By Emma Amaize

FORMER Minister of State for Education, industrialist, attorney and politician, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi is regarded with awe by many, especially in his home state, Delta. Today, the youngest lawyer ever to head the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria turns 50. Ahead of today’s landmark, he took time off to reflect on his life and the state of affairs in his native Delta state. He touched on reasons why he rejected ministerial offers from the Sani Abacha and Olusegun Obasanjo administrations but accepted same from President Goodluck Jonathan.

Gbagi who has been a recurring decimal in the political permutations of Delta State since 1999 also shed light on the persisting crisis in the Delta chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP among other issues. Excerpts:

IMPRESSIONS on Delta

What a time to talk about Delta state today, when I am experiencing one of the greatest moments of my life,  being the 27th anniversary of my marriage.

As a person, I feel extremely fulfilled, I feel extremely happy that God has enabled me and taken me to this level. As a person, I will say that my dreams as a man have come true, as a person, I want to say that I am convinced that God is bias in my favour. On a personal note, on a personal life, on a personal level, on a personal family environment, it is an excellent situation.

Weeps for Delta

With my state, I am in tears and I have been in tears because I saw it and I believed very strongly that I will make a change. Hence when Delta State was about to be created, one of the first decisions I took was to come back home and build a house before the creation and on the day the state was created, the joy was that I was in my house in Delta State. I thought it would be a good thing for one to come back home and contribute to the development in physical, human and economic terms. Am I happy with the situation of the state? The answer is certainly no. What are my regrets?

As a person, your conscience tells you what is good and what is bad, it pricks you when you want to do something bad; you know it is bad and yet you choose to damn the consequences and move on. So as a person, the good, the bad and ugly are all within you, it is for you to choose as a person and unfortunately, Deltans still need to wake up, it is getting too late for them, they need to take over the state as their property and pay no lip service to how they are being governed and not to take persons that go faster to television stations or to newspapers to perpetuate lies and evil as their friends.Why I respect Senator Brume

So, to that extent, I pay great tribute to my friend and somebody I have great honour and respect for. Urhobos in particular and Nigerians in general have lost a great man that is honest to his liver, honest to his blood and straightforward, he is Senator Fred Brume. It cannot be more honourable for a man to have a calculation and come back and say my calculation has failed, yours was right. Senator Brume of blessed memory now came to me, three years ago, and said among other things, Kenneth, I thought I understood it all, but everything you told me, just like I told Okitiakpe who is living now before the election in 1999, he came to see me in the house and I told him that these are what we are going to face and in Okitiakpe’s words, ‘we have entered this game too deep,  no matter how dangerous it is , we will fight it out’. Unfortunately, he has not been able to fight it out up till today. But Senator Brume came back to me three years ago and said, ‘Everything you said had happened with precision and time’.

What I told Anenih, Ibori, Igbinedion

It is open knowledge  that I told him that the whole cartel of the regime of Ibori was a charade , I told him for instance that the whole issue of Ibori becoming a governor was the greatest cog in the eyes of Urhobo people and Urhobos were going to suffer for it, that Urhobo people would be 10 million times more backwards because what is being told to Urhobos are not what is going to happen.

I told Okitiakpe, I told Brume, I told everybody. Chief Tony Anenih is alive, when the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo refused to come to Delta state in the first two years of Ibori’s governance, people came to me to beg Obasanjo to come to Delta state and I went and convinced him to visit the state and Obasanjo said if you want me to go to Delta State, enter the plane and we will go together, that was how we came.

It is no longer history that I was the one who brought Obasanjo to Delta then, but we got into the presidential lounge after alighting from the plane, James, had in such a serious perfidy told Tony Anenih that I was not a member of the party and in bitter honesty of Fred Brume, I will never forget him, he told James Ibori, Anenih, Lucky Igbinedion and all of us that were seated there, ‘I cannot sit in an environment where lies are told as though people do not have history’.

He said the man (me) who you (Ibori) was telling Anenih is not a member of the party contested the governorship primaries against you and the deputy chairman of the party today, Augustine Ogbabunor here was his campaign manager. Tony Anenih in his reply said, ‘Kenneth, you are a very principled young man, how would you build such a big house and leave it to wolves to carry’ and I replied Tony Anenih in that discussion and I quote, I said, ‘Chief sir, my father said to me that the meat that you will not eat, don’t use your teeth to divide it’. I told him that Ibori is a child of circumstance and he is going to pay a price – that he has come with a deceitful intention, he has come to deceive Urhobo people.

