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| J K Randle |
It must have been during the winter of 2004 when the retiring partners of KPMG who are still awaiting their gratuity and pension converged at the LanesboroughHotel in Knightsbridge, London to celebrate several decades of genuine friendship, mutual respect, and confidence in each other’s integrity. At lunchtime, we proceeded to the hotel’s magnificent Apsleys restaurant. To quote one of the guests: “They know how to receive people. The welcome was delivered along with excellent pralines and champagne.”
A gentleman who
was on his way to the table that had been specially reserved for him insisted
on exchanging pleasantries with one of us – Martin Rutherford-Marsh, whose
family had ties with the Royal family and the landed gentry going back several
generations.
Anyway, it
turned out the gentleman was none other than the Duke of Westminster and the
pillar of the Grosvenor family who were the owners of prime London properties
in Knightsbridge; Belgravia; Kensington; and thousands of acres in the UK and
overseas. It was Martin who whispered to
us that the Duke was easily the richest man in the U.K. (second only to Her
Majesty The Queen) with a fortune which was already approaching £10 billion. A quick check on Google now reveals that:
“The Duke was a
country man at heart.
His ancestral
home, Eaton Hall is set in 10,000 acres just outside Chester. He wished he had been allowed to become a
beef farmer in Northern Ireland like his father. He struggled at times with the burden of his
responsibilities and suffered from bouts of depression.”
Anyway, he was
soon joined by his family who Martin promptly recognised as his wife. Lady Natalia Gosvenor and children – Lady
Tamara; Lady Edwina; Lady Viola and a thirteen-year old son, Hugh. Sadly, the Duke died a few months ago, aged
only sixty-six years.
According to
Martin, whenever he met the Duke he would always ask after the KPMG partners
together with words of encouragement:
“Life is an
uphill struggle on occasions, but life without challenge is no life at all.”
He was
absolutely right.
According to
75-year-old retired nurse, Margaret Ford who was interviewed by BBC, she had
lived close to the Duke’s vast estate all her life and knew him fairly well:
“He was
terribly unassuming and humble. He was
indeed a fine gentleman and a great man.
He sent his children to local schools, and local kids were always
invited to their birthday parties. They
were very down to earth people. We shall
miss him hugely.”
What is
instructive about The Duke’s persona is that beneath his self-effacing posture
was a firm and clear appreciation that wealth is a serious matter. He hired the best chartered accountants
(Martin was one of them); the smartest solicitors and so on and so forth to
protect his family’s wealth and by extension its power, status and privilege.
As confirmation
that he had succeeded in this endeavour, Eleanor Steafel delivered an
eye-witness account of the memorial service held at the magnificent Chester
Cathedral on November 28, 2016.
The
congregation was massive (almost 1,500) with the Royal Family publicly
declaring solidarity with one of their own.
The powerful message was conveyed by the presence of the Duke of
Cambridge (Prince William) as well as the Duchess of Cornwall, Princess Eugenie
and the Duke of Kent.
There is a
poignant lesson for the J.K.Randle family who rather than hold on to their
wealth like the Duke of Westminster preferred to part with it – much to the
chagrin of their successors who are now compelled to deal with the harsh
reality . In these climes, without wealth there is no power, status or
privilege.
Fortunately,
the law is on the side of the Randle family.
So also are morality and justice.
Why would philantrophy, compassion and generosity of spirit merit
dispossession, impunity and contempt?
G.K. Chesterton
scored a bull’s eye with his epigrammatic summation of the tactics adopted by
government officials in their ruthless endeavour to confiscate private
property.
“What a clever web we
weave,
when we set out to
deceive.”
Malignant
wickedness,perfidy and mendacity cannot defeat uprightness and steadfastness.
We refuse to
accept that what William Shakespeare the English playwright lamented four hundred years ago – wicked men plotting grave atrocities in
dark rooms and crevices to plunder not only state funds but also raid private
property and purses – for no other purpose than to fund their flamboyant life
style. Embezzlement knows no bounds
according to greatest playwright of all time.
The J.K. Randle family got a raw deal from the government as punishment
for not growing its wealth, power, status and privilege.
Our ancestors
regarded philanthropy and public service as a calling and a duty to
mankind. They demonstrated it by giving
generously to society.
Here is the
Lagos State Law No. 5 of 2011.
