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Tag: finest

  • Afe Babalola: Humanity at its finest

    “Human life has meaning only to that degree, and as long as it is lived in the service of humanity… For me, humanity is infinite.”
    —Adolfe Joffe

    I am sobbing because of how bad the lives of the people Baba has helped would have been if God has not sent him to Ekiti. My sobbing is also about what will become of other people that still needs mercy from Baba Afe but won’t get it when Baba may have left us.” – A loose interpretation of the Ekiti dialect from Mrs. Aderemi Ajileye, one of the recipients who received N10,000 given out by the AB Foundation who was in a sober mood while others were jubilant.

    The two epigraphs above may be contradistinctive, yet they both point in the same direction in capturing the true essence of Aare Afe Babalola. The first provides a sort of definitive paradigm by which Joffe believed (before his death by suicide) must be the fulcrum around which human life must necessarily revolve for it to be said to be truly meaningful, while the other is a graphic attestation to a particular life and how it’s already being adjudged with no less philosophical undertone by Mrs. Ajileye, a barely literate trader. The kernels of these two epigraphs have not only metastasized in forming his total being, but Aare Afe Babalola has fulfilled, if not surpassed Adolfe Joffe’s demand from earthly beings. Perhaps more importantly is how hundreds of thousands of people around the world whose paths have crossed that of Aare (including yours truly) may have cringed, recoiled or cried inside at one time or another when it suddenly would have hit them that this great philanthropist (who’s probably in his 90s but as fit as a fiddle) will not be around forever as Mrs. Ajileye did.

    As a foremost personality who has transmuted into a colossus in Nigeria’s socio-economic and judicio-political landscapes, it’s expected that Aare Afe Babalola will mean different things to different people. But the one unassailable fact that remains unequivocally constant like a Northern Star that defines Aare is a very essence that encapsulates humanity at its finest. His unquenchable thirst to leave the Nigerian society, most particularly his beloved Ekiti State and its people better than he met them came once again in vivid colour on Tuesday, January 3, at the AB Foundation, Ado-Ekiti.

    Dubbed “AB Foundation Poverty Alleviation Package,” it was at the event hall of this foundation that some of Nigeria’s prominent dignitaries that included the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe and his entourage of all his Council Chiefs; the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim; Chief Deji Fasuan, the prolific octogenarian writer and public analyst; Prof. Tunde Adeniran, a former Nigerian ambassador – to name just a handful – were gathered as living witnesses to the joy and excitement of one thousand needy indigenes of the state. On this day, all the 1000 people in the hall received envelopes stuffed with the minimum N5,000 prize to the grand largesse of N100,000. Although the recipients knew intrinsically that they were lucky to have made it into the foundation hall as they were sure to go home with probably their first financial gift of the year, but what they did not know was where they would fall under between the N5,000, N10,000, N50,000, or the N100,000.00 categories of recipients. As a result, the apprehension on the faces of some of them was palpable. To others, these categories didn’t matter as they were already rocking excitedly on their seats because they knew that their financial stations would most definitely be enhanced by the time they left.

    As if Baba himself knew that people would be curious as to how the foundation arrived at the one thousand threshold and the yardstick that was utilized in determining the eligibility of the would-be recipients of his financial package, he explained in his opening remarks that the foundation’s initial decision was to extend the financial gesture to no more than 200 people. “But when reports came to me that the people that filled the forms had swollen despite being told that the foundation had reached its limit of 200 people, tears ran down my face. I told them to increase the number of recipients to 1000 people”. That announcement did not only touch some raw nerves of some of the audience as some shook their heads in sympathy and appreciation, it also underscored the heart-wrenching poverty that the Nigerian masses continue to face constantly in which Aare has played, and continues to play his role without let or hindrance in alleviating.