Little bit of history

I said look, I am the only Urhobo man who came with Mr. President and for you to understand, apart from Fred Brume who fought his way to this place, I am the only Urhobo man here and he is not happy with an Urhobo man, what is his pain about my presence. James Ibori took it up from there, he said I am your brother, I said no, you are not my brother, he said oh, I am going to tell Urhobo people that you said you are not Urhobo. I told him that he is not an Urhobo and the plan you have against Urhobo, it is only a matter of time, Urhobos will learn.

I have declassified that little bit of history for you to know my kind of person. I told them that there cannot be any development in Delta state because of this crop of crooked, deceitful elements, who have hijacked governorship of the state. So there is nothing new.

Having said that, my fear really is nothing has changed in Delta state, nothing will ever change in Delta state the way it is. So many  other states in federation are getting more interested in knowing the truth and situation about their state but Deltans are unfortunately complacent about their own state and they have been filled up with tissues of lies from  the government from the Ibori days till date and they see it as a way of life, but their children are suffering, their mothers are suffering, even some of  them cannot trace their mothers’ graves, they don’t know where their children are, they cannot eat quality food because they have chosen to accept lies.

So, it does not require a prophet or whatever you want to call it, it is just simple knowledge. I mean, I am not the only Deltan to have risen to this level I am today, but the truth is that I have never taken loan in my life from anybody and I challenge anybody to say to the contrary, I have never had  staff and employees in my life that I do not pay except the ones who are thieves, who have something to steal, I never had anybody who is a contractor who worked for me diligently or supplied to any of my businesses nationwide intelligently without wanting to defraud me that I did not pay.

Going back to face the truth

Let them (Deltans) go back and face the truth, let them not accept childishness, let them not accept lies, let them not accept those who will come and give them few pennies and believe that they have solved it, those pennies cannot help them, it cannot help their children, it cannot help their grandchildren, it cannot put food on their table at all. So, it is about time for them to understand life.

On not being re-appointed into the federal cabinet 

To be honest with you, the day I signed that contract with President Jonathan as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was the same day I told myself that I have also become a former Minister. It is a gift I have from God, it was His will that I became a minister the time I was one because you know that the governor did not support me being a minister, but against all odds, because it pleased God, I was a minister.

Did I do well as a minister? The answer is in the public domain as to what I did in the short period of my being a minister. Maybe some of us would have to write our memoir because my ministerial tenure was packed full with activity. Having said so, the decision to appoint a minister in any government rests with one person, the President in office and the President in his calculations has appointed his ministers.  Nobody constitutionally can question him, nobody can fault his judgment and that does not stop the fact that I hold myself vicariously liable as a member and a staunch member of how Mr. President became a President, elected in his own mandate for the next four years, which we are now experiencing.

So, whichever way, I have no grouse against the President or against anybody because that is what pleased God. I call on Nigerians to do all we can to make this whole issue of governance of the country, Nigeria, a success because otherwise it will be catastrophic for us and our children.

But I must confess that if I turned down being a Minister to the former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha who first made me a minister in my life and I turned down former President Obasanjo who secondly made me a minister and I accepted to serve in Jonathan’s government, it is for a good purpose, it is for a good reason and I must confess, I planted my footprints in the annals of history as a Minister for Education and they will be there for years and generations to come.

That exuberance, boisterousness, arrogance and over confidence cost him his portfolio?

Even as journalist, I dare tell you that because of your prowess with the pen, people believe you are arrogant and boisterous but talking about me, for those that believe that I am boisterous and arrogant, they need better education, they should get closer to me and find out the truth, they don’t know me. Contrary to this claim, however, a lot of people said that as a minister, I was too close to the commoners. As a businessman, I eat with my driver and I, sometimes, drive him.

It all depends from the level they are coming from. Now, you know the little I have done in the state and elsewhere in the world, I challenge you to show me one person  in the state,  Nigeria and elsewhere in the world that has paid the price I have paid by way of investment, by way of education and people will see them in a different light. I tell you with all certainty that the President would not have claimed that I was arrogant, never..

Criminality and dubiousness

If people cannot cheat you, if people cannot dupe you, if people believe that you are honest, they will not like you because the trend the world the world has assumed today is that criminality and dubiousness have permeated the fabric of our society, so when they see that you are not participating in such things, they have to say something definitely – Gbagi is arrogant. Call one of them, ask him what have you done with Gbagi that amounts to arrogance, he cannot tell you.

