Former Gv of lagos Asiwaju revealed how he met THE Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola

In a recent interview published in “Asiwaju: Untold

Story of The Leader”, a special publication of

TheNEWS, the new Minister of Works, Power and

Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola explains how he first

met his mentor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Read the excerpt of the interview question and

answer below:

“ Question: When and how did you meet

Senator Bola Tinubu? What was your first

impression of him?

Fashola: “ 

That is an invitation to walk down

memory lane. I think it must have been

1990 or 1991. He was treasurer in Mobil,

then. His office was at the Bookshop House

at CMS on Odunlami Street. I didn't directly

meet him. I had seen him at parties, but we

never met. At that time, I was a senior

associate at the law firm of Sofunde,

Osakwe, Ogundipe and Belgore, where I was

practising. Wale Tinubu, his nephew, came

to join the law firm, then. He was always

mentioning “Uncle Bola”, and one day, he

said: ‘’let’s go and see my uncle.” We got

there and went out to lunch with him. That

was then I could say we formally met.

From then on, he would consult us on legal

issues and we would help and give him

advice. Sometimes, he would just come and

say. “See we have this issue, what do you

lawyers think?” We ran around and he would

always give us pocket money. I think one

thing that left some impressions on me was

his commitment to his staff and that was

symbolised by what I witnessed on a

particular day after the Sallah celebration.

He brought Sallah meat to the office and

supervised its sharing from floor to floor.

As exalted as his office was, he was

concerned to ensure that those who could

not come to his house, even to the lowest

driver, got part of the Sallah meat. 

I recalled that after the sharing of the meat,

he sent someone to aggregate how much it

would cost to buy soft drink for everybody

and equally distributed money to them. The

incident left an impression on me and what

became a practice when I started observing

the killing of rams for Sallah. For me, it

speaks of his concern about those working

for him”.