A teacher at the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Dr Ademola Adebisi, eulogises the virtues of the elderstatesman and former All Progressives Congress (APC) Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, who clocks 78 today.
The Yoruba people of South Western Nigeria have their peculiar ways of playing politics and recruiting political leaders. One, they in plural Nigeria stand out as a nationality which is fond of pursuing its political interests on the plank of groups when for example compared with the Igbo people who often pursue Igbo political agenda in disarray.
Or what can be more telling than the mushroom of socio-political groups that dot the political landscape of the region?
Two, Yoruba people equally count very much on age and experience particularly in carrying out political recruitment, for it is their strong belief that, for political order and stability to reign and in order to attain political efficacy, experience gained via political or leadership tutelage of the younger ones by the elders count a great deal. This can be seen in their various proverbial and philosophical sayings to those who believe that all the youth, without qualification, should be recruited into the positions of leadership, the Yoruba will say: “ti omode ba laso bi agba, ko lee lakisa bi agba” meaning literally that no matter the number of new clothes a young person may have, he cannot have as many rags as the elders. This is a way of emphasising the place of experience in political performance.
This is not to however suggest that Yoruba people do not value youthful contribution to governance, for they again do work with the saying that “ ti omode ba mon owo we, yio ba agba jeun”, meaning that a young person that submits to the tutelage of elders will certainly partake in governance with elders.
However, it has been observed in recent times that this manner of political recruitment does not go down well with the youthful politicians of the region.
Today, this methodology of political recruitment is perceived by younger generation not only as dictatorial, anachronistic but also as a deliberate tactics of excluding the youth from leadership positions, a privilege they usually claim with examples, the old political brigade enjoyed in their youthful years. To drive home their point, the youth have been strong advocate of party primary in place of choice by consensus or party dictatorship which often demands patience and too long period of political tutelage from the youth.
In opposition too, the elderly party leaders have been insisting that, upcoming young politicians must start their political training from the ward level, through local government, state and then to the national level.
They abhor a situation where a young person whose source of wealth is doubtful, holds the ambition to become a Senator even before he joins a party and on joining the party within few weeks, he insists that party primary should be conducted because he has enough money to buy the electors.
The questions that emerge from this narrative are these: Is it proper for a party to jettison its tested members in the name of internal democracy for a candidate who has not been tested? Is such a candidate from the blues even fair to the old hands in the party? Can somebody who has not been tested be loyal to the party? Are they not the kind of candidates that quickly jump from one party to another? Is it sensible to surrender governance to people of questionable source of wealth?
The questions are inexhaustible. No doubt, for the sake of good governance, mentoring, test of loyalty, perseverance, tutelage and experience are desiderata for leadership recruitment. When a young person submits to this rigorous process, he will not only eat with the elders as people like Bola Ige and other young politicians had done, but will also experience meteoric rise in his or her political career.
It is this process of course that one of the political colossus in Nigerian politics,Chief Adebisi Akande, the Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun who turns 78 on 16th January 2016, submitted to that has earned him his outstanding success in politics.
An in depth narrative of his political trajectory of course, presents a testimony to the value of political tutelage or apprenticeship. Born on 16th January, 1939 in Ila-Orangun, in Ila Local Government Area of Osun State, Chief Akande comes from a long line of highly respected warriors and administrators. He had his primary school education in Ila – Orangun,Osun state, and Idanre, in Ondo State. Chief Akande started his work life soon after his primary education as a shop keeper at Idanre. In 1955, he became one of the pioneering teachers in the Obafemi Awolowo’s Free Primary Education Programme, at Ijama village near Idanre.
As a forward looking and progressive individual, Chief Akande took a leave from teaching when he resolved to pursuit further education in the realms of accountancy and administration.
To this end, he enrolled in the correspondence courses of the Idolsey Hall, Rapid Results College, and the School of Accountancy – all based in England. After his successful completion of these courses, he joined the British Petroleum
Nigeria Limited in 1963 as a Manager-in-Training in the Finance and Accounts Department.
While in the services of the BP, (1963 -1979) he attended many professional courses within and outside Nigeria and also rose through the ranks to attain the position of Manager, System and Computer Services, before he took leave of absence in 1979 to begin his full journey into politics. During the period between 1963 – 1978, when he was still in the services of the BP, Chief Akande was doing politics on the side line by getting involved in various local town union activities. For instance, he was a member of students union; member Ila Grammar School Board of Governors; convener, Ila Emancipation League; Secretary, Treasurer and President Ila Charity Club; Finance co-ordinator of Ila Electricity Planning Committee; and member, Osun North-East Consultative Committee among others. All these indeed armed him very well for all the positions of political responsibilities he was to serve later in life. Following these outstanding activities and in line with Yoruba’s belief in experience and tutelage, Chief Akande was in 1971 appointed by the Military as a member of Ila Local Government Management Committee.
