Senator Adaramodu: “Benevolent Spirits Broke My Palm Kernel, That’s Why I Remain Humble” …this government is adjusting and we shall get it right shortly

By Iyojo Ameh and Ngbede James

Senator Yemi Adaramodu has attributed his rise in Nigerian politics to divine favor and community support rather than wealth or political connections. In an exclusive interview with citypost.ng the lawmaker shared his personal and political journey, offering reflections on his humble beginnings and thoughts on the state of the nation.

Question: Distinguished senator, your life has been an example to many Nigerians. Tell us briefly about yourself.

It is the best interview we are doing. I’m an analyst and a third-party explainer. Yes, my name is Yemi, that is Adeyemi, and my father’s name is Adaramodu .Yes, I would just say that I’m a child of a circumstance and a naturally groomed person, someone who was not thinking that this is the level that he would get to, but he has gotten to the level that he was not even thinking that he would get to, and has even transcended beyond that level.

And like what Chinua Achebe said “when your palm kernel is broken for you by a benevolent spirit, you have to be humble”. So I believe that my palm kernel was broken for me by a benevolent spirit, that’s why I remain humble and I wish to remain humble like that. And to the greater glory of God, God has been very, very kind to me and the people around me, have played a very great role.

My parents, though, very average, and they could hardly afford to pick my education challenges then, yet they struggled to make sure that I went to school. And like what they say, a child that is growing up, will need lap of grown up to teach her how to sit down how to walk etc., so that is the way I grew up. They have been a very great source of inspiration and encouragement to me.

And so I would say that I started very early. Why I said I started very early was that because there are so many areas that I just, because of time, that I will not be going into one after the other and in detail.

But like I said, summarily, that the good spirit has broken my palm kernels for me, and I have to remain humble. And starting, very challenging, but not difficult. Why I would say not difficult is that where there is will there is a way.

Because my average parents had the will to ensure that I get educated and get up. And then God just provided the way. And like I said, even when I was in school then, from my primary one to university, I never bought a textbook Because when I knew that my parents were struggling to even pay the little amount that I was supposed to pay in school. So why would I just get home one day and say that I needed a textbook? So in order not to discourage them, I had to make sure that I did not give them that extra burden.

Because God gave me some brain, so those ones who could afford textbooks then would give me their textbook to read so that I would explain to them later. Or I allowed them to spy. So to God be the glory like I said, it provided me to get to the university and then getting out of the university.

Just within two years of graduation, I had been very, very lucky to be called upon to politics locally, especially by the young ones. And what made it very easy for me then was that every time that we were on holidays, while I was at the university, that is Obafemi Awolowo University, I didn’t have any uncle or aunty or brother to go spend holidays with.

I had to remain at home in Ilawe-ekiti. So instead of remaining ideal , I organized JAMB and WAEC coaching classes. And I was doing that pro bono, free of charge. So by the time several students that I coached keep passing their JAMB and WAEC in flying colours, I suddenly become very popular.

And so very early in my life, the youth beckoned to me that “you can do politics come and try your hand in becoming even a counselor”. Then I was subscribing to the leadership and political tutulage of Senator Bode Olowoporoku now late, who was a former minister and a former governor of the old western state. I was using him as a role model then, though I was not very close to him. I was a distant mentee of the old politician. And when the youths saw that, they encouraged me that I can do it.

So I was supposed to buy a form then for N10,000, but I couldn’t afford that N10,000. So we contributed our monies and we couldn’t make up to N6,500.
Then the chairman of the Local government then and the former House of Representatives member representing my constituency, Dr. Ife Arowosoge met me and said young man I am going to buy form for you and he gave me the N10,000.

Unfortunately, the election did not hold. I returned the money, he said he would not take it back from me. So for the first time, I used that money to go and buy a television set and a video recorder because I never had any.I was very happy then.

So just a few months after it, the military said, yes, we are going to put up, under the Zero Party and everything like that, they are going to put up the Local government structure, just by play by play. That’s how I came back to the town and then I became chairman of Local government at that tender age. I was barely 29 years then. So since then, there had never been a stoppage to my rising up.

So that’s why I said I give very great glory to God Almighty who has made all those things possible because if it is by connection, I had zero connection. If it is by money, where will I get it? So if it is by influence, the influence was not there. But when you have divine influence and then that kind of a grace, divine grace, so definitely so many things will happen to you that you will not even be able to explain. So up to this moment, God has never given me any reason to keep struggling because I don’t have to struggle.

Why I don’t have to struggle is that where I started, God gave it to me. So where I am, God gave it to me. And then because of that, I have decided and made up my mind that I will be good to people.

That the only thing I can do is just to make sure that I make myself very open, make myself very accessible. Then it is only what I don’t have that I will not give. Because I know the meaning of someone lacking. I’ve lacked before. I know what it means. So if anybody tells me that he has not eaten food since morning, even by 4pm, I will know it is true. And I will know it is real.

I will know that person is not fasting. I will know it is because he didn’t have.

Even then, that we could even say maybe the economy was a bit better. Some of us could not even afford to get the luxuries of life. I was one of them but here I am today.

