The GDA asking the General a question |
father-in-law and as you are preparing to give him a befitting funeral, you
suddenly got the shock of losing your first wife within same time? That was the
kind of fate that befell one of Nigeria’s finest Generals, General David Medayese Jemibewon between the month of June and July
2015.
The former Governor of the Old Western Region and former Minister of
Police Affairs under President Olusegun
Obasanjo’s first term in office (1999-2003) lost his father in-law, the
great teacher and revered Catholic Church leader, Chief J.B. Ajayi on
Monday 22nd. Chief J.B. Ajayi
is the father of General David
Jemibewon’s second wife, Madam Dupe
Agnes Jemibewon. But exactly a month after losing his father-in-law who
died at age 85, his first wife, Chief
(Mrs.) Comfort Adunni Jemibewon (Nee Oni) passed away on Wednesday July 22nd.
She died at age 71. With this situation, the General was left with no option
than to stretch his schedule and foot the funeral bill of these two important
personalities in his life. While his wife’s funeral took place between
Wednesday July 5th and Thursday July 6th in Lagos, his father-in-law’s funeral held between Thursday July 6th
& Saturday July 8th in Ibadan
and Orin Ekiti. The Very intelligent
and smart General opened up to your number 1 Africa’s Celebrity Encounter blog –
asabeafrika.blogspot.com during the Service of Song ceremony for his
father-in-law in Orin Ekiti on
Friday August 7th. It was a
very humble
who poured his heart to us. Read and learn from his philosophy. Enjoy!
‘Uncle Dave’ at the Church Service for Baba J.B. Ajayi |
means a lot to your in-laws, how do you actually feel with the warm reception
accorded you here?
and I have come to mourn the passing to the greater beyond of my father-in-l(Chief John Bosede Ajayi, I feel good, I
feel okay being among the great people of Orin.
Bosede Ajayi?
difficult for me to define him appropriately but I can only make comments about
my impression and that is that, he was a great man, he was a decent man,
disciplined man; well educated and very accommodating and I think he left
behind a great legacy particularly in the field of education and above all, I
count him as being extremely religious.
Baba J.B. Ajayi as a son-in-law?
frank and like I said, he was a lover of education and luckily he was in the
educational field. He had six children, three boys, three girls. All of them
are well educated. For me, I try to ensure I encourage not only my children,
anybody I come across on the importance of good education.
“I think he was always punctual, he
was always frank and like I said, he was a lover of education and luckily he
was in the educational field. He had six children, three boys, three girls. All
of them are well educated”.
General David Medayese Jemibewon greets Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State |
were done differently in the area of education but today, it seems everything
is on the downside, do you think anything is wrong with our education system
today?
makes me feel bitter about them. I want people with good manners because even
if you are well educated without good manners, without good home training, then
of course, you can’t derive the greatest benefit from education. So, good
manners is very important and also, you see, older people or elderly people I
have heard many say ‘oh, during our time, it was great; no doubt it could have
been great but this present crop of children in another twenty years they will
also have their own story to tell, positive story. The general thing is that
when you make comparison of two situations except you experienced the two
situations your conclusion is likely faulty. Because if you are saying the
young ones are not pulling their weight, they are not doing well or like when
you were young but the point is, you are no more young; so, you are looking at
your own situation which is perhaps twenty or thirty years ago and you are
comparing it to what obtains today but you are not living in that stage of the
children of today. You are not a part of their civilization. Take for example
some of us we thought we were well educated but a lot of us cannot catch up
with computer, we can’t catch up with the internet age. I had all the time in
the world, I sat down, I got people to teach me but still I cant catch up, I
don’t know why but little children of today will manipulate the television in
the sitting room, they will manipulate the computer and other devices. It simply
means they have a knowledge which we don’t have. So, to me, I think children of
these days, educationally are doing pretty well except, perhaps, you see an individual
who is irresponsible and this can happen in any situation.
“I think a thief is a thief and a
thief has no color. A white man can be a thief, a black man can be a thief just
like an Ibo man; if he is a thief he should face the law. So, maybe, there is
not a single thing I can say I will advice him. If I want to advice, I am
advising Nigerians to let us build a strong country, a detribalized country, a
country that is focused on progress”
General David Jemibewon with wife, Chief (Mrs.) Dupe Jemibewon @ Catholic Church of the Ascension, Bodija GRA, Ibadan |
woman who is very pragmatic and a lot of people feel she might have taken that
aspect from you as a military man, do you agree?
want to say I influenced anybody. It is much better that somebody says ‘he or
she is influenced by me’. I wouldn’t decide to say I influenced anybody but we
compliment ourselves. She has her qualities, I have my qualities and we try to
listen to ourselves and we compliment ourselves.
it means you were busied with two funeral ceremonies and in fact you actually
drove down to Ibadan for your father-in-law’s funeral after your first wife’s
interment on Friday. How did that affect you psychologically?
situation I pray for anybody but again, I am a man and I must be prepared to
cope with any situation. So, we thank God that God has bestowed on me a good
health to be able to do whatever I am doing and so I give gratitude to the
Almighty God.
