Is Tinubu the new Awo?

So, this is what most people around me do not want to do. They say that Chief Obafemi Awolowo is so revered that it would do his legacy a lot of damage if we compared him with Tinubu. They scream sacrilege and even throw profanity at me for daring to have those kinds of morbid thoughts.

One even told me how privileged he considered himself for being able to sign the condolence register opened at the late sage’s house in Ibadan and how he will burst into tears if I dare to continue with this line of argument. He added the clincher. ‘ Edgar, don’t you think they would have tried it if they could carry it off?’

This got me thinking. It’s true. At the very beginning the subject was adorning the Awo cap and glasses, making noises along those lines. But may be because of the need to create his own identity or the realization that those shoes may have just been too big to fill, we have seen a marked departure.

Anyways, the question to be critically looked at is whether we can confidently say that the prima donna Yoruba leader today can be equated to the late sage in outlook, vision and performance.

Who was Awolowo and what did he stand for? Awo was not only a visionary leader but a committed and principle-9driven soldier. He lived his life very selflessly and transparently for his cause. He built structures that are still being used and leaned on even up till today. Vestiges of his Action Group can be seen in today’s APC although abused and almost unrecognizable. Some of his policies like free education, infrastructural development are continuous buzzwords in today’s center leftist platforms. He was iconic and selfless. He led the economy during the Civil War and delivered sterling performance. He went to jail for what he believed in and delivered some of the land mark projects we continue to see till today. The Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, the Cocoa House, the first television station in Africa are just the few we would like to mention here.

Finally, his free education policy led to the huge development of the Western Region that today some of the beneficiaries of that policy are in positions of leadership. He was mercurial and almost blameless. Even his opponents retained a huge respect for him.

The Yorubas were almost united in his leadership and he groomed very strong successors who took over from him especially during the second republic.

Sadly, power was snatched. In a brief encounter with Chief Olaniwun Ajayi the great Afenifere Leader just before his passing, he rued the way and manner this ‘young man, Tinubu destroyed Afenifere’. He talked about the hijacking of the reins of leadership using material and banal tendencies to a devastating effect. He lamented how this had destroyed the vision driven structure the Afenifere was being run with and how it has super imposed a near pseudo cabalistic tendency in leadership and how this has seeped down to the masses entrenching a different world view that was near sighted and materialistic. He died a few months after this conversation a sad man.

So today, Yorubaland nay Nigeria is saddled with the person of Ahmed Bola Tinubu. We cannot run away from this comparison because up until now, there has been no Yoruba man that has attained this level of ascendency so why the reluctance to push for this comparison. It must be done at some point.

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Awolowo was visionary, Tinubu is visionary but the difference is what type of vision. Awo was more encompassing, his outlook was much wider and he saw a greater Yoruba nation within the context of a wider pan Nigeria play in world politics. Do we see the same type of vision today, I dare say not really. In recent years we see a concentric curry of power for reasons not totally altruistic.

We see the stranglehold on Lagos as a basis for continuous hold on to the South West for purposes of a chessboard type play on national policies. Lagos has become the core for the continued perpetration of a dynasty and the plank for continued relevance at the center. What we are seeing today is a tunnel vision hold on to power with a strange lip service play on the general good.

The move against the Governor of Lagos better illustrates this. Reasons adduced include the fact that ‘party members where not being taken care of.’ Would Awo have subscribed to this? Would Awo have moved against Ambode for those reasons? Would Awo have insisted on this kind of leadership?

As I continue, I begin to see the reason for the reluctance. Awo was a statesman, although with his own imperfections he was nearly above board. Not for him was the nepotistic tendency that today sees a near stranglehold on to power by relations both blood and affiliation.

This topic cannot be finished in a three paged article even though the hope is that it will trigger more debates and discussions along the way. But the hope is that Lagosians, nay Nigerians would begin to look critically at the Awo leadership as a basis for true Leadership as we continue to struggle in the mires of hopelessness.

What would Awo have done differently in today’s Nigeria? That is the question we should begin to ask ourselves.

By Joseph Edgar…

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