stands out but I am usually proper in outlook.
How about holidays?
I work very hard, so once every year, I take off with my husband and go for a cruise, rest, switch off my phone for two weeks before returning to hard work again. I usually choose a different part of the world, and go there.
Your most memorable holiday so far?
That should be when we went to Jerusalem on pilgrimage.
You studied abroad, but did it occur to you then that you could marry a white man?
(Laughs) Actually, my husband looks like an half caste, but he is a Nigeria, an Itsekiri by birth. When I was coming back, marriage was not on my mind, but I knew that when it was time for it, that I would get my man.
When your man came, was it love at first sight?
It was love at first sight, but we are from the same place. We grew up in the same place. Our families were very close.
Many years after, how has the marriage been?
It has been very wonderful, it has been blessed; we are grateful to God, I have had the good fortune to be married to such a good man. My mother married my mom till the end, we do not have cases of divorce in my family. It is not an option for us. I believe that God has made my marriage to last forever because my husband is a good man.
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