[Applause]
I’m here this morning to contribute a
bit of my own experience to TEDx
pottekkatt the alternative s to try to
share with you some of the experiences I
have had that have shaped my way of
looking at things and my way of
responding to things initially when I
was invited to be part of the TEDx
experience and pottekkatt out said no
but a few things happened around me that
made me change my mind and I decided to
come here and share a bit of my story
first thing that happened was that a
friend of mine a lady who lives in the
u.s. she’s actually a Nigerian and she
has a son who has actually never been to
Nigeria and this boy is growing up he
has his own values he has some way of
looking at life he has his own
understanding of what success means and
what the future should hold and the
mother was very worried about his views
and the way he was going and so she
called me up and asked me if I could
spare some time to talk with her son I
agreed I got his number I called him we
talked a few times and I told him to try
and write down his goals and visions in
life so he could discuss it with me when
he did that and we talked over the phone
I found myself thinking that they were
quite a few cups in the way he was
looking at the world and the way he was
looking at himself in the future and in
the way I would see it from my own
perspective so I decided to do what my
own father always did any time we had
issues that we couldn’t agree on I
decided to write him a letter because I
felt that doing that I’ll be able to
share my own perception of what he was
doing with him without necessarily
trashing his own vision and
his views so while I was thinking of
writing this letter I got a call from my
wife
and she wanted me to talk to my own son
basically about the same thing and in
talking to me she sounded exactly like
the mother in the u.s. so this time I
didn’t need a phone my son is right here
with me in Nigeria so we got into some
father-and-son engagement and in talking
to him I found out that my own son
also sounded exactly like the young man
in the u.s. and so I decided that I
should share my own experience my vision
and understanding of what being
successful could mean to people at this
time so I came to pitaka to share that
experience with everybody that’s you and
me part of why I decided to do that is
that I understand that everybody wants
to be successful and there is really
every incentive for us to be successful
in fact success in today’s world just
goes beyond the ability to pay your
bills and to meet up with the
expectations of society success includes
the ability to influence your
environment the ability to be able to
affect things around you and it will a
lot of other things and there is a lot a
lot of pressure on young people to be
successful now in being successful a lot
of people seem to define success in
terms of something you get at the end of
life’s journey you know a destination
and your journey ends when you become
successful but I understand success
differently you have to be successful
every day and you cannot be successful
on your own by yourself to yourself your
success must involve your community it
must involve people it must involve
compassion for others it must also make
room for other people to be successful
so in trying to piece together what I
understand by this and share it with you
I went back to my own life how I started
my journey in politics a long time ago
that was about 1996 when the politics of
the firt Republic was starting with the
formation of the party called UNCP I was
a lawyer I was in my office and some
politicians from my place came to invite
me to come and contest for the House of
Assembly at that time
now I had a friend then who was like my
idol he was my mentor he was a richest
person I knew he had a Jaguar he had a
Bentley he was very well educated very
wealthy and very very intelligent and I
adored him
he used to spend about a few months in
Nigeria but most of the time he lived
outside the country so whenever he was
around I made every effort to try to
spend as much time with him as I
possibly could he was my role model he
meant a lot to me now when these
politicians invited me I decided to go
and talk to this my idol about what had
been asked to do and my decision to go
into politics he kept me in his house
till 2 a.m. in the morning he encouraged
me he told me that in fact that is the
best news had that this was an
opportunity for us to change the cause
of our country for us to do things
differently for us to change the way
people look at politics in Nigeria that
he felt I could do all these things and
that I should go ahead and go and
contrast the election he will sponsor me
he will fund me I shouldn’t look at it
as something I was doing for myself I
should look at something that we were
going to do for Nigeria and everything
that would be involved he would Qatar
for it I had no more reason to talk to
anybody else I left his house that day I
was practically walking on air and then
I
told these politicians to come back in a
week there was no need to wait for one
week after what he told me I called them
back immediately I was ready and I was
good to go
and so we started every week as we went
around I was boring money I was running
around and I would go back to my mentor
and my idol and say this is where we
have gone can I have some money now to
do the things that we had promised and
it will be no he didn’t want to give me
the money piecemeal he was going to give
me enough money to take care of
everything and take care of the
elections so that even if he was abroad
when the elections would come up I would
not need to ask anybody for anything I
should just go ahead he is trying to
gather enough money together to make it
work for me and so I would go back I
would borrow money I would run around
and I will go back to him the next week
he said no the money so much he still
putting it together and I never doubted
him for a minute so the next week I
would go back and then I will come back
