Olorugun O’Tega Emerhor @ 60
As part of his 60 years birthday anniversary, the assumed leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Delta state, and a business morgue, Olorugun O’Tega Emerhor, in this interview with team of Reporters talks about his growing up, early days as a graduade and worker, his foral into business and politics, and his experiences as an aspirant and candidate to be governor of Delta State. The future of the party in the state, and above all to give back to his people what God has blessed him with these past years.
By Mike Jones
Except
Starting from your humble beginning, how did u set to build and actualize the robust wealth, influence and power you enjoy today?
This is an interesting question. As a young person your initial set out is not to go and build wealth and influence; very few people have that high level of far reaching thinking. But as a young man due to the background I came from –my father was subsistent farmer with my mother in Evwreni Kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
But compare to other families, they were doing well. We had our own house. I was sent to school and in those days my father had a white bicycle, and as member of Jehovah witness we were always travelling to other cities to go and preach. They (my parents) were among the enlightened people. But that was as far as it was. I knew early that coming from that background, education is going to be helpful to me, and I had the opportunity in school; I tried my best to come out with a result that will ensure that I get a job the moment I graduate. My set out was look, in a country where your success is not going to be on a platter of gold you have to use what you have to get what you want. My goal was to concentrates, pass my exams, come out well so that I can get into the system of work and from there take it to propel myself.
Will you say that good result can still open doors for graduates of today as it opened for you in your time?
At my time, having good grades and coming out well was key. And in my life, that was the key that opened doors for me if you asked me how I got to where I am today. I went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I made a first class in accountancy. I got awards and when saw some adverts by professional organization like Price Waterhouse and I applied, they called me immediately. I got two jobs immediately I finished school. I was engaged by Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Libra (which we used to call them then). Later, Price Water House and Copa merged but they were separate companies. They were the highbrow accounting firms in Lagos. In fact, when I got to Lagos the first time, and I saw people wearing white tie and I said I must be among these people. So, having a first class made that happened. I did have parents who have to come and lobby or who have the influence to come and lobby before I get a job. I can testify that at our time, if you work hard in school and you come out with good grade such will happen to you. That was what happened to me. After Price WaterHouse, of course it was easy for Citibank to come and recruit me, and then I became a banker with Citibank (later changed name to Nigeria International Bank) at the time they were just coming to Nigeria. You could see that one thing led to another. In the banking industry you get exposure to see businesses and you more or less a consultant to array of industries. So, by the time you finished as a banker, it is very easy for you to know what to do. This is the background of how I moved from a village boy to a city man.
But today, I can say that it is a lot more difficult for only result to do all these to you.
At what year did you get your first job?
I did my NYSC in 1983/4. My first job was late 1984.
I was going to mention that its takes a lot of courage to leave a good pay job at that time to develop businesses for yourself, how did you achieve this?
I must point out that my career in the banking industry was very interesting. I moved very quickly in the banking industry, again because I probably met very good bosses and I also work very hard. In my early 30s, I became the first Managing Director of a bank in this country at the then Crystal Bank.
In banking, there has been a circle of turbulence. When I became MD, the bank was actually having some issues and my MD at the time left. I was Executive Director, so, I have to move up to become Managing Director. Ultimately, it was because of the turbulence in the banking sector at that time. I too have to exit the banking industry because Crystal Bank later transformed into Standard Trust Bank and merged into today’s UBA. But when I left, the nearest thing I felt I should do is to set up an insurance company which was within the same financial service sector. I then bought an insurance company then known as Jubilee Insurance Company Ltd recapitalize and renamed it and became Standard Alliance Group. That became my first start-up business that I used to go into other business.
What has life taught you at 60?
