MY PROBLEM WITH AWOISM

Before I begin writing this piece, I need to make it abundantly clear that I do not intend to personally attack the person of Chief Obafemi Awolowo neither do I intend to bring whatever honour is attached to his name to any form of disrepute. He was an elder statesman and today remains a reference point in the history of Western Nigeria and of course Nigeria at large.

What I am going to do in this piece however, is make clear my sincere reservations towards the saintly manner in which the AWOIST theory has been presented. The proponents of this political and administrative ideology make it appear as if Papa Awolowo’s principles of politics and administration are ideal and free of all blame. The mistake is general and I have once jumped on the bandwagon, preaching the Awoist ideology as a veritable roadmap towards fostering a united and just democratic society.

On a fateful morning, I was a drive-through in the ancient town of Ogbomoso and had to take the road from Orita-Naira to General area of the town. Unavoidably, the road I was to take passes through the front of the residence of Late Chief S.L. Akintola. On seeing this residence, I immediately began reviewing the stories I heard of this late politician and one of those stories included his violent feud with Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The feud was generally violent, a despicable show of shame between two Yoruba elders at the time. It was indeed a misrepresentation of the Yoruba people.

This review of my knowledge of history prompted my questioning the beliefs I have always had in the Awoist ideology. The proponents of this ideology presents it as a model for good governance, non-violent electoral processes, a lesson in sound public administration and a model for peace, unity and mutual co-existence. I no longer believe those things. I now believe, that whoever they are who cooked up a political ideology called Awoism did it with the mindset of pulling off a grand deception. They intended to recruit Nigerians as disciples into an almost religious belief system which shares so much in common with an aphorism.

I remember the stories I was told about the era of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Truly, education was free in his time, he built the very first television station in the country and he pioneered a lot of innovative developmental moves while he was Governor of the old Western region. Yet, that era witnessed the deadliest and most brutal forms of election violence and political thuggery ever witnessed in the Nigerian political landscape. He was a leader who valued infrastructural development, yet he had a strong penchant for political violence which transpired in his uncontrollable feud with Chief Akintola based on elfish political interests that led to loss of many lives including that of Akintola.

How peace-loving would it sound to describe the icon of a certain political ideology as a man who could not control the violent traits of his followers? How do we explain the ‘wet e’ era (a time of great political upheaval in the south-west which was characterized by massive burning of opponents’ houses and personal properties)?

In recent times, the notable politicians who have openly declared their belief in the Awoist ideology are politicians who have had connections with electoral violence and political thuggery. Across all party divides, mostly in the PDP and APC, you find them in numbers claiming to be strict adherents to the policies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Yet, the violence they mastermind is such that adheres strictly to the lessons they learnt from the icon of Awoism, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Stated clearly, what then is my problem with Awoism? It is that part of the political ideology that depict its icon, Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a peace-loving, non-violent saint, who embraced all and hated none, who gave all the chance for survival and killed none. The truth as I realized is, Obafemi Awolowo was a very practical man, he preached peace but employed violence and force when it was expedient. He campaigned for equal rights to life yet he killed those he considered as threats to his own life. My problem with Awosim, is that it is not a model for violence-free democracy as many preach it to be.

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BOKO HARAM INSURGENTS

The Boko Haram Insurgents
Unknown Base
Nigeria.

Through:
The Court of Public Opinion
Nigeria.

Dear Brothers in life's struggles,

RE: ZAMFARA MASSACRE - THE NEED TO STOP AND RECONSIDER

I would want to salute you dear friends, in the Islamic way but I fear I will be getting in the bad books of those Islamic faithfuls who consider you outlaws of the Islamic faith. So, I send you greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why Jesus? He said in the book of John 3:16; " For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." So, why Jesus? Because He came for the righteous and the sinners alike, to bring us all back to eternal redemption. I salute once again.

