‘Chief Awolowo was always a democrat. His action exemplified the principles and spirit of democracy’

 

 

As a matter of fact, Chief Awolowo’s philosophy encompassed all my beliefs about human life. That was why I spelt out Awo’s four cardinal principles – free education, free medical services, integrated rural development, full employment – and their implications on life. This is because when you talk of integrated rural development, it is not the type of farming we are used to, because if they were not educated they would not be able to go into the mechanised farming we were introducing. By the time you had this education that we were talking about, there was no length you could not go and that would affect every common man.

Even at that time, the products of free education and scholarship to universities we introduced were so massive that by the time the federal government started to appoint ambassadors, we had to release a lot of scholarship students to Awolowo on request. Chief Awolowo then said to them, ‘I won’t compel you to serve the federal government.’

I think I should mention this: When you talk of the four cardinal programmes of the AG, originally we called them the socialist programmes. It was during the crisis of the party that the late Chief Akintola bastardised the word ‘democracy’. Our programmes were encapsulated under a philosophy called ‘democratic socialism,’ but during the crisis with Chief Akintola, he bastardised it to the Yoruba people to say that democratic socialism meant that if you had a pair of trousers you wouldn’t have buba (top), and if you had buba you wouldn’t have a pair of trousers; and if you have this you won’t have that.

So, after the crisis, by the time we came here in 1979, we didn’t use democratic socialism, we now spelt it out. What did it mean? We now came out with four cardinal programmes.

What this shows is that I am an original Awoist, because all those who have given up did so after Awoism had taken off in the old Western Region. The passion that made us to be so particular about the policies of the AG were not there. By the time Chief Awolowo came into this country the system then was a unitary form of government. Chief Awolowo, it was, who introduced federalism. The colonial agitation then was in favour of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who was preaching unitary form of government. But when Chief Awolowo came, he went to great lengths to explain the fact that due to the heterogeneous nature of this country, the unitary system was inappropriate; and that if we really wanted to live together in peace, the only system that we needed was federalism. He gave an empirical example in his books, ‘Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution’ and ‘The People’s Republic’. It was all this that got me convinced that Awo’s thoughts for a better Nigeria were appropriate.

These two publications further strengthened the case for federalism as the right type of government for Nigeria. I was onvinced because, by culture, by religion, by everything, we are different in this country. But we also appreciate the fact that bringing us together either by force or otherwise in 1949 had the advantage of numbers. So, with that we must get rid of the inherent iniquities or imperfections by forming ourselves into a federal government to make every federating unit develop at its own pace.

So, what Awoism stands for is simple. The name stands for itself. Awoism is the collective doctrine of the philosophy of   Chief   Obafemi   Awolowo,   his   political   philosophy, practice and political integrity that he was known for. All the philosophies spelt out in his doctrine are free education, free health, integrated rural development and full employment. All these philosophies that help the common man to become somebody, these were the things that attracted the masses to him and that made for Awoism. Anybody that deviates from these principles by word or deed is not an Awoist.

Awoism is not personified by the cap Awo was wearing or any other mannerism of his, neither does wearing a replica of his glasses make you an Awoist.

What does is the way you behave, your integrity, what you practise and your public image as a politician, because Chief Awolowo was somebody who did not believe that politics is a dirty game. He believed that it is those that practise it who make it dirty… that politics itself is a clean game, and people must attempt to play it clean. That was his philosophy.

So, many of those who claim to be Awoists today cannot be so described. How can you be an Awoist and be fraternising with Obasanjo, Babangida and Abacha?

 

Awo, a Democrat

Three years as a politician in the best tradition, under the guardianship of the master, was engrossing. Time flew by, election after election. During those days, I knew how the party was run. I got an insight into how the Action Group operated, its modus and ethos.

In the days of Awolowo as Premier, before budget presentation on the floor of the House of Assembly, there would have been a Parliamentary Council meeting (at least, one week before).

It is at the Parliamentary Council meeting that the budget was discussed in detail. The Parliamentary Council had as members House of Assembly lawmakers, ministers, executive members of AG, divisional leaders and organising secretaries.

The programme of the party was also first discussed by the Parliamentary Council. Even new programmes were analysed and dissected. The party programmes embodied in the budget were also debated at the Parliamentary Council. This was democracy in action.

Chief Awolowo was always a democrat. His action exemplified the principles and spirit of democracy. When we won the election in 1952, the proposal for the introduction of free education showed how democratic Chief Awolowo was.

The party manifesto stipulated free primary education (primary 1-6). By the time it was to be implemented, some radicals, who were in the majority, said it must be compulsory. It was a heated debate. But it was only Awolowo who said we shouldn’t make it compulsory. This debate informed our position as a party.

During the 1954 general elections, the opposition used it against us by deliberately and mischievously misinterpreting the law to the people that Awolowo had passed a law that anyone who failed to send his children to school would be sent to jail. So, one of the reasons we lost, apart from the capitation tax (which we introduced to finance the free education programme) and using educated candidates against popular aspirants, was ‘compulsory’ free education. Thus, the Action Group became the first political party in power to lose an election.

 After we lost the election, we came to the party executive and Awolowo said we should review our position. Then we adopted free education without the compulsory tag.

As a result of our losing the 1954 federal elections, the NCNC, which won the majority from our region, chose Adegoke Adelabu, J.M. Johnson and Kola Balogun as ministers at the centre.

Chief Awolowo had calculated the cost of financing free education and found that the finances of the region could not adequately support it without raising extra taxes. One of such taxes was capitation tax. It was very controversial. Chief Awolowo explained that payment of this tax by both male and female would enable every family to educate their children, no matter the number.

But the opposition NCNC cried foul, that it was not possible. They argued that all the AG intended to do was sell Mapo Hall (which he knew Ibadan people had sentimental attachment to). Adegoke Adelabu was one of the greatest antagonists of the AG on this matter.

This propaganda was, however, debunked when, in January 1955, free primary education became a reality throughout the Western Region. The party won with a landslide.

Another evidence of Awo’s democratic nature was when a new cabinet was to be formed after the regional election of 1956 and Chief M.S. Sowole, who was from the same division like him, was pencilled down for a cabinet position against his opposition.

Chief Awolowo opposed Sowole’s nomination on the ground that both of them, from the same Remo Division, should not be made ministers. But this argument did not impress the party leaders, among whom Chief Sowole was very popular. So, Awo’s objection notwithstanding, he was compelled to forward Chief Sowole’s name to the Governor as a minister. However, on the eve of the assembly’s inauguration, before going for the ceremony, prominent leaders from the Lagos Division (which comprised Lagos and Badagry and was part of Western Region under the Lyttleton Constitution) led by Chief Dr. Akanni Doherty, came to Chief Awolowo in his Oke-Ado residence demanding that the list be adjusted. They submitted that the party had made a mistake by not accommodating anybody from the Colony axis.

Chief Awolowo pondered, ‘What do we do?’ He said a name must be removed from the list to make room for somebody from the Colony. And they quickly suggested Chief Sowole because he was from the only division that had two ministerial nominees.

Having been previously informed about his nomination, the issue of who would now tell Chief Sowole of the plan to drop him as minister became a problem for the party. Chief Awolowo then asked, ‘Who will tell him that his name would now be removed?’ And Chief M.A. Ogun promptly responded, ‘Who, of course, but you the leader?’ The party leadership therefore unanimously nominated Chief Awolowo to break the news to Chief Sowole.

Thereafter, Chief Awolowo had to meet the Governor with the withdrawal and substitution of the new name.

Early in the morning, before the inauguration, the Governor was approached to inform him of the development. Governor Abrahall of Western Region had to ask Chief Awolowo, ‘How many times will you change your list?’ Chief Awolowo responded, ‘As many times as there is a superior argument.’

Thus, C.D. Akran (from Badagry) was made to replace Sowole. Sowole, a contemporary of Chief Awolowo, was expectedly bitter for being dropped as a minister. He was a trade unionist (Nigeria Union of Local Government Workers) and reportedly exchanged hot words with Chief Awolowo when he was dropped. But in public, Sowole kept his grievance to himself.

Chief Sowole was compensated by being appointed as head of the London office of the Production Board; and he later acted as Western Region’s Agent-General in England.

Again, when Chief Awolowo was about to yield the Premiership of Western Region after he became Leader of Opposition, he had to bow to party supremacy.

He vehemently opposed Akintola as his successor, but instead preferred either Rotimi Williams or Gabriel Akin- Deko.

He hinged his argument on the belief that Akintola could not, on his own, successfully run a government, even though he could cope well as a deputy. However, the other party leaders thought otherwise and said so at a caucus meeting.

Chief Awolowo had to bow to the wishes of the majority in the party and so supported Akintola’s candidature as Premier. This was after the 1959 federal elections.

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My Relationship with the Awolowo Family

Charismatic and charming, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo (March 6, 1909-May 9, 1987) was a looming figure in my life. Ever since I came across the visionary I fondly called, ‘My Leader’ in 1951, I remained glued to him, in private and public, sharing many of his views and ideals, living and practising his ideas, ideals and philosophy.

The closeness began in the early 1950s when I joined the Action Group. But you could actually trace it to Egbe Omo Oduduwa’s early days when I was still a student at CMS Grammar School, then on Odunlami Street, Lagos Island. I was very keen on learning the politics of the day and being an active participant in its unfolding history.

Ever since I became a member of these organizations founded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo largely, I have been an earnest disciple who remained loyal till the very end.

We shared a bond many could hardly understand. Though there was a 19-year age difference, we were kindred spirits. Dutiful and conscientious, my industry and dedication attracted the sage who enjoyed having me around.

Since 1954, when Action Group was still very young, my sense of accomplishment had been noticeable, winning me many ardent fans, including Chief Awolowo. My performance as the Secretary, AG Youth Association influenced Chief Awolowo to demand my being posted to his division (Remo) against the normal run of things whereby secretaries were normally natives, and I not being from that division. The division was one of the best managed and organised among all the divisions. Whenever the leader came to Remo Division, I doubled as his ‘personal assistant.’

Over the years, the bond became firmer, and I was easily referred to as ‘Awo’s other son.’ I quickly and seamlessly became a member of the household. Chief Awolowo’s friends called me ‘Omo Baba’ (Baba’s son). Even when I was studying abroad (between 1958 and 1961), I was treated like a son. Whenever food, our local foodstuff and condiments, were ferried to the United Kingdom to Segun Awolowo (who was then a student at Cambridge University and who died in a car accident in July 1963 during the treasonable felony trial), Mama (Yeye Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo) packaged my share alongside her first son’s, the father of Segun Awolowo, Jnr (now Chairman, Nigerian Export Promotion Council).

After graduation, when I was called to the Bar and registered as a barrister and solicitor in Nigeria, it was easy for me to settle in Ibadan, at Awolowo’s Chambers to work, as a counsel and confidant (though my principal was busy in Lagos as the Leader of Opposition).

The relationship never suffered any major hiccup. In the early 1970s, when Papa Awolowo resigned from General Yakubu Gowon’s cabinet as Vice-Chairman, in preparation for partisan politics, I was always by his side.

The preparation started with the Committee of Friends which met regularly in Ikenne and sometimes in Apapa (Lagos), especially during Awo’s birthday. Apart from organising the ceremony, discussing its nature and details, its members talked about the future.

The Committee of Friends eventually metamorphosed into Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) – and the party existed all through the Second Republic (1979-1983).

Even outside party politics, I had a wonderful relationship with Chief Awolowo. Every year, I still led the organisation of the sage’s birthday celebrations.

Like all mortals, Awolowo had his flaws. But those flaws were actually strengths. Once he believed in you, he never doubted you. He didn’t believe in what others said about you, especially behind your back. He was strict to a fault. He also believed there could be honesty in politics. His conviction was that Nigeria is a heterogeneous society made up of nations, not tribes. He believed that by culture and education, the Yoruba race was more developed and advanced. That we were better, culturally civilised. He explained that one of the reasons was our early access to Western civilisation and education.

Awolowo was a strict disciplinarian. You could not go to him to backbite. He would ask you, ‘Can you repeat this story in front of the person?’ And any story you couldn’t repeat in the presence of the concerned party, never say it to Awolowo’s hearing.

One of the things people often complained about Awolowo was that he was too blunt. He didn’t know how to pretend. He was unlike Akintola, who didn’t like to offend anybody by telling the truth. Akintola was more diplomatic. If there was a dispute between two parties, Awolowo wouldn’t pacify any group. He would analyse and resolve the dispute without fear or favour. He called a spade a spade!

 When Chief Obafemi Awolowo passed on in 1987, apart from being in the thick of coordinating the funeral, I was as shattered as any of the family members. I shared in the grief firsthand. I was in Isanya-Ogbo when I heard the news. It was my vicar who informed me that he heard a broadcast where Awolowo’s death was announced.

We (Chief Awolowo and myself ) were to meet at the wedding of Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye’s daughter in Ijebu- Igbo. But he didn’t come. I went on to another wedding from there. Ordinarily, I would have stopped by his house to find out why he didn’t turn up for the wedding. But I didn’t.

So, from Ogbo, immediately I heard the sad news, I went to Ikenne, overwhelmed and distressed. The lieutenants began assembling there, teary-eyed and confused. But they managed to hold meetings and eventually staged a carnival of a burial for their departed leader weeks later.

Even after the death of our political leader, I remained close in a special way to the family. It couldn’t have been any other way. Everyone knew how dear I was to ‘My Leader,’ how Awolowo was the most influential person in my life, more than a mentor. I was close enough to even be a welcome guest in his house, many times sleeping there in a room I could bank on as mine.

Whenever we had functions in Ikenne that I had to pass the night there, I slept in that room. The room was opposite his (Awo’s) own room upstairs. It was the room I stayed during the burial ceremony.

Before Papa rebuilt the house, each time we marked his birthday, I’d go the night before in order to participate in the early morning communion service. Then, I’d just sleep either on the chair or anywhere there. He saw this regularly, and now said I should be sleeping in Segun’s room (his grandson who was away in school, and lived mostly in Lagos whenever he was in Nigeria). So, when Awo died, and during the annual posthumous birthday celebrations, I still slept in the room.

I had never failed to show where I stood on any matter, even where Mama was concerned. All I did was accord her enormous respect whenever there was a disagreement or point of departure from each other’s positions.

For instance, on one occasion marking Awo’s memorial anniversary, the church (Obafemi Awolowo Memorial Church, Ikenne) had planned to honour some of us whom they regarded as ardent followers of the late leader. I readily accepted  the  offer when  names  like  Chief  G.O.K.  Ajayi and Chief Adebayo Adefarati were mentioned. However, a few days before the event, the Nigerian Tribune published a full list of the honorees, which included someone whom I believed could not be placed on the same pedestal of loyalty with the other honorees, in view of the despicable role he played during the Abacha regime. It was on this ground that I declined to be honoured along with him.

I now drove straight to Mama, and explained to her why I would not be able to attend the ceremony. How could I stand with a man who voted that Sani Abacha should continue as Head of State forever? The same man who unashamedly joined PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) which he had earlier vilified under the leadership of Obasanjo?  Such a person couldn’t be regarded as a faithful loyalist to Chief Awolowo in the same category with the other honorees.

Mama didn’t like it, and said I should have told her earlier. I said, ‘But you didn’t tell me before. The other names you mentioned, I was comfortable with them. But I’m not comfortable with this one!’

I mentioned it to (Chief ) G. O. K. Ajayi that I wasn’t attending for this reason. He tried to persuade me to come. I told him that I didn’t want to take him by surprise that was why I informed him. I couldn’t get through to Chief Adefarati.

 I believe that if events had been better managed and principles adhered to more strictly and fervently, history would have recorded far better scenarios.

Until her death on September 19, 2015, I had a good rapport with Mama. I still went to visit her regularly and I still organised Papa’s birthday every year (with other party faithfuls).

When we were to celebrate 100 years of Chief Awolowo’s birth in 2009, as we did annually, Afenifere sent a delegation which included Okurounmu, secretary of the group, to Mama with a view to integrating our programme with that of the Awolowo family. Although not opposed to the plan, Mama wondered how we could work together with the division in the leadership of Afenifere and AD. They then told her that we had tried to resolve it without success. Mama now asked for a list of people to invite for the reconciliation, which included the AD governors, namely Chief Segun Osoba (Ogun), Senator Bola Tinubu (Lagos), Hon. Lam. Adesina (Oyo), Chief Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo) and Chief Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti).

