By Ishaya Ibrahim
I first met Professor Tam David-West in 2012 in his University of Ibadan residence. A colleague, Tobs Agbaegbu, the publisher of Verbatim Magazine, had arranged for the interview I was to have with the professor, along with another colleague, Pita Ochai, at his University of Ibadan residence.
The interview lasted for four hours. We asked everything that could be asked. From how he reacted when Major General Muhammadu Buhari as military Head of State appointed him petroleum minister, what happened that General Ibrahim Babangida’s government accused him of corruption, and why he so passionately wanted Buhari to become Nigeria’s President?
Three years after the interview, Buhari defeated an incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan, to become President. That was in 2015.
David-West left us dazed at his level of intellect and wit. He exuded knowledge. He could also be extreme in his trust. For instance, he said of Buhari: “If there is a burning fire and they say if you believe in Buhari genuinely you can pass through this fire and it will not burn you, I will pass through it.”
He added: “Buhari is the only man they call Mai Gaskiya {a man of truth). They are not calling him for fun. I worked with him very closely. Look, if my father is contesting against Buhari, I will tell him Papa, I will not vote for you. Stay in the house. I know you are not corrupt. But governance, you have no business. If you go, I your son, I will campaign with Buhari against you. As I am talking to you now, that Buhari’s magnetism, as I am talking to you now, I don’t have Buhari’s phone number.”
We asked him how he became Buhari’s minister of petroleum in 1984 having never met the then head of state.
“It was a miracle. In my last book on Buhari – Sixteen sins – I explained how I got to know Buhari. Before the appointment, I had never met Buhari. After he had sworn us in I went to see him. I asked him sir; I have never met you before. I don’t know how you managed to appoint me? He said that the ideas we share brought us as friends. He told me that he had investigated me; and had read so many articles I wrote about Nigeria and was convinced that I was writing because of my love for Nigeria. Not only did he appoint me as minister of petroleum, I was chairman of NNPC board,” he told us.
In August 1985, General Ibrahim Babangida removed Major General Buhari as head of state in a bloodless coup. David-West was retained in the new government but not as petroleum minister. He was assigned the portfolio of mines, power, and steel.
Later in a controversial trial that became known as the ‘wristwatch saga’ the government accused him of taking bribe and jailed him for life. An appeal court later nullified the judgment of the lower court.
We asked him to tell us more about his relationship with Babangida and the wrist watch saga?
“I was closer to Babangida than Buhari. The relationship between me and Buhari was official. Buhari calls me professor, Babangida calls me TD. I have visited the Dodan barracks to visit Babangida more on social level than Buhari. But the difference between both of them, am saying this and I stand by it, I worked with both of them, am not saying this because Babangida was misled to put me in life jail because of wrist watch and tea. Well I have forgiven him but I don’t know if God has forgiven him.
“I didn’t take any money. If a minister wants to steal is it wrist watch? How many wrist watches in the world cost $5 million? What he wanted to do was to sully my name,” he said.
Why will he do that? We asked.
“Both MKO Abiola and Babangida wanted to be president. They are very good friends. Babangida did not want Abiola to be president and Abiola did not want Babangida to be president either. So, those that were interested to be president, anything they see they target and rubbish it.
“For Abiola, he used Concord against me. I challenged and I sued them for libel and I won.
“Babangida was misled by Dr. Jibril Aminu. I don’t call him professor. I resigned as member of the Nigerian Academic of Science when Aminu was made a fellow. I resigned because he was not fit to be there. I will die on principle and there is nothing you can do about that.
“So, Babangida took me to tribunal. Thank God he did. What Babangida did was good for me. How many people would believe that the former petroleum minister would not have millions in his account? If I had millions in my account they would have brought the millions out not wrist watch.
“Although, I have made millions for them and they know it. I sent (Sambo) Dasuki (ADC to General Babangida) to London to negotiate for $1 million I arranged for him. BCCI was to give us some money not loan and they asked me what I wanted. I told them I don’t want anything but donate $1 million to my president.
“We sent Dasuki to London to meet the lady who was to make the arrangement. Babangida cannot deny this. I never did that for Buhari or Sani Abacha. He cannot deny this if he is an honourable man which I believe he is.
“The lady Dasuki met in London is still alive (2012). Then he jailed me for wrist watch. There was nothing like that at all, but thank God it happened. Everything has its good side. We appealed and at the sitting, Ray Ekpu wrote a fantastic column in Newswatch , ‘Damned testimonial.’ I was completely absolved of the corruption.
“The wristwatch they accused me of stealing, the State Security Services, SSS, came to my house through the roof and stole it. The person who was sent to steal it later confessed to me. They even gave him hard drug to plant in my house; I was in America so when I returned they pretended to be searching my house. He showed me where they hid the drug at the back of my seat,” he told us.
After the first encounter with David-West, I became a regular visitor to his 11 Sankore avenue residence in the University of Ibadan.
I once asked him why he chose to live in the university staff quarters even after retirement. He told me it was out of protest for his severance package which the University has owed him. He said he was going to live the apartment once the court resolved the dispute.
When his icon Buhari became president, I asked him if he was satisfied with the turn things have taken, especially the president’s appointment which some people described as clannish. He responded, this time, soberly.
“Buhari is not clannish in his appointments. I am one of the foremost supporters of Buhari and I wrote two books on him. I’ve written series of articles, interviews. I’ve spent my money on advertisements. A page of advertisement is about N600,000 and I have at least four of them. Have I gotten any money from him? They say he appoints only people that he knows. Am I in his cabinet? Everybody said I would be in the cabinet. In the internet, they said I was number one. Am I complaining? So how can he be clannish? It’s a lie. There are one or two things that I don’t like. I will not say them. But when I see him, I will tell him few areas he has to re-examine and reposition. When I see him, we will discuss one-on-one, alone in the room, nobody with us. In fact, the door will be locked. I will give him my piece of mind, honest assessment and leave him to look at it. But I know that he is still focused. I trust his integrity. I trust his judgement,” he said.
That was in 2016 in the wake of the government hike of petroleum price from N85 to N145. Whether the one-on-one meeting between him and the president happened, I do not know.
Tam David-west died on November 11 at the UCH Ibadan at age 83 as a man who loved Nigeria and so desperately wanted the country to succeed.