Tag: Osoba

Former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba has reflected on the protracted crisis in Afenofere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, urging its chieftains to close ranks.

The veteran journalist lamented that the organisation has closed its eyes to reforms which can foster dynamism and foster a sense of participation.

The former governor, who blamed the chieftains for the protracted crisis that has enveloped the group, said the solution is attainable.

Aremo Osoba also wondered why Afenifere lacked succession pattern, a constitution and drive for youth inclusion and participation, which are critical to its solidification and survival.

He told reporters in Lagos that Afenifere had a good vision which can continuously be realised in the interest of Yoruba race.

The leadership of the umbrella body has split, with two elders, Pa Rueben Fasoranti and Senator Ayo Fasanmi, claiming to be leader. Fasoranti, former old Ondo State Finance Commissioner and Fasanmi, President of the defunct Action Group (AG) Youth Association, joined the political family in 1951. They were loyal to the former leader, Second Republic Senator Abraham Adesanya.

Efforts to bring the two camps together by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), led by Olawale Oshun, at a meeting in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Conference Hall, Ibadan nine years ago collapsed. Since then, there has been no renewal of reconciliation.

Two years ago, Fasoranti resigned as leader, alleging that members of the group lacked discipline. He complained that younger elements were not listening to the wise counsel of elders.

However, he was persuaded to rescind his decision to leave the apex leadership to avoid the effects his departure may have on the organisation.

In recent times, politics has further polarised the fold. While a section of the group has been suporting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 2015, another section has teamed up with the All Progressives Congress (APC). Those suporting APC alleged that those suporting the PDP have derailed from the progressive ideology.

Osoba said: “The future of Afenifere is in the hand of God and the God of Yoruba will definitely not abandon His own. Our leaders, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Adesanya and Chief Bola Ige, will not die in vain.

“All of us must take the blame. We don’t have succession plan. We waste our time on acrimony. Up to now, we don’t have Afenifere constitution.”

The octogenarian politician traced the crisis rocking Afenifere to the mismanagement of the presidential nomination of the now weakened Alliance for Democracy (AD) at D’Rovans Hotel, Ibadan in 1999 and the deep seated rift between the late Chief Olawale Dawodu and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the Lagos chapter.

Osoba lamented the weakness of the crisis resolution mechanism in the organisation and lack of youth enlistment in its structures and propagation of its vision and goals.

He added: “They claim to be Afenifere. No youth is with them.”

Veteran journalist and two-time governor of Ogun State Aremo Olusegun Osoba is 80. His memoir, ‘Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism and Politcs,’ will be presented in Lagos next Monday. The eminent politician spoke with reporters on the journey so far, his foray into journalism and politics, the controversial pact between former Southwest Alliance for Democracy (AD) governors and then President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, Afenifere crisis and the battle for restructuring. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

How do you feel celebrating 80?

I feel the same; I feel elated. I thank the Almighty God who has kept me alive up to now. I had major medical challenges recently; two years ago, that could have taken my life. I survived major assassination attempts on my life. That I have been able to reach the age of 80 is through the immense grace of God. That is why every morning, I count it as an extra day and I do thanksgiving everyday.

There were many occupations when you were growing up, why did you choose journalism?

No accident. I was to read law. My closest teacher in school, Chief Oshunneye, wasted me to read law. He was even furious that I decided to go into journalism because I had an admission to study law at the University of Lagos. But, Alhaji Babatunde Jose persuaded me to jettison the idea of reading law and come to journalism, although in my school days, I was a regular writer in the school magazine at the Methodist Boys High School, Lagos.

At the time you chose journalism, what was the attraction?

The attraction was the challenge. A good journalist faces challenges every day. Journalism is adventurous. Journalism is educative. You learn every day. Journalism gives you exposure. And for somebody who is street wise like me, journalism id a great profession. You have the ability and training to relate with all sectors of society; the great people like the Prime Minister of the country, parliamentarians. At the same time, you relate with petty thieves. At a time I was covering little crimes. You must be comfortable with all sectors of the society. It is a great training ground that helped me in my years as a politician. It trains you to be a leader. It trains you to be objective. Journalism trains you to accept other people’s opinions because a lot of times we public articles and stories that we disagree totally with. But, as a journalist, yours is to inform the public and let the public make their judgment.

How did you break the news of the assassination of the Prime Minister, Balewa?

