The Nation Newspaper

Author: Femi Orebe

  • Chief Mike Afolabi Omotade: An unmatched legacy

    •  Honouring indefatigable principal of Federal Government College, Ido – Ani on 87th birthday

    “Before we had an idea of what life was all about, he was already at work, inspiring us to dream big, aim high, work hard and be disciplined, for nothing is beyond the realm of possibility, if only we will believe” – Simbo Olorunfemi – ex – student, Federal Govt College, Ido -Ani, in his essay on Chief Omotade’s 86th birthday Anniversary.”

    I have been opportuned, right here on this column to celebrate the life and times of several Nigerian icons, the likes of Chiefs Alex Olu Ajayi, Oladeji Fasuan, Dele Falegan, Deji Adegbite, Prince Juli Adelusi Adeluyi and academic luminaries like Professors Ladipo Akinkugbe, Bolaji Akinyemi, Jide Osuntokun, as well as legal icons, Senior Advocates, Makanjuola Esan and Wole Olanipekun.

    To those of these greats who have joined the Saints Triumphant, I pray that the good Lord will grant them eternal rest.

    It is my special privilege today to add to this ‘éminence grise’, the distinguished Chief Mike Afolabi Omotade, the iconic teacher, and founding Principal of Federal Government College, Ido – Ani, Ondo state.

    Having been privileged to have all my three children attend the school, with my tens of other ‘children’ in the school, and knowing Chief Omotade very well, what strikes me the most about him is how his life at the school, so uncannily mirrored that of  Canon L. D Mason, my own Principal at Christ’s School, Ado- Ekiti, the way he succeeded in moulding thousands of young children, aged between 10 -12 when they  entered FGC Ido – Ani, into an absolutely unbelievable commonwealth of dear ‘brothers and sisters’.

    At Christ’s School, no matter when you were there as student, we all relate like uterine siblings so much some people even describe us as a cult.

    Actually, as a proud product of Christ’s School, my utmost desire was to send my children to no other school than the ‘numero uno’ secondary school in the region, and without a doubt, one of the best in the country. Then something happened.

    From around 1981-82 when the political maelstrom was beginning to well up in Ondo state, especially in Akure, the other major news, besides politics, was the great revolution in education going on, not too far away in Ido -Ani, under the masterful, and pioneering effort of Mr, now Baba (Chief) Afolabi Omotade.

    What made it a daily talk amongst parents, especially at the Recreation Club, Akure, to which many civil servants retire after work, was the fear that the simmering political crisis, may soon affect government affairs, education inclusive,  and that if that happens, FGC, Ido – Ani, being a Federal Government institution would not suffer the deleterious circumstances that might befall state schools. Before you know it, especially amongst parents, and without his knowing it, Mr Omotade had become a hero of sorts.

    This should now explain to Chief Omotade, the amount of pressure he must have had from people seeking admission for their children and wards.

    That fact accounted for my eldest daughter heading to FGC, Ido -Ani, though I wasn’t privileged to meet the Principal until towards the end of  her first year.

    Yetunde’s experience, even as a very young girl in year one, with which she regaled her sister and brother, finally extinguished any thought of  sending them to my Alma Mater. Rather, they both ended up at the School Pa Omotade had given his imprimatur of  all- round  excellence. And we have had no regrets, whatever

    Bonding at Ido -Ani, given the foundation Chief Omotade laid, is akin to what we have in Christ’s School.

    For instance, a year ago in June ’22, the class of ’91, to which Kemi, my second daughter in the School belongs, came from all over the globe, for a  four day re-union; all ensconced at The AMBER RESIDENCE, (a hotel), in a very quiet part of the Ikeja, GRA. During her short stay, we only saw her twice, we had to visit her at Amber residence and seeing so many of her friends who all rallied around us you couldn’t miss the bond they all share, second time was on a fleeting visit to their abode after the reunion.

    Also, the fact that Chief Omotade’s birthday anniversary celebration in the past few years has become a global affair, celebrated here, and overseas by his Ido-ani family is a grand testimony to this bonding.

