By Bolanle Bolawole
“I have been hearing about Ahmadu Ali since 1976 when we sang ‘Ali must go’ in secondary school. Chief Bode George has been governor of Ondo State almost 40 years ago. They are our leaders and we love them but they should (now) take the backstage” – Gov. Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state.
“With age comes wisdom but sometimes age comes alone” – Oscar Wilde.
If, as Wilde posits, age comes with wisdom, then, it will be foolhardy to disdain age. If the words of our elders are the words of wisdom; and wisdom, as the Scriptures say, is the principal thing, then, why disparage age? A Yoruba adage says “agba o ki n wa l’oja k’ori omo tuntun wo” literally meaning nothing goes wrong when elders are around to give words of caution and seasoned advice. Wilde, however, recognises that can also travel alone – that is to say, it can come unaccompanied by wisdom; which means that one can be old and yet be no repository of wisdom; those whom the Yoruba call “agba iya” or “old-for-nothing” fools.
They only “carry age for head” or count years and decades like calendar but have no sterner stuff. This may not be what Fayose meant when he asked oldies likes Bode George and Ahmadu Ali to withdraw from the limelight and hug the backstage. Fayose probably only wants “asiko youth” (allowing the youth to call the shots) as afro-juju music king, Shina Peters, once crooned. Younger elements simply want to take over the PDP; the elders must yield the crown and clear out of the way ”jejely”; failure which the Fayoses of this world are ready to elbow them out of the way or club them in the head – if need be!
I, too, have been hearing of the Ahmadu Alis and Bode Georges for decades; but I think Fayose got the “Ali must go” or, better still, “Ali mon go” date wrong; not 1976 but 1978 was the peak of the epic students’ struggle to stop the commercialisation; nay, debasement of education under the Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo military junta.
I was in the Sixth Form (HSC) at Ilesa Grammar School when that stuff broke. I recollect a students’ union leader, Aibinuomo or Aibinuori was his name, who said he came from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) to sensitize and mobilize secondary school students at Ilesa to join the nationwide “Ali mon go” struggle. The school authorities drove him away and immediately shut the gates but a few of us scaled the walls and went with him to other secondary schools in Ilesa to get the job done. I remember him tell us the struggle was not only for those of them already in the university but also for those of us hoping to join them there in future.
Truly, I got admitted into the same Ife a few months after (in August 1978) and witnessed, first hand, the havoc that the commercialisation of education under Obasanjo had wreaked on hapless Nigerian students. Col. Ahmadu Ali, as he then was, was Obasanjo’s Federal Commissioner (now called Minister) of Education. Meals at the university-run cafeteria that used to be 10 kobo\breakfast, 20k\lunch, and 20k\dinner skyrocketed to a flat rate of 50k per meal, in addition to other amenities and facilities now denied university students and staff alike.
That was the beginning of the 0-1-1 or 0-1-0 feeding formula, whereby indigent students skipped meals because they could not afford to pay the new rates. Progressively, the standard of university education and quality of life on campus dropped. In addition, brave and courageous students’ leaders and lecturers who stood up against the Obasanjo military junta were brutalised. Students who led the struggle were rusticated, beginning with Segun Okeowo, National President of the then students’ umbrella organisation, the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS); NUNS itself was proscribed and that was how the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) came to replace it. Lecturers who got a raw deal in the hands of Obasanjo\Ahmadu Ali included Prof. Ade Ajayi, Vice-chancellor, University of Lagos: Dr. Bade Onimode and Comrade Ola Oni, both of the University of Ibadan; Comrade Laoye Sanda of The Polytechnic, Ibadan; Dr. Edwin Madunagu and his wife Bene; Dr. Omafune Onoge, to mention but a few.
If only for those atrocities, Obasanjo and Ahmadu Ali should never again have been allowed to hold any public office in this country! Unfortunately, this is Nigeria! Obasanjo not only went ahead to become civilian president; not only ran two terms of four years each; not only attempted a third term; not only amended his party’s Constitution as he prepared to step down as president to enthrone himself as Board of Trustees chairman and “conscience” of the party; he also positioned himself as “afobaje” (kingmaker) and “Baba-isale” (power-behind-the-throne) until the late Umaru Yar’Adua at first, followed by Goodluck Jonathan, decided to bite the fingers that fed them and shove the Otta farmer aside. While he held court, Obasanjo ensured that his Man Friday, Ahmadu Ali, also hugged the limelight despite the blood of Nigerian students shed during the “Ali mon go” struggle. In saner climes, such fellows would have had no further business in public office, let alone over-staying their welcome.
