\u2022Details\nOf The New Book On His Life Revealed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These\nare good times for former Oyo Governor, Chief Abiola Ajimobi who has now become\nthe Deputy National Chairman of the APC. He is one of the new APC national\nleaders and he is expected to bring to bear on his new role, all his years of\nexperience in Politics. Back in Ibadan, \nOyo State, his base where he is a political godfather, the news of\nAjimobi\u2019s new role has been well received, because all his supporters have been\neager to see their boss take on a new role within the party since he left\noffice to Engr. Seyi Makinde, who is from the opposing party, the PDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nhad hoped to become a Senator, but his attempt to be a Senator didn\u2019t work out\nas he lost. But right now he has bounced back. Not only is he now in total\ncontrol of the party in Oyo State, he now has a say at the National level on\nall the decisions taken at the national level concerning Oyo State. He will\nhave to approve all the major party decisions as the most senior party\nchieftain at the centre. Those close to him say he has learnt a lot from all\nthat happened during the last elections, especially how some of those he\ndepended on disappointed him and worked against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regrettably,\nafter he lost the senatorial elections some key members of the party assumed\nAjimobi had lost out totally, as he took a low profile. Now, he is back and all\nthose who betrayed him are scared and afraid that Ajimobis coming back to power\nmay spell doom for them, politically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\nwill further help him are the lessons he has learnt in politics. Let\u2019s tell you\na bit about his life as a thorough Ibadan man. Many don\u2019t know he is an Ibadan\nman to the core. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nis a new book titled ABIOLA AJIMOBI: Architect & Built of Modern Oyo State\nwhich reveals a lot about his Life and Politics. The book reveals how he was\nborn at the popular Oja Oba, in Ibadan, on 16 December 1949 to Ganiyu and\nSikiratu Ajimobi. He is the first of 23 children. His father was a Tailor and\nlater a Politician. He married 5 wives. Extremely neat and fashion conscious,\nhis dad made clothes for Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Ladoke Akintola and other\nnotable men in Ibadan. He was essentially a man of modest means. In the First\nRepublic, the father was an active member of the National Council of Nigerian\nCitizens (NCNC) led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe while his brother from the same\nmother, Lasisi Adeyemi, alias Okoro, was in Action Group (AG) led by Chief\nObafemi Awolowo. Uncle Lasisi became a Minister of Works and Housing and the\nfirst Parliamentary Secretary in the Western Region. It was when his brother\ndied that Pa Ganiyu moved over to the Action Group, not just as a tribute to\nhis brother but because he was then convinced of the ideas and ideals that AG\nespoused. He was a very loyal member of the party, respected by Chief Awolowo\nand trusted by Chief Bola Ige. He won his House of Assembly election in the\nSecond Republic under the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ajimobi\nattended St. Patrick\u2019s School, Abebi, Seventh-Day Adventist Primary School, Oke\nBola, and he finished off at Ibadan City Council Primary School, in Aperin. He\nexcelled in academics and sports, playing lawn tennis, table tennis and\nfootball. He was also an excellent sprinter. But his favourite was football.\nBecause of his dexterity as a player, he was nicknamed Super Galanata, Orisco and \nArchipelago. This grass-root popularity automatically turned him into a\nleader of his age-mates. He was one of the neatest and stylish in his set. He\nplayed all the rascally pranks like other kids of his time. Some of these\npranks are recounted in this book. During one of Id-el-Kabir seasons, for\ninstance, he and Tajudeen, his cousin, set up two of the family rams for\nfights. One of the rams died but the fathers simply forgave the two rascally\nboys in the spirit of the festival. He attended Quranic School briefly at this\ntime. He then moved to Oke Padre to live with his aunt, Wulemat Ayilara when\nUncle Lasisi, the Minister with whom he was living, died. Silifat, the only\ndaughter of his aunt, would later marry Alhaji Kola Animasaun, the veteran\njournalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At\nLagelu Grammar School to which he had gained admission in 1962, he quickly made\na lot of friends. One of his favourite teachers in the school was late Lam\nAdesina who taught History, English and Literature. The man was to later play a\nsignificant role in Abiola Ajimobi\u2019s political career. At Lagelu Grammar\nSchool, he excelled in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and other\nsubjects, even as he blossomed in sports. He was also a powerful debater and a\nvery good actor. Indeed, he played Romeo in William Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and\nJuliet. He was one of the prefects of the school. Extremely popular in Lagelu\nGrammar School, and this popularity spread like wildfire to Yejide Girls High\nSchool, St Anne\u2019s and Queen\u2019s College, because he knew how to be nice to women.