•Reveals How He Has Remained Stylish For Over 3 Decades
Aare Tunji Alapinni, a retired former Assistant Inspector General of Police will be 70 in January 2022. And he plans to celebrate it big. He is one of Nigeria’s respected celebrity men. He is also very stylish. He inherited dressing well from his mother, whom he described as a fashionista. The need to keep his white School uniform clean and the Nigeria Police insistence on impeccable appearance drove neatness deeper in him. No wonder, he is a sight to behold at events and parties. His forthrightness, willingness to deliver service for the betterment of the society which endeared him to many has earned him a retinue of chieftaincy titles.
Former Assistant Inspector General of Police, Chief Tunji Alapini is the Atobase Okemesi Ekiti, Maiyegun Edunabon, Atayese of Akinale, Aare Akogun of Jogaland, Akogun of Itoriland, Aremo Towulade of Akinade, Maiyegun of Owu kingdom, Aare Agbofinro of Iperu, Otunba Akogun of Oke-Ila Oragun, Otun Oluwo Adimula of The Source, Ile-Ife and Fiwajoye of Iloko-Jese, Bobadara of Egbaland to mention just a few.
Aare Alapinni was one of the well-wishers who came to felicitate with Ooni of Ife’s 2 new Cultural Ambassadors. When City People hosted them at the City People Event Centre, Gbagada, Lagos. He recently spoke with the magazine’s Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE and Assistant Editor SUNDAY ADIGUN. Below are excerpts.
You always make Style statements with your dressing. Even after leaving service years ago you still look very trendy going by the way you dress, the way you look, even at 67. How do you explain this sir?
There is an adage in Yoruba land that says ‘ohunti o banigbalale, aaro la ti ma nko’. Whatever you want to make out of yourself, starts from the beginning.Either in character, in purpose or in life, whatever you want, start from morning. You cannot start building a bungalow and when you get to the roofing level you now want to raise it to a -storey building, it doesn’t work like that. You have to start from the foundation. So, give yourself a foundation for what you want to be. That is what I think I have rigidly given to myself and worked on. So, over the years, I’ve made up my mind that I want to be able to live a life in which if Seye meets me today and wants to talk about me, he should be able to say the same thing Adamu in Kaduna will say about me and Emeka in Enugu. I want to present a picture of who I am. And I’m straightforward with my friends. If a friend says he’s annoyed with me, go and find out what the reason is, we have irreconcilable differences, either he wants to do things that are not right and I’m saying no to it, it cannot be because I’ve done something bad to him. I believe that whatever I do to my individual, to my friend, to anybody, I must get it back in ten folds. That has been my life.
How have you been able to retain your physique in the last 20years?
No1, it’s God’s Grace. No 2, I know when to put a stop to something. I don’t eat much. I know when I’m hungry, I eat. If I’m not hungry I don’t eat. I don’t eat because I have to eat. I’m not that kind of person who will walk into your office, seeing you eating chicken and I pick it up. It’s a different thing if I’m coming to your office and inform you ahead of time that I want to eat, I will eat. I may go to a party and not eat anything; I don’t even have to go to a party because I want to eat. But if I’m hungry I eat, and I eat sparingly, I don’t eat heavy food. And of course, I exercise, I play my golf and I do so many things by myself. I always do what I think I should be able to do.
Would it be right to say having been in Police force for years has also shaped you in a way; in terms of lifestyle?
I believe so. I think my lifestyle keyed into my police training. My parents brought me up as a straightforward person. They taught me not to steal and not to say things I cannot do. That has been part of me. When I joined the police force and I see that this is a discipline organisation, I was expected to follow the line of righteousness. It cost me nothing, it’s not an extra effort for me to be right, not an extra effort to be righteous, not an extra effort to be straightforward, not an extra effort to be truthful, and it’s not an extra effort to do good. So, whatever you want to do, do it the way it should be done. It’s in the Bible ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself. The first person you should love first is yourself, it is how much you love yourself that you will use as a measure to love others. I think I love myself and I’m happy with that, I’ve also applied it to people around me.
From head to toe; each time you step out whether in native or English attire, there is always a touch of class and style. Did you decide that too?