I am a personification of the fact that God does miracles and like I said the benevolent spirit has broken my palm kernel and I have to be humble.

Question: How would you describe the stormy water of the nation’s politics?

Well, the nation’s politics is not supposed to be stormy. Unless you want it to be. If the players want it to be stormy.
Like I said in politics have intentions and not serious over ambition. Know that what you have interest in, several others do too.

And then as a politician, I know there is God factor in everything. But any politician that does not believe in God factor will always be very inordinate. And then if an inordinate person is playing politics, it has to be stormy.
So for me joining politics was more of an intention, I was not coerced to join politics. I was looking at those people who were successful and who were giving back to their societies.

Like I mentioned Senator Bode Olowoporoku who will always come home, speak our dialect and was not discriminating. We would just sit down and in fact use a lot of adjectives, Yoruba adjectives to qualify political situation then I was so fascinated.

So when you now find politicians who go into politics and want to be in offices because they want to help the people and contribute, they will do well for the people and they will not be inordinate. And then politics will not be stormy.

Yes, contemporary politics now we can say is bedeviled with a lot of characters, unlike any other profession, any other business, any other human endeavor. Because if human beings are playing politics, then it is the good, the bad, the ugly that will be playing the politics.

And then we have more of the bad and more of the ugly than the good. But if only we have two or three, five, the good, it is going to obliterate 100 of the bad and ugly. So that is the way it is.

And yes, today, why politics look like that today is that it is only through politics that our society can get anything. if there is government, especially in democracy, there must be parties. If there will be parties, there will be politics. If there will be politics, there must be contestations.

And then if there will be contestations, there must be conflicts. And where there is conflict, there can be storms. And where there can be storms, there can be so many occurrences that will just happen at times either positively or negatively. That is how it is.

But the long and short of it, is that if we have, like I said, you want to provide water, it’s through governance, and it is through politics. You want to provide electricity, it’s through governance, and it is through politics. You want to provide good roads, health care delivery, education, and so on and so forth. And all the infrastructure is through governance and is through politics. Because I have never seen anybody or an individual who establishes his own ministry or corporation.

I have never seen an individual who establishes his own ministry ofl works. So you can only do a little road to your house. So because of what I said earlier, then it means that people will go into politics either in order to preserve their own environment and make sure that their environment gets all the infrastructure and necessities that are necessary for good life.

And so characters in politics, some people who see politics as end to all means. So definitely those people, you can’t just, for me, I don’t see them as even politicians. I see them as hustlers. I see them as political rustlers. I see them as political wanderers who are just looking for a way out, just to satisfy some ends. And that ends will always be personal.

So if it is not like that, if it is real that you want to enhance the good living of your people, your society, your community, your state, local government, or even in the nation, definitely you will be very temperate with it because you know that if the people can give you the opportunity, you know what you are going to do for them. And when the people understand that you are going to do well for them, definitely they will be with you.

So by and large, politics is not a dirty game, it is only when people with inordinate character begin to play it that it becomes dirty.

If politics is played by people who are brilliant, who are suave, people who have very impeccable characters, people who are very accessible, people who mean well for their societies it will be great. So likewise we have the other side of it, like any other business or professions.

We have yellow journalists, quack doctors, lazy teachers and so many others so we also have in politics. In business also we 419 and others. It is in every sphere of human endeavours like I said.

Question : What is your take on the hues and cries surrounding the nation’s economy and the present administration.

Answer: There was a time in Nigeria, that we were even buying Naira with Naira. There was a time our subsidy regime had already risen to about 4.7 trillion Naira. There was a time that our subsidizing dollar had already risen up to 7 trillion Naira. That’s almost the total amount of expenditure of Nigeria at an average of about 1 trillion Naira per month of federation account sharing among the three tiers of government, about 1 trillion Naira.

So already it means that the amount we use to service dollar and fuel subsidy is the amount that Nigeria is sharing among the three tiers. And then there was a time within this economy that several months that there won’t be any funds coming from the NNPC as proceeds from export of crude oil in Nigeria; but today it’s no more like that.

Before it used to be about 600 billion Naira that the three tiers of government would share. But today it’s almost 2 trillion for the three tiers of government.

So definitely, like I usually say, when you want to make an omelette , will you not break an egg? You will break an egg. And then when the family, when there’s problem in the family, maybe due to shortage in income, then there’s going to be adjustment.

And when adjustment is, there will be inconveniences; and that inconveniences especially will not last. When the father of the house knows that, yes, I’ve readjusted and I have to buckle up and I have to make sure that I bring back opulence to the family.

So definitely, this government shows that it is readjusting. And when you mention reform, reform is not always an entertainment matter. It’s not a comedy.
Reform means that some things will be done that can bring momentary difficulty.

And so we are experiencing the momentary difficulty. And it is going down because it’s not the amount that we bought a bag of rice four months ago around Christmas that we are buying it now, it’s not.

And then the inflation that we have been talking about that had already risen up to 34, 35 percent is now 24.6 percent, at least currently.