The details are in my book. I don’t want to be repeating it. People think the assassination of the prime minister was perhaps the only major story that I did. I did many exclusives. I will give you an example. A Mercedes benz. It became controversial. Gbolabo Ogunsanwo and I covered the exclusive story. I had many exclusive stories on the civil war. Even, in my later years, when I got to the Herald, the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohammed and the capture of Dimka that held the country to ransom. I was there and I had full details of what transpired. The details are in my book. When Col. Taiwo was killed, I was the one with the then Secretary to Kwara State Government, who went and discovered the body of Col. Taiwo on the way to Offa. The issue of Shugaba who was taken away and thrown like a stone across the border, we reported it. He was the Majority Leader in the Borno State House of Assembly. It was another landmark. The impeachment of Balarabe Musa, I was there. I can go on and on about the exclusive stories I covered. But, there have been too much emphasis on Tafawa Balewa, although it was my major beginning that threw me to the world of fame.

You said you survived many assassinations in your life. Could you give us an insight into all these?

You see, some of our people who I will call vicious characters; and I will give you examples. They are all in my book. I gave them a piece of my mind in it. Wale Oshun, who wrote a book, ‘Clapping with one hand,’ and in the book created the impression as if I was nobody in the struggle. And Okunrounu who for years, because he wants to be governor of Ogun State, see be as an Abacha turn-coat. I have had occasions to challenge them if any of them suffered as I suffered, then, they have the right to insult me. But, if they didn’t go all that I went through, they should keep their mouth shut for ever and ever. Everything is in this book. I want them to reply in details the way I had put documentations in this book; the way I had put witnesses. I was the first to be arrested after the formation of NADECO by Abacha, and I was taken to Kam Salem House. I mentioned Oba Akiolu there, who was the Commissioner of Police who gave me his office to use because I was sleeping in a big hall infested with rats. The rats were running around all night. I was the first to be arrested. I was the first to be charged to court along with Bola Tinubu, Commodore Dan Seleiman. We were charged before Justice Shonowo as people who formed NADECO. We were to go to jail. Justice Shonowo ruled on the issue. When we were not given bail, Justice Belgore, who was the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, intervened and gave us bail. I went through that. I was detained in Kam Salem House. After all these tribulations, I was transferred to Alagbon in the open compound at six o clock in the morning. We resumed; myself, Bola Tinubu, Dan Suleiman and others who were taken to Alagbon.

Subsequently, the attempt on my life started on August 23, 1994. When Abiola had returned and had been arrested, we went to celebrate his first birthday in detention. They came to my house. They had attempted to set Dan Suleiman’s house on fire on 22nd. There was an attempt to set Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers on fire on 22nd. On the night of 23rd, when all these attempts on Dan Suleiman had accured, I checked out of my house; I went into hiding. I was lucky. They came to my house on August 23 purposely, perhaps, to kill me. I was not home. They gained access without any key. They had security key. My SSS attached to me as a former governor, Stephen Itokpa, I think from Benue, didn’t knows that the security people were the ones that came to invade the house. He engaged them in a shoot out. When he exhausted his ammunition, he had to scale the wall. That was the first attempt on my life in 1994. The rest I didn’t know until Rogers came to give evidence in court  and revealed all that had transpired.

The second attempt was September 1995, when they attempted to set my house on fire in Abeokuta. I don’t sleep early. I just heard a heavy spark. The smoke engulfed the entire room. They are all in my book. I had to call out. The house went on fire. That was the third. The fourth was Roger’s evidence in court that they were sent out to go and kill Adesanya, Alex Ibru, Phobeni, and Bola Ige. These are records in court. He said they stayed in front of my house for a whole day. I did not come out. The second time, they followed me up to the Shagamu Inter-change road. They wanted to get to a quiet place. At that time, there was no traffic jam. I was going to Abeokuta. But, fortunately for me, the military boys knew me and recognised me, even from Alamala, Abeokuta. They waved e on. The few minutes they spent there, he said in evidence that they could not catch up to meet me. Hence, I  escaped an attempted assassination. When Wale Oshun and Okunrounmu start talking, I look at them as small boys in the struggle. They didn’t go through the kind of things I went through. They should keep their mouths shut.

How influential on you was Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the man who described you and your friends, Peter Ajayi and Felix Adenaike, as the three musketeers?

I have said, and nobody has ever controverted it, that the three of us were the youngest closest people to Awolowo. I have repeated this over and over, that among those closest to Awolowo who are still living that I can count as my senior, are Lateef Jakande and Ayo Adebanjo. They cannot deny it. And the Awolowo family knows it. We dinned every other day with Papa Awolowo. We got tutelage direct from him. We did out PHD on public life through tutelage; from him. We were extremely close. He made us part of all the UPN organs. There was no organ of UPN that the three of us did not belong to, up to the highest level. I always challenge them too of there is any of them that can produce the kind of photographs that I took with Awolowo, action photographs. In Yola, the day they wanted to deal with Bola Ige. At Ikenne, the last broadcast Awolowo made on 1983 election. I have the action photograph. I have records of all the minutes of meetings of the UPN. So, this book, I want people to react and anybody that will react, I want him to produce documentary evidence. I have documents, not just photographs. If I include the photographs I have, it will be a whole book. It will be an encyclopedia. But, I have restrained myself by not including much document. I have a lot of documents.

