Thanks Kadiri, for these efforts at telling and interpreting a history we are trying to understand.
Who Was Obafemi Awolowo?
Obafemi Awolowo was a great leader, a fine economic and development thinker and effective though controversial executor of economic and development ideas, a remarkable and controversial war strategist, as demonstrated by the role of his economic maneuvers in the Nigerian side in the Nigerian Civil War, a rich writer and political thinker, a study in the oscillation between ethnic empowerment and nationalistic vision and leadership, a mirror within the complexities of whose career is refracted the ongoing journey of SW intelligentsia in relation to the Nigerian project.
He will always inspire debate.
How sustainable is this argument of yours?
On Accuracy of Information Presented so Far
I understand you as dismissing the scholarly accounts of the content and effects of the Coker Report on the basis of your conviction that the report could not have contributed to Akintola taking over the premiership of Western region from Awo and because an encyclopedia account of the sums described as misappropriated rendered them in a currency that Nigeria was not using at the time.
You also argue that the report rendered a verdict of 'questionable legality' and not illegality in relation to the financial transactions it unearthed, this being different from a verdict of outright corruption, leading to the Commission being unable to recommend anyone for a corruption prosecution.
An online encyclopedia may be forgiven for converting the sums referenced by the Commission to current currency but you can see that the scholarly articles quoted, from academic journals and academic fora, were careful to indicate the pound sterling sums described as stated by the report.
As for your account of why Akintola was reinstalled as premier, could you provide your sources for this information, in the context of an examination of the views on the various factors that contributed to this outcome?
You might have documents you can scan and upload or you could do some research to find such documents in order to substantiate your account as well as analyzing them in relation to the conclusions you are drawing from them.
That is vital bcs this debate is about moving beyond statements of opinion to the reasoned justification of opinion based on verifiable facts.
Accounts of the Commission's Enquiries and its Conclusions
How true is this-
'National Bank was the main target of the Coker Commission of Inquiry...Certainly, the transactions were legal but not corrupt and that was why the Commission could not recommend anyone to be prosecuted for corruption. However, those afflicted with Nigeria's type of AIDS, Acquired Intelligence Deficient Syndrome, would say Awolowo chopped Cocoa money well, well, even though nothing like that was reported in Coker report. '
The available evidence indicates that the indictments of the Commission emerged significantly, among other sources, from investigations of the state owned Western Region Marketing Board " the major financier of development projects in the region through the region's development corporations" as stated by Adeyinka Theresa Ajayi, ,Ajibade Idowu Samuel and Oladiti Abiodun Akeem in 'Produce Buying and Marketing Boards in Nigeria: Interrogating the Fiscal Role of Western Nigeria Marketing Board 1942-1962', concluding "that the process of development was circumscribed due to misappropriation and diversion of funds derived from the Western Region Marketing Board" .
Robert L. Tignor's "Political Corruption in Nigeria before Independence" quotes at least three pages of the Coker Report reinforcing this summation, depicting the Report as describing the mode of acquisition as well as the use of those monies in question as enrichment of a group, Awo's party, thereby developing his personal power base, against the interests of the larger community, the Western Region, and therefore a serous breach of public trust, leading to the reports' indictment of Awo and his party as featuring in several accounts of corruption in Nigerian history:
"..a most flagrant breach of trust... by which the peoples of the Western Region have been robbed of the financial benefits to which they are entitled from the Western Regional Marketing Board'. ( 'Nigeria, Report of the Coker Commission of Inquiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporations in Western Nigeria, Lagos, 1962, p.36.)
Celestine Osuala's "An Analysis of the Marketing Boards of Nigeria 1939-1966" is more specific on the methods through which these monies were channeled:
"Of the three Boards, the Western Regional Marketing Board channeled the largest absolute amounts into private enterprise, exclusive of those grants to the Development and Finance Corporations(Federation of Nigeria, Report of Coker Commission of Inguiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporation in Western Nigeria, Vol. 1 ,1962, P. 65.)
The bulk of these funds went to a bank and a real estate concern, the affairs of which were closely bound up with those of the political party then in power in the Western Region and its leading members. "
An Indictment of Obafemi Awolowo by the Commission in its Own Words
On the specific character of the indictments by the Commission, in their own words, a basic search for references to "Obafemi Awolowo" in volume 2 of the Report of Coker Commission of Inquiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporations in Western Nigeria, 1962 provides the following information on page 33, para 3::
"It seems clear to us on the evidence that the sale of Moba [ real estate] to the Western Nigeria government at the price of 850, 000 pounds is a most elaborate and criminal conspiracy to obtain that amount of money from the Government for the benefit of the Action Group.