Olabode George, too, I have known since his appointment as military governor of my native Ondo state. Here, again, Fayose missed the date; it couldn’t have been 40 years ago but about 30! I was head of the Features department of The PUNCH and Bode’s wife at that time, Feyi, had invited us on a facility tour of Better Life projects in the state; those were the days of Maryam Babangida as First Lady and originator of the Better Life for Rural Women programme. Maryam was visiting Ondo state and Feyi had been given marching orders to make preparations, which included adequate publicity and priming up of places and personalities to be visited by Maryam. Feyi did not enjoy it at all; especially her visits to the shrines and abodes of the “babalawos” Maryam was scheduled to visit.
Feyi was a delight to interview; Bode George himself no less so. BG, as he is fondly called by his friends, or Lagos Boy, as the now defunct National Concord christened him, regaled us with stories of what I will describe as the Sociology of Corruption in Nigeria. I will recount only one here. After his swearing-in and he resumed duty in Akure; the Protocol people led him into his office and opened an office cabinet filled with brand new currencies. Bode said he screamed: “What is this? You want to corrupt me? I cannot be corrupted”! He ordered them to pack the money away and be ready to properly account for every kobo. Trust civil servants; they said “Yes, Sir” and complied. Now, everyone had come to welcome the new governor: traditional rulers, top military brass, and other VIPs and soon, every available space were taken up. No one was leaving even after they had exchanged pleasantries with the governor.
Bode said he was tired and needed to retire but the crowd would not disperse. It would be insolence to walk away on them. Confused, he called the Protocol, “what the heck is going on here?” as the Yankees would say. It was then he got his first lecture in Sociology of Corruption 101: Everyone was waiting for “kolanut” from the new Oga; what IBB later perfected into “welfare” or “settlement” and what Fayose has now made popular as “stomach infrastructure”. Miffed, he asked if they were sure the crowd would disperse once they got the nonsense. The Protocol guys assured him and Bode reversed his earlier order; the crisp Naira notes were brought back; brown (?) envelopes were procured and as everyone got their own envelope, they began to disperse!
My path and BG’s also crossed when he became Principal Staff Officer to Gen. Oladipo Diya, Chief of General Staff and second-in-command to vile dictator, Sani Abacha. The PUNCH had suffered one of its many closures during those giddy “June 12” days and I, together with another PUNCH manager, had been dispatched to interface with Diya on the matter. BG received us warmly and led us to Diya’s office; Diya told us the PUNCH issue was beyond him and we should make personal requests. I declined to make any. Back in BG’s office, he told us stories of how high-wired power-play in Aso Rock had whittled Diya’s power; how the Northern cabal had knocked the heads of Diya with those of Yoruba Obas and other VIPs and had, in the process, compromised both. It was not long thereafter that Diya and many other top Yoruba military officers like Adisa and Olanrewaju fell from the pinnacle of power.
BG himself soon left the Navy, never achieving his target of becoming the Chief of Naval Staff. BG and Ahmadu are, however, not the only oldies in politics: Tony Anenih, Jerry Gana, Audu Ogbeh, Ebenezer Babatope; President Muhammadu Buhari; Olu Falae etc. are also members of the Old Brigade.
Notwithstanding, the youths have had their fair share since 1999. I dare to say that they have not justified the confidence reposed in them by Nigerians. They have been as corrupt – if not more corrupt – than the oldies. They have been arrogant, violent, audacious, and self-serving. Ibori, Igbinedion, Saraki, Sambo Dasuki, Diezani; most of the governors, past and present; most of the National Assembly members, past and present; ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and most members of his cabinet – majority of those who have sucked this country dry in all manner of scams, be it pensions, Immigrations, fuel subsidy, arms scandal etc. are youths.
In Ekiti where Fayose himself holds sway, the governors since 1999 have all been youths – Niyi Adebayo, Segun Oni, Kayode Fayemi – which of them has Fayose given a pass mark? The tragedy of our situation is that the young as well as the old are both like six and half-a-dozen; half-full and half-empty. A choice between both is like that between the devil and the deep blue sea; and the frying pan and fire.
– turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058