Mr Festus Kayode Arishe is the Managing Partner and Executive Director of Eminent Financial Limited in the United Kingdom. He shares his life story with SEGUN KASALI.
YOU have always said your dad was an honest but unsuccessful politician. Can you give more explanation on that?
Yes. This is because our people usually say you have to be rich to be a successful politician. I will tell you a story and that story sticks with me forever. During the days of Babangida when NRC and SDP were created, my father was the treasurer of NRC then. And as a treasurer, of course he was involved in fundraising for the party. So, a day before the party was defunct, he went out with three executives to raise funds and they got huge amount for the party. And the following morning, Babangida announced the end of the parties. Do you know what happened? The other executives were now threatening my dad that the money they collected yesterday had become theirs because the party no longer existed. But, my dad told them that they were still going to be politicians even if the party is now defunct and so they can use the money as a start-up capital rather than sharing the money. There were threats to his life. In fact, I even heard one of them saying ‘Ata kere wo inu ado’. Due to the multiple threats, my mum said it is either you give it to them or you share the money with them. But, he insisted that he was not going to share or give to them.
Did he later give in to their demand?
Yes, he did. But, he did not get involved with the sharing. And he said in the next political dispensation, he would not work with those kinds of people and they have to be in different parties. He said ‘look my value does not really align with their values’. My father was a lover of hard work and very principled. During this time, I was in secondary school.
What did you learn from that episode?
I learnt that you can become whatever you want without necessarily taking what does not belong to you and that honesty and integrity are enviable. You know it feels good when you can open your mouth and talk anywhere without worrying about what you have said in the past because you have been consistent with your values.
How was it like being a politician’s son back then?
Our house was always very busy. People usually come for one help or the other. I did not have his attention because he was busy attending one event or the other. Of course as a child, I was proud of my father being a leader in the community. Growing up with him was about learning a lot of things. I remember in our polling booth you can’t share money. What I learnt from him was loyalty and dedication to his political party. My father would not support you because of financial benefit.
What are the memories of your formative years?
This particular story I want to tell you led us to starting a charity endeavour. When I was in primary school, let us say I was brilliant because I knew what I was doing. There was this particular guy called Ajayi, who was my classmate and brilliant just like myself. While I was a teacher’s son with more access to books, Ajayi’s father was a subsistence farmer. So, I think I had relocated to the UK then and I went home. One day, I saw Ajayi walking in front of my house with the intention of trying to avoid me and I asked if this was not my friend in primary school. He was not looking well and I had to run after him to ask what the problem was. I asked him: ‘Didn’t you see me?’ He said you know you guys are big boys now. So, I asked him: ‘What are you doing now?’ He said ‘I am a farmer’. So, I asked him: ‘after primary school, why did I not see you?’ He said his father had died long time ago. I remember his dad was aslo a palmwine tapper; he died after falling from a palm tree. Shortly after, his mother died and Ajayi became an orphan. Thereafter, Ajayi took over the farm to look after his younger siblings. He [could not finish his education though he was very brilliant. That hit me badly. The difference between Ajayi and I was that someone funded my education and guided me to be well educated. That made us start a charity in honour of our parents, Hon. Femi and Rachael Bolarinwa Arishe, called Arise Legacy Foundation, where we give scholarship to indigent students. It is a full scholarship from secondary school to university. And we have been doing that for the past three years.
One might conclude that you are eyeing a political position?
You are correct, but the fact is I am not interested in politics because the system is abused. I am not a politician, but I am ‘Oloselu’. So, the Arise Legacy Foundation is not a political organisation and not for a political interest. My siblings and I just wanted to give back to the community.
You must have had nicknames in school back then
I was called Ariseline because my dream then was to have an airline, shipping line and all that.
What informed this?
I was just an ambitious person as of that time. I read a lot and watch a lot of movies as well. I love to make impact in this world because I know life is about impact. I want to do something that will have an impact not just in Nigeria but also globally.
Were you also involved in fights then?
A lot. But because I was very smart, I would not fight someone that would beat me (laughs). I was probably one of the smallest in my class then. I think they were just beating me up easily and because of that, I now became friends with the bigger boys and got my independence due to that (laughs).
What about girls?
Unfortunately, I started thinking about having a girlfriend after my secondary school. I knew guys were doing all sorts, but it was not clicking for me. My focus was to kind of study then.
What about your career ambition?
It was quite interesting. I wanted to be an engineer because my brother of blessed memory was a successful engineer. He was my mentor and I wanted to follow his line. As I was about to fill my JAMB form, my elder sister started talking to me about oil companies and that she wanted me to study accounting. But, I did not score enough marks when I wrote my [UTME]. So, I ended up studying Agric Economics at Obafemi Awolowo University.
What options did life present to you after school?
I was with an NGO called Life Vanguards and they transformed my life. So, because of my community engagement at Ife, there was a leadership training the school authorities recommended and I was already the Supreme Commandant of Man O’ War of all higher institutions in Nigeria at that time. Surprisingly, at that workshop, I was the only one committed, because it was during holiday when everyone had gone, to show up on the last day of the workshop. At the end of the workshop, somebody came to the campus to look for me that the Director of Life Vanguards wanted to see me. I was like ‘what for?’ The person said he was super impressed by my attendance at the workshop and that he wanted to experiment with the next workshop by taking it away from the office and give it to the youth themselves to organise. He now asked if I could organise with other guys. So, I became the chairman of the planning committee and I introduced some Man O’ War courses into the workshop and that was how it changed. After I graduated, they asked if I could serve with them. I agreed. While I was with them, they sent me on a Global Youth Exchange Programme in the UK and many other foreign trips as a programme officer. Fortunately for me, I met my wife at Life Vanguard.
How did love work within the circumstance that brought you together?
So, as a programme officer, you are supposed to raise funds for projects and you know, in Nigeria, not every outlet has receipts of what you buy. So, whenever I wanted to give account, she would be the one on my neck because she was also one of the accountants in the organisation. She would say: ‘Mr Arishe, you don’t have this’. I would be like ‘but you understand that this woman is a mamaput and this is what she wrote’. She would say: ‘oh no we can’t accept this’. I would now have to speak to her oga that he should please speak to his people. So, the problem was becoming too much that I started questioning myself if I offended her without knowing. So, I decided to get close to her perhaps that might help my situation and it was in the process of getting close that I felt ‘wow she is just doing her job’. After becoming her friend, I concluded ‘this is a wife material’. And after a month or two of getting close to her, I now made up my mind that I would go for this girl. I remember it was on a Wednesday in our open office I just called her ‘Funke, can I see you for one minute please’? So, we then sat down in the office reception room where I toasted her and she looked at me. In my mind, I was like ‘ah I have met my own today (laughs)’, but she said ‘let me go and think about it’ and that was it.
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