Again, you import the word "responsibility" where it was not used.
Ayo
Ayo
I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama
I just think that when it comes to the analysis of the reasons why the June 12 elections were annulled, I personally would rather place the responsibility on those who annulled it and not on Abiola's "qualities".
Bode
On 5/31/12 10:41 AM, Ayo Obe wrote:--With due respect, you don't get it because you didn't read what I wrote, but placed your own interpretation and additional words (such as "flaws") among mine. A quality is a quality. It can be a flaw or a fault, a vice or a virtue depending on the circumstances.
AyoI invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama--So, Abiola's flaws were responsible for Babangida's ambition to be president for life, and for Abacha's vaulting ambitions which were the only reasons to annul the elections and resist its actualization even if it would mean plunging the country into war? I don't get it.
On 5/31/12 9:48 AM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU wrote:Wow:--
'He was what he was. We always said that the qualities that carried him to victory in the June 12th election were the same ones that prevented him from being able to actualise that victory.'
Ayo Obe
On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 4:20 AM, Ayo Obe <ayo.m.o.obe@gmail.com> wrote:
--The statements are fully justified, & with respect, the contributor who thinks that the pro-democracy movement would have remained marginal and ineffectual without "Abiola's considerable international weight" misses the point. That statement is not true. UAD was not at the front dragging the Nigerian people, it was at the front being pushed by the Nigerian people.
It is generally a mistake to confuse the figurehead with the struggle, but to ascribe the victory won to the figurehead is something of an insult to ordinary people. It is that kind of thinking that had people wondering when we were going to have our own 'Arab Spring' because they never want to credit the ordinary Nigerian with anything - no, the ordinary Nigerian is no paragon, but nor are the citizens of other countries.
I appreciate that there will always be those who must put a single face on victories that were actually won by the Nigerian people themselves, but that is a different thing to crediting those victories to what - particularly given Abiola's incarceration and Kudirat Abiola's murder - more properly merits the term 'marginal'. If one reads what I said about my experience at the zonal hearing on whether to continue with the Abacha transition, one will see that it was the reaction of the crowd who were there that swung that particular day. When we turned up for the 'Five Million Man March' we fitted into about two or three danfo buses, but it was people who had made their own way there, under their own steam, those in the neighbourhood who gave instant support that made it memorable. (OK, it wasn't 5 Mil, but nor was Abacha's state-funded bused-in march 2 Mil either).
We used to fantasise about what we could have done nationwide if Abiola had supported the pro-democracy movement (then led by CD) with a fraction of the fees he paid Prof Kasunmu for the case in which Justice Akinsanya declared the Transitional National Government illegal, but the fact is that he did not. UAD received no support from him, & the less said about the remaining family now hailing Jonathan's gesture, the better.
Abiola deserves a National honour - not this one (the first reaction that I and others had was to wonder why Jonathan did not accept long-standing calls for the National Stadium to be named after him) - but I would say that he is as much recognised for the martyrdom that came from his incarceration & death in prison as for his June 12th victory. His life experiences and history up to June 23rd may explain why he believed that the system that had carried him thus far would ultimately come true for him, so it isn't surprising if he did not trust to 'the street', even when Abacha mowed down almost 200 on the streets of Lagos for protesting the annulment of his election, still believing that there could be some other way to negotiate himself into office. He had a hard time learning how willing that system/establishment was to throw him under the bus, and honestly, I don't even blame, let alone denigrate him for that. He was what he was. We always said that the qualities that carried him to victory in the June 12th election were the same ones that prevented him from being able to actualise that victory.
AyoI invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijamaThe same arguments were made about Awolowo that his vision of free and compulsory education came from his commissioner of education and most of the signal achievements of the Action Group were attributed to one or the other of Awolowo's colleagues etc etc. The truth is, without Abiola lending his considerable international weight to the movement, that movement would have remained at best ineffectual and marginal. The alliance between the billionaire and activists meant that each brought different things to the movement. I don't see the justification for the current statements.
Bode
On 5/30/12 1:27 PM, Jaye Gaskia wrote:I am in complete agreement with this summation of part of our recent history by Ayo Obe. Like her, we played quite active role in those discussions and struggles, and in the transition from CD to UAD.At best MKO was a beneficiary of our struggle for democracy, not its initiator, nor was he even central to the protest movement on the street of those times......Jaye GaskiaCurrent National ConvenerUAD
From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adifada1@gmail.com>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 7:53 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!
Beautiful summation from Ayo Obe, though I dont know the story at that level.For those who dont understand Nigerian pidgin English 'siddon look' means 'Sit Down and Look' a policy of complacent attention in which one takes no action, distancing oneself from being an active stakeholder, while simply watching the development of a situation. toyinOn Wed, May 30, 2012 at 7:38 AM, Ayo Obe <ayo.m.o.obe@gmail.com> wrote:Let me add, with respect to the expression "Abiola inspired democracy struggle" that on the contrary, the fact that Abiola was the beneficiary of the staged and manipulated Babangida transition to civil rule programme actually divided the pro-democracy struggle between those who wanted a Sovereign National Conference, and those who insisted "On June 12th we stand". Campaign for Democracy, which had been formed to see an end to military rule well before June 12th, was a major victim of this split.