    The Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim who was the special guest of honour delivered his speech by attesting to the fact that he had never met a Nigerian personality so unique and has such outstanding spirit of giving like Aare Afe Babalola. His Royal Majesty enjoined the lucky congregants to judiciously use whatever amount they’re lucky to be given from the great philanthropist so that “a year from now you would give testimony as to how you’ve been able to multiply this money which would be to the greatest delight of the giver.” The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Adejugbe also extended his profound gratitude to Aare Afe Babalola for his many socio-economic exploits which had radically transformed his domain in particular. His Royal Highness thanked Aare very profusely for siting the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), a world class higher institution of learning that states like Lagos, Ibadan or any part of the federation would have felt greatly privileged to have. Oba Adejugbe advised the would-be recipients to look seriously into agriculture with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of being given the cash they did not work for. Chief Fasuan and Prof. Adeniran were not left out in intimating the audience with the rare human qualities that are integral to Aare’s genetic make-up in their own speeches.

    Perhaps what Prof. Adeniran may have inadvertently left out in his speech on this ‘August occasion’ was the life-changing role Aare played in the life of this great intellectual Ekiti son and former ambassador. His education probably would have been permanently truncated. This is because at some point he could not pay his tuition and the young Adeniran was shown the door. But he ran to Aare for help and he quickly obliged without any strings attached. Now a professor, one can only imagine how Adeniran’s life would have turned out if his path had not crossed that of Aare Afe Babalola. Aside his own rough and unconventional road through which he attained his education, the lack of which would have most certainly made him a subsistence farmer to this day, Aare’s only commandment, which is etched permanently in his consciousness, is that quality education must be the single most important endeavour for any living being to possess. He has thrown his all into this time-honoured value as he had demonstrated in the life of Prof. Adeniran and so many others. Baba continues to throw everything he has as exemplified by ABUAD. Making a difference in the education sector is his driving force. It is what gives him the greatest joy.

    I have been privileged to be at many of Baba’s landmark occasions such as ABUAD’s anniversaries, matriculations and convocations, among others. In all these occasions, torrents of encomiums were always showered on Aare and the way he affects his society by the cream of society and foreign dignitaries alike in terms of his impact on individual lives, his unquantifiable contributions to various professional and educational organizations in Nigeria that by extension impacts humanity at large. I have seen letters of appreciation and acknowledgement that affirmed the aforementioned by multilateral organizations and world bodies. In not a few occasions at some of these events have I witnessed my own tears gently, steadily and uncontrollably oozing out from where I sat for no reason other than the realization that this exceedingly good man is also a mere mortal who would one day leave us – just like Mrs. Ajileye who sat pensively quiet when others were dancing and singing. Perhaps it was this shared spiritual connection with Mrs. Ajileye that may have telepathically led me to her in the midst of that joyous multitude.

    Both of us may have had some mental conversations with God as to why the “I am that I am” and the “unquestionable changer” couldn’t give exceptions to certain people like Aare Afe Babalola to live forever. While I have made my peace with the fact that Aare can never be eternal, his contributions to humanity on a grander scale will remain indelible and thus eternal, which is just as good for me to hold on to.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com
  • ‘They were among our finest’

    ‘They were among our finest’

    Three University of Benin (UNIBEN) teachers died in an accident that occurred in Abudu village on the Benin-Agbor highway. The accident involved a fuel-laden tanker, a bullion van and passenger vehicles, reports EZEKIEL EFEOBHOKHAN (600-Level Pharmacy).

    FOR three days, lectures were suspended at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) last week. It was not because of a crisis, but to mourn the death of three teachers described as some of the institution’s “finest”.

    Prof Lucky Okunrobo, Dr Godwin Joseph and Dr Saturday Idemudia died in an accident in Abudu village on the Benin-Agbor Expressway.

    The lecturers were returning from a conference when their vehicle caught fire in the accident involving a fuel tanker, a bullion van and passenger vehicles.

    Twenty-two persons were burnt beyond recognition in the accident, which occured during the diversion of traffic caused by the bullion van, which broke down at a sharp bend on the highway.

    The petrol-laden tanker lost control,  rammed into the passenger vehicles and exploded.

    The late Prof Okunrobo was the Head of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, the late Dr Joseph headed Pharmaceutical Microbiology Department, and the late Dr Idemudia was an Assistant Lecturer in the  Pharmaceutical Microbiology Department.