To start with we observe that Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was and is at at all material times the Federal President and Leader of the party knew all about the scheme and in fact, in our view, actually engineered it."
The report then describes how the Commission came to this conclusion by reconstructing the chain of decision from and to Awolowo on the subject and how they were able to reconstruct this decision chain.
They sum up in paras 7 and 8-
" We are satisfied that the value placed on Moba by Messrs Gleave and Fox [ Chartered Surveyors ] is entirely unrealistic and cannot be sustained by any logical arguments whatsoever.
...we have no doubt that they themselves were involved in this vicious conspiracy of getting money by such sinister means off the Western Region government.
We refer in particular to the monstrous document placed in the hands of the Government of Western Nigeria by Messrs Gleave and Fox, exhibit MOO.26."
Searches in vol. 3 linked at the University of Florida source of the report and vols 1 and 4 not available at that source should provide more information.
Need to Clarify One's Position and Provide Substantiating Evidence
In relation to this evidence demonstrating that the report indicted Awo of diverting public funds to his political party, and one of the sources, Tignor, quoting the report as declaring that Awo did that in the name of building a political empire in which he played a central role, solidifying his power base, are you trying to suggest that the Coker Report did not indict Awolowo for misappropriation of funds meant for the Western region?
A writer who wishes to overturn such an established scholarly consensus as well as evidence from the copy of the report linked here will need to not only cite the relevant sections of the report that support their view, but also make those sections available in order to prove their case beyond doubt.
This is particularly vital because this debate hinges on the demand to provide evidence that anyone can verify, namely, the text of the 1962 Coker Commission report.
As we have observed repeatedly on this forum, and is obvious from observing historical accounts, claims of what happened, and how and why they happened, cant be taken for granted but need to be substantiated in a verifiable manner bcs two people may give different accounts of the same history.
Having established beyond doubt what the Coker Report actually states, one may then proceed to examining the justice of the report's position.
thanks
toyin
On Sun, 29 Dec 2019 at 00:28, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Thank you, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, for your attempt to resuscitate the 1962 Coker Commission of enquiry into the financial dealings of the Western Region in 1962. A Yoruba adage says that he who sights an elephant and draws a machete is only making a futile attempt because elephant is not an animal to be hunted with a machete. What are being presented as the Coker Commission Report cannot be logically true. Citing p. 82, 2nd edition, 2018, Historical Dictionary of Nigeria, By Toyin Falola and Ann Genova, readers are informed thus, "Set up …. in 1962, the commission's purpose was to investigate the financial dealings of the Western Region to expose corruption. The Coker Report found Chief Obafemi Awolowo guilty of using the Western Region's money to finance the promotion and activities of the Action Group political party through an investment corporation. The Coker Commission created an opportunity for Samuel Akintola to be installed as the region's premier." Awolowo handed over the premiership of Western Region to Samuel Ladoke Akintola in 1959 to become the leader of opposition in the Federal Parliament instead of the Prime Minister he had hoped for. Although Abubakar Tafawa Balewa invited Awolowo to join him in a national government, Awolowo declined to be part of a government led by a feudalist. In 1961, the federal coalition government of the NPC/NCNC decided to conduct enquiry into the National Bank of Nigeria in which the Western Region Marketing Board had substantial investment. The Bank had provided loans to business men who supported Action Group and to the Party itself. Western Region's government led by S. L. Akintola challenged the legitimacy of the federal government's action in Court and it was declared unconstitutional by Justice Charles Daddy Onyeama in 1961.
National Bank was the main target of the Coker Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Federal government in 1962 and which sat between July and November 1962. Coker reported that National Bank had granted unsecured loans to the Action Group. The National Investment and Properties Limited (NIPC), owned entirely by four Action Group members and who were also its Directors, was created in 1958 to develop the properties then owned by the National Bank. The Commission found out that in the company's articles of association one of its assignments was to subscribe or guarantee money for charitable political objects. Therefore money donated by the NIPC to the Action Group was termed by Coker Commission as questionable legality. The Coker Commission's Report said that the Deputy leader of the Action Group since 1954 and Premier of Western Region from 1959 to May 29, 1962, S.L. Akintola, knew nothing about the National Bank, NIPC, Western Nigeria Marketing Board in the internal questionable legality between them vis- à-vis the Action Group and the Western Region Government. Certainly, the transactions were legal but not corrupt and that was why the Commission could not recommend anyone to be prosecuted for corruption. However, those afflicted with Nigeria's type of AIDS, Acquired Intelligence Deficient Syndrome, would say Awolowo chopped Cocoa money well, well, even though nothing like that was reported in Coker report.
