The Synergy Between President Buhari and Bayo Adelabu By Akinsola Ige

The race for the 2019 elections has begun with the commencement of campaigns on Saturday, November 18, 2018. Interestingly, the ruling APC has adopted the 'NEXT LEVEL' as its main  campaign slogan and central theme. The APC intends to be sounding it loud and clear to Nigerians that the most sensible choice to make is to seek to move forward. The ruling party is telling the electorate to continue put faith in it by  taking progressive steps and avoid regression which it says the main opposition party represents.

I quite agree with and in tandem with the proposition of the APC in the party's resolve to take Nigeria to the 'Next Level' However, l make bold to say that the inspiration for the 'Next Level' by APC had been originally conceived and nurtured by the Oyo State APC Governorship Candidate, Abdul-Waheed Adebayo  Adelabu. The visionary and highly cerebral Bayo Adelabu had declared that the Oyo State APC government he intends to head will be geared towards taking Oyo State to 'The Next Level'! That declaration by 'Penkelemesi Reloaded' was made way back then in June, 2018 while making official public declaration to vie for the Governorship Seat in Oyo State.

The import of drawing attention to the newly adopted 'Next Level' theme of the central APC Campaign  and the existing 'The Next Level' Covenant of Bayo Adelabu with the people of Oyo State should not be lost on any discerning mind. It is simply a case of the deep calling to the deep. It is a case of fertile minds working together for the benefits of all Nigerians nay the entire people of Oyo State.

While I am not privy to  the decision of the central APC to adopt 'Next Level' as its battlecry, l have an inkling that the government of President Mohammadu Buhari and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led APC must have consulted eggheads like Bayo Adelabu before making such critical choice. And why wouldn't people like Bayo Adelabu be the Consultant-in-Chief for the adoption of such slogan if not that he had been playing such critical role for the Federal Government while he was a Deputy Governor at the apex Central Bank of Nigeria! Sure, the President knows whom he can rely on when it comes to workable and practical policies.

As it is often said, morning shows the day. The synergy that  is bound to play out between President Buhari's 'Next Level' federal government and incoming Governor Adebayo Adekola Adelabu's 'The Next Level' Oyo State is bound to be unprecedented. Such synergy of purpose, passion and policy can only lead to improved livelihood for Nigerians in general and Oyo State in particular. It is thus towards the realisation of such eldorado for Oyo State that her citizens have pitched their tent with the APC. From Ibadan to Iseyin, from Oyo to Igbo-Ora, from Ogbomosho to Saki, from Eruwa to Igbeti and throughout Oyo State, the electorate have definitively decided to vote for no other person than 'Penkelemesi Reloaded' as their Governor!

In the final analysis, it serves Oyo State better to continually abide and have faith in President Buhari- led APC government. This faith would further come into reality when 'The Next Level' Oyo State Government led by incoming Governor Adebayo Adekola Adelabu is sworn into office comes Wednesday, May 29, 2019.

BY: AKINSOLA IGE, ESQ.

Significance of Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemesi: The Nationalist Philosopher By Reuben Abati

Every society needs to identify its icons, celebrate them, and preserve them for posterity, erect them as role models and as sources of inspiration, indeed as a part of the collective heritage for future generations, use them as it were to construct the history of the group. The struggle for Nigeria's independence and the country's early history was littered with the heroism of such men and women who stood in the frontline of the battle against British imperialism, and who with the force of their ideas and personalities helped to build an idea of Nigerianness, and who through their involvement in the emerging processes became authors and architects of the country's early history. Adegoke Adelabu, easily the most important, most versatile and colourful and intellectually gifted politician to have emerged from Ibadan in the middle part of the 20th century, was one of these.

But in the politics of personalities that soon became established in the new Nigeria that emerged, with history being written for many years from the perspectives of the triumphant, and more remarkably, with Yoruba politics headed in one direction for more than four decades, and the victorious crowd forcing the people to look at history solely, almost exclusively from their own side, the likes of Adelabu, who stood on the other side in Yoruba politics, were either overlooked or deliberately ignored, and the prize of recognition and historification was carted away by the triumphant crowd. The present celebration of Adegoke Adelabu by the generation of his children and grandchildren, and younger Ibadan kinsmen may well help to correct this situation, for what is being done is to give honour to a man to whom honour is due, to correct many years of selective appreciation and understanding in Yoruba politics and by extension, Nigerian politics, to force a sense of balance on existing historiography.

It is worth noting that up till this moment, Adegoke Adelabu is often mentioned in Yoruba and Nigerian history, almost nearly in parenthesis as the author of that expression: "penkelemesi", a Yorubanisation of the phrase, "peculiar mess" which Adelabu, who had an excessive gift of the garb, who revelled in his mastery of the English language, and who spoke English in a manner that fascinated and confounded his audience, had used on an occasion to describe the opposition in the Western House of Assembly. Not understanding what he meant, the non-literate section of his audience translated the phrase into vernacular as "penkelemesi".

It is a word that Adelabu has added forever to the Yoruba lexicon, and instructively, it is now the title of a weekly column in the New Age newspaper, and the sub-title of a factional book by Professor Wole Soyinka, Ibadan: The Penkelemesi Years. But beyond this singular record of linguistic inventiveness, not much is known in the Nigerian political space about Adelabu, his efforts and ideas have not been fully studied and analysed, and yet he is, without any argument one of the founding fathers of the Nigerian nation, a visionary of the Nigerian revolution, whose ideas and politics, continue to bear special resonance, whose words have proven to be prescient and prophetic.

Perhaps, the starting point for appreciating his importance would be a reading of his biography as written by Yinka Adelabu who is described as a "scion of Adegoke Adelabu family", and Lekan Olagunju, also an Ibadan man. Introduced with a rhythmically pleasant foreword by Otunba T. O. S. Benson, Adegoke Adelabu: Penkelemesi: The Nationalist Philosopher is essentially a tribute. The authors provide information and perspectives which locate Adelabu as a major historical figure, not only in Ibadan politics, but as a Nigerian nationalist, with very strong, progressive views, and an unwavering commitment to the politics of ideas and principles. In seven chapters, Adelabu's accomplishments are placed on full display: he was a self-made man, born on September 3, 1915, into a humble family, but whose enormous mental capacity and gifts, hard work, and versatility turned into one of the leading figures of his time. He was so brilliant that he was constantly given double promotion, ahead of his peers, and at every turn, he was the first in many endeavours.

He was the first beneficiary of a scholarship given by the United Africa Company (UAC) for outstanding ability, the first Nigerian to occupy the position of a manager in the UAC, the first chairman of the Ibadan District Council, first National Vice President of the NCNC, member of the Western House of Assembly, Minister of Social Services and Mineral Resources....Adedibu was also a salesman, a merchant, a writer and a journalist. He was a short man who attained great heights, and stood taller than many of his contemporaries. We are introduced to the high points of his life, particularly his growth as a politician and his role as the main champion of the NCNC led by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, in Ibadan, and in fact, as the leading Ibadan politician of his time. He was a fiercely independent-minded man who refused to be swayed by the herd mentality, and the politics of tribe and personality which governed politics in the West in the 50s. Ibadan was notably the centre of much that happened in the politics of the West and of Nigeria, between 1951 and 1964.

The city was the largest in West Africa, and the headquarters of what was then known as the Western region, and in terms of ethnic composition, a varied and cosmopolitan centre. Lamidi Adelabu in his autobiographical political treatise, What I saw in the Politics of Ibadanland has given a detailed account of the special place that Ibadan occupies in the politics of Nigeria through events and personalities, but the colossal figure in that city between 1951 and 1958 was Adegoke Adelabu. He was instrumental to the formation of the Ibadan People's Party (IPP), the Ibadan Taxpayers Association and the NCNC Mobolaje Grand Alliance. He was a charismatic politician with the common touch and appeal, and with a strong sense of his own significance, and potentials; he knew the value of politics, and he led the Ibadan Division into the NCNC.