    The victims were said to be returning from a Biotechnology conference, held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

    The news of their death hit students like thunderbolt. That fateful day, Pharmacy students had gathered at the Sports Complex to play the Dean’s Cup. The 600-Level students were taking on their 400-Level counterparts for the cup. When the news of the lecturers’ death broke, the competition was abandoned.

    Students broke down in tears as they returned to their hostels. A large crowd, comprising workers and students, gathered at the faculty to mourn the lecturers. Lectures and other activities were cancelled in their honour.

    The Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria Students (PANS) declared a three-day mourning. The students, clad in black, gathered daily to hold procession round the campus to mourn their “finest lecturers”.

    Tears flowed as some of them lamented the manner of the lecturers’ death, blaming the policemen guarding the bullion van for the tragedy.

    “We are sad because of the tragic manner we lost three of our finest teachers,” PANS president, Andrew Akhabue, said during the rally. He described the death as a “monumental loss” to the faculty, the university and the nation. “Words cannot express our pains and grief. We can only pray to God to rest their souls in perfect peace,” he added.

    A student, who claimed to have witnessed the accident, blamed the police for it. The 400-Level student, who simply gave her name as Gladys, said the policemen focused on protecting the money in the bullion van and not on saving the people screaming for help when the tanker burst into flames.

    She said: “I was travelling on the road at the time of the accident. I escaped being burnt to death.

    We saw the victims screaming for help while their vehicles were on fire, but the policemen attached to the bullion van prevented people from moving close. They concentrated their efforts on protecting the money in the bullion van as they watched people being burnt. The bullion van caused the accident; the policemen could not save any life. Instead, they went after money.”

    The students’ procession went to the Administrative Block, where they met with management.

    Speaking with the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Osasere Orumwense, and the body of principal officers, Andrew requested for the teachers’ immortalisation. “The lecturers died in the line of duty,” he said.

    Prof Orumwense assured the students that their request would be considered by management, noting that the school also declared three lecture-free days in honour of the lecturers.

    He said: “We are all saddened by the death of these brilliant lecturers. Dr Joseph was my personal friend. I am still in shock over the manner of their death. We have heard your request and the management would consider all your requests.”

    The VC said he led the management team to condole with the family members of the deceased last Wednesday.

    In his condolence, National President of the National Fellowship of Christian Pharmacy Students (NFCPS) Emmanuel Nwachukwu said only God could console the bereaved families. He described the lecturers’ death as “irreparable loss” to the school.

    Ehidiamen Olobor, a 600-Level student described the late Dr Idemudia as “humble, and lovely”. He said: “I usually call him Dr ID. He was a perfect gentleman, with humility and kindness. He was a reservoir of knowledge. I never thought I would talk about him in past tense as I am doing now. It is so painful to have learnt of his death at this period of his career.”

    Onyeka Nwaka, a 400-Level student, said: “Prof Okunrobo was a very simple lecturer. When I heard about the incident, I prayed it should not be him. But, when I saw his picture, I was shocked. He was a nice and easygoing man. The whole faculty will miss him.”

    Felix Uro, a 600-Level student, described the late Dr Joseph as students’ favorite. He said: “Dr Joseph’s class was every student’s favorite. No student likes to be absent at his lecture, because he cracked jokes that made it easy for us to understand the course. This is why some of us cried when we learnt about the tragedy.”

    The late Dr Idemudia was friendly, said David Eneye, a 600-Level student. “Why will such a young lecturer die? Dr Idemudia was an embodiment of knowledge. He would explain over and over again and make sure everyone understood before he would leave the class. He was friendly. I just can’t believe he is dead,” David said.

  • President Jonathan’s finest hour

    At exactly 1:15 pm United Sates eastern time (6:15 pm Nigerian time) on Tuesday, my daughter called me from Lagos with the news that President Goodluck Jonathan had just called Gen. Buhari and congratulated him on his victory in the presidential election. I have seen Nigerian elections since 1952, have taken frontline parts in many, been a candidate in some, and won some. I can’t remember another election campaign that was so contentious, and so bitter and violent in tone, as the one that ended this past Tuesday. And I can’t remember any other federal ruler of Nigeria who so willingly conceded victory to an opponent as President Jonathan has done.

