Mr Abdul Oroh

 By Nehru Odeh

Mr Abdul Oroh, journalist, lawyer, activist and politician, has opened up on how he warned former Governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, against backing Mr Godwin Obaseki to succeed him as governor in 2016. But he didn’t heed his advice.

According to Oroh, when Oshiomhole, his former boss when he was at the helm of affairs in Edo State, introduced Obaseki to him as the man he wanted to succeed him as governor, he warned him against it, saying Obaseki was a crook. And when Obaseki came to seek his support, he told him bluntly that he would not support him.

But sadly, rather than take his well-thought-out advice, Oshiomhole turned against Oroh and dropped him from his cabinet.

This and many other shocking revelations are what Oroh, former Commissioner of Information in Edo State made public during his conversation with Mr Kunle Ajibade, Executive Editor, TheNEWS, at the presentation of his memoir, “Demonstration of Craze: Struggles and Transition to Democracy in Nigeria” which held on June 12 at Roving Heights in Victoria Island Lagos. The book, Demonstration of Craze, was published by Bookcraft Africa.

“When he said Obaseki was going to be his candidate, I warned him. I said this guy is a crook. I told him all I knew about him. He said, ‘Don’t worry, I will tell Godwin to come and see you.’

“Godwin came to my house and I told him, ‘ I would not support you. I am already committed to Pius Odubu that I know.’ So he got angry and left.

“Then the next morning I heard a rumour that I was about to be removed, that I would be transferred to another ministry and all that. Then, later,  I was supposed to have a meeting with Oshiomhole. On my way to the meeting, a journalist called me to say that I had been dropped from the Exco.  I said, what was his reason. He said in the public interest. I then said I would also act in the public interest. This is an outcome. That’s the story. I had to tell everything,” Oroh noted.

Demonstration of Craze

This indeed is part of the demonstration of craze, the term which Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti described Nigeria’s democratic dispensation, which the author tries to reveal in the book based on his personal experiences as an investigative journalist, member of the House of Representative, representing Owan Federal Constituency and  Commissioner in Edo State. The fact that he was an active participant throughout those turbulent years put him in good standing to reveal so many things about his life, politics and the June 12 struggle that are not in the public domain.

It was indeed an evening of memories, of revelations, of nostalgia and of mirthful laughter. Not only did Oroh’s haunting revelations, which are all in his book, make the hairs of guests stand on end, but he also doused the tension with rib-cracking jokes.

Still, Oroh said when he wanted to get a suitable title for his book, he had three titles in mind, “Demonstration of Craze”,  “A Test of Will” -which was supposed to look at the resistance  of both the pro democracy forces, Abiola and all those who took part in the struggle for the actualization of June 12 – and “My Detention Experience: A Long Time in Despair.”

“But I remember Bankole Olayebi (the publisher) said ‘no, no, no, we are not in a state of despair. This is not about despair. This is not about resting on will. It’s about business,” Oroh reminisced, to which Ajibade, with a sense of humour, responded, “he (Olayebi) knows a good title that would sell his books..And the hall roared with laughter.

Demonstration of Craze, which tells the story of Oroh’s life right from his natal origins in Ivbiaro to his days as a journalist, activist and politician, is both the story of an outsider and insider in the murky waters that are Nigerian politics.

As the title of the book connotes it is about the authors personal and public lives, which invariably tells the story of not just his own life but the collective experience of Nigerians from the 60s to the present, which the author, playing on the word ‘Democracy’, with all its shenanigans, sums it up as the demonstration of craze a’la Fela. And the author delivers on that account as he exposes the rotten underbelly of Nigeria’s democratic practice.

“Let me start by saying I was born the year Nigeria gained Independence. So I believe I have been growing up in Nigeria.  Growing up in Nigeria in the early 60s, by the time we were six years old, the war had started. And then Nigeria went through a major crisis. By the time that crisis was over, I was in Primary 5. So we grew up very fast,” Oroh maintained.

