Reminiscences with Senator Ameh Ebute

Senator Ameh Ebute was the president of the Senate during Nigeria’s Third Republic. In this interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, the Benue State-born lawyer cum politician reminisced about his early years as a student, policeman, lawyer and magistrate. Ebute, who will turn 75 years this month, also spoke on his polygamous life and other […]

Senator Ameh Ebute was the president of the Senate during Nigeria’s Third Republic. In this interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, the Benue State-born lawyer cum politician reminisced about his early years as a student, policeman, lawyer and magistrate. Ebute, who will turn 75 years this month, also spoke on his polygamous life and other interesting issues.

 

On May 16 this year you will be 75, how do you plan to mark this special day in your life? 

As a rural man, I never cared to make noise about birthdays or something like that, but as a former Senate President, I think I would now like the public to know my age. I also want people to know my political achievements.

How was it like growing up in a rural community?

Nigeria has developed substantially. The experience we had as rural boys is no longer there. During our time, we were not as greedy as we have it today.

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We did not appreciate most of the things modern boys are appreciating now. If you were lucky to go to school, good luck to you because most of our parents were illiterates. There was no electricity, so we went inside as early as 7:00 pm, immediately it was dark.

Then, as soon as it was 6:00 am, our fathers would wake us up and we would follow them to the farm. This is the type of life we lived. As a person, I was lucky that somebody who became a boyfriend to my first sister in the family was a little bit educated and he was teaching me 1,2,3 and ABCD. That was how I started western education.

In 1955, in the village where I was born, a primary school was established there for the first time. I took the advantage, along with the other boys and we were the pioneers of the school.

We started with a native language instead of A B C D. After one year of learning the native letters, we started learning ABCD. After two years, we transferred to another school along the main road called Olayega.

After junior primary school in 1958, in 1959, I proceeded to the senior school at Ogbeh. If your father was not educated you had to find your own school fees. I found my own school fees through the planting of yams. I harvested yams and hunted for bushmeat. I became a very good bush meat hunter.

That time, it was very cheap. Now, you can sell bush meat at N5,000, N6,000 or N7,000, but that time, it was a matter of coins. This is the summary form of my rural life until 1961 when I completed my senior primary school. Unfortunately, I passed some entrance examinations to some colleges, but I was not picked.

In January 1962 I had to leave the village for Kaduna, which used to be our regional headquarters. That was how I found myself in the Nigeria Police Force in January 1962. Having completed our training at the Police Training College, Kaduna, I was posted to Maiduguri.

From Maiduguri, I was posted to Bama camp. Baba Gambo Jimeta, who died a few months ago, was an ASP and I was his secretary and typist.

I was recruited as a police officer, but when I was posted to Maiduguri, I was sent to their training centre in Kaduna. That was where I learnt how to type and started my home service.

Why did you join the police?

It was as if there was no alternative because what I wanted was to go to college but I wasn’t admitted. Since I was a tall man, the police fitted me; and my late uncle was already a policeman. I took the entrance exam and passed.

Can you share your first experience as a policeman?

As a desk clerk in Maiduguri recording complaints brought by people, I recall that the police in the streets arrested a lorry, and when the driver came to the station, he offered me 2shillings or so as a bribe so that they could be let out of the road and I rejected it.

What was your salary when you rejected that money?  

I can’t remember the exact amount, but it was within the range of 6pounds.

Why did you reject the money?

I rejected it because I knew it was bad for a policeman to take a bribe. That time, policemen were not taking bribes as they are doing now.

What was the motivation?

We were told at the police college that we should be policemen with integrity. That was what we were also taught while growing up.

Naturally, because of my rural background, up till the time I became local government chairman, senator and chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation, I hated corruption. It has become part of my life.

Was your salary enough?

My salary was enough because you were able to buy everything you wanted because things were cheap. Farm produce was cheap, and the rent was not there because there were barracks for police officers. So it was enough to sustain us.

Did you further your education?