Mama thereafter called series of reconciliation meetings, which were not attended by the other party to the dispute, except on one occasion when Lam Adesina came and said he was representing the other governors. But I strongly objected to this representation, since we, the other leaders had always been present at the meeting.

During one of these reconciliation meetings, Senator Tony Adefuye, a member of the group opposed to Afenifere under the leadership of Papa Abraham Adesanya, had made a ridiculous claim that he dreamt and saw Chief Awolowo who told him that one of the reasons we were having crises in Afenifere was because we no longer held our meetings in Ikenne.

On another occasion, Lam Adesina, who was present, canvassed for a change of name from Afenifere. Their objection was sentimental. After Chief Awolowo, they detested having us – Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Pa Abraham Adesanya and myself, being all Ijebus – as leaders. They couldn’t say it out, but showed it in their attitude towards us. It was after they failed repeatedly to honour her invitation to meetings that Mama now decided to meet them privately.

Then, after about a year, Mama reported to the meeting that all her invitations to Tinubu and others for the meeting were rebuffed.  She then suggested that, as a way of carrying everybody along, we should form another body. But the leadership of Afenifere found it repulsive that we should abandon this group founded by our revered leader in order to accommodate people who refused to subject themselves to party supremacy.

That was the origin of the Yoruba Unity Forum under the leadership of Mama H.I.D. Awolowo.

Mama had always been revered like our late leader, but it was obvious that if she had played her role as Papa would have done by standing firmly on principles, she would have resolved the dispute by directing the erring members to fall in line instead of adopting a pacifist role of forming another group in order to accommodate them.

In spite of everything, my relationship with the Awolowo family has remained firm. There is mutual understanding, at least. We are all aware that our disagreements are hinged on principles.

 

Chapter 10

The 1953 Constitutional Crisis

My fascination with the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was heightened when I began to read and listen to his thoughts and ideas on federalism

and  nationalism.  I  admired  the  lucidity  and  intelligible arguments of the great soul.

I was enthralled by the discipline of Action Group members. In 1953, during the Macpherson Constitution when Chief Anthony Enahoro moved the motion for self- government in Nigeria, my admiration grew more.

At the time, federal ministers were appointed from the regions (from the Houses of Assembly). From the Western Region were Bode Thomas (Deputy Leader of AG), Chief Samuel Akintola, Arthur Prest and Oba Adesoji Aderemi.

Macpherson  said  no  member  of  his  cabinet  should take part in the debate for self-government in 1956. When the discussion came up, members of Action Group in the cabinet refused to adhere to this directive. They insisted on participating in the debate to discuss Nigeria’s future as a federal union.

Macpherson was uncomfortable with Enahoro’s motion. To show his displeasure, he said any member of his cabinet who insisted on taking part in the motion for self-government should  either  resign  or  be  sacked  from  the  cabinet.  He said, however, that it would pain him if he had to sack Sir Adesoji Aderemi who was a Knight of the British Empire. But Sir Adesoji Aderemi, though a traditional ruler, was an uncompromising nationalist. In pursuance of this and in loyalty to the party that nominated him into the cabinet, he told Macpherson that he (Aderemi) would save him the pain of being sacked by resigning, which he did.

So, all the Action Group members in the cabinet, who had agreed on a stand, resigned en masse.

There was so much party discipline then. Party men, after discussing and agreeing on a position, usually stood as one group. After the mass resignation, the government attempted to replace the ministers by asking the Western Legislature to send new names to represent them in the cabinet. But rather than send fresh ones, the AG sent back the same names.

The Governor-General, Sir John Macpherson turned down the nominations and the cabinet was now left without representation from Western Region. And thus began the constitutional crisis of 1953.

Consequently,  the  Colonial  Office  in  the  UK  had to summon representatives of the political parties to a constitutional conference to discuss the constitution.

Hitherto, the Macpherson Constitution being operated was a quasi-federal constitution without autonomy for the regional government. At the time too, Chief Awolowo was the chief advocate for full federalism and it was on that plank he stood at the conference. On the other hand, the NCNC, led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, canvassed for unitary government.

The Northern People’s Congress (NPC), under the leadership of Sir Ahmadu Bello, after the self-government motion, advocated confederalism under its 9-point programme. Both Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the Sardauna claimed there were no minorities in Nigeria to warrant the creation of an additional region or state.

However, on Chief Awolowo’s Western Region delegation to the conference were representatives of minority groups from all parts of the country. Prominent among them were J.S. Tarka (from the Middle Belt), J.S. Olawoyin and Sule Maito (from the Yoruba-speaking part of the North), Ibrahim Imam (North-East), Wenike Briggs (Rivers) and I.I. Murphy (Ogoja).

With that he was able to debunk the claim of Zik and Sardauna that there were no minorities in Nigeria. At the end of the conference, Chief Awolowo won the day for federalism if Nigeria must remain a united country.

Consequently, the principle of federalism was established in the constitution with the creation of the position of premier as against leader of government business, and autonomy for the regions with the constitutions written separately.

As for the minorities, the Willink Commission of Enquiry was set up to look into the problem with a view to making appropriate recommendations that would allay their fears.

It was a glorious day for Nigeria on the return of the delegates from the conference when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who went to the conference as a unitarist, exclaimed at the airport, ‘Federalism is imperative.’

The Action Group, in demanding a truly federal constitution, wanted more states created for the minorities, pointing out that the federation then was structurally imbalanced. This was a situation whereby a region (the North) was bigger than the two other regions constituting the federation put together.

Thus, the Macpherson Constitution, which was expected to last five years from 1951, lasted for only three years.

 In 1954, the constitution was changed to the Lyttleton Constitution. The office of premier was established under this constitution which was truly federal with regional autonomy. The 1954 Constitution gave the regions residual powers and exclusive powers at the centre. The new constitution now compelled the leader of the NCNC, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to resign from the Western House of Assembly and contest in the Eastern House of Assembly in order to become premier of the region.

It must be put on record that, contrary to the claim that Egbe Omo Oduduwa was a tribal organisation, when in fact it was formed to unite the disparate Yoruba race, the Ibo (now written as Igbo) State Union, which promoted only Igbo interests, had existed before it. The NNDP, which metamorphosed into the NCNC, was mainly patronised by the Igbos.  Under the leadership of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Ibo State Union was helping kinsmen to further their studies (especially abroad). It had high-ranking nationalists like Mbonu Ojike and K.O. Mbadiwe as members.

 

Chapter 11

The Night of the Long Knives

The years rolled by, and the difference between states governed by our party, Unity Party of Nigeria and the others became glaring. Things worked, many pupils

and students were back in school, and legions who would have been deprived of education were enrolled under the free education programme. There was a new revival in agriculture, health and the economy of those states.

Our  party  had  a  good  image  and  was  perceived  as doing well. But there were bickerings and rows among the leadership, especially in the states where the party ruled.

The powers of the governors, the chief executive officers, were awesome. They could literarily do anything. Some of them behaved in ways not consistent with the ideals of the party. There was therefore an opposition to the automatic return of some of them during the 1983 general election.

Instead, the party now canvassed for full primaries for the election. This was eventually held at the National Theatre in Lagos.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as the leader, said there should be no primaries for the return of the governors seeking second term in office at the election. I advised the leader against this, saying that people would label him a dictator.

My argument was that if any of them was popular, he would be re-elected. But Papa’s contention was that if any of them was not sure of re-election, he would not pursue his own (Awo’s) federal election faithfully. I told the leader that these people he was defending would be the same people that would later call him a dictator; and that those who wanted to contest against them would ask why there should be no primaries. I said, ‘Papa, we shouldn’t give the impression that there are some blue eyes in the party. If anybody wants an election, let him go for an election, and let the people decide.’ Surprised by my line of argument, Chief Awolowo said, ‘Ayus, I thought I had discussed this matter with you in private?’ Then I answered, ‘Yes sir! But I had also disagreed with you in private.’

However, when the agitation became very strident, he had to agree to the primaries being held, as he did in 1979.

Their agitation took root in 1978, spearheaded by Chief Bola Ige who wanted to be governor of Oyo State. They had chanted then, ‘governorship or nothing’, which led to the shadow election where he defeated his teacher, Canon Emmanuel Alayande (though Chief Awolowo and many leaders of the party believed Ige should have yielded grounds and allowed his teacher a go first). Ige ruled Oyo as executive governor between 1979 and 1983.

By 1982, they wanted full-blown primaries. But Awo thought that for him to win the Presidency, the party must be united, and support the sitting governors and elected officials. He wanted them returned unopposed. Many didn’t agree with the proposal. Even Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, the

‘Action Governor of Lagos’, rejected the idea.

The issue was creating animosity. And camps were emerging. In Oyo, it was very bad, and it almost led to the expulsion of Chief Bola Ige in September 1982.

It was in Yola during a NEC meeting (between September 8 and 10, 1982) that the battle reached a head. Dubbed the ‘Night of the Long Knives,’ Chief Bola Ige and Chief Sunday Afolabi  (the  deputy  governor)  were  accused  of  meeting General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) in Ibadan, to settle a party dispute. The events were captured by Dare Babarinsa in his book, House of War (pp. 113-114) thus:

Adelakun accused Ige and Afolabi of holding a nocturnal meeting with General Obasanjo at the latter’s residence on Osuntokun Avenue, Bodija Estate, Ibadan on June

27, 1982. Adelakun said the secret meeting was at the instance of Obasanjo, who was Afolabi’s schoolmate at Baptist Boys’ High School, Abeokuta and a friend of Ige. The former Head of State had sought to persuade Afolabi to allow Ige a second term. After six hours of discussion, the meeting, which was also attended by M.D. Yusufu, Obasanjo’s Inspector-General of Police, and General Muhammed Inuwa Wushishi, ended in an impasse as Afolabi maintained he would contest the governorship against Ige. No issue about the presidency or the ambition of Chief Awolowo was discussed. Adelakun, who spoke through an interpreter, said Afolabi narrated the story to him.

Both Ige and Afolabi were kept standing for several hours, defending themselves. Ige was later to refer to the Yola meeting as the “Night of the Long Knives”.

What the two men did was akin to heresy since Obasanjo was regarded as an ‘arch-enemy’ by party men who placed the blame for the UPN loss of the 1979 presidential elections on the retired general. Some of those who spoke had even recommended that the two men be expelled but Chief Awolowo had prevailed, saying that he vouched for the loyalty of the two top stalwarts. A resolution was passed at the Yola meeting condemning the Obasanjo initiative as ‘a dangerous, an unwarranted and intolerable intervention in the internal affairs of the UPN.’ It also concluded that ‘the conduct of the two leaders was most reprehensible. In particular, the council considered that the chairman of the party in Oyo State (Ige) was more to blame for the ill- motivated meeting.’ The two leaders were censured, but were allowed to go. It was the last time Ige and Afolabi would stand on the same side of the fence. It was at the Yola meeting, too, that the decision was taken to hold the October special conference.

The episode left a sour taste in the mouth. Party leaders were enraged; that Bola Ige who knew so well that Obasanjo never pretended to be sympathetic to Awolowo or his cause could commit such an infraction.

Alhaji Jakande moved the motion to expel Ige from the party but Awolowo didn’t want that, especially since Ige swore that it never happened.

Chief Awolowo stopped the motion of Ige’s expulsion from being moved. And as he was swearing with his son’s name, Papa said, ‘No, don’t involve your son in this matter. Let the matter end there.’

Later, we asked him why he took the decision not to allow Ige to be sanctioned. He said, ‘A kii gbo riwo riwo n’ile agbalagba l’emeji.’ (This means literally that there should be no uproar in an elder’s compound twice). When we asked him privately what he meant by this proverb, Awo referred to the dispute between himself and Akintola and would not like a repeat of an open conflict with another prominent member of the party. Because of the crises in the 1960s involving Akintola (his deputy) he said, ‘what they did was wrong, but I leave them to God.’

Unity Party of Nigeria was rocked by so many disagreements that, by the elections of 1983, we were losing ground and faithful loyalists. We lost some states under controversial circumstances, and Awolowo himself didn’t win the presidency.

Before the elections in 1983, Awolowo made a statement that if the elections were rigged, our generation might not know democracy. Chief Awolowo had confidence, and believed that among all the candidates, he was the most prepared for Nigeria’s leadership. He had solutions to the problems of the country which he had proffered through various  channels,  including  some  of  his  books,  such  as, Path to Nigerian  Freedom (1947); Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution (1966);  The People’s Republic (1968);  The Strategy and Tactics of the People’s  Republic  of Nigeria (1970); The Problems of Africa (1977) and Voice of Wisdom (1981). He believed he could rule well.

That led to the famous statement that while he busied himself at night with thoughts on how to make the country better, his opponents were ‘frolicking with women of easy virtue’.

Chief Awolowo was always making constructive criticisms, offering solutions to the country’s multifarious problems. He was not an armchair critic.

The country was drifting under the NPN leadership, and on December 31, 1983, the soldiers struck again. Major- General Muhammadu Buhari became Head of State, and the politicians were sacked, with many of us either imprisoned or exiled.

I remained in Nigeria, because I was not directly involved in any government. Many were not enthusiastic about the coup, regardless of Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s famed ineptitude. Chief Awolowo was not happy about the coup. At this time I was a middle-aged man, already going on 55, and I faced my law  practice  and  private  business  following the  ban  on partisan  politics.

 

 

Chapter 12

The Betrayal of AD

The strong party many thought would provide the platform  for  progressives  and  advance  the  cause of  ordinary  Nigerians  was  disunited  almost  from

inception. It just rolled along, tottered and eventually collapsed.

The Alliance for Democracy (AD) tragedy has many interpretations. For me, a group of people, led primarily by Chief Bola Ige and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, were the undertakers who presided over the funeral of AD, after they had plotted and supervised its sickness and death.

As far as I am concerned, the moment Bola Ige joined Obasanjo’s government, following his loss of AD’s presidential primaries where he polled 6 votes against Chief Olu Falae’s

17, marked the beginning of the end for the party. In my opinion, these are the scenarios which led to the collapse of AD.

Bola Ige didn’t join us in Action Group until 1961. We met for the first time when I was living in England. He was also a student there at the time.

He was elected as the publicity secretary of Action Group shortly after, in 1961, and also one of the lawyers that defended those standing trial in the treasonable felony case of 1962/63.

He  served  as  a  commissioner  in  the  government  of Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo in the Western Region in 1967. In 1979, he became the Governor of Oyo State, a position he held until 1983, under the banner of the Unity Party of Nigeria.

However, I had known Mrs. (Atinuke) Ige before I met Bola; we were contemporaries at the CMS Grammar School, and CMS Girls’ Grammar School, Lagos respectively. At that time, the students of CMS Girls’ Grammar School attended science lessons at the CMS Grammar School. In fact, in all the years when we were having political party meetings in Ibadan, I came from Sagamu and lodged in Bola Ige’s house.

Our families were very close.

Nobody  was  against  Bola  Ige’s  candidacy  in  the presidential primaries of Alliance for Democracy in 1999.

Awolowo was no longer there to contest election as presidential candidate. Somebody must lead. I was neutral in the primaries, though I had my views.

Bola  Ige  could  be  rightly  accused  of  undermining Afenifere and plotting the eventual collapse of the AD. Ige’s excuse that he was betrayed at the party primaries was not tenable. After all, he was among the people who selected those who conducted the primaries, to the extent that when we nominated Lawrence Omole, Ige objected to his nomination and we dropped him.

It won’t be fair, as alleged by Bola Ige, to blame elders of the party for his loss in the primaries of the Alliance for Democracy. In the first instance, he took part in nominating the body that constituted the Electoral College.

I had said it when he was still alive. Even at the meeting of the party leaders which took place in my office in Lagos, Pa Solanke Onasanya was opposed to his presence there. He said, ‘Since you are one of the candidates to be interviewed you have no right to be here.’ But he insisted that as deputy leader he must be there. I think it was Tinubu who said that even in a company meeting when a person was interested in an issue he would excuse himself. When he still insisted, Pa Adesanya ruled in his favour that he could sit down and be part of the proceedings. So, we started the nomination.

In carrying out the exercise, we wanted only members who would be neutral, without any connection whatsoever with any of the contestants. It was in trying to ensure this that we mentioned Lawrence Omole, but for one reason or another, that was unknown to us, Bola Ige opposed him. We then proposed Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi to be a member of that body as a replacement for Omole, because we were giving it divisional representation.

