WHEN, on February 20, 2018, the Archbishop, Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos and Diocesan Bishop of Remo, Most Reverend Dr Olusina Fape, before a host of witnesses at Our Saviour’s Anglican Church, Ikenne Remo, Ogun State, inaugurated Ambassador Dr Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, as Iya Ewe (the mother figure for the youths) of the church, many sceptics must have thought that the oath sworn to by the honoree was just another such honour as is usually the case in Nigeria.
It was during Dr Awolowo Dosumu’s 70th birthday service held in the historic church that Christian faithful in the sancturary unanimously agreed to saddle her with the enormous responsibility of being the Iya Ewe of the church. But, little did the people know that she was not just going to be the Iya Ewe of the church; by the virtue of her activities as the pivot of Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, she is already the Iya Ewe of Nigeria.
She would prove this notion on the 6th of March, 2018. And the auspicious occasion was the marking of 2018 posthumous birthday of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, at his sprawling house in Ikenne Remo. After a brief thanksgiving service in the family chapel the events of the day proceeded with an earth-shaking programme christened Awo Conversations, which was held inside the Efunyela Hall in the sage’s residence.
Dr Awolowo Dosumu, under the umbrella of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, had packaged the conversations, this year’s event, being the second edition, to task the thinking of Nigerian youths towards waking them up from their slumber and be interested in rescuing Nigeria from self-inflicted problem brought about by abysmal leadership.
To stimulate a robust and pathfinding discussion, the Awolowo Foundation Executive Director meticulously identified egg-heads who would do justice to the chosen theme, which was The Youth and Nigeria’s Leadership Question: The Awo Example.
Those assembled for the task were Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, founder/Chief Executive Officer of Rise Networks; Mark Lipdo, the Executive Director, Stefanos Foundation; Yerima Shettima, President, Arewa Youth Forum; Ngozi Nwogwugwu, a political scientist and lecturer and Adedara Oduguwa, a poet and an author. The programme was moderated by another political scientist and a lecturer, Dr Jumoke Yacob-Haliso while a staunch Awoist, Professor Banji Akintoye, was in the cockpit as the chairman.
Since it was a programme that was specifically designed for the youth, it was not surprising that youths from various schools ranging from the universities to primrary schools graced the occasion. Among them were students from the University of Ibadan; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Babcock University, Ilishan Remo; Lead City University, Ibadan; Mayflower School, Ikenne Remo; Federal Government College, Odogbolu; Olive Branch Middle and High Schools, Osogbo and Obafemi Awolowo Comprehensive High School, Ikenne Remo.
Immediately after the duo of Professor Ayo Olukotun and Femi Olukunle of Nigerian Tribune announced the presence of guests, the Executive Director, Dr Awolowo Dosumu, took charge by intimating the audience with the raison detre of the event. According to her, “Today’s edition is the second in the series. The theme has been carefully chosen to reflect the current yearning for more youths in leadership positions at all levels of governance in Nigeria.”
Dr Awolowo Dosumu had earlier told the gathering why Chief Awolowo’s profound thoughts and ideas remain the best solutions to Nigeria problems.
“We believe that a clearer understanding and deeper knowledge of the AWO concept will assist new and aspiring leaders to chart the much-desired course to national development which will, in turn, rebound to the greatest good for the greatest number of Nigerians,” she said.
She opined that the conversations were designed to provide the opportunity for in-depth interrogation of the various aspects of leadership, particularly as exemplified by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Upon conviction that Chief Awolowo’s story had become a critical lesson and a study in the zeal, determination and hard work to prepare a good leader for his leadership task, Professor Banji Akintoye while delivering his opening remarks as the chairman of the occasion had reiterated her position on AWO as the antidote Nigeria refuses. He re-echoed this.
Professor Akintoye, a core Awoist, disclosed that the sage, as a young man, had a strong determination to serve his people, urging the youth-dominated gathering to emulate the virtue by bracing up for the task freeing Nigeria from the shackles of poor leadership that bind it.
