The rebound of Tunde Irukera

I returned to the Daily Times of yore in October 1993, where I was already a columnist and special section editor before I proceeded on a leave-of-absence, in March 1992. Prince Abubakar Audu of blessed memory who was the first civilian Governor of Kogi State had tapped me as his Director of Information and Public Affairs in March 1992. My employers in Lagos obliged me with the permission to honour that call to service. I exited the system voluntarily, however, because the quantum chicanery, debauchery and shenanigans in the public service were alien to me.

I had indeed in one instance been accused of deploying my goodwill in the national media to undermine my Principal, Audu! Here was a man who entrusted a 27 year old with a position of state responsibility at that age. He got used to my principled style of sharing a sofa with him in his living room and savouring wines and lagers, while more senior officials pretentiously squatted on the floor, their gullets covetous of my ice-cold servings. Audu took me like a son until cracks were dug in the wall by third parties, and lizards invited to party in its crevices. Certain fall-outs of this situation were totally at variance with my very strict upbringing, principles and sense of professionalism. I was a child of many mentors and models who had sky high expectations from me. I had to take a stand to save my name and career.

You needed to see the avalanche of congratulatory messages sent to me by post, in the absence of modern day ICT over three decades ago, including my former teachers, Emeritus Professors Olu Obafemi and Niyi Osundare, both worthy recipients of the Nigerian National Order of Merit, (NNOM). Not forgetting the late Alhaji Abubakar Gimba, a former Executive Director in Union Bank, and the United Bank for Africa, (UBA), who I had engaged with at conferences of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA) and interviewed on literature and national development. I was never privileged to meet the charismatic multimillionaire business mogul and later politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, (MKO), who surprisingly sent me a telegram. I had a long future ahead of me, I cherished the credibility I was cultivating and wouldn’t sacrifice it for a morsel of porridge.

I first reported to our offices at the Times Publications Division, (TPD), Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos, where I submitted my letter notifying the Daily Times leadership of my return from leave-of-absence. Among Editors and colleagues, I was very warmly received. A jostle began between the various publications in the Daily Times stable, about which of them wanted me the most. Dapo Aderinola, Editor of the flagship newspaper in the group, the Daily Times, badly wanted me. I was a favourite feature writer, who was headhunted, loved and projected by my bosses, notably the inspirational Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, who as Managing Director of the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc, hired me. Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, who was my Editor and General Manager of TPD once minuted on a memo seeking his approval for my release for an interstate assignment: I get a feeling that there is only Tunde Olusunle, and also Imoukhuede Ogunleye, (now departed), in that Department. What are the other fellows doing? The Sunday Times, sister publication to Daily Times where I was first deployed upon being employed, was also pitching for me.

Ugochukwu was already Executive Director, Publications that October 1993, and he was to approve my reinstatement and deployment. He summoned me to the corporate headquarters of the Daily Times Group at Kakawa Street in Lagos Island. In his trademark baritone, he welcomed me from my assignment in Kogi and commended me for being a good ambassador of the organisation. He told me he was aware I was being sought after by every title Editor “which is evidence of what you bring to the job.” Having considered the requests and options, however, Ugochukwu said he had decided to deploy me to the Editorial Board, the intellectual engine room of the organisation: “You have come back with broad-based insights which should benefit our wide range of newspapers. The Editorial Board is where you should be, so that your experiences can benefit the newspaper group. The Board of the organisation has also approved your promotion commensurate with your new assignment. Congratulations, Tunde, Ugochukwu said as he offered me his hand.

I give this background inspired by the recent heartening appointment of Tunde Irukera, a former Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC), as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc. Irukera, an attorney with three and half decades of post-call to bar professional experience, has practiced in Nigeria and the United States of America, in a very rich and eventful career. He was full-time Managing Partner, between 2006 and 2017, of Simmons Cooper Partners, a Lagos-based law firm, founded by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. He was previously a solicitor with Partners, Attorneys and Counsellors LLC, a law concern in Chicago, Illinois, between 2001 and 2006. Irukera’s relationship with Osinbajo culminated in his appointment as Director-General of the now reformed and renamed Consumer Protection Council, (CPC), in 2017.