“A Law to
provide for the preservation, protection and restoration of historical properties and cultural heritage sites in
Lagos State and for connected purposes”
The Lagos State
House of Assembly enacts as follows:
“1- (1) As from the commencement
of this Law, no property, site or monument location to which this Law applies
as a listed site under grades I, II and III shall be altered, demolished or
improved upon except as is necessary owing to normal wear and tear or minor
repairs, without the prior issuance of listed site consent of the Governor in
accordance with the provisions of this Law.”
“(2) Any alteration to any listed site shall
take into consideration the character and special interest of the site.”
However, the
events we have been dealing with for several decades are so bizarre, almost a
circus, all in an unrelenting effort to dispossess us of our land and thereby
emasculate the Randle family. The crux
of the matter revolves around breach of trust, negligence and looting in total
disregard of personal responsibility and accountability. At every turn, the J.K. Randle family has
been undermined. Why should government
undertake a project which the Randle family, with all due modesty, is perfectly
capable to execute? The situation calls
for maturity, restraint and tact combined with experience, knowledge and
courage – as a counterpoise to the aggressive pursuit by government officials
of their own agenda at our expense.
Rather than resort to lamenting over the abuse of power and the misuse
of authority the J.K. Randle family must remain resolute and assiduous in
guarding its integrity and reputation.
The answer to it all is COOL
HEADS – but there is no room for fear or indifference.
It was typical
of Richard Quest to quickly establish the nexus between wealth, power, status
and privilege; and by way of contrast, the connection between the desperate
pursuit of wealth and power – driven by greed and corruption. The evidence he relied on was provided by the
front page report of “Vanguard”
newspaper of January 6, 2017.
Headline: “HAYATOU FACES CORRUPTION CHARGES:
“Egyptian
Competitions Authority confirmed that CAF president IssaHayatou will be
referred to General Prosecutor for corruption charges which includes violations
made by Hayatou in granting broadcasting rights for football championships.
Egyptians
Competitions Authorities proved that Hayatou violated article (8) sections (A),
(B), (C), (D), (E) from the Protection of Competition Act, as he abused his
current position and gave broadcasting
rights to Lagardere Sports alone without posing it to other companies in a
natural framework that ensures the existence of free and fair competition.
The report says
that Hayatou granted Largardere the right for 12 years starting from 2017 till
the year 2028. CAF signed this agreement
with Largardere in June 2015, almost a year and half before the current rights
agreement ended. It is worth mentioning
that CAF grantedLagardere the same rights in 2008 and until 2016, which means
that the company acquired broadcasting rights for 20 years. These broadcasting rights were not only
limited to satellite broadcast but
included webcasting too, and not only on the scope of Egypt and Africa, but
throughout the whole world.
Egyptian
Competitions Authority asked CAF for quick measures according to article 20 of
the Competition Act, which most importantly included the cancelation of the
contract between him and Lagarderebecause of the outcomes this have on
Egypt.
The authority
also granted an exceptional right for BeIn media organisation in addition to
the other company that applied for the broadcasting grants to continue its live
broadcasting for the 2017 AFCON which will start on January 14, because of the
short time available to perform the needed procedures before the start to
preserve the viewers rights to watch the championship through a competitive
atmosphere that allows viewers to review best prices and grants them more
freedom to choose, in addition to re-opening the broadcasting rights and other
rights publicly on the official CAF website in advance and CAF will evaluate
proposals that will be submitted according to an objective criteria in a way
that ensures the protection of competition in these markets and to stop
monopolies.
CAF will also
have to change the way broadcasting rights for its championships are sold in
Egypt, in a manner that divides it into bundles that ensure the creation of
conditions that encourages competition in broadcasting championships.
Competitions
Authority stressed that CAF is subject to the Protection of Competition Act and
is obliged to apply it according to the second article of the agreement between
the Egyptian government and CAF. The
Competitions Authorities assured that they will be contacting all concerned
authorities in the country to ensure the implementation of its decisions and
remove the serious damages that happened to the Egyptian economy as a result of
his actions.”
Additional
evidence was provided regarding the even more troubling equation of survival
when confronted with desperation – no wealth; no power; no status; and no
privilege.
Front page
report of “Daily Sun” newspaper of January 6, 2017.