\nYet he took his studies seriously, making Grade 2 in his West Africa School\nCertificate Examinations after which he worked for three years at the Lagos\nMunicipal Transport Service before he proceeded in 1970 to the State University\nof New York at Buffalo, Upstate New York, where he studied Business\nAdministration and Finance. Professor Adebayo Adedeji, who later became\nUnder-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the UN\nEconomic Commission for Africa from 1975 to 1991, was one of his professors in\nthe university. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam\nOmatseye in this new book describes with\nempathy the difficulties that the 20 year old Abiola Ajimobi experienced as he\ntried to settle down in the US. Since he was not on scholarship and had no rich\nparents to pay the expensive tuition fees of the university, to pay for\naccommodation, feeding and other essentials, he had to work multiple jobs to\nmake the money. At a point, he worked in the mortuary, washing dead bodies\nbecause it was very lucrative to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nwas very determined to succeed. He finished his studies in 1974, and shortly\ngot a job at Equitable Life Assurance in Buffalo. The following year, after\npassing state examinations, he became the first certified Nigerian Insurance\nunderwriter in that city. It was after his master\u2019s degree in 1976 at the\nGovernor\u2019s State University in Chicago that he returned to Nigeria. Now in\nNigeria, armed with his certificates, it did not take him a long time before he\ngot a job with Elm consulting firm as a Consultant and then another job as the\nFinance and Administrative Manager at Modular, a company owned by Architect\nLayi Balogun. After 6 months in Modular, he moved to Nestle as Operations\nController. In 1979\/80, National Oil, which was then 40 per cent Shell and 60\nper cent Nigerian, was expanding its Credit Department and the future governor\nwas head-hunted by the then General Manager, Mr Moshood Akanbi. In two years,\nhe rose rapidly from Credit Manager to Consumer and Product Manager. Abiola,\nthe boisterous, highly fashionable, best dressed man in National Oil had found\nhis groove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\na turnaround manager, he radiated confidence which some people mistook for\narrogance. In 1986, National Oil restructured; it created 8 major districts for\neffective performance: Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Ilorin, Jos, Enugu and Port\nHarcourt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abiola\nAjimobi was made the first District Manager in Ibadan. Like other District\nManagers, he was fully empowered to expand the market which he did creditably.\nMr. Wahab Abiodun, one of his mentees, who worked with him in National Oil,\ntells the story eloquently of how Abiola Ajimobi turned himself into a\nhigh-flyer of the corporate Nigeria. In no time, he was made Lubricants\nManager, a much bigger position that generated 40 percent of the company\u2019s\nprofits. Because he did so well as Lubricants Manager, he was made Aviation\nManager. By virtue of these positions, he travelled extensively around Nigeria.\nAt that time, National Oil was controlling 70 percent of the market share in\nthe oil and gas sector. The company then added eight retail operations to its\nexpansion portfolio. Ajimobi was later made the manager of all the 8 districts\nand retail regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not\nlong after that, he was made an Executive Director Operations and posted as a\nrepresentative of the National Oil in Shell Togo. By the time he was asked to\nwind up in Togo and return to Nigeria, the privatization process of the\nNational Oil was in full swing. So was its Boardroom politics. Ultimately, Dr\nMike Adenuga Jr. bought over the National Oil and gave it his own name: Conoil.\nAfter a keen competition, Abiola Ajimobi was made the Managing Director of\nConoil. But he was only able to tolerate Dr Adenuga for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe wake of the boardroom crisis at Conoil, Ajimobi decided to go into the politics\nof Oyo State. His politician- father had always wanted him to play politics.\nThough he was interested, his passion was elsewhere. In 2001, he was now ready to give it a shot.