In his heydays, the indomitable Chief Obafemi Awolowo was aptly described as the main issue in Nigerian politics. Forty-nine years after his demise, he still fills the consciousness of the people, including those who vigorously opposed him and frustrated his bid to serve as president.
Some commentators have referred to him as the man who saw tomorrow. Yet, he was neither a commercial seer nor a prophet of doom, as his adversaries unkindly portrayed him. He was a problem solver. Awo stood out among his peers and other leaders who knew his pedigree but would, out of pretentiousness, not acknowledge it until he had passed on in 1987. Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu referred to him as the best president Nigeria never had.
When other leaders were busy at social parties, carousing with women of easy virtue, Awo said he was always at his table, studying, dissecting, and proffering solutions to national problems.
On many occasions, he warned about looming disasters, but his warnings were ignored. The nation later regretted it.
In 1947, Awo published a book: “Path to Nigeria’s Freedom.” In it, he canvassed federalism, explaining that in a highly heterogeneous society, a unitary system was a misnomer. Today, the clamour for the devolution of power, decentralisation, state police, and strident appeals for the resolution of the national question are just beginning to catch up with the proposals he enjoined almost 60 years ago.
When he was targeted for liquidation as the Leader of Opposition in the First Republic, he warned about the darkness that was about to cover the country. He was ignored. The Coker Commission of Enquiry was set up to tarnish his image and the pathfinding administration he presided over in the old Western Region between 1951 and 1959. Also, the Balewa Government, after announcing the discovery of an arms plot, tried him for reasonable felony. He was jailed in 1962 by a judge, Justice George Sowemimo of the Federal High Court, whose “hands were tied”.
He was in Calabar prison where news about the 1966 coup came to him. The great chief did not meet his tormentors alive. Indeed, darkness had covered the country.
In 1973, he warned against the rigging of the census. He rejected the controversial headcount, and that was the end of the exercise. The military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, put the report of the Census Board, headed by Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, in abeyance. It was never revisited.
In the Second Republic, Awo wrote to President Shehu Shagari about the deteriorating economy, warning that the ship of state was about to hit the rocks. The former president described him as an alarmist. A few weeks later, the reality dawned on the inept and corrupt administration. Shagari quickly introduced austerity measures.
Earlier, he had warned against the mismanagement of the Steel Rolling Industry. The national chairman of the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Chief Adisa Akinloye, mocked him, asking sarcastically: when did the lawyer, politician and administrator become an expert in steel rolling? Today, where is the company?
Awo had warned Northern leaders about the danger of neglecting education, which is fundamentally a core element of social welfare. He predicted that the children of those being deprived would not allow the children of the oppressors who monopolised the wealth and privileges to rest. Today, some of the offspring of old leaders still holding the levers of power in the vast region cannot go home freely at weekends. They are stuck in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Awo admonished his disciples never to leave their ideological political family, warning that they might not end well if they gravitated towards the rival conservative platform. He believed that if any of them could not realise his personal ambition or interest, accommodation would be found for him within the larger collective interest of the group.
He lamented the drift by Chief Akin Omoboriowo, warning that he would perish in the NPN. He also said Chief Sunday Afolabi might run into trouble because of the course of action he took. Awo’s concern was that those disciples of his were on the path to perdition. Both of them lived till their old age, but did Awo’s prediction not come to pass?
Also, the late sage was taken aback when his long-standing ally during the treason trial, Anthony Enahoro, distanced himself from him ahead of 1979. The great Uromi chief went to the NPN. He became a sheep among the wolves in the Bendel State chapter. His other ally, Chief Akanbi Onitiri, was also deceived and lured into the Nigeria People’s Party (NPP) by those who said the Zik of Africa would not contest for president again. Sadly, Onitiri, a hero of the trial, died in an auto crash during the preparations for the transition programme.
Awo also warned his great disciple and loyalist, Bola Ige, against hobnobbing with Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who intruded into the Oyo State chapter of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) to settle a quarrel between Governor Ige and his estranged deputy, Afolabi. Since the statement “the best presidential material may not win” was made, the feeling in the UPN was that the military never wanted Awo, who was the best candidate, to win the 1979 poll.
During the night of the long knives in Yola, capital of the defunct Gongola State, the Cicero of Esa-Oke narrowly escaped expulsion from the party. The prosecutor during the party’s congress was Lateef Jakande. The star witness was Busari Adelakun, alias Eruobodo. Awo deployed wisdom by calling for a brief adjournment during which time he calmed down his tempestuous followers.