The Coker Commission's report had nothing to do with the re-instatement of Samuel Akintola as Premier of Western Region at the end of a six-month emergency rule by the Federal government, 31 December 1962. The Action Group had, on May 21, 1962, recommended his removal as Premier to the Governor of Western Region through a paper signed by 66 members of the Region's House of Assembly, and on which the Governor, Sir Adesoji Aderemi, acted. However, the Supreme Court of Nigeria declared the Governor's action unconstitutional, causing the Action Group claimant to the premiership, Dauda Adegbenro, to appeal to the Privy Council in Britain. By the time the Privy Council decision arrived, Nigeria had become a Republic and the Federal government declared that the Privy Council decision had been overtaken by events. So it was the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria that declared the removal of Akintola as premier without formal vote of no confidence in the Regional House of Assembly that paved way for the re-instatement of Akintola as Premier after he had formed a new political party, UPP, which formed a coalition government with the NCNC members of the House. According to the Privy Council, the clause that empowered the Governor to remove the Premier from office in the constitution only said, "if the governor was satisfied that the Premier no longer commanded the majority in the House," and the sixty-six signatures received by the governor fulfilled that condition. Thus, the interpretation of the word 'if' by the Supreme Court of Nigeria was a stranger to the intention of the framers of the constitution.
When Coker Commission of Enquiry took place in 1962, Nigerian Currency was pound sterling. Naira currency came after the civil war. Therefore, Lit Calf Encyclopedia assertion that ''the Coker Commission found Awolowo guilty of gross financial misappropriation and of diverting funds totalling N4.4 million in cash and N1.3 million overdraft from government-owned corporations to finance political activities,'' must be false. Coker could not have been quoting misappropriated and diverted funds in naira value when pound sterling was the national currency.S. Kadiri
Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>
Skickat: den 27 december 2019 18:46
Till: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Awo's reply declining membershipofthe 1986 Political Bureau
i decided to investigate this subject out of curiosity.
whatever awo's strengths and weakness, a valuable perspective by him on the national qs should not be vitiated by any views on these strengths and limitations he might have demonstrated.
i get the impression there are two views here opposed to abdullah's position
1. Aluko- Coker commission was a farce
2. Kadiri-demonstrate where the Coker commission indicts Awo of misusing funds for personal use
3. Abdullah- Awo misappropriated monies and was primarily an ethnic champion
vols 2 and 3 of what Tignor below describes as the 4 vol report of the Report of Coker Commission of Inquiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporations in Western Nigeria, 1962 are provided by the university of florida digital collection.
i hope the nigerian govt and nigerian institutions shall have a freely available complete copy of such a historically strategic document.
the search shows the scholarly consensus as being that awo was indicted by the report for diverting monies meant for regional development to empowerment of his political party. his achievements in regional development are also acknowledged by scholars.
there is controversy as to the motives and justice of the coker report.
An Amazon book page search of Toyin Falola and Ann Genova's Historical Dictionary of Nigeria, 2018, 2nd ed, using the search term 'Coker' brings up the following-
On page 82 of the book, under 'Coker Commission' it states, 'Set up...in 1962, the commission's purpose was to investigate the financial dealings of the Western region to expose corruption.
The Coker Report found Chief Obafemi Awolowo guilty of using the Western Region's money to finance the promotion and activities of the Action Group political party through an investment corporation. The Coker Commission created an opportunity for Samuel Akintola to be reinstalled as the region's premier.'
"The Coker Commission found Awolowo guilty of gross financial misappropriation and of diverting funds totaling N4.4 million in cash and N1.3 million in overdraft from government-owned corporations to finance political activities. This report, published on 31 December 1962, also absolved Akintola, the premier of the region and former lieutenant of Awolowo who had now become an ideological opponent. The Coker Commission is widely believed to be motivated by an enduring desire to discredit the Action Group administration in the West, which stood opposed to the federal government."
a google scholar search for the report brings up the following papers, among others, making the same conclusions.
3. CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY IN THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION by DR. GODWIN CHUKWUDUM NWAOBI
'In 1962 Chief Obafemi Awolowo was dragged to the court of accountability. This led to a call or an investigation of the relationship between the erstwhile Awolowo government and the National investment and property Company, a private enterprise said to be indebted to the western regional government to the tune of £7,200.00.
On June 20 1962, the Federal government appointed a commission headed by Justice G.B.
Coker to investigate the allegations and later the commission indicted Awolowo in its report. Consequently, the western regional government acquired all the property owned by the National Investment and property company..'
4. 'Corruption and National Development : The NigerianExperience' by Samson Nzeribe
'In the year 1962, Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was investigated and found guilty of corruption by the Coker Commission of Inquiry.
In 1954, the Western Region Marketing Board could boast of 6.2 million pounds sterling, however by May, 1962, the corporation had to exist on overdrafts amounting to over 2.5 million pounds sterling.
The Commission found Chief Awolowo culpable to the ills of the regional marketing board for failure to adhere to standards of conduct required of persons holding public office, (Coker Commission, 1962).'
5. AN ANALYSIS OF THE MARKETING BOARDS OF NIGERIA 1939-1966 by Celestine Osuala
'A major innovation in the post-1954 period was the increasing use of Marketing Board funds for the purposes of loans to and purchases of equities in Nigerian private companies. It is this area in which the greatest possibilities for misuse of funds was located.
Of the three Boards, the Western Regional Marketing Board channeled the largest absolute amounts into private enterprise, exclusive of those grants to the Development and Finance Corporations(Federation of Nigeria, Report of Coker Commission of Inguiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporation in Western Nigeria, Vol. 1 ,1962, P. 65.)
The bulk of these funds went to a bank and a real estate concern, the affairs of which were closely bound up with those of the political party then in power in the Western Region and its leading members. '
6. 'Political Corruption in Nigeria before Independence' by Robert L. Tignor
'Like the report by Foster-Sutton, that by Nicholson left deep N.C.N.C. resentment against the Action Group. But the N.C.N.C. had to wait for retaliatory action until after independence - when it was finally in a position of power in the Federation- to sanction an inquiry into the A.G. administration in the West.
...
...the investigation into corruption in the Western Region during 1962 by the Coker Commission, whose comprehensive, four-volume expose of administrative excesses proved to be one of the most frequently cited documents on African maladministration.
It highlighted the misuse of public funds for private and political gain, and asserted that investments made in the Region were 'important and but for political considerations which were certainly uppermost constituted a most flagrant breach of trust... by which the peoples of the Western Region have been robbed of the financial benefits to which they are entitled from the Western Regional Marketing Board'. ( Referencing 'Nigeria, Report of the Coker Commission of Inquiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporations in Western Nigeria, Lagos, 1962, p.36.)
Like previous inquiries, the report of the Coker Commission was deeply rooted in Nigerian political infighting, and the conclusions bore a striking and eerie similarity to those in the Foster-Sutton report.
The Commissioners took the view that the National Investment and Properties Company 'was formed for the main purpose of providing funds for the Action Group', and held Obafemi Awolowo responsible for much of what had been illicitly distributed. They claimed that 'his scheme was to build around him with money an empire financially formidable both in Nigeria and abroad - an empire in dominance would be maintained by him by the power of the money which he had given out' ( Ibid. pp. 27 and 39).
8. 'PRODUCE BUYING AND MARKETING BOARDS IN NIGERIA: INTERROGATING THE FISCAL ROLE OFWESTERN NIGERIA MARKETING BOARD 1942-1962' by Adeyinka Theresa Ajayi, ,Ajibade Idowu Samuel and Oladiti Abiodun Akeem
'In the Western Region, the Western Nigeria Marketing Board (WNMB) became the fiscal arm of the regional governments. It became the major financier of development projects in the region through the region's development corporations. The paper concludes that the process of development was circumscribed due to misappropriation and diversion of funds derived from the Western Region Marketing Board....WRMB ( Western Region Marketing Board ) soon became insolvent due to excesses from the leadership. Most of the funds were diverted to finance the regional party, Action Group and personal use. In 1954, the Western Region Marketing Board could boast of £6.2 million. However, by May 1962, the Development Corporation had to exist on overdrafts amounting to over £2.5 million. A loan of £6.7 million was made to the Western Region government-owned National Investment and Properties Co., Ltd. for building projects out of which only £500,000 was repaid. The Western Region Finance Corporation and the Western Nigeria Development Corporation also received loans of millions of pounds. None of these loans were ever repaid. The Western Nigeria Development Corporation was too weakened financially to repay the millions it owed the Board. The Coker Commission of Inquiry found Chief Awolowo, the regional and party leader culpable for the ills of the Western Region Marketing Board, due to his failure to adhere to the standards of conduct, which were required of persons holding public office.'
