Segun Gbadegesin
HONOURABLE Olawale Oshun, a quiet and unassuming maverick, who has been in the frontline of progressive initiatives in the Southwest since the beginning of the 4th Republic, and who, before then, had demonstrated his fidelity to democratic norms in Nigeria, with scars to show for it, just turned 70. And the garlands are justifiably in full display, flowing around the neck of a self-sacrificing man of honor to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.
Wale Oshun doesn’t appear like your average maverick. He doesn’t carry himself like a dissident. Indeed, a good chat with him leaves you wondering how he got himself involved in politics in the first place. Then, when you learn that he was a prominent leader in the struggle against military dictatorship, which earned him a forced exile, you cannot but wonder aloud. Surely, appearance can be deceptive. For behind the gentle demeanor is a steely resolve against injustice and oppression and their purveyors whether in military uniform or civilian garb. Here, then, is a rebel for the cause of freedom, justice and good governance.
Wale Oshun was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in the Third Republic and was elected by his colleagues as Chief Whip. He was comfortable delivering to his constituency until the Babangida regime decided to annul the June 12 Presidential election which Chief M. K. O. Abiola had won. A non-maverick interested only in his own comfort would play along. But the rebel in him chose a different path, that of resistance against dictatorship. It was also a path of hardship.
Wale Oshun was the Secretary of NADECO Abroad, a role he played with distinction, despite the demeaning conditions of an omo onile olona in the crosshairs of the bespectacled horror man and his ilk. In his capacity as NADECO Abroad Secretary, I interacted by correspondence with Oshun from 1995 when I served as President of Egbe Isokan Yoruba in Washington, DC up to 1998 when I served a President of Egbe Omo Yoruba, USA.
In 1996, at the initiative of Baba Chief Antony Enahoro, a new forum, World Congress of Free Nigerians (WCFN) was inaugurated to mobilize Nigerian pro-democracy organizations engaged in the struggle. The inaugural meeting was held in Washington, DC from September 26th to 29th 1996 with Baba Enahoro and Professor Wole Soyinka as co-chairs representing NADECO-Abroad and UDFN respectively. I served as Congress Director. In that capacity, Hon. Oshun and I had quality-time interaction and I got to know him and his passion for justice.
It was, however, the 2nd WCFN Congress in London that sealed my deep respect for Oshun. I relied on him and his team for the local organization of the Congress which held from June 12th to June 14th, 1997 coinciding with the 4th anniversary of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Despite the usual internal wrangling and attempted sabotage by pro-military agents, the congress was a huge success.
A particularly distressing occurrence, however, was an apparent collaboration between a religious group and pro-military agents. As Wale Oshun recorded in The Open Grave: NADECO and the Struggle for Democracy, the betrayal of justice by religious organizations was a most shameful aspect of the June 12 crisis. A mosque in London refused to host a memorial service for Kudirat Abiola on Saturday, June 7, 1997 as part of the events organized for the Congress.
Yet, after the death of Abacha the following year, the leaders of the same mosque were the first to volunteer their venue for an Abiola memorial service. Were they fearful of consequences the previous year? To rub salt into the open wound of justice, the sermon at the 1998 memorial service centered on the needlessness of crying over a lost mandate by Abiola since another Muslim, namely General Abubakar, had taken over the mantle of governance. In other words, what mattered to the clerics at the mosque was the faith of whoever was in charge. Understandably, as a champion for justice, this double-face and double-speak was painful to Oshun, himself a devout Muslim. But it was a regular occurrence across a wide spectrum of religious and social organizations in those days.
I recall this and other similar episodes in the checkered history of the struggle for democracy and justice for a purpose. When we talk about public service, we have often focused on those who serve the public as either elective or appointive public office holders. We have asked questions of them. We have queried their integrity. We have questioned their loyalty to the nation and to their constituents. We have often raised the bar in our assessment of their credibility. This is all well because it comes with the territory they choose to occupy. And, in any case, without such a laser beam, there is a tendency for public officers to fall victim of their idiosyncrasies.
However, we also stand the risk of missing out on the second part: the public. If public service is to better the life of the public, and therefore, if public officers are to be evaluated from this vantage point, what demand should we make of the public? What motivation should we expect of the public? If we denounce greedy and self-centered motivation on the part of public officers, should we also chastise the public for entertaining similar motivations? If we blame public servants for disobedience of rules and regulations, should we also hold the public accountable? To what extent must the public be held to the demands of justice without which there can be no peaceful co-existence?
These are pertinent issues in our new age of a global pandemic that threatens the health and ways of life of billions of people in the world. We are quick to point to the shortcomings of government officials —and there are plenty of these to note—but what are we to make of erratic public response to guidelines coming from governments, especially when they appear to disrupt our normal lives? Do we have the moral choice to pick the guidelines we wish to obey or respect even when we put our lives and those of others in danger?
Back in January 2020 when the first wave of Coronavirus infection was crippling China, my foremost fear was what Nigeria’s response would be, first on the part of government, and second on the part of the public. I knew and still know that we have a crippled health system, no thanks to years of neglect. The picture of Okeho General Hospital published by a young man, Tayo Irantiola, this past week with blown-off roofs and wasp-infested hallways is replicated throughout the country. With such a sorry state of the health system, the nation cannot cope with millions of ICU-headed cases from this pandemic. Therefore, what is required is prevention, with the public heeding restrictions of movement and government enforcing such.
The first case of the virus was reported four weeks ago. From the experience of Italy, we know that once it visits a nation, cases quadruple every three days. We have been lucky, and we must thank the governments of Lagos and Ogun States as well as NCDC for their efforts.
But the public has been anything but cooperative. Owambe parties, worship services in churches and mosques, weddings and funerals were going on as if nothing was at stake. Godless clerics irresponsibly assure their ignorant flock about “corrosive anointing” against the virus. Political parties hold rallies against the dictate of reason. Where, then, is the social responsibility of the public?
The civic education of the public is the unfinished business of our time. In view of recent efforts pushing a renewal agenda, I am optimistic about the Southwest leading this effort with Olawale Oshun and his team in the driver’s seat. Under his able leadership, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) committed itself to revamping the value system that sustained the old Western Region. Born of this effort is the Yoruba Academy and Development Agenda for Western Region (DAWN), which has spawned the Western Nigeria Security Network (Operation Amotekun).
Happy 70th, Honourable!
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