Adebanjo, Clark: Home-going of true nation-builders, and the ‘Obasa’ in all of us

Nigeria is in a mourning mood and rightly so. Two men who could be described easily as the conscience of Nigeria died in quick succession. Legions of eulogies are trailing their exit, but the reasons they remained restless and ‘talkative’ at the tail end of their lives remain unaddressed.

Mudashiru Obasa is still very much in the news. He believes he has not yet finished his job as speaker in Lagos. He is fighting tooth and nail over it. But do you blame him?

Home-going of true nationalists

The quick succession of their deaths in a space of days conveyed a serious message that Edwin Clark did not want to remain here to be a lone voice after the exit of Ayo Adebanjo.

Both men have been the conscience of Nigeria for some years now.

Their sudden exit on Friday, February 15, 2025 (Adebanjo) and on Monday, February 18, 2025 (Clark) marked the end of a dogged life of the true nationalists whose love for Nigeria was not hypocritical.

Theirs were voices of reason that saved the country from itself a number of times.

And one thing very remarkable about them was that no security agency had the balls to hound them despite their caustic criticism of the government. For instance, the lacklustre administration of Muhammadu Buhari riled Clark to no end, and he tongue-lashed the Daura-born former president on several occasions.

Both men crusaded for the restructuring of Nigeria, as they strongly believed that Nigeria was not yet a nation. They were vehement against high-level injustice in the land and the perceived marginalisation of the Southeast in the scheme of things in Nigeria.

This informed their decision to align with the candidacy of Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) in the run-up to the 2023 presidential election against all odds.

Before the primary election of the leading political parties ahead of the general election, Adebanjo and Clark held several meetings on the platform of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) aimed at galvanising support for a possible presidential candidate from the South.

It was against this backdrop that they berated the then governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, for accepting his nomination as vice presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar, then presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Okowa, who was then chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum and a native of Owa-Alero in Ika North-East Local Government Area (one of the Igbo-speaking areas) of Delta State, was accused of exhibiting a high level of hypocrisy.

Before then, 17 governors of the Southern States of Nigeria, both of the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), under the chairmanship of the late governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, had met in Asaba, capital of Delta State, on May 11, 2021, and took far-reaching decisions, including that, based on the principles of fairness, equity, and justice, the presidency should rotate to the South at the end of the statutory eight years of President Buhari’s tenure, who is from the North.

Okowa was the host of that historic meeting. The Southern Governors later met again in Lagos on July 5, where they reaffirmed their decision, and again in Enugu on September 16, to restate the call that the presidency should rotate to the south in 2023.

Adebanjo and Clark, among other leaders of the SMBLF, had cautioned serving and former governors, ministers, senators, and others not to, on any account, allow themselves to be appointed or nominated as running mate to any presidential candidate if the presidency is not zoned to the south and threatened that the Forum would work against such a person or persons.

While many Nigerian politicians and other eminent personalities spoke tongue-in-cheek over the zone that should produce the next president in the last general election, the two men were forthright in their views without minding whose ox is gored.

Running the risk of being declared a persona non grata in Afenifere or even in the entire Yoruba land, Ayo Adebanjo rooted for a presidential candidate of the South East extraction.

In fact, Adebanjo’s stance on Obi created a crack in the Afenifere family that was yet to be resolved before his demise. He owed no one any apology because he believed he was pursuing a just cause.

Asked if he saw the possibility of the presidency returning to the Southwest in 2023, he said, “You talk about unity; that is where you will know where the sincerity lies. If you are keen about unity, will there be a unit of the country that will deprive you of the presidency? What does that mean for unity?

“We are talking about people who want Nigeria to stay together. How can anybody who loves this country talk of the presidency coming to the Southwest in 2023? That’s why I tell you all these people are not serious, including Buhari. Why should you exclude the Southeast? Is the Southeast not part of Nigeria?

“South-west has had, South-south has had, the North has had, why exclude the South-east if you want them to be there?”

Clark also spoke in tandem on a number of occasions.

For instance, when Anyim Pius Anyim went on a consultation visit to his residence in connection with his presidential ambition before the APC primaries, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) leader reaffirmed his passionate belief that the presidency of Nigeria (in 2023) should go to the southern part of Nigeria and indeed, to the southeast zone.

“I encourage you and others to continue the task of persuading and reassuring other Nigerians to share that vision,” he said.

In February 2022, Clark restated his position that the people of the South-East region should produce Nigeria’s president in 2023. He said that his reason was not because they are Igbo or people from the South-East, but because they are Nigerians.

