How Obafemi Awolowo became the Leader of the Yoruba and its lesson for today.

By

Otaibayomi Samuel Abayomi

A simmering undercurrent of disaffection is brewing within the Yoruba polity, blown open and exacerbated by the assassination of Chief Ajibola Idowu Ige. This undercurrent was there when Ige was alive. This article is an attempt to offer some suggestions as to how it can be resolved so we [the Yoruba] do not end up in mutual recrimination and socio-political cannibalism. We owe it a duty to our common and much cherished patrimony, the Nigerian commonwealth and the world at large to cultivate, promote and sustain a culture of decent and civil contention and disputation in our politics. Each nationality that make up the Nigerian federation must have peace in its own domain before it can contribute meaningfully in resolving the contradictions of the federal republic. It behooves us all as stakeholders to do all we can to promote peace and concord within our nationalities and the Nigerian family at large.

The choice of the topic is deliberate because the problem centers around the role and place of the holder of the title of the ‘Asiwaju of the Yoruba’ in political partisanship in ‘peace time’ Nigeria. The title, Asiwaju, [the one in front, the Leader ] is an exigency of ‘war times’, ‘abnormal times’ or ‘crisis times’ in the Nigerian federation, when the Yoruba, fearing discordant voices, lest others took advantage of their history of fierce political contestation, elected to speak with one voice. All chroniclers of human events and affairs, suggest that the study of a social phenomenon begins with the study of its history , thus to the source, we must go.

Before August 12, 1966, the only universally-acclaimed Leader of the Yoruba was Oduduwa, their venerated progenitor. No Alafin or Ooni commanded universal acceptance; the Yoruba were engaged in ruinous self-destructive wars, [the Ijesas, Ibadan, Ijebu, Oyo], pitting brother against brother, leading to betrayal and loss of territory [like in Ilorin]. even during the slave trade until the British colonialists came. The Yorubaland had, incrementally beginning with Lagos in 1861, been incorporated into what ultimately became the British colony of Nigeria in 1914. Whatever the British might have designed the Nigerian federation [ a forced amalgam of disparate peoples] to be, events came to a head on January 15^th 1966. Of the events of this day, and others deriving therefrom, there is not much dispute, though to this day, the motives, speculations and opinions are fiercely contested. A seismic rupture had occurred. Two of the biggest nationalities of Nigeria, the Igbo and the Hausa in tandem with their Fulani overlords were at each others throat, the future of the Nigerian federation looked grim, dim and precarious indeed. This is not the place to do a rehash of the events of Jan 15 1966, for which the aggrieved staged a revenge in July of the same year. On July 29^th 1966, elements of northern Nigerians in the army led by Yakubu Danjuma had surrounded the government house in Ibadan, the political capital of the Yoruba, murdered Adekunle Fajuyi, the military governor and his guest, the head of state, J T U Aguiyi-Ironsi. For two harrowing days, Nigerians did not know who was in charge. Nobody knew what could happen.

The Yoruba were in disarray, their military governor murdered, their kinsman Babafemi Ogundipe, a Brigadier who ordinarily ought to take command of the army on the assassination of Ironsi, fled when confronted with the murderous reality of the mutineers in Lagos, led by Murtala Mohammed. The Nigerian army has become the armed wing of the northern political establishment with a thirty-two year old Lt.-Colonel [Yakubu Gowon] calling himself the Supreme Commander, when there were Brigadiers, Colonels and even Lt-Colonels who were his superior officers. Political and military power over the Nigerian federation was now in their hands. Northern troops were in Yorubaland, supremely confident. If they turned on the Yoruba, as they did on the Igbo in May, who would speak for them? What weighty voice was there to give people hope, in case of anything untoward, indeed any eventuality?. The original plan of the northern establishment in July 1966, was to secede from Nigeria once they exacted their pound of flesh in what Yakubu Danjuma called their ‘revenge coup’.