In the now historic famous carpet-crossing incident that sowed the seed for the future implosion of the Western region and Nigeria in the First Republic, Adelabu stood on the side of principle, and emerged as the leader of the opposition in the Western House of Assembly. He chose to be a nationalist rather than a tribalist; he chose to be a man of his own conviction, rather than a member of the crowd; while his own colleagues in the NCNC/Ibadan Peoples Party who could have handed over the government of the Western region to Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe crossed to the Action Group, Adelabu chose to stay with Nnamdi Azikiwe in whom he had found a kindred spirit, and in defence of his own principles. Given the feverish politics of the West at the time, Adelabu was a man of courage, standing up to the Action Groupers in parliament and on the field was a remarkable show of character. Unfortunately, Adelabu's biographers have not done enough to place these events of his life in a proper context for the reader; they deal with the highlights whereas a contextualisation would have provided much deeper analysis.

For example, a passing reference is made to his travails in form of persecution and criminal charges that he had to face, the nature and details of which are not disclosed. What for example is the content of the Nicholson report? What about the "alleged Isale Ijebu affray?" The authors also refer to a press statement jointly authored by Hon Adegoke Adelabu and Mallam Aminu Kano titled The Dividing Ideological Line on the NCNC-NEPU alliance. That statement should have been reproduced; as a well as a fuller account of Adelabu's contributions as the leader of opposition in the Western House of Assembly. The highest point of this book however is the sudden death of Adegoke Adelabu in a motor accident on Thursday, March 20, 1958. The Western House of Assembly held a special session in his honour, and the authors have reproduced the tributes paid to him by his fellow parliamentarians, very moving tributes which perhaps convey the reluctance to speak ill of the dead, if not the deep respect which the opposition had for Adegoke Adelabu. The book is brought to a close with more tributes by those who were privileged to have known and associated with the subject. The tributes are particularly warm; they constitute the most engaging section of the biography.

By the time of his death, Adelabu was only 42 years old, and yet he had packed so much into that short space, so much brilliance and productivity, so much history, and yet so much activity in his private life, with 12 wives and 15 children! Adelabu and Olagunju have missed in their account an opportunity to report the impact of Adedibu's death on the Ibadan community. The whole town mourned. It was as if the city's source of illumination had gone out and many rioted, for it was suspected that there was a diabolical side to Adelabu's sudden death. Four years later, this impression resurfaced in the course of the face-off between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Ladoke Akintola, then premier of the Western Region. Akintola's supporters went round the city of Ibadan singing provocative songs against Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his supporters who had also been Adelabu's political opponents. One of the songs, reported by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his Travails of Democracy and the Rule of law (1987) goes thus: "Akintola o se pa, enyin ti e pete pero, ti e p'Adelabu, Akintola o se pa" ("Akintola cannot be killed, you that conspired, plotted and killed Adelabu, Akintola cannot be killed").

This reference to Adelabu and Akintola in opposition to Awo and the Awoists in the Action Group is to be taken beyond the personality clashes that affected Yoruba politics, and damaged it permanently from the days of Adelabu to the present, and located in the strain that had developed in Yoruba politics since 1951 between those who wanted the Western region and particularly the Yoruba to close up the region to outsiders and preserve the politics and the geography as a basis for negotiating with the larger Nigerian system, and those like Adelabu and Akintola, who thought that the Yoruba should not play the politics of irredentism but the politics of the centre. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the leader of the first tendency, and Adelabu and Akintola, and many others who reached out beyond Yorubaland, and who defended other political platforms within the Yoruba enclave were demonised, isolated, harassed....This internal strife in Yoruba politics has remained, with both tendencies scoring victory and defeat at various times in Nigerian history. At the moment, it may be said that it is the centrists, for want of a better of expression, that are in their season of triumph, with the regionalists, to use that term for the purposes of description, having been routed in the 2003 elections. This is perhaps why the time is ripe for the promotion of "the other side of the coin" in Yoruba politics, and Adegoke Adelabu was clearly the most stubborn champion of that alternative tendency in the region.

The extent to which this is true is well borne out in his Africa in Ebullition. Introduced as "a handbook of freedom for Nigerian Nationalists", it is a book that deserves to be read by all and sundry and especially the younger generation, and everyone who is interested in the politics of Nigeria. This is Adelabu's personal manifesto, his articulation of his vision of society, a summation of his political catechism. It is a very forceful political commentary on the subject of Nigerian independence and how that new nation can be built and sustained, a moving, intellectual tour de force written by a man who obviously believed in his own genius, his place in history, and had the confidence that he was a gift and a blessing to both his country and the world. Adelabu's self-celebration and advertisement, his extraordinary command of language, the high velocity of his ideas and grammatical constructions, his sheer fascination with words, and the richness of his vocabulary, his deliberate display of erudition, even his theatricality are all at once amusing and instructive. This is the work of an educated man, an enlightened soul, and a good advertisement for the quality of education that was once available in Nigeria.

However, the main strength of this book, with a foreword by Adelabu's hero, the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, lies in the ideas that Adelabu canvasses on its pages. The author deals with two broad issues in the book: first the politics of the Western region, and second Nigeria's quest for freedom from colonial rule, and the future of the Nigerian state. In the introduction, Adelabu deals with his membership of the Azikiwe-led NCNC, and what he describes as the "tragedy at Ibadan- a blessing in disguise", namely the desertion of the NCNC by five of the elected members from the Ibadan Division, who had been members of the NCNC and the Ibadan Peoples Party. In December 1951, there was no clear majority in the House by any party, and the IPP with its six members held the deciding choice; if they had all joined the NCNC, that party would have produced the Government of the Western region, but one after the four of the IPP members and other NCNCers from the West crossed the carpet to join the Action Group, thus giving that party an advantage, and wrong-footing Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, for whom Adelabu in this book reserves very high praise.

Adelabu reviews the events of that moment and descends heavily on those whom he accused of playing the politics of opportunism. He argues that the politics of principle is nobler than the politics of personalities. He identifies the former as the basis for growth and the latter as ephemeral and unstable. He is nonetheless an optimist for in 1952, he had hoped that the treachery of his former colleagues on the floor of parliament provided an opportunity for identifying the right materials for leading Nigeria towards independence. In this regard, Adelabu may have been mistaken, for indeed what has endured unfortunately is not his brand of politics, but its opposite, the politics of personalities and opportunism with succeeding generations of Nigerian politicians swearing to oath in juju shrines and turning politics into commerce in the same manner in which he accused certain politicians in 1951. In the subsequent part of the book, Adelabu calls for independence from British colonial rule in 1956, what he calls a "cosmological imperative." Although he did not live to witness Nigeria's independence in 1960, he had in this book spelled out his own ideas about freedom and its meaning. Freedom for Adelabu, was not just freedom from the shackles of imperialism, but freedom in general from all forces of reaction, retrogression, compromise, and even what he calls, "black treachery", promoted by those who would make it difficult for freedom when attained to be translated into reality.

A strong, moral tone runs through Africa in Ebullition, equally remarkable is the immediacy of his analysis; written in 1952, and largely a critique of the colonial and indigenous tendencies of the period, Adelabu could well have been writing about today's Nigeria. Adelabu's words remind us forcefully of hwo so little has changed in our lives, how freedom from colonial rule has not translated into real freedom in the lives of the people. In Chapter Three entitled "Self-Government", Adelabu attempts a critique of leadership patterns and identifies three camps of nationalists: the materialistic camp, the intellectual camp and the spiritualistic camp, with the observation that the spiritualistic segment of the nationalist front represents the "higher order". He says: "They are seers and prophets. And they are heroes, saints and angels. How and why? They abjure leisure, they embrace castles, they adorn jailyards, they scorn the transient, they revere the everlasting, they worship the eternal. They are selfless. They are gallant. They are humble. They are loving. They are sublime, divine and immortal. When you see them, you know them....Nigeria must learn to seek, find, encourage, cultivate, acclaim, appreciate and canonise the few among her children who have the WILL POWER to do (sic) the toga of spiritual armour. They are the only insurance for success in the BATTLE OF FREEDOM...."