Then for the first time that we are hearing and we are reading it, that Nigeria has paid back a loan, the COVID loan, $3.4 billion that Nigeria has paid back. The first time we are hearing that one. So when you see all these signs, you will know that there are tales of good fortunes to come. That is number one.

Then number two, the flip side of it is that when we talk about economy, economy is not supposed to be that we are just living daily, tat, oh, whatever we see today, let’s consume everything so tomorrow will take care of itself.

So when you do economy in that way, that tomorrow will prepare for itself, that means that that country, that family will never have a future. Because that tomorrow will collapse, definitely. So that was the way we were living before.
Tomorrow will come, that’s why we tell the central bank to go and print more money.

That means we want tomorrow to take care of itself. That’s why the money borrowed from central bank rose from 5%, which is supposed to be statutory, to as high as 50%, which the National Assembly has already brought back again.

That’s why it was possible for Nigeria State to owe the central bank about 31 trillion Naira. But now all those amounts have been paid back.

So that’s when you will know that the economy is now maintaining a good rate.

The economy was made at ICU when this government got there. It was an intensive care unit living on borrowed oxygen, and that oxygen, that gas was already finishing by the time this government get there. So, and if not for all this kind of rescue mission, then the economy would have been buried by now.

And if the economy is buried, it means that Nigeria would have gone into a very serious irredeemable recession. So thank God, all the drugs that are being applied to the economy as a great patient, as a great national patient, is now working on it. It’s now working on the economy, and then recovery is coming up.

Question: Sir, the decampees from other parties to your party. Don’t you think that the party may be over bloated and it could implode ? If that happens will it be in favor of the party or against the party?

Answer: Then the other side, about APC, when some people say, oh, maybe APC is trying to force a one-party state, I said, look, politics is a game of numbers. There has never been any rule, any law, either constitutional or any statute in Nigeria that forbids anybody from belonging to any party of his or her choice. There’s none. That’s put apart.

Then, APC is not negotiating with PDP or Labour Party as an entity. It is individuals that are joining APC. It’s not PDP that is joining APC. It’s not Labour party that is joining APC. It is individuals that are joining APC.
And you cannot stop individuals from going to the party where they think there is progress. That’s another side to it.

Then, the general side to it, is that, how would there be implosion? There can only be implosion where the leadership is not well-grounded in politics.

Every politics is local. When you are in politics and there is no accommodation for you, when you are in politics and then what does not belong to you, you want to take it, that is when there can be very serious, (and negative concentration that could not be resolved.

That’s where there’s implosion
There can never be implosion in APC. Because, if you look at the way APC started, like, you know, APC is an amalgamation of about three or four mega parties. The ACN, which is a very, very fundamental and principal partner in the formation of APC, started from ACN before coming on.

CPC started from ANPP then, before going into CPC, before joining ACN. Then we have the new-PDP then, then we have maybe a few elements from APGA. So, those legacy parties that paid their dues in the sphere of politics in Nigeria, they have had the experience.

And you knew that when we were in ADC ACN, Bola Ahmed TINUBU our president, was our leader. Then he was not managing AC, ACN for himself because he wanted to be president. He never contested for an election.

That’s why, when you see a politician who contests in every election, who contests for every position, that person cannot be taken as someone whose party will not implode if they have so many people in that party. Because, they will be ruled by ambition, not by intention, not by interest. But, that of Bola Ahmed TINUBU , when he was in AC,ACN, in AD, he never signified his intention to contest.

The only time he contested, or two times he contested before now, he became a senator, he contested once and became senator once. He contested once to be a governor and he won once.

He never signified his intention that he wanted to be a president. It was only the only time that he knew the coast was clear for him to contest, that he contested, but in Nigeria, you will see some political leaders, can we say they are leaders, or political serial contestants who will be contesting if elections are being held every six months.

So, that’s why they cannot engender a kind of organic organization that we can call a political party that can be so cohesive, that is not going to be ruled by ambition. Because, once there is ambition, and the other people in the party know that you have an ambition, definitely there will be serious, irreconcilable contestations. That’s why there is always implosion in the other side.

But, on our own side like leader, like followers, like Tinubu like followers. If you know it is not apt for you to contest and win, you don’t come out and start buying form because you want to make up the number, no, it is not like that in the APC.

In APC, when people are joining, they see the example of a very, very organic leadership that holds their people and respect the rules of the game and that is why they are coming into APC and that cannot make Nigeria a one party state because out of about 200 million people in Nigeria how many of us politicians have our names in the APC party register only about 10 percent.

Moreover, if a senator, LGA chairman or any other politician join the APC doesn’t mean everyone has joined.

Politics is a game of numbers. Political parties are formed to win elections and it takes number to win elections, if any political party do not plan to win elections, it automatically turn to a social club and APC is not planning to be a social club. So we need all the numbers to avoid sweating when the time comes.

So if other parties don’t know how to attract people because of the lack of its political character you don’t blame APC for their misfortune.

Moreover, some of these political parties are SPVs, special purpose vehicles for those who fell out of political favour with their parties and are trying to look for relevance and that is why they are not coercive.

Thank you.