\nHe left behind a comforting familiarity to embrace politics. He studied the\nbooks of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the well-beloved first Premier of the Western\nRegion who worked so hard and took himself seriously as a political leader; he\nstudied the books of Winston Churchill, British statesman and a former Prime\nMinister of the United Kingdom; and he studied the books of Mohammed Rashid Al\nMaktoum, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and\nruler of the Emirate of Dubai, more closely for ideas and practical\ninspiration. As he found himself a new cause, as he found himself a new\nmission, as he found himself a new purpose rooted in serving more people, he,\nwho loved to wear nice shirts and trousers, who loved to wear bespoke suits,\ngradually learnt to clad himself in caps and flowing gowns learnt to wear enormous\nsmiles and learnt to get used to many long nights of political meetings instead\nof long hours of night clubbing which he used to enjoy in Lagos and Ibadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nconsulted widely before he joined the Alliance for Democracy and sought and got\nthe support of the elders in the party like Alhaji Lam Adesina for his bid for\nthe Senate. The contest for the ticket was very keen but he won. In the Senate\nhe managed to pull his weight though his party was one of the parties in the\nminority. He sponsored 7 bills. Far more significantly, he did not support the\nThird Term bid proposed by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. While Obasanjo in his\nmemoir, My Watch, spent 11 pages to deny that he ever nursed the idea of Third\nTerm in office, Abiola Ajimobi, in this book spends about 4 short sentences to\npuncture the balloon of our former president\u2019s lies. He says in this book:\n\u201cObasanjo himself called me that I should support what they were doing and I\nsaid he must talk to my elders in Ibadan, that I would not support Third Term\nunless my elders in Ibadan told me to do so. Later, some people brought money\nand I turned it down. They brought N50 million and I said no. I don\u2019t want to\nstart mentioning names.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After\none term as Senator, Ajimobi wanted to be governor but he did not get the nod\nof his party. Chief Bisi Akande, in his Foreword to his new book, tells us why:\n\u201cI told him that I was going to preside over the meeting but I warned him not\nto be forward but to be calm and tolerant in such a manner that he should not\nresent some of the possible insinuations that might even appear rubbing on or\nblurring his ego. I told him the names of the Oligarchs who would be at the\nmeeting, and that the meeting would be arranged for Abuja. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At\na pre-meeting of the oligarchs, we had prevailed on Alhaji Lam Adesina to\ncooperate with our decision to adopt Biola Ajimobi as governorship candidate\nfor Oyo State and convinced him that Biola would be totally submissive to the\nparty\u2019s political tradition. Biola was thereafter invited to the meeting. I was\namazed when he came and was accompanied by a crowd of his supporters that\nincluded Dr Adebisi, Hon Bayo Shittu and some others. As Chief Segun Osoba was\ntrying to introduce the purpose of the meeting and to talk on credibility of\nthe leaders, Abiola Ajimobi cantankerously flared up to ask, \u201cWhat do you mean\nby credibility? Who then is not credible? Am I and my associates here too not\ncredible?\u201d and on and on and on! Led by Senator Bola Tinubu, the party leaders\nangrily walked out of the meeting and the boy and his crowd of supporters too\nfiled out of the venue.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senator\nAbiola Ajimobi eventually dumped the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the\nAll Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2007 to contest for governorship. He lost\nthat election to massive rigging. When he tried again in 2011 he won, and won\nfor the second term in 2015. The state he met, figuratively, needed blood\ntransfusions; it needed a broad spectrum of medications to be on the mend, to\nbe healthy. Like a medical doctor that he had the ambition in Legelu Grammar\nSchool of becoming he applied the scalpel and prescribed the drugs. In the past\neight years that he has been in the saddle, this book tells us, the Ajimobi\nadministration modernization agenda has been propelled by three questions: how\ndo we restore the past glory of our state? How do we transform it? And how do\nwe reposition it for greater glory? All his modernization programmes are\nelaborately discussed in this book backed with facts and figures. But have\nthese facts and figures translated into better life for the majority of the\ncitizens of Oyo State? Governor Abiola Ajimobi believes very strongly that his\nexperiences in the corporate world have helped him and his team to conceive and\nbuild a comparatively modern Oyo State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013Adapted from the review of the book Abiola Ajimobi: Architect and Builder of Modern Oyo State done by Mr. Kunle Ajibade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022Details Of The New Book On His Life Revealed These are good times for former Oyo Governor, Chief Abiola Ajimobi who has now become the Deputy National Chairman