Very well known for his activism, Rotarian Olukayode Ezekiel Salako, founder and National Coordinator of Change Agents of Nigeria Network (CANN), has been actively involved in the struggle since 2011. The educationist and father of three boys, at his Macdonald Akaro, Omole Phase 1, Lagos home, on Friday, April 10, 2015, revealed to YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine the truth surrounding his purported reconciliation with his first wife, Bukola, why he cannot separate from his new wife, Foluke Daramola-Salako and more…
Since the formation of Change Agents of Nigeria Network (CANN) in 2011, how would you describe the journey?
It has been a very positive journey. A story of success. A story of a young Nigerian who has seen the tomorrow of the country. I was so sure that change will surely take place in Nigeria. I knew since 2011 that Nigeria was due for change, that everything about Nigerian needed change from the status quo to a better nation. So, something in me kept telling me that things must not continue to be run this way, because my principle is against cheating others and I’m a very principled man. That was why when I married Foluke Daramola, some people said I will soon go back to my former wife, but I laughed because they don’t know me. Before I do things, I consult spiritually, physically, morally, economically, emotionally and otherwise and I would have sat down to think about it. So, I was convinced that would come to Nigeria and that is why I’ve been saying fellow Nigerians, let’s change the country since 2011, because the kind of government PDP is running has been too conventional for me and the way I see it, PDP has not governed Nigeria dynamically. It lacks a dynamic kind of government and leadership because a country like ours that has several problems and challenges, that has been battling with survival and development, struggling just to meet up in the comity of nations can’t continue to be in the hands of such government because nothing seems to be working. So, I tagged it the journey of a man who saw tomorrow. I saw it first; even before the formation of APC, I’ve been preaching change! I am the first person who started the change movement in Nigeria, before I put my wife into it. She also saw it first around January 2012 that Buhari is going to be the next president of Nigeria and when Foluke tells you she has seen something, believe her! She saw it in her dreams that we are for each other, even when we had not started dating. She said my mother who died several years ago told her in her dreams that she needs to help her son, take care of my son forever. In fact, when she was telling me all those things, I was laughing because then I was married with three children to a woman that I’ve married for 13 years. So, how would I tell her to go? I can’t. I’m a Christian. I don’t even have the liver to tell the woman to pack out of my house, but look at it today, we have been living happily together now for the past 3 years.
Has the change finally come?
The change has not come yet, but it is the beginning of the process of achieving that change. Buhari is not going to come and change Nigeria in one month, two years or four, but the process of building a new Nigeria is having first of all, change. Because a party has been in charge for almost 16 years and we have all seen that the party is not capable of taking Nigeria to that level where we can stop living in frustration and enjoy. The PDP-led Federal Government does not have a clue on how to give Nigerians the type of country they want. They don’t have the technical know how, no passion, no zeal, no ambition or the vision and since the only thing that is permanent in life is change, then it only needs common sense to know that when a platform is not giving you what you want, try another platform, maybe the new one will be able to meet your demand and aspiration.
What drove you into activism?
I have the passion, and that was what drove me into establishing the Fasholamania Movement which I started in 2007. It’s all about identifying with what is right. Fashola’s government is right for Lagos and Ambode that is in now is also about that. Any mentally reasonable person will support him. If governance had been working in Lagos and it’s been adjudged all over Africa and the world that Governor Fashola has indeed repositioned Lagos, and that it has been so for the past 16 years, why do we have to change that government? You only change what is bad. You don’t change what is good. The only thing you can do to what is good is to continue to build on it.
What was your reaction when APC picked the slogan, Change?
I thank God because God used the All Progressives Congress (APC) structure to hijack that change from me and brought it up to become a revolutionary movement that is even bigger than APC. So, I am the happiest Nigerian today because I’ve preached the birth of a new Nigeria that started in my life time.
Did you ever think that any political party would come and dislodge PDP?