Headline: “BOKO
HARAM: WOMEN SELL SEX TO SURVIVE IN LAKE CHAD –
Red Cross”
The International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said women in the
Lake Chad basin have been forced to prostitute to survive.
The ICRC attributed the development to Boko Haram
insurgency, which drove millions
from their homes and left children to starve.
“The violence has displaced over 2.4 million people
across the swamp lands of Lake
Chad, where the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria meet, and disrupted the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands
of others,’’ ICRC said.
According to the United Nations (UN), up to a million
people have been cut off from
humanitarian aid by Boko Haram, in spite of a regional military offensive against the Islamist militants.
“It is extraordinary to see a woman and her family and
they have nothing other than what they have been given.
The children are clearly malnourished and it is just
hopeless,’’ Simon Brooks, head of ICRC’s delegation
in Cameroon, said.
According to Brooks, as the head of their households,
some mothers were forced to
prostitute so they could feed their family, since many no longer have husbands,
because of the conflict.
“When you don’t have the means to survive, you’ll go
begging for it. It’s loss of dignity when you’re having to resort to something
like that just to keep your children alive – fraternising with people who have
money,’’ he said.
The unfolding catastrophe in the Lake Chad basin was
named the most neglected crisis of
2016 in a poll of aid agencies by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Overshadowed by the wars in Syria and Iraq and the
global refugee and migrant crisis,
Lake Chad has barely made the headlines,’’ Brooks said in an interview in
London.
The report said over seven million people lack food “but
insecurity makes it hard for aid agencies to reach the most vulnerable.
“This area has suffered from decades of chronic neglect …
if it continues to be under-funded and under-reported, then, millions of people
will continue to suffer,’’ Brooks said.
In August 2016, the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) released a report which
detailed how 1.4 million children were displaced, with, at least, one million trapped in
hard-to-reach areas.
“The Lake Chad crisis is a children’s crisis that should
rank high on the global
migration and displacement agenda,” according to Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF
Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
“Humanitarian needs are out-pacing the response,
especially now that new areas previously unreachable in North-East Nigeria
become accessible.”
It was
President MuhamaduBuhari of Nigeria who delivered an incisive dimension to the
violent consequences of destabilisation of the matrix of wealth, power, status
and privilege:
“Boko Haram is a typical example of small fires causing large fires ……
through official bungling, negligence, complacency, or collusion. Boko Haram became a terrifying force taking
tens of thousands of lives and capturing several towns and villages covering
swathes of Nigeria territory.”
Nobody really
knows what Boko Haram insurgents want to achieve by killing everyone and
destroying everything. It is just
possible that Professor Valmir Dickson-Wright of Cambridge University got it
right.
“It is one of
the consequences of being excluded from wealth, power, status and
privilege. This is a direct contradiction
of the acceptance, by those staff who works on the vast estate of the Duke of
Westminster, of his century’s long hold on wealth; power; status and
privilege.”
It was the
front page report of the “Saturday Sun”
newspaper of January 7,2016 which threw up a most intriguing aspect of the
wealth / power equation – especially those who are entirely estranged and
alienated.
Headline: “LOVE
MADE IN PRISON”
“The Love story of Pastor Darlington and Funmilayo Ajitemisan of Open
Channel Bible, is out of this world.
They were not attracted to each other at first sight; and shared nothing
in common, except crime.
These two ex-convicts found love in the most unusual of places, in the
Nigerian Prison; where the condemned had no hope.
But Darlington and Funmilayo made the best of their situation, they found
love and Christ. Ever since then, their
marriage has withstood 28 years of love, relative hardship and perseverance.
While working as preacher in Nigerian prisons, Darlington met Funmilayo,
first as a counsellor at Kirikiri female prison. Unknown to both of them they were going to
end up marrying each other.
Narrating the story of their journey to matrimony to Saturday Sun,
Darlington said the tale started and could only be understood from his life
history as a female serial killer which landed him in prison in Bombay, India,
to his numerous incarcerations which contributed to who he was and the love
life he later had with his wife.
As a child, from the age of seven, Darlington had become notorious in
Mushin, Lagos. He was the head of many
Mushin notorious criminal gangs.
When he travelled abroad for more studies, he ended up becoming a women serial
killer. He took pleasure in killing
women, all because he believed he was raised by a bad mother. As a child, he developed hatred for women and
only derived pleasure in killing them.
“I ended up in prison outside Nigeria.