Adelabu's spiritualists are obviously not religious priests, but priests of the revolution committed to principles even at the price of their lives, his dismissal in comparison of intellectualism as "a joke" may be overstated, but Adelabu's idea of the kind of leadership that can lead Nigeria to the promised land was informed by his analysis of the trends in the politics of his time, and hence in a later chapter on National Unity, he revisits this same question of leadership as he identifies "the imperialists, the tribalists and the isolationists" as "enemies of Nigerian unity". The sad news is that Adelabu's hopes have not been met, since 1958, it is the undesirables of his analysis that have flourished in the public space, Adelabu's view that they are "doomed to failure" is no more than wishful thinking. With these elements having taken charge of the Nigerian society, the bigger tragedy of retrogression overtook the nation. Adelabu was an ardent nationalist who saw tribalism and regionalism as obstacles to national unity. He wrote: "tribes must die, ethnic groupings fade away and sectional interests submerged and sacrificed, in order that a NATION, vigorous, virile and transcendental may ARISE." Here, Adelabu was mistaken, tribes and ethnic groupings need not die for nations to survive and endure, indeed ethnicity is an asset, but the root of the failure in Nigeria is clearly the human factor, which Adelabu had correctly identified.

From Chapter Four to Seven, he examines in the following order the issues of education, agriculture, industrialisation, and Africanisation. Adelabu's criticisms of the Nigerian situation in 1952, fit so perfectly into the present Nigerian context, in fact the words he used could be lifted verbatim and applied to the present, so much that the reader cannot but wonder how a country so blessed has nevertheless managed to remain fixed in one spot for more than 50 years. Other major issues examined by Adelabu which continue to remain relevant in Nigerian politics and life include the making of a people's constitution, political parties and ideologies, the need for social, ethical and spiritual revolution, resource allocation and management, the interest of the poor and the collective responsibility of the citizenry.
In Africa in Ebullition, Adelabu's intellectual gifts are on display; he represented a now scarce breed of Nigerian politicians: that is the politician as thinker and man of action; it is not everything he says that is well-considered, for example, his dismissal of ethnicity and his call for "federal supremacy", but he belonged to an era in Nigerian politics when despite the differences of ideological affiliation, the professional political class made an effort to think, as borne out not just by Adelabu's writing but also by the quality of thought in parliament, an impression of which is conveyed in a section of the aforementioned biography by Adelabu and Olagunju.

Adelabu's political career and life provide further opportunities for research and publication, and this may involve the publication of his newspaper writings, as well as his contributions in parliament. The biographers on this occasion have carefully left out what may be considered negative comments about Adelabu, perhaps they should have reflected such comments; for in his lifetime, Adelabu may have been loved by musicians who sang his praises and the masses who adored him but there were others like Ayekooto, the newspaper columnist who in the Daily Service, occasionally took broad swipes at Adelabu calling him on one occasion, "the portable mogaji", and on another, "the parachute man", and yet in another piece, the late Bisi Onabanjo accused Adelabu of jumping from "one mistake to another and from all accounts available, he seems to like the acrobatic performances".

There was also a loud contradiction at the heart of Adegoke Adelabu's politics and methods. Whereas in Africa in Ebullition, he had made a strong case for the adoption of "free and compulsory education from the age of five", two years later, in 1954, in the course of campaigns for the Federal elections, Adelabu had opposed the Action Group's free education policy, and so effective was he that he almost single-handedly caused the defeat of the AG in that election. This resort to Machiavellianism on the political field is patently contradictory. In addition to the lack of balance, the biography contains too many unpardonable errors of proof-reading which could only have been the product of undue rush to the press. Africa in Ebullition as published by Jericho Business Club, also contains no acknowledgement of the original edition, no ISBN, and even no date of publication. Both books also do not contain any index, a regular oversight by Nigerian book publishers, which devalues such publications as ready reference materials, placing an extra burden on researchers.
All these oversights are however more than compensated for by the historical value of the efforts that have been made, Adelabu's significance as a revolutionary idealist and the rediscovery of his Africa in Ebullition.

By Reuben Abati

Culled from GUARDIAN, September 5, 2005

Teslim Folarin, Akin-Alabi, Ola-Iya Storms APC Zonal Meeting in Ona-Ara LG

It was a total family affair yesterday at Elekuro Grammar School when the Ona-Ara LG zonal meeting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) was held at the school premises along Akanran road. It was a large turnout which was well attended by the party faithfuls, executives, leaders and all the election candidates in the local government and constituency, while embarking on a journey to attain successes in the 2019 election.

The candidate representing Ona-Ara LG at the State Assembly, Hon. Abidemi Sanusi Ola-Iya while speaking thanked the people of the local government and the party as a whole for their immense and invaluable support up till the last moments of the primary election. He solicited for their support and begged for a united party members. He told the people that the primary election times are over hence the need to see themselves as one party members. He eventually prostrated for all the aggrieved members particularly those he has offended in the process of contesting the election under the APC.

The candidate, representing Egbeda/Ona-Ara LG constituency in the Federal House of Representative, Hon. Akin Alabi was next to speak, after dancing to the many eulogies showered on him and when he eventually had the chance to speak, he observed due protocol and extended sincere congratulatory message to the whole party. He reminded everyone on the need to up their level of efforts at canvassing the grassroots and that the true work has only begun. He encourage every candidate to be at the edge of their seats and be available at every peck and call of the party responsibility. He then similarly beseeched on the aggrieved members to sheath their sword and make peace within the party while apprising them on the need to foster unity and achieve a common goal in the coming election.

Senator Teslim Folarin who is also the senatorial candidate of the ruling party APC while speaking appreciated the inestimable support of Gov. Abiola Ajimobi over the last primary election and encouraged everyone to forget the past and promote harmony within the party ranks. He scolded the attempts by other candidates to drag the reconciliation process to the public glare. He emphasised on the need to earn a better general election result unlike in the past where Ona-Ara LG has been known to be on the losing side, yet Gov. Ajimobi was benevolent enough to empowered the local government with top juicy offices like the Chief of Staff, S.A on Youths and Sports etc.

The highly eventful program came to a round off with the presentation of some new decampees into the APC fold from the Accord Party. The newly decampees are those under the guide of Comrade Oderinlo from Akinlapa even the Bale of Akinlapa in Ona-Ara LG was in attendance to make their allegiance to the All Progressives Congress. They believe in the ambition, goal and direction of the APC, while upholding their commitment towards a successful 2019 election.

Opposition Displays Flagrant Ignorance of the Penkelemesi Phenomenon By Olawuwo Adesina

Why this peculiar mess?

Mesmerized by the Oyo All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the 2019 general election, Chief Adebayo Adelabu’s immense personal profile which is buoyed further by the towering reputation of his grandfather, Alhaji Chief Adegoke Adelabu, the most reputable regional Opposition Leader known to Nigeria history,  opposition political parties in the state particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are putting the wrong foot forward, waging a war that would boomerang and put them at loggerhead with Ibadan and all those other towns  the NCNC held sway in the in the First republic. They will have the Olubadan, the Alaafin and the Soun to mention three frontline traditional rulers in the state to contend with. This is because the roles and attitude of the late Leader of Opposition in the defunct Western House of Assembly were conditioned and determined by the wishes of his people and party loyalists across Ibadan, Oyo, Ogbomoso and far away Ilesa which is now outside Oyo State.

An article has continued to trend on the social media ostensibly by the PDP media machine which seeks to present out of context roles of Papa Adegoke Adelabu as the Leader of Opposition in the Western Region House of Assembly. The article came as a charade  and betrayed the extreme ignorance of the writers concerning parliamentary democracy Nigeria operated in the period before and during the First Republic but which is still the proud vogue in Britain, Canada and Australia among other Commonwealth countries which a section of the Nigerian political class are nostalgic about and called for its return.

It is dastardly act of self destruct for some misguided politicians whose fathers were incognito in the first republic to encourage campaigns of calumny which seeks to take the desecrate the glowing memory of one of the most important figures who fought for the regional self rule for the West and the eventual independence of Nigeria by presenting him as opponent of the free education policy and personal enemy of the late Premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in that the people will ask them the critical question what their fathers or grandfathers were doing at the time the APC governorship candidate’s grandfather held sway as foremost politician in the West and in fact Nigeria, having been the nation’s first Federal Minister of Social Services and Natural Resources. Such politicians may be inadvertently inviting inquiry into their backgrounds which may turn out unpalatable. Whatever transpired between Chief Awolowo and Adelabu were in tandem with the character of parliamentary democracy where the Shadow Cabinet had responsibility to scrutinize the policies and actions of the government, as well as offer an alternative program.