Once their British mentors pointed out to them the folly and bankruptcy of this position, [land-locked and the most economically backward region of Nigeria] they made a dramatic volte face. Yakubu Gowon released Obafemi Awolowo from incarceration and told him ‘we will need your experience’at their very first meeting. The Leaders of Thought of the four regions, northern, eastern, mid-western and western began to meet preparatory to a national conference. And the Yoruba gathered at Western Hall in Ibadan on August 12, 1966, summoned by the new military governor of the region, Adeyinka Adebayo. Now in such a volatile and unpredictable climate that Nigeria has found itself, and looking more and more like ‘To thy tents Oh Israel’, who would speak for the Yoruba? In attendance were the Obas and leaders of all the defunct political parties and different shades of opinion in western region [the Yorubaland]. If Nigeria were to suffer an implosion, the fate of the Yoruba would be in the hands of those that are assembled here, but who is THE LEADER sans partisan politics? Adebayo gave an opening address and left. By acclamation Obafemi Awolowo was selected to preside over their deliberation. The question of the Leader of the Yoruba immediately came up which Awolowo ruled out of order but members persisted., many of these were his former political adversaries in the National Council of Nigerian Citiizens [the NCNC] and the Nigerian National Democratic Party [the NNDP]. A motion was moved, seconded by cheering acclamation and Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo was unanimously elected the Leader of the Yoruba. Whatever moral imprimatur and authority deriving from this title, no one, least of all Awolowo himself, was ever under any illusion that this position can be sustained once partisan politics is resumed under any guise. This was a title for extra-ordinary times when the Yoruba are rudderless or under siege. And Awolowo himself made that clear to his colleagues. Thus the profile of the Leader of the Yoruba, in peace time Nigeria, becomes mute where partisan politics flourishes, as the Yoruba like any free citizen of Nigeria can seek affiliation and membership with and in any political party of his or her choice. Thus, in 1978, once partisan politics commenced, leading Yoruba personalities like AMA Akinloye, OsuOlale Akinjide, Toye Coker, Adeleke Adedoyin and MKO Abiola were in the National Party of Nigeria [the NPN], Adeniran Ogunsanya, TOS Benson, AreOye Oyebola were in the Nigerian Peoples Party [the NPP] while Obafemi Awolowo, Adekunle Ajasain, and J.A.O Odebiyi were in the Unity Party of Nigeria [the UPN]

To buttress this point, the Yoruba have only come up with this title when there is a need for a Leader to speak for and articulate the political line of the Yoruba nation [like in 1966] or when they are under siege like during the reign of terror of the late happily departed depraved moron. Hence Adekunle Ajasin filled that role and after his passing, the Apamaku Aderibigbe Adesanya was also so elected. All the three men who have held this title earned it strictly on personal merit and in recognition of service to and defence of the cause of the Yoruba nation. Obafemi Awolowo himself was only fifty-seven years old when the title was conferred on him and there were people who were far older than him at the assembly. So, age which is revered among the Yoruba is not necessarily a major criterion. The integrity, extra-ordinary courage and personal merit of the holder of this title is evident to all regardless of political partisanship. Here is Adeyinka Adebayo, former military governor of Western region and a leader of the NPN in the second republic, [Vanguard Dec 19^th, 201], on Awolowo, ’we lost our bearings since Chief Obafemi Awolowo left western region premiership to contest the seat at the federal house of representatives……if Chief Awolowo had stayed as premier of western region…..the Yoruba would not have been relegated to the background in the country’ Chief Ayotunde Rosiji, the General-secretary of the Action Group, [later deputy leader to Chief S.L Akintola in the Nigerian National Democratic party [NNDP] [ who was removed from his position at the unforgettable Jos congress of the party in 1962 that precipitated the crisis that eventually led to the January 1966 coup d’etat, expressed the same views about Awolowo as contained in his biography by Nina Mba [1992], ‘Rosiji regrets that the AG did not win more seats in the 1959 elections so that Awolowo might have been made prime minister. Of all the leaders he was the most qualified by education, by intellect, and by organizational ability.