again you say no come the next week we
went on and on in that whole time I was
accumulating debts but I was also
working in the community because I
actually believed the message and the
inspirational message that he gave to me
and then finally one day I came to see
him and he said I should come back the
next week Tuesday in the morning at 9 o
clock and so that next week Tuesday I
came back and I met him at nine o clock
and he said the money was ready but they
were bringing it from ABBA
it was a lot of money and he needed to
put it together I should come back at 3
o clock I was so happy and I went back
at about 3 o clock I came back to his
house when I got to the house the gate
was locked I was shooting on my car
nobody came out so I came out of the car
and started banging on the gate and then
the security man came and he asked me I
what are you doing here I said organ
said I should come back at 3 o clock he
was like what do you mean while you were
here in the morning I said yes I was
here in the morning
is that he didn’t tell you that he was
going to America today I said no he
didn’t tell me he said well he has gone
to America and he’s not back till next
year it was like my world had come to an
end the only reason I didn’t have a
heart attack that day is because I
didn’t have a heart attack that day the
Sun went out and then I didn’t know when
I started crying I was weeping like a
child I was sobbing and people had got
out on the streets to watch me I’m this
security man took me into the gatehouse
he kept me there while I was crying he
went he bought a bottle of Regulus water
he washed my face he tried to talk to me
but I couldn’t hear because I was
sobbing and our sobbing and our sobbing
I was in that security house for over
two hours with the gate man and he was
talking to me
consoling me he inspired me afresh and
he got me to know that whatever man had
promised me I did not need to depend on
any man even if this man had failed me I
could still go ahead and achieve all the
things that I wanted to achieve he
talked to me you wouldn’t believe that
he had no education you wouldn’t believe
that he was just a security man to a
very wealthy man but by the time that
man finished with me that day I was able
to get up get into my car and drive back
and I was able to understand that my
life and my politics was not over I was
able to believe that I could still go
ahead and achieve great things
despite the greatest disappointment that
have ever suffered at that time
this man was a security man at the gate
my friend in whom I trusted that I
adored that I believed in so much was a
billionaire but his world was not what
anything to me at the time I needed it
no matter what you are no matter who you
are without integrity you are nothing
if your work does not mean anything your
success
also cannot mean much you cannot succeed
where you are not involved with the
community where you cannot turn around
to look at the challenges that others
are facing there is a put famous quote
by Alexander Pope where he said then
teach me heaven to scorn the guilty
bathe drive from my breast this wretched
lost of praise unblemished let me live
or die unknown or grant me an honest
film or grant me none if you cannot have
your success unblemished sometimes what
you may define our success may not
actually make you successful in the eyes
of others
if you cannot contribute to the growth
of other people if you cannot
participate in the community if you see
success as a definition as a destination
where you would arrive at the end of
your struggle then your whole struggle
may not be what anything because the
cause of your journey you are not
successful my father would always say
and I literally knew God to know that he
caught that from the Sun Christi well he
will tell me all the time that listen he
say yesterday is a daydream and tomorrow
is only a vision but today well-lived
makes every dream a dream of happiness
and makes every vision a vision of hope
he said look ye therefore to this day
success is what you do every single day
success is how you affect people every
day of your life success is how you
contribute to others around you when I
was a child I remember a day my mother
was so miserable and I followed her to
the market I carried her ways I stayed
behind the market and at the end of the
day I had about thirty Cobo on me and I
bought her a red bangle I discovered
that I later grew up to be a man I
bought a car for my mom but she did not
value anything as much as she valued
that red bangle that I bought for her as
a child if I had waited for me to grow
old
and have money before I could make my
mother happy my mother probably would
have died a very miserable lesson so yes
we can be successful yes we can join the
rat race and we should join the rat race
because what puts you in the rat race is
that your bills start chasing you and
you have to keep running so that your
bills don’t overtake you even if you
allow your bills to overtake you they
will overwhelm you so to stay ahead of
your bills and to stay ahead of the
competition you are already in the rat
race whether you like it or not but in
the middle of that race you must
remember that you cannot go it alone
and you must remember to turn around and
look at what is happening to other
people I say to everybody that the night
sky is always that’s much more beautiful
when there are so many stars in the sky
if you are the lone star in the sky and
you cannot make way for other stars to
shine then then you may not be as
successful as you would like to think of
yourself
so in pushing our way forward through
life it is important that we remember
that success in the terms in which we
understand it is important but success
in the terms of the contribution you
make to the lives around you is just as
important success is something you do
every single day of your life it is not
the destination of your struggle indeed
that is a struggle itself thank you and
god bless you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
I’m here this morning to contribute a