First of all, you have to understand that I’m a Lagosian, I grew up in an area called Popo Aguda. I lived with my mum who is a fashionista. I believe in cleanliness and good tiding. All my friends are birds of a feather as me, they dress well, and they look well. I don’t see any reason I should be different. I went to a school where my uniform is white and you must always be clean. If you can spend 5years in a school where your uniform must always neat every day, that should be part of you for the rest of your life.
Let’s talk about your growing up in the Police force, how was it?
Growing up in the police has it’s up and down.
Why Police, why not something else?
I never thought I would join the Police force. I was working in the high court then in Lagos, in the Lagos State Armed Robbery Tribunal, where we had Justice Gomez, Brig. Ibrahim Bako. Gen Ishola Williams was also a member at one time. We always had series of cases in the tribunal. We always criticised the lapses in police investigations that we observed. There used to be a police member of the armed robbery tribunal; there was a judge, military officers and police member. Our job there was to criticise. After trial, we would retire to the chamber and start talking about those trials. The Deputy Commissioner of Police then was always saying to me “My pikin if you think sey if you join the police you can do it better, come and join”. So, when the form came out, he brought it for me to fill and join the police. That was how I got the form and joined the police force in 1974. That time my plan was to travel abroad, and I was making necessary arrangements. But the bragging issue of I can do it better made me join the force. And I never had any regret. I served Nigeria Police for 35 years and this year is10years that I have retired, making 45 years. So, this young man you are looking at is not a small boy, by the grace of God in the next 3 years I will be 70.
And you are still looking this young, what is the secret?
Keeping your lifestyle in check, don’t bite more than you can chew, be contented with what you have, don’t follow friends to do things that is against your body constitution. Contentment, knowing when to stop, knowing when to move forward, not to over push yourself, taking good care of your health and diet above all cut your coat according to your cloth.
What has also kept your marriage up to this point?
I think the most important thing is love and understanding. If you understand each other, no matter the ups and downs, you will escape them. When I was in service, I wasn’t based in one place. I was moving all over the federation, and I just stationed my wife in Ibadan. So we had all our children in Ibadan. We’ve been married for 38 years, we courted for 10 years.
Can you tell us about your life as one of the noble chiefs from the source?
My lifestyle is all about being good and doing good; there is a difference between the two. In the process I’ve met a lot of people, and all these people I’ve met believe I’m unique in their own way. That’s why when I was in Ogun State as Commissioner of Police. They were having cross border banditry, and we had one police post built around Jegaorile that was not utilised, and that was the route in which robbers drove vehicles through to the Republic of Benin. When I got there, I was wondering why the police station was not in use, they said they had not been given approval for its use. I was told Kabiyesi built it and I met with him to take approval, and he said no problem. On that same day I opened the police station. That was how the Kabiyesi now called me and made me Aare Akogun Joga Orile. I was Area commander in Ife many years ago and one of my ASPs retired. He now became Saalu of Edunabon in Osun state. When he became the Oba, he called me and made me Mayegun of Edun Abon. We were with Olowu of Owu one night with Prince Biola Ajibola for a dinner; the whole place was set up with people at 11 pm that was how he gave me Mayegun of Owu kingdom. After that, they put a call through to the former head of state, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, it was him who said I should be given the chieftaincy title of Mayegun because I’ve been keeping Ogun together and everybody had been observing me. I was also conferred with Otun Oluwo Adimula of the source by Ooni of Ife, who called me and said, he’s the Olofinoluwo Adimula and he wanted me to be the Otun Oluwo Adimula. In IlokoIjesha, when I was in Lokoja, I was always passing Ilesha, Iloko Ijesha. I would greet him, and he would give me bread from his bakery, I would also buy yam and plantain for him. Then he called me one day and said “Aburo iwa e ti da ju” I’ve been watching you, and he made me Fiwajoye of Iloko Ijesha. The same thing happened in Iperu, I’m the Agbofinro of Iperu. I have close to 11 chieftaincy titles, not to talk of the one I’ve not said yes to. These are things I got through my goodwill, through my relationship with people, through what I’ve been doing and people perceived as being good, and I thank God for it.
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