    Students who were in school during his time, as well as those who have, indeed, never met him, but know that he moulded their school in his own image, and ipso facto their own life trajectory, do not believe that they owe Chief Omotade less.

    Let us, for instance, hear, at some length, from Simbo Olorunfemi, one such student who was 11 on admission at Ido – Ani, as he reflects on this bonding phenomenon:

    “Chief Omotade did not come up with the idea of Unity Schools. He was not the one who decided on Federal Government College, Idoani, but the task became his to bring the dream, from scratch, to reality. And this he did with great success by all accounts. He, it was who made the school a citadel of unity, where young boys and girls from all parts of Nigeria lived as one, without   consideration for tribe, tongue or religion.

    Chief Omotade made Idoani home for everyone. He was a Father to us all. He was the Principal to us all, his children inclusive.

    The rules were the rules and were applied without discrimination. Not even the pressure from men of power and influence would make him breach any rule. You do not meet the condition for moving on to the next class, you simply have to repeat the class, no matter who you,  or your father is. And there were quite some big men as parents!

    Chief Omotade was quite strict. He knew us and what we could be up to. Somehow, he always managed to catch up with us.

    It will take us looking back now,  to truly appreciate all he did for us, what he stood for; and the values he instilled in us. Chief Omotade stood tall for integrity.

    As much as he wanted us to do well in the WASCE, looking forward to us setting records, he would never compromise on standards or integrity of the process. Yet, we were so far away from everywhere and, could have gotten away with just about anything.

    But not with Chief Omotade. Never.

    I look back now and can only imagine what it must have been like building from scratch, with nothing, in a town without electricity  or water supply, and the personal sacrifices he, and his family, must have had to make back then.

    We met in place, arrangement for independent power supply, with tankers daily supplying water. One can only imagine the logistics behind what we took for granted then. It is an understatement that we,  products of the school are extremely fond of our Principal. Each with his or her own recollection of the man, who has become our Father and a rallying point for us all. Indeed, Federal Government College, Idoani was moulded in the image of Chief Omotade. He nurtured the school like a baby. Years after his long stay as Principal ’78 – 85, the Omotade spirit continues to reign there; serving as a guide.

    Same way, the values he instilled in us continue to guide us, our steps and our outlook to life, many years after. Evidence of his great work is there in the many bright minds from FGC, Idoani, with his spirit of excellence continuing to be passed from one generation to the other. We are who we are because of the foundation he laid for us”.

    As Simbo  captured it above, Chief Omotade neither created, nor established,  the Federal Government College, Ido – Ani.

    Rather, Federal Government  colleges were  established, conceived as unifying institutions, to bring together young Nigerian boys and girls from diverse ethnic and religious divides, with a view to giving them high quality education in an environment of academic and developmental excellence devoid of ethnic, religious or social stratification.

    The creation of old Ondo State (now Ondo and Ekiti State) in 1976, coincided with the founding of the third generation of the Colleges, and FGC, Ido- Ani, was established with Mr Mike Afolabi Omotade as the foundation Principal.

    I was yesterday, Saturday, 15 July, ’23 here in London with my children, able to join this year’s edition of Baba’s birthday celebrations, holding  ‘tera firma’, in Akure, Ondo state via Zoom.  I was encouraged, by my Ido – Ani Girls, Nike & Ayo( née Owolawi) and Kemi( née Orebe) to speak on behalf of thousands of us, parents of these amazing products of the great School, who now all bond together as members of FGC, IDO- ANI Alumni Association under the inspiring leadership of  President Tope Akinlonu.

    This special celebration of Pa Omotade was put together by the FGC Ido-Ani Global Leadership Team. A group of exceptional individuals led by Dr. Felix Idolor and Rev. Nike Awosika, who are passionate about seeing effective leadership and success at all levels of life.

    The FGCID Global Leadership Forum exists to stimulate, develop and promote effective leadership at all levels of life.

    The Leadership Forum aims to achieve its goal of transformation by mobilizing the alumni of Federal Government College Ido-Ani, and by extension, the alumni of other federal government colleges, globally, to rise up to the challenges of effective leadership in all spheres of life.

