A Blast from the past: Awolowo & the need for a virile Opposition in present day Nigeria's political sphere

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO'S LETTER FROM PRISON TO MAJOR GENERAL AGUIYI IRONSI PRESSING FOR HIS RELEASE AND THAT OF HIS COLLEAGUES (DATED 28TH MARCH 1966)


CONFIDENTIAL
28th March, 1966

The Supreme Commander and
Head of the Federal Military
Government, Lagos.

Thro: The Director of Prisons,
Prisons Headquarters Office,
Private Mail Bag 12522,
Lagos.

Sir:

PREROGATIVE OF MERCY: SECTION 101 (1) (a) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERATION ACT 1963

1. I am writing this petition for FREE PARDON under Section 101 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federation Act 1963, on behalf of myself and some of my colleagues whose names are set out in the Annexe hereto.

2. Before I go further, I would like to stress that the reasons which I advance in support of this petition, in my own behalf, basically hold good for my said colleagues. For they share the same political beliefs with me, and have intense and unquenchable loyalty for the ideals espoused by the Party which I have the honour to lead.

3. There are many grounds which could be submitted for your consideration in support of this petition. But I venture to think that SEVEN of them are enough and it is to these that I confine myself.

(1) In the course of my evidence during my trial, I stated that my Party favoured and was actively working for alliance with the N.C.N.C. as a means, among other things, of solving what I described as ‘the problem of Nigeria’, and strengthening the unity of the Federation. In October 1963 (that is about a month after my conviction and while my appeal to the Supreme Court was still pending), a Peace Committee headed by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, made overtures to me through my friend Alhaji W. A. Elias to the effect that if I abandoned my intention to enter into alliance with the N.C.N.C. which, according to the Committee, was an Ibo Organisation, and agreed to dissolve the Action Group and, in co-operation with Chief Akintola (now deceased), form an all-embracing Yoruba political party which I would lead and which would go into alliance with the N.P.C., I would be released from prison before the end of that year. I turned down these terms because I was of the considered opinion that their acceptance would further widen and exacerbate inter-tribal differences, and gravely undermine the unity of the Federation.

TODAY, THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT, OF WHICH YOU ARE THE HEAD, LEAVES NO ONE IN ANY DOUBT THAT IT STANDS FOR NIGERIAN UNITY. BUT IT MUST BE EMPHASISED, IN THIS CONNECTION, THAT IF I HAD PRIZED MY PERSONAL FREEDOM ABOVE THE UNITY OF NIGERIA, I WOULD HAVE BEEN SET FREE IN 1963. IN THAT EVENT, THIS PETITION WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY, AND THE WORK OF CONSOLIDATING THE UNITY OF THE COUNTRY TO WHICH YOU AND YOUR COLLEAGUES NOW SET YOUR HANDS MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE EXTREMELY MORE INTRACTABLE AND IRKSOME.

As recently as 20th December, 1965, identical peace terms (the only variant being that the alliance with the N.C.N.C. which was now a reality should be broken) were made to me here, in Calabar Prison, by a delegation representing another Peace Committee headed by the self-same Chief Justice of the Federation and purporting to have the blessing of the Prime Minister, with the unequivocal promise that if I accepted the terms my release would follow almost immediately. I rejected the terms for the reasons which I have outlined above.

(2) One of the monsters which menaced the public life of this country up to 14th January, this year is OPPORTUNISM with its attendant evils of jobbery, venality, corruption, and unabashed self-interest. From all accounts, you are inflexibly resolved to destroy this monster. That was precisely what my colleagues and I had tried to do before we were rendered hors de combat since 29th May, 1962.

On two different occasions I was offered, first the post of Deputy Prime Minister (before May 1962), and second that of Deputy Governor-General (in August 1962), if I would agree to fold up the Opposition and join in a National Government. I declined the two offers because they were designed exclusively to gratify my self-interest, with no thought of fostering any political moral principle which could benefit the people of Nigeria. The learned Judge who presided over the Treasonable Felony Trial, commented unfavourably on my non-acceptance of one of these posts and held that my action lent weight to the case of the Prosecution against me. I must say, however, that in all conscience, I felt and still feel that a truly public-spirited person should accept public office not for what he can get for himself — such as the profit and glamour of office — but for the opportunity which it offers him of serving his people to the best of his ability, by promoting their welfare and happiness. To me, the two aforementioned posts were sinecures, and were intended to immobilise my talents and stultify the role of watch-dog which the people of Nigeria looked upon me to play on their behalf, at that juncture in our political evolution.