At the Police Training Centre in Kaduna, we were taught for six months. From there I acquired basic post-primary education at the Federal Training Centre, Kaduna. From there, I went back to Maiduguri and saw a police classmate called Nathaniel Ogongbo. I saw some pamphlets with him and asked what he was doing. He said he registered as a student preparing for one college in London. It was a home study system. I took an interest, registered and studied at home. I studied Home Economics, English Language, Religious Knowledge and Economics for three years or so.

In 1967, I sat as a private candidate for the WASSCE and I passed all the subjects at credit level, including the English Language. That happened before I was transferred in 1966 from Maiduguri to Kaduna at the Police Pay Office.

At the Police Pay Office, when I got the result of my WASSCE, I was supposed to have been sent to Ikeja as a cadet inspector but the police refused. In 1970, I applied for admission in the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) for a diploma in Law and I was admitted.

Don’t you think the police refused to send you to Ikeja because they didn’t want to miss you because of the way you worked?

No! It was because I didn’t have any godfather to push my case. That has been the problem with the police all along. If you don’t have anybody to push your case, you are on your own. You will just find your colleagues overtaking you in the promotion and everything.

The commissioner of police then, Baba Gambo Jimeta’s son passed only Arabic Language in his WASSCE and he was sent to Ikeja as a cadet inspector. But I who passed five subjects was not taken. That was what annoyed me the most.

Did you do your degree programme in ABU?

Yes.

Why the interest to read Law?

When I applied for admission into the ABU, it was for Economics, but because I was admitted for a diploma course, that was a stepping stone to reading Law. It was not a matter of personal interest; it was a matter of necessity. Later, I discovered that Law was a very good course for me.

When were you called to the Bar?

I was called to the Bar in June 1975, immediately after graduation in 1974. There was just one Law school in the country then – the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. There were no branches as we have today. When we proceeded to the Nigerian Law School I spent time with the late Tony Momoh, Justice Rose-Vivour, who just retired from the Supreme Court and Justice Akas from Kaduna. We were all called to the Bar in 1975.

What happened to your profession as a policeman?

When I went to the university, I was still in the police. I decided to opt-out of the police in 1971. I served for 9 years. I was a corporal then.

Can you take us through your years in the law practice?

When I was called to the Bar, I was posted to Jos, where I became an associate magistrate and subsequently posted to Makurdi.

But because of my hatred for corruption, I knew I was not going to be on the lower bench. I said I was not going to be a magistrate, so I resigned in January 1976 to go into private practice.

My two wives (I am a polygamist, my father’s step) were very scared about how we were going to cope but I told them not to worry. The same month I resigned, I had a brief from somebody I refer to as a crook. He came to Lagos, duped people with cement and was arrested in Kaduna. He sought my legal services (the guy was from our area). The case was forwarded to the Ministry of Justice, Kaduna, the regional government then.

When the case was coming up, I followed him and he paid me. It was a marvellous job. I never had that type of cash before. When my wives heard, they shouted.

Fortunately, I went to Kaduna to defend him, but the report from the Ministry of Justice was that he had no case. That was how I took my bag, suitcase and returned to Makurdi with professional fees. I didn’t even announce my appearance.  There was no evidence to pin him down to any particular offence.

In 1976, when Obasanjo was the military head of state, he embarked on local government reform and said there should be a direct election of councillors. I stood as a councillor and was elected. At that time you would not spend money to contest any election.

In January in 1977, those who were far older than me elected me chairman of Okpokwu Local Government in Benue State because I was the only lawyer among them. The person that contested against me became my best friend. When I went to Lagos as a senator, I recommended him and he was appointed the chairman of a federal parastatal.

How big was the office of a local government chairman, and what influence did they have?

The local government chairman was not the accounting officer. We had Mr Ogala, an Igala man who controlled the vault; but we had to make a decision for them to implement. We didn’t control any fund.

But they couldn’t control funds without you

Of course they couldn’t do that because there were checks and balances.

How would you compare the local government system then and today?

The problem with the local government system then was the person in office as governor. There was no much money as we have now, but it came from the state government.

