Twenty –three years after he suddenly was reported dead of natural
cause and two years shy of his golden jubilee , facts are now emerging
on the reasons that led to First and Second Republic political
heavyweight ,Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo committing suicide
It was learned that he did it to stem the tide of a possible military
court martial into an insurrection he was planning to lead alongside
his political associates at the time when it became evident that then
Military President ,General Ibrahim Babangida was intending staying in
power forever.
In a no-hold barred interview with FS Online recently,a grass root
politician ,Mr Adebayo Adeyinka who lives within the College Road at
Ifako-Ijaiye axis in Ogba ,a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria was livid with
rage when he learned that a key politician connected to the issue was
denying the incident.
He revealed that Chief Awolowo wanted to lead some kind of guerilla
warfare or militant campaign against the government of President
Babangida so that he can be overthrown through a popular or people -led
putsch.
According to him , the Elder Statesman summoned a meeting of his core
loyalists over the issue and this was even filmed so as to strengthen
the extent of commitment of each of the politician that attended the
meeting..
He pointed out that however unknown to all of those who were privy to
this meeting and clarion call , Chief Lateef Kayode Jakande ,Former
Executive Governor of Lagos State had a different plan as he betrayed
them to the military .He Said:’ But unknown to them , Chief Jakande was
planning to betray them, he went to President Ibrahim Babangida and
promptly showed him the tape
“Papa Awolowo was invited for a meeting with President Ibrahim
Babangida who was then staying at Dodan Barracks which was the seat of
power as at then and the truth of his clandestine meetings was revealed
to him by the gap –toothed General
“He gave Papa some options and that was for him to be ready to face a
court martial , be ready to go to a prison or better still go on exile
“At this stage Papa felt instead of allowing some ambitious khaki boy to
mess him up he should just pack it in and call it a day ,so Chief
Awolowo decide to commit suicide so as to save himself from the ignominy
of going to prison for the second time in his lifetime .
“But before he did this he called his core loyalists for a meeting
,before then he had called up Late Chief Bola Ige [Cicero],since the
latter had a very strong understanding of the Hausa Language having had
his formative years as a young man in Kaduna but discovered that the
late Esa-Oke strongman was innocent after he was interrogated by Papa
“He called others for enquiries while asking them to tender the video
cassettes of the meeting they all attended to discuss the plans to
topple President Babangida for examination ,at this juncture Chief
Jakande developed a cold feet as he could not produce his own copy of
the video which was freely distributed to all that was present at the
meeting previously before the betrayal and that was how the cat was let
out of the bag
“So he cursed him at this point and pointed out that he will never
have any form of relevance politically as far as Nigeria was concerned
and till today members of the Awolowo Dynasty avoids him like a plague.
“I was their when the letter he wrote to the family to beg them for
forgiveness over the unfortunate incident was read in the presence of
all present ,if he continues to deny I am ready to confront him publicly
again on the same issue as I can even remember that elders asked him to
go to the grave of the late sage to plead for forgiveness
“When he was questioned he lied that the National Security Organization
now State Security Services had visited his house to check on him and in
the process took the tape in question but” Awoists” knew that this was a
very weak argument as he did not inform their political group of this
development before their enquiry on the subject
“That was how Senator Abraham Adesanya assumed the leadership of the
Awolowo camp of Yoruba politics after the demise of the man ,he was not
even so close to Awolowo during his lifetime like Chief Jakande and that
was why many called him Baba Kekere on account of this cosy
relationship
“Before he gave up the ghost , he said his prayers and then took the
poison which killed him almost immediately but the public was not fully
aware as they were given a different account of what happened.
“We were simply told that he died while he was brushing his teeth in his bathroom at his Park Lane,Apapa residence here in Lagos
“He was stupendously wealthy during his lifetime, infact there is know
company at Oba Akran in Ikeja ,Lagos where he does not have at least a
five percent equity, Dideolu Court in Ogba alone cannot be valued at
less than N10 Billion ,that was the place that he had in mind to be his
Seat of power if he was elected as Nigeria’s President.
‘He owned Shonibare Estate but the man he was using as a front and who
later went to prison over some issues which Awolowo himself was privy to
eventually laid claim to the estate
“He got all of this wealth due to a great measure of goodwill and tax
waivers he gave to investors whenever they come to establish their
business.