Ige accepted Akinyemi’s nomination. I had made the statement before when he was still alive, and he couldn’t oppose it.

After the election, Bola Ige himself told some people, including Ambassador Oladapo Fafowora. Fafowora told me that Ige had boasted that it was going to be a walkover for him at the primaries. He had a right to think so, because about 6 of the 23 members of that committee were his former commissioners. They included Chief Emmanuel Alayande, Chief Bisi Akande, Justice Adewale Thompson, Lam Adesina and Senator Akinfenwa. But he had a handicap. We had chosen governors of states as members of the electoral body.

Neither Pa Abraham Adesanya, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi nor myself was a member of that body; we inaugurated the body and left. Segun Osoba was a member too.

I don’t think I remember who said I told him not to vote for Ige. He was so sure of winning that he told Fafowora. When this was published in an interview I had with the press, Fafowora felt so embarrassed because they are both Ijesa. But unknown to Ige, unfortunately, many of those he thought would vote for him had grudges against him which they kept to themselves waiting for an opportunity to vent their spleen on him.

Talking about me, it’s true we had a meeting in Kaduna or so and we lodged in his wife’s apartment. That was at the initial stage of AD. I think we went for a conference there, and he asked us to support him. I told him pointedly I would not. I said, ‘As the acting chairman of the party, if I should support you, then I would be partisan.’

While others gave him assurances of support, I bluntly told him I would not. When they were trying to settle the matter between us, I said I didn’t learn this type of system from Awolowo. How can I be the chairman of a party and set up a committee to go and find out something for me and I am already in support of one of the candidates? So, that was my offence. That I didn’t support him alone and told him why.

‘You are very qualified; you are very efficient, there is no doubt about that. But I have to be neutral.’ When he even raised the question of his being deputy national leader as enough reason for us to have appointed him, I asked, ‘Did you make that point before submitting yourself to the committee? We all decided together on having an electoral college. As a lawyer, how can you submit yourself to a board of enquiry and then be objecting to the findings of the enquiry?’ These were some of the things that baffled some people about his image.

Again, I don’t think people knew that Ige didn’t pay his nomination fee. It was after the election that we found out that he didn’t pay. He explained that he didn’t know which account to pay his nomination fee into. Nobody expected a statement like that from a deputy leader.

He was supposed to pay the N500,000 nomination fee. The account we used was Pa Adesanya’s. The other candidate, Chief Olu Falae, paid into that account.

We didn’t want to open an account for AD because of our experience in AG. The same happened to UPN. Because if anything happened, the account of the party would be frozen. There were some things we knew that Ige never knew. One of the things I knew, for instance, was that he was relying on some people who would never vote for him. One of them confided in me. Bola had offended some people who kept quiet.

He really thought he would win. I mentioned it to Obasanjo during Ige’s lifetime. When Pa Adesanya and I met Obasanjo on a private visit, Obasanjo said Pa Adesanya should settle the quarrel between Ige and myself. Obasanjo claimed that Bola Ige alleged we held the primaries when he was away on holiday abroad. I told him, ‘That can’t be true, he is still a member of your cabinet. Go and ask him.’

When Ige was travelling abroad. Pa Adesanya told him not to go, saying, ‘Suppose those who are conducting the primaries say they want to interview the candidates?’ But Ige insisted that he was going on medical appointment. ‘How can he now come and accuse us?’

The problem with the late Bola Ige was that he didn’t really know his friends from his enemies. As I told him at a meeting where they wanted to settle the matter, where he was to be appointed a minister and we were opposed to it, he made allegations against some leaders of the party. He even said he didn’t know what he had done to me that I was opposed to him.

Then I told him why. ‘I always tell you the truth; something others would not tell you.’ That was at a meeting in Ijebu-Igbo where Pa Emmanuel Alayande was the chairman.

So, when the result came out, he was baffled. He was devastated, having thought he could boast that his victory at the party primaries was achieved when he was not even in the country. He told somebody that he was sure of 13 out of the

23 votes. I said at an interview later that when his 13 became 9 he should have examined himself.

Unfortunately, some intelligent people, close friends and party associates of Bola Ige insinuated that we were culpable for his death. How they reason I don’t know. These people who could have wondered at the mysterious murder of the nation’s chief law officer despite the heavy presence of security personnel around him thus foreclosed investigation into other areas because of their prejudiced minds.

We were opposed to Ige joining Obasanjo’s cabinet. But he accepted the appointment to spite us; oblivious of the fact that Obasanjo was not inviting him in good faith. This was because of previous scurrilous criticisms he (Ige) had leveled against Obasanjo which the latter had not forgiven.

There was a time Pa Emmanuel Alayande attempted to settle the matter between us and Ige at a private meeting. That was before Ige went into Obasanjo’s cabinet. But his opinion was that we didn’t like Ige. He said we prevented him from becoming president, yet we didn’t want him to be a minister. But that’s not correct. It was the primaries that he lost and not the control of the party.

Well, I stood my ground, since we had taken a decision in the AD that if it was true we would take Obasanjo’s offer, we would meet in the executive of the party and nominate who would join. That was not just an Afenifere affair. It involved the Eastern Mandate Union who were members of the party at that time. That didn’t take place.

When I was giving the procedure to those who had said these things on the platform of Afenifere, they now said, ‘You too, Bola, go and write to inform your chairman.’

So, he complied. I said, ‘You are now informing me after you  have  taken  an  appointment,  when  they  had  already discussed whether you should go to the ministry of power or communication.’

I  remember  at  that  time  Bola  Tinubu  advised  that he should take power while some said he should take communication. I was not interested.

Before then, we had a party meeting in Kaduna; his wife, Justice Atinuke Ige, was then the President of the Court of Appeal. To show you how close we were, we lodged in his wife’s house in Kaduna (myself, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, and, I think, Chief Ayo Fasanmi). It was in that place, before the primaries, that he intimated us that he was going to contest for the primaries and was soliciting our support. I told him point-blank, ‘You know my position, Bola. As the chairman of the party, it would be immoral of me to do that.’ That was when he knew that I was not supporting him.

We were still contesting the legitimacy of Obasanjo’s government in Abuja. I, as the chairman, was still in Abuja with our lawyer when Prof. Sam. Aluko told me, ‘What are you talking about? You are wasting your time. Your deputy leader, Bola Ige, is already a member of Obasanjo’s cabinet.’ I couldn’t believe until we came back to Lagos and Ige complained to Pa Alayande that we were opposed to his election.

It came as a surprise to Ige that I was not supporting him; but because of the sentiments of the period, it was convenient for him to assume that everybody was on his side. However, when a meeting of the party was later summoned and they said he had now informed us, they then canvassed support for him. The party members said, ‘If he had informed you, you would not have chosen Bola Ige.’

On the question of nomination into the cabinet, Obasanjo told us at that time that he was going to form a national government, and my own stand was, ‘If you were going to form a national government, you would ask us as a party to send a candidate and not choose one for us.’

My quarrel with Obasanjo had been on a matter of principle. I told Obasanjo, ‘We are going to cooperate with you, but we will send a candidate of our party.’ Somebody said he wanted Bola Ige and he knew that, left to the party, we would not release him.

Knowing the type of cabinet Obasanjo was likely to form, I wouldn’t want Bola Ige to go and give credibility to that cabinet. It is like a member of a first-class troop going to join a third-class troop.

There was another meeting at Ikeja where party members put me to task, and I told them why I said that Ige didn’t consult me as a leader of the party, and that if he had done so, I would have said no. If you dropped a pin on the floor that day, you would have felt it. There was absolute silence. They were shocked when I said no.

I asked, ‘Is there an Ekwueme in that cabinet? If there was, I wouldn’t mind releasing Ige to join the government.’ Bola Ige was my front liner, but with that cabinet, which had people like Oladapo Sarumi and others, that was a third-class cabinet and I had such people I could send there, not Bola Ige. When I said this, there was absolute silence.

Bola Ige didn’t need Obasanjo; it was Obasanjo who needed him. That was my analysis. I said all of those who were criticising me didn’t even know how close Bola Ige and I were. Anytime I had to go to Ibadan for a meeting, I always stayed in Bola Ige’s house. We were good friends. We only disagreed on matters of principle. His wife Atinuke and I were contemporaries.

Therefore, I had known the wife before knowing Bola Ige. So, there was no cause for animosity against him. It was all a matter of principle. Anytime I said this, he had no defence against it.

I believed that with the soaring popularity of AD, if Bola Ige hadn’t joined Obasanjo’s cabinet at that time, I don’t think that government would have lasted six months. Again, how can you go to the cabinet of a person who disparaged our leader in a book by saying that all he (Awo) was looking for he got on a platter of gold?

How can you leave your party and go and join somebody you know does not have a good word either for our party or our leader in his lifetime and after?

There’s no love lost between Obasanjo and Chief Obafemi Awolowo till today, notwithstanding all the camouflage of choosing his daughter, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, as an ambassador during his tenure. For eight years, tell me any record of his speech in which he paid tribute to Chief Awolowo? So, how can you fraternise with someone who hates your leader and does not hide it?

Bola Ige told someone that when he wanted to contest the primaries, and he consulted me, Olaniwun Ajayi and others, I bluntly told him no. This is quite true!

I  have  no  regrets.  Why?  As  acting  chairman  of  the party, would it be fair or right on my part to already support a candidate before the primaries? That was not what Chief Awolowo taught us. That was my offence. He was expecting me to address party members that I supported him. The fact that he was not around during the primaries was his fault.

Obasanjo deliberately chose Bola Ige in order to destroy AD. It was not because he loved him. But Bola Ige should have known that. He thought he alone was Afenifere. He had forgotten that all of us make up Afenifere.

A tree does not make a forest. Even Chief Awolowo never claimed to be an oracle or superior to Afenifere and Action Group or Unity Party of Nigeria. He always acknowledged publicly that it was a collective wish that made him the leader. It was that element that Ige didn’t cultivate in Chief Awolowo that constituted his predicament. Bola Ige was brilliant, one of the greatest Awoists, but for his vaunting ambition.

If it was not ambition, Bola Ige would not have joined Obasanjo’s  government.  He  knew  what  Obasanjo  stood for. It was ambition that blinded him. If he had kept the solidarity within the AD, and remained, we would have provided a formidable opposition to Obasanjo’s government. The moment he joined, the opposition was weakened. There was nothing in Obasanjo or the PDP that should have attracted Bola Ige to join that government. Nothing at all. The antecedents of Obasanjo and PDP members, juxtaposed with Bola Ige, did not align or tally. They had nothing in common. Nothing, except that ‘my colleagues disappointed me, and I’m leaving them. I’ll go and join our enemies to fight them.’

Obasanjo even once said that he knew if he approached our party, and said he wanted Bola Ige in his cabinet, that we wouldn’t oblige him. He was right. If they had consulted us, we wouldn’t choose Bola Ige. I wouldn’t put my first eleven in his team. That was not the place for him. What could he do with strange bedfellows? What was Obasanjo’s philosophy? What programme did he tell Ige to come and implement which was consistent with Afenifere’s philosophy or principle? There was none.

The moment Bola Ige made up his mind to join the Obasanjo government, the centre could no longer hold for the AD. It was consensus we used in managing the party. The moment one of us left, took the governors along, what would happen? The governors found solace in the leadership of Bola Ige, and he started holding meetings with them at Esa Oke (his hometown in Osun State). That was the beginning of the problem.

Ige still attended Afenifere meetings. He was the deputy leader all through his ministerial appointment.

Members were going to sanction him at one of our meetings, but Pa Adesanya said he must be present before he could be sanctioned. He wasn’t around that day. When he attended the meeting, those who raised it had no courage to continue. He gave the impression that his colleagues hated him, and didn’t congratulate him (on his appointment as Minister of Mines and Power, and later Attorney-General and Minister of Justice). He mentioned me by name in his column (in Tribune), and I didn’t reply because I didn’t want any press controversy.

I told him, ‘I will never congratulate you because I don’t like the company you are keeping.’ Why should I congratulate him? I even refused to reply that write-up. What would have made me happy about the appointment? I couldn’t have been persuaded to congratulate Bola Ige. He betrayed the party. He knew Obasanjo’s role in the 1979 elections. When he wrote the article, I called Pa Alayande to say that Ige had done it again!

It was Bola Ige who was instrumental in Dupe Adelaja’s (Pa Abraham Adesanya’s daughter’s) appointment as minister, in order to embarrass Pa Adesanya who had earlier opposed his (Ige) joining Obasanjo’s cabinet. When it was discussed at a caucus meeting, Bola Ige tried to persuade Pa Adesanya that he should allow his daughter to serve under Obasanjo. Pa Adesanya was upset and he flared up.

‘Don’t repeat it to me,’ he told Ige.

Pa Abraham Adesanya didn’t ask his daughter to take that appointment.

Why did Bola Ige form the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE)? It was after he lost AD primaries and joined Obasanjo’s government and wanted to use that platform to diminish the influence of Afenifere in Yorubaland.

As an evidence of this, two weeks after forming YCE, he led its members to Obasanjo in Aso Rock Villa.

Temporarily, he succeeded. If he had succeeded in the long run, he would have been able to gather all the people of Yoruba descent under one group.

It’s not good to destroy the house that you laboured with others to build. It is not to your credit that the house you built is no longer standing. Though everybody lost, to the detriment of the nation, we must not lose sight of why we lost, and who caused the loss. We even heard that Ige said some of us were jealous of him. But there is no record to show that throughout his career there was an occasion where both of us had to settle a quarrel.

The election (party primaries) has since come and gone. Falae was elected. Although Ige claimed he was campaigning for Falae, it was after the election that I knew then, as chairman of the party, that Bola Ige was not loyal to the leadership of Senator Abraham Adesanya.

During our campaign with the plane loaned to us by Harry Akande, whenever we landed at an airport, the party leaders there and the candidates would customarily meet us at the airport or at the point of entry. But when we got to Ibadan, Bola Ige refused to come and meet Senator Adesanya. Because of the prejudice and the bitterness from that election, he was just following the team; he was not really with us. We stayed in his house because he should have joined the campaign in Oyo State as the party leader there.

Lam Adesina, the governoship candidate, instead of driving us straight to Mapo, said he was taking us first to Bola Ige’s house on the day of the election, which was not the custom in our party. Not only that, Bola Ige didn’t even meet the leader of the party, Senator Adesanya, at the door. He sat down in his room. We came in and met him before he could stand up to greet us. I felt this was the height of contempt.

Here was a man who was highly regarded in the party now involved in an act of disloyalty and insubordination to the party leader. ‘The man who is your leader now comes to the town; he first of all has to pay a courtesy call on you before he can hold a rally. He followed us to the rally though. But at the time we landed in Ibadan, he should have met us at the airport from where we would all go together to the rally.

It was because we were just being tolerant and we didn’t want any internal crisis at that time. Until now, I don’t think many people knew what happened, because we only acted as if nothing had happened. Bola Ige’s desperate ambition for leadership had been known to Chief Obafemi Awolowo even during his lifetime. All along, Papa knew the rivalry for succession between himself and Lateef Jakande, that they were not conscientious about winning in an election. But he said none of them would use him to achieve his ambition.

So, it was no surprise that Ige and others who were opposed to Afenifere went on to form rival groups, thinking that by so doing they would bring down the organisation. One of such was the Imeri Group formed by Olajumoke, Babatope & Co. They wanted to rival Afenifere, but didn’t have the name to use.

We (Afenifere) are the authentic leaders of the Yoruba. But because we didn’t agree with them they went on to form the Imeri Group. In any case, the Yoruba know their leaders.

Awolowo didn’t become Yoruba leader because he won an election. By the time he became Yoruba leader there was no election. General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd) had confirmed that. So, when we saw them, we said that for our own credibility we couldn’t join those who were known backers of the military regime which we were opposed to. That was why we backed out of Group 34 which they formed.

They formed the All Progressives’ Party (APP). They now changed the name to All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) after the AD pulled out of the alliance. We found that the programmes of the two parties (APP and AD) were almost identical.

Why we pulled out was because those who were already known with Abacha, who were prominent in his government, were part of that body. We said people wouldn’t take us seriously. These were the people who were complaining about Abacha yesterday. Are you saying that they are now forming a new party? Lamidi Adedibu (the strongman of Ibadan politics) was one of them.