After paying civil servants we earmarked on projects. From my own local government’s funds we built the headquarters that is still there today. But after seven months, I had to resign because of pressure from chiefs, those who wanted to become chiefs, clan heads, district heads and so on. I couldn’t withstand the temptation of corruption, and the job was not appealing as I thought. My legal practice in Makurdi was more appealing and brought much more money than that position. That was why I had to leave after seven months.

A few months after my departure, my deputy took over from me, but the local government was dissolved on the ground of corruption. It was a clear vindication for me. Two years after, in 1979, again, it was another story.

As a local government chairman, did you operate a joint account?

There was no joint account because the 1999 Constitution had not come into existence. We operated under the 1963 Constitution.

You are a man of many parts – policeman, lawyer, magistrate and politician – at what point did you go into active politics?

That was 1976 when I contested as councillor. Because of the way I handled my people at the local government level, in 1978, I wanted to go ahead with academics. I applied and I was admitted by the University of Lagos for a master’s degree. I spent one semester. But before I came back for the Christmas holidays, my people had selected me as a senatorial candidate at the age of 35 or so, and I couldn’t have said no.

It was a funny story. They wanted an experienced person, Dr Edwin Ogbuhu, but he said he wasn’t coming to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He rejected the offer and there was no educated person they could send to Lagos.

So before I came back for the Christmas holidays, my nomination was already waiting for me as a candidate. Edwin went to the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), but another lawyer came out in the same party. They struggled till I almost completed my campaign. That’s how I was elected as a senator under the NPN.

What happened to your studies in Lagos?

It was abandoned. I spent only one semester. But after leaving the Senate, I was still interested in a master’s degree, so I applied to Nsukka and was admitted. I finished my master’s degree with Alex Ekwueme, the late former vice president.

He was vice president and I was a senator.

How did you emerge as Senate president in the Third Republic?

After Muhammadu Buhari’s coup, Babangida came and organised an election in 1992. I stood again and won an election into the Senate for the second time.

The position was zoned to the North-Central, but politics came into play. Initially, I did not become the Senate president; somebody else occupied the position, but as God would have it, senators were not happy with him and he was impeached and I took the position before the late General Sani Abacha took over in November 1993. My tenure as Senate president was very brief.

How powerful was your office?

It was very powerful, except that Babangida did not allow us to perform optimally because there were no-go-areas for legislators. We were restricted to making laws on certain feats only, not on certain items like finance and so on.

Can you highlight your struggles during the Abacha regime and the people that were involved?

When I became the Senate president in 1993, we never knew that soldiers had cunningly put up a law that Abacha should become the minister that would take over in case anything happened. The decree that was made before Babangida stepped aside contained a provision that the most senior minister should take over the government if there was anything.

I phoned Abacha, telling him that we wanted to come and see him, but he said we should wait, that he was already coming to Abuja. We didn’t know that they had finished arrangements to take overpower. They took over power on November 17 and drove us out from NICON Hotel.

We couldn’t meet because soldiers took over my house, and I couldn’t go to my official residence. But six months after, we held a meeting in Lagos. About 60 of us attended the meeting and took a resolution and issued a communique that Abacha should hand over to Abiola who won a democratic election.

Security agents started looking for us. I was arrested from my hotel and taken to Alagbon Close. They started looking for other senators like Bola Tinubu, Abu Ibrahim, Mafowora, Yinka Okorafor – six of them. Other people went underground and they couldn’t lay their hands on them. Six of us were charged to court before Justice Belgore on treasonable felony.

Our lawyer, the late J.O.K Ajayi, appealed to the Court of Appeal. The present Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Sulu Gambari, was the president of the Court of Appeal and was the presiding judge of the Lagos section of the court. Our appeal went before him and he granted us bail. That was how we came out.

When he was pronouncing the judgment, there were calls from Abuja, but he refused to pick. I have great respect for that man. He refused to answer any call until he finished pronouncing the ruling and granted us bail. Even before Abacha died, the charges against us were abandoned and no government pursued the treasonable trial against us.

