Awo: The missing ingredient in present day leaders

THIS past week, on three different radio stations in the Southwestern part of the country, the anchors chose to focus their discourse on Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the first premier of the defunct Western Region of Nigeria. Each of the anchors praised the virtues of Chief Awolowo to high heavens. One of them even described Awolowo, popularly called Awo, as the poster boy for public service in Nigeria.

But why is Awo such a timeless leader? What is it about the man that stands him out both in life and death? Why is it that over 59 years after leaving office as premier of Western Region he is still regarded as the benchmark in public service? Why is Awo the name that keeps opening doors of political opportunities for those who did not even have any direct interface with him?

Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), in an attempt to answer the questions, once said, “Chief Awolowo embodied in himself attributes that are very rare today. That is why he is looming larger in death than in life. His was a tradition of self-denial, hard work, integrity, reliability and competence. These are the things that define Awolowo. They are attributes that we are looking for but cannot find today, except in very few.”

While I regard Awo’s attributes enumerated by Chief Falae as the manifestation, I think the foundation for those attributes is in Awo being a visionary. I know that these days everybody, including those whose visions do not extend beyond their being, claims to be a visionary, but Awo was a rare, indeed very rare, visionary. His vision was a product of an elevated thought process. He realised that as a leader what he owed his people was the provision of solution to their pressing problems. He also realised that the solutions would not just pop up because he was looking for them. So, he gave himself to deep reflection. Awo was a deep thinker. Unlike many of those who occupy high offices today who are merely reflexive, Awo was reflective and meditative. This singular quality, more than any other, in my opinion, made him the unique person he was.

It was his ability for deep reflection that birthed the introduction of free primary education at a time when no one on the continent of Africa was talking about it. Awolowo must have gone into a higher plane of thought than his contemporaries were willing to dare in order to realise that the key to economic freedom was education.

It was also such a deep reflection that could have given rise to building a television station in Western Region in 1959 when France, one of the most advanced countries of the world, was not thinking along that line. Awolowo must have realised that right information would liberate the mind.

The list is endless.

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But I think that our inability to match or surpass the standard set by Awolowo almost six decades ago is a thing of shame for us as a people and a disservice to his memory. Would George Washington be satisfied if the benchmark he set had not been surpassed by his successors in the United States of America? Would Mahatma Gandhi be happy if India had not progressed beyond the point it was when he died? Would Louis XII be satisfied if France was still as he left it? Or would Sun Yat-sen be pleased if China had remained at the same level of development it was at the point he exited? In the same vein, Chief Obafemi Awolowo would not be happy to know that the achievements he recorded when there was no petro-dollar are still unattainable by his successors over half a century later. Awo’s place in history is assured but we owe him a duty of at least matching his accomplishments.

That poses a challenge to present day leaders. What made Awo stand out was the depth of his intellectual exercise. He never sought an office he had not thoroughly prepared for. He was able to perform beyond his contemporaries as a premier because he went into office with a thoroughly thought out and well-researched programme. His plan for everyday he would spend in office was properly mapped out.

That is a rarity today. Now, we have elected and appointed leaders who stumbled into offices. We have those who were picked by their godfathers because of their dexterity in boot-licking. We have those who were chosen by their sponsors because they are children of cronies. So, they get into office and inflict people with pains of planlessness and thoughtlessness, yet they mouth platitudes about wanting to be like Awo. Pray, how can a person who ascends an office without adequate preparation be anything but an accident in that office? Those who aspire to be like Awo should endeavour to do what Awo did; they should elevate their thinking.