My Fears for Nigerian Democracy, Police – Kenny Martins …Reveals Why Friends Call Him Insane

He has travelled all over Nigeria, under the banner of a group called Legacy Initiative International, mobilizing traditional rulers and religious leaders towards a peaceful democratic transition; he has travelled all over the world raising funds to support and equip the Nigeria Police Force that couldn’t face modern challenges, and he has propelled a Christian congregation worshipping under a canopy to build an ultramodern church in 9 months. But, there is more to Chief Kenny Martins than these activities. In this interview with NewsmakersNG’s Ronke Kehinde on his birthday anniversary, he talks about how the late Gen Abacha spared his life but killed his friend, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji; his spiritual nature, how Pastor Kumuyi’s punishment led to the establishment of the Deeper Life church, why prophets fear that the 2019 elections would be inconclusive, and why some friends think he is insane.  

You seem to be a very religious person, how and when did your relationship with God began?

It was before I was born. My father was a member of the CAC/Foursquare church, now known as the Pentecostal church. The year I was born was the year Harold Roberts and T.L. Osband came to Nigeria to do Revival in 1956. They were American Evangelists. My father started his own church, like a year earlier.  I was born in a maternity hospital inside the four walls of a church.

My first consciousness of God was when I was four years old, and my father being a leading Pentecostal Pastor and Master Organist, I was always compiling the hymn book for gospel churches, now Pentecostal churches. My father was always converting the traditional Christian hymns, English or any other language and turned it to the Pentecostal version which is popular now.

At age four I used to be just one step behind or alongside him; humming or singing the song with him. And I wasn’t up to his elbow in height. People will turn, look at me and ask who taught me the song. But nobody taught me.  The song was in my head and I could just sing along with him. People marvelled because I was small.

My father ran a big church which became one of the biggest churches later. 

What is the name of the church?

Gospel Nation which later became Gospel Center. Some of the biggest Pentecostal pastors came out of that church. Pastors who became CAN President, CAN secretary and Pastors of biggest church movement.

Baptism used to be big deal. My father will carry people on his bus or car to the river for baptism. While going, they will be singing and I will be singing along with them.

As I grew, some of my friends will attest to this; I used to preempt people. Before they speak I will say what they wanted to say.  It was so annoying to most of them they will say that was not what they meant. One day, someone told me to stop preempting people, just listen to them and take whatever they say like that. So I won’t argue. In two years, six months or even two weeks’ time, I will say that day this is what you were thinking but this is what you said and see it didn’t work out. They called me “Mister I told you so”. Because I will say I told you so.

I’m a third generation Pastor. My grandfather had a big farm, almost a square kilometre in those days. But he was always fasting. I can’t forget him because there was this popular sweet called Trebor; it was white, flat and square in a pack. There was the round one of it but my grandfather preferred the square one. So every time he sees us he deepens his hand in his pocket and gives us one each. This man will fast for days and when he wants to break, he will take only grey and dry pepper. He doesn’t eat. It’s now that we have rich people, in those days there weren’t rich people in Nigeria. Mattress those days was grass stuffed because he lived in the village. When Vono came, they bought for him. The man said he can’t sleep on Vono. He liked to sleep on the bare floor because he wanted to pray. He said Vono would make him sleep too far. I had a father, who took after him who was so affluent but would never live in a modern house. He didn’t live in his house in town; he always had what he called prayer ground. He acquired land in the bush. He didn’t want anything to disturb him when speaking to God. He prayed from morning till night, then come home to sleep at night, and in the morning he would listen to his business briefing and then go back to pray.

My mother too was always fasting and helping people to start churches. I remember one encounter with Pastor Kumuyi. He was in the Apostolic Faith then, and he was also a lecturer at UNILAG. You were not supposed, by the rules of those churches then, to propagate the gospel. You are not supposed to evangelize. But Pastor Kumuyi would carry a bible, preaching and converting students and other people. I’m sure if he had written his biography, he would have written it there. One day the church asked him to step down. When they punish anyone at that time as an elder, that person will sit with the congregation. He was a brother at that time. He walked out of the church to his house and started what became Deeper Life Church today. My mum was close to him then. My mum was from my father’s church where they preach the gospel; she was used to it. She used to go to villages like my father to open branches. My father had a branch in every state of the capital in all 21 states then.