(3) This leads me to the third ground. From newspaper reports, it would appear that you and your colleagues — like all well-meaning Nigerians — are anxious that on the termination of the present military rule, Nigeria should become a flourishing democracy. Now, democracy is a political doctrine which is very intimately dear to my heart. It was to the end that it might be accepted as a way of life in all parts of the Federation that I campaigned most vigorously and relentlessly in the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, from 1957 to 1962, to the implacable annoyance of some of my political adversaries. It was to the end that this doctrine might survive the severe onslaught of opportunist and mercenary politics that I refused to succumb to the temptation of the National Government. Many views — some of them well-considered and respectable — have been expressed about the value or disvalue of opposition as a feature of public life in a newly emergent African State. Speaking for my party, I submit that the Opposition which I led did, to all intents and purposes, justify its existence and was acclaimed by the masses of our people as essential and indispensable to rapid- national growth. This was so, because it was unexceptionably constructive. The abrogation of the Anglo-Nigeria Defence Pact was one of the feathers in its cap. Some of the policies which the Government of the day later adopted — such as the creation of a Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the introduction of drastic measures to correct our balance of payments deficit — were among those persistently and constructively urged by the Opposition inside and outside Parliament.

The point I wish to emphasise here is that it was not out of spite or hatred for any one that I chose to remain in Opposition instead of joining the much-talked-of National Government. I did so in order to serve our people to the best of my ability in the position in which their votes had placed my Party, and to ensure that the young plant of democracy grows into a sturdy flourishing tree in Nigeria.

(4) Since the declaration of emergency in the Western Region on 29th May, 1962, political tension has existed in Western Nigeria. My conviction on 11th September, 1963, together with the surrounding bizarre circumstances, has led not only to the heightening of that tension in Western Nigeria but also to its profuse and irrepressible percolation to the other parts of the Federation. The result is that it can be said, without much fear of contradiction, that today the majority of our people are passionately concerned about and fervently solicitous for the release of myself and my colleagues.

The work of reconstruction on which you and your colleagues have embarked demands that all the citizens of Nigeria in their respective callings should give of their maximum best. A state of psychological tension, however much it may be brought under control or repressed, does not and cannot conduce to maximum efficiency. In spite of themselves, people labouring under emotions which this kind of tension automatically generates are bound to make avoidable mistakes which in their turn have adverse effects on national progress.

It is, therefore, in the national interest that this tension should be relaxed, if possible, without further delay.

(5) A petition of this kind is, by its very nature, bound to be replete with self-adulation. I hope and trust that, in the circumstances, this is excusable. It is in this hope and trust that I assert that my colleagues and I have the qualifications and capacity to render invaluable services to our people and fatherland. Every day that we spend in prison, therefore, must be regarded as TWENTY-FOUR UNFORGIVING HOURS OF TRULY VALUABLE SERVICES LOST TO OUR YOUNG COUNTRY. Even my most inveterate enemies have given the following testimony about me: ‘AWOLOWO HAS STILL A GREAT DEAL TO GIVE TO THIS COUNTRY.’

No country however advanced and civilised can afford to waste any of its talents, be they ever so small. Nigeria is too young to bury some of her talents as she was compelled to do under the old regime.

It is within your power to restore my colleagues and me to a position where our fatherland can again rejoice at the contributions which we are capable of making to its progress, welfare and happiness.

(6) Nigeria is now SIXTY-SIX MONTHS old as an independent State. The final phase in the struggle for Nigeria’s independence was initiated by my Party in the historic Self-Government motion moved by Chief Anthony Enahoro and supported by me on 31st March, 1953. IT SHOULD BE REGARDED AS MORE THAN IRONICAL, AND AS PALPABLY TRAGIC, THAT TWO OF THE ARCHITECTS OF THAT INDEPENDENCE AND, INDEED, THE PACE-SETTERS AND ACCELERATORS OF ITS FINAL PHASE SHOULD BE UNFREE IN A FREE NIGERIA.

In precise terms, I have spent FORTY-SIX out of the SIXTY-SIX MONTHS of independence in one form of confinement or another. I happened to know that the leaders of the old civilian regime, in spite of themselves, did not feel quite easy in their conscience about the plight into which they had manoeuvred me in the scheme of things; and I dare to express the hope and belief that you, personally view my present confinement with concern and disapproval.