The best the PDP and the rest of the opposition parties need to do in the circumstance, without beating the honest nest, is to push their candidates and let the people of Oyo state do a comparative analyses and decide on the best person for the job instead of chasing the ghost of the late Shadow Premier, lest his ghost chases them.

One flaw in the poorly penned narrative is that it portrayed glaring ignorance of  the workings of the parliamentary system of government practiced that time and certainly confused it with the presidential system of government which obtains now. There is therefore the need to put the record straight and educate these writers who may not have been born in that dispensation or have knowledge of history or are rather too lazy for historical investigations.

Constitutionally, two governments are apparent in parliamentary democracy; the Government and the opposition Shadow Government. The leader of the largest opposition party is the Leader of the Official Opposition, which that time was the NCNC with Rt. Hon Adegoke Adelabu the Leader of the Official Opposition. This role commanded an added remuneration to the parliamentary salary received as an MP. The Leader of the Official Opposition picks a 'Shadow Cabinet' to follow the work of government departments. It is doubtful if the apologists of the PDP and other opposition political parties knew that the two governments obtained that time were only contrary and not in any way contradictory.

The device is intended to encourage robust parliamentary debate, deepen and broaden the exploration of all possible sides to policies and programmes, such as the free education so as to maximize the utilitarian value to the people. The parliamentary shadow cabinet system is not the winner takes all kind of arrangement and seeks to involve all stakeholders in the decision making process. Government ministers and Opposition spokespersons all work in the House of Assembly. While the Government Cabinet consists of ministers chosen by the Premier at regional level or the Prime Minister at the federal level, the Shadow Cabinet, a notional cabinet, consists of members from the main opposition party appointed by the Leader of Opposition. While the Cabinet ministers develop government policies and head the ministries, the Shadow Cabinet ministers examine the work of each government department and develop policies in their specific areas. That way the Opposition is able to subject the policies and actions of the government to constant criticism effectively through general debates on legislations, discussion of the general budget and motions of censure.

That is the reason the parliamentary form of government is also called Responsible Government because it is answerable to the entire parliament, and not only to the majority. This made whole sense in the first republic because of the absence of Separation of Powers with the three departments of government working in close, intimate contact, sharing some of the powers and functions of one another. However, structured opposition is not an institutional aspect of the winner takes all presidential system of government and the opposition has had to adorn the garb of gangster or villain by taking to press conferences and press releases in damaging criticism of government and its programmes and policies.

There probably lies the error of those who seek to view Penkelemesi in the light of today’s opposition whose approach is antagonistic rather than being constructive. It is instructive therefore that the PDP and other teams note that the function of the opposition in the parliamentary system is to encourage constructive criticism,  accountability, meaningful debate and exhaustive review of all possibilities to policies and programmes right on the floor of the Parliament and not antagonism as they seek to portray.

Contrary to the wrong impression the PDP and other opposition candidates seek to enlist, Chief Awolowo and Alhaji Adelabu were not diametrically opposed on policies and programmes which added to peoples welfare; and evidence abound that they met privately and regularly to discuss grey areas in issues and actually socialized. Rare visuals are available which showed the West Opposition Leader, Alhaji Chief Adelabu personally welcoming the Premier, Chief Awolowo to London for the many talks that facilitated Nigeria’s independence. It is not wise of any politician today to want to create a wedge between Awo and Penkelemesi when their biological offspring and families would not see it as such; but only believed that both patriarchs were justifiably involved in nation building and that both had played their roles well in tandem with standard parliamentary practices as obtained in the UK, Australia, Canada and others.  It should be agreed however that India is a parliamentary democracy which does not employ shadow government.

It is obvious that Papa Adelabu is not the kind of politician dead or alive that can be bad mouthed by whoever new politician. Here is a man celebrated in death by the likes of Prof Sabiru Biobaku who was his classmate. The former Minister of Works and Transport and uncle of present Governor Ajimobi and even the governor’s father who was a member of the Western House though on the platform of the Action Group venerated him. As Reuben Abati recalled in a recent article, the Western Region Opposition Leader and Shadow Premier was a “brilliant orator and intellectually gifted personality who authored the book Africa in the Ebullition.” The book in itself was a massive intellectual exercise; just as the genius orator who once came first in a UAC scholarship examination that earned him a scholarship to higher institution was renowned for his “deep knowledge of English”.

It should be of concern to critics of the Penkelemesi legacy that Ibadan is attached to his memory and celebrated the Centenary of his birth recently on September 3, 2015. Though Senator Lanlehin’s father was an actor in the Western politics of the first republic, and so also Chief Akinpelu Obisesan, they were not in any way in the bracket of Papa Adelabu. It is pretty difficult if not impossible to notice the Makinde’s father not to talk of his roles in those formative years Papa Adelabu led Ibadan to cut own political persuasion. So today’s children whose fathers were incognito in the first republic don’t have what it takes to cast aspersion on Penkelemesi whose legacy remains one leg the West stands on till date.

There was no way he would have been opposed to free education in that he himself was quite brilliant and soundly educated. He had severally declared that he had insatiable thirst for knowledge. As Chief Lekan Alabi disclosed in a newspaper article, the enigma attended St David’s CMS, Kudeti, Ibadan from 1925 to 1929, the CMS Central School, Mapo area, Ibadan in 1930, the Government College Ibadan, 1931 to 1935 and Higher College, Yaba, Lagos in the year 1936. Adelabu earned accelerated (double) promotions on three occasions at Elementary, Primary and Secondary School levels, yet he never came second in any examination, but first at all times. He was extremely brilliant!

Also, he could not have been opposed to other egalitarian programmes of the regime such as free healthcare, rural development and mass employment pursed by the government at that time because though he was born into a poor family he had managed to scale the odds to become the first African manager of the United Africa Company (UAC) at age 21 in 1936, Nigeria’s first federal minister of social services and natural resources at age 39 in 1954, first chairman the old of Ibadan district council (now comprising II LGAS) in 1954, former first national vice, later the president of the now defunct NCNC political party, former leader of opposition in the old Western Region house of assembly and leader of the NCNC western delegation to the 1957 constitutional conference in London, UK.

It is erroneous to think that Ibadan could throw away its loyalty to Adelabu on the account of cheap misrepresentation of facts. He was sufficiently a man of the people. When he became the minister of labour, he immediately drove his official car, an American limousine all the way to Ibadan and asked all his teeming supporters to share the car with him. He boldly announced to them that the car belonged to them and not him. Ibadan is in not in a hurry to forget the Adelabu spirit of accommodation and public inclusion, the kind that was not common in the first republic and no longer found among today’s politicians.

Similarly, when he was provided with a government house as his official residence in Ikoyi, the most exclusive part of Lagos, he turned up with drummers from Ibadan much to the discomfiture of the largely expatriate residents of Ikoyi. They protested vigorously about the noise but Adelabu would not relent. He called a press conference and stoutly declared: “If they do not like noise and drumming, they are free to go back to their own country.”

He built his famous catchphrase “a peculiar mess” on his penchant for quality both in leadership delivery and conduct of government business. It became well known that time that Adelabu did not stand for any mess rather he abhorred mess. Avert to shoddy performances, he had variously declared publicly that the government of Western Nigeria was in “a peculiar mess” over the management of its affairs. He had also tongue lashed the colonial officials with same vitriol: “stop your peculiar mess”, which he chorused as the occasion demanded. So whoever seeks to push the notion that penkelemesi suggests poor, mediocre performance is gravely missing the point.

The brilliance Adegoke brought to governance in the first republic robbed on the grandson as he also has always lived up to expectation in all corporate and public offices he held. Hence, the people of the state repose implicit confidence in him to make a brilliant success of the governorship on his election. He has exhibited that in the way he has handled the state Security Trust Fund as chairman. The innovation he has brought to surveillance, prevention and containment of criminalities has strengthened the security of the state. This becomes very appreciable considering the fact that security is the greatest challenge facing any society in the world. As it were, only he among the many contenders, except former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, has been entrusted with the very critical aspect of the state. No one is in doubt that he has proved appropriately equipped for the assignment as he has made the best use of the opportunity to impact on the peace agenda that has been flagship of the numerous achievements of the Ajimobi administration in the last seven years.

