[caption id="attachment_36854" align="alignright" width="400"] Pastor Tunde Bakare[/caption] By Tunde Bakare Scriptural Texts: i. Ruth 2:20 (NKJV) - ...”Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!”... ii. Proverbs 10:7 (NKJV) - “The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.” iii. John 15:13 (NKJV) - “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” It was Frank Rooney who once said: “Immortality is the genius to move others long after you yourself have stopped moving.” Not enough can be said of the contribution of Col. Adekunle Fajuyi to the greater good of our nation. Few in history ascend to the heroic heights attained by this icon. His reported words to his principal, Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi, in that fateful moment in history, are the stuff epoch-making rallying cries are made of: I make bold to declare to you that I am with you soul, spirit and body. And mark my words, whatever happens to you today happens to me. I am your true friend like the dove to the pigeon, and by the grace of God, so will I humbly, yet proudly, remain till the very end. 1 Whether these words were actually configured in this manner by the subject of our discourse today, or they belong to the class described by the Guest Lecturer, Professor Niyi Osundare, in his brilliant presentation as “fictive recreations or mythic accretions”, the ethos of Fajuyi’s alleged response at that moment in the valley of decision, belongs in the same category as the unforgettable words of his iconic contemporaries when they each stood trial for their convictions. It echoes the courage of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who, facing sentencing for treasonable felony, marshalled the words of Peter the Hero of Hugh Walpole’s novel, Fortitude: “It isn’t life that matters but the courage you bring to it.” The great Awo then added: It is, therefore, with a brave heart, with confident hope, and with faith in my unalterable destiny, that I go from this twilight into the darkness, unshaken in my trust in the Providence of God that a glorious dawn will come on the morrow2. The ageless words of Adekunle Fajuyi also echo the spirit of Nelson Mandela who, having been condemned to life imprisonment, declared: During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.3 However, except where the gloom of intellectual darkness has been pierced through by rays of truth, history stands the danger of being viewed through the dark clouds of primordial interests, particularly sectional political motives. Consequently, societies, by their actions and inactions, have tended to accord to George Santayana a prophetic status as they facilitate the self-fulfillment of his indicting words: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” No greater honour can society accord to its heroes than the reshaping of national psyche and the renewal of national attitudes along the lines of the values such heroes died for. No matter how many roads, stadia, airports, universities and buildings are named after them, society’s failure to imbibe the highest ideals for which they lived and died amounts to a fulfilment of the biblical truth: “A prophet is not without honour except in his own country…”4 Was Fajuyi then a prophet? Perhaps not by any exercise of supernatural powers; perhaps not in the style of the founders of the world’s great religions; perhaps not in any clerical or orthodoxical order; but the sacrificial circumstance of his death is laden with answers to the existential crisis that has, for decades, bewildered this nation and, like a prophet, his deeds point the way to the essence and future of our nation. As Prof. Osundare alluded to in his deeply insightful lecture, the sacrifice of Adekunle Fajuyi is central to the resolution of the National Question. In this light, I will examine the import of the heroism of this gift of the Yoruba people to the Nigerian nation in three broad strokes. Firstly, as alluded to by Prof. Osundare, Fajuyi ought to be a rallying point in our search for a common national identity. The heroic soldier lived in an era that saw a budding nation of multifarious constituents grappling with the challenge of self-definition within the whole. The struggle for identity soon degenerated into distrust and distrust deteriorated into mutual suspicion. That atmosphere of extreme sectional sensitivity proved too volatile to sustain the aftermath of the first coup and, in no time, suspicion further congealed into hate which resulted in senseless killings. Adekunle Fajuyi, caught up, as it were, in the crossfire, chose to pay the ultimate sacrifice. By that act, he gave “Nigerianness” a new definition - that to be Nigerian is not to be Ibo, Hausa or Yoruba; that to be Nigerian is not to be eastern, western, mid-western or northern; that to be Nigerian is not to accord ethnic colouration to national challenges; rather, to be Nigerian is to be a person of valor and virtue; one whose word is his or her bond and who would rather die than betray the trust reposed in him or her. Such was the Omoluabi bequeathed to the Nigerian nation in Adekunle Fajuyi by the Yoruba people. I understand that Prof. Wale Adebanwi, in his brilliant piece titled “Death, National Memory and the Social Construction of Heroism”5, compared the tendency to find inspiration in the deeds of the dead to ancestral worship or necromancy. This point was reiterated by Prof. Osundare as he cited the erudite University of California don. This assertion is culturally accurate. However, in drawing inspiration from the Fajuyi story, I am not in the least influenced by any recourse to ancestralism; instead, I draw inspiration from the Hall of Faith in the biblical book of Hebrews, the 4th verse of which states of Abel who was murdered by his brother, Cain: “… he being dead still speaks.” Secondly, in the Fajuyi sacrifice, our nation may find a compass as she navigates the lingering structural challenge. Adekunle Fajuyi served in the government that put the true Federal Republic of Nigeria to death. In the search for unity after the January 1966 coup, the Aguiyi-Ironsi led government, through the Unification Decree of May 24, 1966, abrogated the federal structure and instituted a unitary system. To this day, Nigeria has not recovered from the structural anomaly that resulted from that action which, ultimately, was a major contributory factor to the deaths of Aguiyi-Ironsi and Fajuyi. Ironically, fifty years later, whereas there is an increasing agitation in the South for the restructuring of Nigeria, this call for restructuring is being downplayed, if not scuffed at, by certain interests, mostly northern, upon the claim that the current pseudo-federal structure suffices. [caption