In 1976, he was elected unopposed as a councillor for Isedo Ward I into IIa Local Government Council, a position that today goes mostly to bare illiterates and young school leavers, who can hardly make meaningful contributions to governance.
In 1977, he was elected to represent Ila andOdo-otin local governments in the Constituent Assembly that wrote the1979 Nigerian Constitution.Having earned enough tutelage at the local level, Chief Akande began hisforay into state and national politics first on the plank of his participation in the national duty of the Constituent Assembly that engineered the 1979 constitution. It was in the course of this national duty he met numerous Nigerian national political leaders such as Shehu Shagari, Abraham Adesanya, Bisi Onabanjo, Ambrose Alli and Ayo Fasanmi among others.
It was Ayo Fasanmi who attracted Chief Akande to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and from then he joined the Committee of Friends through which he became a foundation member of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
At the 1978 old Oyo State congress of the UPN, Chief Bisi Akande was elected into the State Executive Committee of the party. He was soon after elected the party’s State Deputy Chairman thereby earning a seat as a member of UPN’s National Executive Committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
In 1979, he was appointed by Chief Bola Ige as the Secretary to the Government of Old Oyo State and subsequently became the Deputy Governor in November, 1982 following the resignation of Chief S.M. Afolabi from that position.
Politics has not indeed been so rosy for Chief Bisi Akande. For instance, following the military intervention of 1983, he was arrested and tried along with Chief Bola Ige and was jailed for huge 42 years for using State Administrative Resources including money to enrich the Unity Party of Nigeria.
He was released in 1986. As Chief Akande has correctly observed by himself, it was an irony that the military later promulgated decree to enrich the two political parties they themselves created for self-succession namely, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Party (NRC) an offence for which he was convicted. In any event, in what is of course his people’s belief in his integrity, Chief Akande was overwhelmingly voted for by his people to represent Ila/Ifedayo/Boluwaduro/Boripe local governments at the Military – sponsored constitutional conference under General Sani Abacha.
He could not however participate in that conference following the directives of Afenifere and the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) that all progressives should withdraw from the conference. Initially believing that the Military wanted a genuine transition to democratic rule, Chief Akande joined the People Solidarity’s Party (PSP) and the People Progressive Party (PPP) in 1989 and 1996 respectively.
Immediately it became apparent that the Military was on a Self-succession bid, he re-coiled from partisan politics. However, he was not tired of pursuing Yoruba Agenda within the national politics and of course without bitterness and hatred towards the rest ethnic nationalities in plural Nigeria. Indeed, he co-authored the document that is today called Yoruba Agenda which was launched in 2005. He was also made the Chairman of Afenifere, Osun State branch in 1995. Following the demise of the dramatis personae in the political impasse that attended the annulment of Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s mandate namely Chief Abiola himself and General Sanni Abacha and in pursuit of another transition agenda by Gen. Abdulsalam, Chief Akande co-founded the Alliance for Democracy (AD), a party on whose platform he was elected the governor of Osun State.
He transparently managed the resources of the state for the benefit of the people of the State.
His administration was reputed for not running the State into debt; abolition of the Office of First Lady; accountability; non diversion of local government funds and open and intelligent confrontation of political and bureaucratic corruption. He was so transparent that he made a member of the opposition party in the state, the head of the state Radio and Television Organisation; and he wanted to make a member of the opposition party (PDP) his Commissioner of Finance which his party did not allow. As characteristic of the progressives’ political fate in the recent past, Chief Akande was rigged out of power in 2003 by the State elite to the chagrin of the ordinary people of Osun State.
This did not however diminish the political value of Chief Akande.
In December, 2003, he was persuaded by his Colleagues
(the former AD governors) to be the Chairman of the AD. His choice became controversial and factionalized the party, made so by PDP subterfuges.
The Bisi Akande’s faction was eventually adjudged to be the authentic AD by the Appeal Court of Nigeria.
In 2006, he resigned as AD Chairman and contested for and won the Chairmanship of the newly-formed Action Congress (AC). In 2010, he was again unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at the Benin Convention of the Party.
At the birth of the All Progressive Congress (APC), he was made the Chairman of the party.
In this meteoric rise of this political colossus, we can of course, see patience, perseverance, submission to tutelage; personal discipline, and sense of service to one’s community, loyalty to a cause in place of political filtration often preached by our political grandfathers. Little wonder he has equally won numerous traditional Chieftaincy titles: the Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun, Agba – Akin of Oke – Ila Orangun; Balogun of Aramoko – Ekiti, Jagunmolu Oodua of Ijebu-Ife, Apesin of Ilasha-Ijesa, Basorun of Ilobu and the first Baba Oba of Umoru-Ijebu. I remember in the 1980’s, an Ila based Apala musician, Alhaji Adeleke Aremu sang in praise of Chief Bisi Akande; “ Adebisi elepo Olorun jaye e dun ni igbeyin”. As you celebrate your 78th birthday today, we thank God, the musician’s prayer has stuck. With all good wishes for good health and peace of mind the Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun.