Oroh revealed so many things about Ivbiaro, his hometown in Edo State, that border on mythology and the arcane before he veered into his days as a journalist, activist and politician. He spoke about how during the Nigerian Civil War, most of the young men were asked to join the family. As a result of that decision, there was a soldier in every Ivbiaro family. He also spoke about how when they were in primary school, they asked to read and write letters for the elders in the community.

Mr Abdul Oroh and Mr Kunle Ajibade

“By the time we were in Primary Three, we could now read letters for our elders. Sometimes we were asked to write those letters. I remember we were receiving letters from the war. They would put OAS, On Active Service. There were no stamps on those letters. You write a letter, drop it, put OAS, meaning On Active Service, and post it to your family, and the letter would get there. But anytime there was a telegram, we knew the worst had happened. Somebody had probably died or is in the hospital somewhere, evacuated”

Oroh soke about the mythologies that define their existence, then at Ivbiaro. “My paternal grandfather was a herbalist; he was the one they called Ose in the Edo language, which means a priest. And my mother’s dad was a muslim, a Sufi, something like that. I grew up in the midst of gods. The man who founded our community was later deified as a god. His own wife, after whom she named the community, was also a goddess. Probably if we were still living in the 19th century, I probably would be a god. But I am not (laughs).

Oroh went on to narrate the craziness that defines the politics of the nation right from independence to the present. Some of the crazy stuff he revealed included what he experienced as a journalist, activist and politician, as well as the daredevil risks he took. “I had to look for stories on my look for stories. On reflection, maybe I was crazy. But there is a little bit of craziness if you want to be a good journalist, Oroh noted.

Oroh spoke about his days at The Guardian, how his reportorial duties made him not only close to Fela but also made him follow his activities closely, including when he was arrested and jailed by the Obasanjo military regime for being in possession of hard currency.

“Throughout that period of his trial, we were covering it, and Richard Akinola. We were going to the tribunal every day, and we were seeing everything. When he was released, I now realised I wasn’t myself any weekend I was not at the shrine. So I had to go to the shrine almost regularly. I lived in Ikeja, Oritse Street, which was 10 10-minute walk to the shrine.

“When I was posted to Benin, Fela was transferred to Benin prison. Nduka Irabor called me and said, “We have a feeling Fela will be released from prison tomorrow morning or tonight. If it means sleeping outside the Benin prison, you have to sleep there. You must give me an exclusive. I said you mean it, he said yes. I said I would give you an exclusive. Then, around two or three in the afternoon, I saw Femi Photo, his personal photographer.  We later moved to my office at Sakponba Road. Later in the night, we moved to Benin prison, which was just behind my office. We were there till 4 am when he was released.

“I hired a photographer to take the pictures, and I paid him. When I called Nduka, he said Do that story today,  take Okada Air to Lagos, bring the story and the photograph. Before I knew it, the guy sold the photograph to the Nigerian Observer. He printed them for me, but he had also sold them to the Nigerian Observer. I didn’t know what to do, whether to kill him. Anyway, I took the story to Lagos and published it.

And then again, Fela got to know me closely. On his 50th birthday, I interviewed him. My first question was, ‘Fela is 50, what is left of Fela?’ And then we did the cover story in the African Guardian, which I wrote. So we were close. And when the report came out, I took a copy to him.  He flipped through, looked at it and read a few things. He dropped it. Then somebody brought a cake from the Sheraton. I didn’t know he liked cake. He cut a huge slice for me. And then he gave me a beer.

Other craziness of that era included how, as a politician, he went campaigning and saw a school whose classrooms had no roof and where every child was like him in 1970. They had no shoes. Oroh now vowed that, whether he was elected or not, he would build the school. As soon as he was elected, the first thing he did was to approach the elders in the community and ask them to join him in building the school.

“I gathered the elders and said, ‘I want us to build this school together. This is 250,000 naira. A bag of cement was 100 naira then. Let’s buy some cement. Let’s start moulding the blocks to build the school.’ They thanked me, we shared Kola nuts and drinks, and I returned to Abuja. When I came back. I  said okay, let me check these people to see what has happened. But to my surprise, immediately after I left, they shared the money. Oroh narrated how he later built the school with the assistance of a lady to whom he entrusted the funds.