    Leadership collaboration can be achieved globally as a result of the seeds of effective leadership, unity, and integration sown in the hearts of all alumni members in their formative years; the type done by Pa Omotade and other great teachers like him.

    Once more, on behalf of all of us parents, I say 87 Hearty cheers and Congratulations to Chief Omotade on his 87th birthday.

    Many Happy Returns, Sir.

  • Of Labour Party’s multi-dimensional travails lying is the worst

    Of Labour Party’s multi-dimensional travails lying is the worst

    The expression: “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, often used to describe how children tend to inherit the characteristics of their parents, will be most appropriate in describing what the Labour party has become since Peter Obi  assumed its leadership.  So comprehensively does he now epitomize it that his chief critic, Reno Omokri, could only this past week, opine that “he  has taken the party from zero to hero in less than one year”. Unfortunately, however,  that has not been for salutary purposes because he equally transfered to the party, his lying dexterity. The manner in which he goes everywhere, crying about his stolen mandate, it is important that we examine this dexterity to some extent. This piece will do that and show how Mr Obi has been lying to cover his tracks. He has severally pleaded ‘ignorance’ in trying to avoid responsibility for his many legal infractions, forgetting, as they say, that ignorance is no defence in Law.

    Reporting on his ‘opaque and illegal activities’ which are now covered in what has come to be known, the world over, as the Pandora Papers, PREMIUM TIMES exposed Mr. Obi’s secret businesses and how he broke Nigeria’s law in at least three ways: “One, that he continued to hold his position as a director of NEXT International (UK) Limited, 14 months after becoming the governor of Anambra State in contravention of Section Six of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Two, that he set up complicated layers of secrecy to hide his offshore holdings he did not declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau, thereby breaching Section 11 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, and, three, that as governor  he was  operating a foreign account in breach of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

    He initially deliberately went on a tangent in his response, claiming he was not corrupt  even when Premium Times did not so allege. However,  pressed further by showing him their findings, Obi could no longer hold on to his denials.

    Reported the publication:”he did not deny failure to comply with the law with regards to asset declaration, operation of a foreign account, and directing a private company as a governor. He, however, claimed  that he was ignorant of the law. “I don’t declare what is owned with others. If my family owns something I won’t declare it. I didn’t declare anything I jointly owed with anyone” claimed Obi, contrary to the position of the Constitution, which expressly stipulates the declaration “of all assets, whether jointly or partly owned”. Leaked records will later show that Obi is the sole, ultimate beneficial owner of the offshore companies. So he lied by claiming to be a part-owner”, wrote Premium Times.

    Asked by Kadaria Ahmed on a TV programme why he invested $30M of Anambra state funds in a family business, Peter Obi claimed that the company belonged to his parents, and he had no dealings in it after he became a public officer. His words: “I brought International Breweries into Nigeria and as a Governor of a state, they built a greenfield facility in the state and they came to me and said ‘as our partner, as if he is the state, we want you to own 15 per cent of this company’, and I said to them ‘No, right now, I am the Governor of a state. I know the future of this brewery, and I want the state to own 10 per cent and since I’m no longer involved in the company, they can own five per cent. I invested several billions in banks, including banks where I have shares. I was investing for the future of the state; it doesn’t matter whether I have shares or not. If I have the opportunity of building the future of the state, wouldn’t I have done that?”

    Words, words, mere empty words.

    A consumate dissembler, Obi had also claimed that he left N75B cash for Governor Willie Obiano, his successor. This is what Sahara Reporters on that:”One of the State officials told SaharaReporters that, while some interests had seen fit to spread the misleading information that Mr. Obi handed over N75 billion in cash, the same people failed to tell the public that the former governor left his successor the financial burden of finding money to pay for N185 billion for contracts awarded by him, some of them in the very last hours of his tenure.” The official  further stated that Mr. Obiano’s administration had already paid N35 billion on projects inherited from Mr. Obi”.

    Governor, Charles Soludo who succeeded Obiano would later say, concerning Obi’s ‘investments’ that “the purported investment by Peter Obi, is worth next to nothing”, adding “I think there was something I read about somebody speculating about whatever investment. With what I’ve seen today, the value of those investments is worth next to nothing”.

