The Nation Newspaper

Tag: tribute

  • Tribute to Alhaja Abibat Mogaji

    SIR: Death has once claimed a woman of substance; a true Awoist, a formidable business woman (Iya’Loja). Alhaja was politically literate and highly enlightened. I remember her glorious past as leader of leaders of Iya’Loja that supported my ambition to contest the Federal House of Representatives seat vacated by late Hon. Ajimotokan who was made commissioner by Alhaji Lateef Jakande in 1979.

    That I won the primary and general election on the platform of UPN to represent the then Ikeja Federal House of Representatives seat in the Second Republic was largely due to the support of Alhaja Abibat Mogaji-led women support.  History will remember her as one of those who ensured women are not relegated to the background but given equal opportunity and she helped to produce women trailblazers in elective positions in Nigeria. Alhaja Mogaji lived a fulfilled life and deserves to be well celebrated in death. She left good legacies and stood as a role model and mentor for young women.

    After the second Republic, our political path did not cross but I always remember her with fond memories. Alhaja successfully added value to Lagos State political legacy and by inference the nation. She never contested any election but no one wins an election without her support especially in her area. She was a political ‘Guru’; and an ‘Amazon’ well loved by her people.  Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu gained prominence and acceptability under her as his mother.

    Rest in perfect peace with Allah that you served well on earth. I commiserate with the children and the immediate family members. May the good Lord console them. Adieu my dear political Mama; your good deed of the past can never be forgotten. God will give you your due eternal rest.

    Hon. Josephine Olatomi Soboyejo,

    Fmr. member, Federal House of Representatives;

    &Fmr. Commissioner for Women Affairs & Social Development, Ogun State

     

  • Chinua Achebe, a tribute

    Chinua Achebe, a tribute

    SIR: I first encountered Professor Chinua Achebe in the Literature class handled by Basorun Seinde Arogbofa at the African Church Grammar School, Oka-Akoko via Things Fall Apart, which, with Julius Caesar, Mayor of Casterbridge and West African Verse, were the compulsory texts for the 1974 May/June examination. But I met the man himself at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he had just returned from the United States as a Professor of English with a new Mercury Monarch that was the cynosure of all eyes on campus.

    Achebe defined my world as a youngster, especially as a literary scholar, though I studied and taught History all my post-secondary life. He defined for virtually all non-Igbo, the Igbo personality, precolonial Igbo agricultural/rural life and the parameters of social mobility, definition of wealth, influence and power in that society. His role in inaugurating and sustaining the Heinemann African Writers Series, which is now defunct, made him the Father of Modern African Literature. That feat made literature by Africans accessible to young readers of my generation and sustained the reading culture that is practically missing among the youth today.

    He cemented his place in history as one of the two all-time leading literary figures out of Africa, the other being the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. Even in death, Achebe will continue to define the African literary landscape, being (I presume) the most widely read novelist from Africa. He was far less successful as a politician or pan-Nigerian social critic, but he won respect and praise, and empowered the dwindling number of academics with a social conscience, by spurning the poisoned chalice of tainted national honours presented by successive bankrupt Nigerian governments. His place in history is secure as there cannot be another Chinua Achebe.

     

    • Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, FNAL,

    Vice-Chancellor

    Caleb University

    Imota, Lagos State

  • Tribute to Hugo Chavez

    Tribute to Hugo Chavez

    SIR: It is often said that some leaders were made while some were born. For Hugo Chavez the departed President of Venezuela, it can be said that he was made as he rose as military academy student to become the President of the oil-rich country.

    Born Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías on July 28, 1954, in Sabaneta, Venezuela, Chávez was the son of schoolteachers. Before becoming known for his reform efforts and strong opinions as president of Venezuela (1999-2013), he attended the Daniel O’Leary High School in the city of Barinas before going to the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in the capital, Caracas where, he later said, he found his true vocation.

    He also found time to play baseball and to study the lives of the 19th Century South American revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar and the Marxist Che Guevara.

    In 1992, Chávez, along with other disenchanted members of the military, attempted to overthrow the government of Carlos Andres Perez. The coup failed, and Chávez subsequently spent two years in prison before being pardoned. He then started the Movement of the Fifth Republic, a revolutionary political party. Chávez ran for president in 1998, campaigning against government corruption and promising economic reforms.