However, what AD stood for at that time was purity and consistency in politics. Whatever success we achieved, however minor, will prove to the public now that we can’t reprobate and approbate. We can’t be found in the same political party with people who were associates and backers, and who colluded with the military that we fought against.

The AD itself was later bastardised by those we put in positions who later turned against the leadership of the party. We left them and went to form the Democratic People’s Alliance (DPA). But we were financially handicapped because the people we put in office were in government. They changed the party’s name to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and members of the party who even shared our views, because of the political offices they were occupying, went their own way.

Of course in Nigerian politics today, without money you cannot go anywhere. Those of our members who had no jobs had been spoilt by political appointments. That’s where we are today.

These developments have made me disenchanted with Southwest politics today. Knowing where we are coming from, I find it disgusting that the people who would associate with the principles of Awolowo and all that he stood for are people I would regard as latter-day Awoists. They can’t be as passionate about the ideals of Awolowo as I would, because many of them joined us when we were already in office and through that they became very relevant. It was that relevant position they were occupying that we despised. But we didn’t become prominent as a result of being in public office. This is because we have become known and prominent in Nigerian politics because of the ideals we stand for; hence, we frown at anybody bastardising Awo’s philosophy, or who is not a true advocate of those ideals. We don’t feel comfortable in their midst.

The protem National Chairman of AD then was Mamman Yusuf to whom I was Deputy. But because Bola Ige and others knew that Yusuf did not support him, he engineered Ahmed Abdulkadir, sponsored him, and held a convention of the party.

That was what led to the court action requesting that INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) should not recognise Abdulkadir because the convention was not constitutionally summoned. The case is still in court today, undecided!

The Abdulkadir that Bola Ige chose as chairman of the illegal convention was never a member of our party. He was put there by Obasanjo to destabilise Alliance for Democracy (AD).

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, played a prominent role in ensuring that Abdulkadir was there.

Bola  Ige  was  enthusiastic  about  the  move  because he wanted someone to checkmate me and others. He said anybody could be there but Ayo Adebanjo. Because he was in government, Obasanjo supported him. It was whatever Obasanjo said that INEC did. That was how their group was recognised. The governors controlling Alliance for Democracy states (Olusegun Osoba, Ogun; Adeniyi Adebayo, Ekiti; Lam Adesina, Oyo; Adebisi Akande, Osun and Bola Tinubu, Lagos) were with him for their selfish interest. The only exception was Chief Adebayo Adefarati of Ondo.

Bola Ige propounded the theory that the party was different from Afenifere.

The governors knew that if the party and Afenifere were separated they could control the party in their respective states. That was their objective. He used human weakness to get the support of the governors.

It was in the course of attending these meetings that all the state governors who were hitherto taking instructions from the leadership of Afenifere now grew wings; they no longer wanted to take instructions. They too knew that the centre could no longer hold. Ige encouraged them to sideline the leadership of Afenifere and take over the control of the party in their respective states. That was the beginning of the weakening of Afenifere.

After that incident, and in the process of weakening and killing of Afenifere, Ige sponsored the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE). It was Justice Adewale Thompson who championed the cause. Unknown to us, however, Pa Alayande had switched camp and later became the group’s first chairman. At the initial stage, Alayande was very firm with Afenifere.

On one occasion when we were coming from a function in Ilorin, we paid him a courtesy call in his house in Ibadan and he received us well. He told us about the council and we asked him if there was anything wrong with the party (AD). We said he should come and reform it in Afenifere, arguing that there was no need for proliferation of Yoruba organisations. He was convinced, and all the papers he was preparing for YCE he gave to Ayo Opadokun. That was the end, but later on the council surfaced again.

Thereafter, the governors of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) became less active until they went to found the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Among them all, it was only Adefarati that was known to be consistent with us.

Although Osoba did not openly identify with them, his claim to be with us was doubtful. Some party members said that of all our five governors we had only one and a half with us. When Osoba heard this, he flared up and I asked him,

‘How are you sure you are the one they are referring to as the half-governor?’

However, in the desperation to retain power, Obasanjo succeeded in deceiving the AD governors into supporting his candidature for the 2003 presidential election.

Since the AD governors wanted to spite the leadership of the party, they were often not comfortable with the party that put them in office. So, for their second term, they wanted to say they had a platform on which they contested election without our support. This led them to Obasanjo, but not so directly. It would therefore be unfair for them to say that it was the party that asked them to go.

At that time too, Obasanjo had a problem with his party. He was a leader accredited by the party, but he had no foothold in his state. So, he needed support, more so that we heard that they wanted to scuttle his second term bid and put a northerner there. Our attitude then was that, ‘Whether we like him or not, Obasanjo is still a Yoruba man; and we would not allow you to deny him a second term. So, if it comes to that we would not support your plans.’

It was Osoba who came to us to say that Obasanjo wanted to see us as he needed our help for his second term bid in the party. Well, the leadership accepted. We had nothing to demand other than that we were anxious about a sovereign national conference. Because we knew that we were not friendly with Obasanjo, we mandated Cornelius Adebayo and Femi Okurounmu to speak on our behalf at that meeting. So, we all went there.

The campaign of Osoba against me at that meeting happened this way: When we got to that meeting and we spoke, we told Obasanjo, ‘None of the party leaders wants any perk or benefit from you, but we want you to convoke a sovereign national conference for the restructuring of the country.’ Then he said (this is the catch here), ‘That’s easy, you go and work on getting the support of other regions so that it would not appear as if I am supporting my Yoruba people.’ We said, ‘that’s fine.’

So, when we left the meeting with Obasanjo and we were having a discussion in the hotel, we said, ‘So, Obasanjo has changed o; he wants us to do this thing, if we must get the support of others!’

Osoba now played on that statement which I made that Obasanjo had changed and I retorted, ‘You are just being mischievous.’ That was the ground on which I made that statement. This was a man who never wanted to hear anything about sovereign national conference now asking us to get the support of other regions. ‘Is that not a change of position from him?’ This is why they would say I am too rigid.

Even the agreement at that time was to support Obasanjo for the presidential election, which did not mean we were not going to have our own candidate for the election.

So, it was the governors who bargained with him. Maybe Obasanjo tricked them by saying ‘I won’t put any candidate against you,’ so that they would have an easy ride back to power. Then they were looking for a system whereby they would be restored to power without the support of the Afenifere leaders.

To confirm that, I recall at that time there was to be a local government election before the primaries of the parties. Obasanjo was anxious that if we didn’t hold the primaries before the local government election, it would expose his position in the West and the governors did so.

So, when later Osoba said it was the leadership that asked them to support Obasanjo and they did, I asked him the question, ‘Why did you not hold the local government election at the time you were supposed to?’ When, after the election, he said Obasanjo was a traitor, I then asked, ‘How?’

 The truth of the matter at that time was that Obasanjo was not talking directly to us. It was Osoba who came to say that Obasanjo wanted to see us. We didn’t want to see him, because Osoba had been talking directly with his government.

Maybe we made an error of judgement at that time because these people (governors) often said that anything they wanted to say we didn’t want to listen to them. With hindsight now, we probably thought that we didn’t want them to see us as an obstacle to their moves.

Before then, I had been warning Osoba that he was too close to Obasanjo, which he couldn’t deny. So, I think we were just too nonchalant about the attitude of the governors to say that ‘if they want to go, let them go,’ not knowing that they would exploit it the way they did.

Some people have blamed us that we knew Obasanjo in character; that this was a man who couldn’t be trusted. That since we had accused him of scuttling the presidential ambition of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1979 and 1983, and if he was now flying a kite or throwing a bait, we shouldn’t have fallen for it.

But that was one side of the story which is right. Another side is that, we say we support the Yoruba interest, and here is a Yoruba man in office whom others want to deprive of a second term, just as we were accusing Bola Tinubu of not allowing the lady from Oyo State (Akande) to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He used his people to scuttle what the PDP wanted to give him.

When Osoba quarrelled with Tinubu and left the ACN (he was a member of the Confab), we now invited him and asked, ‘why don’t you join us in fighting these people?’ And he said he couldn’t join SDP because it was being financed by Gbenga Daniel and the Chairman was Falae. He said he couldn’t trust Daniel. We told him we were leaders of the party and that both he and Daniel were coming in as members. But his argument was that Daniel already had his own party (PPN) and that we should allow him to form his own party too.

Our thinking then was that Osoba could team up with Daniel to defeat Amosun who wanted to discredit him politically. All along, we had not been talking about forming a party until later when he told Olaniwun Ajayi. Whereas all our interest at that time was to get rid of Amosun, Osoba was taciturn and didn’t come straight until we learnt that they did not register a party.

The AD governors then, including Osoba, believed that I was too procedural and too rigid in my approach. He now had to join our party but he was campaigning on the platform of the party (SDP) solely without putting us in the picture. He now said in a press interview that we were the ones who supported Jonathan without consulting him.

What an insult! You that came to join us now wanted to dictate to us. You didn’t come to the party meeting to argue why we shouldn’t support Jonathan. Our argument was that it was better to support Jonathan because to do otherwise by supporting Buhari would adversely affect his (Osoba’s) own campaign. That it would have a bandwagon effect. He didn’t believe that. He now insulted us in that interview by saying that we went to support Jonathan without informing him; that he was the one on ground and knew the political leaning of the people. He told us it was Sir Olaniwun Ajayi who made him to join the party whereas he had no choice at that time since he had already left the ACN and his party was not registered.

Ajayi called me to say he wanted to broker peace between me and Osoba, but I said I had nothing against him, other than that when he was going to negotiate with the other party, he didn’t inform us.

I was merely acting on principle. But people didn’t see to see it that way. They would say, ‘This man is too rigid, he’s fighting with Tinubu, he’s fighting with Osoba.’

By the time we were having the elections, I was the acting chairman of the party, Ambassador Mamman. Before then I was deputy to Ambassador Tanko Yusuf. Bola Ige couldn’t be his deputy because of his presidential ambition, neither could Pa Adesanya. So, that was why they settled for me as deputy.

However, just before we had the local government election, Yusuf resigned. They now asked me to act as chairman until we would have the party congress. So, my emergence as the party chairman was circumstantial. I was there holding fort for the West in the party. I had no presidential ambition.

As regards the case in court, all we did was support our claims with relevant portions of the party’s constitution, to show that their own convention was illegal. Till this day, the court has not decided that case, yet INEC recognised the illegal group.

It was the man elected under the unconstitutional convention (Abdulkadir) that extolled their defeat in 2003, saying they had no cause to complain that the election was rigged.

He was the chairman of AD then when PDP rigged them out, and that was how he became a minister under PDP to show you that he was planted there. When he was brought in, most of us opposed the move. But out of spite for the leadership of Afenifere, they couldn’t see the principles behind our objection.

They allowed a strange bedfellow to infiltrate our party just because Bola Ige lost the primaries to Chief Olu Falae. They didn’t care. They cannot quote the membership card of Abdulkadir till today. We are talking about a chairman!

How could someone I didn’t know become chairman? Even if you said you were recruiting him! How can a newly recruited soldier in the army suddenly become a general, on the same day? And chief of army staff? How could he get the plummiest job in the party in no time? Mainly by Obasanjo.

And at the time, we knew Abdulkadir was in United Nigeria Convention Party (UNCP) with Niyi Adebayo and Patricia Etteh (during the Abacha years). These were the people who sponsored the man. We even heard at the time that Bola Ige asked, ‘Who is this Abdulkadir?’ But Etteh said he would talk to Bola Ige to convince him about Abdulkadir’s desirability.

Obasanjo was bent on liquidating the party. He deceived the governors (of AD) to agree to cooperate with PDP, and not put up any candidate against him in the 2003 presidential election. But the truth of the matter was that the leaders of Afenifere were never put in the know. Even Osoba admitted that the discussion had gone on before they came to party leaders.

The impression we were given was that they just wanted to cooperate with Obasanjo so that he could have a second term as a Yoruba man. But we said there were certain conditions the party should lay down upon which we would cooperate. There was no time we agreed that we would not present candidates.

Their grand plan was that if they had won elections, they would have said they did it without the leaders of Afenifere. (AD lost all the states in 2003, except Lagos, to PDP — Gbenga Daniel won in Ogun; Ayo Fayose, Ekiti; Rasheed Ladoja, Oyo; Olusegun Agagu, Ondo and Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Osun).

What could have been Bola Ige’s performance as a minister? What performance? To show he was in a wrong group, he made certain recommendations in the Ministry of Power and Energy, and nobody executed them. He said there were some individuals who had to be removed, before any serious work could be done. But instead of removing them alone, Obasanjo removed him along with them. He was working in a strange environment.

Bola Ige in his lifetime never said I had anything personal against him. But I wouldn’t deny that I often disagreed with him on issues of principle. One of it was when he stated that the doctrine of Afenifere was different from that of AD. I said no, it was a self-serving exercise. That argument came after he lost the primaries. He had also claimed to be the founder of Afenifere. Afenifere dates back to 1952. So, how can somebody say he founded it in 1994?

There are records to show that Afenifere was founded in 1952, people even used to chant then, Afenifere, Egbe Omo Olope (Afenifere’s symbol is the palm tree). There’s nobody in the Western Region that would say Bola Ige founded Afenifere.

What I found very ridiculous was the write-up in a book written in honour of Pa Adesanya where Ige wrote in the ‘Foreword’ that what Awolowo founded was Afeniferere, not Afenifere. It was laughable.

I often disagreed with Bola Ige openly. If he did anything wrong,  I  told  him  to  his  face.  We  never  had  personal problems. He was present at my father’s funeral in 2000. We had a robust personal relationship. Our families were close, to a large extent.

 

Chapter 13

Awolowo, Obasanjo and the Yoruba Nation

The odious years had long gone, though its stench hung here and there. Many were willing to forget the travesty of the treasonable felony trial which remotely

led to the two coups of 1966 (January 15 and July 29), and snowballed into the Civil War (of 1967 – 1970).

The country was regaining its strength, especially with the three Rs (Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Rehabilitation). We were getting back on our feet.

In spite of everything, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the target of the evil plot, went and came out of prison a hero, pronounced the leader of the Yoruba and served as Finance Minister and Vice-Chairman in the cabinet of General Yakubu Gowon (between 1966 and 1971). His stature and renown gained more acclaim, and he was easily regarded as one of the builders of modern Nigeria. The Yoruba of the Southwest idolised him, regarded him as their saviour.

That reputation hovered around him. You could feel, see and touch it. And when Major-General Olusegun Obasanjo became Head of State following the assassination of Major- General  Murtala  Mohammed  on  February  13,  1976  (in a bloody coup plotted by Lt. Col. Bukar Suka Dimka and others), many had thought that the cause of the Yoruba would be protected and advanced.

Leaders of the defunct Action Group and allies of Pa Awolowo as well as many progressive minds went to work. They mentioned that since northerners, especially their politicians and elders as well as their elite, always supported any of their own that occupied the seat of government, encouraging and fighting for dividends that benefited their people, Awolowo should do the same with Obasanjo.

The old man had worked with the soldier before he interacted at close quarters with him (Obasanjo), especially during the civil war years, and tried to talk his disciples out of it.

They didn’t give him respite.

‘Ignore  whatever  you  thought  about  him  or  your perception of him. Act in the interest of the larger group and your people, and table our demands and expectations before him. He’s our son, and he should know where he’s from. Please, seek audience with him, so that he won’t give the impression that it was you who abandoned him.’

The debate went on and on, and Awolowo eventually agreed. His lieutenants had impressed upon him to seek a  one-on-one  audience  with  Obasanjo;  and  he  did.  He thereafter booked an appointment with the new Head of State at Dodan Barracks, Ikoyi (Lagos), the official residence and office of the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces and the appointment was granted.

On  the  day  of  the  appointment,  however,  to  the embarrassment of Chief Awolowo, instead of the one-on-one meeting he had envisaged, he met Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Obasanjo’s deputy) sitting comfortably.

 With the situation he met, Chief Awolowo changed the subject of the discussion he had intended to have with Obasanjo and instead discussed the cassava processing project (known as ‘Gari Ilaju’) he had in Ibadan.

When Awolowo returned to narrate his ordeal, his lieutenants were confounded and surprised that Obasanjo could treat Chief Awolowo in that manner. But Awolowo was not the only victim. A senior officer also found himself in such an embarrassingly awkward situation when he came to see his Commander-in-Chief.