Akintoye, who was elected into the Senate of Nigeria in the Second Republic, expressed his sadness over the loss of some Nigerian youths in the Northern African deserts in their bid to cross the Atlantic Ocean to get to Europe for a better environment, since their own country was suffocating them through bad leadership.
Akintoye revealed how the Awolowo administration gave power to the South-Western part of the country through education, which he made free and compulsory, and regretted that the present crop of leadership had refused to cater for the future of the youth.
He, thereafter, urged the youth to “stand up and take your country back from the present generation of leaders.”
Another senior citizen at the event, Senator Femi Okurounmu, lamented that, “Nigeria has become a hell for young people. There is no hell that is hotter than Nigeria, and that is why the youth are fleeing in their hundreds of thousands because they cannot survive in Nigeria.”
The senator lamented that all the legacies they (youths) should have inherited had been bastardised, among which, according to him, was free education.
Former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, enjoined the youth to set their priorities right as Awolowo did. Referring to a letter that the sage wrote to Chief Odutola with which he sought a loan to pursue education in the United Kingdom, Mimiko said that Awolowo told Chief Odutola that he was aspiring to be a politician, lawyer and a journalist.
He (Mimiko) explained that Awolowo did not only achieve the set goals but also reached the apex of the three professions. He became the first Premier of Western Region, a position he used to develop and strengthen the people of the region by providing solid education and infrastructure that made the Western Region the first among equals.
The former governor advised youths to engage themselves in knowledge hunt by reading deep and wide in preparation for leadership role, emphasising that “a reader is a leader.” This, he said, was the secret of Awolowo successful leadership.
Adedara Oduguwa, one of the panelists, opined that Chief Awolowo knew what he wanted to be early in life and pursued his desires with strong determination, saying that Awolowo set his goals and pursued them with “definiteness of purpose.” According to Oduguwa, Chief Awolowo remained the most celebrated politician in Nigeria because of his selfless service to the people.
Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji did not have kind words for the leadership of Nigeria, as she lamented that the current leaders gave Nigerian youths a non-functional education that could not produce winners in the highly competitive world of the 21st century, calling on the youth to brace up to replace the irresponsible leadership with young but good leaders, stressing that the generation after Awolowo was “a money-minded generation.”
Ngozi Nwogwugwu, one of the panelists, in his own submission, said that Nigerian youths must emulate Awolowo, who, as a youth, did the right thing at the right time, claiming that this was the platform of his chain of success as a leader. This, he said, is why Awo would continue to be celebrated.
He advocated a leadership training for the young ones to acquire the necessary skills that would prepare them to take over from the present leaders.
Mark Lipdo, one of the panelists at the conversations, held the belief that a great transformation would have been witnessed in Nigeria if Awolowo had been allowed to rule the country. He extolled the foresight of the sage that made him to give sound education to the Western Region, an act that accelerated the development of the region, lamenting that this had not been replicated by the current leadership.
The president of Arewa Youth Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, who was also among the panelists, submitted that bad leadership had done a terrible damage to the North. His opinion was that a new Nigeria that would give new ray of hope for Nigerians must evolve, just as he appreciated Awolowo for liberating the people of South-West with his free education policy.
Shettima spoke further that the North would support restructuring of Nigeria if it would not break up the country as Northerners had been worst hit by poor leadership.
At this juncture, another disciple of Chief Awolowo, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, corrected the opinion of Shettima and the North, saying that restructuring of Nigeria is not synonymous with dismemberment of the nation. Adebanjo said that it was through restructuring that the nation could fulfill her destiny to become a great nation.
Dignitaries that attended the event included Rev (Mrs) Omotola Oyediran and her spouse, Professor ABOO Oyediran; Chief Ayo Adebanjo; Professor Ayo Olukotun; Alakenne of Ikenne, Oba Adeyinka Onakade and his wife; Chief Dosu Ladipo; Pa Emmanuel Osibona; the Iyaloja-General of Remoland, Chief (Mrs) Mercy Owolana and Mrs Wemimo Anifowose, amkon others.
and then