Well, at 60, I don’t think you any other choice than to be wise. I tell you when I was 40 I thought at 50 I will retire from business and I would have achieved all that I need so that I can travel and do whatever I like. But we are in a country where things change rapidly where people who are rich today can be poor tomorrow; those who are poor today can be rich tomorrow. By the time you are 60 you are already having a family. I have three grand children as we speak and that tells you the level of dependency are also high. I have extended family also. I am a politician and others. When you put all that together, you realize that your life affects so many people. At 60, no matter who you are, you have crossed so many people and it imposes a responsibility on you to be matured, to be wise and to be more understanding on how life affects people. It teaches a lot of lessons. What I can say for myself is that; God has been wonderful to my life, He has touched me and He has blessed me. God has also used me as an instrument to also reach out to other people. I give Him (God) all the credit. I still ask God everyday to make him wise. That was the only thing Solomon asked for. At 60, you are an example to so many people. You’re a mentor to so many people –people want to use you to model their life. It’s a great responsibility.
When you were growing up as a child what are the distinct things you learnt from your parents?
My parents were good Christians but they were also disciplinarians. My father in particular, likes things been done properly, and I believe that is good for an upbringing. I give you an example; I told you he had a white bicycle and he was able later to buy a motorcycle. I was so excited about the motorcycle. Each time he was not around, I tried to grab it and ride it. One day he caught me and he beat me up, and my feeling then was that why is he beating me because of a motorcycle and I swore to myself that I won’t touch that motorcycle again and I’m going to grow up and buy my own. That was what I felt about it but later in life I realized that he was protecting his only son. We were six in the family; five girls and one boy. He has seen how young people died from motorcycle accident and he was scared that I could be involved in such kind of accident. This I understood later. But that discipline he gave to me taught and made me feel that when grow up, I’m going to buy a car and not motorcycle. That tells you the kind of family I comes from. It’s such a caring family.
Being able to build your own family learning from your parents how has this added value to your immediate family?
The truth is that if there is anything that made me who I am today is my family; from my lovely wife to my children. We have all passed through a lot but I’m blessed by a family that is very supportive. My children are good examples of children who respect their parents without losing their mind or strength of character. This is because you need to balance the two. So, every day I am so proud of them. I have three girls. They have all gotten married and they are all doing well. I have three grand children. My wife has been wonderful. People think that a rich man doesn’t get broke but she’s my last banker. Sometimes, when I have nowhere to run to because I am rich and I cannot ask anybody for money, I say madam you are my banker, can you bail me out? We really have a closely knit relationship. I couldn’t have done all these without her. In politics particular, if she’s not there with her support, there’s no way I could have gone this far.
What is your motivation to give back to society?
At 60, my reflection is to be thankful to God. If you look at the mood in the country today and circumstances of everybody, what should I be doing to celebrate my 60years? Is it to invite rich people, buy champagne and let’s drink? No! I felt that I should use this as an occasion to reach out to Nigerians that are under stress and that is why as a family we sat down and said lets come down to my community and do most of the activities here. Let’s design a medical outreach; this will take place in about four communities. We are going to test people eyes, do test and give free drugs. We also feel that, I have a clinic in Evwreni (my town) that most of my friends who will attend the novelty match it will be an opportunity for them to make contributions in terms of funding to support the clinic. On Saturday which is the birthday proper, I also want people to come and watch cultural display. There are cash prizes to be won, and this will help to develop culture. The final of it is going to be on Sunday where we are going to be empower hundreds of youths and women. We want to support them with some working capitals so that they can improve and possibly my commitment will be to monitor these groups of persons to see how well they will use the funds so that in future if there are need to support them will built them up.
You were born a witness and it is generally understood that witnesses don’t play active politics, where did the change come from?
Yes, my parents were Jehovah Witnesses and when I was younger I was active Jehovah witness but later in life if you want to call it I lost my way but today I’m a Christian. I attend Baptist Church and we are not restricted from politics. Politics is part of life because it affects you and the society. Christians are meant to be good people, and if Christians cannot not be out there playing politics, who will play the politics? One problem that happened in 1999 politics was that good people did not believe that the military is going to handover. A lot of people who could have gone into the arena stayed back and a lot of people who have nothing else to do jump into and once they grabbed it, till today they have not allowed us to get it. It’s a lesson everybody must learn. Politics and the economy are intertwined. One cannot move without the other. We must put our best to society through all these endeavours.