General Olufemi Olutoye had gone to Obasanjo to discuss the ethnic bias against the Yoruba in the Army. And after listening to his homily, Obasanjo surprisingly invited General Yar’Adua and asked Olutoye to repeat what he said. Olutoye was stupefied, but he courageously repeated all he had said before Yar’Adua!

There were many incidents to show that Obasanjo was anti–Yoruba. He has no interest in, or sympathy for, the Yoruba cause; he only has his own interest for everything he does. That is my conclusion, and I have copious evidences to prove it.

Many have even said that Obasanjo detested Awolowo in his lifetime, and did all within his power to truncate his dreams or ambition. They readily cite the elections of 1979 (which his government conducted to usher in the Second Republic, 1979-1983) largely believed to have been won by Awo (as discussed earlier in chapter 8 under ‘Prelude to the Second Republic’).

And in his book ‘Not My Will’, he confirmed everyone’s long-held belief that he held Awo in contempt. He derisively stated that everything Awolowo fought for all through his life and didn’t get, fell on his (Obasanjo’s) lap.

The polity was heated after the release of the controversial book   in   1990.   Awolowo’s   allies   fired  back.   Gbolabo Ogunsanwo (the famous journalist who edited Sunday Times at a time) and I wrote a rejoinder to the reference to Awolowo in Obasanjo’s book, through an article entitled ‘Not His Will’, in which we castigated Obasanjo for impugning the integrity of a revered national leader.

Ebenezer Babatope (who at a time was Director of Organisation of Unity Party of Nigeria) also wrote a book to harangue the ingrate (‘Not His Will: The Obasanjo Wager’). It became clear that Obasanjo had no kind words or feelings for the man (Awo) or his ideals and philosophy. And the battle line was drawn.

Whatever he could do to diminish and destroy the legacy of Awolowo, Obasanjo attempted. Whenever his disciples were united and fighting a common cause, he poisoned the atmosphere and planted seeds of discord.

All through the years, he never wavered. He wanted to be seen as the anointed messiah, and anyone who stood the chance to overshadow him, he belittled, diminished and humiliated.

A typical example of this was the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election won by Abiola. Obasanjo, in his characteristic manner, ridiculed Abiola, whose election had been hailed by most Nigerians, by saying in faraway Addis-Ababa that he (Abiola) was not the expected messiah.

The  transition   programme   supervised   by   General Abdulsalam Abubakar (Head of State from June 8, 1998 to May 29, 1999) threw up many political parties – Peoples Democratic  Party,  Alliance  for  Democracy,  All  Nigeria Peoples’ Party.

When politics kicked off, General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) was drafted from prison to contest for the Presidency by many powerful retired generals, who wanted him, being one of their own, to cover their tracks. He eventually contested under PDP and won.

The intention was to pacify the Yoruba who had been aggrieved by the annulment of the election won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola, which had been widely acclaimed to be the freest and fairest in the country’s political history. The earlier appointment of Chief Ernest Shonekan as leader of the Interim National Government (ING) following the decision of President Ibrahim Babangida to ‘step aside’ failed to do this.

When Obasanjo was sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 1999, one of his first major actions was to weaken the opposition. To this end, he invited Chief Bola Ige, the deputy leader of Afenifere, under the façade of forming a ‘Government of National Unity.’ Bola Ige, already bitter over the primaries of the AD, was an easy prey.

Ige joined Obasanjo’s cabinet, and influenced the appointment of children of prominent members of Afenifere into the government, namely; Mrs. Tokunbo Awolowo- Dosunmu and Mrs. Modupe Adelaja (daughter of Pa Abraham Adesanya, the leader of Afenifere). The stature of Bola Ige in that cabinet boosted Obasanjo’s government. Expectedly, Obasanjo gloated and, was elated at achieving his purpose.

Another attempt to woo Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu, also a prominent member of the AD did not succeed. On several occasions when Obasanjo invited Alhaji Dawodu to his Ota residence, he was oblivious of the fact that the typical AD loyalist informed the leader of Afenifere, who encouraged him to go and listen to what Obasanjo had to say.

As soon as Alhaji Dawodu landed in Ota, people phoned Pa Adesanya, thinking they were giving him a hint. They were, however, surprised when the latter replied that he was aware of Dawodu’s mission.

The man who carried on as if he was the all-in-all failed woefully on all counts as the President. His eight-year tenure (1999-2007) was a tragedy. His scorecard was nothing to write home about. What did he do in eight years? Before he came we were buying fuel for N20 per litre, and crude oil was

$23 per barrel. In 2007 under his regime, we were buying fuel at N75 per litre, and crude oil was between $65 and $75. In the worst days of Abacha, one dollar was N85. In 2007, our income had risen, the dollar was over N120.

No president has ever earned what Obasanjo got in terms of revenue. What have we got to show for it? What about our roads, education and health facilities? You tell me. The glorious years of Awolowo in Western Region were only seven years, 1952-1959. Up till today, we are still talking about his achievements. What did Obasanjo do in eight years that you can remember in years to come?

In practical terms, Nigerians were worse off. How much were we buying a bag of rice before he came in? What was the inflation rate, what was the employment figure? What were the redeeming features? If I had N10,000 before Obasanjo came in, how much was it worth by the time he left Aso Rock?

When you talk about economic programmes, it must have an effect on the ordinary man. It must reflect on his life. The highest cost of petrol before he got to power was N20 per litre, and this rose to N100 under his regime. During his first tenure in 1976-1979, he built three refineries, but after eight years (1999-2007) he couldn’t build one neither could he repair the ones he built earlier.

His claim as one of his achievements as head of state under the military was that he built these refineries; yet when he came back as president during his eight-year tenure (1999-

2007), he could neither build a new refinery nor make the existing ones functional.

And up till today the problem is still there, because when he was in government, he employed a tailor to do the work of a carpenter. People he gave the contract to refurbish the refineries were not professionals.

How much was the cost of a car before he came in 1999? Take the question of education. What was the position of our universities at the time he left in 2007? None was listed among the top 1,000 in the world. If you saw the classrooms, they were nothing to write home about.

Our primary schools had 60 or 70 pupils in a class. If we had a free and fair election, nowhere would PDP have been returned in the country.

What did they do to make them worthy of being returned? How much was a bag of cement before Obasanjo came in? What was the unemployment figure?

Do you know how much money he kept in foreign reserves when our people were suffering?

His tenure was a calamity. Obasanjo is shameless! Obasanjo had not disputed that he had only N20,000

in his account by the time he was drafted to contest in 1999. He had never disputed that (Abubakar) Atiku and Oyewole Fasawe saved him from bankruptcy.

Obasanjo was offered the presidency under the PDP. It was he who destroyed the party. He made the PDP to change its constitution on who should become chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) in order to favour himself. That was why he said anybody who would occupy that position must be a former president.

For all the negative things people have said about Obasanjo, which he could not refute, if it were to be in any decent society, people like him would not feature in public life again. This was the kind of thing that militated against Edward Heath when he was contesting as Prime Minister of Britain.

Look at the man who says he is clean. How did he build his Presidential Library Complex in Abeokuta? I am sure that when a real government of the people comes into power, they would take it from him, because he twisted people’s hands to build the edifice.

In spite of Mike Adenuga Jr’s generous donation to his university (Bells University of Technology, Ota) and the construction of his library, Obasanjo still callously sent the EFCC to harass him for refusing to confirm the allegation that Atiku Abubakar had financial interest in Globacom. This harassment forced Adenuga to relocate to Ghana on self-exile!

How can such a man be accusing everyone of being corrupt when his own hands are soiled? I have never believed in Obasanjo’s leadership for the little that I know about him. I can’t remember what he stands for on any issue of progress in this country. What has been his performance? Both his wife number one and wife number two, his children number one and number two have nothing honourable to say about him. What amazes me is that people give him undue prominence in spite of his known character. Such a whited sepulchre!

His entire landed property all over the country, his ownership of a private university, and his investment in several blue-chip companies, including Transcorp, put a question mark on his claim to incorruptibility.

 

Chapter 14

Afenifere, NADECO and the June 12 Struggle

There has been a lot of misconception and misrepresentation of the role of Afenifere in the nation’s political history. It is therefore important

that I put the records straight, more so as a lot of people have labelled it as a Yoruba political organisation.

Afenifere is not any special organisation other than the Yoruba interpretation of the AG, and because AG cannot be defined as such, we spelt it out in the socialist policy of free education, free health services, integrated rural development and full employment. So, the Yoruba word ‘Afenifere’ means somebody who likes good for himself and for others; that was how the name came about.

Afenifere is not a Yoruba organisation; it’s just the name of the catchment area where it was founded, when it was founded and that is the AG. We have branches all over the country. The Middle Belt group was in alliance with us. We also had a minority group in the East (called the Calabar, Ogoja, Rivers State Movement). And that’s why we won election in all these areas. So, when people are accusing us of being sectional and tribalistic, they are just stigmatising us.

The NCNC which claimed to be national at that time hadn’t got the national spread in the legislatures of the country as we had. We were the government of the Western Region; we were the opposition at the centre; we were the opposition in the East; we were also the opposition in the North: the North led by Alhaji Maito; the East by Dr. S.G. Ikoku; and Chief S.L. Akintola leading the federal legislature. So, how much more national can you then be?

Our status is what we stand for; we are not standing for an election. The philosophy on which we stand is what any political party we support will preach. We are not changing our status. What we were founded for is what we are. We are not a tribal or cultural organisation. We can say we are culturo-political; cultural in the sense that we are from Yorubaland. But the real philosophy of the organisation is the AG philosophy. We wanted to interpret the philosophy to the people of Yorubaland at the time the AG was founded.

This means in the East there’s Afenifere; in the North there’s Afenifere; in the Middle Belt there’s Afenifere in their respective local parlance. In fact, they had the names they called them: in the East they were called the Eastern Mandate Union (founded by Arthur Nwankwo). When we were founding the Alliance for Democracy I explained all of this.

NADECO (National Democratic Coalition), on its own part, was a child of circumstance. Following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, there were spontaneous protest demonstrations on  the  streets  of  Lagos,  involving  various  civil  society groups like Campaign for Democracy (CD), Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) and the Campaign for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR). Others were Afenifere, Movement for National Reformation (MNR), and Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP). These protests, which were spearheaded by CD, got the support of many ordinary Nigerians who saw it as an opportunity to vent their anger on the government for such insensitive action.

As a result, there was general disenchantment with the military over its role in aborting the return to democracy.

So, the desire of Afenifere was to restore sanity in the governance system.

In furtherance of the struggle for the return to democracy and the de-annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election which was won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) was formed on May 15, 1994. As its name suggests, the body is a coalition of civil society groups and other political and non-political associations that were committed to this cause.

NADECO was to get rid of the military. And all of us who did not believe in the military came together. There was Afenifere. In fact, all those parties that claimed to be progressive came together, because we said if we were all fighting the military, we shouldn’t work at cross-purposes.

With the benefit of hindsight, some people now came to believe that the two-party system introduced by the Babangida government (that is, the National Republican Convention and the Social Democratic Party) was designed to fail ab initio. Their argument was hinged on the fact that those whom Babangida allowed to be recruited into the two parties were people who were pliable.

All the things we wanted done, many of them didn’t even understand, not to talk of believing in them. All they wanted was a platform to become minister, governor and all of that. But while we were talking to them about principle, it was after the whole thing had failed that many of them started to see what we too saw, just as it is happening now.

If you recall, there were two primaries, but the first primary elections were annulled. We expressed some reservations as a group at that point, but these were unheeded.

The army was in control, and those people who ought to have raised reservations were those people Babangida put forward for political positions. And at that time if you told any aspiring member not to go, he would say ‘oh, this man doesn’t want me to make a name because he has had his own time,’ until the whole thing collapsed.

I remembered someone, during the local government election, in my area. He said, ‘why are you bothering yourself about local government election? There’s no money in local government. The allocation of revenue is not there. They will give you a paltry amount of money, and you won’t be able to develop.’

So, all the collapse or the imperfections or inactivity of the local governments that you still see now started from the military. The military was merely allocating money to the local government councils to do whatever they liked. But local  governments  were  controlled  from  the  centre.  That was the time when Augustus Aikhomu was in charge, and everybody was cooperating, because the military wanted to control the grassroots. That was why they were particular about controlling the local governments. Those who were beneficiaries of the largesse believed that was the best form of government.

In fact, when we were supporting Abiola at that time, we asked him, ‘are you sure this man is going to conduct this election?’ But we were misguided, thinking that he, being a close friend of Babangida, would know. Abiola then assured us that Babangida had told him that the election would take place. Then he said we could go on. We got that information directly from Abiola.

All we wanted was to have a civilian there, particularly when that civilian came from the west, more so because we had been complaining that no Yoruba man had been head of state. That was why we supported Abiola. When they annulled the election, it was in an attempt to pacify the Yoruba that they brought in Shonekan. But we said ‘no, the Yoruba we want is one of our choice and not of your own choice’.

In fact, within the military then there was no consensus. Abacha had his own ambition, that ‘if Babangida goes I must be there.’ So, in no time he toppled Shonekan. That was what gave birth to the regime of Abacha. The regime came to be an absolute military regime.

Before his decision to ‘step aside’ on August 17, 1993, Babangida had put in place an Interim National Government (ING) headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan with a 28-member cabinet having General Sani Abacha as its only military member. He then backed it up with Decree No. 61, which included a booby trap that ‘in the event of death or resignation of the Head of the ING, the most senior member of the cabinet should assume the reins of power.’

This provided an opportunity for Abacha, as ‘most senior member of the cabinet’ to instigate Shonekan’s ‘resignation’ and take over ‘the reins of power’ on November 17, 1993, following an earlier Lagos High court ruling on a suit filed by Abiola declaring the ING illegal.

Earlier on, Abiola was then in the NPN, while we were in the UPN. All that time we told him, ‘these people are just exploiting you,’ but he didn’t want to listen. All the time he said that Shagari promised him he was going to spend only one term, and that was why he supported Shagari. After the first term, they now asked Abiola, ‘where are you?’ It was then his eyes opened. Then he later left the NPN. That was it. In fact, he was so bitter against Chief Awolowo that it was he who raised the question of Maroko (360-plot land deal). But he got it all wrong.

I told some people at that time that the property I had at Surulere was a form of payment to me by clients whom I

 helped to recover their land from trespassers. So, this is just the tradition of lawyers. But Abiola did not know this and he used his Concord newspapers at that time to besmear the image of our leader. After some time, however, his eyes were opened. But when the question of election of Abiola came, we didn’t pay him in his own coins.

It must be stated that NADECO came to support Abiola, as a result of the annulment, not before the election. When I was arrested by the security agencies in the heat of the June 12 agitation, I told them the principle of supporting Abiola was not my own kettle of fish; that it could have been any other person, even an Abubakar or a Chukwuemeka.

The arrest was another twist in our struggle to actualise June 12. Three of us, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu and I were arrested on June 17, 1996 by the police over the bizarre allegation that we were suspects in Mrs. Kudirat Abiola’s gruesome murder on June 4, 1996. This allegation was ridiculous because, prior to her assassination, we all (Afenifere leaders and Kudirat) had been in the vanguard of the fight for the restoration of Moshood Abiola’s mandate. In spite of this, however, we were kept in detention for over four months, often sleeping on bare floors.

I was part of Afenifere that joined the coalition of pro- democracy agitators. I didn’t join NADECO as an individual, I joined the group fighting for democracy and for the removal of the military. Our own organisation was in the forefront. We were using Afenifere at that time because the AG and other political associations had been banned. So, it was that cultural and political organisation that we used to form NADECO with other parts of the country.

NADECO had the name for being in the front line in the fight for democracy. So, for all others that joined we didn’t discriminate against them. Once we all agreed that the military must go, everybody came on board.

For those who were saying NADECO was fighting a Yoruba cause, it was after the annulment that they said those who remained consistent against the annulment were the Yoruba. But I insisted that that was not so.

When the annulment was made, Adamu Ciroma also said, ‘Abiola won fair and square, I was one of those who were fighting for him.’ But where the Yoruba became the only ones who remained in NADECO was where the Yoruba became consistently constant. When the others chickened out, we remained. That was why I answered those who were accusing NADECO of being a Yoruba organisation: ‘You are not being fair to yourselves. If you have been accused of being inconsistent and you chickened out in the battle comes, why should you blame those of us who continued the fight? If we too had chickened out the way you did, there would have been no NADECO, there would be no getting rid of Abacha.’ By the time the battle was fierce, all those who formed NADECO   chickened   out;   those   who   now   remained championing the cause were from the minorities and the Yoruba. The Yoruba were in the majority, which was what gave them the leeway. The antagonists just gave us that name

to justify their cowardice.