In spite of all these, you still took an active interest in party politics when democracy returned in 1999, why?

I contested and lost to David Mark. That’s the short story. But I remember I started underground work in 1998. I decided to rest my case and went back to practice.

What is your take on the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election?

It was a travesty of justice. There was no ground for that. The military wanted to continue in government, if not, you would agree with me that the 1993 presidential election was the freest in the country. Our own election as members of the National Assembly was also very free.

That annulment is still haunting Babangida. They didn’t know how to defend it.

Where were you during the Nigerian civil war?

During the civil war from 1967 to 1970, I was in Maiduguri as a policeman. I was later posted to Kaduna as a clerk in the Police Pay Office. Nobody would pray for another civil war in this country except those who did not witness what happened. It was a bad experience. I went to the ABU immediately after the war.

What would you say about your appointment as the chairman of the Governing Board of the National Open University of Nigeria?

Because of the part I played as the then member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former President Goodluck Jonathan nominated me and it was approved by the Council of Heads of State. I became the pro-chancellor and chairman of the university from 2014 to 2018. It was a well-educative experience in academics.

Few years ago, you wrote a letter to Bukola Saraki; talk to us about it?

I wrote the letter when I discovered that he was not loyal to his party. He conspired with members of other political parties to become the Senate president. That was not good behaviour. That was why he had no peace until he left the office. Senators from his party would not allow him to rule. That was the point I disagreed with.

Instead of all the senators to meet and elect their president, they deceived some and those who were his supporters and few others from other political parties sat and elected him without the presence of all the senators, which went against the national constitution and that of the party.

He should have maintained his integrity at all cost. He shouldn’t have divided the Senate.

How would you describe the security situation in the country? What is the way forward? 

I wonder what has brought this type of situation. It is bad luck for President Muhammadu Buhari. This has never happened before. At the age of 75, I have witnessed governments in Nigeria, but the security situation has never been like this. Apart from Boko Haram elements that have been ravaging the North-East since 2009, suddenly, we have cases of kidnapping, banditry, farmer/herdsmen clashes, gunmen killing people everywhere. I can’t imagine what is going on.

I decamped from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2016 because of Buhari’s promises to fight corruption, deal with insecurity and resuscitate the economy.

I think what has counted for this insecurity to this extent is the knowledge of the masses that the political class is looting the country’s treasury. They can’t believe the very high salaries for senators. As I am talking to you, I can’t believe that senators take up to N1 million or N2 million per month. During our time in the Second Republic, we were paid N15,000. In the Third Republic when we had already come to Abuja, we took N15,000 as salary. So it is unbelievable that senators earn such huge amounts of money.

The way the government is being run is also a factor. Those who don’t have the opportunity or access to this looting have decided to become kidnappers in order to get the money. And it is going to be difficult to ask kidnappers that are already used to big money to stop.

Honestly, the government has not done enough to stop this insecurity. It is a very unhappy situation for everybody. If you are travelling on the road you cannot feel comfortable until you are in your house. Even when you are approaching your house, you will not be surprised that some people are following you behind. Nobody knows where these unknown gunmen are coming from. They now gave the herdsmen the courage to do what they are doing, which they were not doing before. This is another surprise. They were in all communities of the country before Buhari came to power and were not fighting anybody. Their cattle were allowed to graze to any extent, but suddenly, they started hanging AK47 rifles, terrorising people and claiming ownership of lands. It is something I cannot imagine the cause. Is it because a Fulani man is in office as president that they now have to summon this type of courage? But they cannot defeat the entire country.

The way the government has handled the issue is not even clear, likewise the handling of Boko Haram. Sometimes they will say that members who have fought by the side of terrorists should be pardoned and granted amnesty. What type of thing is that? Actions taken by the government to win the Boko Haram war is not clear. The speculations of people (Nigerians) sponsoring Boko Haram thicken.

A few days ago, Malam Garba Shehu said he was going to give us the names of people who were sponsoring Boko Haram fighters. They know them and have not come out to give us their names? Why did they hide their names until this time? These insurgents should have been brought to book a long time ago.

