Journalists have a way of doing their things. They focus on eye catching issues and events to the probable detriment of what ought to take the centre stage. My specific reference here is to the 80th birthday ceremony and book launch, organized in honour of Tayo Sowunmi, former student-leader and politician in the APGA camp. Poor birthday boy.
Rather than be accorded the deserved media attention on his day, the focus was on the depositions of Olusegun Obasanjo twice Nigerian Head of State who in spite of this feat also angled visibly for a third term. More about this later.
According to Obasanjo on that occasion, he was reported to have said that Nigeria needs more rebels. Presumably, his reference was to individuals who can dare to challenge the status quo. I was amazed by this contention from the former Head of State.
In some cases, a new and positive order usually emerges from the activities of rebels. However, no one should be carried away by this
This is because on several occasions, Obasanjo himself was an integral part of the status quo. In other words, Nigeria is where it is today partly in the light of the exertions of an Obasanjo. Here, memories cannot but flood in. I remember the ‘Ali Must Go’, incident. It was a struggle for the soul of Nigeria as regards how education should be funded.
Looking back, it was possible to see that our man stood on the wrong side of history, when he was confronted by rebels, partly embodied in the person of the late student Union activist Segun Okeowo.
We can also remember how on Obasanjo’s inauguration as a civilian head of state, he made what seemed to be the very uplifting statement that: it will not be business as usual. On my own part, I thought that Nigeria had a positive date with history in the light of this contention by Obasanjo. Subsequent events proved me wrong.
We may as well remember here that the Lagos – Abeokuta Road remained undone under his watch. Very much the same thing can be said for the Lagos –Ibadan expressway. Ditto for the Lagos Badagry Express Way.
As regards the Lagos Abeokuta highway, this was very personal for me. This is because I had cause to work at Covenant University, in Ota, and as such I became very familiar with that stretch of the country. Even then, we are not done yet.
I also remember the junketing across the world by our man. And as the excuse goes for such trips, the aim was to attract foreign investment. In a way, this was a show of shame. This is because at a point in time, his trips to the United States were so embarrassingly frequent that Washington did not even bother to extend the courtesies and protocols that were consistent with his office.
However, what takes the cake for me, was the third term agenda. Fayose who by the way, is not my favourite person was on television, loud and clear that indeed, there were attempts to subvert our constitution on the platform of the Third Term Agenda.
In any case the then president of the Senate Dr Ken Nnaamani in his memoirs, has also spoken to this situation. We have gone this far to show that our man could well be part of the Nigerian problem that, he was implicitly railing against at that birthday bash.
However, one must also say here, that beyond his person and place in our evolving history, there is a lot to be said for his contentions about rebels vis-a-vis the status quo. But rebellion usually comes with a price.
And Obasanjo is well placed to know this. After all, and by some accounts, he was the civil war hero, who launched the final onslaught on the rebel called Ojukwu. But wait for it. What one may ask, was Ojukwu’s cause at that point in time.
Reduced to its essentials, especially when we hack back to the earlier consensus in Aburi-in which for all practical purposes, Nigeria had been divided, if not dismembered.
Today, this is the cry across the land. It is a cry in which, very seriously the Nigerian political animal is being questioned and interrogated. In the light of the immediate foregoing, this much is clear, Ojukwu would be having the last laugh.
Even then, and in a sense, an Ojukwu was lucky, he was able to bail out, and cut his losses, such that for whatever, it is worth, he lived to tell the story. I can say here authoritatively that many rebels have not always been that lucky.
In other words, more often than not, rebellion usually comes with a price. That more often than not could be absolute.
On this note, I am remembering Ken Saro Wiwa here. Ken was a member of the Nigerian elite who had attended some of the country’s, finest institutions. Government College Umuahia and University of Ibadan. He decided to commit class suicide. He rebelled against the Nigerian state. Not through arms, but via the written word.
His, was clearly a case of the sword versus word. For his efforts, he was laid low by the status quo forces. I hate to say this; but two years before he was killed on November 10, 1995, I openly told Ken at a seminar in Port Harcourt, that this could well be his destination in the course of that struggle. Very much the same fate attended, another man of the word who also was something of a rebel,
Dele Giwa. One fateful day, he was simply bombed out of existence for his pains and efforts in the media world. Such indeed is the fate of the writer cum rebel. Incidentally, what is being said here is not confined to Nigeria. In South Africa, to be a writer under the apartheid system was to court danger and possibly death.
This was precisely what happened to a South African writer, Ruth First. She was also dispatched to the beyond on the platform of a parcel bomb. Such indeed is the dismal fate that awaits a rebel. Even then, and back in time, there was in Nigerian history, some King’s College Boys who in 1944 decided to challenge the colonial order.
The colonialists wasted no time. Some of them were simply and callously conscripted into the war-time army. For two of them, it was a one way trip. They never came back alive. Such indeed is the fate of rebels.
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However, the Yoruba world view has probably taken cognizance of this fatalistic scenario; by warning that if your head is used to break the coconut, chances are that you will be shut out from the ensuing feast.
Our compatriots on the other side of the Niger, the Ibos also share this world view with the Yoruba. According to them, more often than not, the coward is to be found in his compound pointing at the ruins of the brave man’s compound. But despite the foregoing, it must be conceded that there is a lot to be said for the rebel.
Fundamental outcomes are usually spawned by rebellion. This is because, in some cases, a new and positive order usually emerges from the activities of rebels. However, no one should be carried away by this.
For another writer, Ayi Kwei Armah has asserted that; despite the polish, the wood, according to him, will always win. And this may well and possibly explain why a social force like an Obasanjo who is/was an integral part of the status-quo can easily and ironically enough, turn around to make a case for rebels and rebellion.
Some of us have memories. And as such when the Ota farmer pontificated thus, one was bound to ask that: in the light of his own governance credentials, is he part of the problem or part of the solution?
Dear reader, if you have read thus far, I will not venture an answer to the question above. This much is clear however; when the problem as clearly embodied in the General begins to posture as part of the solution, then it is fitting to respond by saying: Cry,the beloved Country!
This is because, dear and brutalized Nigeria, your erstwhile tormentor is now posing and crusading as the messiah.