If the PDP candidate and his cohorts would offer themselves the benefit of hindsight, they will realize that egan wa ko ye yin! E wa oro mi so!

BY OLAWUWO ADESINA

There is Still Serious Work to be Done: Sunmonu Respond to Calls to Begin Campaign

The Senator representing Oyo Central has in a statement released by her media office responded to the calls from her supporters to begin campaigning towards the upcoming 2019 elections.

Sunmonu support groups under the auspices of “O-Sure Group”, TeamSMS” and “SMS Vanguard” have called for the former Speaker of Oyo State to begin her campaign, claiming that many of her competitors from other parties have began campaigning by attending radio interviews and holding mini-rallies across the senatorial district.

In her response, Sunmonu said “INEC has stated very clearly that Federal campaigns are to commence on 18 November 2018. That means any campaigning prior to that date is not allowed.

She continued “Election is a race: we all know it is a ‘false-start’ to start running before the gun sounds. The umpire knows the rules and is observing.

In closing, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs said “As a Senator of the Federal Republic, I am duty bound to lead by example by doing the right thing and attending Plenary sessions where crucial Motions and Bills are being debated. There is still a lot of work to do in the National Assembly and patriotism dictates that I must continue with these assignments in the interest of my constituents and Nigerians generally.”

Akin Alabi Takes a Swipe at Seyi Makinde over 3SC Saga

The APC House of Representative candidate for Egbeda/Ona-Ara LG constituency for the 2019 election and CEO Nairabet Oloye Akin Alabi who is also a staunch supporter and sponsor of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) took a swipe at the governorship candidate of the PDP, Engr. Seyi Makinde for playing the blame game on the predicament of the famous Ibadan football club.

Recently, Seyi Makinde has been employing all tactics to discredit the efforts of Gov. Abiola Ajimobi's government in improving the state in all avenues available. More recently, he has taken the blame game to the football arena by blaming the present government for the club's relegated status and the difficulties encountered during their present difficulty in gaining promotion back to the elite division.

But in a twist of event, Oloye Akin Alabi took him unaware someone tweeted on a post that mentioned Seyi Makinde promising to restore 3SC lost glory. Akin Alabi using his Twitter handle @akinalabi tweeted "Politics. Since I have been sponsoring 3SC for about 5 years and going around with the management trying to raised fund, this man has not been supporting us. Election time he is pledging to support lost glory".

This is a big fact yet untold in the open circle and further shed light on the antecedents of our political candidates who don't offer much when the election is not around the corner. It is also a dent on the political ambition and zeal of Engr. Seyi Makinde who some quarter regard as a genuine patriot.

Oloye Akin Alabi however is a true Ibadan patriot who has been a sincere and devoted supporter and financer of the prestiguous club since well over 5 years ago with various shirt sponsorship, provision of training kits and welfare of the club players and officials.

Senator Monsurat Sunmonu: A Woman of Substance

Leadership, like Marian Anderson postulated, should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it. Understanding the need of the people has always been the major concern of the senator representing Oyo Central Senatorial District, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, all through her period as a serving legislature.

What particularly knocks me off my feet about this woman of substance is her sincerity of purpose. Women of virtue are indeed a rare breed. Such embedded virtue in a career woman with motherly custom is a masterstroke or better tagged 'a work of art' of the creator. Such is the persona of Senator Monsurat. The character entwined in such womanly artistry is a conglomerate of the attributes desired of a leader for the people, who is also saddled with the solemn responsibility to serve the people and that for a certain has been actualised with due delegience. She has been at the forefront of humanitarian services to her people that it is has become apparent and imperative in all her human endeavors.

I remember vividly during one of our informal discussions in Abuja, where she had to let us in on some of the problems encountered within the rank and file of the senate caucus when she had to struggle her way through the apportioned fund and allowances. She divulged yet with so much passion gushed out of her innermost feeling to back up her assertions amid the general problem women often face as a first timer and as a woman.

A wise man once posited that "a strong woman stands up for herself. A stronger woman stands up for everyone else". This has always been a strong work point for our darling senator who always stand tall against all form of oppression in the power house of the senate chamber. She narrated many confrontations she had with her colleagues in the senate chamber which was a necessity to gain power and hitherto earn some much deserved respect.

Those who are attuned to her journey into political scene must also be in awe of her electric rise to the peak in politics. It didn't come by human favor but by divine grace. She's richly blessed and ingeniously favored and she knows it. She sometimes tell political vendors who come up with so much expensive bargain for their cheap electoral support that they can go do whatever pleases them, that so long she has done her bits and pieces, the Almighty Allah will surly do the rest.

And He has been doing it for her because she has been doing all within her capacity to build the people especially the youths through her extended capacity building programs. Her idea of setting a legacy for tomorrow is by building future leaders and not future artisans, providing an environment for human capital building, not physical capital, largely through education and sensitization which somewhat negates our usual politician style of cheap and manual empowerment. Provision and repairs of good and accessible road network, provision of better health services for our people, through appropriate funding of our health system and providing free health services to various individuals and groups. She has contributed so much to the education sector by bringing a conducive learning environment for various primary schools through construction and reconstruction of school buildings and provision of  chairs and desks for a better and conducive learning environment.

She has anchored many youths centered human capital and capacity building programs which has gone a long way to improve the level of human resource development of our people. This is a short and long term solution to better the life of the people and sharpen their cerebral capacity for life successes compared to others who provide cheap and short term oriented goal to solving poverty in the land through their less privileged empowerment programs. The distinguished senator, in her capacity, has sponsored many bills including the ever famous and widely applauded treatment of a gunshot victim which had in the past become a menacing outlet for human mortality especially in this part of the world.

She won't make you a promise either. It is usually a wrong strategy by our political lords who would say anything to appease the human desire and yet easily break the subtle oath to provide all that they have mentioned while campaigning or during dialogue. Considering the many factors that can spring up to thwart the oath from actualising: the case of a rise in foreign exchange can easily bring your projections and presumptions into delusions and leave you in an unsafe pedestal.

I can go on waxing lyrical about this great woman of substance who no doubt have the love of her people at heart and will see to the manifestation of an all improved welfare agenda for her people in the next senate, 2019 (8th National Assembly) as she would then be considered a high powered member and perhaps one of the powerful women in the chamber who can emancipate the women agenda and unequivocally make life more meaningful for the people on her senatorial constituency and beyond.

Akin Alabi to Build ICT Center at Bioku Community High School

The APC candidate for the Federal House of Representative, Egbeda/Ona-Ara LG Ibadan in the 2019 election and CEO, Nairabet, Oloye Akin Alabi has put in motion his plan to build an ICT Center at Bioku Aladun Community High School (Senior), Akanran.

He made this known through his Twitter handle, @akinalabi, when he tweeted that "I’m thankful to the ministry of education, Oyo State for approving my request to build an ICT Center at Bioku Community High School, Ibadan." In the reply, message from the ministry of education which he made public, the acting Permanent Secretary, Mrs I. I. Fatoki acknowledged the receipt of the letter which was sent on the 23rd of October, 2018 and she assured her support with high regards.

Oloye Akin Alabi is contesting to be the Federal Honourable representing Egbeda/Ona-Ara LG constituency under the ruling party, APC, where he hopes to use his wealth of experience to further assist the people, thereby improve the living standard of the people.

Prince Ashimiu Afeez Adio, A Man of High Altruistic Value

I have seen men of high of moral and integrity, I've seen men of altruistic values who gives without an afterthought, I have seen great victors and great achievers. I have seen Prince Ashimiu Adeyinka Afeez Adio - a business man cum politician who have raised the bar in modern politics especially in Egbeda/ Ona-Ara Federal Constituency, he has proven without reasonable doubt that selfless men of high generosity who value human lives, above personal gains, still exist in the game of politics, no wonder some sect clamour for more business men to fill the voids in the Nigeria political terrain. Active participation in politics by the technocrats should be more encouraged as it will lay a good foundation for the upcoming generations, thus limiting the whims of politics which will ultimately reduce the visceral to matters of national importance or value.