(7) It is usual — almost invariably the case — on the accession of a revolutionary regime, for political prisoners and, indeed, other prisoners of some note, to be released as a mark of disapproval of some of the doings of the old regime, or in token of the new dawn of freedom which comes in the wake of the new regime.

It would be invidious to quote unspecific instances. But in the case of my colleagues and myself, by courageously and adamantly opposing the evils which your regime now denounces in the former civilian administration, I think we are perfectly justified if we expect you to regard us as being in tune with your yearnings and aspirations for Nigeria, and therefore entitled to our personal freedoms under your dispensation.

4. In view of the foregoing reasons which clearly demonstrate

(i) that I have always and, under trying circumstances, steadfastly and unyieldingly

(a) stood for the UNITY OF NIGERIA,
(b) been opposed to POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM with its attendant evils,
(c) fostered the growth of DEMOCRACY in Nigeria;

(ii) that my incarceration

(a) has led to the heightening of political tension among Nigerians, which tension can only be relaxed by my release,
(b) has deprived our fatherland of invaluable services such as we have rendered before, and can still render now and in future, in greater measure; and

(iii) that the evils which my colleagues and I condemned and valiantly refused to compromise with in the old civilian government are what you now quite rightly denounce, and are taking active steps to remove in order to pave the way for national and beneficial reconstruction,

I most sincerely appeal to you to be good enough to exercise, in favour of myself and my colleagues, the prerogative of mercy vested in you by Section 10 (I) (i) (a) of the Constitution of the Federation Act 1963, by granting me as well as each of my colleagues A FREE PARDON. If you do, your action will be most warmly, heartily, and popularly applauded at home and abroad, and you will go down to history as soldier, statesmen, and humanitarian.

Yours truly,
OBAFEMI AWOLOWO


A. THOSE CONVICTED FOR TREASONABLE FELONY

1. THOSE STILL SERVING THEIR TERMS

1. Chief Obafemi Awolowo
2. Chief Anthony Enahoro
3. Mr. Lateef K. Jakande
4. Mr. Dapo Omisade
5. Mr. S.A. Onitiri
6. Mr. Gabby Sasore
7. Mr. Sunday Ebietoma
8. Mr. U.I. Nwaobiala

2. THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY SERVED THEIR TERMS

1. Mr. S.A. Otubanjo
2. Mr. S.J. Umoren
3. Mr. S. Oyesile

B. THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET BEEN TRIED

1. Mr. S.G. Ikoku
2. Mr. Ayo Adebanjo
3. Mr. James Aluko

Of a Nation, Her Weeping Leaders & Complacent Followers

My first reaction to the above picture was of immense sadness, for the President. I really did feel for him after all, aren't we all human? However, my anger against the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan led administration which was in repose mode reactivated itself. Indeed, I was not alone as comments on the above picture on my Facebook page shows. People are angry and deservedly so. Now, I have had conversations with different people and exchanged opinions on the culpability (or otherwise) of the President in the DANA Air tragedy that befell the nation. So monumental was (is) the proportion of this loss that people across the length and breadth of the country couldn't but shed tears at the grief evoked by such misfortune.

"How is this Jonathan's fault?" I have been asked. And my response has remained that I do not think, and never thought, he was personally responsible. But for crying out loud every buck stops at his table! For heaven's sake, he is the President. Every success and failure recorded during his time in office will be credited to his name because he is responsible for this country; therefore, I fail to get it when people try to exonerate him of inefficiencies he should be accountable for. If members of his cabinet are not living up to the expectations of Nigerians then it could be that there is a lack of communication between the President and his ministers on his vision for Nigeria. And by this I mean that either Mr. President has not effectively told his henchmen what his transformation agenda is really about or they misunderstood him. On a second thought however, transformations have been going on no doubt: prices of goods and services are at an all time high without commensurate quality; security of lives is at its ebb; infrastructures are dilapidated and worst of all, public trust has been eroded. Some transformation definitely!

In this case, he appointed Ms. Stella Oduah as Minister of Aviation and the Agency (NCAA) that certifies air crafts to fly fall under her purview. With all the emanating reports relating to the state of health of the 0992, MC Donnell Douglas (MD 83) from staff of DANA Air, it means that while our dear Minister was supposed to be ensuring that all agencies under her ministry discharged their duties diligently and effectively, she was at loggerheads with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic over their high fare of first class tickets in Nigeria in contrast with other African countries. She went chasing shadows and gave room for some unscrupulous elements to mess up with the substance of her Ministry. Maybe the aftermath of the fuel subsidy scam gives other public officers the impetus do as they wish. After all, is the Minister for Petroleum Resources not in office till date in spite of a damning probe report? Why should anyone act responsibly? President Goodluck Jonathan might not be a Pharaoh or a lion or even a General, but he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and it is high time he sees himself in that light and starts acting it!