My ‘reconciliation’ with Uduaghan

Governor Uduaghan was in my house before the last election, we were eating, he came to me and appealed that I should forgive him for all that he had done and that I should allow him win the election. Whilst we were sitting down there, I didn’t know that Uduaghan had sent a text to newspaper houses to publish the fact that I and the Minister of Niger-Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe had forgiven him, they were  inmy house and what I got were calls from some newspaper houses to say we don’t want to be funny, this news is shocking that yourself and Uduaghan have reconciled and then, he sent us a mail to put it in the press and I said no comments. And a journalist wanted to know further and I said no comments.

That is to say that I was important, that I was relevant, that is to say that my political weight was strong and they wanted to use it at that time..

Still on Delta

I say Deltans should open their eyes and ask questions, like Lagosians will ask, like the people of Rivers state will ask. I started the issue of the crusade of making government look more relevant to the people by asking questions  and people were bought like slaves and they started insulting the fact that I had personal interest, what other personal interest  will  I have? God has done the best for me, God has been wonderful to me. If I own all of those industries you are seeing today in Delta state, what I do I want again in this world? What kind of car have I not driven in my life?

All that is left for me is to return back to humanity the good the Lord has done for me, that is the only reason why I talk about politics, otherwise, I have no business being in politics the way politics is played today in the Delta.

The only way forward is that anybody who wants to govern you or who is currently governing you must be held accountable because the money is not his money; the money is your money as a Deltan. It is your money, your child’s money and so, for you to be complacent, for you to keep quiet, you are mounting debt and trouble for all your children yet unborn if you feel that you want to carry such irresponsible debt, so I am saying categorically that it is not something somebody will go and spend 20 minutes thinking about, you must demand for accountability of what your resources are used for. You must participate; you must fight against the use of your money illegally, so I don’t see how else development is going to come.

On the PDP feud between Clark, Uduaghan and other Delta PDP leaders 

You see, somebody who is hiding something and calls you and says something is missing, let us look for the thing, you will never see that thing. When some persons, Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh and some people told me that they were going to carry out a peace initiative, I laughed and told them they are stupid. Because I asked them one question, who inaugurated the peace body, they said Peter Nwaoboshi, I laughed again because they don’t understand the man they were working with.

They forgot that Senator Burme was branded a kidnapper of Indians and he was arrested and detained, money was given to policemen and he was deprived of his liberty until some persons intervened (laughs). So we are not unaware and in any case, why does Uduaghan need any peace? Why will he support any peace initiative, the man has gotten the final election and he does not need anybody, so who is he doing peace with and for what? He wants to do peace where people like I, Kenneth Gbagi will sit down in a meeting and if I sit in a meeting, Uduaghan must defer to me by virtue of the ownership of PDP in the state, he must defer to me.

When I contested the governorship primaries against his boss, James Ibori, he was not in the scheme of things, when I signed the card for the formation of PDP in the state, he was not there, so people would obviously say that I am arrogant because in any case, when we sit in a meeting, we must know when we started this whole thing.

Throwing away birthright

We must know who was able to come to the meeting by his own means when we started in 1998/99. So this is not arrogance as the fact is that you must not throw away your birthright, if you come to PDP today, I am number one, I was the first governorship candidate of the PDP, it is there. I will bring out for you how PDP was established, all the cards we started printing in 1998/99, I have them, I have the registers of the charter of how we formed the party.

When you talk about people like Senator Francis Nwajei, Prof Sam Oyovbaire, Senator David Dafinone, myself, we know the people who formed the party, we know the frontrunners of the party, if you saw all the names on the card, James Ibori was coming right behind me in the scheme of things. I have these things intact, what I am trying to say is that I do not see why anybody will believe that an Uduaghan will support any peace initiative.

Pa Clark is our leader

If Uduaghan genuinely wants to call for peace, he would have called me, he knows I cannot be fooled. The day Uduaghan calls me and says Gbagi, I am supporting you to call for a peace initiative and to resolve the row in the state, he knows what will happen. People say I  am the centre of gravity in Delta affairs and what is very clear is that Papa Clark is our father, he is our leader .

Have you any state where the governor says there is no leader, Lagos state has a leader in the person of Tinubu, that is why they are progressing, Fashola is the administrator. Where you vote a governor and the governor says he is the leader, the father, the governor, the administrator, it will not work.