of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":32111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1708,1911],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Ajimobiii.jpg?fit=460%2C336&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48624,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/gov-ajimobi-begins-work-oyo-south-senatorial-seat\/","url_meta":{"origin":136157,"position":0},"title":"Gov. AJIMOBI Begins Work On OYO South Senatorial Seat","author":"Dare Adeniran","date":"April 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"How He Became The Godfather Of OYO APC +Why All The Top Aspirants Need His Blessing Politics in Oyo State is hotting up at the moment. Right now, there is a video circulating on whatsapp, where the governor at a public event years back was quoted as saying everyday he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Abiola Ajimobi, Oyo state, Amnesty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Ajimobiii.jpg?fit=460%2C336&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33452,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/oyo-pdp-forms-alliance-battle-gov-ajimobi\/","url_meta":{"origin":136157,"position":1},"title":"OYO PDP Forms Alliance To Battle Gov. AJIMOBI","author":"Reporter","date":"September 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The coming 2019 governoship election in Oyo state is going to be a battle to finish, among political gladiators and their parties. Already, top politicians and opposition parties are closing ranks to form a strong and formidable structure that could wrestle power from the ruling governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ajimobi, Buhari, 70th birthday,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ajimobi.jpg?fit=400%2C225&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":142067,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/why-ex-gov-akala-may-emerge-as-new-oyo-apc-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":136157,"position":2},"title":"How Ex-Gov. AKALA May Emerge As New OYO APC Leader","author":"Dare Adeniran","date":"January 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2022After Late AJIMOBI's Death \u2022All The Permutations Revealed Though the people of Ibadan and indeed Oyo State generally are still mourning the passing of the immediate past governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi but the reality is that life must go on. Especially at this critical time in Oyo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adebayo Alao Akala","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/adebayo-alao-akala2.jpg?fit=500%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33449,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/ajimobi-teslim-akala-new-political-romance\/","url_meta":{"origin":136157,"position":3},"title":"AJIMOBI, TESLIM AND AKALA IN NEW \u00a0POLITICAL ROMANCE","author":"Reporter","date":"September 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to PDP reconciliation plans to wrestle power from his party (APC) come 2019, the executive governor of Oyo State Abiola Ajimobi has embarked on serious networking to counter this move. Last week, the governor met with two prominent politicians in the state, Exi-Gov. Alao Akala and former Senate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ajimobi, Buhari, 70th birthday,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ajimobi.jpg?fit=400%2C225&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":48626,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/gov-ajimobi-akala-big-disagreement-oyo-apc-guber-ticket\/","url_meta":{"origin":136157,"position":4},"title":"Gov. AJIMOBI & AKALA In Big Disagreement Over OYO APC Guber Ticket","author":"Dare Adeniran","date":"April 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The executive governor of Oyo State Senator Abiola Ajimobi and his political ally and long time friend Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala may be on a collision cause if the situation at hand within Oyo APC is not well managed. The duo we heard are not favourably disposed to each other presently.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adebayo Alao Akala","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/adebayo-alao-akala2.jpg?fit=500%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42113,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/ex-oyo-gov-akala-joins-oyo-guber-race\/","url_meta":{"origin":136157,"position":5},"title":"Ex-OYO Gov. AKALA\u00a0 Joins OYO Guber Race","author":"Reporter","date":"January 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Details Of His Deal With Gov. AJIMOBI & TINUBU When former Oyo State Governor, Otunba Alao Akala declared for the APC a few weeks back, many political watchers were shocked. Many wondered why Akala, a very tactical and brilliant\u00a0 grassroot politician would leave the PDP for APC. They also wondered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adebayo Alao Akala","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/adebayo-alao-akala2.jpg?fit=500%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136167,"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136157\/revisions\/136167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}