    After taking office in 1999, Chávez set out to change the Venezuelan constitution, amending the powers of congress and the judicial system. As president, Chávez encountered challenges both at home and abroad. His efforts to tighten his hold on the state-run oil company in 2002 stirred up controversy and led to numerous protests, and he found himself removed from power briefly in April 2002 by military leaders. The protests continued after his return to power, leading to a referendum on whether he should remain president. The referendum vote was held in August 2004, and majority of voters decided to let Chávez complete his term in office.

    Chavez’s first decade in office saw Venezuelan GDP more than double and both infant mortality and unemployment almost halved. Poverty also plummeted (The Guardian reports that its “extreme poverty” rate fell from 23.4 percent in 1999 to 8.5 percent just a decade later).

    College enrollment more than doubled; millions of people have access to health care for the first time and the number of people eligible for public pensions also quadrupled.

    Unemployment dropped by 7.7% since the start of Chávez’s presidency. It dropped to 10% in February 2006, from the 20% high in 2003 during a two-month strike and business lockout that shut down the country’s oil industry. The World Economic Forum ranked Venezuela as 82 out of 102 countries on a measure of how favorable investment was for financial institutions.

    I join the Venezuelans and other eminent people all over the world including Chavez’s childhood friend, Diego Maradona in mourning with the immediate family

     

    • John Tosin Ajiboye

    Osogbo Osun State

  • Tribute to Ebino Topsy at 70

    Tribute to Ebino Topsy at 70

    Chief Ebenezer Babatope, any day stands out in a crowd. Avuncular by disposition, Ebino Topsy as he is fondly called by close friends and associates is cerebral while his oratorical prowess commands instant attention. He is open-hearted, always warm, down to earth and ever focused. For me, the story of progressive politics in Nigeria can never be properly narrated without a fair reference to the roles played by this very ebullient and egregious politician, both in the past and in the present dispensation.

    Who would not remember the vibrant days of Babatope in the politics of Nigeria’s Second Republic?  He was the chief spokesperson for Africa’s best organised political party, the Unity Party of Nigeria. With the power of pen and shrilling voice as the UPN’s curator, Babatope, brazed by the spirit of the progressives, was a main torment for the then ruling defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). In those days, Babatope crowed like a cock, bleated like a sheep and often times roared like a lion against perceived misdemeanours of the ruling party.

    Babatope was simply a huge toast in the camp of the progressives in the Second Republic. His reputation soared beyond the coast of the South-West where he operated, whirled through the South-East, the home of late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Middle Belt where Chief Solomon Lar was contending, the cultural city of Kano where Mallam Aminu Kano held sway and then the Borno Empire which produced the only Nigerian politician who played politics without bitterness, Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri. He spoke in political terms and officially too for the great men who laid the basis for growth of democracy in Nigeria. Babatope! Oh what a man, what a speaker, what a politician, what a bundle of wit. To say that Babatope thought Nigerians the art of speaking for political parties is like stating the obvious. He laid the standard for office of National Publicity Secretary of parties as we come to know today. His own voyage into politics and the manner of his rise is a good study on how a politician should be baked

    Babatope did not join politics because he wanted to raise a fortune. He was a worker and a philosopher at the University of Lagos, so immersed in the propagation of progressive ideals rooted in the Carl Max doctrines before he got located. He was a columnist too. Unknown to him, the Tsar of Progressive Politics in Nigeria, Papa Chief Obafemi Awolowo secretly held him in high esteem. That was when Awo was pioneering a political group known as Committee of Friends, preparatory to the lifting of ban on politics in 1978 by then military government. Awo’s political team was complete long before full stream politics took off to establish the Second Republic in 1979. He specifically sent for Babatope to join the team which eventually metamorphosed into the great UPN. It was a party that gave Nigeria a robust visage on what politics should be.

    Babatope has helped Nigeria in many ways. At a critical point in the post Second Republic Nigeria, he was part of the strong men who engaged in the brinksmanship that steered the ship of state from hitting the rock. He helped the military government of General Sani Abacha to obviate the political crisis which pushed Nigeria to the edge of a clifhanger. He is a leader of leaders in his home state, Osun and an elder statesman in his country, Nigeria. A man like Babatope, so genuine and highly spirited in the struggle for Nigeria’s survival, deserves 70 applauses as he celebrates his 70th birthday. This is because he remains in the class of Nigeria’s last of the titans, given the experiences he carries as a politician and a leader

    I have had a long standing close relationship with the celebrant whom I call Egbon. His candour and quick wits endeared him to me. He is unassuming and full of surprises for anyone so close to him. I enjoyed part of his attitude to make surprises a year ago, specifically on 6 January, 2012, the day I committed my mum to mother earth at Alade Idanre.