I chose to call you brothers in life's struggles, that again will call for certain criticisms of my moral standings by many. Yet, the grievous sins you have committed against humanity notwithstanding, we are all born of blood and flesh and whether we segregate along the lines of belief and disbelief, what matters in the end is the fact that we all remain brothers and sisters connected through a very long chain of descent. I greet you brothers.

It gives me great concern, to continually wake up to disturbing news everyday concerning the various exploits you have been responsible for in the Northern part of the county. If it is not 50 dying today, then its 200 dying tomorrow. The people you have killed, maimed and even rendered homeless are countless, yet so many people still wonder why. I do not wonder why you do these things, at least not anymore, but I write to brief you on the societal nuisance you have constituted.

In many quarters, a lot of persons classify you brothers, as people without reason, mentally deranged fellows or brainwashed freedom fighters at best. They think you do not think and you probably have no human feeling. I beg to differ, because I'm very sure you have cogent reasons for everything you have done so far. Like I said, a lot of people still wonder why you do these things and I will take a short while to answer the questions on your behalf.

I understand, that in your quest to attain highest levels of spirituality, you have found yourselves at the mercy of devilish clerics who fed you aphorisms. They clothed God in a way He isn't, they fed you with lies and instilled in you a cause which they were not sent by God to pursue. In the human psychology, it has been found to be normal for us to aspire towards a high, often devoted belief in a cause especially when the God factor is mentioned. I find your case to be no exception. These clerics twisted your thirst for doing the will Allah (SWT) into a penchant to kill most likely in the name of a Jihad. I do not blame you for believing them as we are all bound to be gullible at some point in our lives.

Like the crusaders in the days of Christian holy wars, you have accepted to lose your lives so that you may regain it in Al-Jannah Firdaus. You accepted to fight for the cause which you believed God ordained you to pursue through His clerics. You were misled. We understand you were probably so easy to mislead because our society has failed to discharge its responsibilities towards you. You were given no sound education, lacked jobs and basic means of livelihood and you fell at the mercy of these clerics. Who else do you listen to if not someone who clothed you, fed you and taught you his versions of the words of Allah (SWT)? I really do not blame you.

But dear brothers, the turmoil has lingered for too long. You have been in the fight, bled in the fight, died in the fight and yet, the end seems to be in heaven! I examined the futility of your efforts and I decided to plead with you to stop. Truth be told, no matter how hard you try, you cannot kill us all. You cannot even deplete the population. Of 120 million and more people, you have managed to kill barely 10,000. How long before you realize how wasted your efforts are?!

Combine the the futility of your efforts with the sacredness of human lives and you realize that presently in heaven, the stakes of hell are very high against you. But, as Jesus promised, there is yet hope for a sinner who repents of his sins. If as a reward for your actions the clerics promised you Al-Jannah Firdaus, the recent massacre you carried out in Zamfara State should be a reason for you to pause and re-consider. How do you enter Al-Jannah with the bloods of 200 innocent persons when Allah (SWT) is not the father of vampires?

Recently,government began alleging the use of chemical weapons in some parts of Benue State. You would imagine, if that continues, how soon before your fathers, mothers and siblings gets killed? Will it take one year for the trauma to get to your very pressure points? Or will it take just two weeks? No matter how long it takes, someday soon, the explosives will go off close to your heart, the very ones for whom you have decided to fight.

I plead with you dear brothers, the time to reconsider is now. The society may yet find no place for you within her ranks, but if you stop now, you will yet find a place in the heavens where only the government of peace reigns supreme.

Let no man deceive you, the lives of those 200 people in Zamfara is too sacred to overlook and God, as we know Him, holds dear the lives of His creations. If you fail to stop now, doom may just abound by the next turn. I plead with you with the sacred throne of Allah (SWT) to stop now and let us all, including yourselves live together as brothers that we truly are.

Nigeria is your home and Boko will not become Haram just because the society failed to grant you access to it. We will all work together to get what befits our human dignity, but only alive can we achieve such a great feat.

God bless our fatherland.

Yours Faithfully
ODERINU ADEDAYO T.
ibuckresources@gmail.com