Anyone Who Says I Am Bleaching Is Silly! Ex-Gov. Alao Akala Fires back At Reporter

  

Former Governor of Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, in this interview with ADEOLA BALOGUN and TUNDE ODESOLA of THE PUNCH clears the air on some contentious issues, Akala in his response to some of the questions asked claims he’s never collected bribe as a police office and also responded furiously when asked about his bleach skin saying “Whoever said i bleach is stupid”.

 How did you get enlisted into the Nigerian Police?

It wasn’t accidental that I became a policeman. It was a dream I nursed as a young lad. I had wanted to be enlisted in a profession where I would wear uniform. I would have loved to be in the military but unfortunately, the day I was to write a test for the police force was the very day the enlistment into the Army was done. I remember enlistment into the Army was fixed for The Polytechnic, Ibadan. I don’t know why those in charge did that. My number was WS44 in 1973. In the police, I would spend one year and become an officer. In the army short service, I would spend six months and I would become an officer. In the Army short service, there was a limit to where I could get to move but for full course, I would spend three years. I then decided to go for the police.

Why did you want to be a policeman?

I was a barrack boy. My uncle was in the West Africa Frontier; later he joined Ghanaian Army. He was caught up in Ghana Independence in 1957 while he was with the Frontier. They then asked them that anyone that was interested in joining the Ghanaian Army should indicate interest and he opted to stay in Ghana and he automatically became a member of the Ghanaian Army. I went to 3 Battalion Training School and I finished my Form 4 there. I knew how to take care of the khaki and I thus decided I wanted to join the force. So it wasn’t a mistake or accidental that I joined the police. When I joined the police, I discovered that I love the profession and I enjoyed it while it lasted.

To the man on the street, the police force is synonymous with corruption; was this so in your time?

It is unfortunate; what you are seeing in the police is a reflection of the society. It is what we have in the society that we are seeing in the police. So what is happening in the police is not peculiar to the police alone; it is in all spheres. If you say police force is corrupt, other forces are also corrupt because the people are recruited from the society. So, whatever you see now is the reflection of the society.

People are of the belief that no retired police officer can claim that he did not collect bribe while in service; did you collect bribe?

I am telling you now that I did not collect bribe. Do you know why I could not collect bribe? Firstly, I had the opportunity of working in the Administrative Department of the police for about 16 years. As a matter of fact, while I was at the headquarters for 16 years, I was being posted from one department to the other. I did not want to leave, I was pushed to the field and when I got to the field, I asked myself why should I be taking bribe? Let me tell you an experience; there was a relation of mine who had problems with the police and he didn’t want to tell me. The police asked him to go and bring N1, 000. He did not have N1, 000; he then went and sold some of his goods to be able to raise the money. While the fellow was looking for ways of raising the money, I was aware that he was raining curses on the police along the line which means that he might have even cursed the money he wanted to give as bribe. So the policemen unknowingly too would be mixing bad money with good money and spiritually, that has a long way to go in the life of a human being. As an officer, I would just do what I could for you. So, I just told myself that as God has placed me above you, why should I ask for anything from you? If I could help, I would and for God’s sake, an average Nigerian knows how to say thank you. If along the line, you say thank you and you give me something which I didn’t solicit, that is from you. But if you start negotiating bribe as I saw a cop (on the television) that was sacked recently, that is sad. An average Nigerian knows how to say thank you and if you help him, he would say thank you; why do you have to negotiate bribe where you can help? Where would you even discuss a bribe with me? As a matter of fact, if I knew that you had a bad case, I would deal with you. That is where I could be ruthless. And for God’s sake, I worked under somebody like (Inspector General) Sunday Adewusi for many years and I was with him until he retired. So, the way we were brought up, you couldn’t take bribe because we were arresting bribe takers. I was working with Chief Adewusi (at Alagbon) and in those days, the fear of Alagbon Close was the beginning of wisdom. When you hear of Alagbon Close, you will shiver. Then, we were not thinking of how to take bribe. And again when I got into the field, having dealt with a lot of people, I felt that people might want to deal with me too, so I had to be careful. Bribe was not that pronounced during my time.

It was alleged that you demanded for N1bn from the civil service for your re-election but in the process, the civil servants too helped themselves to several millions of naira.

I don’t know anything about that. You see, when you don’t know how government operates, you don’t talk like that. Anybody talking like this is very senseless; he doesn’t have any sense. Am I a signatory to the service account? I did not ask anything from anybody.

You talked about quality, is it in terms of dressing too?

In terms of everything, Akala is a man of quality. Look at me, I am a man of quality, with due respect. I use quality materials.

Is the use of jewellery part of it too?

Yes, I have been using jewellery as a young man. Do you know what they called Ghana before, Gold Coast. I lived in Ghana and that was where I got used to it early in my life. We make statement with our looks in Ghana. In those days when we were in Ghana, your wife bathed you and took care of you. I am from Ghana, so I have been using jewellery (he sends for an album). I want to show you some pictures. Pictures that I took some 40 years back, you would see chains on my neck. Look at my hand chains and rings in this picture. That is how I was brought up. Even when I was in (police) uniform, I wore my chain with my uniform.

Is it not was illegal for you to wear necklace with your uniform?

It was not legal but my uniform would cover it.

Is it part of your own fashion to bleach?

Bleach? That is stupidity; you are asking a very stupid question, how can I bleach? You are very stupid to ask that question. What do you mean by that? What gave you that impression?

(He pulled up his clothe and singlet to show his fair complexion.)

Is this bleaching? Have you seen the cream that I use that makes me bleach or did you know me when I was black? So if you want to write that, put it there that I said you are very stupid to ask me that kind of question. Don’t ask that kind of question again. What you don’t know; you ask. You don’t even know my parents. Is my wife complaining or my children? I don’t know what gave anybody the impression that I bleach. You don’t know me; do you know what it takes to bleach?

Does your wife still bathe you?

She can’t carry me anymore; we are old. Don’t forget that the First Lady is not my first wife. My first wife is an old woman like me and she is still with me. She was also brought up in Ghana and that’s why I was able to marry her. Most of the people in Nigeria cannot keep up with my lifestyle of cleanliness.