“Anytime you buy a bottle of Coca-Cola you are enriching the Awolowo
Dynasty ,go to Ijebu Ikenne and you will discover that the price of a
bag cement there is different from other parts of the nation due to the
subsidy that the citizens enjoy on account of Awolowo who was their son
and I hope you know that West African Portland Cement is in Ewekoro and
not Ikenne.
“On account of this great betrayal Awolowo family members regard the
“Awoist” as a group people should deal with using a long spoon till this
day and this explains why when The Peoples Democratic Party Government
gave some of them political appointment lately they accepted it without
thinking twice.
“Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu was made an Ambassador by Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo while , Mr Segun Awolowo Jnr was given a plum job at
the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja as a Secretary.
“Recently when Afenifere was disintegrating Mama out of concern for her
husband’s legacies decided to call a truce because as she puts it then,
she did not know what she was going to tell her husband the day they
meet in heaven
“He made Sijuwade rich , because he was his business associate and in
fact some of us held very strong views that he was one of his fronts and
later the same man became the Ooni of Ife”he added
Mr Adebayo Adeyinka recalled his several years of following grass
root politics right from the days of Action Group to the Unity Party of
Nigerian era in the second republic but now lamented that he had since
lost all interest in partisan politics due to the massive corruption in
our polity.
He listed such blue chips like Dunlop Nigeria Plc ,Guinness Nigeria
Plc, Neimeth Pharmaceutical Nigeria Plc ,May and Baker Nigeria Plc
,Vitafoam Nigeria Plc ,Wahum Nigeria Limited ,CAP Nigeria Plc ,
International Paints of West Africa [IPWA], Berger Paints Nigeria Plc
,Berec Nigeria Limited ,Kabelmetal, Nigeria Bottling Company Plc
,Leventis Nigera Plc ,West African Portland Cement Company,[Lafarge
],Wema Bank Nigeria Plc, Scoa Nigeria Plc ,CFAO Nigeria Plc, Cadbury
Nigeria Plc ,Wemaboard Estates, Odu’A Group, Livestock Feeds Nigeria Plc
, Nigerian Breweries Plc as places the Awolowo family have commercial
interest to mention just a few.
Apart from this stocks analysts believe that the most visible of his
investment ,The Nigerian Tribune Newspapers cannot be valued at less
than N100billion today in terms of brand evaluation as Thisday
Newspapers was valued by the Owner ,.Mr Nduka Obaigbena at N200 Billion
recently during a media chart while celebrating his fiftieth birthday
sometimes last year.
Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a leader who believed that the state
should channel Nigeria’s resources into education and state –led
infrastructural development.
At his own expense albeit controversially ,he introduced the free
primary education for all of the Western Region ,he equally established
the first television service in Africa in 1959 and expanded
electrification projects in the region using the proceeds from the
highly lucrative Cocoa export industry.
The Cocoa House in Ibadan regarded by many as one of the major
landmarks of Nigeria’s architectural history was built as a result of
his economic blueprint which was targeted towards the emancipation of
his people from poverty
He built the first stadium in West Africa , the Liberty Stadium ,Ibadan
and he coined the name “Naira “for Nigeria’s official currency ,it was
previously called Nigerian Pounds.
During the 1970’s ,he was very critical of Nigeria’s military expenditure insisting that more should be spent on development
He ran a free health care programme for children up till the age of eighteen years .
On his death on the 9th of May,1987 as a mark of respect for his
legacies ,The University Of Ile-Ife which ironically he helped to build
as Premier of the Old Western Nigeria was re-named in his honour as part
of a post humous celebration of his life and times.
His portraits adorn public places in Nigeria especially in his native Yoruba land where he is seen as an icon.
His picture also adorn Nigeria’s one hundred naira note.
He has been described surprisingly by some of his greatest critics and
even political opponents as probably the Best President Nigeria never
had.
He struck a chord with the womenfolk during his lifetime when in a rare
show of public affection for his wife of several years, Chief Mrs Hannah
Dideolu Awolowo told the world that the woman was his jewel of
inestimable value.
How right or prophetic he was because his wife has continued to strengthen the mileage of the husband’s name even in death.
During an exclusive interview with FS Online at his Ilupeju home in
Lagos last year, Chief Lateef Jakande upon being probed with questions
over his relationship with Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo on account of what
feelers were suggesting had denied that they had a bad relationship
shortly before his death.He insisted that those that said that they had
any problems between them prior to Chief Awolowo’s death were not been
honest as they were all telling lies.
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