Had he been prime minister and Azikiwe governor-general, Rosiji feels they would have made an unbeatable team for Azikiwe’s charisma and humaness would have have complemented Awolowo’s single-minded dedication and thoroughness’ OsuOlale Akinjide, easily one of the most inveterate and implacable critic and political opponent of Awolowo told Nigerians in [ThisDay, 2001] that his regret in Nigerian politics was that he was not able to be ‘in the same political party with Chief Obafemi Awolowo’. Adekunle Ajasin was already in his eighties when he took on Sani Abacha and remained unbought and unbowed till the end of his life. Aderibigbe Adesanya earned the sobriquet ‘The Apamaku’ [the one who refused to die] when he faced down the murderous goons of Sani Abacha as testified to by the leader of the assasination squad himself Sergeant Barnabas Jabila Msheila [a.k.a. Sergeant Rogers] on the street of Lagos, and by the grace of God, walked out of his bullet- riddled car unscathed. Sergeant Msheila was led to Adesanya’s home by Lateef Sofolahan, the Abacha spy and informant who was masquerading as an assistant to Kudirat Abiola and was in her employ. We have gone this length to explain the extra-ordinary circumstances that threw up this title and pedigree of its holders.

Indeed, one cannot but wince in disappointment on reading the works of some Nigerian commentators and writers who characterize the politics of the Yoruba as inward-looking or ‘tribal’. These writers betray a gross ignorance of Nigerian political history. What Awolowo and his followers have reaped from 1979 till date, are the fruits of their revolution of 1952-59; when children in western region [comprising today of Oyo,Ondo,Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Edo, Delta, including much of what is Lagos state today] had free medical service from birth to the age of eighteen and free primary education. It was the beneficiaries and products of these schemes in their millions and their children now, whose lives had been transformed by the meticulous planning and social engineering of Awolowo’s government that made him the paramount leader of the Yoruba, partisan politics or not.. For their parents though, Awolowo had to prove himself and this he did by dint of hard work and unflinching commitment to the welfare of the people of western region when he was the premier. Awo did not believe that you come into public service to ‘come and eat’; for him, a political party is made of ideological compatibles who share same ideas about the role and place of government in people’s life, have come up with a political platform about what they intend to do with the power they are seeking through the vote of the people. Hence, they have a covenant with people who had voted for them and have to deliver what had been promised during electioneering campaign. Thus, he would say that one should not enjoy in government what one could not provide for oneself in private life, so you would not develop a sit-tight syndrome. He also believed in the supremacy of the party where all ideas are fiercely debated before a decision is reached. As premier, his party faced fierce and unrelenting opposition in critical divisions of western region; Ijesha, Ibadan and even in Ife whose monarch Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the late Ooni was the governor.

The Action Group was the government in power but every vote was contested and there was no place for complacency. The National Council of Nigerian Citizens [NCNC] was strong in western region and infact won the election of 1956. In 1952, Awolowo as leader of government business and later as premier faced a hostile colonial government that viewed him with suspicion and his party’s program with scorn and derision; worse, he faced a skeptical people to whom he had to prove himself and earn their trust. Untested, this was the advent of self-government in Nigeria; could he really lead his party to make ‘life more abundant’for the people of this region? To the extent that he did, and was acknowledged to have done so by friends and foes alike, was testified to on August 12 1966, nine days after he was released from gaol, the Yoruba people turned to him to lead them as they faced an uncertain future in a convulsing Nigeria.

However, as has been explained above, this is a title of unknown exigencies because once partisan politics resumes, the profile and role of the holder is muted. Nonetheless, one thing must be borne in mind always; partisan politics or not, the Yoruba, discerning and fastidious as ever, are eminently adept at differentiating and separating the chaff from the substance. They know who is in politics in search of lucre, position and patronage, personal aggrandizement, hence not every politician can even remotely be considered let alone be chosen to hold this title .For the foreseeable future, as far as the eyes can see, the only known feature of the Nigerian federation is the unknown. Hence this title and its utility under the extant dispensation, cannot be assailed. It is to the eternal credit of Obafemi Awolowo, that the benchmark by which any holder of the title would be assessed was established by him.