Other demonstrations of craze that permeated the country’s democratic dispensation showed up in form of godfatherism, election rigging, political thuggery and violence, President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term bid and how Chief Tony Anenih almost prevented him from contesting because of Ibiba Don Pedro’s book, State Repression and Resistance in the Niger Delta, whose preface he wrote. He also spoke about how he was almost rigged out.

“Anenih tried to stop me at the last minute on the ground that when I was in CLO, we wrote a book criticising Obasanjo. He said everything we wrote in that book is not true. The book was titled “State Repression and Resistance in the Niger Delta.” It was written by Ibiba Don Pedro. I only wrote the preface.”

Speaking about Obasanjo’s third term bid, Oroh said the former president actually had the intention to stay in power for another term, even though he continually denies it. He recounted how Obasanjo met with prominent political figures from the various geo-political zones in the country, telling them about the Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew.

“What happened during the third term? Of course, Obasanjo has denied it in his book.  And I know why he keeps denying it.  Although he wanted to do it, he didn’t initiate it. I knew that  Obasanjo wanted to do it because he was inviting all of us to meetings. South, South members, then Northwest, Northeast, etc. And then he was talking about Lee Kuan Yew, how he kept doing the right thing from 1966 up till now.”

Oroh also detailed the role Anenih played in making sure Obasanjo achieved his third-term ambition, a dream he never realised. He spoke about how Anenih invited him to his house one day and asked him why he was opposed to Obasanjo’s third term.

“Anenih now said Why are you opposed to this thing? I am told you wanted to address the press this morning.. I said Look, I can’t help. How do I explain to my colleagues in the pro-democracy struggle that I supported a third term, which I know is unconstitutional and a violation of everything that I believed in? He said no. As a politician, you must learn to make hard decisions, take them in the interest of the nation.

“He now said, go and talk with the President, he wants to see you. So Abubakar Momoh, the current Minister of Regional Development, and I went to see the President in the evening. Julius Ihonvbere received us.  That day, I remember vividly the former president of Botswana, Masire, was there, and Raila Odinga and Murtala Nyako were waiting to see him. He just finished that meeting with the delegates of the National  Democratic Institute, NDI, and Commonwealth leaders that night. So after that, he joined us.

“He said What’s the problem? ‘ That Chief Anenih said we are stubborn, that we don’t want to support him.  We said you don’t have the figures. You don’t have 10 per cent of the House of Reps.  And even the Senate, you don’t have. He said What if he (Obasanjo) is removed from it. I said What do you mean by that? I wasn’t sure what he meant. ‘That is, I would not run but subsequently.’ We said even if you were removed from it, you would not have the figure. It would not pass the house. So after that, he said Okay.“

Oroh also spoke about the struggle for the actualisation of June 12 and how Chief MKO Abiola, the winner of the presidential election, shot himself in the foot by romancing with the military officers and traditional rulers who were against the actualisation of his mandate.

“Abiola was not ready. He didn’t understand the politics of Nigeria.  After Abiola’s election, we were mobilising after I returned from Vienna, so we went to see Abiola, Olisa  Agbakoba and me. We would be having a meeting with him, and he would be calling Abacha’s ADC in our presence, calling all those colonels, compromising his political struggle. So Olisa asked him, We are ready to go very far with you. How far are you ready to go? He said Olisa should withdraw his statement. He said he would not withdraw his statement,2 Oroh maintained.

Oroh used the opportunity to decry the way democracy is practised in Nigeria, adding that unless Nigerians can get it right, they won’t have the kind of leaders  that they want, as he referenced election rigging as a recurrent decimal in our polity.”That’s a little part of the craziness. I was trying to describe.. And up till today, I am obsessed with issues about elections,” Oroh lamented.

The atmosphere in the hall was indeed electrifying. Oroh read an excerpt from the book,  the letter Abiola wrote to Gani Fawehinmi in which he tries to defend himself, saying he was not a deserter.

After the Q & A session, Oroh took time to sign autographs, and that signalled the end of an evening that was not just revelatory but was also the beginning of unending discourses about the craziness that defines Nigeria’s democratic practice.