After the crash, Ms. Oduah was reported to have cried (I didn't see that as weeping or crying) but I wasn't moved. True air accidents occur everywhere but there's a very marked difference between an accident and the consequence of a negligent act. An act that claimed over 160 lives! Putting many more into permanent grief; creating vacuums that will never be filled.

Next were the President's tears. Hmmm. Wasn't that how a certain Minister cried on Lagos-Ore-Benin Express-way on August 6 2007 when she visited the road and saw the dilapidated state? Hasn't the road claimed lives in their hundreds since then? We are tired of weeping leaders. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying leaders should become robots devoid of emotions; God forbid! What I am saying is that we should not get carried away forgetting the antecedents of our leaders.

And how about the rest of us? We forget so easily; scratching all of our problems on the surface and never getting to the root of any. Someone summarised our attitude thus: "All their indifference and mad obsession with their own self interest will ultimately come to haunt them. A lack of integrity in all sectors of their life means that all processes are compromised. Police lending out guns, doctors operating for the sake of the costs associated with it, government official selling free donated drugs meant for the poor, fake medicines being made, no emergency response because contracts awarded and looted! Teachers selling exam papers, people importing fake fuel! Soon, their building will be falling, bridges will collapse and yet they will still continue to smile and praise themselves for being able to navigate this hell they have created for themselves! After the Dana crash, I listened to them, not a statement about the ills that have created this crisis, not a single appreciation of the scale of the social ill that engulfs them! Tomorrow they will all go about their normal lives, cheating, lying and looting! Come friday/sunday, they will pray for the deceased and in particular that they themselves do not enter a plane destined to crash!" How true! How so chilling true!! Deeply religious we are, and yes, we must pray because God himself is in charge of all the affairs of man. But we need to realise that God blesses our actions. Or isn't it instructive that two-third of His name (go) is an action word? 

The DANA Air mishap has happened and is in the past. But we must fight collectively to ensure justice is done. And this goes beyond suspending DANA Air's operating license. Everyone found culpable in this criminal act has to be punished. Will this bring back the dead? No. But the essence of any punishment isn't to undo the past but to assuage the feelings of the bereaved while serving as deterrent to others. In addition, I believe a good number of us have read the report on Air Nigeria. We need to call on government to order a thorough examination of all air crafts on operating locally and sieve the wheat from the chaff. We should not go back to business as usual. Every one of us must wake up from this deep slumber. We cannot continue to haul criticism at government while sitting tight on our behinds. We can, have to and must do something to change our world in whatever little capacity we have. Everyone of us must in the words of Michael Jackson, think of the change we want, take a look at ourselves in the mirror and start the change process with the man/woman we see.

May God bless us all, keep us from evil and grant us the wisdom (and all it will take) to rebuild our nation. So long folks, be kind! xoxo

Are we this terrible? Is it not time we retrace our steps?

As I write this, my heart is breaking.... literally and the tears won't stop. And it isn't because of these tragedies that we have been hit by today. Yes, I am sad that yet again lives were cut short in their primes while people congregated to worship their God; blasted to death for no wrong doing of theirs. True, my heart was made heavier by the news of the crash of a Dana Air craft that filtered into the social and other media earning today such a terrible pseudonym "Black Sunday" But these are not what have got me weeping so much so that my eyes are puffed. My once heavy heart is shattering to pieces as I type this. 

Where did we miss it? When did we become slaves to wealth and money? How did we get to the point where the "dignity of labour" became an obscure, out-of-date "rhetoric"? Have we become so bad some other humans would wish us all dead and indeed celebrate news of the painful end of over 147 people (as reported by Yahoo News)? That people can see a picture of an aircraft that's ablaze and all they think and actually type is serves them right?

Dear friends, I saw the story of the Dana Air crash on Yahoo News, attracted by the erroneous number of 147 victims, I decided to read. I was shocked by most of the comments I read there. Below are some of them as they were on the site.

"Its not like these people matter much. If anything the Nigerian scam emails will slow down for a day or two." 

