Tag: Adebanjo

• By Bisi Olawunmi

Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere leader who died, aged 96, and last of the original Awoists was a vivacious, joyous soul.   He was a zestful political warrior who embraced political combat with gusto.  In his usual ebullience, he embraced death and even humorously cast the news headline for the media on his imminent passage:   “Ayo Adebanjo, leader of Afenifere, the controversial man, is gone”.  He had added:  “He last spoke with his daughter”.  It was his last video chat.  For a man who preached fairness, equity and love of country for a united Nigeria, it was symbolic that   he took his last bow on February 14, Valentine Day, a day humanity celebrate love.   

 I first made contact with the ebony black handsome lawyer as a village child in Okelamuren,  Ogbo  community, near Ijebu-Ode , Ogun State when he made a triumphant  homecoming on his return from England in 1961. The then 33- year old lawyer rode into the village in the same car with Chief (Mrs.) H.I.D. Awolowo.   It was a glorious day for us villagers.  We, the children, crowded the slow moving car, as it waltzed its way to the village square, to get a glimpse of this illustrious son of the soil just returned from ‘ilu Oyinbo’ (the White man’s land). In those days, we village children used to wave at any aeroplane passing over our village asking the passengers, in Ijebu dialect, to help us greet our relations in ‘Ilu Oyinbo’!

We got heightened excitement when we found out that the lady who rode in the car with him was the wife of the legendary AWO!  

Chief Ayo Adebanjo was committed to his local Ogbo community, comprising 11 villages (Ogbo mokanla ). He was the Asiwaju of Ibido-Ogbo, the Baba Oba of Okelamuren, Grand Patron of Okelamuren Progressive Union (OPU) and leader of Ogbo Christian community. For decades, he hosted Ogbo community members in Lagos to annual new year party at his Lagos residence on the second Sunday of every January. He paid his tithe and regularly packaged money for the local clergy at Saint Phillips Anglican Church, Isanya-Ogbo.  On one of my visits to the country home, I witnessed him doling out two envelopes of money to the assistant pastor of his home church.  After the pastor left, I had asked Baba why at age 95 he was still giving out money.  He had smiled, pointing out that as church leader, there were some expectations of him, adding   that even his wife, also in her 90s, made similar donations.    

As is the tradition with Afenifere, Chief Adebanjo, as Afenifere leader, hosted the organization’s meetings at his Isanya-Ogbo country home, usually under a canopy provided for the occasion, with entertainment sponsored by various groups. At such meetings where he presided, Chief Adebanjo stamped his authority as the man in charge. Meeting must follow procedure as laid out in items in the agenda. If you got up to speak on item 6 while discussion was on item 4, he shuts you up mid-sentence.  Also, you don’t go back to an item that had been treated, he would dismiss you as absent-minded, inattentive and a time waster.  Some did not like the brusque manner, but to him meetings must be ordered business. 

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The point is, whoever got to interact with Chief Ayo Adebanjo saw him as a strong man: strong in intellectual articulation and elocution, a strong robust physique, strong vocally in his emphatic tone and very, very strong in his convictions.  With him, there is no ambivalence, no ambiguity – he takes a reasoned stand  and sticks with it – his last unequivocal stand  being  his endorsement of Peter Obi of Labour Party  for president in the 2023 presidential  election.   It turned out his last political battle. 

Chief Ayo Adebanjo had opposed Tinubu’s presidential bid on principle of equity and often said it was not a declaration of war, which was why he visited Tinubu during the time he had health challenges before the election.  This gesture was lost on the Tinubu boys.  In spite of the irreverent political gladiators, among the glowing tributes to Chief Ayo Adebanjo, I found the one by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu quite gratifying for the humility in publicly acknowledging the pivotal role of Chief Ayo Adebanjo as acting chairman of the Alliance for Democracy party in getting him elected as governor of Lagos State in 1999, a position that launched his political trajectory. 

“His (Adebanjo) unwavering commitment to truth and justice extended to my journey as governorship candidate in 1999.  Baba Adebanjo’s steadfast support was instrumental in my election as governor of Lagos State under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy’.  Tinubu had added:  “Until his death, I shared a deep personal bond with Baba Adebanjo; he was like a father figure”.  Those Tinubu laudatory words about Chief Ayo Adebanjo, “unwavering commitment to justice” played out in 1999 in commendation but played out in 2023 in condemnation!   

Chief  Ayo Adebanjo, a man of politics without bitterness,  died on February 14  – Valentine Day – a day of showing amity, which hopefully,  may  create a pathway  to restoring  harmony  to Afenifere, the  umbrella Yoruba  body,   which he led with passion and dedication. 

Chief Ayo Adebanjo lived a frank, unpretentious and fulfilling life.  He harped on life’s transient nature and had always jokingly reminded people of his imminent passage.  He used to say: Ayo Adebanjo has done his bit; it is left for others to carry on. He ran a good race and ended well. He left a legacy of political fidelity to justice, equity and a principled stand in furtherance of Nigerian  brotherhood.   

•Dr. Olawunmi is lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State.

• By Olabode Lucas

In Yoruba political disputations, prisoners are not taken. Immediately you deviate from the mainstream politics, you become a marked man and a subject of derision and disdain, no matter your previous quality contributions to the development of the Yoruba people and their region.

