Son: Jakande conceived Banana Island, allocated no plot to self

The family of the late former governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, have said they have no single piece of land on Banana Island despite that the island was developed under the Jakande administration.

 

Jakande’s son, Seyi, while speaking on Monday during the maiden edition of Lateef Jakande Annual Memorial Lecture held at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, delved into the family life of his late father, saying Jakande made no special allocation to his family as governor.

 

The lecture, with the theme “Lateef Jakande: The Man, His Journalism, His Politics,” was organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors under the leadership of its President, Eze Anaba.

 

Jakande, a former journalist and first President of the NGE, also served as the governor of Lagos State from 1979 to 1983, and later Minister of Works under the Sani Abacha military regime.

 

Saying his father was selfless while developing Lagos, Seyi said, “People say does he (Jakande) even have a wife? Does he even have children? I had to tell my sister, ‘Won’t we go for DNA?’

 

“In the years that Alhaji Jakande served as governor of Lagos, with all that he did, he did not allocate or give anything to either his wife or son. She (his wife) stayed with Jakande at the Ilupeju residence. At a time, I asked my dad, from inception as governor, you said there was no money in Lagos, and you built schools and houses.”

 

He said Jakande while serving as a minister, conceived the idea of developing what is called the Banana Island today.

 

“He (Jakande) went back to his thinking box and said what are we going to do? They came up with the idea of the Banana Island. As Minister for Works, they took advantage of the waterways and filled them up, sold them to the rich, generated money and subsidised the housing scheme.

“Again, Baba did not even have sand on Banana Island. This was just water. He started Banana Island, created it, and filled it up, and not even (a portion) of sand (was allocated) to his beloved wife or any member of his family.”

 

At the event, Seyi also urged the state government to rename the Lagos State University at Ojoo after Jakande, saying the institution was the brainchild of his father.

 

“I want Governor Sanwo-Olu to revisit the discussion (of renaming LASU after Jakande),” he added.

 

Present at the event were Jakande’s wife and daughter, Sikirat Jakande and Dr Adeboye.

 

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, who represented Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the event, said Jakande’s life was a reflection of humanity with several testimonies of positive impacts.

 

Also present was Gen. Ike Nwachukwu (retd.); former governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, while Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun was represented by a former Commissioner in Ondo State and a consultant, Kayode Akinmade.

 

The former spokesperson for ex-President Muhammdu Buhari, Garba Shehu, was also present among many other media industry players.