Being text of a speech by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Chief Presenter at the public presentation of Wale Adebanwi’s Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency at Agip Hall, Muson Centre, Lagos on Thursday, April 17.
I am personally delighted to be here today to celebrate the memory of one of the greatest political leaders of Africa in the 20the Century and the progressive political movement in Nigeria which he was a key founder. There cannot be a better moment in our current political climate to celebrate, but perhaps more poignantly remember the lessons that this man, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, has taught us, the man Dr Wale Adebanwi describes him in this book as a “corporate political agent.”
This moment in our national life is the kind of moment that Awo lived for and relished as a brilliant political organizer and social thinker. Throughout his political life, when the country seemed to be in a quandary, whether in the late colonial era when the country was searching for the best political structure and the most formidable modernist ideas and ideals, or in the postcolonial era when the country was faced with the daunting problem of building a democratic society and a party system that would provide the pathways for creation of a great country, Awolowo was always there. He was there not only to build practical political organizations that would confront these challenges, but also to supply the most brilliant ideas about how the task should be done.
When the nation was gripped by the uncertainty of imperial domination in the late colonial era, and by the gloom of imminent collapse of the democratic order, or of the nation itself, Obafemi Awolowo was not only always at his desk thinking about the most profound solutions; he was also always in the field networking to create a political platform, as well practical programmatic scheme, that would rescue Nigeria.
Therefore, at this moment when Nigeria again is faced with the urgent challenge of creating an alternative order at the federal level, when the logic of power that has dominated federal politics since independence has exhausted itself, we can learn important lessons from the ideas already provided by Chief Awolowo, as well as the force of his examples.
Wale Adebanwi, the author, in the preview interview with The News magazine captured it perfectly when he said, “Even though he was a man for all times, Awo was also a product of a particular period of history. You cannot recreate it…therefore, rather than trying to recreate another Awo, what we need are resourceful leaders who can face the challenges of their own time by using the ideas and examples of a visionary like Awo, and also reconstruct those ideas…”
I cannot agree more with Dr Adebanwi.
Before I reflect on these lessons, I must especially salute Mama, Mrs. H.I.D. Awolowo, and Papa’s “jewel of inestimable value,” who stood firmly by our departed leader throughout his life. Despite our differences, this is also a moment to greet all the members of the Awolowo political family. I greet all the “political agents,” as the author of this book describes them, who made Obafemi Awolowo phonomenon possible and continue to sustain his legacy.
I salute our indefatigable elders who worked closely with Chief Awolowo and continue to sustain the ideas of this great leader and celebrate his memory of this great leader. I acknowledge the tireless work of members of my own generation in pushing the frontiers of democratic freedom and good governance. And I also acknowledge the members of the younger generation who continue to make sacrifices to ensure that the dominant political elite will never flinch from the goal of taking Nigeria to the Promised Land.
I will like to reflect briefly on a few key and relevant points that make this era momentous and why, I believe, Chief Awolowo would have been excited to live in such an era. As you are all aware, he lived through all the most challenging eras in Nigeria’s 20th Century history.
He lived through that era as a newspaper reporter, trade unionist, entrepreneur, political thinker and organizer, trail-blazing Premier of Western Nigeria, Leader of the Opposition in the Federal House of Representatives, a political prisoner, jailed on charges that cannot stand close scrutiny, Minister of Finance in General Yakubu Gowon’s Civil War Cabinet, and as Leader and twice Presidential Candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria.
He was plucked from light he helped lit, and jailed on charges that cannot stand close scrutiny. That act plunged he nation itself into darkness, and he emerged from prison to help end the darkness and restore light
Indeed, his political life, personal fortitude and the force of his ideas represent guideposts for confronting our present challenges as political leaders.
The first reason, therefore, why, I believe, Chief Awolowo is very relevant to our present era is that he was a great alliance builder. Contrary to what those who are ill-informed about Awolowo’s politics would say, even though he did not always succeed, there was never a point when Awo discouraged or dismissed the possibility of cross-national alliance to save Nigeria. Even though he started in Western Nigeria.
Awo never limited himself and could never have been limited to Western Nigeria. The evidence is there in history. Even before the alliance with opposition political parties in the other three regions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he first tried to have an alliance with the Northern People’s Congress (NPC). The first meeting between the Action Group (AG) leaders and the NPC leaders was held in Chief S. O. Gbadamosi’s house in Ikorodu, here in our great state of Lagos in March 1953. Two subsequent meetings were held. Even though the alliance and understanding did not succeed, the most important point I want to draw here is the perpetual commitment of Awo throughout his political life to reaching across political, and sometimes, even ideological lines to build understanding and create a platform for the political salvation of Nigeria. Perhaps the most prominent example of this in the Second Republic was the alliance with a faction of the so-called “Kaduna Mafia” in the Second Republic which led to the emergence of Alhaji Muhammadu Kura as his running mate in the 1983 presidential election.
Therefore, let us remind ourselves that, despite all the constraints, Awolowo never abandoned the search for cross-ethnic, pan-Nigerian alliance building to defeat the dominant forces which have made it difficult for Nigeria to live up to her potential. Chief Awolowo was a nationalist per excellence and sought a more perfect and workable union for Nigeria. His was a fierce proponent of federalism as the best form of political arrangement for Nigeria. For this, he was described as a “Pakistanist”. Decades after, Federalism remains top of the agenda for Nigeria.
Another reason why Chief Awolowo is very relevant to this era, and why he would have relished such opportunity, is that he has already provided us with the programmatic ideas on how to confront the most fundamental of our national challenges.