    The week of burial was very turbulent for me as I made preparations for visitors to my home town. It was a week Nigerian’s went to war with their government in protest against the plan to remove subsidy on petroleum products. There was no fuel anywhere, just as chaos in the land looked stout enough to rubbish all arrangements we had made for the burial. I was demoralised and helpless. But then, people like Babatope surprised me with their morale lifting presence. I could not hold my shock when he suddenly turned up in company with one of my uncles, Chief Akanni Aluko.

    Today, I am paying homage to this great man who loves his country and the people so dearly. It is the reason I found this tribute on Babatope very compelling. My close relationship with Egbon Ebino is spanning four decades now.

    • Olamiti wrote in from Lagos

     

     

     

     

    His younger brother, Segun Babatope, has always been my buddy. We hit it together as a bosom friend with the former Governor of Ekiti State Segun Oni in the early 70s. During our days of friendship one thing led to the other and I grew to know Egbon Ebino. Segun and I were always toying with familiar pranks as bachelors. Then, Egbon Ebino though responsibly rascally used to warn and remind us that our fathers were servants of God. Today, Segun and I owe the Almighty God much gratitude for making us to accept Jesus Christ just after we got married in 1980.  I joined the Tribune stable as a reporter and got the rare opportunity to become Papa Obafemi favourite reporter covering his political activities and that made me to get closer to Egbon Ebino.

    As the functional Director of Publicity and Propaganda for the UPN, Egbon became so dear to Papa Awolowo because he found in Papa Awo, a dependable and adorable leader. To say the least, he became one of Papa Awo’s adopted children.

    Awo loved Babatope so much that he picked his tuition fees for law degree programme in the United Kingdom. For that reason, Egbon Ebino would for ever remain a dye hard disciple of Awo dynasty. If you are looking for a pure undiluted Awoist, you don’t need to look elsewhere, he is Egbon Ebino. He sleeps, dreams Awo! He drinks,eats thinking of Awo. He has kept the faith and his numerous writings have been educating the young ones who are itching to read informative materials of the sage Awo.

    Egbon Ebino is an elder with full milk of human kindness. He is always willingly to offer  assistance to anyone that comes  his way. But nature is powerful and so Babatope will not remain the vibrant youth he has always be. He is now 70! Now, what can I now say on a day like this that Egbon is 70 than to say I thank God for knowing you. I am grateful for your brotherly support to me during my moment of ups and downs in the Tribune. Your words of wisdom and encouragement saw me through my 32 years sojourn at Imalefalafia.

     

  • Northern governors pay tribute

    Northern governors pay tribute

    The Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) has paid tribute to the late former governor of Oyo State and elder statesman, Alhaji Lam Adesina, saying his death marked the end of a glorious era.

    Chairman of the forum and governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, said the late Adesina was a true nationalist who lived a purposeful life of dedication to the cause of Nigeria’s unity and development as well as commitment to the upliftment of the citizenry.

    In a statement signed by Governor Aliyu’s Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, the forum described the late Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftain as a loyal party man and a diligent, principled person, who stood on the side of the people at all times.

    “From his days as a newspaper columnist through his election into the House of Representatives, to his elevation to the position of the Governor of Oyo State, and his life in retirement, Adeshina remained with the people,” the statement said.

    The forum said the best tribute that Nigerians can pay to the late Oyo helmsman is to re-dedicate themselves to the ethos of nationalism, nation building, democracy and love for one another.

    It called on the Oyo State government to honour the memory of the former governor to serve as an inspiration to the younger generation of Nigerians.

    The forum prayed God to grant repose to the soul of the departed and grant the ACN and the family he left behind the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

  • Paul Kurtz: A tribute

    Paul Kurtz: A tribute

    SIR: I was deeply saddened to hear about the death of American philosopher Paul Kurtz, the father of secular humanism, on October 20. Kurtz was my friend and mentor.

    I saw Paul Kurtz for the first time in 1999 at the World Humanist Congress in Mumbai, India. In spite of his very busy schedule, he created time to discuss the situation of humanism in Africa with me. At the end of our talk, he encouraged me by quoting a philosopher who said: “Whatever is difficult is important.” I have always drawn strength from this maxim, particularly in the following years, as I have grappled with growing the humanist movement in the region.

    In 2001, Paul Kurtz, through his Council for Secular Humanism, sponsored the first international humanist conference in Sub-Saharan Africa, of which I was the main organizer. He later established the Center for Inquiry (CFI) in Nigeria—the first in Sub-Saharan Africa—which I directed until 2010.