I was what you called an international hired assassin, a pimp and a
gigolo.
My incarceration started at the age of three in Mushin area. As a child I would always prefer to go out
and get lost, only to be found in the police cells. I found it more comfortable than staying at home.
Then at the age of seven I was initiated into the world of crime. It was in the days of Omo Pupa and Mighty Joe
who ruled Mushin. They were all
notorious criminals and I was their errand boy.
I would always deliver their hemp.
From that age I started doing things my age mates could not do. I can steal a whole stock of anything alone
and resell it to the owner. I can enter
any compound and brutalize the person. I specialised in brutalising women,
because I hated them. It was my hatred
for my mother that made me to hate women.
As time went by, I travelled abroad. Then I went into hooliganism full
time, and then I became a serial killer of women. As I told you before, it was for the hatred I
had for my mother, I don’t know why she hated me first, so I hated her for no
reason also,” he said.
On the long run, Darlington was caught and was sentenced to death. Miraculously, he was spared and he gave his
life to Jesus Christ. He promised never
to go back into crime, but to serve God through prison evangelism till he
dies. Darlington has a Ph.D in
criminology and four Master’s degrees, but he is not thinking of using them to
earn himself a living.
“I didn’t repent here in Nigeria; I repented when I was to be
hanged. I was to be condemned to
death. I was granted bail. From that I got my freedom. I made a covenant with God that I was going
to serve Him with all I have if He would let me go. I told God that I will preach in the prison
all my life and I will not work with my certificates. I have six certificates which include a Ph.D
in criminology and four Master’s and one B.SC.”
It was during his ministration in Nigerian prisons that the unusual
happened. As at this time, his hatred
for women had vanished when he met his heartthrob. The fear of the hangman had melted his
hardened mind and he searched for love in usual places. He could not find love without forgiving his
mother.
“I met my wife when I kept my vow that I would be preaching in the
prisons. As I was preaching in all the
prisons in Lagos, I told God that I wanted to get married and He should show me
my wife. Then the Holy Ghost told me
that my wife was in the prison. I
questioned it. I asked how I was going
to marry a prisoner. Then I was told
that I was to marry Funmilayo Smith,” he said.
As a retired dancer and male sex hawker, Darlington had seen many women
and he had specific features he wanted from his future wife; Funmilayo did not
just fit the description.
“I had been seeing her. She had
been coming for counselling but, I was never attracted to her. She was fine, but not my taste. Remember I was a star before, which meant
that I have seen beautiful ladies. I
never thought I was going to marry her.
I was just a messenger to her mother who was then in the military. I was aghast but I had to obey God.
Then she was also placed on bail, then I traced her to her house and told
her that the Lord wanted her to be my wife.
She tried to dissuade me with her situation that she might be going to
jail and be convicted. I accepted what
her fate might be and she agreed. Then
in 1989 we got married.”
On Funmilayo’s part, the former beauty queen believes she is not
different from her sweetheart. She was
sent to prison after being charged to court for stealing and illegal possessions. She believes that their meeting and
relationship have been designed by God and there is nothing she is ashamed
of. “I was not different from him. I was a duplicate of him. I was a professional call girl. I have a tremendous, unusual love for
him. I was charged for theft and other
things, but I was in remand more than the stipulated period,” she said.
The marriage has not been all sweet and honey, it has experienced some
hindrances. Apart from the fact that
while they got married, Funmilayo was still standing trial, while on bail, she
was almost implicated in another crime perpetrated by her former group.
“She was rearrested for another crime her former group committed in which
she was not involved. It was at this
period that we had our first twins. It
was later that her case was settled and the court said that she had been
freed,” Darlington disclosed.
The marriage also suffered family resistance. Funmilayo’s mother did not accept the
marriage, she did all she could to frustrate the union.
“There was a time we were separated.
My mother in-law did not know why her daughter would decide to marry
me. She was always interfering in my
marriage. People predicted that we are
not going to last long, but now we are 28 years in the union. I love Funmi so much, we are inseparable,” he
said.
Now both of them are strong in the Lord and in the ministry, preaching in
the prison.
Darling was, however, grateful to the Lord that despite their past, none
of his children took to their criminal ways.”
Bashorun J.K.
Randle is a former
President
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG
Nigeria and Africa
Region. He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional
Services.
Email: jkrandleintuk@gmail.com
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