Obafemi Awolowo

Olusegun Osoba is a veteran in a class of his own. In a society where veteran journalism is equated with abject poverty, Osoba remains the only journalist in Nigeria who has twice served as a state governor. And, in this interview, he demonstrates amply why the journalist in him is not dead.
For Osoba, some misconceptions are in the air and they have to be shot down. Issues concerning the late Yoruba sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the role of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, governors as well as the roles played or not played by some Afenifere chieftains in the last couple of decades must be properly contextualized.


In this interview, Osoba, for instance, debunks the notion that Chief Awolowo was a very rigid individual, that the AD governors tried to be clever by half, or that former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, was a man without value.
With documents, Osoba, in one instance, brings to life the type of rigidity and remote domination which was once attempted by the so called associates of Papa Awolowo. To Osoba, this type of parochial approach to party politics and governance does not present any individual as one with tact or good sense.
In fact, "there is a difference between when you're in government and when you were an activist, your mode of operation will be different. Our modus operandi then was to go to court, to build precedence that will restructure Nigeria".
Specifically, he hits at Pa Ayo Adebanjo for insinuating that any individual who attempts to broaden the scope has sold out or does not understand the philosophy of Awolowo: "I will ask where Awolowo handed over to Chief Adebanjo as the sole interpreter of Awolowo's philosophy? He should show me where it is in Awo's will". Excerpts:
You've been quiet for a while and people are wondering what is happening to Chief Olusegun Osoba. What have you been doing with your time?
It's deliberate. I became totally disillusioned when Obasanjo wrecked his havoc in April 2007. Even before 2007, his behaviour of setting up kangaroo indictment, using EFCC to harass governors, showing security reports to governors and candidates and, on top of it, he now manipulated the electoral process.
The 2007 elections was even worse than that of 2003, it was not just rigging, it was pure manipulation, pure charade. I just decided that it was not worth it talking for now, I just decided to be quiet for sometime.
Talking about the electoral process, there are those who try not to make it appear as though they are in support of what happened in 2007, there were other states of the federation where other parties won. It was the same charade. At least, the tribunal has upturned the Abia gubernatorial elections.
Having spent so much time reporting Nigeria and having also been a key player in the politics of Nigeria, would you not admit that there is something wrong with Nigerian politicians and Obasanjo just came to cement the whole thing?
There is nothing wrong with Nigerian politicians, it's just that Obasanjo came and created dangerous legacies and precedence. Would you say something is wrong with people in the private sectors, with all the corruption going on in the energy sector, when you read about the way he handled the NNPC. Which area did Obasanjo not destroy; he destroyed all the values, cultural values, religious values and the all the norms that we know about.
It is just that Obasanjo, who played god, got to a stage where he forgot that he was human; when your president starts boasting and puffing on his ability to deal with as many women as possible, doesn't that show you that the society has gone totally decadent under his watch? So, it is not the Nigerian politician, it is just that he created this feeling that the end justifies the means, any means possible.
You see, when somebody speaks from the heart, when a man says the election was going to be do or die, it shows to you that anybody who tells you it's a do or die affair means that he will do every-thing possible to get whatever he wanted.
So, the other parties and the other governors just said 'well, if anything is possible, if he's doing it, let us do it'. I agree with you it was his legacies, but that was not the kind of legacy that produced people like us as governors in 1991. At that time, voting was an open ballot
Open ballot, yes! But some people still counter that it is crude?

It may be crude but, in every community, every village, everybody knew where you voted because you will queue behind your candidate. It's unfortunate that Babangida destroyed everything with his decision to annul June 12, otherwise, we didn't spend that kind of money that people are claiming now because, then, the government was even funding the parties. All you needed to do was pay your agent and, anyway, you don't need too many agents because everybody is an agent, voting was done in the open. You queue behind the picture of either Dapo or Ajani and a situation developed in many places where the husband and wife queued on different lines. You will see that when Obasanjo came in, everything went haywire.