AS family, friends, associates and Nigerians worldwide mark 33 years of the transition of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, today, some of his associates have looked at the current travails the country faces, declaring that an Awo leadership would have made a positive difference.
Deputy leader of the Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said there has been nothing or no one to compare Awolowo with in Nigeria since independence.
Speaking in a telephone interview with Saturday Tribune, Chief Adebanjo said Awo’s approach to the current COVID-19 and other crises of development would have been practical and result-oriented.
“There is nothing he predicted about the progress of Nigeria that has not come to pass, including what is happening now in the North. Awolowo once said if they didn’t train the children of the poor, the children of the poor would not allow the children of the rich to live. In 1955, he started free education in the Western Region and he made a proposal of free education for the entire country when he joined [Yakubu] Gowon’s government. He was a visionary leader, active, honest, and he was a man of integrity.
“In this moment of COVID-19, economic and security crises, Awo would have given us a better infrastructure in order to be able to cope with the present situation. He would have established better hospitals and when you ask people to keep with certain rules, they would understand. His approach would have been practical.
“Thirty-three years after, we miss an honest leadership. He was a leader who would say what he meant and he would act it. He was a leader who did not have double standard; a leader who was fact-finding about everything, and a leader who was very disciplined. There is nothing to compare Awolowo with,” Chief Adebanjo said.
President-General, Yoruba World Congress (YWC), Professor Banji Akintoye, speaking on Chief Awolowo, 33 years after, said Awo was God’s greatest gift to Africa.
Professor Akintoye, while responding to Saturday Tribune’s questions, said the sage, who passed on 33 years ago, “is still the most beautiful thing in our lives. Though he died physically, he lives forever.
“He put so much beauty into our lives and we who are his children, without any disrespect for other African leaders, think he was the greatest gift God gave to Africa in our time.
“He was not just some local person doing some petty things, he was doing things that were universal. He was putting forth ideas, development, ideas that nobody can beat. There is no way you can beat those ideas.
“So, we rate him as infinitely superior to any other African leader of his time. Some may fight the colonialists, do insurrection in the bush and become victorious. That may be important, but what is more important is that one man gave his whole life to putting forward ideas upon ideas, process of governance, of decency of leadership that you wouldn’t find in any other leader.
“In this moment of COVID-19 and other crises, if he was our ruler, we would be a lot better handled. There is no question about that. He would approach the situation more systematically. He would evolve principle of management that would address the matter more coherently and not be pandering to issues as they arise.
“For instance, one thing is obvious and people are not saying it: South-West is the gateway to Nigeria and, therefore, a lot of the danger of coronavirus coming into Nigeria is coming through Lagos and the South-West. That is the truth of the matter and nobody is talking about it.
“The South-West is not being given any preferential treatment on that. If Chief Awolowo had been our ruler, it would have been totally different. We would be recognised with statistics and everything, including facts and figures that South-West is the danger area because most of the international connections with Nigeria are through the South-West, through Lagos and the rest of the South-West states. And, therefore, in the Federal Government’s response to coronavirus, there should be a special position accorded to Lagos, Ogun and others, those states that are nearer to Lagos. There should be special provision for them. We must protect those areas from danger.
“But instead of treating the South-West and protecting it, they are loading coronavirus-infected people to Lagos and, therefore, adding more to the trouble. They are allowing people who are fleeing from North to sneak into the South-West and adding to the trouble.
“Our governors now have to intercept people from the North and that is endangering the South-West the more. So, the areas that should have been protected because it is the gateway to the country have become a deposit point for everything.
“We in the South-West are being treated as if we are sheep being taken to a slaughter house for Nigeria. Under Chief Awolowo, that would have been impossible.
“Chief Awolowo was the person under whom someone like me developed my ideas of politics, of governance, of decency of leadership and the idea of a servant-leader.
“Chief Awolowo always told us: ‘Respect your people, all your people. Don’t even disrespect the poorest Yoruba man. I respect Yoruba people very much and it is impossible for me to disrespect anybody. Even people who are angry and saying things about me, I cannot be distracted’.
“Chief Awolowo also said: ‘Don’t let anybody provoke you to get angry because the moment you get angry, you lose the battle’. I agree with him. So, I don’t get angry, no matter what anybody does to me. I have learnt that, so it is no longer difficult for me to avoid getting angry. It has become natural for me.
“He would always say: ‘You, young people, if any of you should become a leader in any part of Yorubaland, your first line to success is to respect your people; do not think you can hoodwink Yoruba people. Don’t imagine that because you went to school, you can hoodwink Yoruba people. They are too smart for that. They don’t have to go to school to be smart, to know what you are doing. If you don’t respect them, they would make sure that what you are doing fails. So, you can’t succeed with Yoruba people if you don’t respect them’.