My mother went to Pastor Kumuyi and she volunteered to buy the first set of chairs for him to start house fellowship in his house which later became deeper life today. She is late now.

My experience with God is extensive. It was later translated into politics where I will tell someone that you will become the next President and in four or five years later it will come to pass. People said I was mad.  I prophesy for people. When I say this will happen and that thing eventually will happen.

How do you start and end each day?                                                                                                                                     

I started most days with prayer. Before I open my eyes fully that process of thanking God for the day has started. All the things I tell people, that’s when I see them. Things of national consequences. After prayer, I will start making calls. Then go to the office, stay till six or seven in the evening. I’m not a social person but circumstances have forced me to be all over the media. I used to be a recluse like my dad and most of my family. I don’t have a specific routine. I take each day as it comes.

What is your philosophy of life?

It’s to befriend everybody. My father was the proprietor of the school that we attended. Premier Primary School, Lawanson, Lagos. His car used to drop us in school every morning. My shoes were from Bata or Lenard. I noticed that many people in school were without shoes. That was in the early sixties. That made me uncomfortable every day in school; I wanted to be like them. I started removing my shoes in school. At the end of the day, my shoe would be missing. When they asked me at home, what happened to my shoes? I would say I played football and it got missing. I would get spanked. Then I got another shoe. But because I knew I didn’t want to wear the shoes; I just wanted to run around the school barefooted like the rest of them, so I put the shoes in the car. I later got spanked for leaving my shoes in the car.

My father used to spank me. My mum didn’t. I didn’t know what to do with those shoes. If I leave it in the school it will be missing and if I leave it in the car I will get spanked. Eventually, my parents came to realize that I just wanted to be barefooted like the rest of them. They let me be. My parents would allow you to do whatever you want. They just guide you. They will not force or push you against your will. That is the way I treat my children too.

The fact that the car drops me every day made me uncomfortable. One day I told my parents that I would like to be walking with the rest of the children to school. Once it is seven o’clock we will all meet and stroll to school. We will cross all the rivers; pluck fruits from the trees on the way to school. Throwing sticks and stones on the mangoes, apples or cherries, we call it Agbalumo; breaking the windows in the process and they pursue us. We used to enjoy all these things. My philosophy is making friends. I’m always comfortable to be at the same level with everyone. Anywhere I find myself I can adapt and adopt. The value, the strength and the worth of any man is in the quality of the network of friends that he has and also the diversity.

You celebrated your 63rd birthday recently. Looking back, do you have any regret?

There’s this driver in Abuja named Moses. I met him through my late friend Suliat Adedeji. Along the line, Abacha came to power and former President Obasanjo was arrested. A week or two later, my friends in the media told me that I was targeted to be killed. Nobody ever knew that killing would be a policy of that government. I was indifferent to die because death has no meaning to me. I have crossed the other side twice for different reasons. I’ve been asked to go back that it wasn’t my time. I saw that it was peaceful and better than this side. If you kill me today you’re only helping me. Death doesn’t scare me. But my friends were worried. They said, “What if they shot you and the bullet misses you and touches us. So, I went to the only person I called my godfather. He told me to go to Buhari’s house in Daura. To cut the story short, I eventually met Abacha himself. He asked me what I wanted. I told him I was told your government wants to kill me that is why General Buhari asked me to see you. He said don’t worry, nothing will happen to you. He called one man. The man was SSS boss, Peter Oduduwa, fine yellow man. He asked if I knew the man, I said “no”. He asked the man if he knew me; he said “Ooh, it’s Kenny Martins; he has his office in Victoria Island; he does shipping; transportation, and he went on and on. Abacha turned to me and said, but you said you are nobody now. I said but sir, am I not a regular person? Does it mean I should be killed? He said, don’t talk about killing again here, nobody is killing you. Abacha then turned to the person. He said look here, the President, and the former president said nothing must happen to him. Truly nothing happened to me. Within a week of leaving that place, that woman who was always by my side almost 24/7, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, was earmarked for the same reason and was killed two or three weeks later in her house at Ibadan. If I had known she was listed, I would have mentioned her name. Most probably she would still be alive now. The same immunity they gave me would have covered her too. That’s my regret up till now. I could have saved a life. If only I knew.