PDP as we all know is the biggest ruling party in Africa, with strong structures everywhere. If you go to the remotest village in Nigeria, you will see a symbol of PDP there. So, for any party to dislodge them, talk less of APC that is about 2 years old, should make you know that God is there as the leader of the change movement in Nigeria. He is interested in the situation of Nigeria. Before Buhari was declared winner some days back, I did a write up I titled Except If There’s No God. Because a candidate that was endorsed by the Association of Witches and Wizards in Nigeria, Sat Guru Maharaji, Pastor T.B Joshua and all other deadly and bad people in Nigeria came to say he was their choice. Except there’s no God, that is when He would make such a person to now reign and be declared the winner over a man, Buhari that the cries, wailings and frustrations of the Nigerian masses have touched in their country would make Jonathan to win Buhari. Except there’s no God. But God showed that He’s indeed God.
Have you been threatened for supporting a political party before?
I’ve only been threatened four times, but none came during this last election. But when I was running Fasholamania, because the motto of my life is to always tell the truth, nothing but the truth and you can’t be a revolutionist if you can’t be bold to say things that people are afraid to say. I say it the way it is. You can’t be a revolutionist and you will be calling blue-black and for you to have converts, you must be a political preacher who preaches good governance.
Why do you think President Jonathan failed in his bid to be re-elected?
For any good leader, you must have character, conscience and civility and these are the three things Jonathan does not have. His government lacks character; he sends DSS and police against opponents to attack and harass them and that was why he surrounded himself with men of questionable characters and he now has himself to blame for this because that popular adage says ‘show me your friends and I will tell you who you are’. Jonathan misused his opportunity with his style of governance. You are reminding someone of his dirty past whereas you have a very bad present that can’t even be washed clean. He forgot people that brought him there and was calling then touts and running negative documentaries about them to attack their personalities. Did he not know that Tinubu was corrupt when he sought his help in 2011 or that Obasanjo was a tout when he went there begging? That PDP card Obasanjo tore was not just a card he tore, he actually tore PDP! And when Obasanjo tears anything in this country, that thing is torn indeed because he is not an ordinary human being. He tore PDP because Jonathan wanted to destroy him and he doesn’t want to be destroyed with a party he had labored so much to build to that level. All the power brokers in PDP left the party for Jonathan because he is greedy and self-centred and doesn’t have conscience and that was why he lost.
Let us talk about your marriage a bit. Since 2012 when you left your former wife, nothing has been heard about her, but last week, you posted a photo of you, your ex-wife, Bukola, and your three boys on facebook, signaling a reconciliation. What is the latest about your marriage?
You saw the picture too? Now, I will address the issue, but let me first of all establish that there’s nothing I do with my first and ex-wife that Foluke Daramola does not know about. We both decided to let certain things happen and she was aware that I took those pictures and that I posted it on my facebook wall. Foluke has never said that I should be the enemy of my children because she doesn’t even want to be seen as such at all. So, if I don’t do well to my children, tongues will wag that she is the one that is controlling me not to take care of them and not to act like a man. I’ve always said it that my first wife remains a part of me forever because she had three children for me and not just children, they are all boys. These boys are growing up and they have been asking for their father. So, all along, people have been talking and creating the impression that so far I’ve married Foluke Daramola, I won’t have anything to do with my ex-wife again. But it is a lie! It’s just mental bankruptcy for anyone to think that I will throw away three boys because I’ve remarried. I didn’t throw away Foluke’s children, because I have them here; not the only ones I posted. All the five children are with me. I am still alive to my fatherly responsibilities to my children and if it is true that I’m living under an influence of Foluke as some might be thinking, would I ever remember that I have children somewhere? A man that is living under the influence of juju will not remember his assets again. The Foluke you know is not a wicked soul. She is learned and very sound spiritually. Her mother is a strong member of Mountain of Fire Ministries. If Foluke tells you that you will die in seven days, you better go and pray very well because the person would surely die. When people see me at any event with her, it is because we are friends, we are bonded, close and things are okay between us. So also if you see me with my ex-wife and my children, it is to let you know that Foluke has allowed it because that is common sense. If she had not allowed it, I would not post it on my facebook? I will be hiding it for her not to see it.