What attracted you into politics?
The trust is that my entry into politics is that, I realized that I needed to impact my immediate society, particularly Delta State. The quickest and most impactful way I could reach out to the people in my state. I also saw the government that was ruling my state in Delta from 2006 culminating 2007 when I ran for the governorship under PDP, I thought a lot can be done better. That was the motivation. As an individual, no matter how rich you are your impact will not be felt, unless in setting up industries and employing people, you can’t really directly impact people as would if you’re running a state. As a state you’re efficiently deploying the resources available at that level to touch the lives of the people. So, this was it. I saw my background and I say look, I have learnt so much in business and chartered accountant and fellow of the institute and I have in the banks ran department financial control. I set up financial control in more than two to three banks –Fidelity Merchant Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank and in Citibank until I became MD in Crystal Bank. I had the background of managing and ensuring resources are used efficiently. And my believe was that if I have the opportunity of running Delta State, I’ll run it like a corporate organization with the only difference is a non-profit making organization. That is how a state should be run because you are not reporting other dividends to the people under than the development of the state and the improvement you give to people. So my motivation was that look, you have acquired skills, networks, knowledge and these opportunity exist in Delta State and let someone who can make things happened be there. That was my motivation.
The story is that you’re the leader of APC in Delta State, what is the state of APC in Delta at the moment?
The trust is APC is the main opposition party in Delta State, but we have come from a history of opposition in Delta State. After my attempt within PDP to change the system and it didn’t work because PDP was a closed-club, and to even peep-in through the widow is difficult not to talk of going in from the gate. I tell you of my experience. In 2006, when we went for governorship primary in Ogwashi-Uku for the 2007 governorship election, I as an aspirant, I have to fight to get inside. It was a terrible experience. The person who is going to be the candidate has been crowned and they drove in with a convoy of vehicles and those who are to conduct the primary into the stadium. You’ll just see that you are shut out. When I saw that I realize that something has to happened; the oppositions have to come together. It was on that light I joined the opposition then. But I tell you today, the opposition in Delta has the greatest chance to finally end the dynasty that has been misruling Delta State for more than 18years. That’s what APC represent today. APC has brought together a robust assemblage of all the strength in Delta State that is of opposed to the current misrule that is going on. A lot of them are people who were there before, who know what they were doing and who have finally realized that this has to end. The people who are now in APC, if you take them one after the other and the kind of followership they command in the state, you will know we have assemblage of who is who in Delta APC. As a leader who was a founding member of APC in Delta State and who has nurtured it as governorship candidate in 2015 and also promote it and opened the doors to ensure that the party is now opened for other strong players in the opposition to come in. I am very happy, excited that finally that we have assembled a team that will ensure that in 2019 Delta State will be redeemed from people who have squandered our resources for over 18years.
It’s believed that the coming in of some of these opposition politicians into one fold already created clash of interests and weakening the party, how are you harnessing these interests to ensure that it doesn’t jeopardize the chances of the your party?
It’s only people who don’t know politics that will think that because there are internal disagreements, therefore the party itself is not together and not strong enough to meet its objective. Let use a typical example. When APC was coming together at the national level , didn’t you see the character that came? They are all strong characters, and you need strong and independent characters (people who have their own interest) to pursue to build a strong party. When APC was built at the national level, Atiku was there and he has his own interest to be president. Kwankwoso was there, and he had his own interest to be president. You also have President Buhari there and the South-West was brought in. so, so much interest was put together and people think APC can’t make it. And these people have divergent interests but after the Lagos convention, when everybody saw that the presidential candidate was democratically picked, all these interests collapsed together, and that was how we took the presidency from PDP. Then, PDP was saying they will never elect their chairman, their candidate has no certificate and all that, but we did it. Everybody came together and supported President Buhari. They (PDP) underestimated us. The same thing is going to happen in Delta State.