    That is the cash and the investments Obi will not allow Anambrarians rest about.

    With the above as premise for our thesis, let us now quit ancient history, and talk about Peter Obi and the 2023 Presidential election in which he placed a distant third, beaten with over 2.5 million votes by the winner, but will yet give Nigerians no breathing space over his so-called stolen mandate.

    In the meantime, while his Obidients are making a nuisance of themselves, singing about a ‘stolen mandate’, he is at the tribunal but without a semblance of a table showing the votes with which he defeated the second placed Atiku Abubakar, not to talk of the winner. Rather than perambulate, let us simply do a contextual analysis of one of the Obidients’ Press Releases, to show what a pack of liars they are; all in the make of their Patron Saint Peter Gregory Obi. We present as sample, a Press Release signed on behalf of the Labour party by the duo of  Diran Onifade and one Dr Yunusa Tanko.

    Titled “APC’s Endless Subterfuge Must Stop”, it reads as follows, with my comments in bracket:

    “It appears the All Progressives Congress’ desperation to grab and retain power by foul means has refused to go away more than a month after they have grabbed the election as they planned. – (Here Obidients talk of ‘desperation to grab and retain power’, but without showing how).

    “While we are toeing the constitutional path to retrieve our mandate, those who have truncated the wishes of the majority of Nigerians have recoursed to mischief and endless subterfuge to continue to hold on to what they know does not belong to them”.

    (The Obidients are here claiming that they are toeing constitutional path to retrieve their mandate. (Since when did going the rounds of Arise and Channel’s television stations to have Obi’s lies given a life, or their resort to incomparable rudeness on social media, transmogrify to constitutional means of retrieving a non-existent mandate?).

    “From the show of shame in Port Harcourt to the drama in the Ibom Air aircraft, both of which they contrived, they have now moved to the circulation of a deep fake audio file aimed at promoting religious tension in the country. (Nigerians must thank God it didn’t occur to them to hijack the Ibom aeroplane or endanger the passengers more than their man did that day. Now they are talking of  a deep fake audo file when Nigerians are still salivating over the discussion between a thoroughly obsequious “ Yes Daddy” wannabe president and one of his many Rasputins. Nigerians: just imagine that man for your president!).

    “All these are meant to serve no other purpose than egregious mischief aimed at demarketing Peter Obi.  If the goal is to create a credibility problem, the ploy has failed woefully. Peter Obi has long been on record as the only presidential candidate who has urged the Nigerians electorate not to vote for him on the basis of religion or tribe”.

    (Without a doubt, these ones can  attempt to lie to the dead. Where is that Nigerian who does not know that Peter Obi weaponised religion and ethnicity in his campaigns; the only reason he was able to get a quarter votes in 16 states?)

    “ We will therefore like to advise our beloved Nigerian people to remain focused on the task to take back the mandate we know was freely given to Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed through legitimate means.That is more important than to expect  those who ran election on forged credentials and even fake Bishops to stop faking. They cannot stop being fraudulent because that is who they are”.

    (It will be a colossal shame if Obidients do not yet know that Nigerians have already realised that Peter Obi is nothing but an archetypical Igbo trader, in suit.

    That was the reason those who voted Labour in millions at the Presidential election, North and South of Nigeria, simply deserted both him and his party in droves in all the subsequent elections. Not even in Anambra state where he was governor for 8 years could Labour win majority of seats in the state legislative election. Nigerians have equally seen that he is merely window dressing; going to the tribunal where all he is seeking would best be described as mere academic reliefs for which the court has neither the locus nor the time to grant. The situation is worsened by the fact that he showed no factual basis for his claim of winning the election. There is no table showing he votes collated by his agents as against those collated by INEC. He can neither plead what was not front – loaded, nor can the court go on a voyage of discovery to grant him what he did not ask for.

    Add to that, the fact that Peter Obi was not  even a candidate known to law in the 2023 Presidential election as he was not a Labour party member but that of the PDP as at the date he claimed to have emerged Labour party’s presidential candidate.

    As things stand today, Peter Obi should honourably withdraw his case at the tribunal to enable him have quality time for the mother of all cases waiting for him in the United Kingdom.