Gen. David Jemibewon at the final ceremony for Baba at Orin on Saturday August 8th 2015 |
Muhammad Buhari as a veteran Military administrator?
man; he is a competent man; he is a man who believes in Nigeria and I have the
belief that he is the best for this country but Buhari alone cannot change the society; the society must respond
positively to all his efforts if we want our country to take a new shape. But
as a leader, he is going to lead well. Weather the people will follow properly
or not is a different matter. So, I have confidence in him, in his competence,
in his fairness and in his being exceedingly meticulous. And anybody who
contravenes the law, I want to believe under Buhari, there will be general, equal application of the law.
General David Jemibewon explaining a point to Asabeafrika’s GDA |
Thisday Advert of Gen. Jemibewon’s 1st wife funeral |
challenges facing the country like corruption, power and terrible road network.
If General David Jemibewon is to sit with President Buhari today what is going
to be your chief advice to him?
to even advise Buhari on leadership.
He has all the ingredients necessary to pilot this country along proper
leadership. But you see this is a large country, it is very large. A country
with multiplicity of problems; it is difficult to just sit down here and say I
will advice him on this. Let’s take this for example, what do we do with
education? If we take education, what do we do with water supply? If we deal
with water supply, what do we do with power, electricity? So, maybe, if I am to
offer advice, is that we need to be less in a hurry in whatever we want to do
and in our approach to doing things. We need to be less in a hurry. And it will
help us if we de-emphasize regionalism and ethnicity. Because you see, if one
Yoruba man who is corrupt is charged today, dismissed or jailed, the tendency
is for newspapers and the mass media to come up with the noise that the man is
jailed because he is a Yoruba man. If an Igbo man has stolen money and he is
jailed, you will hear a section of the media say ‘ooh, they are prosecuting
ibos. If isthe Hausa or Fulani or call it northerners there will equally be
noise, we can’t continue like this. I think a thief is a thief and a thief has
no color. A white man can be a thief, a black man can be a thief just like an
Ibo man; if he is a thief he should face the law. So, maybe, there is not a
single thing I can say I will advice him. If I want to advice, I am advising
Nigerians to let us build a strong country, a detribalized country, a country
that is focused on progress; we want to emulate nations that has developed on
ethics and good governance.
age in the South West region and development was the hallmark in your own days,
what do you say of today’s crop of governors who loot and siphon money away?
evidence that any governor looted money.
General David Jemibewon in a deep chat with the GDA at Orin Ekiti |
country as a result of underdevelopment those states?
on perception and the fact remains that I have no evidence. Perception is not
evidence, so, I don’t know if any governor has looted but if anybody is
arrested and he is prosecuted before a proper court of law and he is found
guilty, then, that becomes our source of information that the man is corrupt.
But for now I haven’t found any…
Excellency, Former Governor James Ibori
of Delta State was convicted abroad and sentenced to jail?
I don’t discuss individuals. I am a matured man and when you generalize, you
offend people; it is like somebody saying all Yorubas are not good; that is an
insult and I will take offence. So, that is it.
you afraid that your legacy might be destroyed due to bad leadership?
be afraid? afraid for what?
you sad about Nigeria?
Thisday Advert of Gen. David Jemibewon’s Father-in-Law’s Funeral |
The General with his Pretty wife, Dupe, daughter, Omolola with Present Governor Ayo Fayose & Ex-Governor Niyi Adebayo |
expressed the fear that with the rate at which the cost of education is going
there is every probability that a day will come the children of the ordinary
people might be shot out of the golden opportunity of getting educated?
I want to
believe that education has always been expensive excerpt you don’t want to say
the truth, education has always been expensive. When you are talking about
something being expensive, maybe you are judging the value to monetary
sacrifice. Now, if people pay tax and the tax is properly utilized, the chances
are that; one, state governments, local governments even federal government and
international organizations may award scholarships. A lot of people in this
country have been educated through that, what I think is most important is, if
the cost of education is high, tell me, I think what we should argue about is
quality of education because there is nothing cheap that is excellent. Anything
expensive or anything good must cost money. If you want a good car and they
sell it for twenty thousand naira and you can’t afford it, then go and buy
motor cycle. So, all good things cost money. Sometimes, it may not be money but
you must show good brain. If you show good brain, people may give you scholarship.
With that you get what a man with a lot
of money gets.
Thisday Advert of Gen. David Jemibewon’s Father-in-law |
Thisday Adevert Space of General David Jemibewon’s First wife’s |