If Jonathan were to be in power today, Nigerians would’ve stoned him –Ex-Gov Adebayo

Otunba Niyi Adebayo is a former governor of
Ekiti state and a chieftain of the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC. In this interview
with CHARLES ADEGBITE, he has some harsh
words for former President Goodluck
Jonathan and incumbent governor of Ekiti
state, Ayodele Fayose. Excerpts:
IN the history of Nigeria, you are the first
among the sons of former governors to
become a governor, and the only one among
all sons of regional governors, how do you
feel with this status?
I think that must have been changed now
because I believe Colonel Sani Bello (rtd.) was
once a military governor in the North and his
son is a governor now in Niger State.
Col. Sani Bello (retd) was the military
governor of Kano State between 1975 and
1978 whereas, your father was the military
governor of Western Region between 1966
and 1971. You also became the governor of
Ekiti State between 1999 and 2003 whereas
Bello’s son just became the governor of
Niger State last year?
Okay. I agree with you, because I am the first
among all the sons of former governors. I
found myself in a unique position for
emerging as a governor after my father had
served as a governor. To a large extent, that
ambition was spurred out of the fact that my
father had been a governor previously. I mean,
I was growing up at the time my father was
governor in the West. And that made me feel
that I had to put myself in the position to
provide services to my people. That, to a
large extent led to my interest in politics. I
went for it. and to God be the glory, I emerged
as the first civilian governor of Ekiti State.
Some people said they expected you to be
very arrogant or not as cool-headed and
gentle as you are, because you are the son of
a retired Major General and lawyer. What
actually is the secret behind your calm
nature?
To a large extent, you know that in traditional
Yoruba households, it is the mother that
brings up the children. My mother was, very
active in bringing us up. She had four boys
and she was very, very tough on us. We had a
tough mother and a tough father. And they
trained us well. The fact that we were
privileged did not mean that we were special.
It only meant that we were lucky. We were
brought up not to believe that there was
anything special about us. And we grew up in
the household whereby we couldn’t call the
staff who were older than us by their names.
We were asked to always add the prefix like
Mr. this and Mr. that or Sergeant this and
Sergeant that. We never called them by their
first name because we were brought up to
respect those who are older than us; and to
have feelings for those who are younger than
us. So, to a large extent the way I am is as a
result of my upbringing.
You were 8 years old at the time your father
became the governor of old Western Region
in 1966, what was life like in Government
House at the time. Can you recall your experi­
ence during the Nigerian civil war?
I didn’t actually live in Government House. I
used to spend my holidays in Government
House because I lived in Lagos with my
mother. I used to spend my holidays in
Government House in Ibadan. As a result of
the war situation at the time, what my father
did was that he had a separate quarters, just
outside of the Government House, for us
‑‑which we used as children quarters; so that it
will be isolated from the main government
house. This was because there was always a
fear, especially when there was incursion to
Ore (in present Ondo State).
So there was a fear that there may be an
invasion of Government House. And it had to
do with the Agbekoya crisis. So there was that
fear. For that reason, we were kept in the
quarters just outside the Government House.
But we spent all our days in Government
House and all that. But it was a normal
upbringing. The advantage that we had was
that because government had all sorts of
sporting facilities, tennis court, and all sorts of
things, we were able to enjoy ourselves.
Did you have the fear that history could
repeat itself looking at th