Title: Resilience in Leadership
Author: O. Olanlokun
Year of publication: 2014
Reviewer: Yusuph Olaniyonu
Yusuph Olaniyonu reviews a book written on the life and times of one of the pre-independence political leaders of Nigeria, Alhaji Dauda Soroye Adegbenro, who was a dramatis personae in the Western Region crisis which eventually triggered the events that led to the collapse of the nation’s first attempt at democratic rule.
Courage. Loyalty. Steadfastness. Devotion to a cause. Community service. Astute political leadership. Grassroots mobilization skills. These and many other attributes form the core of the repackaged biography of Alhaji Dauda Soroye Adegbenro, a political leader in the pre-independence and immediate post-independence period in Nigeria’s political history. The 196-page book written by late Dr. Olajire Olanlokun who once served as chief librarian of the University of Lagos was launched on October 16, 2014 in the hall of the Ogun State Television, Abeokuta, at a grand occasion attended by top politicians, academics, professionals, businessmen, community leaders, students and others.
The book, first published in 2005 was recently revised with more contributions from members of the family and associates of the subject of the biography. The new effort was co-ordinated by one of the colleagues of the late author, Dr. Taofiq M. salisu. The book is divided into 12 chapters which cover the early life, early involvement in party politics, parting of ways of Chief S.L. Akintola with his colleagues in the Action Group (AG), the war of brothers in AG, legal battle for Premiership and post-Emergency politics in Western Nigeria.
Others issues covered by the various chapters of this major work on Nigeria’s political history, particularly the early experience of Nigerians in political party administration, the practice of parliamentary system and regionalism include first post-independence regional elections, post-election developments, Owu chieftaincy tussle, the last political activities of late Adegbenro as seen by his associates and the concluding remarks by the author.
Like every good biography, the book goes beyond the story of a man. It is the reproduction of the history of Nigeria and the politics of an era in which Alhaji Adegbenro found himself and operated in. The author, while writing about the early life of the subject, takes us through the history of the early settlement of the people of Owu quarters in Abeokuta and some of the villages in present day Ewekoro and Ifo local government areas in Ogun State. From the second chapter, the book takes us through the political life of late Adegbenro and it continues in that line till the end, except for chapter nine which dwells on the tussle over the Balogun of Owu and Ekerin of Egba chieftaincy titles. Even then, the chieftaincy tussle was in itself a form of local politics.
From the second chapter, the importance of this book in correcting historical misstatements and clearing long held misrepresentations becomes obvious as it makes it clear that unlike the falsehood that was often spread on the so-called ‘cross-carpet’ story of the constitution of the 1952 Western Regional Assembly, the members including Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Adegbenro and others were elected as independent members who later for the purpose of the election of first Premier chose whether to team up with the Action Group led by Awo or NCNC led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
It is also necessary to relate how this book helps to authenticate the claim that the debates in the Western Regional parliament were so enriched and with great depth so much that the quality was comparable to what obtained in Westminster, London. The copious use of quotes from contributions of the Nigerian legislators to parliamentary debate helped to demonstrate this.
Incidentally, from chapter three of the book, the reader is taken into the details of the Western Region crisis where late Adegbenro led the pro-Awolowo forces in battling the break-away faction of the AG led by Chief S.L. Akintola. No doubt, the story on this crucial development which was to determine Nigeria’s first attempt at democratic rule after independence was written from the perspective of the political tendency to which the subject of the book belonged.
It is interesting reading in chapter four about how Adegbenro was chosen to become the new party deputy leader over and above many top party leaders who were earlier considered in the race for who succeeded Chief Awolowo as Premier of Western Region. It was obvious that Awo, who was a good judge of men’s character and values, had seen Adegbenro as the man for the moment. The time then required a deputy leader whose virtues included loyalty, resilience, consistency, humility, piety and ability to ignore the lure of the lucre.
However, much as one will recommend this book to students of history and political science, present and aspiring politicians as well as others who are interested in learning about Nigeria in her teething period of nationhood, there is so much work yet to be done in the area of proof-reading the text. There are so many spelling errors which sometimes are not only embarrassing but also altered the intended meaning of the author. Similarly, the author does not seem to have any respect for punctuations. And this is a major minus for the easy, free-flowing narrative style adopted in the presentation of the facts.
Also, on page 143 is a great omission as the author claims that “Akintola’s biographer even maintains that there was no shred of truth in the official results as the election was shamefully rigged”. However, in the references listed on page 157, not only is the name of the quoted author, Osuntokun, wrongly spelt, the page being referred to, is missing. So, how does one cross-check the veracity of the claim?
– Olaniyonu is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ogun State.
