The Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, a man of many firsts, will be 90 years old on September 11, 2024. Already, the drums are rolling and preparations are in top gear, with personalities from far and near booking to be part of the grand celebration of a man who has been a blessing to not just Edo State and Nigeria but humanity as a whole. In the spirit of the celebration, a team of The Nigerian Observer journalists comprising the Acting Managing Director, Osa Victor Obayagbona, Acting Editor, Chuks Oluigbo, and Political Correspondent, Tobore Jerome, interviewed the Esama in his residence in Benin City, and he left many nuggets for the younger generation. Below are excerpts:
We from The Nigerian Observer are here today because we want to really be at the forefront of kickstarting the celebration of your life, not only as a gift to Edo State but also as a gift to the whole nation and humanity. Sir, we want to know you from that aspect that many people don’t know?
I joined in founding The Nigerian Observer with Aloba. I told Ogbemudia to put Aloba there. I went to Lagos to bring Aloba to manage The Nigerian Observer at inception. At a time, I paid the staff of The Nigerian Observer for a whole year because the government had no money. This is why I am annoyed. In Nigeria we make history but we don’t write history. So, go to your archives. I paid Observer staff for a whole year. I can’t blame you because you were not there. So, go to the history to know.
In a couple of days you will be 90 years old. We want to know, how does it feel to attain such a ripe age?
Well, when the parable says, when God is on your side age is only a number, that is how I feel. When God is on your side, age is only a number because, as I said it again to The Sun the other day, what I used to do when I was much younger has not changed, my body has not changed, I am still able to do it. Physically, I don’t wear glasses. I thank God Almighty. God is faithful to his promise and I thank him a lot. I owe everything to God.
Yours is a very successful story. You are the first in a lot of things; the first private university, the first private airline, and many more. How did you do that?
I thank God for that. God made everything possible. I was the first person to start a motor assembly plant in Nigeria, indigenous motor assembly plant, Mid-Motors Nigerian Company Limited. There were fifteen motor companies in Nigeria, Mid-Motors was number 16. It was the only 100 per cent indigenous motor company in Nigeria. I cannot count how many now. God has always made me lead and I thank God. When I have a deep reflection now, I thank God, and I ask myself, when did I do this? That’s the truth.
What would you consider the secret of your success?
God’s blessings.
Every man has a prayer point. As you wake up every morning, what is your prayer point?
My prayer point is: ‘God, I am a blind man, show me my next step.’ Just that. Let me tell you, when you are praying, everything begins in the Lord’s Prayer and ends in the Lord’s Prayer. There is no perfect, complete prayer other than the Lord’s Prayer if you look at it well. But people have now commercialised prayer; they pray for one hour or two hours, but the Lord’s Prayer can cover for everything.
Growing up, we saw a picture of you in the Nigeria Police. What is the difference between the police then and the police now?
Well, I won’t condemn, but there is a big difference from when we were controlled by the British people and where we are now – in terms of discipline and all of that.
What is your philosophy of life?
My philosophy of life varies, we can analyse it for a whole day. But let me just say, God’s ways. My philosophy is directed by God. So, God directs.
When you talk to older people, they always talk about the good old days, and some of us younger ones keep wondering, what is it about those good old days compared to the time we are now?
The good old days, to start with, you obeyed and respected your father. Even in the Bible, it is stated, ‘Obey thy father and thy mother.’ That is the only phrase that appears fifty-three places in the Bible. Not only your parents but also the elders, so that your days can be long on this earth. Good old days, there was no armed robbery, you could leave something in the market and come back to meet it. But now so many things have changed, we have to take life as we meet it.
My mother told me a story so many years ago. She said that good is producing bad now. When bad starts producing bad, the country will get everything bad. My mother said it years ago. When bad starts producing bad that is it, problems.
Part of the essence of this interview, Sir, is to also impart lessons on the younger generation. What is your lesson for the younger generation?
The younger generation has a lot to learn. There are some of you people now who do not know how to carry a kobo. I didn’t want to raise my children like that. Some of the young ones, anything less than a million or billion, they are not interested. But you cannot count billions in one day; you have to learn.
I will give you an example. In 1964, I had my children then, they were 11 of them. I called all my children, put them in a Hiace bus, and we started from here. I said to my eldest son, Lucky, count how many people driving Mercedes; Mabel, count how many people driving Peugeot; Bright, count how many people driving Volkswagen; the other one, count how many people driving motorcycles, how many people driving lorry. The rest of you, count how many people moving with their legs. I gave them paper to write. We moved from Akpakpava, Mission Road, Sakponba Road, and First East Circular. That’s God’s wisdom.
When we came back, I told them, you choose where you want to be, whether you want to drive Mercedes, you want to drive a Peugeot, or you want to trek. Every one of them said they wanted to be a big man, they didn’t want to trek. And I said, you must tailor yourself to get there, don’t go by cheating but go by what you are earning.
Are there other lessons you want younger people to learn, especially in the area of succeeding in whatever one has chosen to do in life?
My dear, this hurry to be what you are not is not the way. I saw some people that went to borrow money to buy a car. Car does not give them profit, they can’t even buy petrol. Instead of you borrowing money, you have to be adequately ready enough to do what you want to do to succeed.
From information and from what we have seen, a lot of delegates, both from within and outside the country, are all coming together to celebrate you at 90. And we know you hold chieftaincy titles even in Yorubaland and all over Nigeria. What is that thing in you that draws people to you, that makes people want to associate with you?
The other day I got over 200 Obas, not just cheap Obas, I am talking about Majesties, who have made arrangements to come already. Even Sultan, O’oni and others, they are all coming. I don’t even know most of them, but because I have reached out to them in the past. As soon as they are crowned, I don’t leave anyone behind. I do for them what their people cannot even do for them. Maybe that is the cause.
What is your secret to a long life?
Mind what you eat, that is the secret. Up till today, I don’t believe in refrigerating my food. Like what you eat now, your wife can go to the market and buy whole vegetables. No, anything more than one, two or three leaves, it is stick you are eating. If you go to our backyard, there is no vegetable you won’t see there. Every day they go there and pick. Food you want to eat, you keep it fresh. All these carbonated drinks, they kill people. Because I was making Canada Dry then [bottling Ginger Ale, Bravo and Sport Cola under the Canada Dry International franchise], a lot of sugar. The concentrate is very little; the rest is water and sugar. The sugar in a bottle of carbonated drink is more than the one in beer. You can use twelve bags of sugar to make the same number of beer but you have to use twenty-four bags of sugar to make the same number of carbonated drink.
By the grace of God, we will all gather again at your centenary celebration. God will give you good health. I see that anytime I come around you still talk about business. What do you aim to achieve before your centenary birthday anniversary?
Well, I will call it a hobby. I wake up happy if I see any building going up. Building is my hobby. And then, I still work 18 hours every day. As long as I have breath, I will still be working, I believe, until the day God says the children should take over.
Growing up in this city, I knew some of your children. If I cast my mind back, those people who were your peers in the 80s, I can still name some of them, the Legemahs, the Agidigbis, and others. Today nobody hears of their children. How did you gather your children, how did you train them that nearly all of them that I know are responsible?
I learnt from them. Some of those people did not train their children, only Agidigbi trained his children, but because of the misbehaviour of some of the children you don’t hear of them anymore. I have a parable that says a success without a successor is a failure. I don’t want my own to be a failure; that is why I am working hard.
How do you relax?
I go to bed at 10pm in the night, and nobody…even if someone has come to greet me, I will excuse myself by 9:30pm and go upstairs, pray, and go to bed.