There had been so many billionaires in the class of Mobolaji Bank Anthony and the only reason he is remembered is that building in LASUTH, Ikeja.

 What do you want to be remembered for?

Someone who cared for others and who is concerned about the well-being of the people. When someone dies, you will find friends and family carry 40 pages announcing it and another 40 pages of advert of the dead. The following year, you will hardly see one page of remembrance. That shows how people quickly moved on after the death of loved ones. People that stayed in the minds of people are those who touched lives. There had been so many billionaires in the class of Mobolaji Bank Anthony and the only reason he is remembered is that building in LASUTH, Ikeja. You will see that building for women and Pediatric, and you go to Igbobi, and you’ll see another building. You can never forget such a legacy.

The likes of Awolowo, you can never forget the things he did for people. And so many people like that. Even school principals who were exemplary in the delivery and bringing up of students. Generations are still talking about them. Contributions can be in form of advice or even prophesy. I used to be a member of a church. It was called Bethel Church. It was the first church that had an air conditioner in those days. When I met the pastor, we became close friends. We actually met for business and we became friends because I like his “Americanized” style. I started going to his church; the first week after going to his church, we were worshipping under a canopy in the front of his old house in Ikoyi. He had built another house in Victoria Island. I asked him why we were worshipping under a canopy. He said ‘these elders here said they were tired of giving money. We have one land in Lekki that this government was kind enough to give us but there is no money to build it’.

I said ‘our God is not a God we worship under a canopy with the kind of people and the calibre of faces here’. Finance houses were in vogue. There were finance houses MDs and Bank’s MDs in that church, and they said they could not build a church. I told my friend just give me the microphone let me speak to them. The following Sunday, he gave me the microphone. I said to them ‘God is not a god we worship under canopy. We are going to build an edifice befitting of the status of the God we worship. But what can we do when there is no money. And I said ‘I will tell you the story of my father. He was a major Gospel minister.  I used to go with him to churches. When we are going, because I’m always in front of that dashboard. I would be fixated on the tarred road. When I see the car, swallowing the tarred road at high speed. I used to enjoy it. It used to mesmerize me. I was always in the front and I was always standing. The seatbelt was not a big deal then. Then I would look back to see what has happened then I would see the road behind me. We would go round all these churches in almost all the nook and crannies of Nigeria, converting them from regular to Pentecostal churches. It used to be a gospel church. He had so much money. But he had so much to do in terms of going round buying buses for different churches. These pastors were poor, these followers were poor. Nobody takes offering basket round at that time. You just put the tight box by the side of the church or by the door. They didn’t padlock it until people started stealing the money. They used to steal in the church as early as that time. Nobody asks you for money. 

My father was the first pastor that used a plane to fly and distribute tracts all over Southwest at that time

My father one day told God that I paid my tithe, these people don’t even have tithe to pay and I run this ministry and its expanding. But the way it’s expanding I cannot cope. My 10 per cent isn’t even enough. Let’s make a deal, I want to give 90 per cent of my money to you and I will keep 10 per cent. I’ll keep 90 per cent tithe so I can expand and explode. My father was the first pastor that used a plane to fly and distribute tracts all over Southwest at that time. He had a pilot by the name Engineer Ajemeri from South America. God, I want this 10 per cent to be enough for me, children, business and whatever I want to do. God said it was a deal. Since that day, my father gave everything less 10 per cent to God and that 10 per cent was more than enough for him to do anything he wanted to do with his life. He was so much in money. And I said for us to build this church we need to enter that kind of covenant with God in this church.  Your 10 per cent is not making an impact, it can’t build the church. It can only keep us under this canopy. I’m not going to lay hands. You are free to stand up or sit down if you want, but you are going to tell God that you are making a covenant. God, I want to give you my 90 per cent and I will keep my 10 per cent, and I want it to be enough for me and my family. Everybody stood up even the pastor himself. You have to see the kind of giving that started the following week. Everybody had money to give and they had a testimony to give. I told them that day that those who entered into this covenant would help to build this church in nine months. It would be the first church with chandelier and air conditioner in the whole of Nigeria. They must be thinking in their mind that who is this guy who just joined us, he must be insane. Because some of my friends used to call me insane. The church moved to the site and we started building. Every day testimony and everyday money. We are talking of prophecy and touching of life. One day in my former office, a friend “Elder E” I will call him. I don’t want to say his full name. He came into my office, he used to drive that flat Benz bus then, very haggard, wretched-looking at that time; he had a wife and the wife didn’t have a child. He told me about it, I advised him and counselled him. I’ve always been a counsellor since I was a kid. As I was leaving, I just turned back and I said ‘Why are you parking your Benz on third mainland bridge and jumping into the Lagoon. He said what did I say and I repeated the same thing. He just broke down, sat back and started weeping. He said he was tired of life. He said since I gave that prophesy in the church, that he entered into the covenant, and that it’s only him that has not given anything. It was only him without any testimony. No child, no life; no this, no that. What have I done to God? I want to end it. I told him don’t jump. When you get home tonight, hold your wife; say this, say that. Just two minutes of prayer and see what God will do? I said you will be the biggest tithe giver in that church.