In my own observation, this was the unfortunate cross carried by the late revered Chief Ayo Adebanjo at the twilight of his life. The chief, a well-known political pugilist died recently at a ripe age of 94 years. This curious political tendency among the Yoruba people has a long history. In Yoruba traditional society, anybody or any family which did not conform to societal norms was usually isolated and treated with disdain. The tendency becomes more pronounced in modern day politics with its characteristic virulent and dangerous divisions. We witnessed this situation in Western Region during the Action Group crisis of 1962, which led to the infamous gruesome and destructive ‘We tie’ episode between 1962 and 1966 before the military took over the reins of government in January 1966. During this period, people who were not in political mainstream were subjected to horrendous harassment leading to loss of lives and properties.

The long interregnum under the military between 1966 and 1979 did not douse this political tendency as people opposed to the mainstream political tendency at that time were also treated with disdain. The Unity Party of Nigeria of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the party favoured by majority of the Yoruba people and people opposed to the party especially after the disputed 1983 presidential election were visited with untold violence. An example of the victim of this violence, was the late Chief Fagbamigbe of Akure who, despite his close association with Chief Awolowo, was gruesomely murdered by political hoodlums just because he crossed to the NPN, the less favoured political party in that region at that time. Many others suffered similar fate because they deviated from the political tendency in the region at that time. This tendency even reared its ugly head during the regime of the sadist, Sani Abacha. Adored politicians like the late Lateef Jakande and Ebenezer Babatope who served in the administration of the hated Abacha had their political reputations turned to shreds and they never recovered politically.

This tendency of ostracizing people in opposition to mainstream politics is not as pronounced in other parts of the country. For example, in the eastern part of the country in the late fifties, the late Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe spearheaded a political rebellion against Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. He was not destroyed politically because of this and instead he was brought back to mainstream politics in the East and he regained his ministerial position in the NPC/NCNC coalition government. There is no record that he or his supporters were threatened with mayhem. In the northern part of the country, the late Aminu Kano opposed the Sardauna of Sokoto and the NPC and there was no record that he was visited with violence, or his house was burnt down. At the dawn of military regime in 1966, he was one of the commissioners chosen from the North to help the tottering Gowon regime. J. S. Tarka was the most virulent political enemy of the northern establishment and despite this, he led the northern team to series of meetings to find solutions to Nigerian political problems during the dark days of 1966. Like Aminu Kano, he too was one of the commissioners chosen by Gowon.

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Back to Chief Adebanjo. He had to carry undeserved political cross for the choice he made to support Peter Obi against Bola Ahmed Tinubu the candidate supported by his people during the last presidential election. The old man did not deserve the opprobrium he suffered towards the end of his life because of his principled stand to support Peter Obi. Whatever anybody might say about his choice, Chief Ayo Adebanjo was one of the few principled politicians we had in this country, and he did more for the Yoruba people politically more than the fair-weather politicians that criticised him. A brief cursory into his political life history proves this assertion.

The late Chief Ayo Adebanjo who never held any political post was one of the best political organisers in Nigerian political history. Four of them, Agunbiade Bamise (party manager), S.T. Oredein, Ayo Adebanjo and Ganiyu Dawodu as the organising secretaries turned the defunct Action Group party to the best organised political party in Africa after the Convention Peoples Party of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana. The party formed in 1950 was transformed by these four people from a small beginning to a formidable government party in the old Western Region. From its base in in the West, the party became the dominant opposition party in the Northern and Eastern parts of the country, and the party was formidable in Nigerian politics until its leadership crisis in1962 torn it asunder.

The late Chief Ayo Adebanjo who started his politics as a Zikist in 1943 believed so much in the politics of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and regarded Chief Awolowo as his political leader who could do no wrong. He regarded himself as an unrepentant Awoist. He was firmly with Chief Awolowo during the 1962 Action Group crisis. He avoided being tried for treasonable felony like other leaders of his party including Chief Awolowo in 1964 by running with the late S.G. Ikoku to Ghana. Chief Ayo Adebanjo was brought back to Nigeria in 1966 when Nkrumah was ousted from power in Ghana. Back at home, he was detained by the military government of Aguiyi-Ironsi but was later released by Gowon.

Throughout his political career, especially during the military regimes which blighted Nigerian political landscape for many years, Ayo Adebanjo was a principled voice against tyranny, injustice, political insincerity and political domination.  Chief Adebanjo and others in NADECO fought the military to a standstill. He was also a well-known agitator for true federalism which is becoming unattainable in our country. He joined political heavy weights like the late Edwin Clark to call for necessary restructuring of the country.

The late Chief Ayo Adebanjo was a member of 1978 constitutional conference and 2014 National Conference. Chief Adebanjo’s life principle which was an embodiment of honesty, commitment, loyalty is well articulated in his autobiography titled “Telling It As It Is.” One may not agree with his political views at the twilight of his life, but one thing is sure: his role in the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria and his principled stand on many political issues would remain his sterling legacies. My only regret is that I was not privileged to engage him in one-to-one discussion in his lifetime.

•Prof Lucas writes from Old Bodija,Ibadan.