Clark had insisted during a programme on Arise TV that it would be unfair to deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president.

He recalled that after the civil war, Yakubu Gowon had announced that there was “no victor, no vanquished.” He wondered what happened to that declaration if the people of the South-East were denied the presidency.

He maintained that every part of the country has had a fair share of testing political power at the presidency except the South-East.

The Niger Delta cannot forget Clark’s vocal voice in the fight for resource control and other necessary compensations for the region.

The two men leaving the stage at this crucial time in the nation’s life is a big blow. Who will now speak truth to power the way they did? So long, great nonagenarians!

The ‘Mudashiru Obasa’ in all of us

In the last one month, Mudashiru Obasa, the longest-serving speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly (and any other assembly since the return of Nigeria to civil rule in 1999 for that matter), has been in the news.

While the glitz and glamour lasted, Obasa grabbed newspaper headlines and enjoyed everything that the position could afford him.

He has been in the House of Assembly since 2007, when he first won election to represent Agege Constituency 1. He was re-elected in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023.

Obasa has been speaker of the House since June 2015 until he was impeached by his colleagues on January 13, 2025. Despite the controversies surrounding his person and the office he occupied, he continues to enjoy the support of the powers that be in Lagos.

Obasa is no different from many Nigerian politicians who become entitled as soon as they embrace the limelight.

An average Nigerian politician is an angel when he or she has not entered into office. At the time of seeking votes during the electioneering campaign, they go softly and wear friendly mien. They treat the people courteously and promise to bring heaven on earth. But as soon as they win the election, they become unapproachable and pompous.

It was Lagos that made Obasa the powerful politician he has become. You do not blame a man for feeling he owns the state House of Assembly when a system has given him the opportunity to preside over the house for three consecutive terms!

He has become so entitled that he began to see himself as above every other politician in the state.

A state governor in Nigeria is entitled to a maximum of eight years if he wins a re-election after the initial four years. That is also the case in Lagos, except for Akinwunmi Ambode, who did just one term of four years. It means that Obasa as speaker treated the budgets of Babatunde Fashola, Ambode, and now Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Three governors have passed through one man as speaker! So, what are you talking about? These may have combined to give him the air of invincibility that has begun to irk some.

Early rumour-mongers said that his travail began when he gave a hint that he was interested in running for governorship of the state in 2027.

He was right to say that nursing a governorship ambition was not a crime, even though, according to him, he has told nobody about any gubernatorial dream.

Obasa knows that becoming a governor in Lagos follows a pattern. No one wishes to become a governor, and such a dream comes to pass just like that without being endorsed by the “Oracle.” He cannot claim ignorance of that fact.

Many Nigerian politicians who were friendly before they became anything in politics are known to have thrown away their humanness as soon as they grabbed positions of authority. That is why it seems that those in power block their ears against the cries of the masses.

Obasa was said to have disregarded the elders of the party and even the governor of the state. If that allegation is true, it was still the system that has given him that false and vaunted rating of himself.

We hear that the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) is now a house divided against itself. Why has that august body become malleable? Was it just the Obasa effect or the power of Naira and Kobo?

How is Obasa worse than many lawmakers across the country who have no respect for the people of their constituencies, who voted them into power?

How humble is an average Nigerian when he/she finds him/herself arrived at the pinnacle of his/her career? How cooperative are Nigerians with their colleagues in offices as soon as they are elevated to positions of authority?

Obasa has arrived and, perhaps, considered the older politicians that helped him to power as “yesterday’s men,” just like one of the aides of former President Muhammadu Buhari categorised some people in Nigeria who questioned the poor governance in the Buharian regime.

Today, many of those who were helped into positions of power are looking at their one-time benefactors with the tail of their eyes (disdainfully) when they should rather be accorded their deserved courtesies.

Why would Obasa not feel seriously arrived when he has spent close to 20 years as a lawmaker and was elected three times as speaker in a state with a population of close to 17 million?

The Obasa imbroglio is confusing many people. Where is the “Oracle” of Lagos politics in all of this?

Initially, it was said that the GAC and other “coup” plotters and executors had the Oracle’s blessing to oust Obasa.

Now that the push has become shove with the invasion of the Assembly by the personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS), we are hearing a cacophony of voices, one of which is that the “Oracle” was never carried along and wants Obasa reinstated.

Another version is that the Oracle wants Obasa to step back in the saddle and then properly resign his position so that the word “impeachment” would be permanently erased from his record.

Whatever the case is, the truth is that Obasa is playing true to the mentality of every average Nigerian that considers him/herself arrived in the parlour, not just corridors of power.