They called me elder, I said I wasn’t. They called me brother I said I’m not brother. They like to give titles and I said I don’t want titles. He left a happy man. He didn’t go to jump. That was three months into the building of the church which I gave them nine months. We have now finished building the church and he has started doing well, giving “small-small money”. He was also contributing to the church. We fixed the opening of the church for two weeks and there was no air condition in the church. This elder just came exactly two weeks to the opening of the church and brought a cherub for N800, 000. He said he made N8 million profits this week and brought his tithe. The Pastor said hit me with it. You know the Pastor was an American. He used to say ‘Hit me with it’. Everybody started laughing. That week we bought an air-conditioner and the church was opened with air-conditioner. Taking people from their point of depression to their level of hope, and they go and do the rest by themselves with God. The real matter is that I do not care what I want to be remembered for. You are gone. It’s the people that will decide what they want to remember you for.

Because once there is no party culture, with the capacity to check the executive, advises, direct, even control, there will be a problem. That means in Nigeria today, since 1999, we have one major emperor in the President, 36 mini emperors in the governors, and 774 minions, third level emperors, in the local government.

How do you read the situation now with all your effort in ensuring a free and fair election and the removal of the CJN?

I have my fears too. I have had my fears for a long time. If there’s a system there are engineers. And some of us are engineers of the system. We paid our dues for the emergence of democracy. It’s easy for some to go into exile and say they are fighting from exile. We stayed here, some died but we were incarcerated by Frank Omenka, in their dreaded military centre in Apapa here. But what we took those supreme sacrifices for is not what we have today.

I believe the greatest disservice to democracy is that there is no more party culture. A situation where the president, the governor and the local government chairman, become the leader of the party is the reason why from 1999 when it was started, I protested that this democracy will have a problem and die. Because once there is no party culture, with the capacity to check the executive, advises, direct, even control, there will be a problem. That means in Nigeria today, since 1999, we have one major emperor in the President, 36 mini emperors in the governors, and 774 minions, third level emperors, in the local government. Governors who sign the check for their state, you can’t withdraw money or pay money without the governor’s approval. That is why the Senate is always fighting the President since 1999; President is always engineering the removal of Senate President and Speaker and all those. There is a quantum of Division of Power between the three. In the state, the governor is the commissioner of finance, works and so on. That is what we have. What we have is the spinoff of that twisted web of, a defective democratic practice that is unique to Nigeria. It is a sad indication that even the democratic practice and attempt under Abacha, minus the fact that Abacha was fighting to be President but he allowed leadership to emerge and leaders to run the parties at all levels and everybody of consequence.

If we are not careful we are already digging the grave of the current democratic dispensation.

