Alhaja (Chief) Mrs Abosede Adedibu (Yeyeluwa) is a reporter’s delight anytime, anyday. She is always at home with people. She keeps what she calls ‘an open home’, just like her late husband, Alhaji Lamidi Ariyibi Adedibu. There is no time you visit her that people are not surrounding her.
In this chat conducted by the trio of OLAYINKA AGBOOLA, WOLE ADEJUMO and KUNLE GAZALI, Yeyeluwa speaks about her secret pains, aspirations, expectations and why she may remarry…
It has been 11 years since your husband, the Strongman of Ibadan politics, High Chief Lamidi Ariyibi passed on. How have you been coping?
I thank God for everything. Alhamudullilahrobil al amin, God has been with us, He is with us and so I cannot describe life after Baba because God is greater than anyone and the whole family can bear witness that God has been merciful to us. As a person, I can say I am at the centre, I am a beneficiary of God’s mercy.
Usually when a notable person dies, there is usually a gang up in the family and feuds soon follow after, especially when it comes to sharing of properties. Did you see any signs of such after Baba Adedibu died?
Nothing like that ever happened because God helped Baba Adedibu to put his house in order. There has never been any rancour since he died.
And the other wives didn’t make trouble or the baby mamas?
Which wives? I am the wife. The senior wives, my Iyales have passed on. Baby mama? No, no, Alhaji never had a child outside. He is not that kind of person. When I say he doesn’t have a child outside, I know what I am saying. He was a godly man. He did not hide his feelings; if he does something by mistake, he will come to you and say ‘I did something; it is not that I am satisfied with it but God has said that is how it would turn out’. And when he comes to you and begs you in God’s name, if you are not a devilish person, you won’t have a choice than to accept.
If he gives you something, he can say it is God that sent him. He never attributed anything to himself. He would say it is God that said he should do it that way. So that kind of person cannot do something hidden.
In the last 11 years there would be times that you would have loved to discuss with him or seek his advice, how have you been able to manage or cope at such times?
My brother, a corpse of three years is no longer a stranger to the grave. You said 11 years; those times have passed. Such things would happen but when you have God, you will cope. And God has also given me good people who have stood by me.
We will all die someday, may God give us long life. Baba Adedibu didn’t die young and people remember him because of the impact he made in their lives. That was why we didn’t want him to die. So many people lived longer than he did and no one remembers them. When we remember him, we thank God because of the way he died. Even his enemies would pray to die like he did, because his detractors would have wanted him to die in a violent manner. But God showed the world that while humans look at the face, He considers the heart.
Being the closest person to Baba, how do you think he would have felt if he had witnessed the PDP’s victory at the last gubernatorial election in Oyo State?
He would have felt the way he usually felt whenever he recorded any form of success. He neither dances nor rejoices; he gives thanks. He would be saying ‘we owe God a debt of gratitude’ if he had witnessed this. And he would thank everyone that contributed; if he sees you journalists, he would thank you because he knew you had a good relationship with him.
You were at the forefront of Governor Seyi Makinde’s campaign, some even see you as his godmother; how did your relationship with him start?
In politics, you cannot say this is where your relationship with someone started. I remember that we were not in the same camp. And when we were going to start, some people came to me to ask me to support Seyi Makinde. It wasn’t that I didn’t know him but we were not just working together because we were in different parties. And when he joined our party, Senator Kamoru Adedibu, he and Baba Adedibu were in a meeting where Baba asked him run for a seat in the House of Representatives, but he felt he was bigger than House of Reps then. He contested for Senate then and lost.
And when God said we will work together, you know as politicians, you will meet somehow. They approached us and I noticed he is a calm person who listens and is approachable. And God put His blessing on all we did; I can tell you that Governor Seyi Makinde knows that a difference came when the current members of his team joined him.
In specific terms, what role did you play in his emergence as the Governor?
I cannot not adequately quantify the role because it is not a small thing to go about campaigning moreover, I was not the only one. There were many women in the campaign team but I can say I was one of the most prominent during that campaign and we were moving from one town to the other. The system we adopted for the campaign was different from the one we had been using before. So the role is a big one with other members of the team.
And you know there was a difference in it because we were campaigning against the incumbent governor. So whenever we set out, it was with fasting and prayer. We would pray that God would not allow them to attack us. If we say we have security, God is greater than the best security officer, what if the security agents we are relying on become the first targets? So we thank God for keeping us safe and being our sure security.
So the role I played was approved by God.
What should the people of Oyo State expect from this government?
We should expect everything good. Governor Ajimobi has done his best and he has left. The people that wanted Seyi Makinde to become Governor know that he will do well. That was why they insisted on having him. You know nobody can do it all, those places that Governor Ajimobi did not finish, the people already know those places, we will pick from there. The education sector is important and in his inauguration speech, he abolished payment of school fees. You know that was a good step. Agricuture too – once hunger is taken care of, poverty will be eradicated. He will work on housing so that it is not only the rich that will have roofs over their heads. In our party, we don’t joke with the issue of housing. A Level 10 officer should be able to have his or her own house.
I know he will try his best in the health sector too, and by the grace of God, in this PDP government, our Doctors will stay and work in Nigeria. You know many people left Nigeria after the PDP left power. We will try and ensure that Doctors in Adeoyo do not run abroad because we need them.
If we look at it critically, many of those Baba helped in his lifetime, many of them no longer visit the family. How does this make you feel?