Adio (as he his popularly called) has been at the forefront of the affairs of the people prior to the party primaries where he lost the Federal House of Representative candidate ticket of the All Progressives Party (APC) to Oloye Akin Alabi, however this loss has not deterred him from contributing immensely to the growth of the ruling party, APC. Talking of a kind, generous and forgiving man, a man with a good heart and virtue who is magnanimous in defeat, albeit being in full cognisance of the murky waters of politics he's plying.

Having lost the party ticket at the primary, he still made it a point of duty to be present at the Ona-Ara LG youth meeting at Elekuro High School on Saturday where he even donated a huge sum of cash for the upkeep of the party programs. He did not stop there, he took a grip of the opportunity given to him to announce his foundation, Adio Foundation which is an NGO aimed at adding value and shape to human lives. While speaking Prince Adio expressed the affection he has for his people and how he hoped to use politics to impact more into the life of the people. He took the time also to make public his free skill acquisition training program which will be coming up on the 30th of October to 3rd of November,   2018 at the Legacy House, Babanla, Ibadan. Domestic skills to acquire include: Laundry bar soap making; liquid soap; disinfectant and antiseptic; body spray; insecticide; vaseline; stove thread and bleach and rat poison.

This indeed is a laudable display of good political zeal from a passionate son of Ona-Ara and this gesture must be encourage within the rank and file of the politics. He swept everyone off their feet with his post primary reactions and his surge at improving the living standard of the people of Egbeda and Ona-Ara Federal Constituency, which in all honesty must be cheered.

Similar passion should be exhibited by our teeming young and prospective politicians in the nearest future as it amount to their own quota of giving back to the society that molded us into what we are today and above all serves as a modality for setting the standard for the future of Nigerian politics and posterity as a whole.

Congratulations to Prince Adio and Adio Foundation as you lay a new standard for the people and politicians in Egbeda/ Ona-Ara Federal Constituency.

Adelabu: The new Sheriff in Town and the Old Charioteers

"Every generation must out of relative obscurity discover it's mission, fulfill or betray it"

One of the most indirect and miss use of perspective is to allow other people understand you well enough to use your own brain to judder up their own thinking. Every one adopts his or her own style. That's the essence of rationality. The golden counsel is "in a matter of style, swim with the current, in a matter of principle, stand like a rock". The evaluation of the aspect of the "matter of  principle" particularly within the political context is what propelled Einstein's conclusion that politics is more difficult than physics.

The foregoing was part of my reaction to a friend who called my attention yesterday to a "not too gentle breeze" that blew from our Egbon,i Ismaila Ashipa, the one and only Ashipa Shango. The message was not itself as acerbic in content as in the intent. It was a rushed judgement, a fallacy of what a student of philosophy will refer to as "argumentum ad hominem".  I have long noticed and appreciated the fact that Egbon Ashipa has a mind of his own and would not call a spade just one farm tool, but a spade. But the major weakness is intolerance of others' views. That's fundamental. Once you are not in the same mental wavelength with him, you have your fingers burned. He acts with such a hauter of a pilot familiar with every continent. Replica of a man who in the words of David Hume is guilty of "unpardonable arrogance" for concluding that any argument that escapes his investigation, does not exist, he moves in an indecent haste to paint the Oyo APC flag bearer in a bad tar without finding out information even when he has unfettered access to the man. He preferred to bawl out where he should whisper.

Whereas, Adelabu is entering the political arena with a piano, the old Charioteers who are only accustomed to the Agidigbo drumbeat are facing difficulties of  twisting their legs to conform with the new rhythm. They want an Omelette but not prepared to break eggs. A typical system of social challenges in the contemporary world and the main reason many empires collapse like a pack of cards before they are built.

Leadership sometimes means going a path less travelled.  It's time the old Charioteers got themselves amenable to change as not to loose the race against time. The earlier they know that the new Sherriff is leading a liberating struggle, the better. He is not poised to take surveys to satisfy the desires of the few against the majority. He is moving at his own pace and that I know, reaching out to political leaders and co-contestants in the Guber primary silently. He believes in building consensus and will not be swayed by negative profiling from any quarters.

Oloye Adelabu did confirm to me in a conversation after the APC Guber primary that he has reached out to many people, including Egbon Ashipa, who for reasons only known to him is now putting the gentleman's nose in the trough. If the old Charioteers think they can corall the new Sherriff into doing only their billings, they are in a self delusion. The motto of the new Sherriff is "Oyo state first". The only difference is in the interpretation of the "reaching out". May be in due course, Oloye Adelabu Adebayo will "reach out" the way our Egbon wishes to be "reached". But that should be considered a privilege, not a right.

For now, I can only appeal to my Egbon and other "Charioteers" to rally round Oloye Adelabu so that the vision to move Oyo state to the next level will soon be realised. It's a collective task that is more honourable.

Isiaka Kehinde writes ....

Bayo Adelabu: Walking the Dream By Isiaka Kehinde

"Dreaming is of little value without hardwork to fulfill the dream, hardwork is of little value if not driven by a dream"

When Abdulwaheed Adebayo Adelabu clinched the APC ticket in Oyo state, many people were rolling on the ground celebrating the victory. It was indeed a victory worth celebration. In point of fact, Adelabu Adebayo has a goal that is taller than being part of history. He is set to make  history. Getting the ticket to vie for governorship is not just the destination but a path to fulfilment of a destiny.

Sometimes, people dream, another man of destiny turns the dream into a stark reality.  That fateful day on 28 August 1963, When Marthin Luther King made that mind searing prophesy "I have a dream", little did he know that the speech would one day rank the top American speech of the century. The winter of the King's discontent which was lurking in the dream became a glorious summer with a black man Barrack Obama, occupying a White House.
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In the case of Oloye Adelabu Adebayo, the dream of his forebears transcends having a grandson that will be grand in banking industry and break new ground in Oyo politics. It's beyond possessing a winning attitude or what philosophers call "promethian spirit" of an exemplar. And that's why Adebayo Adelabu is not thinking about winning the forthcoming election just for winning sake. He is to change the world, not to interpret the change.  That's the Crux of the matter. It matters.

The difference , Penkelemesi said, "resides in the nature of the struggle" Adelabu Adegoke Penkelemesi dreamt about a 'destiny boy' who as a politician, ideologically speaking, "will hold fanatically to the principle he holds dear". He must be one who 'must toil for the greatest good of the greatest number of the people". Broad in outlook and flexible in approach'. One who will labour without respite to make Oyo state an epicenter of development in Nigeria. Who will create opportunity for people based on merit and make education for a social order a desideratum, etc.. (for more about the dream ,grab a copy of the timeless book "African in Ebullition"). Can you now see why when others are thinking about the next election, Adelabu Adebayo's mind is fixated on the next generation. His own campaign is not the usual 'blinding the layman' it's about fulfilment of a dream. Without any whiff of doubt, he has a ppotent combination of the goal and the  method to walk the dream. Let me use this medium to formally congratulate him for the success recorded in the primary and remind him of his promise to make Oyo state a reference point wherever development is the major topic in the nearest future. As we say in the school #SemperOptimum I wish him all the best.

PS.
I will soon start a series "Breaking the barriers" "to do a "SWOT "analysis of the governorship candidate of other leading political parties in Oyo state. "Don't change the Dial".

By Isiaka Kehinde

Adelabu: I'm not Coming to Rubbish Ajimobi's Legacy

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Gubernatorial Candidate in Oyo State, Chief Bayo Adelabu who is also the Agbaakin Parakoyi of Ibadanland and Aare Soludero of Ado-Awaye yesterday held a Social Media Parley program with the youths and influencers across the social media platforms. The event was an informal setup where he was able to introduce himself and his dream of a better Oyo State and on the reverse, questions were thrown at him on his plan and the way forward for Oyo State in general.

