You never truly appreciate what you have until you lose it. Awolowo in his life time was the voice and life wire of the opposition parties in Nigera. I started taking notice right from the 1959 elections when a coalition between the then NCNC/NEPU alliance and the Action Group and its Joseph Tarka-led ally in the Middle Belt and the Wenike Briggs-led Calabar Ogoja Rivers ally in the Delta area could easily have tilted the balance in favor of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo forming the Federal Government as far back as 50 years ago.
You never truly appreciate what you have until you lose it. Awolowo in his life time was the voice and life wire of the opposition parties in Nigera. I started taking notice right from the 1959 elections when a coalition between the then NCNC/NEPU alliance and the Action Group and its Joseph Tarka-led ally in the Middle Belt and the Wenike Briggs-led Calabar Ogoja Rivers ally in the Delta area could easily have tilted the balance in favor of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo forming the Federal Government as far back as 50 years ago.
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Can you imagine where Nigeria would have been today if the pendulum had swung the other way. Awolowo was ready to concede the Prime Minister to Ogbuefi Azikiwe while he Awolowo would go to the Treasury as Finance Minister. What an amazing Government that would have been for the new sovereign state of Nigeria! The political history of Nigeria would never have been what it is today for the North would never have remained in darkness for as long as it did, and Nigeria like Singapore, would have been forever transformed and truly born again. Young boys like me watching Awolowo and Zik play politics in the early 60s were like young boys in Nashville Tennessee watching Brad Paisley and Keith Urban, two of the best guitarists in Country Music, display their guitar wizardry in a way that make them feel like making a career of playing the guitar for a living at some point in their life. I was attracted to studying Political Science in my post-graduate studies all because of Awo and Zik.
I recently took a trip to the Grand Opry in the music city, and all I could think of as I watched the two wonder boys do a duet titled “Saturday night” was wonder all night why I never took music for a career. All I wanted to do was play the guitar like them even in my old age. That experience reminded me of the way I felt about Zik and Awo any time they came to town in the 60s. Their first port of call was the Deji’s Palace where I had the opportunity to see them up close and personal when they made their courtesy calls to my grandfather, Deji Afunbiowo the First. Six and a half feet tall Ogbuefi Nnamdi Azikiwe, always dressed in white “agbada” was a joy to behold. So was Obafemi Awolowo with his dazzling set of teeth and persona that made such a huge impressions on me as a young boy. I loved their politics and I passionately believed their coming together to run Nigeria would have made a difference.
Their Coalition Government would have brought the minority Middle Belt, (the food basket of Nigeria) and the minority Delta area, the goose that now lays the golden egg of crude oil and gas in Nigeria into prominence and glory much sooner than was possible under the NCNC and the NPC at the time. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the power brokers in the NCNC at the time probably pitched their tents with the NPC and Hausa/Fulani and not the Action Group or the Yorubas because they strongly believed that such an arrangement would have served them better, and not necessarily because it was in the best interest of the young nation. Looking back in time, I can now see their rational for taking such an absurd decision. I thought the Igbos and the Yorubas being the elites of Nigeria education-wise should have seen a reason to join hands as natural allies to lay a solid foundation for Nigeria.
For very obvious reasons the East like the West which could boast of so many Ph.Ds and many educated elites led by the great Zik himself, and the likes of Dr. Ozumba Mbadiwe, Dr. Michael Ihenokura Okpara, Mbazulike Amechi, and Ikejiani and “Iketaani” with apologies to S.L.A, (Samuel Ladoke Akintola) knew they were joining the NPC to literarily dominate the Hausa/Fulani and to hold most of the powerful positions in the Federal Government that could not be assigned, based on zoning or state of origin or their position as a junior partner in the coalition, because they controlled fewer seats in the Parliament than the NPC. Most of these gentlemen have studied in the United States with Zik at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and they just had to know it was not possible to assign Ministries like Foreign Affairs or Economic Planning and Finance, to mention a few, to many northerners who could hardly read or write or speak good English and there were many in the NPC at the time, to speak the truth, who naturally fit that bill. The present North is a far cry from what it used to be in the early 60s. Sardauna Bello himself knew that for a fact, and that was why he was in no hurry to push for independence for Nigeria like happened for Ghana in 1957 under Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.
I would be the first to admit that there were quite a few among the northerners who were highly advanced in Islamic education and there were a few like the late Abdul Azeez Attah, the son of Ohinoyi of Igbira Land, and some of his brothers and sisters like the former Mrs. Amaku, nee Attah and several prominent educated elites from Ilorin, Ofa, Omuaran, Isanlu Isin and, Mopa area of Kwara like the late Adeniyi, the Aro of Mopa and few others like Adamu Ciroma from the core North and some from Bornu, Sokoto and Kano and Bauchi who had some Western education and could fairly compete with the Igbos in the NCNC. The NCNC had a reason to hope for the best in teaming up with the Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri oligarchy than teaming up with the Action Group and the Yorubas led by Awolowo who had demonstrated they would not play a second fiddle to the Igbos at all because they could match the Igbos pound for pound in education, civilization, ingenuity and resourcefulness at the time and the Igbos knew that for a fact.