    He was a great visionary and motivator. I enjoyed working with him because he gave me the opportunity to test and try my own ideas and initiatives for organizing humanism. He never imposed his own organizational ideas on me. This is one of the reasons why, under his leadership, CFI established contacts, centres and a presence in many countries, in Africa for example, where contacts were unknown and unthinkable. In Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Swaziland, etc.,

    II hope the contemporary humanist and free thought movement could learn or draw insights from his success stories and best practices. We humanists and skeptics in Africa will miss him a lot. However, we will continue to draw strength and inspiration from Kurtz’s writings and publications, from the institutions he founded, and other legacies he left behind for humanists/skeptics, and for humanity at large.

    • Adieu, Paul Kurtz.

    Leo Igwe

    Lagos

     

  • Tribute to Mohammadu Mamman Shuwa

    Tribute to Mohammadu Mamman Shuwa

    Today is yet another sad day for our country Nigeria. This morning General Moham-madu Mamman Shuwa was murdered just outside his Maiduguri home by a group of heartless people who are suspected to be members of the muslim fundamentalist sect Boko Haram.This is a tragedy of monuemental proportions. General Mohammadu Mamman Shuwa was not only an absolute gentleman but he was also perhaps the most respected, effective, disciplined, restrained and successful battle commander in the Nigerian Army during the civil war. He was in command of the 1st Division of the Nigerian army and it was the 1st Division that managed to defeat the Biafran Army and enter the east from the northern front.

    Unlike many other commanders on both sides of the war, Shuwa was known for his immense compassion for the civilian population quite apart from his extraordinary courage and fighting skills. It is a matter of historical record that, unlike with other commanders, no massacres of civilians were carried out under him or by his 1st Division throughout the entire course of the war.

    After capturing them he treated the Biafran soldiers, enemy combatants and the Igbo civilian population with immense respect and remarkable compassion. This man was not just a profoundly good and humane person, he was not just a war hero, but he was also a great father, husband and family man. He was a very quiet man that consistently shunned the limelight and public office even though there is not one retired senior army officer in this country or politician, alive or dead, that did not revere him and hold him in the highest esteem.

    He was not only one of General Yakubu’s Gowon’s most trusted and able officers and senior commanders during the war but he was also exceptionally close to and highly respected by other great and distinguished war-time commanders like General Olusegun Obasanjo, General Mohammadu Buhari, General TY Danjuma, General Hassan Usman Katsina, General Benjamin Adekunle, General Adeyinka Adebayo, General Sani Abacha, General.Alani Akinrinade and General Ibrahim Babangida. They all looked up to General Shuwa just as did those of us in the younger generation and who are not in the military.

    I should mention the fact that again as a measure of this great man’s level of compassion it is on record that during the northern officers counter-coup of July of July 1966 he saved the lives of many Igbo officers by locking up the armoury and refusing to give up the key after the mass killing of Igbo officers started all over the country. At that time General Shuwa was Commander of the 5th Battalion in Kano. Had it not been for his timely intervention and efforts and the efforts of the late Major General James Oluyele, who was his Second in Command at the time, many more Igbo officers that were stationed in Kano, would have lost their lives that night.

    Yet there is far more to the story of this great man than just his efforts, as gallant and indispensable as they were, during the civil war. He went on to live a long and distinguished life of honour, duty, selfless service and distinction after the war. I mourn with my brother Hon. Yusuf Tuggar and his dear wife who have lost their father-in-law and father respectively in such tragic and cruel circumstances and I mourn with the Shuwa family of Maiduguri for this great loss.

    If I were to ever use the great Mark Anthony’s words when he saw Julius Caesar’s bleeding and dying body after he was cut short by Brutus and the other Roman traitors, this is the time that it is appropiate to do so. For I can say of General Mohammadu Shuwa as Mark Anthony said of Caeser that “here lies a Caesar, after whom comes no other”.

    We have lost a true ‘’titan’’ and a living ‘’immortal’’ all rolled into one. He was a great son of Nigeria and a glorious shining star and we must do all that we can to honour him even in death. May the Lord have mercy upon General Mohammadu Mamman Shuwa and forgive him of all his sins. May his good deeds speak for him before God. May the Lord welcome him into the hosts of Heaven. May his beautiful and compassionate soul rest in perfect peace. And may the Lord avenge him of all those that saw fit to cut short his precious life.