While Speaking, Chief Bayo Adelabu outlined the four cardinals which led to his foray into the world of politics. Firstly, he delved into the positives of the present governor Abiola Ajimobi who have raised the bar in modern politics and how real modern development started from his regime as security of lives and properties bring about modern investors. The sudden shift in the political consciousness of the youths and decent professionals have also uplifted his interest in the politics of Oyo state. Thirdly, his experience and success in politics will serve as a forerunner for other technocrats to follow suit and bring their wealth of experience for the benefit of the people, thereby changing the perception of people about politics and politicians. He rounded it off by mentioning that it will also no doubt renew the legacy of Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemesi whom is still highly regarded as the father grassroots politics.

He maintained that he is in no way negating the legacy of Ajimobi and trumping it with his father's legacy as people have to been insinuating in some quarters. He said "Ajimobi's legacy can be seen in infrastructure, health, education (SGB), security, agriculture etc, if you merge the two, you are going to have the best: harmonizing politics of social stimulation with that of development focus and developmental activities, hence, continuity is necessary. I'm using that to clear the air on the Penkelemesi legacy, because the rumors in town is that Adelabu is coming to rubbish Ajimobi's legacy, nobody can wipe off any name that is accepted or acceptable to the people. Penkelemesi is the father of grassroot politics and Ajimobi is the father of modern politics."

He also expressed his concern on the need for continuity of Ajimobi's legacy where he carefully defined the blueprint laid down by the present governor. He likened our present scenario with what played out in Lagos State where former governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu laid the foundation for a new Lagos. He in fact named himself 'the Fashola of Oyo State'. The architect of modern Oyo state has been carefully panned out by Governor Ajimobi and he (Adelabu) would have no problem hitting the ground running from the first day of duty come May 29th, 2019.

Many cerebral questions bothering on the economic development of the state were asked and his replies were inclined to his agenda and plans for Oyo state come 2019. The program ended with rousy ovation from the youths while also having a photo shoot afterwards.

Akin Alabi, Nairabet CEO, Captures APC Ticket for Egbeda/Ona-Ara LG

It has been confirmed that Nairabet CEO, Oloye Akin Alabi has clinched the APC House of Representative ticket in Egbeda/Ona-Ara federal constituency. He got the result after all other candidates also vying the same seat with him stepped down for his candidacy.

Hon Jenrade, Hon Adewale Ishola and Hon Adio all stepped down for him to contest the seat in the general election come February, 2019. It was also reported that Gov. Ajimobi encouraged aspirants to dialogue with each other, so that one can amicably step down for the other person.

Akin Alabi himself also confirmed the report on his Twitter handle @akinalabi when he tweeted "Breaking, I have just been declared the winner of the primary election after the other contestants, Hon Jenrade, Hon Adewale Ishola and Hon Adio all stepped down for me. I will be APC’s House of Reps candidate for Egbeda/Ona Ara federal constituency next year. Thank you all."

We can also confirm that celebration has been ongoing after picture of a slaughtered cow appeared on his twitter page as well.
Congratulations to Mr Akin Alabi

Eclipse of a Star: How Adegoke Adelabu Died

One of the places you must endeavour to visit in the historic town is Taj Mahal in Oke Oluokun. That’s the residence and final resting place of Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu, the Lion of the West.

Adelabu needs no introduction. He was the afternoon star that scared the elderly. He was the morning dew that drenched both friends and foes. More than fifty-nine years after his death, he refused to be forgotten. For those who are not familiar with Penkelemesi, please read Onigegewura’s You know Penkelemesi! But do you know Ebullition? to know more about this legendary personality.

Gbadamosi Adegoke Adelabu died at his prime. He died when his sun was at its zenith. It was a death like no other. It was not the death of an individual. It was not the loss of a family. Adegoke Adelabu’s death was a national tragedy. Ibadan stood still. Lagos was stuned. Nigeria went into a state of shock.

How did Adelabu die? Was it an act of God? Was he killed by his political opponents? Was Adegoke a victim of political conspiracy? What was Adelabu’s business with his Lebanese friends? What actually happened on that fateful day in 1958?

If there was a politician who understood the psychology of his people, it was Adegoke Adelabu. He was a master in the art and science of political psychology. And like the consummate politician he was, he spoke the language of the people. He was a compound polyglot. His Yoruba was flawless. His English was impeccable. Adelabu was not the one to mix Yoruba with English in the same sentence.

Though small in stature, he was intellectually a giant. With his brilliance, he dazzled and dwarfed his peers. According to Bola Ige, Adelabu was “a short man, but with boundless energy, he always seemed to be on the move, he went on foot from village to village. He dressed and appeared like a rustic villager. He never seemed to smile, not to talk of laugh. His Yoruba was devastating in pithiness and sarcasm. He knew how to leave every audience with a phrase that could not be forgotten.”

Coming from Chief Bola Ige, who himself was a wordsmith, that was an eloquent testimonial. If any evidence of Adelabu’s mastery of language is required, you need look no further than Penkelemesi and Ebullition.

The final journey of the grassroots politician did not start in 1958 when he breathed his last. It actually started three years earlier in 1955 when Adelabu was appointed the Minister of Natural Resources and Social Services. The appointment was indeed a giant leap for Adelabu, who started life from a weaver’s shed.

His Lebanese friends, the Younan family, saw his appointment as a golden opportunity to market the Penkelemesi brand. It was decided that textile materials bearing Adelabu’s image and name be produced and sold. It was expected that the cloth would also serve a subtle campaign strategy for Adelabu who was aiming to become the premier of the West.

When the first shipment arrived, neither Adelabu nor the Younan family, expected what happened. They had expected sale to be slow and gradual. To their pleasant surprise, the Penkelemesi fabric became an overnight bestseller. It became the social uniform, not only in Ibadan but throughout the Western Region. According to Iya Agba, textile merchants were using the cloth to sell other brands. You must buy another brand before aso penkelemesi could be sold to you.

It was no longer aso ebi. It became aso ilupeju – a global uniform. It was used for weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals, housewarming and every form of social function. Tailors were praying daily for Adelabu. There was no tailor in Ibadan that did not get one or two yards to sew.

The Younan family did not wait for the stock to run out before the second shipment was ordered. It also recorded massive sale. This time around, Idumota traders and Onitsha merchants joined the bandwagon. The Lion of the West was the toast of the moment. He was not only a successful politician; he had also demonstrated that he was business savvy.

With the 1956 elections approaching, and with his rising political profile, Adelabu was sure of victory at the polls. He was a master strategist. As a populist leader, he gave people what they wanted. In areas of Ibadan where the indigenes were in the majority, Adelabu ensured that natives were the candidates of his party. In non-native areas, the Political Genius, fielded non-natives. It was a strategy that never failed him.

He was confident of becoming the premier. His business partners were also confident. It was decided that in addition to the penkelemesi cloth already in the market, a special cloth should be ordered for his inauguration as the premier. The cloth was indeed special. It showed Adegoke Adelabu as the Premier holding the keys to the Western House of Assembly! It was going to be a hot cake.

To finance the project, Albert Younan obtained a loan from African Continental Bank. ACB was one of the big indigenous banks in Nigeria then. The bank became distressed in 1991 and was taken over by the Central Bank of Nigeria. It was later revived and was one of the banks that formed the present day Spring Bank. The bank even had a football club. I can see elderly people reading this nodding as they remember ACB FC of Lagos!

Adelabu had however not taken into consideration the political wizardry of Obafemi Awolowo. As fate would have it, it was Awolowo who became the Premier. Adelabu became the Leader of the Opposition. Of course you know that it is the Premier and not the Leader of the Opposition that would hold the key to the House of Assembly.

You want to know what happened to the cloth already ordered. You are not the only one. The management of ACB also wanted to know. More importantly, the bankers wanted to know how the Younans were going to repay the facility. Yet the cloth could not be sold as Adelabu did not become the premier.

Albert Younan found himself in a financial jeopardy. The bank was writing to him everyday demanding repayment of the loan. The cloth was in the warehouse, unsold. Adelabu was in the House, but not as the premier. This was not an ordinary matter. Ohun ti o mu bale ile wo aso iyawo re lo si oja, oro ti kuro ni se ko si nkan. Mewa nbe. Whatever made the husband to wear his wife’s dress to the market place has gone beyond ‘I hope there’s no problem’.

