A former governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, got furious in a recent interview with PUNCH reporters, when asked about his skin complexion.
One of the duo, Adeola Balogun and Tunde Odesola, had asked whether it is part of the ex-police officer’s fashion to bleach.
Akala, who would not take the question lightly, swiftly retorted, “Bleach? That is stupidity; you are asking a very stupid question, how can I bleach? You are very stupid to ask that question. What do you mean by that? What gave you that impression?”
Pulling up his clothe and singlet to show his fair complexion, he asked: “Is this bleaching? Have you seen the cream that I use that makes me bleach or did you know me when I was black?
“If you want to write that, put it there that I said you are very stupid to ask me that kind of question.”
In an apparent harsh tone, Akala warned the journalist never to ask such question.
“What you don’t know; you ask. You don’t even know my parents. Is my wife complaining or my children? I don’t know what gave anybody the impression that I bleach. You don’t know me; do you know what it takes to bleach? he quipped.
On how he got enlisted into the Nigerian Police, Akala said it was not accidental, as it was a dream he nursed as a young lad.
“I had wanted to be enlisted in a profession where I would wear uniform. I would have loved to be in the military but unfortunately, the day I was to write a test for the Police Force was the very day the enlistment into the Army was done. I remember enlistment into the Army was fixed for The Polytechnic, Ibadan. I don’t know why those in charge did that. My number was WS44 in 1973.
“In the police, I would spend one year and become an officer. In the army short service, I would spend six months and I would become an officer. In the Army short service, there was a limit to where I could get to move but for full course, I would spend three years. I then decided to go for the police.”
The former governor also swore that he never collected bribe while in uniform.
“I had the opportunity of working in the Administrative Department of the police for about 16 years. I was being posted from one department to the other. I did not want to leave until I was pushed to the field. There, I asked myself why should I be taking bribe?
The Peoples Democratic Party chieftain explained that as an officer, he only did what he could to assist others.
“I told myself that as God has placed me above you, why should I ask for anything? If I could help, I would and for God’s sake, an average Nigerian knows how to say thank you. If along the line, you say thank you and you give me something which I didn’t solicit, that is from you.
“But if you start negotiating bribe as I saw a cop (on the television) that was sacked recently, that is sad. An average Nigerian knows how to say thank you and if you help him, he would say thank you; why do you have to negotiate bribe where you can help? Where would you even discuss a bribe with me? As a matter of fact, if I knew that you had a bad case, I would deal with you.”
On allegations that he requested N1bn from the civil service for his re-election campaign, he said, “I don’t know anything about that. You see, when you don’t know how government operates, you don’t talk like that. Anybody talking like this is very senseless; he doesn’t have any sense. Am I a signatory to the service account? I did not ask anything from anybody.”
When asked to comment on his jewelry and dress sense, the ex-governor declared that, “In terms of everything, Akala is a man of quality. Look at me, I am a man of quality, with due respect. I use quality materials.
“I have been using jewelry as a young man. Do you know what they called Ghana before, Gold Coast. I lived in Ghana and that was where I got used to it early in my life. We make statement with our looks in Ghana.
“If you look at photos I took some 40 years back, you would see chains on my neck, hand chains and rings That is how I was brought up. Even when I was in (police) uniform, I wore my chain with my uniform. It was not legal but my uniform would cover it,” Akala said
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