She gracefully welcomes you to her Ikoyi home with warmth. Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele was Deputy to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu between May 1999 and November, 2003. Still looking radiant and sassy, you are surprised she will turn an octogenarian in a couple of days. Talking to Effects, she responded to questions calmly and tells you about her birthday wishes, Lagos of her dream, her period as deputy governor of Lagos state among others.
You will clock 80 years April 30. How has it been?
I have to thank God for my life. I have had a very good life so far. I think God has blessed me abundantly more than I could ever expect.
You still look agile and beautiful, what is the secret?
I think it’s the grace of God. There’s is no secret. I do make sure that I have a balanced diet and I exercise. I think one has to keep on moving especially as you get older because if you don’t keep on moving, you find that you can’t move.
The first day I spoke with you on phone, your voice echoes like a broadcaster’s, have you any broadcast experience?
(Smiles) I worked for Voice of Nigeria. Also, I used to broadcast for BBC in London. I left broadcasting to go into advertising and started lots of businesses. Then after that, I went into politics.
Who talked you into politics?
My family background is political. The Egbe Omo Oduduwa was formed in my father’s house in London. He was the first president of the organization.
What is your father’s name?
Dr. John Oni Akerele. My father always encouraged me because he felt that women should take more part in politics and be more active not only in social but economic and political life in Nigeria. So, he encouraged me to go into politics.
Where did you grow up in Nigeria?
I started off in Lagos. I was sent abroad for my secondary education after which I read law and journalism, then I came back to Nigeria in 1963.
I’m sure you lived in Lagos, how was the city then?
Of course, I lived in Lagos. I’m one of the few real Lagosians. Life then in Lagos was really very nice. People knew each other. Lagos family knew each other. It was very sociable, safe, you could go anywhere at that time without fear. Even at night, I remember when I came back in 1963, we used to go to parties in Ibadan, drive there, till 11pm and come back to Lagos. It was a different kind way of life altogether. Things have completely changed now.
What would you say is the Lagos of your dream?
The Lagos of my dream is a Lagos where the social services will be up to international standards because Lagos is an international state and the city of Lagos itself is an international city. I want to see a Lagos where the roads are not full of potholes. I want to see a Lagos where the schools are properly equipped, where the teachers are properly trained so that they can teach the children. I want to see Lagos where there is free medical for everybody so that when they are sick there will be free medical treatment. So many people are dying because they cannot afford medical treatments. I want a Lagos, which is safe like the old Lagos. I want to see a Lagos where there is decent housing for the masses. These are the things I would like to see in Lagos.
And the Nigeria of your dream is what?
Well, I think Lagos is a miniature Nigeria. So, I would like the rest of Nigeria to be like the Lagos of my dreams. The place where to stay, where people can move around, where they can go around their business, where the children can go to school and feel safe and not fear of being kidnapped. I want to see a Nigeria where people can travel from one part of the country to the other in safety. I want to see a Nigeria where there is abundance of food where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy instead of oil. A place where people are decently housed, decently clothed and where people have enough to eat. We are told that Nigeria is one of the countries where people are starving. How can people be starving in a country like Nigeria when the climate is friendly to almost every kind of food and yet people are starving.
Years back, you were the deputy governor to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos state, but later you fell apart, do you want to talk about that?
Well, I can talk about it. It was quite simple. Tinubu wanted to take over the party and I feel that I could not follow him in that scheme and that is why we fell apart.
But so many people felt you were the iron lady, Margaret Thatcher in that regime, you didn’t succumb or take orders from your boss and that was what caused the problem.
No, that was all propaganda on their part because there was nothing he asked me to do that was official that I did not do. It was all propaganda because once I had decided that I was not going to accompany him in his task of taking over the party, then I became an enemy that must be gotten rid of. Because he only wanted people who could follow him in whatever he wanted to do and I felt he was wrong. The party was formed before he came back from exile. Contrary to what he wanted, I insisted that the elderly people who had struggled in the country during the NADECO days and formed the party should be allowed to continue directing the affairs of the party and we should face governance.
But most people believe Tinubu is the best that has ever happened to the SouthWest as a politician. Do you agree?
I don’t know what he’s done for the SouthWest because I don’t see any improvement in the southwest and I don’t think he’s the one who has been running the SouthWest. Let us look at the SouthWest region. What has he done (Tinubu) to enhance the lives of the people in the SouthWest? I think his party, APC has impoverished the people in the SouthWest. The main thing was, when I refused to join him, he eventually managed to split the AD, which is the party, the platform on which we came into office. He managed to split the party and of course, in protest most of us moved out of that party and he then formed the AC, then the ACN and now the APC.
How is the relationship between the two of you now?
I don’t have any relationship with him whatsoever.
What if you meet in a gathering?
If we meet in a gathering and he greets me I will greet him.
What are your wishes at 80?
God has really been very good to me and I cannot complain. My wish is that I complete the things, which I want to do. Firstly, the priests accommodation I’m building on my plot of land in Badagry. I pray that I may be able to complete that in my lifetime. I hope that I will be able to get my NGO going, which is to assist physically challenged brothers and sisters. We call it KOBA at the moment , which is an acronym of my names. Kofo Bucknor Akerele foundation. I’m starting a program which I hope I will start providing wheel chairs for those who are unable to walk because I get very upset when I see people crawling on their bellies in the streets when they should be on a wheel chair.
That’s a lofty project, how are you going to finance that?
I will put my finance and I will solicit finance from people of goodwill.
What about the priests’ house?
Yes, for my priests. I’m a catholic. I’m building a place for their retirement.
What has life taught you as a person?
Don’t always rely on your fellow human beings. That if you believe and rely and put your faith in God, you always breakthrough.
Learnt you married a northerner, back then, how did you cope with parental consent?
My parents, of course didn’t accept it at first. When they get to know him they accepted him because of his personality.
What advice would you give people going into inter-cultural marriage?
Well, if you love somebody, why not? It’s a question of loving each other and understanding each other. I think it should be encouraged. That way our country will become united when we get family of both aisle, so to speak.