Chief Ayo Adebanjo traversed the political arena of the country for decades dating to pre-independence era. In this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, the trained lawyer speaks on the politics of the sage, his vision and relationships with various stakeholders in the country. Excerpts.
As an elder statesman, who was very close to the late political titan, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, how would you summarise the absence of the late sage 30 years after his transition to the great beyond?
The summary is simple. He was a blessing to Nigeria, in particular to Yoruba land. Any time I remember any moment spent with him then and compare what is happening in Nigeria now, I thank God that I had the blessing to know him.
He had a vision. You know he started from scratch. He made up his mind that the generation coming after him would not have the problems he experienced while growing up. So, there was a philosophy behind the Free Primary Education scheme he introduced as the Premier of the Western Region. It was designed not only for you to be literate; to know how to read and write; it was also meant to equip you on mechanised farming; because if you can’t read and write, you cannot operate a mechanical instrument. Perhaps, many people do not know that at that time, he organised an adult education scheme. Under every programme he had a philosophy behind it, including the free medical services; a sound mind in a sound body. If you are not healthy, you won’t be able to work; if you do not have the capacity to work, you can’t produce; when you produce, the economy rises and receives a boost. It all lies on the principle of consequential effect on any programme.
You remember it was when he was in Ibadan that he started a housing scheme; that every civil servant, after working for some time, should be able to have a home of their own. That is why he built the housing estate and at a time, any civil servant that asked for a loan didn’t necessarily have to build his house in Ibadan; you could have the loan to build in your home town. The repayment was through deductions from your salary without inflicting hardship on you. If you could not complete the repayment while in the civil service, the balance would be deducted from your pension. So, you have a home to retire to.
Every programme under Awolowo had a philosophy behind it, which was the betterment of the society. When he fought for the principle of derivation, each region became empowered to create marketing boards. It was before then under the control of the Federal Government. As a result of the reform, a lot of money came to the Western Region. So, many of the roads in the region were tarred; the Cocoa House was built; the first television station in Africa was established. In fact, Awolowo did everything that would leave a mark in history. He did not wake up one morning and said, ‘yes, this is what you are going to do.’ It was a planned government, and it was a reflection of his leadership style that before the Action Group came to power in the Western Region, they (the leaders) had been meeting privately for a whole year, discussing the philosophy of the government in such critical and pivotal sectors like education, health, agriculture, local government, and so on. Every department of government had a policy paper. As a result, by the time the leaders came into office in 1952, every minister knew what to do. It is not a case, where after two years, you are just planning what should be your economic programme or blueprint.
Awolowo is a phenomenon. And it is only those of us, who had the privilege and honour to have known him, met him and worked with him can appreciate him. And when you now compare him with the people you deal with politically these days, you feel sorry for the country.
While the sage was alive, at what stage did things begin to go wrong in the country? Was it as a result of the kind of actors in politics then?
Things began to go haywire after the military coup of 1966 and became worse under the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. The military generally monetised politics. That was the time Babangida said the old politicians should go; he wanted new breed, and some of us called them new greed by that time. And those of them who didn’t understand what Babangida, meant were happy about it. If the old blood had not been discarded, Babangida would not have been able to dribble them for too long.
From the word go, we told him: if you are not going to do this, count us out. It was only the experienced people that could have told him on what terms they were going to participate in politics. But he sacked and banned all of them.
It was the norm then for the people to get to know their candidates of the parties standing for election, at all levels, unlike now. What was the secret behind it at that time? How did Awolowo and others do it such that the electorate were not short-circuited so to speak?
Even as a prospective councillor, you had to be known to the voters and campaign vigorously. The feat was achieved through organisation and leadership. I told you Babangida monetised politics. But in the past, you would tell your constituency what you were going to do for the people before they could vote for you. Now, I doubt if most residents of any local government know their prospective councilors until they are elected. A classic example was in Lagos during Tinubu’s administration. One of the local government in Lagos, the people protested that they didn’t know the chairman he was going to present and Tinubu said ‘what are you talking about? Did you know Fashola before I brought him to you?” Even Fashola himself, when he was honoured with a reception at the MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos, by the Sun newspaper and they were all praising him, he said ‘our leader is wonderful; the only thing we want him to do for us is to encourage internal democracy.’ Do you know the answer Tinubu gave him? He said ‘if I had allowed internal democracy, would you have become governor?’ We never experienced such a thing under Chief Awolowo. Even as low as we were then, we took part in party discussions.
You can see that even in the present federal administration, there is no party guiding the government. It is a one-man rule. President Muhammadu Buhari is still ruling as a military man. Why do I say that? Since they came into office, there has been no synergy between the APC and the government. The party has not been able to constitute its Board of Trustees (BoT), which is the organ that should guide the government. That is the organ that will be able to establish if the APC manifesto is being followed. Whether you are president or vice president, it is that manifesto that you are all glued to.
How was the Action Group, which Awolowo led, for instance, funded?
