Professor of Political Science and former Minister of Foreign Affairs is 80 today. In this interview with EVELYN OSAGIE, Akinyemi, son of a famous principal of Ilesha Grammar School, the Canon J.A Akinyemi, speaks out on restructuring, true federalism, confab, electoral reforms and more
Your illustrious father, Reverend Canon J.A. Akinyemi, was a key figure in Nigerian politics in his days and in the development of education. Could you shed light on his involvement in the formulation and implementation of the Free Education Policy of the Awolowo’s era in the defunct Western Region?
Our contribution to life is determined by the time, circumstances, opportunities, what needs to be done and what can be done. In the case of my Dad, Nigeria and Africa were in that stage where little drops of water were making mighty pools. You had leaders who themselves were magnets for talents. They were few and because of that, they attracted people who shared their visions. There were not many of them and that’s why the pollution didn’t take place. And I suppose the vision of Chief Awolowo (Chief Obafemi Awolowo GCFR, a Nigerian nationalist and statesman), through his party, appealed to my Dad who himself was an educationist. And so, he gyrated towards Chief Awolowo’s vision for free education. You must have this belief that you educate a child, you are educating society and the contribution of this child to his environment is way beyond just educating one person. In those days, a village would sell the shirt on the back of every male in that village to contribute to educating one person in scholarship; knowing fully well that when that person becomes a graduate, you have actually pulled up that village. Development has already started. And a lot of them were first-generation graduates; this was their dream and passion. Not like now, nobody thought he/she was being educated in order to come back and exploit the society. No.
There was no contradiction in terms that they would be educationists as well public servants in joining political parties because the political parties they joined, they were not being paid. Instead, they were making contributions from their paltry salaries. And when they contested the elections, if they won it was on a part-time basis. Not now, when…let me not talk about now before I get into another trouble. But then, it was on a part-time basis – it was a service. That’s why I called being a member of parliament at that time “Public Service”. It was not as if they were earning salaries as principal of a school and earning salaries as members of parliament. No. They were earning a sitting allowance. And that was what it was at that time. And that is what I would regard as my Dad’s status and contributions. Things have changed. If it is now, would my father and his colleagues have remained that way – who knows? We are all products of our environment.
Why did ‘SLA Akintola close down Ilesa Grammar School, Ilesa, where your illustrious father was principal in the 6os?
I don’t know the details too well because I wasn’t around. I had gone to the United States by that time. But Yorubaland has split down the middle at that time between those loyal to Chief Awolowo and who remained with him during his travail; and those who were loyal to Chief Akintola (Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Premier of Western Nigeria). There was a division of vision as regards the direction where Western Region should go: its relationship with the Federal government and its relationship with other regions. Chief Awolowo held one point of view; Chief Akintola held a different point of view. And so professionals in the intelligentsia, former friends and colleagues in the action group split. And my Dad went with Chief Awolowo. Chief Akintola and his supporters were in charge of the region. And unfortunately, as people visit the sin of the father on the son, people visit ‘the sin’ of the head of the institution which they followed. But the Yoruba has a saying that God is planning evil (of course, it would be sacrilegious to say that God is planning evil) whereas what He is planning is good. They drove my Dad out of being principal of Ilesa Grammar School only for him to be picked upon to become principal of the defunct St. Andrews College, Oyo, which is now a university. And that was his Alma mater. I think he would be the second alumnus to become principal of that school. The first one being Bishop Seth Irunsewe Kale, who went from being principal of St. Andrews College to the Bishop of Lagos; my father, being the second, was really a promotion. That was where the military picked him to come and be Commissioner of Education in the old Western Region which spread from Oyo all the way to Ondo. At one time he was Chairman, Public Service Commission responsible for the promotion of permanent secretaries in the civil service in the whole of the region. So that was why I said the evil plan actually turned out to be a promotion/ but it was not an easy time from what I was told. I shouldn’t give the impression that it was an easy time for him and for people of his generation. Those were violent times. And people escaped being killed by the scheme of their teeth and that included my father. Again, it was the grace of God and sheer luck that he escaped being killed.
Some people still point at that division as the reason why the Southwest has not developed and grown beyond what it is today – both in politics and other facets. What do you say to that?
Not only is it absolutely true. But there are two former heads of state who have expressed the view. And they didn’t mean it as a compliment; they meant it as a fact that the division in the Western Region has been the problem of Nigeria, not just the problem of the west itself. If that crack had not taken place, Nigerian development would have taken a totally different trajectory because before then, there was – what I would call – “competitive Federalism”. One region saw the other offering free primary education and before the people of other regions could say, “Premier what’s happening?” Others would copy it. Surprising it was Chief Awolowo, a Christian who first establishes the Muslim Pilgrim Board. He didn’t establish it on a religious basis but saw the need to put into place an institution that would cater for their interest. And other regions copied he set the marketing board, a form of indirect taxation in which when things are very high; they keep some of the money for the farmers. It was a social welfare programme. And when prices start to fall they release money from the excess that was put away to cushion for the effects on farmers so that they don’t fall below the net. And other regions copied good programmes from each other. It was competitive but “cooperative federalism”.