How would you describe the impact of your parents and other people on your life?

I thank God. I give the greatest respect to my father, a disciplinarian. My mother was a quiet and reserved person and she taught me how to respect people.

The greatest influence on me again was my uncle, Prophet Joseph Ayodele babalola. People don’t know my background, that I am related to Babalola, the Founder of CAC, the pioneer Pentecostal church in Nigeria. I spent most of my holidays with him. In fact, he was the one who gave me the name, Oluwasegun. My mother had challenges about her early children who didn’t survive. Joseph Babalola said this one is Oluwasegun, God is victorious all over evils, and that this one will survive, and I survived. I thank him. I am now 80. It is in my book. The spiritual aspect of my life I gained from Joseph Babalola. The other side of my life, the rascality, everything I learned from Lagos. I was a member of virtually everything. In 1954, I was a member of Alakoro Boys and Girls Club in Ebute- Ero. You were trained how to be street wise. You were trained to do community service as a member.  My activities were not limited to academics. I was a member of Boys Scout, Red Cross, Debating Society, Yoruba Cultural Group. I had broad education.

What about Jose?

After my childhood days, and I decided to go into journalism, Alhaji Jose truncated my studying law in 1965. Alhaji Jakande brought the International Press Institute Training from Nairobi to Lagos. And we were the pioneer people that later metamorphosed into the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos. Expatriates were sent from International Press Institute from abroad. I was in the University of Lagos for a session, where we got Diploma in Journalism. By the time I came out, Alhaji Jose took me to UK to go and do a refresher’s course under the Commonwealth Press Union. I was thrown into the professional hand of Alhaji Babatunde Jose. In Daily Times, I had gone through major course, obtaining Diploma in Journalism. By 1970, I had gone to Indiana University, Bloomington, to do an advance course in journalism. It was like Alhaji Jose was preparing me for so many things to come. People thought I didn’t go to university to take degree. A man who could go to UNILAG, Commonwealth Press Union, Oxford University, Indianan University, whcch was one of the respected Mass Communication departments, and did post-graduate course in Harward University. I was the first Nigerian. What did they do that I have not done? I was part of Nimma, limited to ten to twenty people and you had post-graduate in Harvard.

May be that was why Areoye Oyebola said Jose like you more than him….

Oyebola said I was Jose lag dog and that was why after the crisis in Daily Times, I decided to go to Heralds outside the control of Jose to prove my worth. And if I was a lag dog, a favorite who did not know his left and right, how come that I was successful in Heralds? I am not being immodest. There was no newspaper that I managed and I ever collected subvention from the federal or state government. I managed Herald and made profit. I left Herald. I went to Sketch. I never collected subvention from owner government. I managed Sketch, built a multi-story office, new machine, new equipment, even up to desks and tables. Daily times was dead when I came back as Managing Director. I turned it around. I turned it to profitability and we were paying dividends to shareholders. Would a fool, a man who doesn’t know his left and the right be able to do that; a man they claimed became editor by favouritism? I am proud to say that I am one journalist in Nigeria, who managed three major newspapers and made them profitable, successful and you cannot be profitable, if people don’t buy your paper, if advert don’t come to your paper. I managed newspapers where I paid salaries as at when due, made workers comfortable, gave them car loans. In my time, all those who worked with me in Herald, Sketch and Times will tell you.

Upon reflection, would you now say that two party system is better than the current arrangement?

Of course. It is unfortunate. The tactical mistake Gen. Babangida made on June 12 destroyed his political engineering that he had put on place. That political scientist, Dr. Cookey and Prof. Omoruyi, who headed the Centre for Democratic Studies, their reports led to the creation of the two party system. The two party system put the conservatives on one side and the progressives on the other side. At that time, nobody defected from the SDP and the NRC. NRC was to the right. SDP was to be left. Now, nobody, no matter the problem in the party, crossed from the NRC to the SDP or from the SDP to the NRC because the ideological divide was clear. Kofo Akerele Bucknor became a senatorial candidate with two votes. The primary was through open ballot system. You queue behind the candidates of your choice. What happened? Dr. Wahab Dosunmu, Towry Coker were in the race. Wahab Dosunmu was in the forefront to win. Somehow, there was a disagreement and they boycotted the primary. Kofo stubbornly said she was not going to boycott and she stood. Only two people queued behind her. SDP people said they were not happy the way the national leadership was handling the primary. They were just boycotting. Then, the Chairman, Baba Gana Kingibe upheld the primary. Despite that, Wahab Dosunmu and Towry Coker did not leave the party. At the election, although she was not the person the party wanted, they still voted and she became senator. If we had gone with the two party system, Nigeria would have had a different story today.