On March 24, 1958, Younan sent a desperate message to Penkelemesi. It was a plea for help. The bank was on his neck. He had been given a final deadline by the bank. Adelabu decided to assist his friend by following him to the head office of the bank in Lagos to plead for further credit.

Adelabu woke up very early the following day. In addition to the meeting with ACB in Lagos, he also had some issues to discuss with Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh. He decided to use the same stone to kill two birds. He had just finished his morning prayers when he was informed that Albert Younan was outside. He bade his family farewell and promised to be back before evening.

The journey to Lagos was uneventful. The management of the Bank was happy to receive a politician with the stature of Adelabu. He was assured that his request would be considered. Younan was happy. Adelabu was happy. He went off to see Okotie-Eboh.

It was on the return journey to Ibadan that the unthinkable happened. It was on a straight stretch of road between Ode-Remo and Iperu. Albert Younan was the one driving the ash-grey Peugeot saloon car. Adelabu was seated beside him. Two of Adelabu’s aides were also in the car.

Without warning, the Peugeot collided head on with a light yellow Austin which was on its way to Lagos. The force of the collision was such that the Austin somersaulted and came to rest upside down facing back the way it had come. The Peugeot cracked under the impact. It burst into flames.

Ha! Ikunle Abiyamo o! Travellers who witnessed the accident rushed to the aid of the victims. They successfully extinguished the fire. Of the four passengers in the Peugeot car, only the driver, Albert Younan, was alive. Though he was injured, he was still breathing.

The driver of the yellow Austin was unharmed. It was as if he was not the one who drove the car. His two passengers were however not as lucky. The two Britons in the car, who were representatives of the Royal Exchange Assurance Company, sustained slight injuries. All of them, the dead and the injured, were quickly rushed to Shagamu Hospital. It was at the hospital that it was discovered that Penkelemesi, the Lion of the West, was one of the dead.

It was late in the evening that the news reached Ibadan. It started as a rumour. No one believed it. It could not have been Adelabu. Penkelemesi was a survivor. He was a fighter. He would never allow death to take him. Even if he was involved in an accident, the Lone Star would be unscathed. Bi Sango ba n pa Araba, bi o n fa Iroko ya, bi ti igi nla ko. If Sango, the god of thunder strikes at Araba tree and dismantles Iroko tree, he must respect the baobab tree. Adelabu was baobab. He was beyond the reach of Sango.

It was not until the following morning when his death became the headline news that reality dawned on his teeming followers. Tragedy Strikes screamed the Defender newspaper. Adelabu Is Dead announced the Daily Times.

Anthony Enahoro, as the Leader of the Western House of Assembly, proposed an extraordinary adjournment as a tribute to the dead Leader of the Opposition. In his moving tribute, he said:

“We did not agree with him or his methods, and he too, did not agree with us or our policies. Nevertheless, he was a tireless and doughty fighter who stood firmly by the things he cherished, and it may be that when the history of these times comes to be written, that is one attribute of Alhaji Adelabu which will be remembered better than any other.”

Chief Obafemi Awolowo saluted the man who had keenly desired to take his place as Premier of the West. According to him: “Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu was, in his lifetime, and ever since he entered into politics, a fighter first and last, with all the characteristics of a fighter. He was fearless, formidable, forthright, often caustic, and uncompromising.”

It was a day no one who witnessed it would ever forget. Lanrewaju Adepoju, the redoubtable Yoruba poet, in a recent album, observed that Ibadan had never mourned anyone the way it mourned Adelabu. More than 75,000 mourners assembled to pay their final homage to the People’s Hero. According to an eyewitness account, the crowd was so dense that that it took three hours for the funeral procession of over fifty vehicles to move from Molete to Oke Oluokun where he was to be buried.

Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe presented a coffin to the family on behalf of his political party, the NCNC. It must have been a special coffin. I remember that one verbal abuse that was popular in the West when I was growing up was to describe someone as having ‘long head like Adelabu’s coffin’. Do you remember? Olori gboro bi posi Adelabu!

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Leader of NCNC, was not physically present at the funeral but he was represented by top notchers of the party. He later came to pay his last his respects to his very distinguished lieutenant. At the graveside, Azikiwe announced that NCNC would provide scholarships for all of Adelabu’s 15 children. He also donated 100 pounds to the family.

Adelabu was not mourned by only the NCNC and the AG. On behalf of the Northern People Congress, Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa sent two top Ministers: Muhammadu Ribadu and Inuwa Wada to pay condolences and pray at the grave of a fellow Muslim.

Adegoke Adelabu was dead and buried. But the Lion of West did not die alone. His supporters took to the streets. They paraded through the city and stoned public buildings, including Mapo Hall and the courts at Oke Are. By evening of that day, three people had been killed in various parts of Ibadan.

It was speculated that Adelabu was shot by his political opponents. An editor of a newspaper claimed that he saw Adelabu’s body riddled with bullet holes and that the car he was travelling in was deliberately crashed to make it look like an accident.

This claim was however without basis. Unknown to many at the time, Adelabu’s corpse did not arrive Ibadan until late in the morning of March 26 because a postmortem was being conducted to determine the cause of his death. The autopsy was witnessed by Chief Joseph M. Johnson, one of Adelabu’s friends. Johnson was the first and the only non-indigene to serve as the Chairman of Ibadan Council.

Adelabu died on Tuesday. He was buried on Wednesday. By Friday, all hell broke lose. Reports of murders and violence began to come in by Friday evening. One account put the number of death at sixteen. Another account sighted by Onigegewura recorded eighteen riot deaths. All the victims were said to be members or supporters of the Action Group. By March 30, more than 300 people had been arrested. Many of them were taken to Ilesha and Abeokuta prisons since Ibadan prison was already full.

It was also speculated that Younan had crashed the car deliberately in order to commit suicide as a result of his financial challenges. This was however denied by Albert Younan who insisted that there was no special cloth printed for the 1956 election and therefore no financial loss. He claimed that he went with Adelabu to Lagos for unrelated business.

The family of Adegoke Adelabu did not appear to be convinced. The family filed a civil suit against Younan and Sons Limited and the Royal Exchange Assurance Company. Their claim was for the sum of one hundred thousand pounds for negligence of the two drivers which led to the death of their breadwinner. The trial judge was My Lord Justice Samuel Quashie-Idun, a Ghanaian. His Lordship later served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

In his judgment, Justice Quashie-Idun held that no case had been made against the insurance company. His Lordship however found Younan and Sons liable. The firm was ordered to pay 6,030 pounds as damages to Adelabu’s children and 350 pounds as costs.

Younan and Sons appealed the judgment. Their appeal was successful. The Federal Supreme Court reversed the decision of the trial court on the ground that the plaintiffs who sued as Administrators of the estate of Adegoke Adelabu had no capacity to bring the suit.

At the time, the Federal Supreme Court was not the final Court of appeal for Nigeria. The apex court was the Privy Council in Britain. Adelabu’s family appealed to the Privy Council. The appeal was pending when the parties agreed to settle out of court. The firm of Younan and Sons agreed to pay the family of the Lion of the West the sum of 3,000 pounds.

On the political front, a bye-election was conducted to fill the seat hitherto occupied by Adelabu. Adeoye Adisa, a young lawyer who had returned to Ibadan two years earlier from his law studies in Britain emerged the winner of the bye-election.

Adegoke Adelabu died more than 59 years ago. He died at a tender age. He was 43. He was however able to cram into his short life what many who lived up to a century could only dream of achieving. At the time of his death, he was holding three critical posts. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Western House of Assembly. He was the Chairman of the NCNC Western Working Committee. He was also the chairman of the powerful NCNC-Mabolaje Grand Alliance. Almost six decades after his last breath, his footprints are still indelible on the political landscape.

In recognition of his achievements as a nationalist, politician, orator and mass mobilizer, the government of Oyo State in 2016 listed his Oke-Oluokun residence as one of the tourist sites in Oyo State.

I hope the next time you are in the city of Ibadan, you will find time to visit the Taj Mahal.

May the soul of Gbadamosi Adegoke Adelabu continue to rest in peace.