bit of my own experience to TEDx
pottekkatt the alternative s to try to
share with you some of the experiences I
have had that have shaped my way of
looking at things and my way of
responding to things initially when I
was invited to be part of the TEDx
experience and pottekkatt out said no
but a few things happened around me that
made me change my mind and I decided to
come here and share a bit of my story
first thing that happened was that a
friend of mine a lady who lives in the
u.s. she’s actually a Nigerian and she
has a son who has actually never been to
Nigeria and this boy is growing up he
has his own values he has some way of
looking at life he has his own
understanding of what success means and
what the future should hold and the
mother was very worried about his views
and the way he was going and so she
called me up and asked me if I could
spare some time to talk with her son I
agreed I got his number I called him we
talked a few times and I told him to try
and write down his goals and visions in
life so he could discuss it with me when
he did that and we talked over the phone
I found myself thinking that they were
quite a few cups in the way he was
looking at the world and the way he was
looking at himself in the future and in
the way I would see it from my own
perspective so I decided to do what my
own father always did any time we had
issues that we couldn’t agree on I
decided to write him a letter because I
felt that doing that I’ll be able to
share my own perception of what he was
doing with him without necessarily
trashing his own vision and
his views so while I was thinking of
writing this letter I got a call from my
wife
and she wanted me to talk to my own son
basically about the same thing and in
talking to me she sounded exactly like
the mother in the u.s. so this time I
didn’t need a phone my son is right here
with me in Nigeria so we got into some
father-and-son engagement and in talking
to him I found out that my own son
also sounded exactly like the young man
in the u.s. and so I decided that I
should share my own experience my vision
and understanding of what being
successful could mean to people at this
time so I came to pitaka to share that
experience with everybody that’s you and
me part of why I decided to do that is
that I understand that everybody wants
to be successful and there is really
every incentive for us to be successful
in fact success in today’s world just
goes beyond the ability to pay your
bills and to meet up with the
expectations of society success includes
the ability to influence your
environment the ability to be able to
affect things around you and it will a
lot of other things and there is a lot a
lot of pressure on young people to be
successful now in being successful a lot
of people seem to define success in
terms of something you get at the end of
life’s journey you know a destination
and your journey ends when you become
successful but I understand success
differently you have to be successful
every day and you cannot be successful
on your own by yourself to yourself your
success must involve your community it
must involve people it must involve
compassion for others it must also make
room for other people to be successful
so in trying to piece together what I
understand by this and share it with you
I went back to my own life how I started
my journey in politics a long time ago
that was about 1996 when the politics of
the firt Republic was starting with the
formation of the party called UNCP I was
a lawyer I was in my office and some
politicians from my place came to invite
me to come and contest for the House of
Assembly at that time
now I had a friend then who was like my
idol he was my mentor he was a richest
person I knew he had a Jaguar he had a
Bentley he was very well educated very
wealthy and very very intelligent and I
adored him
he used to spend about a few months in
Nigeria but most of the time he lived
outside the country so whenever he was
around I made every effort to try to
spend as much time with him as I
possibly could he was my role model he
meant a lot to me now when these
politicians invited me I decided to go
and talk to this my idol about what had
been asked to do and my decision to go
into politics he kept me in his house
till 2 a.m. in the morning he encouraged
me he told me that in fact that is the
best news had that this was an
opportunity for us to change the cause
of our country for us to do things
differently for us to change the way
people look at politics in Nigeria that
he felt I could do all these things and
that I should go ahead and go and
contrast the election he will sponsor me
he will fund me I shouldn’t look at it
as something I was doing for myself I
should look at something that we were
going to do for Nigeria and everything
that would be involved he would Qatar
for it I had no more reason to talk to
anybody else I left his house that day I
was practically walking on air and then
I
told these politicians to come back in a
week there was no need to wait for one
week after what he told me I called them
back immediately I was ready and I was
good to go
and so we started every week as we went
around I was boring money I was running
around and I would go back to my mentor
and my idol and say this is where we
have gone can I have some money now to
do the things that we had promised and
it will be no he didn’t want to give me
the money piecemeal he was going to give
me enough money to take care of
everything and take care of the
elections so that even if he was abroad
when the elections would come up I would
not need to ask anybody for anything I
should just go ahead he is trying to
gather enough money together to make it
work for me and so I would go back I
would borrow money I would run around
and I will go back to him the next week
he said no the money so much he still
putting it together and I never doubted
him for a minute so the next week I
would go back and then I will come back
again you say no come the next week we
