Three Hours with Niyi Osundare
By: Deji Yesufu
Today, I attended the 25th anniversary of the death of Mrs. Mojisola Ajoke Adelakun, mother of Abimbola Adelakun, that fiery Thursday back-page writer for Punch newspapers. I had looked forward to the event because I knew that I was almost certainly going to meet some leading media person, writer, or social commentator there. I was not disappointed. At the church, where the memorial service was held, I saw Prof. Niyi Osundare. He was seated to my right. I kept a close watch on him; I planned to “ambush” him and glean some words of wisdom from his hoary head. Niyi Osundare is a seventy-eight-year-old university don, writer, social critic, etc. Osundare is known most for his poems and the manner with which he crafts them to speak to societal decay.
The moment the service was done, I approached the Prof. and introduced myself as a great follower of his literary work. I told him I may have listened to all the interviews he had ever granted Splash FM. I told him the story of his classmate, whom he met in a hotel, who was working as a hotel assistant, while he was already a senior lecturer at the university. I told him the moment he spoke about breaking down in tears on sighting a friend who could not further his education because he did not have anyone to send him to school, that I also was moved to tears by that story. Prof. then took his time to tell me more about that story. About that time, Abimbola approached us to thank us for coming. She asked to know whether we knew the venue of the event center where the reception was to be held. I told her that I knew it – I actually did not, but there is nothing Google Maps cannot do these days. I volunteered to lead Prof to the place. In the process of doing this, I got a free ride, a three-hour discussion with the erudite scholar, and a great deal of wisdom, also. I would be sharing a bit of it here.
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Prof. wanted to know what I do for a living. I told him I was a blogger, an electrical engineer, and a pastor. He said, “Ah…, bloggers are the most feared people on earth these days.” He told me that in those days, for him to have his article published in the papers, he would have to drive to Lagos from Ibadan and submit them to the newspaper house. He said even then, editors would butcher your piece, you would almost never recognize it when it emerges in print. He said today, however, you can publish your article from your bedroom. He warned, however, that what he fears is that this has allowed for the proliferation of fake news, and fake news might be the ultimate undoing of our world today.
As we drove to the venue of the reception, our conversation strayed to the question of Nigeria. The matter of the country’s want of formidable leadership came up, and the unrelenting scourge of corruption in our national life was all we lamented. I then told Prof. of my reading of all the written works of Obafemi Awolowo. His face lit up: “…now that was when Nigeria had leadership…” He regrets that we may never see those times again in Nigeria. I explained that I think that there is a welter of young politicians who are coming up in Nigeria today, and who may find the Awolowo story and example as something to imitate. Prof. Osundare said that he once had some people ask him about politicians nowadays who wear Obafemi Awolowo caps from place to place. He said he told them that formidable leadership is not in the cap you wear, but in the manner you think. Until our leaders begin to think like Awolowo, it does not matter the cap they wear or the gown they put on, or the name they bear; they will not produce the kind of leadership Awolowo produced.
Then I reminded Prof of his poem: “My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe?” and I told him how much it influenced my thinking. He then took his time to tell me about how he came to write that poem. He said just about the time Buhari came to power, he ordered a raid on the homes of some judges in Abuja. Lo and behold, many of them had money stashed away in their houses. A lot of the monies were in dollars, pounds, and other foreign currencies. He wondered what exactly a nation’s judges would be doing with the money kept in their bedrooms. He surmised that it could only be a product of bribes. He said for three days he could not sleep over the matter. That his wife even told him not to kill himself over Nigeria. Eventually, he found some ease when he penned that poem. Prof. told me that he was taken to court over that poem, and the case is still pending. I was aghast. Our discussion then drifted to the matter of lawlessness in Nigeria, the inability of courts to uphold justice, Dele Farotimi, etc. We concluded that at the foundation of society must be truth, and where the people who ought to uphold the law do not do so, such a society can only deteriorate. It will not improve.
Prof. told me that he is largely retired now. He spends his time sometimes in America, where his family still resides, and Nigeria, where his root is. He said nothing can keep him from leaving Nigeria. He explained that Nigeria has given him so much, and that it is his duty to continue to look for ways to make the country better. He regretted the actions of the Seyi Makinde government that cleared out the greenery close to Agodi Garden, all in the name of building an estate. He explained that his latest studies are on the environment and that there is a simple equation to all these: human beings consume oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants and trees consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. When you cut down all the greenery and trees in the city, you are depriving the city of a fresh supply of oxygen. It will be a lose-lose for us at the end.
As we concluded our discussion, Prof. encouraged me to keep writing. He explained that he has found out that outside the humanities, medical doctors and engineers are best the best writers we have. He says that he believes that our training, which has taught us to pay attention to details, is usually brought to bear when we write on social issues, too.
Prof. was going my direction in town, and so he dropped me very close to where I could find a vehicle close to my home. I enjoyed my time speaking with this great educationist, humanist, octogenarian, and Nigerian. Prof. Niyi Osundare is a great Nigerian, and we must both celebrate persons like him today, and uphold him as individuals our youths should imitate. Dr. Ropo Ewenla, who was one of the MCs of the event today, ensured that Prof. Osundare was the first person to be introduced to the guests. The professor was very uncomfortable with the announcement, but he sure deserves it. May his days on earth be long, and may this country be filled with more of such good men.
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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