Kola Animasun
11 May 2008
opinion
THE last few months have witnessed momentous times in the Yoruba nation. Its elders seem to be dying off.
(So it seems to me). Relict of Chief Michael Ajasin began the exercise. He was followed by a very colourful Pa Abraham Adesanya. She was colourful in all respects.
A leader of the Yoruba, he served his apprenticeship and took his stripes. He was a Member of the House of Representatives; a senator of the Republic and a leader of NADECO. He suffered for it and triumphed in the end.
He was a leader by popular acclamation. I was witness to his emergence at the Premier Hotel by a student leader in what accorded with the temperament of the gathering. Abraham Adesanya never let the side down.
A man of many parts - lawyer, politician and traditionalist. I have heard him dwelt on the Ifa corpus but I saw him physically personally in Abeokuta when he came for a political campaign in 2003. He was a beauty to hear.
In Yoruba circles, he was wont to chastise on the lack of our culture and our penchant for transacting our 'business' in English.
He never shied away from a fight. At an age when he had the excuse to run away - and many were running away - he stood to be counted on the side of justice. This is not to denigrate those who did the Andrew - for that also has its virtues.
Does the sage not say that those who fight and run away will live to "fight" another day?
And there was Jadesola Akande, the Professor of Law; daughter of a distinguished mother and father. Jade's mother was no other than the Great Wuraola Esan, educationist and politician.
She was a senator of the First Republic. Her father was lawyer Esan. I knew both parents very well. Lawyer Esan was a slim and quiet solicitor and advocate who had his practice near our house on Oke-Padre Street in Ibadan, among us, small boys then, his marvels lie in his suits and his Citroen car.
But Jade I knew very well.
We made acquaintance in London around 1962 through a mutual friend, Julius Omole (later a captain in the Nigeria Air Force). Julius was a friend of Debo Akande her husband. Debo, Omo Bale Ekotedo, is dead now but throughout his life he was my friend. Bless his soul. For me and many Yoruba, these were great losses. And at a time that the Yoruba are in search of leader! The right sentiments have been expressed.
And they have not been misplaced and I would like to adopt what the truthful ones, and not the ones through cliche here and there, among them, have said about the dear departed. And we have celebrated the 80th birthday of another outstanding Yoruba man, Ayo Adebanjo. Ayo is affable, robust and healthy looking with the smile of a 50 year old.
He laughs a lot - a measure of internal peace and contentment. Himself and Alade Odunewu are eternally young. You can say something else about anybody but not Chief Adebanjo.
He has candour, he may be wrong, but you will find him guilty not on account of not saying his mind. And an 80th birthday is an occasion to look back and look forward. He did just that. Segun Osoba, the Akirogun Egba, is from the same cast as Ayo Adebanjo.
He also has candour. To him applies: call a spade a spade and not an agricultural implement. He did not take kindly to some of the things Adebajo had said and some definitions of Afenifere. I cannot vouch to say I know both men very well but I know enough to pronounce one way or the other - Let's say: Honours even.
Afenifere, the bone of contention, I have had to define a number of times in the light of my knowledge. It came from the philosophy of Chief Awolowo and was tagged to the Action Group. It was both a wish and an acknowledgment of its achievement.
It is a word that could be tagged to any party that promises the egalitarianism which Awolowo preached and achieved. I was not surprised when the UPN was the darling, same was adopted.
To my mind, in the days of mushroom parties, the only one that would keep these promises would be entitled to the slogan. That is as far as political parties go. And only in the west because Afenifere is Yoruba.
The DPA has a right to the Afenifere tag but it does not have the right to compel anyone else not to do so.
As I said before, if it were socio-cultural it has no claim to being socio-political. And it cannot be used to range every Yoruba behind its banner. And that brings one to loyalty to Chief Obafemi Awolowo. And who is left? People as far apart as conservatives to socialists are using the name to conjure.
Even in Awo's house, a new prince has emerged. We did not know of any such prince in his time.
People are using his name to 'shine' and make hay. The rule this day is: Use Awo as a mantra to open the political doors. And they are using the name. You can see how they pay HID homage to gain recognition.
Now our leader is dead. Long live the leader. I am not unduly bothered how we are going to have another. I am bothered with future successions. Is he going to be a political one? How is he going to emerge?
We cannot afford to run aspiring leaders out of town. We must groom them now that we are running out of them. And we will not be able to do that if we are disunited. In unity is our strength.
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Read comments. Write your own.