During the civil war, the whole five local government areas in the South-East were defeated within three years. How come these local governments in the North-East could not be defeated all these years? That speaks volume. That means there are some powerful forces behind them. It is very unfortunate.

Do you support agitations for power shift in 2023? 

I believe in equity. When we started this political dispensation in 1999, the South- West had the first share of the presidency through Olusegun Obasanjo, then it came to the North (North-West). Umaru Musa Yar’adua became president, but unfortunately, he died and Goodluck Jonathan from the South-South took over and completed his tenure. He also won an election for another four years, making it six and half years.

Now, Buhari will complete his eight years in 2023. If you add two years of Yar’adua, it means the North has been in power for only 10 years. So where are we going to zone the presidency to? To the South-West that already had eight years, the South-South that had power for six years or the South-East that Nigerians have no confidence in because of their agitation for Biafra? And nobody is mentioning the minorities.

If the minorities are not given their fair share through zoning, why maintaining zoning among the majority tribes only? That’s why I am not in favour of rotation. It is not even in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is also not in the constitution of the APC. It was just a gentlemanly arrangement.

Has any of your children taken your footsteps in the police, law or politics?

None of them; but my first son was the vice-chairman of my local government. He is now a civil servant. It is my uncle’s son that has become a lawyer and I will hand over my chambers to him. However, my lastborn has gone to read Law in order to head the chamber. This is the irony of life.

You are 75, and you are still practising, where do you get the strength?

I want to imitate F. R Williams who sometimes would sit on his chair and address the court. That is the beauty of not taking an appointment on the bench – you can practise until you are unable to get up and go to court again. Practising also gives protection to your person and members of the family. People will not trample upon your rights unnecessarily.

What’s your take on the ongoing strike by judiciary workers?

This is a big question because I have my experience and practical knowledge about what is going on in the judiciary. The major part of the problems we have in the judiciary comes from the people who are not from the Bar or Bench, I mean the staff. They make things difficult for litigants. The clerks, bailiffs and others make things difficult. Once you file a suit it becomes a source of income for them. For instance, before the other party is served, they would ask you to bring money. Meanwhile, they are supposed to be provided money for service from the court. So the greed stems from the supporting staff of the judiciary. They create most of the problems. Now, they have come out with the agitation for higher salaries and autonomy; what exactly are they looking for?

But I think the law should have been made in such a way that judiciary supporting staff would have no right to go on strike. This strike is adding to the anarchy we have in the country. It shouldn’t have been allowed by the government. I don’t support it, and I appeal to them to reconsider their stand. They should not take themselves as ordinary civil servants because the services they provide are very important. They should have a rethink and come back to work so that people can clear their cases in the courts, the last hope of the ordinary man.

You are a polygamist; can you talk more about that?

Well, I was a polygamist until a certain level that I decided to repent. The bible says if you committed sins you should repent and be forgiven. What led me to polygamy was that my brother and I grew up to discover that it was only my father and his uncle that constituted their kindred in the village. It was only two of them that remained. They gave birth to us and we said this family must not go into extinction, and the only way to do that was through polygamy. The one following me also went into polygamy and we are a big family now.

Having achieved that, I have repented and my wives are on their own. Some were nurses while some were civil servants. It is the only one that is living with me now. They were about four or five.

Do you still relate to them?

Well, yes, but we don’t go to bed any longer. But I can assist and take care of the children. Most of them have finished school. I don’t have any child in the university any longer.

How many children do you have?

I am not ashamed of telling the number of children I have in public. I have 29 only – 16 boys and 13 girls.

At 75 you still look strong and agile, what’s the secret?

I read on the internet to learn what keeps people fit. The first thing is to exercise, then control your diet. We don’t take much pounded yam as we were used to take when we were young people. You live majorly on fruits, plantains, cashew nuts and others.

Maybe you don’t disturb yourself with the problems of Nigeria?

That’s the issue. I have a habit of not bothering myself with anything in life.

 

By Hamza Idris, Fidelis Mac-Leva & Idowu Isamotu