Nobody is fighting the governor, he claims to be having peace, what I thought you should be talking about is where, with such a landslide power over all the ministers, over all commissioners, over all the local government chairmen, development would have been robust, where is the development?

Why Delta is still in political crisis

The reason is: When Uduaghan wanted to do election, nobody told Uduaghan where my house was when he drove to my house. For hours, he was with me, he knew where to go to, that is why I said unless the man who is hiding the thing wants to tell you, you cannot see it. Uduaghan wanted me to bring Orubebe to my house, he came there, he was not just knowing my house.

The question is do we have honest intention for the greatness of our children? That is the question we should be asking ourselves. The truth is that there is deceit, the people are being deceived, but me, Gbagi, who is saying no, this the way, they will go and start making propaganda and telling the people that ah, Gbagi is not good, Gbagi has lion in his house, Gbagi has snakes in his house, Gbagi has cobra in his house!

Facing reality

Let us face reality, is it the lion in Gbagi’s house, if any, that has made Delta not to develop? Go to Rivers State and see what Amaechi is doing in the few years that he is governor, look at Lagos State. Is it the lion in my house that is making development not to happen, is it the lion that has made us not to have hospitals? Is it the lion that is making us not to have good schools? I think people should be more sensible.

They say I don’t pay workers, how many workers am I employing, is it because Gbagi is not paying workers, that is why all the teachers in Delta state are going on strike, is that why all the doctors in Delta state are going on strike? Let us question, let us not allow anybody to divert our attention.

Gbagi’s money and wealth is personal family money and wealth, we have what we call a collective purse, which we must all eye and find out what is happening to the money, which is the money of the state.

Plans for birthday celebrations following Brume’s death.

Before the death of Senator Brume, I had accepted with my family that they would decide what would happen and how, which means that I was not going to regulate their plans. But the death of Senator Brume has annoyed me personally because I know that he labored and he was an honest man. On that note, I am going to mark my birthday and my bishop, the Bishop of Warri Diocese of the Catholic Church has accepted to conduct mass in my private chapel. So many years ago, contrary to the claims of lions and snakes, I dedicated a chapel in my house to my father, not because of wealth, that chapel, which has a sitting capacity for about 100 persons.

Irrespective of the blackmail politicians will heap on you, Gbagi is not good, Gbagi is not that, we have come to play our role, our works will speak for us.

Over 20 years ago, I built the house where I will be buried in my country home, Oginibo. Today, I am even renovating the house even more, I am a believer in the final day and I know that day, none of us has powers over it, just like Senator Brume, may his soul ascend to God.

On insinuations that his fabulous wealth came from fraud and rituals 

(Laughs) Money is not the problem of a true son of God and He does not give money to fools because they cannot manage it. My first contract in this world was N4, 800 when I came back to Nigeria after my youth service. That was in 1987, whilst I was a student, I was a trader, I was the first Nigerian who bought scientific calculator that I sold to most Nigerian university students.

I was a trader in the university and when I came back, as I was doing my youth service, I formed my own company because I knew when I went school, I came out with the belief that it is people with lesser capacity that go and look for white collar jobs, so my orientation was to employ people because it is great brains all over the world that employ people.

I have never applied for any job in my life just like I have never applied for any  loan, I am only a manager of funds, I was scared of poverty and that drove me into working 24 hours a day. In fact, the problem my family has right now is how to slow me down.

Result of honest intention

If you genuinely work, if you honestly know what you want, crowned by God and you pursue it, the sky is your limit. What people see today is the result of honest intention and unless God grants you wealth, you are not going to go anywhere.

My wealth has gone ahead of me and some people do not believe that I am the owner of this whole that God has granted me. It is not my fault and that is why I say that God is biased in my favour, but when people were getting things into things that were not clean, I took to honest business.

In Lagos, nobody cared when I was buying land and putting up all the investments you see here, but in Delta state, because of the level of backwardness and poverty, it is an issue, so they are trying to find out if the man is into bunkering, you didn’t even mention bunkering in your question. They also ask, is he into ritualism?

I started my business in the banking world as a criminologist, I made security arrangement for all the major banks in Nigeria and the records are there and just only yesterday, I met M.I. Yahaya, one of my great benefactors, he was the former managing director of Union Bank, they should go and ask him, how many contracts he gave to me in one month, in one year on security, I did not use the money for frivolities, I was buying land, I was buying property, I was not into any cult, I was not into anything, I was investing my money.