The second factor which was still fresh in the Ndigbo minds and consciousness was the perceived perfidy and the so-called untrustworthiness of the Yorubas and their leader Obafemi Awolowo, a superb economist and lawyer who had snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat from the NCNC in 1959 when some members of the Mobolaje Grand Alliance of Ibadan led by individuals like late M. A. Akinloye were lured by Awolowo and the top echelon of the Action Group to cross carpet overnight to tip the balance in favor of the Action Group which had narrowly lost the election to the NCNC by a few seats. The Akinloyes of this world claimed they did it out of sympathy and solidarity with their fellow Yorubas in the Action Group because they feared the Yorubas might never again be a force to reckon with among the three tripods on which Nigeria was delicately balanced, if an Ndigbo man was allowed to head a Government elected to serve the Yorubas.
They did not completely trust Azikiwe even though he spoke Yoruba with the eloquence of a Ladoke Akintola to be the one to lead the Yorubas. It was a correct position to take, I would argue, but they should have done that with their votes not subterfuge which was very bad, I might add in all honesty. The Yorubas conspired to deny the NCNC of their sweet victory in that election because they correctly figured it out that an Igbo man, however good intentioned and nationalistic, could not lead the Oodua children to the promisedland. They also believed, with some justification, that such a move could have far reaching implications for the Yorubas all over the world from coast to coast and from sea to shining sea. They were not going to let that happen on their watch because they knew that if the Igbos or the Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri oligarchy were in their shoes at the material time and even up till now, they would have done the same thing. There is little room for objectivity in the hide and seek game we all play in the bread and butter politics of Nigeria. The Igbos will always protect his kith and kin and the Hausas/Fulanis and the Yorubas will do the same, nine out of ten chances. That is the plain truth. We are all guilty of that. The Hausa/Fulani no longer have access to Aso Rock today like they do when the northerners were there. It is the Ijaws you find today in huge numbers shouting “Aibele Mam Paweria” as they troop to Aso Rock to seek one favor or the other from their favorite son and his Ijaw wife.
The Hausas and the Fulanis who thought they were back in power for another 8 good years before Yar Adua took ill and died, were understandably traumatized and frustrated. That is why they could not stand another 4 or 8 years of Jonathan. They would die from starvation and lack of influence because the Military, the Government and the Civil Service were their farms and industry. They have never being out of power for that long in Nigerian political history. Can you really blame them? They cannot trust anybody other than their own just like Yorubas did not trust the Igbos and the Igbos did not trust the Efiks or the Ibibios unless they have nowhere to turn. We are all tribal lords and racial bigots in Nigeria. Let no one deceive you into believing otherwise.
My easy proof of that was what Nnamdi Azikiwe did immediately the truth dawned on him at Ibadan when the Yorubas pulled the rug from under his feet or threw him under the bus in 1952. He refused to serve as leader of opposition at Agodi, Ibadan, leaving that role to Adegoke Adelabu of the “peculiar mess” fame otherwise called “Penkelemess” by his people who could not read or write at the time. Nnamdi Azikiwe had wasted no time rushing back to Enugu to put pressure on Eyo Ita to step down for him to become Premier of the Eastern Region or else. He too was not going to let an Efik man from the minority area in the South/South take over the governance of the old Eastern Region from his dominant Igbo tribe even though he was born in Zungeru and he spoke Hausa more fluently than Dan Maraya.
Yes, you could argue that Awolowo and the Yorubas drove Zik to that precipice but my point here is that two wrongs don’t make a right. If Zik was the man of conviction and the greatest nationalist some Nigerians thought he was, he should have resisted the temptation to repeat the Yoruba perfidy when he found himself cornered by circumstances probably beyond his control. I won’t be saying this if Zik had allowed Eyo Ita to become Premier for a few months before making his move. He did not. If he is better than Awolowo it was only by one or two notches. They were both guilty of the same offense under the Law as far as I am concerned.