id="attachment_36854" align="alignright" width="400"] Pastor Tunde Bakare[/caption] As Prof. Osundare observed, some of the “neo-restructuralists”, whether of northern or southern extraction, are mere opportunists seeking relevance in a political equation that has dealt them a deficit. The Prof. has already emphasized the need to address the structural challenges from a national, not sectional, perspective. This, I agree with entirely. However, in order to win over the section most averse to the call, I will focus on the seeming northern opposition to the case for restructuring. Any anti-restructuring position taken by the North would bring to the courts of historical opinion the sincerity of the motives of the perpetrators of the countercoup that led to the death of Adekunle Fajuyi. The elders of the North who, today, are opposed to the call to restructure Nigeria have deviated from the ideals of the founding fathers of Northern Nigeria - the likes of the Sardauna, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa; leaders of our nation who were forerunners of Fajuyi in the Nigerian hall of martyrdom. Lest we forget, these great Nigerian leaders from the North made it clear in the series of constitutional conferences that heralded Nigeria’s independence that true federalism with regional autonomy was the only condition under which they would exist within a Nigerian nation. Need we remind those in opposition to restructuring today that one of the main grouses of Nigerians of northern extraction within the army and civil society after the first coup was the abrogation of the federal system by the Aguiyi-Ironsi led government? This, without doubt, was the main reason the northern leaders and the counter-coupists who took the lives of Aguiyi-Ironsi and Fajuyi demanded a reversal of the unification decree and a return to the federal system of government.8 Consequently, to oppose restructuring now, fifty years after, is to confirm the words of Aesop, that “the injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scales.” In case it is not clearly understood by the antagonists of restructuring, whether they be from the North or the South, let me make it clear that the call for restructuring is a demand for true federalism; a demand for federating units that can truly self-administer like the regions in the days of our Founding Fathers; a demand for the prosperity of the constituent parts that make up the whole. It is therefore inconsistent with the interest of the North or the South for the current pseudo-federal structure to persist. If the elders of the North are true elders in this generation, I charge them with the words of the wisest king who ever lived: Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set. Thirdly, our current leaders must find courage in the heroic deed of Adekunle Fajuyi. They must find the courage to restructure; they must find the courage to reconcile aggrieved sections within the nation; they must find the courage to reintegrate into united nationhood the diverse interest groups in the Nigerian nation. Then, and only then, would we have truly honoured Adekunle Fajuyi and the ideals he died for. In conclusion, again and again, the Yorubas have lost illustrious sons and daughters to the black hole of the National Question. What shall we say of M.K.O Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, Bola Ige and others? The Yoruba people have continued to be the targets of attacks, killings, rape and kidnappings perpetrated by elements from other parts of the country such as herdsmen from the North and militants from the Niger Delta. The sacrifice of Fajuyi for a united nationhood has been forgotten. By this, I am reminded of a classic case of the political economy of forgetfulness, the biblical story of David the king of Israel who had a cordial relationship with Nahash the king of Ammon12. After the death of Nahash, his son Hanun became king. David then sent envoys to Hanun the new king to comfort him concerning his father, but the princes of Ammon wrongly advised the new king that the well-wishers sent by David were indeed spies. So, upon the order of King Hanun, the envoys were physically abused; their beards were forcefully shaved and their garments were cut in the middle at their buttocks. The Ammonites then came up in battle against Israel and were destroyed by David’s army. This is what happens when history is forgotten and the narrative is rewritten by subsequent generations to minimize or belittle the contribution of a part to the common good. Furthermore, I would like to point out a vital lesson in this narrative especially for those wondering about the unfolding events in our country, viz the quality of decisions made by a leader is determined by those surrounding him and the information at his disposal. This, I believe, is one of the reasons we are enjoined to pray for those in authority so that we may live a quiet and peaceable life. I shall offer a simple prayer in this regard at the end. Meanwhile, Prof. Osundare has upped the ante of the lingering negotiation debate by stating that there is as yet no nation to negotiate. I believe the true Nigerian nation is a spiritual reality on the verge of a breakthrough emergence. That emerging nation must be negotiated, but we must do so not with the intent to disintegrate, but with the intent to find an acceptable framework for coexistence. As the Prof. observed, the 2014 National Conference provides a platform for negotiation that will lead to reconciliation, reintegration and restructuring. Then, and only then, can we lay claim to the appellation, “the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. May the good Lord deliver our people “from the hand of strange children whose mouth speak lying words and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. May our sons be as plants grown up in their youth and our daughters as pillars sculptured in palace style. May our barns be full supplying all kinds of produce. May our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields. 14 May our oxen be well laden. So that there be no breaking in or going out, that there be no outcry in our streets. 15 Happy are the people who are in such a state. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.” In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen and Amen. (Psalm 144:11-15; NKJV; slightly reworded) Thank you and God bless you. Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare, Serving Overseer, The Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, Nigeria and the Convener, Save Nigeria Group (SNG). He delivered this speech at the 50 Years After Fajuyi Celebration, organized by the Yoruba Think-tank at International Conference Centre, University Of Ibadan, Nigeria on Friday, 29 July 2016