There was only a difference of one or two governors between SDP and NRC. In the Senate, it was a difference of one or two senators. It was all spread round the whole country. Those who became governors then were high caliber people-Oyegun was a retired federal permanent secretary. Seidu Bada in Katsina was a retired permanent secretary. Emeka Ezeife was a retired permanent secretary. The late governor of Kaduna, who headed the Essential Commodities, Dabo Lere. Shaaba Lafiagi was the General Manager of Bacita Sugar Company before he became governor. I was the Managing Director of Daily Times. Otedola had been Personal Assistant to Awolowo decades before he became governor. Olumilua had had a successful foreign service career. The governors then were men of caliber who had had varied experiences in life, unlike now that Obasanjo turned the governorship into all comer’s affair.

Was there a pact between AD and Obasanjo in 2003 and did Obasanjo betray AD governors?

That is stating the obvious. It is in my book. Obasanjo hoodwinked all of us. He deceived all of us. He promised true federalism, fiscal responsibility, genuine census. Our leaders thought Obasanjo was a changed person. The pact was that he will do major things to restructure Nigeria. He failed us. we were all part of it. I have no regret we did. I didn’t have a second term. My landmark spread of projects round the whole state is still a benchmark for successive governments. Go to any village in Ogun State, they will tell you what I did for them. Obasanjo truncated my second term. At 80, there are not many of my peers who today God has given the grace to still remain relevant; to be endowed, to go through all kinds of tribulations and survive.

Afenifere crisis…

Our leaders started he break up of Afenifere with Bola Ige. The D’Rovans’ election was the beginning of the end of Afenifere. The details are in my book. I feel back, even in his grave, Bola Igbe is still being attacked by writing. That hurts people like us. I have challenged the Afenifere elders’ how many yiung people are still with them? How many people are in Afenifere? Who are they handing over to? I am part of the elders now. Our attitudes do not accommodate contrary opinion. I give you an example. When AD was registered, Oyegun was part of us. At a meeting in Kaduna, Oyegun said AD should collaborate with the All Peoples Party (APP), led by Mahmud Waziri. Our leaders lambasted Oyegun and he was kicked out of AD, despite the fact that he suffered during the struggle. Within one year, they later used APP for the presidential election. In the process f maneuvering, they got Falae to contest on the platform of the APP. The elected APP governors were up in arms against us. If they had cooperated, there was no way Obasanjo would have won. Bafarawa in Sokoto, Aliero in Kebbi, Kachalla in Borno, Sani Yerima in Zamfara. Hashidu in Gombe. All the Afenifere destroyed the opportunity we had because the whole country had conceded the presidency to Yoruba.

Look at restructuring. We are all for it. Is there anywhere in the constitution where the president can decree it? I have told them, let’s engage the National Assembly. But, they go to newspapers and shout. When the elders go to the National Assembly and realised what the National Assembly had done and they were waiting for the consideration of State Assemblies, they were surprised. Whether the constitution is perfect or not, we have to engage the National Assembly. Even, if you want a referendum, the National Assembly will have to pass an amendment to cede its power to the referendum. They shout. When election comes, let they tell me one House of Assembly member they produce, one senator that they produce, one House of Representatives member they produce. They can’t emulate Osinbajo, who as Attorney General of Lagos State went to court to fightthe battle for restructuring. And many of them are lawyers. They just stay on the pages of the newspapers.

envelop as reporter.

Some people said you were a military apologist..                                             

You can’t be an apologist and run a newspaper that will be profitable. Every newspaper has its editorial policy. You must live by it or you leave. There is no newspaper that is totally free. Anybody in Guardian, let him go and write articles demonizing Uhrobo nation, and lets see whether he will survive till the following morning. Anybody in Vanguard, let him go and insult the Itsekiri nation and lets see if he will survive the following day. I told the people at The Nation. You can criticise some policies of APC. But, go and say that APC is a useless party. You will not survive till the following morning. Go and insult Awolowo in The Tribune and see. All of us are under one constraint or the other. No newspaper is totally free. Let The Sun write that Igbos are useless and tell me if he will survive till the following morning. You know the limit of how you can go. I ran Herald, Sketch and Times without collecting subvention from either military or civilian government and I made them profitable. Like the title of Jose’s book, I walked the tight rope. I deserve respect.