Our father’s ideas gave birth to Nigeria’s six zones — Onagoruwa ’s sons

Dapo and Seun Onagoruwa are sons of late Dr. Olu Onagoruwa, former Minister of Justice and Attorney- General of the Federation. In this interview with Akinrolabu Akinduro on the one year remembrance of their father, they spoke about his personality, achievements and the reason he served under Abacha. Excerpts:

How would you describe your father?

Dapo: He was a wonderful man.  He was a highly responsible father to his children and dutiful husband to his wife, our late mother.  In fact, if I should come back to this world in a thousand of years, I will still want him to be my father.  My father was a man who walked his talk.  He was a man who practised what he preached.  He practicalized what he said.  You would not see him preach A but practice B. No, he was not an hypocrite.  Dr Olu Onagoruwa hated injustice, especially if it was being done to the less-privileged.  He loved defending the rights of the common people if being trampled upon by the powerful people.  Dr Onagoruwadedicated his life to the service of God and humanity.  He was also a generous man who used all his God-given talents, resources and endowments to serve humanity passionately and faithfully.

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What do you say you cherish most in him?

Seun: I cherish his act of generosity and kindness.  My father was a man with a kind heart.  While alive, he was responsible for the welfare and upkeep of so many people.  In fact, there were a lot of people living in our house.  Some were family members and some were not even related to us, yet my father kept them in his house, taking care of them and was responsible for their needs.

 

What lesson or virtue of life did you learn from him which you will want to pass to your children?

Dapo: If there is any virtue or lesson we learnt from him which we want to pass to our children, that will be the principle of practicalising what he preached.  My father, Dr Olu Onagoruwa believed so much in honesty and integrity and so, he did not joke with the virtues.  He walked his talk all through his life.  For example, if my father asked you to wear your slippers, you could be rest assured that he had worn his own.  Also, it was through him that I learnt the reality of the truism which says it is not what life gives you that matters but the courage you bring to life.  Considering my father’s poor background, nobody could have ever thought he could achieve anything meaningful in life.  But through courage, determination of purpose and grace of God, he was able to record sound and enviable achievements.

 

Your father was a renowned human rights activist, what would you say stimulate his passion for activism?

Seun: I think it has to do with his passion to use the instrumentality of law to defend and advocate the cause of the powerless and helpless citizens of Nigeria.  Like we said, he came from a very poor background but God helped him to attain prominence in life.  So coming from that background, he knew that people from that level were always subjects of abuse and oppression by the powerful people.  So in order to fight for the cause of the defenceless people, he engaged himself in human rights activism.

 

Dr Onagoruwa took a decision to work under late Sani Abacha against the advice of some of his close friends.  This decision later caused serious disaffection between him and so many of his allies. What would you say was the reason he took that decision?

Dapo: My father’s decision to work under late Sani Abacha was not for his personal benefits but for the overall benefit of Nigeria. He did not choose to work in Abacha voluntarily.  But the principal actors and people of note who were working for the actualization of June 12 election nominated him and appealed to him to take the position.  Don’t forget that my father was one of the prominent advocates for the actualization of June 12 which was annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida. So, in order to achieve the aim of correcting the injustice, some of the great advocates of the actualization of the mandate reached an agreement with late MKO Abiola that some people of integrity should be encouraged to participate in Abacha’s government with the understanding of facilitating a smooth handing over to Abiola.  Specifically, it was the Afenifere and the NADECO, in a mutual agreement with Abiola that nominated my father’s name and convinced him to join the government. In fact, Abiola personally phoned Dr Olu Onagoruwa when he was in London with me, pleading that he should accept the offer for his sake and for the sake of Nigeria because as at that time, Nigeria was at the verge of collapse and so, some well-meaning people were needed to save the country. That was the understanding at which my father agreed to serve in Abacha’s government. Of course, this did not go down with some of his friends, especially Chief Gani Fawehim who had rather radical approach to the critical situation at hand then.  All sincere efforts by my father to let him see reason on why he chose to serve in the government proved abortive.

But my father (Dr Olu Onagoruwa) is an adult who knew what was good for him and what was good for the country, went ahead with his decision.  So, with the backing of Afenifere and the NADECO group, he served in the government and effected positive changes which are today seen as monumental in the history of the country. For example, my father ensured that a constitutional conference was convoked by the Abacha regime.  He coordinated it.  In that conference, some far-reaching decisions were taken and gazetted such that today they are major ingredients that are still keeping the country united.  For example, in that conference, it was recommended that the country be restructured into six geopolitical zones and that each zone should be allowed to function independently without recourse to the federal government. That is where the idea of the six geopolitical zones came from. The issue of rotational presidency between the North and the South also came from the conference.  In the same way, the issues of oil derivation formular for the people of South-South was also a product of the conference. Before then, the South-South were not considered for any incentive for development, despite the fact that they were the owner of the oil.  But my father saw this as injustice and to correct the imbalance, oil derivation percentage was recommended by the constitutional conference to take care of the interest of the south-south people.  However, at the end of the day, Abacha reneged on his promise of handing over power to Abiola and when my father saw this and other evils being perpetrated by Abacha, he honourably resigned from the cabinet and that was after he had disowned a draconian decree promulgated by Abacha.

 

What do you think your father would be remembered for?

Seun: He would be remembered for his integrity.  He would be remembered for his patriotic commitment to the development of Nigeria.  He would be remembered for his principled advocacy for Rule of Law.  He would be remembered for his passionate fight for the cause of the downtrodden.  He would be remembered for his great exploits in legal industry in Nigeria.  No doubt, he contributed immensely to the development of legal practice in Nigeria and he rose to the pinnacle of his career as Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the country.  He was also awarded with the national honour of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) and later in his life, he was conferred with the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.  I think with all these, my father died  very fulfilled.