On February 14, foremost nationalist, elder statesman and and Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, breathed his last, two months shy of what would have been his 97th birthday. It was, by all standards, the end of a glorious era, for the irrepressible, no-nonsense advocate of federalism and a reinvented Nigeria. He was, for a considerable period in recent memory, literally the most prominent, most consistent and most unyielding campaigner for a Nigeria that conformed to the vision of the founding fathers. Attending meetings, conferences and symposia even when the frailty of old age would have dictated otherwise, Adebanjo was a major and consistent newsmaker and bridge builder who toured the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, trying to get like minds to reinvent the Nigerian wheel. It was no surprise, then, that his transition drew tributes from the length and breadth of Nigeria and beyond.
In his oration, President Bola Tinubu said: “Nigeria has lost a political leader whose decades of unwavering struggle for justice, democracy and national unity have left an indelible mark on our nation’s history.” Vice President Kashim Shettima called him “a living bridge that connected us to the foundational struggles of our democracy,” adding: “We have not just lost a leader; we have lost an institution. His voice remained resolute and principled until his final days, consistently advocating for a more equitable and progressive Nigeria.” On his part, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said Adebanjo “was a great man, a committed nationalist and an effective representative of his people.” Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, described Adebanjo as one of the few Nigerians whose life embodied the story of Nigeria from the struggle for independence to the post-independence era. He said: “It does not matter where you stand in the political terrain: Adebanjo was a man whose integrity you could not question. He lived through the finest and ugliest moments of Nigerian history, was hounded by the Establishment for his beliefs and even exiled for resisting autocracy and the suppression of the masses, and never for once hid his identity as a passionate defender of the Yoruba nation and its interests regardless of whose horse was gored.”
The Senate paid glowing tributes to Adebanjo and urged the Federal Government to immortalise him by naming a national monument after him. Members of the Southwest Caucus in the 10th House of Representatives mourned “an illustrious elder statesman, a foremost advocate of democracy,” whose transition “marks the departure of a towering figure whose lifelong dedication to natural justice, equity, and good governance helped shape Nigeria’s democratic evolution.” Afenifere said he was “known for his central stage advocacy of restructuring, true federalism, and a Nigeria of equity, fairness, and true sense of belonging for its constituent ethnic nationalities.” DAWN Commission said his passing “marks the end of an era in Nigerian politics, as we bid farewell to one of the last titans of Nigeria’s nationalist movement and an unyielding voice for justice, democracy, and true federalism.”
Born on April 10, 1928 in Isanya Ogbo in present-day Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Adebanjo had his education at Saint Saviours Primary School, Elegbaata in Lagos, between 1934 and 1935. From 1937 to 1941, he attended the Holy Trinity School, Ebute Ero, from where he proceeded to the Cathedral School in Lagos till 1943. Following a stint in journalism and at the Ministry of Health, where he was dismissed for participating in pro-independence protest, Adebanjo enrolled at the Council of Legal Education, was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1961, and joined the chamber of Chief Obafemi Awolowo on his return home.
Of a truth, no one familiar with Nigerian history can doubt the authenticity of Adebanjo’s activism from 1943 when he was a follower of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to his time as a member of the youth wing of the Action Group in 1951, the early 60s when the sage and his lieutenants stood trial for treason, and during the military era and the return to civil rule when he pointed the way forward for governments and participated in constitutional conferences to remake Nigeria. It is not fortuitous that Adebanjo was a thorn in the flesh of military regimes, particularly the Sani Abacha junta following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. With other members of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Adebanjo fought military autocracy to a standstill in that epochal moment in Nigerian history, consolidating his image as a principled fighter for justice, an image that followed him to his grave.
A living personification of the Regime of Mental Magnitude, a category formulated by the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to account for discipline in leadership, had the image of marital chastity, and did not habitually change political platforms. Indeed, following the routing of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the last political platform he was associated with during the 2003 general election, Adebanjo never joined any political party, but instead invested decades of efforts into campaigning for a restructured, fit-for-purpose, and productive Nigeria. He was, for the sake of Nigeria, literally in everyone’s face, travelling the length and breadth of the country even in old age.
Remarkably, the foremost apostle of Awoism never ceased drawing attention to the time-tested ideas of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as the pathway to Nigeria’s progress. During an interview on his 95th birthday in April 2023, he declared with solemnity: “Even when I am dead, I will keep fighting. Until I am buried in the grave I won’t stop, and I took that from Chief Awolowo.” Previously a follower of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Adebanjo served the Action Group, and later the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), meritoriously. He was a member of the 1978 Constituent Assembly, and the 2014 National Political Conference. At the National Constitutional Dialogue organized by The Patriots in honour of the late constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze, on March 18 last year, Adebanjo left a message for Nigeria: “Those of you who are younger, who are likely to implement what Nigeria should be, don’t play with the 2014 National Conference. ”
Thankfully, some paid heed. As Chief Chekwas Okorie founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said: “This was a man who never held an elective office in Nigeria but remained most prominent and highly respected nationwide for his nationalism, consistency in the pursuit of a restructured Nigeria, equity, justice, and fairness as the panacea for national development and unity. The greatest honour we owe Chief Ayo Adebanjo is to sustain the struggle for true federalism, which he fought for until the end, until it is achieved in the interest of present and future generations of Nigerians.”
That, really, is the way to go. History will be very kind to Ayo Adebanjo, the man who, even in death, fights still.
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