Chief Great Ogboru has been a strong player of in the opposition in Delta State and he must be recognized for that. He (Ogboru) has a lot of followership and strength; he is in APC. Engr. Victor Ochei was a speaker and his has contested primary for governorship and he came third in PDP. He has pulled that strength out of PDP. Is it Cairo Ojuogboh that has brought half of PDP in Delta State to join APC? Don’t forget Ojuogboh was a National Deputy Chairman of PDP and leader here in Delta State. What of myself with what I have built from the APC from the scratch and ran for the governorship. With all the party machinery on ground, we are set to take over Delta State in 2019. I can go on to name strong chieftain in APC. Is it PZ Aghinighan from the Ijaw axis or Ayiri from Itsekiri or Michael Johnny? Is it Chief Onuoha in Delta North or Senator Ovie Omo-Agege? If you look at what has happened in Anambra, you see that Mr. President has ensure that votes will count and you are talking of a state where if you will have a free and fair election or if you do a mock vote today to know whether PDP should continue to rule this state people will say no. where is the evidence? I have calculated how much PDP has received in 18years and as at last year, it was over N5.4 trillion. Where is it? These are people who received about N15 billion every month. There are months that they have received N30 billion or N10 billion also. Go and do your own calculation. Are there even roads in Asaba that you can talk about? Are they connecting roads from Warri to Sapele, Agbor to Asaba? Are there roads to Patani or Isoko? Where do you find development? Are there industries set up that you can mention by the state government where people are employed? Are our schools the best schools? How many months are being owed workers and pensioners? Are pensioners not dying on the street every day? Tell me one thing that will make Deltans to vote again for PDP. You journalists know this; PDP has never won election in Delta State. They only have the capacity to write results. They have always had the capacity to influence the security and INEC; and tell you go to court. Without these, where are they? So, when I say this is our best chance to take over Delta State so that good governance will come, I say it with facts, I say it with clarity and I don’t say it because I’m just promoting APC.
Why do think that if PDP can influence votes and security in past, why can’t they do it now?
I answered that question when I was talking. I said look at Anambra, was PDP not there? PDP was there, they were all there. I mean, if anybody should write result now it should be APC but have we ever written results in election including Anambra? What was PDP using? Is it not their federal might? Since President Buhari wants a level playing field, all of us are going out to work and ensure that there is one man one vote. The only thing PDP may have over us is that since they had been in government, they might be accumulating so much money for the election.
There has been widespread dissatisfaction with the APC at the federal level because it has not meant the expectation of Nigerians. What is your reaction?
I’m a Nigerian, so, I’ll be deceiving you if I tell you if things can’t be better than the way it is today. You must not forget where APC took this country from. The hole that PDP dug for Nigerians, that Mr. President and his team have been filling since takeover since 2015 is enormous. Only recently that you see that we have climbed out of recession; that tells you where we were. You are all witnesses to all the stealing that went on, that all our revenues were just being looted. You are all also witnesses that the oil price crashed. So, you have a double jeopardy imposed on Mr. President when he resumed. So, if anything, without claiming that Nigerians have become a lot comfortable, that cannot be true but every bad thing you need to keep repairing it until you come out of it. But I think that we are out of the worst and don’t also forget that with act of God, Mr. President was also healed. That period was also adistraction but God has been kind to us, Mr. President is back. He is as fit as a fiddle. You see him, he is a different person altogether. It is a miracle and Nigerians are so happy that the President is back and well focused. He is determined that before 2019 that Nigerians will see clearly and will be the ones asking that he should come back. That’s what is going to happen. Nobody is going to invite those who remove the roof of this country and allow rain to be beating everybody; who stole everything blind to come and takeover just after the roof has just been reconstructed is not going to happen.