“Not only did he say you must not allow yourself to get angry, he also said you must not allow hatred and bitterness to enter into your heart. He said you must avoid that because when you allow that to happen and you become angry and bitter and hateful of the opposition to you, you have lost the battle to them completely; that you are defeated and beaten,” Akintoye said.
On his own part, another associate of Chief Awolowo, Senator Femi Okurounmu, said: “At times like this, Awo would have harmonised the functioning of the major health institutions around the country and got them equipped to focus on the treatment of the COVID-19. He would have ensured the availability of all facilities and equipment needed by the doctors and nurses as well as all facilities needed for testing citizens for the disease. Above all, he would have seen this as an opportunity to upgrade the health system of the country to be able to cater for the needs of the poor and the rich at all times.
“Nigerians badly miss the quality of leadership that an Awolowo provided. Since Awolowo’s demise, Nigerians have not seen anything like leadership and that vacuum is becoming more and more problematic, whether at the level of the Yoruba nation or the Nigerian entity as a whole.”
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING
Sperm Containing COVID-19 Raises Risk Of Spread Via Sex ― Study
Chinese researchers who tested sperm of men infected with COVID-19 found that a minority of them had the new coronavirus in their semen, opening up a small chance the disease could be transmitted sexually, scientists said on Thursday… Read full story
Stop Harassment Of Journalists, Other Essential Workers, PTF Tells Security Agencies
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 pandemic has told security agencies to desist for harassment of journalists and other essential workers on duty during the period of the ongoing restrictions to contain the spread of the virus… Read full story
Lagos Records Another Two COVID-19 Deaths
Lagos State government on Thursday said it recorded two additional coronavirus related deaths, bringing the total number of deaths associated to the pandemic in the state to 33. The Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, disclosed this on his Twitter handle, recalling that 82 new cases of COVID-19 infection… Read full story
22-Year-Old Lady Stabs Husband To Death After Catching Him Making Call To Another Woman
A 22-year-old lady was on Thursday, May 7, arrested by men of the Nasarawa State command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) after she allegedly stabbed her husband to death for making a phone call to another woman she suspected to be his lover… Read full story
PHOTOS: Lagos Expresses Appreciation, Releases List Of Donors To Coronavirus Fund
The Lagos State government on Thursday released list of various individuals and organisations who have so far donated to the fund to combat coronavirus in the state. In a tweet from the state government twitter handle, the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the state appreciated the corporate giant and individuals… Read full story
Give Account Of COVID-19 Donations Expenses, Lagos Assembly Tells Sanwo-Olu
Lagos State House of Assembly has called on the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make recourse to the House over expenses incurred from the donations made towards combating the COVID-19 pandemic in the state. The House also charged the governor to make recourse to it before declaring a state… Read full story
EDITORIAL: Buhari’s FCC Nominations
IN line with his usual practice regarding postings and appointments, President Muhammadu Buhari recently sparked controversy once again when he announced lopsided nominations into the Federal Character Commission (FCC). In a letter dated March 18, 2020 and addressed to the President of the Senate… Read full story
Justice Dahiru Saleh, Judge Who Annulled June 12 Presidential Election, Is Dead
Twenty-seven years after he made history by annulling the 1993 presidential election in what has now become popularly refer to as ‘June 12’, the judge, Justice Dahiru Saleh, has died. The retired judge died Thursday afternoon in his hometown, Azare, headquarters of Katagum Local Government Area in Bauchi… Read full story
Two Medical Staff Die, As Seven Travellers To Maiduguri Test Positive For COVID-19
Seven more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Maiduguri after being caught by security personnel trying to sneak into the capital city. They had come in from different South-West and South-South states inside empty petrol tankers in some cases to enter Maiduguri which is the ancestral home of some of them… Read full story
Lagos Discharges 48 More Patients After Testing Negative For Coronavirus
Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday announced the discharge of 48 more patients from various facilities in the state, saying the patients, who had tested negative twice to coronavirus comprised 32 males and 16 females, all Nigerians… Read full story
PTF Fumes Over Persistent Violation Of Guidelines; Threatens To Review Measures
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, on Thursday, expressed concerns over continuous violation of the guidelines put in place after the lockdown was relaxed and warned that the PTF may be forced to review the measures already taken… Read full story
The Pains, Struggles Of Almajiri System •Echoes from northern streets
Three years ago in Kaduna, the Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, at a forum made a revealing disclosure that woke up deep thoughts in the guests; he told the gathering that the state had conducted a survey and discovered that there are no fewer than three million almajiris in the state… Read full story
Ramadan: The Richness Of A Special Month
RAMADHAN is primarily intended to make Muslims and indeed mankind to remain generally good, pure and righteous. It is Allah’s yearly serious purification of the body, heart and soul of every true Muslim in readiness for admission into Paradise (a Garden under which Rivers flow)… Read full story
and then