One would feel bad but there is nothing anyone can do about it. We thank God because in 11 years, God has helped us to overcome that difficulty. It was really painful initially but as the years rolled by, the pain subsided. Those who felt they did well, God has showed them and those who did the opposite to. You know it is written that everyone would be rewarded according to his work.
The Governor recently named people as members of the state government’s Advisory Council, people felt that you should have been a member of the council, especially with regards to the role you played during the electioneering campaign. Are you envisaging another appointment?
My dear brothers, may God not let me be someone that will become a Commissioner. May retrogression not be my lot; when it is not that I don’t have children that are well educated. And talking about envisaging or anticipating an appointment, Governor Makinde himself cannot think I will become a Commissioner or SSG. If he says I should nominate someone, it is fine by me.
And talking about the Advisory Council, the Governor that appointed them knows why he did so. He knows what he wants them to do. He is not an ingrate; he knows where he wants to put certain people. He may be thinking the position is far below my status, do you understand? He knows what befits an elderly person. He is not an ingrate. After all, he knows we have followers and when you look at the membership of the council, you will see that it cuts across. Apart from Honourable Mulikat Adeola, Baba Adetoro and Senator Agboola the Chairman, you will see that the other members came from other parties.
This is a basic question many people have been hopeful you will provide an answer to- how do you survive?
Allah! If I say this is how I have been doing it, I may not be telling you the truth.
What is the nature of your job?
I don’t have a job. (General laughter).I don’t have a job but I have a job.
Please shed light ma.
It is not everything that one needs to explain to you journalists. I have told you that I don’t have a job but I also have.
Is it that Baba left some companies or businesses that you are running?
I am glad you all know Baba, at least you are all his children. He didn’t have any privacy. Many people believed Baba didn’t have a job but no one was more hardworking than him. He would read newspapers every morning and he would see tenders there to bid for. And it was sure that he would win any tender he placed a bid for; because of his connection. What if that is what I do too?
How do you run your typical day?
I am just a normal person. If I am not at work and I am not traveling, because I have an office on Ring Road. My office is in Bosem House but if I don’t have anything important to do, I won’t go there. I will stay at home and pray.
I run most of my businesses from home, thank God for technology. Almost everything you need to do can be operated from mobile devices. So I pray, attend to people, do my business over the phone, politics, if I have meetings, I go and if I don’t have meetings, I stay in my house. If I have parties, I go. I enjoy going to parties. So, I do what will make me happy.
And I have people around me so, those are the things I do. And I don’t joke with my prayers, five times a day.
Talking about being happy, it went viral over the internet that you were ready to remarry. Who is the lucky man?
(Laughs) When you got here, where did you meet me? In my house, isn’t it? If I had remarried, would the man allow me to be living somewhere while he lives in another place? You as a man, can you accept that?
It depends on the level of understanding ma.
There is no understanding that will make a man accept such. One gets married for a purpose, if I want to remarry now, I cannot go and marry a young person.
You mean you can’t marry a younger man?
Well, you know everybody has her own system of doing things. Maybe people think I am young; I am well over 60.
But you still look good.
But will my children be looking at me and I will leave their father’s house for another man’s place? Those who spread the rumour know why they did and it didn’t work for them. God said whatever the eyes do not see, the mouth should not sayit. My lawyers rose and said they wanted to institute legal action. I asked them why. I asked if anyone had come to look for me at home and did not meet me. In fact when that rumour started, I was abroad to see my children and enjoy myself. Although age doesn’t matter but I have my integrity, which I have to protect. My children are married, if I want to remarry, yes, I can but what for? What would the person give me? If I am saying I am living my life to be happy, that is deep inside me.
So, no plans to remarry?
Never.
At over 60, you still look good. What is the secret?
It is God, nothing more. I do my exercises, I won’t eat what they said I should not eat, and I am not nursing any ailment. And my compound is big enough for me to do exercise. But if my children say I should remarry, I will. Maybe when they are all done with childbearing and they no longer bring their babies to me.
But somebody that will get married later will have a boyfriend on standby
(Cuts in) there is nothing bad in that one, or is there anything bad? If I wish to have, I will.
Do you have now?
If I wish to have, I will. But right now, I don’t have.
Politicking has changed into governance now, what is your idea of responsible governance?
I will describe responsible governance as a government that promises that this is what I will do and sticks by it and does it. That is what Yorubas will call ijoba omoluabi (a responsible government). That is a government that will not disappoint the people, a government that will fulfill its campaign promises.
Since 1999, which administration would you rate best, by your own assessment?
The truth is that no administration can do it all. Each one will do its best. You know I have been an insider in government since that 1999 before some people took over for eight years. I will never say an administration did not do well. If I say someone didn’t do well, those who were part of that administration will not say the same thing. We will start to attack ourselves and we don’t need that.
We have to be focused; we should face what we want to do. Ajimobi has done his bit and he has gone, we too should do ours. If we do well, the four-year mandate we were given can be extended to eight years. We don’t need to criticize anybody; we should focus on what we have come to do. Although, what someone achieved in eight years, it is not easy for another to come and achieve it in four years.
Government is a continuum and we will try our best and I know that by God’s grace, the people of Oyo State will not hesitate to give us eight years because Engineer Oluseyi Makinde is a man of his words. We also need to remember that he is a human being, he is capable of making mistakes, and he is not an angel. But I know the mistakes will not be as many as the good he will do.
Our readers will love to know how the family has fared since Baba passed on. Some of the children were in school then, some had just graduated, so how have things been going in the last 11 years?
Funny enough, my children were the only ones in school then, one had just graduated. We coped. And by God’s grace, we are still coping.