The challenge before those of us who have been tasked with responding to the peculiarities of this moment is clear. What we need to do is to build on those ideas, modify them where need be, and then concretize them in the context of the strategic and tactical challenges of our own time. There is absolutely no doubt that if Chief Awolowo were alive today, he would have been scandalized by the incapacity of the ruling party to transform Nigeria’s enormous human and material resources into what he called “freedom for all and life more abundant.” Those of us who are his followers are equally scandalized. And we must, and we will, do everything in our power to realize Awolowo’s vision for Nigeria.
Yet another reason why Chief Awolowo is very relevant to this era is that he was the greatest believer in the national unity of Nigeria and in the country’s manifest destiny. Not one of those who have accused Awo of all sorts of things has pointed to a single instance when he worked to break up Nigeria. Indeed, Awo’s vision of Nigeria’s possibility was as continental as it was global. He believed firmly and fervently that Nigeria had a God-ordained role in the future of the continent and of the black people of the world. When many of those who later became most eloquent about Nigeria’s unity were working towards national disintegration, Awo was methodical, and also unruffled, in his belief in and exertions for the consolidation of the unity of a country that would take up the challenge of leading Africa and the black race.
Another vital point is Awolowo’s understanding of the role and processes of the emergence of leadership. Reading this book again reminds us that leadership is about competence, and a grasp of the core issues. Chief Awolowo emerged as leader by the force of his ideas and by his incomparable capacity for political organisation. There were many who sneered at him, especially in the earliest years, as a man from the provinces. But Awo remained undaunted and even converted the abuses into a drive for success.
”Ebudola” (which can be translated as “insults turned into prosperity”) was his personal motto. He never wavered in his personal, political conviction despite all the distractions and name-calling. Leadership is hard work, it is vision, it is demonstrable commitment to public good; also leadership is the capacity to make uncomfortable compromises based on reality in the pursuit of larger goals.
Above all, what Chief Awolowo’s political life and social philosophy teach us is to have an unflinching and unremitting commitment to the pursuit of freedom, democracy and human dignity. Whether in his commitment to social welfare, including education, health, and good housing, or in his informed analyses and proposals for the best political structure for Nigeria, Awo was incomparable in his commitment to finding the best ways to make life better for all. From “freedom for all, life more abundant,” which was the motto of his Action Group, to the “Four Cardinal Programme” of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Chief Awolowo exhibited not only a philosophical, but also a practical and methodical commitment to a social policy that focused on human development.
He was committed to creating a society that generates opportunities for radical human dignity. Because of his persistent commitment to freeing Nigerians from the shackles of ignorance, want, diseases, superstition, etc, Chief Awolowo has remained the greatest embodiment of the Enlightenment project in modern Africa.
I would like to conclude by emphasizing how all that I have been saying relates to us as those who are not only the beneficiaries of Chief Awolowo’s “corporate political agency,” but are also charged with carrying the banner of his enlightened vision.
Our challenge is to take Awo’s fundamental commitment to a truly egalitarian state and society and redesign it for our era. Let us march forward, not backwards. What the author of the book which we are publicly presenting today calls Awo’s “corporate political agency” was geared towards ensuring that Nigeria lived up to what Awo called the country’s “birth-right” and “destiny” as Africa’s leading light. The vision of the man who critically engaged with the challenges of his age and interpreted them to his compatriots and the rest of the world must be transformed into reality in our own time.
We can no longer wait for the future. There is urgency about Nigeria’s fate. The future is now
The younger generations and generations yet to come will not forgive us, if we allow this to remain a vision and not concretize it for all Nigerians, irrespective of creed and identity. Awolowo comes to us today not merely in the spirit, but through the force and continued relevance of his ideas, to ask from us what do we propose to do in transforming a country that has remained a geographical expression into the greatest expression of egalitarian socio-economic and political life in the black world.
He passed on the torch to us so that freedom for all and life more abundant shall cease to be a slogan, but a reality in our national life. As for me and my associates, we are committed to ensure that Awolowo’s vision of a greater Nigeria, becomes a reality in our own time.
We are committed to building on the examples of good governance in Lagos, Ekiti, Edo, Osun, Ogun, and Oyo states by federalizing that unsurpassable vision of collective social good that, even in death, Awolowo continues to represent.
As we approach the democratic opportunity that will be offered to us to rebuild and remake Nigeria in the image of an egalitarian country that Chief Awolowo envisioned, we cannot afford to let cheap insinuations, divisive distortions, limited vision, and the degrading diminution of the country by the incompetent and the visionless to distract us from the mission for which we live now.
We will have our political and personal disagreements. That is to be expected. But the mission to renew Awolowo’s vision is to remake Nigeria by organizing to win political power. Chief Awolowo was always attentive to the uses of political power which was why the political party for him was always the most important instrument for capturing power. Let us, therefore, reconcile our differences as the political heirs of Awolowo’s progressive politics and ensure that Nigeria is retrieved from the quagmire and placed on the highest pedestal at both continental and global levels. We can do it. We will do it.
This book, Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency, by one of our brightest scholars, again reminds us that posterity will record and recall our actions and inactions as political leaders. It challenges us to rededicate our lives to the task of creating the society that Obafemi Awolowo envisioned, one in which all will be free with the attendant abundance of life.Awolowo must not remain only the best president we never had. We must ensure that he becomes the type of president Nigeria MUST have. I thank you for your attention.
