Obafemi Awolowo is not Dead
By: Deji Yesufu
Obafemi Awolowo had a robust belief in the human being. His comprehension of what constitutes a man is very much in line with the biblical worldview that men have divinity residing in them. The Bible says that man is created a little lower than God but of greater essence than angels. It is this worldview that informed the sage’s position that human beings can be and must be developed to the highest possible form. It is the reason why he had a fanatical commitment to education. The Action Group, the party that Awolowo led in the 1950s, that led the Western Region at that time, promised to ensure that every child living in the Western Region had access to primary education at no cost. By the time the finances of the country were improving after the oil boom of the early 1970s, Obafemi Awolowo argued that Nigeria could now afford to provide free education at all levels to all its citizenry. What education does to the overall populace is that it raises the bar of discussion at all levels in the country. The country becomes a leading exporter of knowledge; technological advancements become the order of the day; the political system will shore up great thinkers, whose political theories can be shared on the world stage; etc. The United States of America is what it is today because many of its citizens are educated. Nigeria still grapples with underdevelopment because, on average, Nigerians are poorly educated. When you consider that the Action Group brought television broadcasting to the Western Region long before many countries in Eastern Europe had one, you then appreciate why Awolowo’s belief in the inherent worth of the human being was way beyond his time.
My publishers and I are in the middle of a work on Obafemi Awolowo, and I had the immense privilege of talking with a member of the sage’s family recently. I asked this person what happened to the “DSH”. The DSH is “Dideolu Specialist Hospital” which is located at Ikenne. As the sage drew to his final days, he immersed himself in a project of building a world-class hospital, where people could get treated for all kinds of ailments here in Nigeria. He named it after his wife – the person who had been his biggest supporter all his life. The hospital was planned to look like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, United States of America, where Awolowo and his wife would usually undergo annual medical checkups. Awolowo was convinced there was no reason why such a vision could not be replicated in Nigeria. In response to my question, this member of the Awolowo family told me that there is no practical possibility of finishing that vision today because even if the building is finished, the mass exodus of Nigerian doctors from the country will still render the place non-functional. Obafemi Awolowo envisioned the DSH because he believed so much that no one need die in their youth from disease; and that every Nigerian should have access to the best and most affordable health care. A week ago, I received a report that the young man who is in charge of disposing of refuse in my estate had suddenly died at 46. Another one, my plumber, died at 27 – all because our country has a nonfunctioning health system. But why did I title this article “Obafemi Awolowo is not Dead”? Well, it is again the offshoot of my discussion with this member of the sage’s family. This person said that since Awolowo died, the family have come to reconcile with the fact that their patriarch is no more. If he was alive, he would have used his influence to actualize many of the visions he still had. But now that he is dead, very few people wish to continue with his visions. The rest of this article will be used to argue against this position.
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In the final year of Obafemi Awolowo’s life, the sage told those who were close to him that that year would be his last on earth. He explained, however, that he would still be serving Nigeria even in death. What could the man have meant? It is simple. Worthy, beneficial, godly, and influential ideas are not from human beings – they are from God. Our societies today are the product of ideas from influential persons from times past. What you and I do today, are mostly dictated by the counsels of our fathers, many of them who are dead today. Those godly counsels were the product of experiences that emerged from the deep suffering of some of them. Those experiences and the ideas that emerged from them, which they pass to us, are all the providential workings of God in the lives of these men. Therefore, Obafemi Awolowo is still serving Nigeria mostly through his writings and ideas. It was only after reading his autobiography, Awo, that I learnt that it was Awolowo who brought the idea of “federalism” to Nigeria. Awolowo learnt the concept of federalism from the politics of Mahatma Ghandi and the scenario around Indian politics of the 1930s/40s. He saw how the desperate nations of India were wielded together through federalism, and he argued earnestly for it – against the feudalism of northern Nigeria and the unitarianism of Eastern Nigeria. It was the concept of federalism that Awolowo sold to Yakubu Gowon that led that administration to divide the one monolithic North into six different states on 27th May 1967. Although that action was the final straw that brought the country eventually to civil war, it was clearly an idea from God and has served the country well. It can be argued that Nigeria is not practicing true federalism. But the mere fact that this country is practicing some federalism is owing largely to the political sagacity of Obafemi Awolowo. In that regard, the man is still serving Nigeria.
Obafemi Awolowo still serves Nigeria by continually challenging South-west Nigeria to remain the pacesetter in the country. The Cocoa House, which stands as a monument to a time in Western Nigeria, when this region of the country was forward-thinking and productive, still challenges people of my day to keep the flag of the sage flying by ensuring that this part of the country continues to be the leading thinkers and producers in the nation. It is true that a lot of things are not working, but it is also true that south-west Nigeria has such potential for greatness, and Obafemi Awolowo is always reminding us about this. Recently the Awolowo Foundation (obafemiawolowofoundation.org) brought the sage alive by publishing all his written works. It has become the favorite pastime of half-baked publishers, unseasoned YouTubers, and unscrupulous bloggers, to continue spewing mistruths about the sage. Obafemi Awolowo envisioned that this was going to happen to his legacy and that is why one of the reasons he left the Gowon administration in July 1971, was so that he could write his memoirs – carefully documenting all that happened to him. It is surprising that some people still mention the Coker Commission as a stain on the legacy of Awolowo when it is a historical fact that the Coker Commission was a politically motivated machinery to destroy the good works of Awolowo and his administration. In fact, that action ultimately led to a civil war in the country.
I do not share the idea that Obafemi Awolowo is no more. I believe that like all righteous men, who left worthy causes behind, the man is still serving Nigeria even as he said he would in his final years. As I grew up in northern Nigeria, the only literature of Awolowo that I read were the three booklet volumes my father had in his library: The Voice of Wisdom, Courage and Reason. In one of these books, Awolowo mentioned that as far back as the 1970s, northern Nigeria was behind the southern parts by 150 years by educational standards. He said his foray into politics was to try to bridge the gap. All the problems Nigeria has today with the insurgency in northern Nigeria must be traced to the fact that the leaders of the north have restricted Western education to only children of the elite – while making Quranic education compulsory for all children. Now that we have a generation of northern youths saying that Western education is haram, you can understand what the sage was complaining about then. Awolowo, like many worthy sons of Nigeria, cannot die. Their ideas and ideals will continue to form the basis on which our society will stand. Things may not be where they are supposed to be today. But things will improve in the days to come. The sons and daughters of Obafemi Awolowo will rise up one day; they will bring the sage back to life through his ideas, and they will help actualize a better, functional, and progressive Nigeria.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected]
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