Deputy Senate Leader Oyelola Ashiru has said that the late First Republic politician, Chief Josiah Olawoyin was an inspiration and a lesson to all politicians.
Ashiru, who represents Kwara South District at the upper legislative chamber, said this in Offa, Kwara State at the book launch and posthumous centenary birthday celebration of the late politician.
The event was witnessed by traditional institutions, business moguls, among other personalities.
The book, a compendium of unnamed writers has its foreward written by a veteran journalist and former editor of the Nigerian Tribune, Banji Ogundele. Ashiru, said that the late politician was an inspiration and a lesson for us all.
The senator added that the he “was a leading light in the political trajectory of Offa and the then Northern Nigeria. It’s now a thing of pride to be a Yoruba man. A Yoruba man can now walk freely in Abuja.”
Chairman of the occasion Yusuf Ali (SAN) lamented that principled political stands have left the nation’s politics, especially, starting from the Second Republic.
Represented by Ibrahim Atofarati, the legal luminary said that the matter is made worse today because, “unlike
in the First Republic, when the political parties were mass movement and owned by all party members. Today, the political parties are virtually owned by the mighty, powerful and rich”.
Ali said that late Chief Olawoyin, by his principle political stance showed that one can be a politician with high moral values, adding that the late elder statesman refused all the juicy political offers to stay true to his political convictions.
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“Chief Olawoyin used his politics to benefit his immedíate constítuency, Offa, and the larger North. He was a formidable man in the opposition camp.
“This was at a time when the opposition was plaving the role it ought to play by putting the government of the day on its toes”.
Reviewing the book, titled, J. S. Olawoyin: a century of legacy and leadership, Editor, Saturday Tribune, Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, told stories of network of relationships among Offa, Ilorin, Ibadan, and old Oyo people, as well as other tribes in the country.
“The book is well referenced and comprehensively indexed. It is a worthy testimonial in memory of a worthy Chief J. S. Olawoyin. The book has done a great justice to the life and memory of the first Asiwaju of Offa.
“It is a celebration of glorious place of Offa and its leadership in Yoruba history. I recommend the book to all leaders and aspiring leaders to know the strength of the complexity called Nigeria and to all, who currently suffer subjugation and slavery made in the Nigeria state.
“The book tells them that the masquerade that currently pursues them and pursues us would soon be tired. And they should not surrender to the marauding spirit,” he added.
The reviewer also eulogized the late elder statesman for bequeathing a worthy legacy, while he congratulated the children for allowing their father to live on through them.