    In the history of Nigeria, the one or two minutes of greetings between President Jonathan and Gen. Buhari this past Tuesday is very likely to go down as President Jonathan’s finest hour as a Nigerian public official. And those one or two minutes may very well go down as the turning point in the hitherto tumultuous path of Nigeria as an independent country since 1960. If Nigeria goes on from this point to evolve into a country with a disciplined leadership, orderly management, openly democratic politics, and a dynamic modern economy, President Goodluck Jonathan could become the initiator of needed change for Nigeria. Some day in the future, our grateful descendants may erect statues to his memory.

    Sure, most of us Nigerians have spent the past four years lamenting President Jonathan’s inadequacies. Because he comes from the Niger Delta, where many brave youths have arisen since 1960 to war against excessive centralization of power and resource control, and against an insensitive federal establishment, very many Nigerians naturally looked up to him to start a process of constitutional changes – changes that would give the Nigerian federation a more rational structure, and restore to our federating units much of the responsibility for development and resource management that the Federal Government has been messing around with. But, not only did he not start the needed change, he even seemed for some time to be opposed to it. And when he was finally prevailed upon to take some step and call a National Conference, he did absolutely nothing to give it any direction.

    Quite rightly, therefore, when some eminent citizens in Nigeria’s most progressive region rose up during, the now concluded election campaign and urged their people to support him on the grounds that he would carry out the recommendations of the National Conference; their people were skeptical.

    During the same years under President Jonathan, our country has increasingly suffered distress on account of terrorism. At least, in the course of the first years of this century, we Nigerians grew used to believing confidently, and with considerable pride, that ours was the strongest military in Africa. In various trouble spots on the African continent, and even in places beyond Africa, we earned the reputation of being a key factor in international peacekeeping ventures. When Boko Haram began to raise a challenge against our country, therefore, most Nigerians felt sure that our military were more than capable of quickly getting rid of them. But the challenge mounted and mounted, while President Jonathan seemed more and more at a loss on what to do. The crisis attracted the attention of the whole world when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students in a girls’ boarding school and we seemed to have no meaningful response. Various foreign governments and international agencies came in to offer help, and soon, through them, we got the shocking message that our military were hopelessly inept – as a result of rampant corruption.

    This national shame reached a peak when the armies of our supposedly weaker neighbours (Chad, Cameroon and Niger) intervened and began to achieve significant success against Boko Haram – success that seemed beyond the capability of our own military.  From this situation concerning our military, the image of our presidency as commanding chief over corruption assumed huge proportions. In fairness to President Jonathan, it is not right to charge him with being the originator of corruption in our federal government. Corruption was already a mighty power in our public life, and our Federal Government was already a monstrously corrupt entity, and the purveyor of corruption in our land, when President Jonathan was only a boy at school. The very constitutional structure given our country in 1978- 9 was designed to facilitate corruption – and it has done so more and more blatantly since then.

    But the recent stories of our military’s ineptitude due to corruption did a lot of harm to President Jonathan’s image at home and abroad – even though, on the basis of what we know about our former presidents (military and civilian), President Jonathan does not, obviously, have the audacity to do what some of our earlier presidents did in the realm of corruption.

    All these tend now to pale into only little significance side by side with what President Jonathan did last Tuesday evening. From all that we Nigerians know, when President Jonathan put that call through to Gen. Buhari, exchanged a few words with him and put down the telephone, he almost certainly saved our country from a major conflagration. For many months, many of our politically influential citizens have been exchanging threats of violence and war if the outcome they desired from the presidential election did not materialize. For years, some influential citizens have been, reportedly, importing and accumulating dangerous weapons for implementing their threats. Among us ordinary Nigerians, fearsome speculations have reigned. Then with one small gesture, President Jonathan commanded the rising tide of lawlessness and anarchy to be still. Soon, we will have another man in the position of president, and it is upon him we will then have to pin our hopes for our country. If he indeed is able to start off peacefully and smoothly, we will find it impossible to forget that it was President Jonathan who did that which made such a start-off possible.