It took a great deal of patient work and negotiation before a consensus was formed around a struggle for the actualisation of Abiola's mandate on condition that he would immediately convene a SNC, but the success of these discussions produced United Action for Democracy. UAD immediately began to have an effect with the calling of the counter-demonstration to Abacha's Two Million March in Abuja, with our own Five Million March in Lagos, followed by May 1st protests in Ibadan which showed the Nigerian people ready to face Abacha's guns. Shortly thereafter Abacha had a heart attack and died.
Abiola was probably more central to NADECO's pro-democracy activities, but after the assassination of Kudirat Abiola, its activities inside Nigeria (there certainly seemed to be more going on outside the country) were defined by the 'siddon look' philosophy, but while I was directly involved in the formation of UAD, my involvement with NADECO was limited.
One might say that both tendencies were important in the pro-democracy struggle, but the 'siddon look' tendency was still pronounced enough that when I arrived at the zonal hearing arranged by the Abdulsalami regime to sound the pulse on whether or not to continue with the Abacha transition programme, I found that while those such as General Adebayo - whose son was poised to become a governor under that programme - were speaking in favour of continuation, NADECO leaders present had not spoken "because this is a rented crowd". Given the opportunity to speak, and reasoning that there was nothing to be ashamed of if a rented crowd shouted one down, I spoke against the continuation and received such massive applause that 'siddon look' was abandoned and I remember Senator Abraham Adesanya speaking with eloquence & passion in a speech laden with Yoruba proverbs and Shakespeare quotations that effectively buried the Abacha transition. And gave us, er, what we have now! AyoI invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijamaOn 30 May 2012, at 06:49, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinvadepoju@gmail.com> wrote:Ibironke,I admire your pro-Abiola argument but tyou seem to be overstretching your case. I might also be ignorant of the significance of Abiola's total achievement. But let us look at the scales in comparing Abiola with the related political icons, Awo and Zik. You, Chukwuma and Ayo earlier summed up what Abiola means in politics, philanthropy, and education:Politics 'I think the end of dreadful military dictatorship and the advent of the longest period of democratic rule can be directly attributed to the titanic struggle of MKO. For this alone, Abiola has in my estimation risen to the status of Zik, Awolowo etc. tell me why those individual politicians deserve a greater recognition in our democracy?It would be ironic if the only people we consider worthy of national honor are only those who fought against colonial rule. Those who fought military dictatorship in my time are as much deserving as military rule has proven to be lethal in some instances. The State of Lagos as the most progressive State in the federation was as we all know, the battlefield for the restoration of that mandate; it is important to consider democratic protocols and the politics involved, I think, nonetheless, it is deserving, just as i believe renaming the University of Ife to acknowledge Awolowo's vision of enlightenment. Part of our national debate will remain who our heroes are and how we honor them.'Philanthropy in Education and Sports'He has also given more money to universities in Nigeria and Africa than most international organizations, and any other individual.'Chukwuma Adilieje - 'This is really a disservice to the memory of Chief Abiola, because the last thing anybody should do is to drag his name to the mud after he had lived his life and earned his image as a great philanthropist and businessman; democracy Icon and a pillar of sports in Africa.' Ayo Obe -What MKO was known for was his support for sports, a support which - through the Youth Sports Federation Of Nigeria (YSFON) - earned him the title 'Pillar of Sports in Africa'. I doubt if the Abiola inspired democracy struggle is of the same calibre and effect in Nigeria as the struggle for Nigerian independence.The Abiola inspired democracy struggle, alone, cannot place Abiola with Awo and Zik. Is there evidence of the political and social philosophy of Abiola, as there is of Awo and Zik?One can speak of Awiosm, a very real socio-political and economic legacy, even though I have not seen that term being used, or of Zikisim. It is possible to easily construct a profile of an Awoist or a Zikist or of a structure of ideas that one can study and perhaps emulate in the writings of these men, and to some degree, in their efforts to actualize these visions. They are political thinkers. No study of Nigerian and perhaps African political philosophy is possible without including their contributions and its impact. These men were also professional politicians, engaged in the Nigerian struggle as the defining feature of their adult lives. Their personal histories and that of Nigerian politics pre and post-colonial, run in tandem. The genesis and features of major Nigerian political parties bear their imprint and that of Awo remains shining in South West and national politics as a beacon to which people have aspired, but which but it seems they have not really reached, in the foundational sense in which it seems Awo and his comrades established modern South West political economy. That level of achievement at this point in Nigerian history will imply a fundamental recreation of social services to Nigerians and Nigerian politicians do not seem ready for that. Abiola, on the other hand, came to political prominence after establishing his central career in business. Abiola came to the forefront in Nigerian politics in taking advantage of an artificial, unvisionary political process, which his victory and struggle for his stolen mandate nevertheless transformed into a symbol of the possibilities of genuine nationwide democracy of popular acclaim
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