I am sure there are procedures for removing the Chief Justice. But what I see as the problem of today is that there is absolute total and complete distrust and mistrust between the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. The disagreement and division are so grave and deep that there is no country that can survive under such strain. I heard some prophets, church leaders say that they have the fear that this election will be inconclusive and this democracy will terminate. I’m constrained to almost share some of the opinions. If we are not careful we are already digging the grave of the current democratic dispensation. There should be self-check. Judiciary should also retrospect and look inward and check themselves and answer this question; is everything alright with the Judiciary? Everybody knows today that if you go to the judiciary; you know what to do. In all honesty, I have my fears. Not just fears from the Presidential level but fears at all levels. Party leadership does not allow proper leaders to emerge when they run to the Judiciary to seek solace, justice and justification. What do they end up with? They end up with the highest bidder if they want to get justice. Party leadership is problematic. The question is was that crime committed? And the other question is: were the procedures followed? These are the two issues that need to be settled for the question you asked to be answered. In a saner society, you really don’t need the President to go through all these pains or anything like the procedures. Once there is given evidence that you also admit too for which you allude to amentia you resign and save us all the pains. If the man refuses to resign and refuses to step down, would it be right for the executive to short circuit the process and procedure to achieve an aim? Is there a hidden agenda? That I cannot answer. Time will tell.

What is your advice to Nigerians that will vote in the coming elections?

They should vote their conscience. If PDP or APC gives you money ‘take it’. I heard they are not even giving money. They say this is the poorest campaign ever in the history of politics in Nigeria since 1960. But if they give you money wanting to buy your vote, take the money but vote your conscience.

I’m confident that INEC will hold a good and fair election. The most crucial aspect of the electoral law or amendment that we wanted the President to sign is the one that removes you and I. The manual transmission of result from polling centre, where we voted to the collation centre where they do the “magomago” manipulation. Where they will put off light to the generator; where they will say they are waiting for the result of Ese-Odo. Every state even the one in the dessert will suddenly have a waterfront area. Even the one in arid dessert they will say there is a lake and the result won’t come till nightfall. Then, they will put off the light and twist all the result and say their favourite person has won.

Right now we have removed the role of men. Now electronically, when we vote, we’ll wait. We will calculate how many people voted for this party and that party, then we’ll sign, then the man transmits the result to INEC headquarters and sub-headquarters. It’s globally transmitted immediately; that means there’s no room for manipulation anymore. When you vote, take the money but vote your conscience. And when you have finish voting watch the party agents sign and watch the INEC man there press those numbers and transmit it to INEC. That way there can be no more rigging. With this one, I believe INEC has covered the last lap in that wonderful electoral process that President Jonathan put in place in spite of all his other failures.  That is a legacy that would be cherished. It was so beautiful that even he could not override it than to leave. And I hope the government of the day will also accept such results when they come. So I have less fear of rigging and electoral consequences.

Do you believe we can have a free and fair election like June 12, 1993?

I believe so. We had a free and fair election in 2015. Everybody will be watching.

The police that we have today would you say we now have the police of your dream?

We have police that is in every way and manner short of what it should be. In training, morale, equipment, psychology, enumeration and in every way. And we have quite a lot of job to do. I have my fears that if we go on like this, one day we will wake up and then there will be no security left in terms of police contributions. I pity them. They operate under such a condition that is pitiable. We almost treat them like sub-humans. Unfortunately too, all effort to revamp those situations is resisted by the same people, their leadership. The misconception in Nigeria where things will never work for the police is that they assume that the federal government can sponsor them. God bless his soul – the Late Gambo, two years to his death he called me and apologized that had he known better, as a former IG when we were doing the PEF he would have supported me. It was only former IGP M.D. Yusuf that kept on telling them that this young man is bringing us to paradise, we should follow him. Police need support from outside government resources. Government resources can never do the job. I’ve listened to him; I’ve heard the wonderful things he’s offering. We saw Boko Haram before Boko Haram came. Our stakeholders and our founders offer to help us mitigate them. We had to convince the emirs in the north. We wanted to appoint them as our security coordinators and mobilize them with vehicles and everything to be on the ready. To build such security that would have resisted what is now ravaging the country especially in the North. But unfortunately, we have police leadership that was greedy and wanted to control resources meant to help them. It’s not done anywhere and I used to tell them that we are like Red Cross and our business is to take resources from wherever we can find it and apply it to your needs. It is none of your business to question how we got the money. The only people we own explanation on how we spent their money are the donors and we report to them every year via PWC, one of the biggest accounting agency globally in Nigeria. So take what we give to you. The Federal Government also gave us the right to do that. To raise our resources and spend it ourselves. It was a voluntary organization. You can’t ask Red Cross why they are giving 400 bags to them at Oke-Ogun where there was a flood or why they are giving mosquito nets to them at another place. It is their prerogative. They kept on getting because those that were donating saw how they were spent.