All that disappeared when the military took over. It then became whatever he says in Lagos and now whatever he says in Abuja. What did Lord Akin say, “Power corrupts, Absolute power absolutely”. You have a man sitting in Abuja and he knows by snapping his finger Enugu can shake, Ibadan can sweat and so on. The temptation to snap that finger would be there: if for no other reason but to see what happens if the finger is snapped. Because not too many people occupy offices that have that inner development to do good with the power they are holding.
I was going to say that we spent a whole week celebrating Archbishop Desmond Tutu (a renowned South African Anglican cleric). No! We spent almost 30 years celebrating Tutu, because he was one remarkable human being who God put in a position where one man was making a whole difference. One tree was making a forest, and he used it for the public good. That is why we were celebrating him. There are others who have found themselves in positions where they could have done things for the public good, but instead, they have done things for their own good.
Desmond never fought for the Nobel Peace Prize, he got it. There are those who have spent their lifetime running after the Nobel Peace Prize, including sacrificing the interests of their country. Have they got it today? Why are you laughing, I didn’t mention anybody’s name! But not Tutu. He could have run into exile like most people, such as Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (a South African politician). But he didn’t. I’m not even sure he was even aware of how many times he avoided being killed. It was the grace of God.
As I said in my tribute to him on Arise, there was a time when the assassin, officially sanctioned by the government, had raised a gun, focusing on him as he stepped off the plane; but the instruction given was before you pull the trigger, you must wait for the last command. And the last command never came. So lowered the gun and the turbulent Bishop didn’t know what he had just escaped.
Again, circumstances created the man but the man seized the circumstances/opportunities. God could create circumstances for you and you walk pass, not recognising what you’ve just passed.
Some critics have said that the military has done more bad than good for Nigeria. Would you say differently, given the fact that you served under a military government?
Don’t personalize it or particularise it because, tell me, who is who never served under the military. All our heroes served under the military. Because there was a time when “the man on horseback” was the epitome of being a saviour of his country. This concept of the man on horseback was the epitome started in Latin America when they needed people to rescue their society from hooligans and thugs who were in the government houses. And the soldier came along, who was disciplined and had a concept of development. And it then spread to Africa through Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Now, unfortunately, a good start if you are not careful, can be exploited for evil.” The man on horseback” was a good syndrome; and then the departing colonial authorities said, “Wow, this would be a good instrument to hold on to these people”. You’d give them nominal Independence. But in any case, we trained their military, and so we would use their military to get rid of people we don’t like, who are too nationalistic for our purpose. So, they started using our military to overthrow African leaders, like the Nkrumahs (Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian nationalist leader) of this continent. But there were then the Nzeogwus (Nigerian Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu) and the Afrifas (Ghanaian Lieutenant General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa) who sought to escape that entrapment of being instruments in the hands of colonial authorities and did some good. But they were never allowed to fully succeed.
So, my judgement on the Nigerian military and its role in development is a mixed one. After all, the coup of 1966 stopped two things. One, it stopped the Tiv rebellion that had been going on ever since the British were here. We tend to forget that the Middle Belt was a bloody mess from even before Independence. And our military was still entrapped in the Middle Belt.
Two, the military stopped ‘Operation Wetie’ – the military intervention stopped it in the West. We don’t know how far that thing could have gone. It got Awolowo released from prison in Calabar. Who knows what could have happened to him if the military had not intervened?
The military may have meant well, but they are human beings after all. And to borrow the words of Fela (Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti also known as Abami Eda, a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist) “Cloth na uniform; na Tailor dey sew am”, human beings were in that uniform and some of them had less noble motives. And they were then prepared to use the institution for the less noble motives. And in the process, less noble motive clashed with less noble motive, led us into a civil war. And we haven’t gotten over it till today.
Does it really occur to you that the first coup took place in 1966? How many years is that?
Over 56 years! One of those involved in the coup is your president today.
A military man had been the president before him. Hopefully, this would be the end of ’66 Syndrome’ in Nigerian politics, in the sense that nobody who had worn the uniform in that period would step forward to occupy that presidential villa. Not just being ruled by the same people but by people who were conditioned by ’66 – mental condition. Bob Marley (one of the pioneers of reggae) describes it as “Mental Slavery”. Some people would tell you that the black race has still not gotten over slavery even after so many centuries. We often don’t realise what events do to our mental development and what it conditions. And how long it takes – we don’t know!
I think the judgement would always be out there. But then that is history and civilisation. We talk about Alexander the Great (a king in Greek’s history); we talk about the Roman Empire (Julius Caesar) and about Napoleon Bonaparte and his effect on French history. We also talk about their effect on European history.
300 years from now, generations after us will be talking about the effect of “the man on horseback” on Nigeria’s development. History then becomes a question of if this had not happened what would have happened? But does it really make sense to indulge in “If”. Do we know? If they haven’t jailed Nelson Mandela (South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and first President), what would have happened in South Africa?
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