NEW TELEGRAPH
A building engineer and administrator, the late Alhaji Rafiu Adeyefa Jafojo was the first elected deputy governor of Lagos State serving alongside Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande; in this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, his son, Prince Adeniyi Jafojo, talked about the life and times of the late politician. Excerpts:
Your father was a businessman, politician and administrator and a community leader of note amongst the Awori speaking people of Lagos. As a son, what kind of father was the late Alhaji Rafiu Adeyefa Jafojo?
My father was a disciplinarian in his own way and at the same time he loved his kids so much. One thing that was of upmost importance to him was that he wanted all his children to be properly educated. He made a cardinal priority. To him, education was the only legacy that he felt he could bequeath to his children as an asset. He was open to educating his children to the highest point in life.
He was willing to ensure that if we wanted, any of us could aspire to become doctorate degree holders. To accomplish this, he was willing to support any of us financially, morally and in whatever way he deemed necessary.
To his wife, he was also a loving and dutiful husband. He made sure that his wife, I mean my late mum never lacked anything in life. He did his best to cater for the needs of my mother. For me, as an adult today, I will look at him from the point of view that he was very supportive of my late mother too.
You talked about him being a disciplinarian, was your father the type given to smacking his children when they go wrong?
No! His style of meting out discipline to us was somewhat different; I can’t remember anytime that my father raised his hands on any of us, he would ask us to kneel down or stand down.
What was his typical day like?
He was a businessman and I remember when we were young, we knew him as a contractor who travelled to all the nooks and crannies of the country. He did this because he studied building engineering in the United Kingdom. In those days, he would travel outside Lagos for some months to places such as Kano, Katsina and other far places.
He was responsible for building many post offices and other public buildings. Sometimes, we might not see him for a month or two but whenever he was back home, we took advantage of such opportunities to bond with him and extract whatever we wanted to get from him.
He too would use such an opportunity to ask us to tell him whatever we needed. Such occasions also afforded us the opportunity to learn history from him. He was versed in Lagos history, particularly those relating to his Awori speaking people. He used to tell us his political engagements in the UPN and the Action Group under the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
My father was someone who loved people sitting around him to learn things from him. He did that till his old age. He also took us and many other guests through the etiquette of life.
You said your father was a traveller, when did he wake up in the morning and what were the first things he did when he woke up?
By the time my father woke up, we were already preparing to leave the house for school. He would still be sleeping at that time, we only got to see him when we came back from school. By that time, he would be willing to talk to us. He did interact best in the evenings when he came back from many political engagements.
We would stay awake to see when he came back, those were the times when he got heavily involved in partisan politics. We couldn’t wait for the next morning because he would still be sleeping.
What was his typical day like through the period you lived with him from your earliest time to when he became deputy governor of Lagos State and after he left office?
He was just like any other average father who was committed to our collective and individual welfare. As a young boy that time, he did something that I remain grateful to him till date. What he did when he became the deputy governor was to plan his vacation to coincide with when we had our long holiday, so that all of us will go to England for vacation.
Those times provided us with the opportunity to bond with him without any form of inhibition from his security details and protocol officers. We walked the streets of London freely with him, visited malls and shops.
What was his favourite meal?
His favourite meal was Eba.
As a community leader and public figure, people usually came to see him at home, what caliber of people came to see him?
Different kinds of people, everyday people will come, market association women would come. My father was fond of saying that his doors were wide open for people to come to him. He used to say that he never needed to know anyone to attend to you when you came to him. Indeed, many people he never knew came to him and he attended to them. He did this in and out of office.
People seeking one political office or the other came to him too and he supported and offered advice to them where necessary. As an elder statesman, he also helped many people, particularly his Awori people get employment too. He also attended to members of his political caucus called Afenifere Independent Group (AIG).
What did he tell you about his relationship with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo?