    From our present situation, I have a message for our politicians. Because of my principal job as a scholar and teacher, with a significant amount of participation in the politics of my country, and with considerable contacts with politics, governance and development in many countries of the wide world, I am often horrified by the manner in which we Black African peoples conduct the politics of our countries.  I mean our tendency to infuse excessively violent passions into our relationships with one another, especially in the course of election rivalries. Some of the threats of war and violence, which we have heard in Nigeria in recent months, are simply unthinkable in most countries outside Black Africa. Besides, among persons intensely working for this or that presidential candidate, I have watched people say, write, or enshrine, unbelievably vicious and hurtful things about other persons – even persons to whom they are quite close by blood and other kinds of bonds.

    Where does this primitive urge to hurt and destroy our fellow men come from? How really does such savagery help our candidate? And, now that the candidates have ended this more or less amicably, how do we live with the hurt and barbarism that we so thoughtlessly generated in past weeks? Is it true that, as some say, we blacks are less human, and less capable of thought, than other races? We need to think about these things.

  • Jega’s finest hour as Nigerian victory

    Nigerians have little faith in their institutions. Except perhaps for the church, today headed by prosperity prophets, who have taken over the socio- economic role the state should perform in society; all other institutions are facing crisis of credibility. The bureaucracy is so powerful that it controls the water we drink, the air we breathe, the education of our children; where to live and where to be buried.

    Recently, a theft of N5billion pension fund was perpetrated inside the office of the Head of service just as another director in charge of the police, the most important organ of state, stole over N32b. The legislature has become a parasite living on the sweat and blood of those they are elected to protect through humane enacted laws. The judiciary is for the highest bidder. Those who allegedly stole N1.6 trillion are not in chains but in government because the outgoing President Jonathan government says ‘the wheel of justice grinds slowly in Nigeria’. Until now the picture of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), that Nigerians had was that of an umpire that often takes side with one of the competing teams if the price was right.

    But with commitment and strength of character, Jega changed that picture leading to the miracle of 28th March 2015. On that day, Nigerians came out in their millions, waited for hours in the sun, others in the rain, determined to cast their vote because unlike the inglorious moment in the First Republic when Chief Remi Fani Kayode said his party would win whether the people voted for it or not, Nigerians trusted Jega and believed their vote would count. He has not let those who put their trust in him down.  For Nigerian, it is the dawn on a new day. For the first time in the history of our nation, an incumbent president was defeated ‘round and square,’ through a process that was so transparent that the President could not have been anything but magnanimous in defeat to promptly congratulate the victor.

    The battle against forces of darkness that swore to rule for sixty years or pull the nation down on their head had been fierce.  Jega’s most potent weapons were the millions of Nigerians he was able to convince that sacrificing quality time to secure their PCVs, wait patiently for hours on a queue on the election day refusing to be disfranchised by enemies of our nation, spend their resources to rent generators, canopies, chairs or buy refreshments for their compatriots were worthy endeavours for sustenance of the soul of our nation. Thousands of our young corpers who spent Friday and Saturday nights sleeping in mosquito infested open field and unable to take their bath for two days made the sacrifice because of their faith that Jega’s efforts would bring a better tomorrow.

    It is gratifying to know that the current INEC is Nigerian made. It is made up of patriotic individual Nigerians. I was filled with admiration as I watched Kayode Idowu, the chief spokesman for the INEC chairman, who appeared not to have slept for days, educating Nigerians on the need for patience and understanding on Channels Television last Sunday. There were many voting locations with neither INEC officials nor INEC voting materials. But Nigerians remained resolute having realized that INEC was engaged in a battle of wits with those who worked assiduously to ensure its failure. At the end, their resilience and patience paid off. Those who had thought Nigerians especially the middle class would give up after a few hours were disappointed. Many in their sixties and seventies patiently waited on Saturday and those who had roles to perform in their churches on the palm Sunday returned briefly to vote when voting started before returning back to their churches.

