Lateef Jakande

By Bolu Folayan

1. His highest educational qualification was Diploma in Journalism (though he later bagged a honorary doctorate).

2. He neither owned or wore “agbada” in his lifetime (says it’s cumbersome and slows him down)

3. A classmate accused him of stealing Maths Set in secondary school to spite him cos he was brilliant and the school principal hastily expelled him (Jakande said that incident made him to fight injustice with passion)

4. His first daughter died while she was doing her doctorate degree.

5. Awo threatened him that he (Awolowo) would go and face his law practice if Jakande continued to say he preferred his journalism career to running for go Governor of Lagos State (this statement by Awo made Jakande to accept to run for the primaries which he won).

6. His little son asked him after the elections when the family would move to Government House . He replied “this our house in Ilupeju is the Government House”. Said he, “I do not regret living in my house as governor .When military seized power, my children and wife did not face any embarrassment if having to move out. Everything remained the same”

-From Legacies of Leadership: Learning from the Action Years of Lateef Kayode Jakande.
Written by Bolu John Folayan, PhD.