23rd June, 2011
I write to commend the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the mature manner in which he comported himself on the recent controversy generated over an article written by a journalist in The Nation newspaper, purportedly disparaging Mama HID Awolowo and the Awolowo family.
Asiwaju indeed deserves great Kudos for the refined sense of cultivation, humility and mature restraint with which he had so far comported himself in the face of gruelling temptation to be drawn into provocative outbursts, through a host of uncomplimentary remarks by fifth columnists bent on causing confusion for parochial selfish agenda.
Fact is that it runs against the ethics of media practice for every newspaper, publisher, to habitually pry into the day-to-day editorial affairs of their media organisations.
Tinubu, as publisher of The Nation, could therefore not have been privy to the write up in question, before going to press; just as Asiwaju himself had never accused Mama HID as being the sponsor of the repeated demonisation of Tinubu’s person by the Nigerian Tribune, just for the mere fact that Mama is the chairman.
It is against this background that it would be wrong to hold Tinubu responsible for the deed credited to the writer in question. And since Asiwaju had even further gone ahead to tender an apology, in spite of his innocence, one therefore expects the matter to end there.
This is why one cannot but commend the revered ACN leader for his exemplary sense of magnanimity and respect for elders.
Fact, indeed, is that Asiwaju is an exemplary leader, whose philosophy is deeply anchored on the tenet of Awoism, and could by this token not have had any reason to subject his highly esteemed wife and the larger family to undue infamy.
At this juncture, I wish to seize this opportunity to appeal to the Nigerian Tribune to muster the mature spirit of fairness and level headedness as a hallmark of its editorial policy, instead of the sustained and intensified disparaging of Tinubu’s person, in spite of all he had done for Nigeria and the Yoruba race in particular.
It equally becomes pertinent to urge the Awolowo family not to be deceived by the so-called Awoists who had raised the loudest voice in deliberately fuelling the situation, as their action was necessarily not borne out of love for the family.
They are rather a bunch of confusionists who wanted to reap where they did not sow. A pack of spent force, who had already outlived their usefulness and therefore felt that they could bounce back into relevance, by fomenting confusion through a deliberately persistent scheme of denigration of the revered ACN leader.
Their motive is undoubtedly borne out of sheer envy of Asiwaju and his immense political stature in Nigerian politics as the indisputable generalissimo of the politics of the South-West in particular.
They felt threatened and over-shadowed by Tinubu’s immense clout. It is therefore no wonder that Tinubu’s mere cough or sneeze makes them severely panicky and jittery. This is why I am urging the Awo family to see through their parochial motive and therefore ignore them.
There is no doubt that Asiwaju would go down in history as a great leader, who through his immense contributions had made an indelible foot print on the sand of time.
There is no doubt that the great Awo would indeed be proud of him, wherever he might be today in God’s universe, for holding aloft his torch and immortalising his memory, not only by espousing the ideals for which he (Awo) lived and died, but for giving the Yoruba a sense of pride in such a way that they could raise their head high and proudly refer to themselves as Yoruba.
Even the Ibos and Hausa/Fulani hold him in high esteem for his feat in unifying the Yoruba, and giving them a single voice; just as they had hoped that a unifying figure like Tinubu could have emerged from amongst their leaders and give them a common sense of identity as Tinubu had done for the Yoruba.
The wonders that Fashola performed just within a brief span of four years, could well afford a proper insight into the grand vision which Tinubu has for the Yoruba. This, undoubtedly, shows the stuff of which Tinubu is made because the hallmark of a great leader is to replicate like minds.
The wonderful feat being performed by the Aregbesolas in Osun and the Fayemis in Ekiti are also ample attestations of Tinubu’s grand vision and I have no doubt that Amosun and Ajimobi, will replicate same in Ogun and Oyo states respectively.
There is no doubt that Tinubu is the contemporary Awo of our time, who is destined to complete Awo’s unfinished business. Just like Awo, Tinubu is God’s special gift to Nigeria and the Yoruba in particular. He is bold, courageous visionary, foresighted and multi-talented.
It is unfortunate that while he is admired on account of his qualities, by diverse tribesmen across the country, some enviously selfish ones among the elites in his native Yorubaland, are gripped in panic and fear, that Tinubu’s presence has overshadowed and consigned them to irrelevance.
It is against this background that I admonish our highly respected matriarch, Mama HID Awolowo, to endeavour to see through the base sentiments of these group of people and therefore refuse to be deceived.
I beseech Mama to be rest assured that Asiwaju will be the last person to denigrate her and the Awo family, and beyond this, he would be ever too ready to resist and challenge anybody who might seek to denigrate the family of a great leader like Awo, who he (Tinubu) regards as his idol.
I therefore beseech Mama to erase whatever misgiving she might have harboured and draw the ACN leader closer in the affectionate mother-son fashion, for Asiwaju’s singular feat of perpetuating the enviable legacies of her great husband of blessed memory.
And for this, there is no doubt that the great Awo would be so happy over there, with Tinubu his beloved son, in whom he is well pleased.
•Kunle Ademoye, an ex-lawmaker, was Chairman Committee on Housing in the Lagos State House of Assembly.