    The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) said in preliminary findings that the vote was “conducted in a peaceful atmosphere within the framework that satisfactorily meets the continental and regional principles of democratic elections”. This is a credit to Jega and Nigerians who have faith in him. Except in the south south where militants, both young and old, often resort to self-help and Lagos where enemies of Nigeria were bent on truncating the transition, the election went smoothly everywhere. INEC’s success came after a hard fought battle with formidable foes beginning with the president, his errand boys and errant elders, his attack dogs, PDP Boko Haram insurgents and the Niger Delta militants whose leader Godsday Orubaba, a former minister of Niger Delta put up a show of shame on Tuesday in the full glare of national and international audience in a futile attempt to derail the transition.

    Of course Jega survived all his foes including President Jonathan, his greatest detractor who without proof claimed non indigenes in Lagos were being discriminated against by INEC in the distribution of PCVs; PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu told a delegation of Africa Union election observers led by AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi that his party objected to the use of card readers because  “the machine may not make for credible elections as it is said to easily malfunction especially when the battery is weak”; a former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, who spoke on behalf of Southern Leaders Forum insisted  there would be no election except Jega quits  and in fact, calls for his sack and arrest. There was also the National co-coordinator of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) Otunba Gani Adams, who wanted Atthiru Jega removed ‘on the basis of PVC distribution and introduction of card reader’

    There were also 15 political parties that opposed the use of the card readers because “if the card reader should develop some technical problems, there is a possibility that the consequences of such development would affect about forty) or fifty percent of the polling booths nationwide. The national chairman of MEGA Progressive Peoples Party, Dare Falade; the presidential candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria, Kelvin Alagoa; and the presidential candidate of the Alliance represented them. Rafiu Salau amongst others represented them.

    The churches were not left out. There was Bishop Abraham Chris Udeh, the General Overseer of Mount Zion Global Faith Liberation Ministries, Nnewi, Amambra state, who had a vision that Jega must be removed. Buffeted and bedeviled by the typical Nigerian problems, INEC has emerged a new Nigerian successful brand and one institution that have made Nigerians proud. Jega’s joy for ending our long nightmare, I am sure will have no bounds. It is his victory as much as it is Nigerian victory.

  • ‘He’s the finest’

    ‘He’s the finest’

    Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was agog last Saturday for the wedding of the Secretary-General, African Society for Professional Advancement in Washington, United States Abdul Rasheed Ajibade Abubakar and former Miss Zainab Olaide, reports AMIDU ARIJE.

    Exotic cars competed for space at the Emeritus Prof Theophilus Oladipo Ogunlesi Multi-purpose Hall in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, last Saturday. Itinerant drummers made brisk bisiness singing the praise of guests as they enter the hall. Beautifully-dressed female ushers welcomed guests with warmth.

    It was at the Nikkah of Zainab Olaide and Abdul Rasheed Ajibade.

    It was a joyful day for the families of the late Abdul Waheed Olaide Suberu and the late Sheikh Dhikrullah Aremu Abubakar as they gathered at the venue to witness their children’s union.

    The couple were the cynosure of all eyes. They were dressed in lace attires with matching pairs of shoes.

    The bride, Zainab was ful of smiles. She was the toast of the day.

    The groom, Abdul Rasheed, is the Imam of Luftil-Llahi International Prayer Group in Washington the United States (US) and Secretary General of African Society for Professional Advancement. His joy knew no bounds. He was busy taking pictures of his bride and himself during the ceremony.

    The Nikkah was presided over by Sheikh Muhideen Ajani Bello, who, in his sermon emphasised the importance of marriage in a man’s life. He said it is one of the basic principles of Islam which makes man responsible.

    He urged the couple to hold firm to Allah. The Islamic cleric said nikkah is the sunnah (practice) of Prophet Muhammad which all Muslims must follow.

    Sheikh Bello prayed for the success of the union and presented the couple with their marriage certificate.

    Zainab described the day as her happiest, adding that her hubby is the finest man she ever met.  She said he is religious, calm and understanding.

    “It is my happiest day, he is a religious very understanding man,” she said.

    The groom, a graduate of Public Policy, University of Baltimore, United States said it was his day of joy. He described his wife as beautiful and understanding.