The party was funded by contributions by the AG members. They had membership cards and those of them who were members of the legislative house had a certain amount of money they contributed to the party.
Why is it difficult for the political elite to return to such arrangement so as to enhance access to the political space by individuals with genuine intention to serve their fatherland?
Those of us who have tried to make such arrangement possible were told that such practice belonged to Awolowo’s time and era; that it cannot work now. The current trend is that all party meetings are held at a party leader’s house, where everything is determined by the supposed leader.
That was not the case during the period of Awolowo.
Another major encumbrance towards achieving stability in the polity is the absence of discipline in political parties, which tends to manifest with the attendant infractions of party constitutions…
During the time of Awolowo, the parties decided on the candidates for elections. They conducted primaries, where the candidates emerged, and a candidate would have been chosen as a result of his progressive activities in his locality and in his party. It is not a question of following a directive from certain so-called individuals who believe they have an awesome influence and power to determine the fate of all other party members, especially those seeking elective offices.
Many politicians today profess to be disciples of Awo. With the benefit of hindsight, how true is this in terms of Awo creed?
There are many fake Awoists. How can an elected governor that says he is an Awolowo disciple be subjecting people to undue hardship? Imagine how much students are paying as fees at the Lagos State University (LASU) under a man who says he believes in free education espoused by Awolowo! Is the tuition affordable by the common man? That is the yardstick to know if somebody is an Awoist. How many parents can afford the amount students pay at LASU, as well as other state universities in APC-controlled states? By not making education universal, you create inequality of the highest order in the society. So, you don’t need a crystal ball to know a genuine Awoist. If you are not one of the beneficiaries of the present government, just compare what they are doing and what Awolowo preached. I told them at the 2014 National Conference that most people do not know that it was Chief Awolowo’s party that initiated minimum wage in this country. It was the Action Group government that fixed five shillings as minimum wage because labour was in the Concurrent Legislative List in the Constitution.
But, did workers have to agitate before the government responded to them?
No! Go back to history. For the seven years that Chief Awolowo governed the Western Region, there was no one hour’s strike by workers in both the public and private service. Workers were well paid and they did not have to pay fees for their children. From birth to five years, the children enjoyed free medical services. So, at that time under Awolowo, the income and wages of the workers in the Western Region were more and higher than what obtained in the other regions, because there were other things that you did not have to pay for. We had the best roads in the country that time; our hospitals were well equipped and it was the time we started the policy of one general hospital in each division in the region. We had 22 of such hospitals that time. It is the one we built in Lagos that they developed to a teaching hospital today. We can point to those hospitals all over the place. When we say the golden years of Chief Awolowo, it is because of the phenomenal development that was brought about by the government of the parties led by him: AG and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
Were you surprised that after Baba Awolowo died, a number of key actors that worked against his presidential ambition came out to say they opposed him because they wanted to win elections at all cost, thereby denying the country of good governance?
I am not surprised and that is why I maintain that this country must be restructured to a federal system, where every federating unit can stand on its own. A federating unit is on the basis of a coordinate arrangement or relationship, and not subordinate to it. Our resources must be maintained by us, while we contribute to maintain the Federal Government. We will agree on the function we give the Federal Government. Any function we do not give to the centre remains with the state. That is what is required of our heterogeneous society – a system that allows every ethnic nationality to develop at its own pace.
The principle under which Chief Awolowo acted was that this country must be under a federal system of government; you will only be wasting your time if you hold onto anything short of that system. He gave empirical examples that any country that is of diverse language, ethnicity and religion, its system of government will be federal. He gave instances all over and that wherever you don’t have such system, there will be crisis; that any attempt to impose any other form of government would only lead to chaos, and we have not learnt from history. The issue of state police must be settled. We merely have it in the constitution that the governor of a state is the Chief Security Officer of the state; he does not have the instrument of a chief security officer! Imagine the local government being under the Federal Government. How can someone in Abuja know what is happening in Ikenne? Or someone in Abuja know what is happening in Oyo?. It was not until they engaged the local people against Boko Haram that the war on the sect began to show signs of progress.
Judging from the current reality in the political space, do you think members of the political class have learnt anything substantial from the life of Chief Awolowo.?
I don’t think so, because of their selfishness. It is the elite, especially after Babangida monetised politics, so they don’t appreciate what it is to have a good government. When you say you can have free education, free medical services, and the good things of life in Nigeria, they usually claim those things are not possible. I recollect that when we talked about scholarship for 200 students in the Western Region every year, the British had asked, ‘where are we going to get the candidate?’ Awolowo told them: ‘Leave me alone; let me advertise the scheme for prospective applicants.’ When we advertised it, many people came; and the colonialists still said: ‘where are you going to put them?’ Awolowo said even if it required sending them to Moscow, Jamaica and wherever there is admission, we will put them there. That was how we started the university scholarship for 200 students every year, beginning from 1953.