--On Fri, 27 Dec 2019 at 13:44, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Well, there is no longer any basis for prolonging the debate then.
Lets just agree to let sleeping dogs lie.
Shiikena.
OAASent from Samsung tablet.
-------- Original message --------From: Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com>Date: 27/12/2019 12:18 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Awo's reply declining membershipofthe 1986 Political Bureau
Really? I last read it thirty-some years ago at UI. You want me to paraphrase that? E kin se o omode---so gbo? I last discussed it with Comrade Osoba when I visited him last year at Ijebu Ode. Learn to check sources---don't wait for those making claims to substantiate their claims---they may not have the tools or the wherewithal.I hold nothing against Papa---I read him in context with his peers/contemporaries.--
Sent from my iPhone
On 27 Dec 2019, at 11:39 AM, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Oga Ibrahim.
Unless you havent seen my earlier post to that effect my own pedigree is not specifically Awoist but we must give honour to whom honour is due ( and not indiscriminately malign their memory when they are no longer alive to defend themselves.)
The reply that I should go and find the document is not good enough for a forum of this nature. I did not make the allegation. Even if you cannot find the document handy, you could paraphrase the sections and I am sure those who have read the document will produce the sections you refer to make your claims and the forum will be enlightened.
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com>Date: 27/12/2019 10:57 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Awo's reply declining membershipofthe 1986 Political Bureau
Get the report and help yourself. I read it when I was in UI---80/81. My xerox copy is somewhere in my Nigerian documents. If what you find contradicts my claim---Awo's alleged misappropriation--we can talk.--
Yes, Awo, the "sage", appears to stand tall among his peers; the invention of the infallible "sage" have got a section of Yoruba intellectual in a series of conferences to cement that infallibility by deifying Papa.
But alas, Papa is no deity: he was the original Action Grouper: an ethnic conclave confraternity that invented Yorubadom as a political indentity.--
Sent from my iPhone
On 26 Dec 2019, at 12:35 PM, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Ibrahim Abdullah:
Can you share the appropriate pages with the forum?
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com>Date: 26/12/2019 10:56 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Awo's reply declining membership ofthe 1986 Political Bureau
Bolaji:--Ibrahim Abdullah---don't do as usual: Abdullahi is not Abdullah. I do have a xerox copy of Coker---dated 1970. Am no rumor monger nor a fanatic like you. Awo did what the Commission alleged: misappropriation!--
Sent from my iPhone
On 26 Dec 2019, at 5:29 AM, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:
Salimonu Kadiri:
This is why I have stayed on Ibrahim Abdullahi, to see whether he is a pepper-soup rumor-monger, or a serious commentator on this Coker Commission caper.
Awo - in his book "Adventures in Power Book Ii: The Travails of Democracy and the Rule of Law" spent a whole Chapter on this Coker Commission Report, and excerpted detailed analysis of the report by three intellectuals of that day: Prof.. S.A. Aluko (my father), Prof.. Hezekiah Oluwasanmi and Prof.. Akin Mabogunje.