The second point was that when Zik later crossed over to Lagos to accept the ceremonial position of Governor-General in the NPC/NCNC coalition Government in 1959, guess who he picked to succeed him in the old Eastern Region. It was not Eyo Ita or anybody from the minority South/South. It was Michael Ihenokura Okpara from Umuahia Ubeku. How about that for a so-called nationalist figure like Zik? Tribalism is part of the DNA of most Nigerians in position of power because of our level of development and political greed. That is the plain truth. Even the Northerners in the PDP like Adamu Ciroma who are crying foul today against Goodluck Jonathan are doing so for precisely the same reason that Awolowo and the Akinloyes acted at Ibadan when they had a chance to demonstrate their nationalist credentials. They failed woefully just like the Igbos and Azikiwe did as well. I will not be surprised if aggrieved elements like 80 year old Adamu Ciroma and loyalist to his cause chose a consensus candidate to muddy the waters for Mr. Jonathan or they could lead a breakaway faction of the PDP to run Jonathan out of town. I will shed no tears if that were to happen because that could signify the end of Nigeria as we know it without any bloodshed. Why not if not? “Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable”. It was JFK who crafted that statement and he was damn right.
I never knew I would live to see a day like now when the world has turned full circle, and Nigerians of all political labels and persuasions are cow openly extolling the virtues of Awolowo as the best President Nigeria has never had. Former NPN Vice President Alex Ekwueme and former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon recently admitted that much in a public gathering. Shehu Shagari who defeated Obafemi Awolowo in a very controversial election in 1979 did what most power brokers in his Government would not have readily contemplated when he bestowed on Awolowo the greatest honor that Nigeria could offer few months after that election.
The rebel leader and Commander-in Chief of the Biafran Armed Forces was the first to acknowledge Awolowo as a “sui generis” one of a kind in Nigeria despite the grouse of the Igbos against Awolowo for helping the Federal Government crush the Biafran rebellion with his brain power and with a stroke of the pen if you know what I know.
Awolowo understood that brute force alone could not guarantee victory for the Federal side in a drawn-out battle with Biafra, and he did what he had to do. It is on record that Nigeria did not borrow a dime to prosecute the war. Awolowo as Commissioner for Finance single-handedly broke the backbone of the Biafran resistance when he changed the Nigerian currency. Until then the Biafran troops were using the Nigerian currency they have looted from the Enugu branch of the Nigerian Central Bank to buy arms in fighting Nigeria. Once Awolowo changed the currency and slowed down the easy importation of second- hand clothes and food to Biafra thru change of policy, there was no way the resistance and the needless bloodshed could have continued.
Odumegwu Ojukwu had to flee the country to the Ivory Coast to seek asylum. Guess who the Biafran leader had picked to take over and sign the surrender documents, it was an Efik or Ibibio General from the same area where Eyo Ita had come from! Odumegwu Ojukwu had no qualms picking a General from the minority area to pick up the pieces of a battered Biafran nation and to suffer the indignity of throwing in the towel of surrender. If you thought that strategic move was a fluke or an accident, I have an island to sell to you in the Pacific.
Human beings are the same thing all over the world. Self- preservation remains the “fons et origo” of tribalism in Nigeria, and nepotism remains the first Law of Nature. I am not blaming anybody. If I find myself in the same cul-de-sac as Awolowo found himself in 1952, and as Dr Azikiwe found himself when he forced Eyo Ita to take a hike, as Adamu Ciroma is finding himself today, I will probably do the same thing regardless of criticisms from far and near. The late Sardauna Bello the central glue binding the North together till he died, had committed pretty much the same gaffe in my book when he would not let Nnamdi Azikiwe be appointed the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, even though he knew that Azikiwe was a thousand times better equipped and better prepared to be Prime Minister than Tafawa Balewa, the humble school teacher from Bauchi.
The great Sardauna Bello definitely preferred someone from his tribe or region to be the one to lead Nigeria to independence regardless of his qualifications for that office at the material time. He could care less about laying a solid foundation for Nigeria. That to him was not important. Just keeping Nigeria one for the sole benefit of the far North even if the country is stagnant was better than rocking the boat by putting a good manager but a “Kaferi” like Awolowo in charge. That was why Nigeria has not made any worthwhile progress in 50 years and we are all shedding crocodile tears about it. We failed to do what we should have done at the nick of time by stopping Awolowo from his ambition to rule the country and to repeat the same miracles he had performed in the old West.
Say what you will, about the Azikiwe, Awolowo, Sardauna Bello and Tafawa Balewa generation of political leaders in Nigeria. If you have read “the Greatest Generation” authored by Tom Brokaw of NBC News, and if you are thinking like me, you would readily agree that the Zik generation had been the best that has ever led Nigeria, all things considered. The generations coming after them are a bunch of mediocre in boots and uniform who looted the country. They were self-seeking leaders who were in Government not to help the nation achieve her greatest potential, but to loot the nation’s treasury for their own benefits and those of their families and children.
We are talking today of 50 wasted years of Nigeria in large part because of the misrule of the younger generations who would not allow power to change hands like it does in most progressive democratic countries around the world. Obama and the Democrats took over power only 2 years ago.
