The tragedy of our nation is that with the derailment of our political socialisation process by misguided military adventurers, our youths and compatriots below 50 years of age never knew we once had an organized country, respected and regarded by the rest of the world as the hope of the Black race. The new narrative as Obasanjo pointed out during his endorsement of Peter Obi as his choice for the 2023 election some two weeks back is “the level of pervasive and mind-numbing insecurity, rudderless leadership, buoyed by mismanagement of diversity and pervasive corruption, bad economic policies resulting in extremes of poverty and massive unemployment and galloping inflation.”
Since the victorious write history, it is of little relief that it is those who brought us to this sorry path that have continued to hold us hostage under the guise they fought a war to keep Nigeria one. As if celebrating the source of our nightmare, Obasanjo also boasted: “I became Head of State at 39, General Gowon became a national leader at 33” before throwing his challenge: “Youth of Nigeria, your time has come, you are to turn the tide on its head and march forward chanting ‘Awa Lokan’(our turn).
Undoubtedly, Obasanjo and his fellow misguided military adventurers were young when they threw the nation into darkness in 1966. The five majors who changed the course of our nation’s history including Nzeogwu, his very close friend were in their late 20s. Many of Gowon’s 12 military governors, 11 of who were later indicted for corruption were also in their 20s and early 30s. But because Obasanjo knows many of our frustrated, jobless and angry youths are too hungry to care about history, what he would not admit was that by ‘walking where angels fear to tread’, (tricked into politics by warring Igbo and Hausa Fulani politicians fighting for the soul of Nigeria), he and his fellow military adventurers brought the wrath of the gods upon themselves with tragic consequences for our nation.
Many have argued that he and his fellow military adventurers who joined the military in order to climb the social ladder were blinded by complex and driven by envy (Obasanjo even boasted achieving what Awo could not achieve through a lifelong struggle on a platter of gold). They were therefore determined to settle scores with those they ignorantly assumed to be responsible for their lots in life.
Envy, bitterness and intense hatred are perhaps the only plausible explanation for selective killing of senior northern military officers and their political leaders by predominantly Igbo military officers and the assassination of Ironsi and mindless killing of Igbo military officers and the planned sinking of Lagos with dynamite by mercurial Murtala Muhammed and Theophilus Danjuma who shortly before then had ferried their wives and children to the north in a hijacked British aircraft.
Obasanjo and his fellow ill-educated young military officers who had no idea of how society works not only plunged the nation into an avoidable civil war, they also destroyed our federal structure before embarking on their ‘mainstreaming’ wrong-headed policy which is the source of all the ills Obasanjo identified above.
It is clear Obasanjo has no expertise in talent hunting. Most of those he identified as gifted youths when as civilian president brought little joy to Nigerians. His appointment of Bukola Saraki, as a budget adviser marked the beginning of budget padding in the fourth republic. In a letter dated April 4, 2003 to Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim, Obasanjo alleged that his 2003 budget was jacked up. There was also Dino Melaye who has never done any work since he was first appointed special adviser on youths after graduation besides serving as a federal lawmaker. He is known for the obscene display of wealth, showcasing his Abuja mansion, expensive wrist-watches and state-of-the-art cars on social media. The only other thing consistent with his other favourite youths is their inconsistency as they move in and out of different political parties.
For direction and lesson in leadership, our beleaguered youths should look beyond Obasanjo. The following are some of those with enduring legacy of service in the old Western Region that can serve as role models for our ambitious youths desirous of serving their people.
Adegoke Adelabu was, according to Professor Saburi Biobaku “perhaps the brightest boy that Government College Ibadan had ever produced”. He was outstanding in Yaba College of Technology before pursuing a successful career in UAC. He started preparing for leadership by first joining Great Ibadan Unity Grand Alliance (GIUGA) to fight new tax collection system. He became a member of Ibadan Citizen Committee (Egbe Omo Ibile), Ibadan Welfare Association, (Maiyegun). He was elected vice president of NCNC during the party’s convention in Enugu on May 6, 1955.
On September 24, 1951, he was one of the six people elected on the platform of Ibadan Peoples Party (IPP). Adelabu, a “radical socialist and militant nationalist” was the only one of the six to join NCNC claiming “it is the only party that can deliver our beloved fatherland from the yoke of British imperialism and organize a democratic republican socialist West Africa”.
There was Tony Enahoro, an editor of a national newspaper at 23. He was a Zikist before joining the Action Group. He first moved the motion for independence in 1956. He supervised the building and inauguration of WNTV, the first television in Africa within three months. He remains the best parliamentarian Nigeria has ever produced.
There was Bode Thomas, who started as a local council chairman. Regionalism as the building block of our federalism was his idea. He was Action Group vice president. He died at a young age of 34.
We had Awolowo who despite having to sell water, firewood before serving as house boy to four different masters and attended four different primary schools to obtain a primary school certificate, left a legacy of service. He groomed himself for leadership by first getting involved in trade unionism before moving on to become the secretary for Ibadan branch of Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM). As his own contribution to the management of our diversity, he wrote ‘Path to Nigerian Freedom’ where he called for a federal nation based on ethnic nationalities as obtained in India. He founded Egbe Omo Oduduwa “to promote the social welfare of Yoruba land”. He was appointed Leader of Government Business and Minister of Local Government in 1952 and became premier in 1954.
His administration became a pace setter according to Professor Oluwasanmi when he set up six statutory bodies viz; Western Regional Marketing Board, Western Nigeria Development Corporation, Western Nigeria Housing Corporation, Western Region Finance Corporation, Western Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation, Western Nigeria Printing Corporation, “to perform functions fundamental to the economic social and cultural development of the people of western Nigeria”.
Our youths desirous of becoming leaders must take time off from the social media in order to become readers. To settle for a new direction, they must know where we are coming from. And finally, they must beware of false prophets who, while holding us hostage continue to swear ‘for our tomorrow they sacrifice their present”.
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