MY ECOUNTER WITH IBB-Hajia Hadiza

                                              Interview
At a tender age, she got married to a very wealthy business man. Not long after that, she  became a car dealer, just when she was 18 years old. In her mid twenties, she sold a property in Lagos that fetched her a whopping $625,000.
She was young, exuberant and rich. So she took off and traveled to several countries to see the world and give herself a treat..
In this interview with Moses George, she spoke on various issues, including her encounter with General  Ibrahim  Babangida.  Welcome to the world of this enigma, popularly called Hadiza Motors; Enjoy it:

     
Your marriage to a wealthy man must have been responsible for your getting started in business at a relatively tender age?No...No. What happened was that…..everything in life is a product of destiny That marriage was like being caged. I was sentenced to that man . I was not allowed to work or to do anything. I had everything at my disposal: maids, drivers, just name it. My husband could afford every luxury that you could think of. Then one day, he travelled. There was this National Supplies Store close to our house, I went there and met one Mr Adebowale. I told him that I came to purchase rice. He then wrote 10 bags on the supply paper which he handed over to me to take to the store. The I said to myself, all we needed was 1 bag and this man is asking me to take 10 bags. A bag of rice was N35 at that time. Then some trader outside said they could pay N40 per .bag. That means I could make N50 on the 10 bags. So I gave them the supply paper, collected my N50 and went home without taking any rice home. When Alhaji came back from his trip, I excitedly told him what happened at the National Supplies Store. The following day, I wrote a letter to the
Managing Director of the National Supplies company in Lagos. Before you  know what was happening, I was being supplied 300, 500 bags of rice. It was too good to be true. Don't forget that I was making N5 per bag. Soon, I became rich. I bought a pick-up van to enable me transport my rice supplies.

So your husband approved of the whole thing….
Yea. He took good care of me. He took me everywhere: Germany, England,  America… everywhere. He did that to make me happy. At times, we use to travel to Saudi Arabia on Thursday and return on Sunday. When he saw that I was making money from my business, he decided to support me. The pick-up van I purchased was for slightly over N4,000. One day, one of Alhaji's friends came to our house and told my husband that he heard that I bought a pick-up. He said that a local government he had
General Ibrahim Babangida greatly. Babangida is a great man, a great leader. Perhaps all those who make negative utterances about him do so either out of mischief or wrong information. The media has been very unfair to this great man. They asses him based on sentiment. The attacks and criticisms of IBB is just a hype. There should be objectivity. You shouldn’t throw mud at such great people just for the fun of it. IBB is a good man  with a good hearti. So with regards to the land at Karimu Kotun…Lagos, that land was a prime property..Strategically located. Some people in high places told me that IBB wanted to take the land from me. He was the Head of State then and had immense powers at his disposal. That time, I was still at the University of Lagos. So, I wrote IBB a letter saying' there is life after power. I learnt you want to take my land away from me'.  You know what General Babangida did? He called Yakubu Mohammed of Newswatch magazine and told him he had nothing to do with that land. He asked Yakubu to tell me that I should go ahead and  do whatever I wanted to do with the property. That time, I was prepared to confront IBB, even though I knew he could send me to jail for daring  him. I insulted him in the letter I sent him. Instead of sending security operatives to pick me up, he sent Yakubu Mohammed to me. What humility. You can confirm this from Yakubu Mohammed. He left my land for me. S o I sold  69B to Nigerian Re. I am still the owner 69 A. So out of that money, I took $100,000 and started travelling from one country to another. Each time I checked into a hotel, a five star hotel,  I would ask them: is that the best room you can offer? I wrote all embassies in Nigeria, telling them that I just sold my property for  $625,000 and that they should connect me to the best hotels in their countries. They were sending complementary visas to me. You know that they want people to visit their countries and spend some good money, which  I got. You know, while abroad, each time I  checked into a hotel and deposited my money, say $80,000, their mouths will fall open in amazement  and I'll tell them that,” I just sold my land for $625,000 and I came to enjoy myself in your country.” I was feeling alive and feeling on top of the world. After 3 days, I’d take off again to another country. When I came back to Nigeria, I started acquiring choice properties and choice automobiles. I bought limousines and every other expensive car that caught my attention. I was the cynosure of all eyes. I bought this land for just N2 million. Look at the amount I sold it. They whole thing was a promotion from God..On my return to Nigeria, I had only $3000 left on me. The remaining $525,000, which was in fix deposit account yielded interests from banks. I started investing the 40 per cent that banks were paying for my deposits. I acquired properties everywhere. I thank God.

You played a prominent role in the emergence of Prince Abubakar Audu as Governor of Kogi State. At what point did your relationship with him crashed?

 Who is hajia Hadiza. How would you describe yourself?Well, thank you. Hajia Hadiza is an easy going woman. I was born on 1st October, 1963 in Ibadan. I grew up there. That means that I attended primary and secondary schools in
Ibadan. Later, I proceeded to the University of Lagos to do a degree in Mass Communications. My father owns the famous Hakuri night Club in Ibadan. It was a happening place then. The past National Chairman of PDP, Senator Ahamadu Ali was my father's friend when he was a student at UCH. So I grew up seeing him as a father figure. I got married at a very tender age . I was just 16 when I got married to an Ilorin based wealthy business man. I was forced into that marriage because of the man's wealth. He was the richest man in Ilorin at that time. He owns an estate. At the time I got married to him, he owns over 100 houses. He was the first person to own an estate in Ilorin at that time. It was actually because of his wealth that my grandmother asked me to marry him. I couldn't turn her down because I loved her so much. At that time, people told me that I was pretty and had the right figure for modeling, so they encouraged me to travel abroad. I was smuggled out of the room, and on my way, I had an accident (points to a scare).Well, I was returned home. My marriage to Alhaji was blissful in every sense of that word. I was blessed with 3 children, all boys.
While you were in Alhaji's house, were you in any kind of business?
As incredible as this may sound, it is true; at the age of 18, I became a car dealer. The first lady distributor of Peugeot Automobile Kaduna. I started with SCOA, later, I went to PAN, and that is how the name Hadiza Motors came about. So at the age of 18, I actually became a dealer for  PAN.