"New wave of Nigerian spam emails- "My uncle died in the plane crash and left behind a big fortune, blah blah blah""

"isn't that where lincoln was supposed to send all the slaves after the civil war? he sure made another big mistake"

"WHAT?? I won't be getting inheritance frozen in a bank account anymore???"

"Problem is that the morons you are referring to...well, they don't have friends, they don't have lives, they just have their keyboard and the internet to hide behind." 


"we can all pray it burns too the ground. Nigeria, is so evil , in every facet of any living entity. , They come into the USA and steal, lie, cheat, kill, cannibalize. they rob on the internet, , pirates, kidnappers, genocidal insane maniacs, Its in their DNA too be natural born killers.
They are evil filth"

"I don't know which would be worse, surviving or not if you crashed in Nigeria. Ugh... Nigerian hospitals..."

"Nigeria is run by Islamists who ensvlave and perpetrate violence against the Christians who live there."

"New wave of Nigerian spam emails- "My uncle died in the plane crash and left behind a big fortune, blah blah blah""

In the midst of the terrible, psychopathic comments though I found one which ignited some bit of hope in my by-this-time-broken heart

  "...I have lived in Nigeria for 3 years, Nigerains are cheerful, hard-working, artistic, very gifted people. Their life is incredibly hard, yet they find things to thank God for every day. They are very proud and take no crap from anybody, black or white and I love that. ....."

The time has come for us to mend our ways; young and old, male and female, it is time to get our values back and stop material worship that has taken over every sphere of our lives....

I am too sad to say more.... we need to redeem our image.... 

What is the truth?

"How could you have said that?" "Because it's the truth!" "I told the truth!" Typical lines from heated conversations in movies and everyday living. Then we have the one-liner philosophical sayings centred on truth: "Truth is bitter" "The truth shall set you free" etc

It was in my first year in University that I was first confronted with this question. Introduction to Philosophy was the course. The Lecturer had asked a member of the class to define "true". "Something that is not a lie is true" he answered. I was bemused; even as I hit away at the keys on my board, I have this smile playing at the corners of my lips as I recall this incident. That answer gave birth to many questions whose answers gave birth to more questions. Indeed, that lecture has a place in my heart as one of the most engaging and fun lectures I ever attended.

Take for granted that the above is an anecdote. But if I asked you the same question what would your response be? I had a discussion online with someone last night and my response to a question was "...but that's the truth" and he asked me that same question from my first Philosophy class in my first year at the University: "what's the truth?"..... And eleven years after I first heard it, I still didn't have a straightforward answer. Because I never searched.

Again, what's the truth?

I mulled over the question as I went to bed and I woke up this morning with the realisation of the truth! That truth that God has put inside of us. Did you know the truth is in us to guide us? Oh yes! Some call it conscience, others call it spirit - yes, the spirit of truth. What is the truth I found in me?

It is the truth that God is love and because he made us in his image and likeness, he expects us to love ourselves first, then treat each other as we would him were he to walk among us in flesh and blood;
It is a truth that we were neither born with a tribe nor a religion but into them. Therefore, whatever ideologies we have and hold on to were learnt;
That these ideologies were fed into us as the truth and have shaped our thought patterns for years;
But these learned "truths" can be unlearned to make way for a relearning of the truth as God wants us to know it - the truth that sets free!

So, what is the truth about our situation as a country?

Our leaders know that the seeds of ethnocentrism and religious superiority (and intolerance) have been sown in us over the years. They have watered and nourished what was sown into a weapon they manipulate us to employ against each other to their own advantage. This seed that was planted into us decades ago have been so well pruned, they have their roots in the core of our existence as a people. We fight ourselves while they smile; we cannot see eye to eye because of intolerance but they hobnob at their social gatherings; we kill ourselves over nothing while they protect themselves over our everything; we starve and thirst and quench even as they make their picks of choicest of foods and wines and flourish. The truth is that we know we are being used.

A few years ago, we resigned ourselves and fate to a "truth" that was propagated that they were more powerful than we are. But thank goodness, today we are aware of THE truth that if we CAN just put our sectional idiosyncrasies aside, we can defeat them; and free what is left of the now for ourselves and protect the future of/for our children. We can uproot that ugly tree with all its tap and burn it. Yes, we can! But first, each and everyone of us must reach into our inner selves and discover this truth. Only then can we speak in one voice.

Dear friends, what is your truth?

Good morning, have a great weekend ahead and a blessed June. So long, be kind! xoxo