Our stand in favour of Abiola spelt this out completely, because everybody  in  Nigeria  knew  that  Abiola  was  our political enemy. He was one of those who prevented Chief Awolowo from becoming president. But that didn’t disturb us because the teaching that Chief Awolowo gave us was that ‘anything that is good for Nigeria, no matter who initiates it, you must support it. That was the principle under which we operated.’

When Shagari sent Abdurahman Shugaba packing in the northeast, we were vehemently opposed to it and fought the injustice. During the Tiv riots, it was the Yoruba that rescued Joseph Tarka. Even when the NPN deposed Balarabe Musa as Governor of Kaduna State unjustly, Chief Awolowo sent Chief G.O.K. Ajayi and myself to go and defend him. Therefore, our fight for democracy has been irrespective of whose ox is gored.

The most significant achievement of NADECO is the fact that it ended military rule. We fought them to a standstill. It was however not those who fought for it that got into power thereafter. That’s one of the regrets. In fact, it was those who supported Abacha that became governors and other political leaders because they now had money. Even one of the most prominent members of his government, Ebenezer Babatope, moved the motion that Abacha should rule forever!

When it comes to the question of being labelled, many of these people have forgotten their roles, that many who were known to be progressives in the days of the AG or during NADECO became ministers under Abacha; this is the undoing of L.K. Jakande for joining the Abacha government. It ruined his reputation forever. And Babatope’s. It brought them down. We warned them.

I remember Babatope coming to my office in Western House over this matter, saying ‘if you ask us to go we would go.’ Even when they started to kill our people in Lagos and we warned them that they would get killed and asked them to get out of the government of Abacha, they didn’t. Even Chief (Mrs) Mojisola Osomo who was recommended by Papa Ajasin, and whom we saw as his protégé, all refused to adhere.

Take also the case of Dr. Olu Onagoruwa, who had warned in 1994 (front page of Daily Times) that if Abiola had been allowed to rule, Nigeria would have gone in ruins. If I remember Onagoruwa’s position very well, he was in NADECO with us. Papa Awo had such confidence in him that even before 1979 when we were asked to nominate candidates for electoral positions, it was he (Papa) that nominated Onagoruwa to represent the UPN.

During the NADECO days when Anthony Enahoro was our leader, we were all meeting together in Rewane’s house. That was when Abacha came into power with Oladipo Diya, and before Onagoruwa was made a minister. We were asking for restructuring and the convocation of a national conference when Diya detained me in Abeokuta on assumption of office.

Onagoruwa  was  there  and  he  asked,  ‘Haa!  why  did you detain this man?’ ‘What is the complaint against Chief Adebanjo?’ Onagoruwa asked, ‘why all the fuss about this man?’ He said, ‘that is the man o!’ By the time Diya said he wanted Onagoruwa as the Attorney-General and we doubted whether he should accept, he (Diya) gave us the false impression that, knowing that we were the agitators for a national conference, by choosing him as a minister, it meant that the government was going to have the conference. That was the bait.

So, when he got there now and he was sitting under Abacha, and we did not see the prospect of any national conference taking place, and asked him to resign, he said if he should resign, that government would not last one day longer. He made that mistake. Later they sacked him and also killed his son. When all these things happened to him, he was no longer associated with us.

Sometimes they say I am too rigid, but this has always been based on principle. Take the case of Ebenezer Babatope for  instance.  As  one  of  the  young  disciples  of  the  late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whom I held in high esteem, his reactionary behaviour during the Abacha regime and his later joining of Obasanjo’s party (PDP), greatly disappointed me. This is responsible for my cold attitude towards him ever since.

For instance, when Obasanjo wrote ‘Not My Will’, in which he maligned our leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo, he countered it with a scathing rejoinder in his book, ‘Not His Will’. This, I thought, was a demonstration of his continued loyalty to the leader; but having now jumped ship, he can no longer claim to be one of us.

I can’t see someone who says he is an Awoist and is comfortable with Obasanjo, Abacha and Babangida and keep mute. He moved the motion that Abacha, despite all his atrocities, should continue in office. Is that consistent with a progressive person? I have been in this party now for over

65 years and people know me for the principles I stand for. Whether we won election or not, I have remained consistent. It was when we won the election in the UPN that Babatope was employed as Director of Organisation, and when the military took over, he chickened out, and still wants to be accorded the respect of an Awoist. This I object to.

He feels very uncomfortable with this, and often goes about maligning us by saying that we don’t have a forgiving spirit. But people should ask him whether there was anytime he came to Afenifere meeting and we walked him out.

When there was a crisis in the party and he said he was going to the United Kingdom to study law, and sought financial help from me through his wife, I readily came to his help, not with a loan that he asked for, but with what I could afford to give. This was in keeping with the tradition of our party where the leaders were very supportive, just as Chief Rewane also supported me by paying my house rent when I was in detention.

What Babatope expected of me was to facilitate a return to his old position in the party which I turned down, because somebody else had occupied that position after he left. Ayo Opadokun’s son was his assistant who rose with Afenifere and NADECO, and I informed him we couldn’t have reserved the position for him. That has been my problem with him.

 

Chapter 15

My position on the 2014 National Conference has been very clear. This is to the effect that President Goodluck  Jonathan’s  initiative  in  calling  the

conference is commendable. The quality of representation was quite high and evenly spread. The recommendations made by the conference were far-reaching, and, if implemented, would solve many of our problems as a nation.

There is a saying that half-bread is better than nothing. I am not one of those who make too much fuss on the word

‘sovereign,’ because what sovereignty means is that whatever decisions are taken at the conference are not subject to any amendment except to a referendum. But if we did not use the word ‘sovereign’ and after the conference we see that there was nothing wrong and we get what we wanted, I believe that we shouldn’t quarrel about semantics. My thinking was that we should allow the subject to take place first, and then we can be talking about the predicate, whether sovereign or not.

 The word ‘sovereignty,’ which I even argued with Obasanjo, means that it rests with the people. All we were saying was that we didn’t want the government to handle it the way they did the 1979 constitutional conference, where Obasanjo inserted the Land Use Decree, which was never recommended, in the decisions, and then another military administration came and amended the constitution. We didn’t want that. That was why we condemned the present (1999) constitution as a military constitution. If it is going to be the people’s constitution, only the National Assembly, and the people should say yes or no.

Even if we use the word ‘sovereign’ now, and you convoke the conference, let us have the subject first and people talk. Then we can debate whether there’s sovereignty now or later, so far it is a matter of execution of proceedings.

So, what I said about those who argued that we should make it sovereign was that we shouldn’t quarrel about that. Let’s have the conference first. Even the question of whether it should be sovereign or not was later dropped because we had pressure from all quarters that the conference should take place. After the pressure and the conference was held, the issue that arose again was whether the outcome should go to the National Assembly or not.

Many of us were opposed to the idea of the recommendations going to the National Assembly, because the National Assembly itself was part of the problem that we wanted to solve. That was our stand. Our belief was: let us first solve what we were going to sovereign upon and when we have it the debate would resume. At the end of the conference, we now agreed that our recommendations should only be subjected to a referendum.

Those were my expectations. Even up till now, I still earnestly desire that those recommendations should be implemented. I remember that before the election, one mainreason our own group supported Jonathan was the promise that he would implement the recommendations. Although some people say that we shouldn’t rely on what he had said, my own take is that ‘here is somebody who says I will do. But Buhari says he has nothing to do with the conference.’ So, that was why I said ‘half-bread is better than nothing,’ and that was the basis for my support of Jonathan.

At least 80 per cent of my expectations were achieved during the conference. For instance, regionalisation of the police, devolution of powers, rationalisation of the local governments in each region. Revenue allocation (fiscal federalism) was reduced and passed on to the state, and local government was put under the state government. Central power was drastically reduced.

One of my very few expectations at the conference which was not achieved is regionalisation. This was because some minorities in the north felt that it is good for the people in the southwest to talk of regional autonomy. They argued that they were put under slavery in their region because they were treated like paupers (second-class citizens). That if they have their own autonomy, like having their own state, which would lead to creating more states, then we can talk of regionalisation.

That they have joined a region of their own choice on an equal basis. That was why, in the recommendation of the confab, we called for the creation of more states and put a provision that states of like minds can join together for common services. They can also pull out, if they like, by conducting a referendum. So, we made the recommendation for eventual regional autonomy. But that, for now, everyone should be free to say ‘I am in this or that region by having their local governments.’ Right now, what we have is the devolution of power to the states; whereas if we had regionalism, it would have been devolution of power to the regional governments.

We have a lot of lessons to learn from the First Republic in this regard.

The Independence Constitution we had was the type of federalism we wanted. To the extent that when we had self-government in 1959; in the north and two years earlier (1957) in the south, they all had their constitutions written differently. And that was how we carried on, and we would have had independence then but for the north which said they were not ready, and so we waited until they had their own self-government in 1959; self-governing regions then came together to have independence for Nigeria in 1960. That was what we had up to 1963 when Nigeria became a republic, because we had a really federal constitution. But with the 1966 coup, the military centralised everything.

That was why during the NADECO days and during the military era, those of us who fought for independence were talking of restructuring of the country. As a result of the incursion of the military in 1966, they restructured the country by the system they set up, that’s why we are still fighting up till now. All the problems we are now battling with we had solved before independence. Unfortunately, while the country was doing well economically, the political field was tumultuous.

From my own delegation at the 2014 Conference, we are advocating a return to the parliamentary system. We came to this conclusion having observed that we are not ripe for executive presidency as practised in the United States of America.

Parliamentary system is more democratic, less expensive, and the system of changing leadership is much easier. Executive presidency can make the president very autocratic. That’s why, till today, the Nigerian President is the most powerful president in the whole world. But, unfortunately, a majority of the people at the conference have enjoyed the advantages of this system because many of them are from the north. So, we didn’t allow that to break the conference. In fact, we wanted to insert in the conference report that each region can adopt a suitable system. But we believed by evolution we can fight that out later.

But principally I am a parliamentarian. I believe in the parliamentary system more than the executive presidency system. It is important to state firmly that the parliamentary system did not fail in the First Republic as some people claim. The Western Region crisis was ignited by Akintola’s agitation to join the NPC. He was the Premier of Western Region at that time. The story of what transpired and eventually led to the Western Region crisis had been told earlier and does not bear repetition here.

I  remember  very  clearly  that  something  like  the hybrid system (that is, a mixture of both the parliamentary and presidential systems) was recommended at the 2014 National Conference. But, as for me, I still believe in a purely parliamentary system.

As I asked at the national conference, ‘is what we have now a purely federal constitution?’ For instance, one of the iniquities in the present constitution is that you say you are federal, without any regional police, that means you are not following the American pattern of federalism.

Have you ever heard of an inspector-general of police in America? Everything we are doing, as late Chief Rotimi Williams said, ‘our constitution is a fraudulent document.’ It was never made by the people nor is it federal. Whereas the preamble says, ‘We the people of Nigeria…,’ we the people of Nigeria didn’t make this present constitution, it was the military. That’s why we are insisting that we must make a new constitution.

We  must  restructure  the  country  on  a  truly  federal basis where each region will develop at its own pace. There must be regional autonomy and all those conditions under the First Republic that allowed the late Chief Awolowo to perform all the wonders he did in the Western Region. He had the freedom to do them under the constitution. Even at that time, we had a representative in London. There was fiscal independence.

When he introduced free education, he didn’t have cause to go to Balewa for subsidy. We all knew how much would come to the region. He fought for derivation which we now call resource control. It was Chief Awolowo that fought for it at the 1956 Constitutional Conference. It was maintained up to the time we became a republic, even after oil was discovered in Rivers. The allocation of revenue was based on 50 per cent.

It was the military that distorted all these things. That’s why we are insisting on going back to the drawing board and having a purely federal constitution to solve all these areas of conflict.

 

Chapter 16

My Adorable Soulmate, Christie

My dream of having an enduring union and a soulmate and confidant has been fulfilled in Christiana (Christie, as I called her).  Right from the time we were in the UK, she has been a pillar of support.

As the secretary of the London Branch of the Action Group, my wife ensured that the report I wrote was rewritten by her, saying my handwriting was very poor, and wondered how I could be struggling to read my own handwriting at a public gathering of the AG. So, because she couldn’t type, she would take the trouble to write my report all over again in her own beautiful handwriting which is very legible.

Since Chief Awolowo described his wife Hannah as ‘A Jewel of Inestimable Value,’ it appears that a lot of people have misused that statement. I am in a position to say that my own wife Christie is ‘a jewel’ in her actions, behaviour and my treatment.

Upon her return to Nigeria, she came into the political troubles of the time. When I left her in London, it was withthe hope of having her join me later after establishing at home. But contrary to our expectations, the political trouble of treasonable felony arose before her return.

By the time she returned, I was already in exile in Ghana, So, I had to go and meet her at Tema Port, to bring her to Accra where we were then living at Koko-mule-mule, opposite the house of the then Minister of Defence (under Nkrumah), Kofi Bako. She was shocked to meet me at the Port.

She told me it was no sooner they left Liverpool than they learnt that there had been a coup in Nigeria. So, I told her that after that coup, the Balewa government was after some of us.

Then from the little money I had in a bank in Ibadan, I wrote a cheque for her. The cheque almost exposed her because we didn’t know that she was going to be met by security agents.

While in Ghana, they had an affection for my wife. She  was  distinctive,  and  I  still  cannot  find  another woman that thinks that way. In one of her letters, she told me, ‘Ayo, you can do what you like with women, but don’t produce a child!’ That statement shocked me! Among the correspondence we had while I was in exile, that one really stood out.

When she got back home after our meeting in Ghana, she was looking after the children solely on her income.

Again, I recall that while we were in London, I was regularly sending some allowance to my father. Unknown to me, she had taken note of this and continued to send the allowance to my father from her own income while I was in exile. She never knew my father then, but because of the condition that I was in, I often told her that I didn’t know who would be taking care of my father in my absence. She used her monthly scholarship allowance to continue sending this allowance to my father regularly, which I was not doing until I met her. In this way, she endeared herself to my father.

 Before I married her, I had two other ladies I was interested in. I sent the names of the three of them to my father for prayers. My dad got back to me to say that the one I told him was not a Nigerian was the one endorsed. When my father came back with his report, it matched perfectly with my wife.

My wife is from the famous Lawson family of Togo. In fact, she is now the head of the family in Lagos, as a result of which I hosted the Togolese King and other members of the family in my house at Lekki, Lagos in December 2015. When we were getting married in London, Chief Ladoke Akintola, who was the chairman of the occasion, joked that it was an international marriage, because my wife was from Togo.

The devotion of my wife to the marriage really came to play during the treasonable felony crisis. She was fully devoted to me during this period, and she was a great pillar of support to my parents. When my mother died in 1964, she stood in and played my role as if I was around. At this occasion, she also talked of the highly commendable role of my bosom friend, Alhaji Moshood Ola Owodunni, who placed his Chevrolet car at her disposal and this facilitated her movement during that period.

Before this time, since her arrival, she had been subjected to police harassment almost on a weekly basis. They would come to the house to search it thoroughly, thinking that I hid some incriminating things in the house. Her experience during the treasonable felony crisis was like a baptism of fire for her.

During Buhari’s military administration, I was employed in a private company as a non-executive director. The company had some contract with the Ogun State Government and the government had not even given them a kobo under that contract, but I was put in detention in Abeokuta simply because they found my name as one of the directors. My wife had to be bringing me food in Abeokuta.

 For a woman who had lived too much of a Christian life with a minister of religion, one would understand why political activities were anathema to her; but my wife has accommodated me and my political vocation, till today, particularly after returning to Nigeria.

Each time we were engaged in our usually long political meetings with Chief Awolowo, her friends often asked her, ‘Are you sure your husband is really with Chief Awolowo and not in any other place?’ But she would reply, ‘I know where my husband is. I know about his programme.’

