Kola Animasaun
24 November 2007
column
AS I sat in the bosom of the Yoruba Tennis Club last Monday (November 17), my focus as always, was on the person of Alade Odunewu. He looked as strong as a 50-year- old. He was angular, nearly straight as a ramrod. Few people look as good as he did. And I contemplated how and what has been responsible for his youthfulness.
It occurred to me he has been contented with life and what it had to offer. He had been pleased with what has pleased God to endow him with. When I read the tribute by Tony Momoh, it crystalised: "I will never honour anybody with my anger," Allah-De was reported to have said. Tony says: "He is never angry, he has never angered."
Looking at Allah-De; he looks at 80, truculent and capable of seething so many times over. The truth is, again to quote Tony, "He has an inexhaustible patience. Whenever anyone is getting panic over a problem, Alhaji will remain cool, make consultations and take decisions." Now, I know one of the elements of getting old gracefully is to take things in your stride and never to get angry. I wish I had tried that earlier. Alhaji Alade Odunewu was a loadstone some of us younger generations of the tribe followed: Peter Enahoro (Peter Pan); Sam Amuka (Sad Sam); Ebenezer Williams (Abiodun Aloba); Unu Habib (Herbert Unegbu) followed with utmost attention. We wished to be like them. They were messianic in the pursuit of the cause and cast a spell on us in their mission.
They did not invite us to follow but they compelled us to follow their good example. As I focused on Hadji Alade Odunewu, I know his mission in life has been fulfilled. It manifested in the quality of men that came to do him honour on the occasion of the launching of his book, Winners take all. It is a re-issue and an addition, yet it was to pay homage to a great master of the profession. Alade has coined so many words that are today part of our life and which are not amiss in the body of the language. He has, without seemingly saying so, ventilated the feelings of the ordinary Nigerians, though satirically.
Hear Peter Enahoro: "To be sure, he could be brutally frank, but where Peter Pan would have named names, Allah-De would choose to be allegorical. Where perhaps Sad Sam might be alicoly, Allah-Del put smile on your face without exactly being merry; and where Tai Solarin was up there in the clouds above us all in another display of moral dudgeon, Allah -De simply stirred your conscience without permitting his person to intrude because he never saw himself as the issue. The Allah-De column registered his presence, but Alade Odunewu was self-effacing."
All of this attest to the beauty of the column: it is never heavy going; it is ever satirical; it communicates our innermost thoughts and fears. In his Out of the Present Ruins, column of September 12, 1996, he predicts: "That, at least for the purpose of this article, is neither here nor there. Except to submit as gently as I can that coup has a peculiar way of succeeding itself." Six or so additional coups after, Allah-De has been uncanningly correct. He prayed in a column of February 22,1966 - New Faces in the corridor of Power. "May the day never come when this nation will be called up to mourn the fall of its civil service. But that is not to ignore the aphorism that everyone is the architect of his fortune or misfortune. Or the simple truth that one must learn from other's mistakes. And, in this case, there are many mistakes to learn from. Permanent secretaries have been asked to pay more attention to "administrative machinery of their ministries." It is in the interest of these men that they should heed this warning." The civil service is now a shadow of its old self.
How's this for satire?: In so this Aburi of March 8, 1967 he wrote: "I take it that Aburi was issued to the public so they can read it and laugh, or cry. I take it, it was released so that all of us may automatically become members of the Supreme Military Council and help govern the country. I take it that Aburi was made public so we can praise or lampoon. And, thanks to the Eastern Nigeria Government. I take it that we can also dance Aburi from music produced on long playing records! I report that I have read Aburi with voracity of a hungry animal. I report that, on the whole, the Aburi exchanges made very interesting reading. In both the debate and the spirit of Aburi, Gowon is Jack, Ojukwu is Emeka, Ejoor melts down to David and Adebayo dissolves into Bob, Usman Katsina was cut down to his Usman size and Mobolaji Johnson had the Johnson of it excised.
Afterall, what's in a name?" Musa Yar'Adua, father of the current president, was Minister of Lagos Affairs and he had this to say about him in his column of March 22, 1969: "I recalled that only a few ministers refused to take part in the jamboree; one of them was the weary guy called Musa Yar'Adua who I believe, must be very busy behind his office desk as Minister of Lagos Affairs. He did not even go out to study modern land distribution methods." On our notion of justice, he has this to say: "In Nigeria, the normal reaction to injustice is to shrug our shoulders, run away from the dangers inherent in confronting authority and surrender to "act of God." But, the Ajayis did the right thing by daring and, we repeat, that is the course strongly recommended to all victims of injustice - protest and protest. This family went as far as the Presidency in search of justice. Why not? If there was a higher authority than that; they should go. What the sage, what constitutes a state? Men who their duties know; but know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain". This is from his column - Men who their duties know - of December 23, 1999.
In his definition of a riot - Riot in the House of November 9, 2000, he writes: "A riot, by whatever names called, is a riot, be it by the sons of Oduduwa, or the Arewa, or by Bakassi Boys or foppishly attired lawmakers converting a legislative chamber into a gladiators' arena. A violent disorder, confusion and uproar qualify as riot. Indeed, a greenhorn in a law school will tell you, disturbance of the peace by three or more people assembled together is a riot. What took place in Nigeria's House of Representatives last week Tuesday was a riot and one should not dignify it with any euphemism". Every of Allah-De's columns is quotable. And I personally have profited by it and from him, and we pray Allah-De will be with us for some time more.
Ribadu cannot be what pleases him
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was in for a strong language some time ago. The Federal High Court in Yola, Adamawa State told him: it was illegal and unreasonable for the commission to return to court seeking a stay of execution from a judgment of a court it has disregarded. Such is the disdain in which the courts and their decisions are held by the EFCC; that he needs proper telling off.
In the case of Bapetel, the court ordered the EFCC to hands off seized property of the Action Congress governorship candidate for Adamawa with immediate effect. Justice Muhammed Umar told the EFCC its continuous seizure of the latter's property after a court of competent jurisdiction had ordered its release amounted to gross abuse of rule of law - a grave indictment, particularly when you know Ribadu and Umeadi and some staff of the commission are lawyers.
The judge was in no mood to grant Ribadu's request after it had disobeyed the order of court. He said that would amount to encouraging the agency to continue to violate fundamental human rights and the rule of law. The judge clinched it: "If court judgments are not obeyed by government agencies, then it means a foundation for the breakdown of rule of law in the society is being built by the same government that is advocating rule of law. This will lead to anarchy if something is not done by government to see that its agencies comply with court orders."
The EFCC must not be allowed to constitute a government unto itself. We have been told and we verily believe that Omi tuntun ti ru, eja tuntun ti wo omi (meaning we have a new dispensation and new rules apply). We are not in the days when a civilian dictator directs the law.
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