One day, Asiwaju called and asked me to come to his house for a meeting with some people.
When I arrived at his house in Bourdillon, I met some gentlemen and wondered what they were doing there. Anyway, I passed by them and went inside to meet Asiwaju.
I asked him, “I hope those two gentlemen I met on my way in are not going to be part of the meeting you called me to attend?” He said, “Of course they will be part of the meeting.”
At that point, I became upset and told him I would not attend a meeting with those two men sitting with us. Asiwaju asked me why.
I was taken aback that he even asked why, and I reminded him in case he had forgotten that one of them was the one chasing us around in Gestapo style during the Abacha days when we were fighting for the restoration of democracy.
The second one, when you did not give him an appointment, went to the media and said all kinds of things about you and about us. I told Asiwaju, as a matter of fact, that I could never attend a meeting with such people.
He looked at me and said, “Your problem is that you do not have patience. In this business we are in, it is a chapel of all sinners. Do you think this is the Redeemed Church? This is not church. It is political theatre.
“The good, the bad, and the ugly must all come together because it is about numbers in a democracy. Lai, do you know that on election day, if a madman has two minutes of sanity and casts just one vote, his vote is as powerful, significant, and equal as yours and mine? So, my friend, sit down. We are going to have a meeting with them.”
Immediately, I sat down patiently.
His greatest political strength is his ability to forgive past betrayals and stabs in the back. Even today, in his cabinet, there are people one would think he would never speak to again in his life, yet they are there, serving with him.
Lai Mohammed
Chief of Staff to Gov. Tinubu 1999 – 2003
Federal Minister for Information 2015 – 2023
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