The period  we  spent  at  political  meetings,  we  kept it strictly out of the home. When her friends doubted my whereabouts, my wife would say, ‘I trust my husband.’ Some of them would say, ‘Your husband is very handsome, don’t let him go to any function without you being there.’ But later on, doubting friends, came to realise that I was a loyal husband.

On the domestic front, I had no driver initially when I was practising. At the close of work, I would drive her to the market to buy some things for the house. She would never complain, because the income was very meagre. In fact, we pooled our individual incomes for the family’s upkeep.

The confidence we had in each other started in England when I made her a co-signatory to my account. When I was to buy my first piece of land in Surulere through my own friend and former Chairman of the Action Group in London, Chief Z.O.K. Adetula, I requested for two plots, one for me and the other for my wife. But by the time we were given the plan for my own plot, we found that the plan could not be accommodated in one plot. So my wife said, ‘Why don’t we just use the two plots for the building?’ I told her, ‘that’s your own land, I don’t want to combine it with mine, in order to accommodate her own plan.

Luckily, however, I had a friend who was in charge of lands, and I asked him, ‘Where can we get a substitute?’ He told me, ‘incidentally, the one adjacent to your land is also free.’ So, we had to buy that land.

Not only that, when we started to build the house, I asked her, ‘which one do we build first, is it the one on your plan or my own?’ I then offered to her, ‘let’s build the one on your own plan, so that if I can no longer finance it, you can raise money from the Civil Service to complete the house.’ She was shocked when I said this; and my prediction came true. By the time we got to a certain stage of the building, we had run out of funds, and she was to retire from service. So, she had to take a loan from the Civil Service to complete it, such that by the time she was going to retire, she had to use her retirement benefits to offset the loan.

I remember that some of my friends were mocking me by saying, ‘You have a joint account with your wife and you also bought a piece of land in her name.’ But to the glory of God, I must confess, I have no regret for everything that I did for her. And I bless the day I met her.

For what she has been to me, I will forever be grateful to the Ajayis. As I said earlier on, one of the good things that happened to me, when I was Organising Secretary for the Action Group in Remo Division was my meeting Olaniwun Ajayi in Sagamu and also registering him as a member of our party. To the glory of God, ours has been a match blessed through their own (Ajayis’) instrumentality.

Although my wife is a Togolese, all my family members admit that even if I had married an Ijebu woman, they may not have become as fond of her, as they have of Christie. That’s to show you how much she has acclimatised and wormed her way into the hearts of my people.

When I was practising as a lawyer, I did not know any eating house (canteen or restaurant) because my wife always prepared my food from home everyday.

During the Abacha regime, in the heat of the June 12 struggle, some of us were clamped in detention, but she was never worried. One incident that surprised my friends was when we (NADECO people) were holding a reception for former US Ambassador Walter Carrington in my house and soldiers stormed in, and broke my gate to disturb the event. We initially fixed the reception for Chief Onasanya’s house but prepared another place as a decoy when we anticipated a security breach. But no sooner had we settled down at Onasanya’s house than they came to disperse us. We now went to my house, but they traced us there to disturb us again. At that point, Pa Abraham Adesanya dared them to shoot him. On that occasion, the wives of our colleagues were all there for the reception.

A mild drama ensued while the police were there harassing us: my wife went up, packed all the things that I would take into detention, including my medicine. Then the policemen asked her, ‘Where are you going?’ She answered, ‘I know you will soon take him away.’ That showed her courage.

She always stood firm and was never a source of discouragement in my political activism in this country, although she believes now that I should pipe down on account of age. As for disposition to my friends and family, she is always welcoming, wears a permanent friendly look, and is a perfect hostess all the time.

With all sense of humility, not only is she beautiful, my wife has excellent sartorial taste. Up till today, even in her old age (I am only two years older), my wife ensures the cleanliness of my underwear… my singlets, pants, and even handkerchiefs. She supervises them up to the detergent and the water they will use for washing.

 

Chapter 17

Honour from Far and Near

was not exactly averse to chieftaincy titles, I was just not keen enough to start looking for one. I was not desperate to attach Chief to my name. I was content with being

Mr. Ayo Adebanjo. If nothing at all, I was particular about ensuring that my name was neither tarnished nor brought into disrepute. I inherited a good name, and the best I could do was to ensure that I made it more respected.

Adding Chief to my name wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a good legacy. But there were pressures from my friends and associates, kinsmen and family to become a titled man. And from 1979 till now, I have quite a handful of titles from the Geregbedun of Iken-Ogbo;  Bajulaiye of Ife; Baba Ijo of St. Philip’s Church, Isanya-Ogbo; Asiwaju of Ibido-Ogbo and Baba Oba Alamuren of Okelamuren-Ogbo.

Geregbedun, 1979

Being honoured as the Geregbedun of Iken-Ogbo was an honour I never sought. I was decorated by surprise in my house. The king just sent three chiefs to my house one early morning in 1979. One lady and two chiefs came to my house in Okelamuren when we were getting ready to leave for Chief Bisi Onabanjo’s swearing-in ceremony. Chief Onabanjo had won the election as Ogun State Governor, and he was to take his oath of office in Abeokuta, the state capital.

They had been looking for me for sometime, to surprise me with the honour. But I had a hunch about their intention.

The lady amongst the trio was carrying the calabash (one of the items used during chieftaincy title installation). I was coming out in fury to see who was disturbing me and they just put the beads around my neck. I was taken aback by such beautiful gesture from the king and his people.

The  title   of   Geregbedun was   from   my   paternal grandmother (my father’s mother). It’s a title named after a river. Some worship the deity, believing it brings peace and prosperity to the community. They gave me the calabash and beads that morning, and out of deference to the wishes and yearnings of my people, I accepted. Every year, they ask for money and I give them. I don’t participate in any of the rituals since I am a Christian.

Geregbedun has become an honorary traditional title.

Bajulaiye, 1986

My decoration as the Bajulaiye of Ife on May 3, 1986 was a big ceremony in Ile-Ife (Osun State), regarded as the cradle of the Yoruba race. The then Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, told me he wanted to make me a chief. The king had been a friend; even before he became king; we had known each other well, and related as friends.

He went through Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his wife Chief (Mrs.) H.I.D. Awolowo to persuade me to accept the title. Chief Awolowo invited me to Ikenne. And I went. He informed me that the Ooni wanted to make me a chief; that he had accepted on my behalf, and had fixed a date.

 I was taken aback, made excuses, but Chief Awolowo refused. I wanted it postponed…and the sage said, ‘Those made chiefs, what have they achieved that you haven’t?’

I made more excuses about not completing my house, and Chief Awolowo said he had been there, that the building was habitable.

We had roofed it, and was only waiting to make it more habitable. I was already living there in Ogbo (and I was developing it gradually). When he said he had accepted and fixed a date on my behalf, there was nothing I could do.

It was the first time the Ooni installed a man and his wife as chiefs on the same day. My wife became Yeye Elere of Ife. The last Bajulaiye was about 200/300 years before. It’s a title that has historical significance, hence the Bajulaiye is one of the respected chiefs of the Ooni. Chief Awolowo had told the Ooni that he didn’t want a social title for me. That he wanted a title with history.

The ceremony in Ile-Ife was joyous and wonderful. That day my wife and I, as well as Mrs. Animashaun (her husband had been earlier installed a chief ) were decorated, and given our symbols of office, in the presence of Chief and Chief (Mrs.) Awolowo, in the palace of the Ooni.

Baba Ijo

I succeeded Chief J.O Oluwole, after his death as Baba Ijo of St. Philip’s Anglican Parish Church, Isanya-Ogbo, a long time ago, but I was not installed. Prior to that time, I had been the Balogun of the church. My installation as Baba Ijo was delayed pending a facelift of the church. The vicar then Rev. I. O. Olusanya (now late) made me the chairman of the fund-raising committee.

So, we fixed a fund-raising day to renovate the church. The response I received from associates and admirers was amazing. We raised about N200,000.

 

Chief Awolowo was to preside at the fund-raising ceremony, but he died before the event. We had asked him to fix a date. He picked August/September 1987 (Chief Awolowo died on May 9, 1987).

When we eventually fixed another date, Chief Alfred Rewane was the chairman of the fund-raising. He alone donated N50,000 (through Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu). At the event, Otunba Michael Subomi Balogun, Aare Arisekola Alao and Chief Laniwun Ajayi were present.

(Balogun attended personally. He flew into the country to be able to attend that ceremony). Dr. (Mrs.) Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu was one of those recording the donations and she also represented her parents, Papa and Mama Awolowo. The amount raised was so encouraging that we decided to build an entirely new church from the scratch.

Chief C. P. Odunsi (one of the leaders of the church) said he had a property he could bequeath to the church. Arc. Afolabi Kuku (from Ijebu Ode), drew the plan of the church. He was the Diocesan architect. He recruited the services of Engr. Adeoye Fowora. Their services were free, with no charge whatsoever. The Quantity Surveyor was Otunba T. B. Adebayo who also rendered his services free.

The church was under Ijebu-Iwade Archdeaconry, under the then Venerable Ayo Odukoya. He was an accountant. What’s interesting about the Archdeacon was that his suggestion can never be forgotten. He asked us to expand the size of the building with about two more windows. He said a church is never completed in one’s lifetime.

We expanded it, and every time I think about his advice, I am happy that we heeded it. It took sometime to complete the expansion. It was during this period that I celebrated my

70th birthday.

My father was advanced in age; I was praying fervently that it would not be a funeral that we would celebrate first in the renovated church.

 In 1998, on my 70th birthday, I issued a letter of appeal that, instead of giving me money, my supporters should buy one window or two. That was done. I called a quantity surveyor to cost the windows.

Five years before my 70th birthday, in 1993, I celebrated the wedding of my daughter Adeola, at the uncompleted church. There were no windows; we rented benches and everything. I always wanted my in-laws to know my daughter’s hometown. That was why we opted to have the wedding there. At that time, the church had been roofed. The wedding engagement was held in Lagos. So, during my 70th birthday in 1998, more funds were raised, and all the windows were completed. But all the aluminium on the altar and the rail were donated by me. There were other contributions by some other groups.

With the church dedication on May 1, 2009, the chiefs in the church were installed. I formally became the Baba Ijo of St. Phillip’s Church, Isanya-Ogbo.

 

Asiwaju of Ibido-Ogbo

The Baale  of  Ibido-Ogbo  just  declared  me  the  Asiwaju, with the consent of the chiefs. No formal ceremony other than the declaration. It was just to show that they recognise and appreciate my services. Ibido-Ogbo is one of the towns comprising the Ogbo community.

Baba Oba Alamuren of Okelamuren-Ogbo

There used to be eleven towns in Ogbo area, known as Ogbo Mokanla. Now, there are about 16 (which are prominent). More towns have developed, and now people say they are all claiming Ogbo heritage.

The traditional ruler of Okelamuren, Oba Oguntayo was installed by Gov. Gbenga Daniel who gave him the staff of office. He declared me the Baba Oba. This declaration was in August 2010. There was no big ceremony. The Baba Oba title is at the discretion of the Oba.

In  Yorubaland,  especially  in  the  earlier  days,  chiefs were  often  made  from  respected  and  prominent  citizens of the community. Some of the titles are historical and hereditary. But men and women of valour, who contributed to the development of any community, were rewarded with chieftaincy titles. When we were developing democratic socialism as the political philosophy of the AG, we found out that chieftaincy conferment was ingrained among the Yoruba. It was the then Ooni (Oba Adesoji Aderemi) that made Chief Awolowo the Adole of Ife.

A title is a recognition for the services of an individual. I accepted the titles in good faith, promising to do more for those who found me worthy of the honour, and Nigerians at large.

 Chapter 18

Random Thoughts

This concluding chapter is a reflection of my thoughts on various issues ranging from politics and governance structure to building enduring political institutions, among other issues.

…On Colonialism and Successive Governments in Africa

Several years of colonialism have left me with the conviction that the white man has not been fair to Africa, particularly to Nigeria, because the awkwardness we are having in Nigeria today was planted by the colonialists. It was them who deliberately handed Nigeria over to the northern people, in spite of their inadequacies. This was because they believed that by handing over to the north, they would still be able to control the territory even after their departure; it was only for their own self-interest.

Let us consider, for instance, the population of the north which they said was higher than that of the south. Nigeria is the only country in the world where the more you go from the forest area through the savannah, to the desert area, the higher the population!

I think with continuous educational progress, (but it’s unfortunate that they are now cancelling the study of history, particularly in our country) and with more production of historical facts, Africa shall rise again, because there has been the dampening of enthusiasm after the death of Nkrumah, who championed the African nationalist spirit, with his famous statement that ‘Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.’

In the nationalist crusade that swept across Africa, the British always played a prominent role in undermining the real progressives of the country. Go to southwest Africa, you always find the British supporting the reactionaries against the progressives. That was one of the good things Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo did when they came into office, in 1975. They made Africa the centre-piece of our foreign policy.

But it’s unfortunate that so many despotic leaders have now emerged in Africa… people who want to perpetuate themselves in office. I believe the antidote is that those of us who have been liberated democratically, just like the role Nigeria is playing in some other countries where there has been military uprising, will refuse to cooperate with any military administration. That was what led to the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, OAU (now African Union, AU), as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). If the spirit of those organisations is in force and the leaders who emerge there are conscientious, we shall get somewhere.

No doubt, the slow pace of development in Africa, Nigeria in particular, is attributable to the problem of leadership. Here in Nigeria, we have not been lucky to have the right type of leadership since independence. The irony is that those who fought for Nigeria’s independence never got into power. Take the first military coup, for instance, those who took part never got into power.

Those of us who read a few books about socialist principles and communism, I remember particularly when we visited Eastern Germany during the Cold War when we were in exile in Ghana. The tour was arranged to coincide with a conference of African leaders in Accra because Balewa insisted that as long as Ikoku and I were in Ghana they wouldn’t come there. Then Nkrumah promised that he would make sure that we were not around. How can we be a threat to a head of state coming to Ghana when he was under the protection of our party leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo? To satisfy him, Nkrumah arranged that we visit the Soviet Union during the period of the conference in Ghana. At that time in the Soviet Union, even up till today in the present Russia, no matter what programme you were pursuing, you must first of all go to the school of political philosophy. That was how the proletariat suffered before they brought the country up to that stage.

When I begin to see a lot of the things that are happening in our country today, I am amazed that those who were beneficiaries of the old struggle for independence, the moment they get into power they become the people who oppress the underdogs. They have forgotten that some people fought for that freedom they now enjoy.

…On Nigeria in the African and Global Context

The rottenness in Nigeria today does not augur well for leadership in Africa; but I want us to purify ourselves first, in order to be an example to the African continent. During our days in exile in Ghana, what bound Nkrumah and Awolowo was their fight against the enslavement of Africans in their own land, referring to the role of whites at that time in South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Kenya, and so on.

We should not put ourselves in a position where people would say, ‘What is the situation with Boko Haram in your country?  What  is  the  position  of  Niger  Delta  militants?

What about Biafra agitators?’ It is the degree of political independence that we have that will reflect on our trade policy. Whatever industrialisation we have in the country today was done after independence in 1960. We have to decide on how to shape our destiny. That’s why I quarrel with all those who are misusing the opportunity today.

…On the Military and its Role in Truncating Political Development in Nigeria

When we are alarmed about the degree of corruption in Nigeria today, this can be put squarely at the doorsteps of the military.

Lack of courage from some politicians who wanted to be in power at all cost without struggle also contributed to it.

One of the reasons we objected to Obasanjo at the return of civil rule in 1999 was because we said, ‘How can you say you are bringing back democracy and give us a military man as president? Does that mean that those of us who have been clamouring for civilian rule are not capable of ruling ourselves?’

The partisan nature of the January 15, 1966 coup led to the pogrom in the north.

I must remark that Gowon was the best of the military rulers. He brought Awolowo from Calabar Prison and made him the second-in-command under his government as Vice- Chairman of the Federal Executive Council and Minister of Finance. Many other military leaders under him were corrupt, but he himself was not.

 On Buhari, I am disappointed that he has not disappointed me, because I want him to do those things I accused him of. As a democratic leader now, I expected that he would do those things I had accused him of before his election; but he is yet to vindicate my stand.

Under his watch, the cost of running Aso Rock, the official seat of government, is astronomical. It should be reduced by at least 25% if his government’s mantra of ‘change’ is to be taken seriously.

…On Party Supremacy

The principle of party supremacy is fast disappearing in the country.