But he reprimanded Ige and advised him not to associate with outsiders who did not wish the group well.
Ige ignored the wise counsel in the post-Awo era. He joined the Obasanjo government. He never came back alive. Even Afolabi ended with the gnashing of teeth. The two colourful politicians and compatriots became foes and never reconciled till they passed on.
After returning from a visit to “Evil Genius” military President Ibrahim Babangida at the State House, Awo summoned the meeting of his associates to Ikenne. There, he advised them to learn to wine with the devil with a long spoon.
Earlier, when he was invited by Dr. Samuel Cookey, chairman of the Political Bureau set up by IBB to collate ideas on Nigeria’s future, the former Western Region’s Premier declined. Awo said the administration had embarked on a fruitless search, warning that when they imagined that the new order had arrived, they would be terribly disappointed. The eight years of political experimentation by IBB ended in a fiasco. IBB annulled the most credible presidential election in the history of Nigeria. Awo was vindicated. NigerianBusiness Coverage
With these benefits of hindsight, the question is: why did the leaders of the Pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere, agree to team up with Obasanjo in 2003, despite Awo’s warning?
In December 2001, Ige was said to have contemplated resignation as minister to defend his party, the Action for Democracy (AD), ahead of the 2003 poll. He died as the chief law officer of the country and his killers were never found.
Obasanjo has never seen himself as a Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo man, although these ethnic groups are older than Nigeria that came into existence after the amalgamation of the Northern and the Southern Protectorates in 1914. He is ever fond of calling himself a Nigerian; a nationalist. As a soldier, it is a requirement of his calling. But when he had a problem in Nigeria ahead of the 2003 poll, he craved regional support. He, therefore, ran to the Yoruba for a geo-political solidarity. Afenifere momentarily forgot Awo, their leader, and his warnings to stay away from OBJ. The leaders of the pan-Yoruba organisation forgot that Obasanjo has never been on the same page with them on any political issue, including the annulment of the presidential mandate of Moshood Abiola, because, as Obasanjo once described the business mogul, “he is not the messiah that Nigeria needs”. NigerianBusiness Coverage
They forgot that when they insisted on the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential result, Obasanjo only rooted for an interim government.
The leaders of Afenifere also forgot ‘Not My Will,’ a memoir written by Obasanjo to mock Awo for the power that eluded the late sage but landed on the palm of the former military leader without asking for it, because he met Awo for the first time as a bare-footed secondary school boy when Awo was already Premier of the Western Region with the ambition to rule Nigeria.
They also forgot Gen. Olufemi Olutoye’s experience and how the Yoruba General had to suddenly leave the Army when he still had much to offer.
Afenifere’s elders got a promise of an imaginary restructuring and false power devolution from a former military leader and symbol of unitarism. Between 1999 and 2002, what did President OBJ do for the six states or their governors to warrant their support for his second term?
Was it his position on the old federal secretariat land in Lagos and other land matters, which Umaru Yar’Adua later resolved? Was it the attempted liquidation of additional local government areas in Lagos State, or the seizure of their allocations for three years? How many infrastructural facilities did he attract to the region? What was his impact?
E ko loogun arindo, kilode ti e nje aayan? Why eat the roach without having an elixir?
At the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, then Governor Bola Tinubu promised that Lagos would give Obasanjo five million votes. Lam Adesina became a campaign manager for the man perceived to have their interest at heart. The people of Ogun State mounted pressure on Governor Segun Osoba to support the son of the soil.
But the circumspect saw a looming danger. Tinubu, who was having a running battle with the core leadership of Afenifere, did not limit his preparations for 2003 to the Obasanjo/Afenifere pact. He returned home to work more than he did in 1999, leaving no stone unturned. Afenifere’s elders, led by the venerable Senator Abraham Adesanya, discovered the mistake and miscalculation later, but it was too late.
As Obasanjo was rounding off his campaigns in the Southwest, he yelled at the six governors, saying that they should “pack and go”. On poll day, the region was hit by a political earthquake. Only Tinubu of Lagos survived it. The rest is history.
Curiously, the General has regressed to revisionism, 23 years later. Osoba never lied in the account given in his memoir. Some Afenifere chieftains who participated in the discussions that led to the calamitous agreement are still alive.
The lesson is instructive: stick to principles. And, like biblical Rechabites, never depart from the advice and admonition of your honest parents.
Or, was Awo not the father of Afenifere?
NOTE: Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Theliberationnews