went on and on in that whole time I was
accumulating debts but I was also
working in the community because I
actually believed the message and the
inspirational message that he gave to me
and then finally one day I came to see
him and he said I should come back the
next week Tuesday in the morning at 9 o
clock and so that next week Tuesday I
came back and I met him at nine o clock
and he said the money was ready but they
were bringing it from ABBA
it was a lot of money and he needed to
put it together I should come back at 3
o clock I was so happy and I went back
at about 3 o clock I came back to his
house when I got to the house the gate
was locked I was shooting on my car
nobody came out so I came out of the car
and started banging on the gate and then
the security man came and he asked me I
what are you doing here I said organ
said I should come back at 3 o clock he
was like what do you mean while you were
here in the morning I said yes I was
here in the morning
is that he didn’t tell you that he was
going to America today I said no he
didn’t tell me he said well he has gone
to America and he’s not back till next
year it was like my world had come to an
end the only reason I didn’t have a
heart attack that day is because I
didn’t have a heart attack that day the
Sun went out and then I didn’t know when
I started crying I was weeping like a
child I was sobbing and people had got
out on the streets to watch me I’m this
security man took me into the gatehouse
he kept me there while I was crying he
went he bought a bottle of Regulus water
he washed my face he tried to talk to me
but I couldn’t hear because I was
sobbing and our sobbing and our sobbing
I was in that security house for over
two hours with the gate man and he was
talking to me
consoling me he inspired me afresh and
he got me to know that whatever man had
promised me I did not need to depend on
any man even if this man had failed me I
could still go ahead and achieve all the
things that I wanted to achieve he
talked to me you wouldn’t believe that
he had no education you wouldn’t believe
that he was just a security man to a
very wealthy man but by the time that
man finished with me that day I was able
to get up get into my car and drive back
and I was able to understand that my
life and my politics was not over I was
able to believe that I could still go
ahead and achieve great things
despite the greatest disappointment that
have ever suffered at that time
this man was a security man at the gate
my friend in whom I trusted that I
adored that I believed in so much was a
billionaire but his world was not what
anything to me at the time I needed it
no matter what you are no matter who you
are without integrity you are nothing
if your work does not mean anything your
success
also cannot mean much you cannot succeed
where you are not involved with the
community where you cannot turn around
to look at the challenges that others
are facing there is a put famous quote
by Alexander Pope where he said then
teach me heaven to scorn the guilty
bathe drive from my breast this wretched
lost of praise unblemished let me live
or die unknown or grant me an honest
film or grant me none if you cannot have
your success unblemished sometimes what
you may define our success may not
actually make you successful in the eyes
of others
if you cannot contribute to the growth
of other people if you cannot
participate in the community if you see
success as a definition as a destination
where you would arrive at the end of
your struggle then your whole struggle
may not be what anything because the
cause of your journey you are not
successful my father would always say
and I literally knew God to know that he
caught that from the Sun Christi well he
will tell me all the time that listen he
say yesterday is a daydream and tomorrow
is only a vision but today well-lived
makes every dream a dream of happiness
and makes every vision a vision of hope
he said look ye therefore to this day
success is what you do every single day
success is how you affect people every
day of your life success is how you
contribute to others around you when I
was a child I remember a day my mother
was so miserable and I followed her to
the market I carried her ways I stayed
behind the market and at the end of the
day I had about thirty Cobo on me and I
bought her a red bangle I discovered
that I later grew up to be a man I
bought a car for my mom but she did not
value anything as much as she valued
that red bangle that I bought for her as
a child if I had waited for me to grow
old
and have money before I could make my
mother happy my mother probably would
have died a very miserable lesson so yes
we can be successful yes we can join the
rat race and we should join the rat race
because what puts you in the rat race is
that your bills start chasing you and
you have to keep running so that your
bills don’t overtake you even if you
allow your bills to overtake you they
will overwhelm you so to stay ahead of
your bills and to stay ahead of the
competition you are already in the rat
race whether you like it or not but in
the middle of that race you must
remember that you cannot go it alone
and you must remember to turn around and
look at what is happening to other
people I say to everybody that the night
sky is always that’s much more beautiful
when there are so many stars in the sky
if you are the lone star in the sky and
you cannot make way for other stars to
shine then then you may not be as
successful as you would like to think of
yourself
so in pushing our way forward through
life it is important that we remember
that success in the terms in which we
understand it is important but success
in the terms of the contribution you
make to the lives around you is just as
important success is something you do
every single day of your life it is not
the destination of your struggle indeed
that is a struggle itself thank you and
god bless you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
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