Ayo Opadokun turned 80 last week, and many friends, intellectuals, statesmen and family members serenaded him. All I can call him, after ruminating his storied life, is the scribe of his generation. Few know that he has been in politics since the days of Awolowo, and he is best known as the secretary. He was secretary in many of the organisaton. Whether it was the UPN, Afenifere or AD or even in the early days of Action Congress, he was always there. To be the scribe is to know. It is to be in the trenches. It is to be in the inner sanctum of the power vortex.
He was also there in the thorns and thistles of the pro-democracy struggles. He went to detention. He challenged the scarecrows of military power. He might have lost his life. He was dogged. He was there when Abdulsalami government met with NADECO chieftains and he was part of the guiding light to shepherd the birth of this democracy. The birth of AD cannot be completed without him. Without AD, the transition was failure. He was a chief figure in that narrative. He even saved Bola Ige from himself as I would demonstrate in my upcoming book. Ige was in the thrall and throes of personal ambition and he might have derailed the Southwest politics in the process in one night but for Opadokun’s audacious decision with Chief Lulu Briggs.
In all, Opadokun is also a writer, a chronicler of the tales of his generation including the life of Nigeria spy chief M.D. Yusufu and his latest work, The NADECO Story, which I said should have been titled, A NADECO Story. As former University of Lagos Vice Chancellor Professor Oluwatoyin T. Ogundipe writes, “Opadokun’s voice has never been one of convenience; it has always been one of conscience.” Happy 80th.