The relationship between my father and the late sage that I can remember was that he noticed that the late Papa Awolowo was a responsible and dutiful father and husband and that he tried to emulate the lifestyle of the late sage. He also noticed the passion displayed by the late Papa Awolowo to train his children educationally. One of the things he told me was that Awolowo didn’t know or interact with him before he nominated him to become the deputy to the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande.
He said Papa Awolowo was told of a vibrant Aworiman and the late sage now asked that they should look for him. It wasn’t that he had a personal relationship with the late Papa Awolowo before he was asked to be Alhaji Jakande’s deputy. Another thing Papa Awolowo felt was that Alhaji Jakande needed someone younger to become his deputy for balance it. That was when they came looking for him.
What actually caught the fancy of Papa Awolowo about your father?
He didn’t tell me anything that might have caught his fancy, my father started his political career at the age of 18 in the First Republic. He was in Mushin then. He had always lived politics all his life.
What strikes me now is that when he was a young man and he was active in politics, he never had an opportunity of meeting the late sage but was he familiar with the late Alhaji Jakande?
I don’t think that they knew each other but Papa Awolowo brought the two of them together later in their respective political careers. What I know was that at the time Papa Jakande emerged as the governorship candidate he had another person in mind that he wanted to run with but Papa Awolowo felt that he (Jakande) needed someone much younger with youthful energy to complement him.
He told me that Papa Awolowo told Pa Jakande that ‘you are an old man, if you put another old man with you, what will happen to the youths?’.
Does that suggest that the late Chief Awolowo was actually grooming your father to succeed Alhaji Jakande?
Yes! I think so. I believe that if the military had not taken over the government, my father would have succeeded Alhaji Jakande.
What kind of relationship existed between the two of them, I mean your father and the late Alhaji Jakande?
I believe that they got along so well but you also have to know that in those days, even if they had issues with one another, it was common knowledge as such disputes would have been resolved at the party caucus meetings. In those days, the party was bigger than the government unlike what we have now when the governor or other top government officials are the leaders of the party.
Those days, the party had leaders and those elected into government were in office to implement the policy and programmes of the party. The activities of these government officials were subject to review by the party leaders.
Was that because there was a well structured party system in those days?
I believe so because in those days, like I said, they had a well structured party system. Those in government were given the opportunity to go into government to serve the people. The leaders gave instructions and directives to those in government.
Did your father habour any form of regrets serving in the same government with late Alhaji Jakande?
I don’t think so. He told me that he had a wonderful relationship with his boss. The two of them retained that kind of wonderful relationship till the two of them died. I will say that the two of them got along so well. It is even to their credit that the two families are still bonded together till date. That alone speaks volumes.
It is on record that their government made positive strides and recorded landmark achievements, did your father express any kind of regrets with regards to failure of any policy programmes while in office?
No! He never expressed such frustrations to me or any of us. If anything, my father was very happy to have served in that government. One of the areas that he was so proud of was the establishment of the Lagos State University. He said they were sad that the state never had a university of its own and they decided to establish one and LASU came into being. He said, he felt fulfilled that happened during the time of their government.
Where was your father the day the military struck in December, 1983?
We were in our house in Ikoyi and he went out that day but as he was returning home in his Volkswagen Beetle car, he came across numerous check points mounted by soldiers and he knew something terrible had happened. He returned home to tell us that the military had taken over and urged us to remain calm and as time went on, the soldiers began to arrest top civilian leaders.
Was he arrested?
Yes! He was arrested. It wasn’t just him; they picked up all government officials in the state.
For how long was he detained?
I think he was detained for a week.
Did he share his experience in detention with you?
It wasn’t a detention in the real sense of it, it was more of a house arrest of some sorts. There was this particular house where they put them. He said the soldiers were kind and nice to them. He said they just asked them questions after which they released all of them.
Did he regret the military takeover of the government in 1983?
Maybe, because he had the ambition of taking over from his boss after he (Jakande) had spent his eight years of two two terms of office. I think that Baba Awolowo had promised that he would take over from Alhaji Jakande.
THIS INTERVIEW FIRST APPEARED IN NEW TELEGRAPH