One of the causes of crisis in the AD was the personalisation of the party by Tinubu and some of his colleagues, which the leaders objected to. Under him, the principle of party supremacy was abandoned, and the governors assumed the overall control of the party without reference to its leadership. This led to elected offices and government appointments being at his exclusive control as governor.

Unfortunately, this trend cut across all the political parties in the country. This was what made political office holders to become dictatorial as they failed to obey party leadership. The governors especially, now used largesse to practise nepotism and favouritism. Until this is removed from the party system, political parties will never get out of crisis.

Party supremacy is the vehicle for exercising internal democracy within the party; and wherever this does not exist, dictatorship thrives.

…On Selfless Leadership

We cannot talk about this without putting all the blame on the military. The military didn’t allow political succession to be orderly after independence. If it had been orderly, whether we did it rightly or wrongly, whether we voted for the right person or not, democracy should have been allowed to purify itself. The military didn’t allow that, but instead imposed a one-line rule on us for over 30 years.

So, the succession that could have taken place under democratic rule was not allowed. By the time they wanted to allow it now, they came with all kinds of restrictions. Babangida proclaimed a two-party system (one to the right and one to the left) and asked everybody to fall in line. He wanted to prevent all of us who were old politicians from taking part because he knew that we would question his rationale for doing this. That was how he was able to woo the so-called new breed which now became the ‘new greed.’

This is the basis for the degeneration of political purity in the country. It was the military that spoilt that crystal, holistic democratic institution in Nigeria. Those who came to the world at that time only knew the regime of the military; hence, only very few Nigerians can appreciate it when we talk of the Awolowo regime, the Azikiwe regime, the Sardauna regime, where there was healthy competition for physical development. When Awolowo built Liberty Stadium, the Sardauna built Ahmadu Bello Stadium.

In both Britain and America, they have two dominant political parties which evolved not by fiat but by an enduring political culture. You should not legislate the number of parties. That is not democratic. You should allow people to decide on the number of parties they want. That was why, at the 2014 Constitutional Conference, we also made room for independent candidature. It is part of democracy. And the illustration we gave was that if in this area I want to serve my people, why must I belong to a political party to do that?

The military is an aberration. It is at best an intervention force, an interregnum to clear the Augean stable. That was what Gowon said until he became so obsessed with power that he refused to go. Earlier on, he had promised to return the country to democratic rule, but later changed his mind when he made that infamous statement, ‘1976 is no longer realistic.’

…On Corruption

It is a thing of regret that all the things we fought for in this country have been demolished. At the time we were fighting for independence, up till the time Balewa was there in the First Republic, we were accusing the government of corruption over 10% contract bribe. With the situation in the country today, however, where political office holders are engaged in corruption on a massive scale which pales into insignificance the level of corruption in the First Republic, one is tempted to conclude that they were indeed saints! Those of us who were accusing the Balewa government of corruption should now apologise to them, going by the current trend.

Having said this, it is important to emphasise that the arbitrary forced retirement of civil servants under the Murtala/ Obasanjo military regime in 1975/76 promoted massive corruption in the country. Under this draconian action, top civil servants, mostly permanent secretaries and even judges, were retired merely through radio announcements. This action unwittingly destroyed the security of tenure which characterised the civil service hitherto. This made corruption thrive, as civil servants now engaged in corrupt practices while in employment as a way of securing their livelihood after retirement.

One way to fight corruption is by going to the roots. If the civil servants who are accused of being corrupt by amassing so much wealth, so that when they are retired suddenly they will have something to fall back on, have job and social security, even in retirement, I do not think they would be predisposed to corrupt tendencies.

That is why judges have been paid handsomely well; that is why also, even when they retire, they are paid their salary for life, just to show them that there is no reason to be corrupt.

When the salary you earn cannot guarantee you a future, you have to find other means. There are so many things that are wrong with government that encourage corruption. Take the issue of non-payment of pension and gratuity that is so prevalent in our country today. This never occurred until the military came into power.

When Chief Awolowo was Premier, no file that came to him for action would spend two days on his table. The ministers knew this. That’s why all the wonders you read about Awolowo as Premier of Western Region were possible within seven years (1952-1959). This was made possible, to a large extent, by a dedicated and incorruptible civil service which we had at that time.

Still talking about corruption, it is regrettable that the electorate also corrupt their leaders. Rather than insisting on the implementation of their party’s election manifesto, the electorate now pester them with various demands for personal needs, like payment of children’s school fees, financial assistance for burial, marriage and other mundane things.

Again, by the time the voters themselves accept bribe as an inducement, they are no longer sending the contestant on an errand. He has already bought their votes, and so, by the time he gets elected, he no longer feels obliged to implement the election manifesto which constitutes his social contract with the people. These are all the things that encourage the people to be corrupt.

When we talk of corruption in Nigeria today therefore, it is among the leaders and the followers. After all, it takes two to tango.

 

And one way to minimise corruption in this country is to make elective positions less attractive. Pay the legislators only sitting allowance. It’s only those who genuinely want to serve that would go there.

A situation where a councillor who barely has basic education earns more than a professor in a university is unjust and inequitable. If we make public office less attractive financially, it will make those who want to serve genuinely to emerge.

Again, the amount of money demanded from politicians, beginning from the level of primaries, is scandalous. It does not make for a level playing ground for all contestants. Ab initio, it is designed for those who have deep pockets. When you ask a councillor or a chairman of council to come and deposit two or three million naira before he can contest a party primary, or even a governorship candidate being asked to produce 10 million naira, how would you now say he should not find a way to recover his money if he gets elected? It is impossible. This is merely laying the foundation for corruption, because, in the course of contesting the primaries, contestants spend a lot of money to influence voters, to the extent that only the highest bidders get elected.

The statutory deposit to qualify for election is also very high. And people expect such a candidate to be clean when he gets into office! Even Buhari himself, who confessed that he had to borrow money (27.5 million naira) to contest the party primary one would have thought that would be one of the first things he would look into when he got into office. As long as such a position exists in any political party, this would always predispose to corruption and prevent less endowed candidates from being elected.

…On the Ideal System of Government

Parliamentary system of government is my way any day because all those who were in the assembly with us, were all beneficiaries of the old National Assembly. Nobody can deny the fact that the presidential system of government predisposes to corruption.

Under a parliamentary system, the prime minister is first among equals. So, the presidential system is not only too expensive, it is too powerful for the kind of system we have in the country today.

…On Political Reforms

As stated earlier, one major political reform I want for this country is a reduction in the amount of money demanded from political office aspirants.

Secondly, under the present unitary system, our President is the most powerful in the whole world; and, of course, as it is said, ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ To avoid this therefore, federalism is imperative.

Thirdly, our constitution is lopsided. Why? It favours the north against the south. It was under the military that they created more local governments in the north than south. And it was under the military that the allocation of revenue from the Federation Account was based on obnoxious conditions, namely landmass, number of local governments (which were arbitrarily created), among others. So, ab initio, the south is already short-changed.

Fourthly, the source of the massive corruption we are now talking about in the country is the constitution. There is too much money and power at the centre!

The implications are seen in the emergence of such pressure groups as the Egbesu Boys, Niger Delta Avengers, Biafra Agitators, as the voice of the minorities who feel they are not being fairly treated within the Nigerian federation.

If you are in a club and you feel you are getting some advantages there, you won’t want to leave that club; but if it’s otherwise, you will begin to ask what you stand to gain from your continued membership.

I believe the government should listen patiently to all these agitators.

We all believe in economies of scale. We are a big country and there’s a big advantage in remaining united. Coming together is an advantage to all of us, but if staying together is not beneficial to any part of the country, they would rather opt to stay alone. That’s why we are having all these claims of marginalisation all over the place.

I don’t support the Biafra agitators who are clamouring for the state of Biafra now. All they need to do is to join forces with those of us who are canvassing for a restructuring of the country for fairness. For where there’s no fairness, there can’t be peace, equity and justice. And where there’s no peace, there can’t be progress.

It is the cause of the people’s agitation that we should look into. That was what late President Umar Yar’Adua wanted to do through the amnesty programme. If there’s any defect in that programme in the Niger Delta, rectify it and there will be no more Biafra or Niger Delta agitators. The amount of money spent on military operations in that area would be used to make peace and we will have progress.

On  the  cost  of  running  government  generally,  we need to scale down on a number of areas. For instance, the federal constitution makes provision for the appointment of special assistants, but we can step this down on the ground that we cannot afford it. Nobody will quarrel with that. The constitution that continues to draw us backward, you are following it; yet you say you want a ‘change’.

Also in the case of ministers, even though the constitution stipulates that there must be at least one from each state, the President can say he can afford not more than 24 ministers and nothing would happen.

 

The sum total is that we return to federalism. This entails devolution of powers, state police, among other components, as obtains in other multiethnic countries practising the federal system of government. Each state or region must be homogeneous or contiguous.

All these problems had been solved before independence, but it was the military that brought us to where we are today, having set aside the independence constitution when it first seized power in the January 15, 1966 coup.

The confusion that is being introduced by those who don’t want restructuring is unnecessary. What we are asking for is that the country be restructured back to federalism instead of the unitary system the military imposed on us.

…On the Legislature

Although,  going  by  the  constitution,  the  legislature  is independent, the ruling party has the power to control what goes on there. There are policies you expect your members in various agencies of government to implement.

Our constitution needs a surgical operation, not a mere amendment.

The reason  why  people  in  government  now  cannot do anything to change the system is because they are all beneficiaries of the inequities within the system.

The military  used  landmass  as  the  basis  for  revenue allocation, without any concern whatsoever as to whether the land is yielding any revenue or not.

That’s why we agreed that revenue allocation must be based on derivation.

We agreed at the 2014 National Conference that the 13per cent derivation fund given to oil-producing states is too small. The other states did not agree with us initially on this, but we defeated them by saying that, ‘by the time the mineral in your state is discovered, you will also be a beneficiary.’ It was at that point they agreed. We also recommended that 5% must be given to states to develop their mineral deposits separately.

The Buhari government should revisit the 2014 constitutional conference recommendations with a view to implementing most of them. With the implementation of those recommendations, I don’t care who the president of the country is.

…On Education

It’s such a pity that the legacy the AG left behind in free education has totally collapsed due to bad governance. The situation  is  so  bad  that  successive  governments,  instead of rectifying the system, encouraged people to found their own universities for selfish ends. Obasanjo founded his own; Atiku and Babangida also. Having ruined public schools here, they send their children abroad or to very expensive private institutions here in Nigeria which the ordinary man cannot afford.

I had an experience here recently when I told a visiting governor, ‘your children can’t go to that public primary school there,’ because I walked him down this area up to our community primary school. On one occasion when I visited the school myself, the teacher told me that it was by sheer luck that the wall did not collapse on one of the children recently. It has become so dilapidated. That didn’t happen during the Awolowo era in Western Region.

The people who are elected to take care of us don’t feel obliged to, because of the way they get into office. So, the earlier people begin to vote for candidates that they know can deliver the better for them.

…On Nigeria’s Future

We cannot remain united in peace under the present system. The system must be restructured to reflect a truly federal constitution.  That’s  the  only  thing  that  can  guarantee peace and unity; and that’s the only thing that we can do for the progress of the country. We must be federal in all its ramifications.

Again, the government needs to divest itself from many of its assumed roles and responsibilities.

Take, for instance, agriculture. What has the federal government got to do with agriculture? Where is its land? Why should there be allocation of funds from the federal government to the local governments?

Under the Independence Constitution, in agriculture, solid minerals, education and other sectors, the federal government was only there to set standards. All the regions were autonomous. That was what enabled Chief Obafemi Awolowo to start the University of Ife (now named after him as Obafemi Awolowo University), Sir Ahmadu Bello, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (from the then College of Arts and Science), and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. That is the practice in all federal constitutions all over the world.

…On Marriage

I cannot claim to be an ideal man, to talk about marriage philosophically, but what I can talk about positively is that the type of influence it had on Chief Awolowo’s life was what it had on me due to my early close association with that family.

The way I held marriage was different. I was a divorcee. I met my present wife in England; I had married in Nigeria before. My first daughter (Mrs. Ayotunde Atteh) is over 60 years old now. She attended the Univesity of Ibadan and was from my first wife. We were legally married and legally divorced.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t take marriage so seriously in my early life, so that by the time I even met my present wife, I had parted with this woman here in Nigeria. We had sued for divorce; we had gone to court.

I had another relationship with another lady with whom I had another daughter. That was when I was organising secretary for AG. She was an Ibadan woman who was related to one of the officers of the party known as Akinlotan. He was  our  financial secretary.  He  regularly  visited  us.  And the daughter then has had five children now and one of those children already has a child, which makes me a great grandfather.

As said earlier, I didn’t take marriage seriously in my early life. But during my work as organising secretary which brought me close to the Awolowo family, the way Papa treated Mama and my relationship with them, to be a responsible young man you couldn’t but be influenced by the expression of love that was exhibited in their relationship… the loyal, honest relationship.

Being very fanatical about the leadership of Chief Awolowo, and I believed that if I really wanted to be near him, and the way he was holding me, I was very careful that I shouldn’t be as flippant as I was before.

As the organising secretary of his party at that time, I was held in high esteem in the community. As a matter of fact, he had to remark on an occasion that, ‘as a young man, I am surprised that they have never reported you in this area that you were messing around with their wives.’ I just laughed. He didn’t know that I was into some secret affairs at that time. Because of the respect I had for him, I had to be very discreet about my amoral relationship.

Papa too, as a man of the world, knew how to deal with young men. Even some elderly people there too like Chief Rewane and others, when we went on tour and Awo wanted to harass and discipline them, he would say, ‘Alfred, you will stay with me in my room tonight,’ and Rewane would say, ‘No, no, Papa…’ So, many of them like that… Alfred, Tony, they would like to stay outside where they could be free anytime we went on campaign tours.

Papa had a very strong moral influence on his followers and those of them who otherwise could have been so reckless had to moderate their actions in awe of Papa. It was leadership by example, personified in all respects. So, I can say that he (Awolowo) and the Late Revd S.I. Kale (my principal at CMS Grammar School) were the two people who most influenced my life.

At that time, we had what was called citizenship in our classes (current affairs and all that). So, in the last year of our leaving school, Kale conducted a class called Civics, and he asked, ‘If you were the principal of this school what would you do?’ And I said, ‘if I were the principal there are certain things you are doing which I would not do.’ ‘Like what?’ And I gave examples. But after the lecture that day, one of my classmates now told me, ‘You are arguing with the principal, you will see your testimonial.’

I had the best testimonial of our set; it was so well cast. (See chapter 1). He was one of the most disciplined principals around at that time… himself, Ransome-Kuti, Oyediran and others. So, anybody who had a good testimonial from Kale at that time was sure to get good attention anywhere he went.

…On What I Want to be Remembered For

I would like to be remembered for service to my God and as a very consistent political advocate. Since I joined the Action Group in 1951 as a youth, I have never been identified with any other political party. I started with the area council in Lagos, then I joined Egbe Omo Oduduwa, and when the AG came into existence, I was one of its early members.

My regrets today are that I should be resting now and enjoying myself all over the world by going on holidays; but unfortunately, I am still in the trenches because those things I was fighting for have not been achieved. So, instead of resting, I am still in the battle.

Politically now, I should be watching those who are doing it, but unfortunately all the simple things that we achieved under Chief Awolowo as a result of his socialist policy have been frittered away.

…About Life and Living

I think life has been kind to me generally. Like Chief Awolowo once said, if I have a second chance, I’d like to come back as a Yoruba man and indeed as an Ijebu man.

I’ll attribute my longevity simply to God’s grace. Again, I don’t indulge in dubious issues; issues that my conscience cannot defend (that militate against my conscience). I am a contented fellow. For instance I have only two houses, the one I live in here in Lagos and the other in my country house at Ijebu-Ogbo. I am neither a beneficiary of any government patronage, nor have I held any political post. All I have achieved in life has been through legal practice.

As for food, I avoid a lot of carbohydrates. I feed mainly on fish and chicken, plenty of fruits, and plenty of vegetables. I also do my regular exercises, at least one hour daily walking.

My advice on healthy living is based on what people say that ‘you are what you eat.’ Eat well and do a lot of exercises. I have a strict daily diet and exercise regimen.

Moreover, I am very lucky to have a very good wife, who has been very supportive since we got married in 1960.