The late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was born on March 6, 1909 – yesterday marked his posthumous 111th birthday.
Life tossed a cruel blow in 1920 when at the tender age of eleven, he lost his dad to the cold hands of death. He had to pull himself by the bootstraps and take his destiny into his own hands.
He later became a produce buyer, trade unionist, stenographer, journalist, lawyer and politician.
He cut his political teeth in the Nigerian Youth Movement under the legendary Ernest Ikoli who is credited to have brought him into politics. In 1941, the wonderful political party which was set up to challenge the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) folded up because of the leadership tussle between Ernest Ikoli and Samuel Akinsanya who later became the Odemo of Isara. Awo as his loyalists loved to call him backed Ikoli for the leadership of the party while Nnamdi Azikiwe or Zik supported Akinsanya. After Ikoli won, the Zik faction pulled out of the party which led to its collapse.
Still burning with the ambition to intellectually develop himself, he left the country in 1944 at the age of 35 to study law in the United Kingdom. While in the UK, he advocated that the best form of government for the nation was that of federalism and penned his thoughts in his evergreen book ‘Path to Nigerian Freedom’ which he published in 1947 while he was still a student.
The Egbe Omo Oduduwa was formed in 1949 in the house of Dr. John Akerele in the UK and this metamorphosed into the Action Group which was founded in 1951 upon his return back to base.
His advocacy for federalism ran contrary to the unitary structure that the British colonialists put in place for their seamless administration of the country. Some of his critics contended that he was a tribalist but he held firmly to his then unpopular view about the governance structure that was best for his motherland.
The Lyttleton constitution of 1954 was a sort of reckoning to the sage’s plea as it was a federalist constitution which delineated the nation into three zones – North, East and West.
He became the Premier of the western region in 1954 and he was arguably the best administrator in the whole of the African continent. His economic policies were second to none. He is credited to have built the Cocoa house, free primary education, scholarships for deserving secondary school leavers, the liberty stadium, launched the first television station in Africa all from the proceeds from the cocoa trade. His federalism ideas that the then premiers shouldn’t go cap in hand begging the colonial overlords for handouts like our current crop of governors are sadly doing is the reason why his name and legacy can never be annihilated.
In 1959, he wanted to replicate his managerial wizardry on the national platform and sought to become the country’s Prime Minister. His party, the Action Group as well as its main rivals – the National Council for Nigeria and the Camerouns and the Northern Peoples Congress couldn’t single-handedly form a majority in order to be able to form a government.
Awo told Zik point blank that he would concede the prime ministerial ship to him and become his deputy as well as finance minister if the AG and NCNC could go into an alliance. Zik smarting from his mistrust of the Yoruba politicians given his scuttled attempt to become the Premier of the Western Region which made him run to Enugu with his tail between his legs turned the offer down and instead went into an alliance with Ahmadu Bello’s NPC which offered him the ceremonial position of the Governor-General and later President.
Awo’s woes weren’t over as he had a personality clash with his successor, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola. He was later arrested in 1962 for attempting to overthrow the government and was sent to jail the following year. We recall the infamous words of Justice G.B.A Coker who said that his hands were tied whilst delivering his judgment. He was later to lose his extremely brilliant son, Segun who was killed in a car crash in 1963.
1966 was a memorable year for him as he was not only released from detention by the General Yakubu Gowon led government, he was also made the Federal Commissioner for finance and Vice-Chairman of the Federal Executive Council. To his credit, he successfully prosecuted the war without borrowing a dime and was quoted to have said ‘Starvation is a legitimate weapon of warfare.’
He was disillusioned with the peace after the war was over and resigned his appointment. He went back to his law practice but before long, his services were sought when he was made a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee or the fifty wise men as they were fondly called. He opted out as he wanted to be partisan.
When the ban on politics was lifted by the then Obasanjo led military regime, he founded the Unity Party of Nigeria which won all the governorship seats in the south west. He lost the presidential election in very controversial circumstances with the famous ‘twelve two-third’ which Chief Richard Akinjide used to describe Shagari’s electoral victory. Another school of thought opines that the Chief was so unpopular in the north that he couldn’t get a running mate from there and had to resort to the use of Chief Philip Umeadi from the east which also didn’t forgive him for their civil war loss. He also contested and lost in 1983.
He transited into immortality on May 9, 1987 and his legacies live on in the Tribune newspaper being the country’s oldest surviving newspaper and his ideas which was the bulwark upon which the Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress of Nigeria and All Progressive Congress were built.
His free primary education policy has been replicated by the APC controlled states with some of them like Lagos taking it up to the secondary school level.
Papa will never be forgotten as he lives on in the hearts of his countrymen.
Tony Ademiluyi wrote from Lagos and edits www.africanbard.com
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