Adieu to Adesanya, the fearless pro-democracy general
With the death last week of A2A, as Abraham
Aderibigbe Adesanya was often fondly referred to by the great Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria has lost one of the last remaining icons of the post independence struggle for good governance, democracy and justice in our nation. In describing the qualities of the late Yoruba leader and patriach, it pains me that encomiums have been so devalued by applying them to describe unworthy charlatans in public life, that when it comes to describing a national icon like Abraham Adesanya, one is at a loss to find suitable words that will place him on a higher pedestal of virtue, where he rightly belongs. He was not just a man of integrity, I doubt if we can find up to a dozen living Nigerians who can match his level of probity and integrity; he was not just courageous, his courage approached legendary dimensions. Add to these, his simplicity, his amiable disposition, his disdain for ostentatious and flambouyant life style, his love for the people and their welfare, his stubborn adherence to principles and his almost fanatical commitment to democratic ideals, you get a quintessential Awoist. He was always a lover of peace, averse to confrontation with his critics and opponents, but ever ready to seek rapprochement with them.
All the above qualities suffused his entire political life. His stubborn adherence to principles once pitched him against his party, the Action Group, as he opted to contest as an independent candidate against the official candidate of his party for a seat on the Ijebu Igbo council. He lost the election of course, but in spite of the copious number of grounds on which he could have challenged the victory of the party candidate, he chose not to, as a mark of loyalty to the party. He showed his loyalty and dependability even more during his pro-party tussles with Akintola on the floor of the Western House of Assembly, the Awolowo treasonable felony trials and the Coker enquiry. As a young lawyer, during the treasonable felony trials, he spared no resource or effort to put himself completely at the service of his leader’s defence. His peace-maker disposition showed early in his career when, in a bold and risky effort to douse the enmity beteen his father and his friend, Oba Adeboye, then the Orimolusi of Ijebu Igbo, he led the Oba to a surprise nocturnal meeting to appease his father, thereby putting an end to the long term quarrel.
His loyalty greatly endeared him to Chief Awolowo who grew to have absolute confidence in him. In the Second Republic, on the party’s directive, he as a senator took President Shehu Shagari and his Attorney General to court over the appointment of Mr. Ovie Whiskey as the chairman of FEDECO. Since Adesanya had the constitution fully behind him, the court tried to save Shagari’s face by claiming that Adesanya had no locus standi to institute the action, but he battled on all the way to the Supreme Court, leading to a landmark decision that forced the highest court to take a second look at the then prevailing judicial notions of locus standi. Adesanya’s lawyer in that case, incidentally, was Gani Fawehinmi.
No time was his courage more tested in the service of the nation and the Yoruba people than during the popular resistance to military tyranny and repression under the Abacha regime. Many politicians initially embraced NADECO, believing that Abacha would quickly succumb to pressure and NADECO would be the principal beneficiary. But as Abacha bared his fangs, and detentions and state-sponsored killings reached previously unknown levels, many non-Yorubas began to distance themselves from NADECO. Slowly, the struggle was left to the Yorubas almost exclusively. But our leaders rose to the challenge. Even as more and more Yoruba critics of the Abacha regime got thrown into detention and many erstwhile leaders of the struggle were forced to flee the country, Adesanya courageously led a small team of die hard, pro-democracy crusaders to continue the struggle domestically, under the overall leadership of late Pa Ajasin. The killings of Rewane in late 1995 and Kudirat Abiola in mid 1996 did not deter him. Even his own attempted assassination on January 14, 1997 which saw more than a dozen bullets directed at him as he rode in his car, could not cow him. Instead, he became more philosophical and more committed to the struggle than ever. The day following the assassination attempt, he had said, “If I am fighting for the good of the masses, I would not mind if I die now. I am 75.
Adesanya never aspired to Yoruba leadership. He earned it and it was freely conferred on him. He was not wealthy. The highest public office he had held was that of a senator, but he possessed in abundance, those omoluabi qualities which the Yorubas value highly , a good and unclouded upbringing, honesty, integrity, dedication to the pursuit of the common good rather than selfish interest, and an enchanting simplicity and humility. Let those scrambling for Yoruba leadership take a cue.
I shall end this tribute by taking readers on an excursion through Adesanya’s mind, sharing with them some of his favourite Yoruba proverbs and metaphors. He was a man deeply in love with the Yoruba language and culture and who seized every opportunity to urge his followers to improve their command of the language. The quotations below were taken from a compendium published by Sola Lawal, captured as The Leader’s Tongue.
1. Eniti o sun ni a nji, a kii ji apiroro (We can wake up a man who is asleep, but not one who is feigning slumber.) This was to dismiss the school of thought which wanted Afenifere to offer the Obasanjo administration blue prints for national growth since such moves had been rebuffed in the past.
2. “A joko, a fi aso ko, a fe mu aso na, owo ko to; a dide, sibesibe owo ko to; a gbe akaba paapa, sibesibe, owo ko to”. (The garment hung from a sitting position becomes inaccessible even when standing up, and even from a ladder!) This was in reference to the ordeal of Afenifere leaders in sustaining the loyalty of former office holders who were beneficiaries of the group.
3. “Nko le waa ku, kii je ogun baba re.” (One who fears death will often suffer loss of his ancestral rights.) This sums up the leader’s urging of his followers to be prepared to fight and die, if necessary, for a just cause.
4. “Esin Oba ni Oyo ni o ja. Ki a rii, on ba ni wa. Ki a ma rii, on ba ni waa. Ki a ri, ki a le lu gbo, on na nba ni waa”. (In the search for the lost horse of the Oyo monarch, there are those genuinely searching, there are those seemingly searching hoping it would not be found, and there are those searching with a view to driving it further into the bush.) Refering to the crisis that engulfed Afenifere after the 2001 national convention of the AD, and the preference of certain individuals who would rather wish the crisis were not resolved.
5. “Eni ti o lo sin egbon re ni ihoho ti o mu aburo re dani , aburo ni bi a ti se toni ni a o se tola.” (A man buried his elder sibling in the nude with his younger one in tow. The younger sibling watched the process and told his elder brother that tomorrow will be handled the same way today has been handled.) This is to emphasise the principle of retribution and caution for the young ones seeking the humiliation of their elders.
Pa Abraham Adesanya’s life should be a model for all young people interested in holding political office. Like our leaders before him, and some few remaining of their long-time associates,he remained politically consistent throughout all his years in politics. Through comfort and hardship, through periods of adulation and persecution, in or out of government, he never derailed from the Awoist ideals and political party platforms. The best tribute Nigeria, and especially the Yoruba can pay this great man is to let his death engineer a new resolve within all of us, the Afenifere, to rededicate ourselves to the sustenance of those legacies which have been bestowed upon us by Awolowo, Ajasin and now Adesanya. Our chorus, from this moment, should be One Afenifere, One Credo, One Leader!