Irukera approached his job with the kind of dedication and creativity uncommon in Nigeria’s typically self-serving public service. He desired that Nigerian consumers were genuinely truly shielded from the criminal antics and murderous mischief of shylocks, cheats and laggards masquerading as service providers, across board. He regularly and rigorously engaged with stakeholders across the country and admonished Nigerians to report infractions against their rights. These were promptly taken up by the FCCPC to the highest levels of jurisprudence. He took pride in appearing in the courts, fully robed as an attorney, to fight for the people. Sundays were work days for Irukera. You saw him personally leading law enforcement agencies to seal up erring institutions, not in corporate gear, but tee-shirts, jeans trousers and sneakers. Elsewhere, defaulting service providers were penalised in accordance with the provisions of the law. Applicable penalties were paid to designated government coffers, and not cannibalised between erring organisations and pliable public servants, who collaborated to undermine the people and the state. He rebuilt the erstwhile CPC from a wholly dependent department, to a financially independent parastatal, in the new FCCPC.

In 2023, the FCCPC under Irukera generated a historic N56 Billion. This was much more than the annual internally generated revenue raked up by many states especially in the North of Nigeria. He expanded the operations of the organisation for greater effectiveness and recruited many young graduates through very competitive test processes. He took off dozens of qualified and competent youths from despairing streets. New employees covered the enlarged operations of the reinvigorated FCCPC. After covering its salary bills and overhead expenditures, the FCCPC in 2023, still remitted a handsome N22Billion to the coffers of government. Unsolicited trophies and recognitions poured in for Irukera and FCCPC, especially those acknowledging the new regime of transparency in corporate governance, as well as innovation and creativity in the transformed government’s ombudsman.

It was a flustered populace therefore which woke up to the news of the removal of Irukera and the former Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, same day early January 2024. While no reason was adduced for Irukera’s ouster, Edu was pointedly accused of corrupt enrichment. It took the Bola Tinubu administration about seven weeks before the Senate was able to ratify the concoction that Irukera was “inefficient” at his job! Which was the painful part for a man who poured his all into his job. My revulsion at this development informed my piece Irukera: How not to Reward Altruism published February 28, 2024. This explains my specific excitement at Tunde Irukera’s appointment on Thursday July 31, 2025, as Chairman of Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc, a private sector outfit which prioritises merit, competence, experience and vision. Irukera never went lounging in the waiting rooms of political godfathers hustling for recognition and absorption in the new scheme. That was totally beneath him. What are his well-earned gown and wig for?

I’m not in the business of self-adulation when I share my own experience during my first excursion to the corridors of power in Kogi State, like I’ve done here. I see a congruence in my experience and Irukera’s within the context of the fact that the truth and competence will speak for the just. After the ouster of the Ibrahim Babangida Third Republic project by Sani Abacha late 1993, Audu’s successor, Paul Omeruo recalled me and passed me on to his successor Bzigu Afakirya who retained me for well over a year. I have also been privileged to serve in Nigeria’s Presidency, under a President who was more concerned about what value I could offer, than the location of my father’s house in my community. And here is Irukera also rediscovered for the gem he is and promptly hoisted to the chair of the boardroom of one of the nation’s foremost non-life, general insurance companies. Irukera did well in chambers and courtrooms in Lagos, Abuja, Illinois and elsewhere; he acquitted himself in the sleaze-strewn entrails of the public service, he can only be trusted to distinguish himself in the boardroom of his new corporate brief. I congratulate this humble, fine, cultivated gentleman whose Yagba remains unaffected through times and tides, I celebrate this unobtrusive exemplar of finesse and commitment.

Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), is an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Abuja