America is already serving them notice despite their best efforts the coming election two weeks from today is going to considerably reduce the power of the Democrats preparatory to 2012. That is the way it ought to be in Nigeria. The PDP ought to be flushed out of power in 2011 because they have been a disaster for Nigeria.
The PDP today is more or less the same thing with the NPC/NCNC, the NPN, and the NRC before it. It has ruled Nigeria for no less than 22 out of the 50 years of Nigeria’s independence without ever being in the opposition for once. They therefore do not at all understand how to be in opposition. To maintain their domination and supremacy, they have become experts in how to rig elections. This is precisely why I would not believe any assurances by the current President, a product of the same entrenched Party that the 2011 elections are going to be any free and fair than the ones in 2003 and 2007. I will only believe it when I see it. The prognosis, as far as I am concerned, is not good at all.
Any President and Chairman of INEC that would not see anything terribly wrong in retaining Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo as an electoral Commissioner to be deployed to any state of Nigeria in 2011, has forfeited his right to be taken seriously. I come from Akure in Ondo State. My private house in Akure was stoned and badly damaged on August 16, 1983, following the Omoboriowo Election rigging in that state. Akure lost a good many of her chiefs and Akure prominent sons like Honorable Olaiya Fagbamigbe, Honorable Agunbiade to mention a few. My house was stoned and damaged because I had rented the premises to some staff of the Federal Government College, Akure.
All Federal buildings were attacked in the mayhem that followed the day light rigging. I therefore cannot, for the life of me, understand why Professor Attahiru Jega and Goodluck Jonathan would not agree that rotten eggs like Ayoka Adebayo have no business retaining their jobs at the Electoral Commission, if the two individuals value their credibility to conduct a free and fair election in Nigeria. I am shocked to my pants that President Jonathan and Professor Jega would support the posting of Ayoka Adebayo of all commissioners to the same Ondo State 27 years later. I can tell you here and now, that such a posting would be an open invitation to Ayoka to rig the elections but to more carefully cover her trails in the future. I will personally take Attahiru Jega and his Commission to Court, as a concerned citizen of Ondo State, if he does not immediately nullify the posting with immediate effect.
Awolowo, if he were still alive, as leader of opposition in Nigeria today would never have tolerated such insensitivity. This is one more reason the name Awolowo has remained a recurring decimal in the political emancipation of Nigeria. Awolowo is looming larger than life in the consciousness of his people, the Yorubas and Nigerians as a whole because of what he stood for as a leader and many of the imperishable legacies he had left behind.
In 2003 President Obasanjo and the PDP Gestapo did overrun all of the Southwest states with the exception of Lagos. Today 3 of those states have returned to the Progressive column because the Court of Appeal has found that elections in the 3 states were all rigged in favor of the PDP. The Appeal Court’s decision on the Osun Gubernatorial election is under way. The ones at Oyo and Ogun which were equally rigged by the PDP in 2003 are bound to return back to the progressives if the 2011 elections are free and fair.
The states are all coming back in deference to Awolowo and what he had stood for. If you have not yet noticed it, Awolowo is more popular in Nigeria today than any other Nigerian leader dead or alive. Nigerians have compared and contrasted the PDP, the NPN and the NRC with the Action Group, the UPN or the AD and the current ACN and they see a yawning gap. The Awolowo leadership, mind you, was not perfect but it was nothing to compare with our current generation of leadership in Government. That is why the Yoruba states are coming back in droves to the progressives and the Judiciary, the last hope of the common is helping to actualize it by throwing out the election riggers even though belatedly as the Fayemi victory in Ekiti has just proved to us. Fayemi has to careful not to promise far much more than he can deliver because Ekiti still remains one of the poorest states in Nigeria like he is going to find out. He must not raise too much expectation, if he wants to succeed.
The Awo cap in various colors has become the vogue in fashion among some of our Yoruba Governors and politicians today in total deference to Awo and his ideals and legacies. Olusegun Mimiko, Kayode Fayemi, Raji Fashola and Ahmed Tinubu are all busy reinventing the wheels for Awo.
Awo in death is looming larger than life as the PDP implodes before our very eyes. Many in the PDP are now stigmatizing themselves and using the same foul language they often used to describe Awo for refusing to go along to get along with their negative ideology.
President Jonathan recently describing Adamu Ciroma as a tribal or ethnic chieftain rings a bell about how they used to talk about Awo. This development is a vindication of Awolowo who was once called a factional and polarizing leader who did not qualify or deserve to be President of Nigeria even though many have rightly called him the best President Nigeria has never had. Nigerians are now hoping and praying for a leader that shares many of Awo’s ideals and attributes. Time, the great healer, has vindicated and sanctified Awo, and he shall live forever in the psyche and consciousness of generations of Nigerians yet unborn.
I rest my case.
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