Politics changed my dress sense – Jimi Agbaje
Jimi Agbaje has a courteous facade and gentle mien that questions his
decision to embrace politics. Just as you ponder on this, he interrupts
your thought: “People generally play politics for self or service. For
me, it is service primarily and the belief that you can make change
possible; that you can make your community a better place; that there
are opportunities out there that people can leverage on and be better
citizens. It is the belief that you can develop your environment.”
A 1978 graduate of pharmacy from the University of Ife (now Obafemi
Awolowo University), he is quick to say he was not bored practising as a
pharmacist for over three decades.
He doesn’t mince words on his choice of career. “I am still a
pharmacist and I remain first a pharmacist before any other thing. I
started my pharmacy on the shopping floor, which is about the community-
people, customers, and patients. Therefore, you find that you are
dealing with your environment. So, going into politics is just an
extension.
“By the time you succeed in community practice, it means you have
become beacon of hope in the community. People come to you for
everything. As a pharmacist, apart from being in the community, I was
involved with my professional body, the Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria, and others,” he says.
So at what point did politics crop up?
The former Lagos State governorship candidate, who contested on the
ticket of the Democratic People’s Alliance, reminisces: “It had to do
with the Abiola/Tofa election. I saw the annulment as a personal insult
and an assault on my person. It came at a time others felt the same way.
We had the concerned professionals and my first entry into what I would
call activism, was through the concerned professionals. I was in one
form of resistance group or the other and I did not realise I was
getting deeper and deeper into politics. I went on to the
socio-political organisation, Afenifere, but it was not with a mind that I was going to run for elective post.
“Again, during Tinubu’s second term, we sat down to deliberate on who
will take over from him. Names were bandied and it got to a stage that
we felt this was not our dream. These people were not going to deliver
the way we wanted them to. Somewhere along the line, someone threw the
searchlight on me. I think that was how the lot fell on me.”
And his family? What was their reaction? He smiles and recalls: “Due to my activities with Afenifere,
it was not totally strange to my family. We had to discuss it.
Fortunately, my children were young adults and it was easier for my wife
and I to explain to them. Maybe if resistance came, it was from one or
two of my siblings. My mother was scared of politics. But because you
have seen politics from the engine room and you know the risks which is
also in every profession, what matters is that you do that job properly
and leave the rest to God. To me, they were calculated risks.”
Agbaje had to make some behavioural adjustments to fit into his new
role since politics is not for reserved people. “If you want to play
politics, you must be ready to mix. You have to be a lot more patient
and be more of a listener,” he adds.
Did he feel bad losing out in the governorship election of 2007?
Agbaje answers that he was not bitter but that those around him found it
difficult to overcome the loss. He is a staunch believer that the best
team does not win sometimes.
“I had learnt in school that you may have the best team but it does
not guarantee you victory. during the election, we enjoyed ourselves
thoroughly but it is like every game – you either win or lose. You can
lose because you actually lost and you can lose because you were
actually cheated,” he states.
Now, does he still nurse the ambition of becoming the governor of Lagos State?
This elicits another round of laughter.
He says, “that is a very difficult question for a politician to
answer. Let me just say that I have remained in politics although I do
not belong to any political party. If you want to remain in politics,
the constitution recommends that you should belong to one party or the
other. To that extent, I am beginning to look at what party I want to
join. Time will tell.”
Agbaje believes that he has not achieved much as a politician.
According to him, one should go into politics to make a difference
which he has not been able to do. He considers himself more accomplished
as a pharmacist than as a politician.
He proudly launches into the history of his successful practice as a pharmacist.
“Jaykay Pharmacy was born in 1982 and I was a relatively young
pharmacist. I worked in an outlet for a nice boss of mine and when it
was time, I decided to set up my own pharmacy. My dream then was along
the line of a company in England called, Boots. They have a
manufacturing concern and a retail outlet chain. I cannot say that I
have achieved the dream because over the last six years, I can say I
have been distracted and therefore the expansion has not gone on, as I
would have loved. We have people who run the business; so I have been
able to step back a bit. In 2005, when I started politics, I left as
managing director and became the chairman of the company,” he says.
Married for 31 years and still counting, he talks enthusiastically
about his wife who he met at the University of Ife. They dated for eight
years before they got married. “We were young when we got married
because there was really nothing to wait for after graduation. The union
has produced two gentlemen and a lady,” he states.
Politicians are considered to be very social but Agbaje says he is ‘a
bit social.’ “I like a good intelligent discussion. You find that I am
happy in a good environment. I like a weekend that is free and I do not
have to be anywhere. I like to watch TV and I am a news freak. When I
have time, I like to read and I love my sleep,” he adds.
Born and bred in Lagos, he fondly relives his childhood days: “I
think the only time I left Lagos was to go to University of Ife. I was
born into a Christian home and I’m the second surviving child. My father
was a career banker and he taught us to work hard like himself. He did
not spare the rod; so we were not spoilt. If you were rascally, you paid
the price. My mother was teacher.”
Now, one topic he shies away from is fashion, which he admits, is not his forte.
“You are talking to the wrong person because unbelievably, my wife
dresses me up. Whatever you see on me, just give the credit to my wife.
Can you believe that I don t even know my tailor but I get clothes sewn
for me? I just like to dress comfortably, simple and clean. Of course, I
changed my dressing from the moment I got into politics. If you met me
before I went into politics, I was dressed in good shirts and trousers.
Then, my friends advised that if I was running for governor, nobody
would take me serious unless I looked gubernatorial; which meant wearing
agbada but I did not see myself wearing that. We settled for buba and sokoto but if I do have a proper event, I wear agbada.”
The
major gladiators in the race to 2015 – President Goodluck Jonathan and
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have commenced subtle but heightened battle
for the control of the South-West geopolitical zone.