How would you describe the relationship between Foluke Daramola and you ex-wife?
Excellent. Sometimes Foluke would go to the market, buy things, package it in the name of my children and send it to them. Foluke and my first wife talk on phone, they call each other. You know life is too simple for people to be rigid about it. Anyone can die at anytime because life is not rigid. Foluke and Kayode have western education and if you have such, you won’t be too rigid about life.
But is there any hope of reconciliation?
I don’t know who mentioned reconciliation in the comments on the picture, because I never made any announcement that I’ve reconciled with my ex-wife. But it is only a mentally bankrupt person that would expect that I’m going to be an enemy to a woman who bore three children for me. Bukola and I can never be enemies and there is nothing I do with Bukola or around that Foluke does not know about. Bukola’s children come to our house and Foluke’s children go to her house too. People feel if a woman leaves you, then you must not have anything to do with her again. That is unreasonable. That picture has not shown that I’ve left Foluke and you can see it with your eyes now, Foluke is here with me and my first wife is not. But that does not stop me from being nice to her because she bore three children for me. People peddling rumour that I’ve reconciled with my ex-wife and may leave Foluke are mentally bankrupt. They are people who hate sanity. What I’ve been doing between the two of them is my right and Foluke knew everything about it because we have all forgotten about our past and all of us have moved on. She lives on her own, talks whenever she wants to talk to me, the children have access to me and likewise. And this has not affected my relationship with Foluke. Even, she wanted us to go back as husband and wife, but the truth is that it is too late because she has regretted her actions.
Has that made you a man with two women?
Maybe that has made me a man with two women, I don’t know. But all I know is that I won’t be the first man to be marrying two women and that does not mean it has affected my relationship with Foluke and I’m not saying I’ve reconciled with my first wife either. The only thing is that all of us are good together.
What has been the most beautiful thing about your marriage to Foluke in the past three years?
That is a very good question. Living with Foluke for the past three years now has been full of memorable experiences and also challenging as well, because a life without challenge is a life without life. The most memorable that I can share with you is that it has made me a fulfilled man because I’m married to one of the best women in the Nollywood. Foluke is a very, very good woman, but the only thing is, there’s no perfect human being. She is not perfect. In fact, she is stubborn and heady, but I’ve been able to capture that in her, but aside that, she is the definition of what an ideal woman should be. When the Bible described a virtuous woman, the Bible didn’t say a virtuous woman is a woman who has not met with a man before you met her. She is a woman that has ideals and godly character and attributes worthy of emulation. She is a giver, she is not a sadist, she doesn’t keep malice because if you offend her and you are able to defend yourself, you are free. She is not wayward or promiscuous. No matter how rich you are, you can’t see what my wife has under her skirt and she is hard working, loves her children and she can do anything to support the growth of her man. So, that has given me fulfillment in this marriage more because Foluke is living my life. If we go to the party and I take champagne, she would do the same, she won’t see me as a sinner; if I take red wine, she does the same and if it is palm wine, she does too. That is the sign of a woman that is living someone’s life. She’s not stingy. If she has N5 million in her account, you will know and she is not rigid. That is why she allowed me (not permission) to still relate with my ex-wife. She is educated and presentable. There’s nothing you want in a woman that Foluke does not have. She is not living with me like a celebrity, like a star, she is a domesticated woman and fantastic cook who washes and cleans the house. If you give her one thousand five hundred naira to cook soup, she would do it as if you gave her N15,000. I’m not exaggerating. That is the way it is. I’m not flattering her at all. I’m married to one of the best women in Nollywood and that is one of the best things that has happened to me and I wish we can continue to live happily as long as she wants it, because this marriage cannot break unless Foluke wants it broken.
NB: First published April 2015