1. What Disgusts Me Most in the Coker Report - by Aluko2. A Most Infamous Rationalization - by Oluwasanmi3. It is a Travesty of Justice - by Mabogunje
Bolaji Aluko
--On Wed, Dec 25, 2019 at 8:36 PM Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Mallam Ibrahim Abdullah,ÈGÀN KÒ PÉ K'OYIN MÁ DÙN, derision cannot cause honey not to be sweet. Every sane Nigerian knows that the Coker Commission of enquiry was inaugurated by the Federal coalition government of NPC and NCNC after overthrowing the Action Group controlled Western Government. The sole purpose of the Coker Commission of enquiry in June 1962, was to rubbish the image of Awolowo who had left the Premiership of Western Region to contest the 1959 Federal Election. If Coker had discovered stealing and misappropriation of Western Region by Awolowo, there would not have been treasonable felony trial against Awolowo who would have been prosecuted, instead, for embezzlement, fraud, corruption etc. Coker Commission discovered that Awolowo spent cocoa money on free primary education for all. Initially, it was intended to be compulsory but when his any campaigned that he wanted to deprive parents helping hands of their children in the farm, he changed it to voluntary. The first Television Station in Africa, WNTV, was established by Awolowo's government, the flood-light Liberty Stadium was built with Cocoa money, major towns in Western Region had access to pipe-borne water, farm settlements producing dairy products were established throughout Western Region, Cocoa House (a Skyscraper) was built in Ibadan and a large area of Land was turned into industrial estate in Ikeja which belonged to Western Region then. I challenge you to quote directly from the report of Coker Commission of enquiry into the finances of Western Region Government up to 1959 where it was stated that Awolowo corruptly enriched himself by stealing public funds and what amount of money was it.
As all human beings, Awolowo had his shortcomings but among his political peers he was the best. Saying that has nothing to do with my ethnic origin, since in some aspects I also admire the political ideologies of Samuel Gomsu Ikoku, Anthony Enahoro, Aminu Kano, Mokwugo Okoye, to mention few.S. Kadiri
Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com>
Skickat: den 25 december 2019 00:06
Till: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Awo's reply declining membership of the 1986 Political BureauO ko owo je like all the others and used Sonibare to play the game. Awo chopped cocoa profit well well. You cannot cover your beloved Papa. Only blind AGroupers will want to whitewash Coker Commission and deify the proclaimed Sage!
So funny---covering up for Awo.
Sent from my iPhone
On 24 Dec 2019, at 10:19 PM, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:
Ibrahim Abdullah:
What do you know about the Coker Commission report? If that was what makes you declare Awo a non-saint, then he was indeed a saint. The Coker Commision was a cooked-up concordance..no pun intended.
No - Awo was not a saint simply because he was human. But he stands almost paradigmatically alone in the pantheon of Nigeria's original leaders.
Season's greetings!
Bolaji Aluko
On Tue, Dec 24, 2019, 14:46 Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com> wrote:
Awo was no saint. Coker Commission report is there for all to see.
Sent from my iPad
> On Dec 24, 2019, at 10:35 AM, Tunji Olaopa <tolaopa2003@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Reading Papa Awo's letter declining to serve on IBB's Political Bureau in 1986 again, and with the clear declining fortune of the Nigeria Project, I woke up this morning wondering, did the sage saw something about the future that we are in that we were perhaps too blinded to see?
>
> RESTORING GOVERNMENTAL AND SOCIAL ORDER - CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO
>
> In 1986, former President Ibrahim Babangida had asked Pa Awolowo to provide input into charting a New Social Order for Nigeria via a National Debate. A couple of my bosom friends have over the last few days reminded me of the force and depth of Pa Awolowo reply:
>
> "Dear Sir, I received your letter of February 28, 1986, and sincerely thank you for doing me the honour of inviting me to contribute to the National Political Debate. The purpose of the debate is to clarify our thoughts in our search for a new social order. It is, therefore, meet and proper that all those who have something to contribute should do so. I do fervently and will continue fervently to pray that I may be proved wrong. For something within me tells me, loud and clear, that we have embarked on a fruitless search. At the end of the day, when we imagine that the new order is here, we would be terribly disappointed. In other words, at the threshold of our New Social Order, we would see for ourselves that, as long as Nigerians remain what they are, nothing clean, principled, ethical, and idealistic can work with them. And Nigerians will remain what they are, unless the evils which now dominate their hearts, at all levels and in all sectors of our political, business and governmental activities are exorcised. But I venture to assert that they will not be exorcised, and indeed they will be firmly entrenched, unless God Himself imbues a vast majority of us with a revolutionary change of attitude to life and politics or, unless the dialectic processes which have been at work for some twenty years now, perforce, make us perceive the abominable filth that abounds in our society, to the end that an inexorable abhorrence of it will be quickened in our hearts and impel us to make drastic changes for the better. There is, of course, an alternative option open to us. To succumb to permanent social instability and chaos. On the premises, I beg to decline your invitation. I am yours truly, Obafemi Awolowo."
>
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