08042018 - Education in free fall! •Sector gets paltry N3.9 trillion out of N55.19 trillion in 10 years

PAGE 32—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018
C
M
YK
BY JIDE AJANI
Ayo Adebanjo could be
described as a strange
man. Eight years ago, in
December, 2010, when he was 82,
the most constant thing in this man’s
life was that he, on a daily basis,
engaged in an hour of road walk. In
fact, that first week of December,
2010, when Sunday Vanguard
went after him in his Ijebu-Ogbo area
of Ogun State, he was away on road
walk. In his Lekki area of Lagos
where he resides, Adebanjo once
took this writer on a road walk - we
had agreed to meet at his residence
as early as 6:45am. We set out
that day at about 7:15 am.
Dressed in a sport gear, we walked
from his residence, off Admiralty
Way, to the entrance gate of Lekki
Phase One. We could have
continued but the old man, sensing
that I was becoming uncomfortable
(but not tired), jokingly said: “Ajani,
are you tired?”
“No sir?” I replied.
“O je sooto (You better tell the
truth). Eyin omo isiyin (You
children of nowadays)”.
“I’m okay sir. I’m just wondering
how you do this regularly sir.”
“I do this every day. Even when I
travel abroad, I must do it. Except
maybe if I’m indisposed and that
has not been too frequent. I must
do this every day”.
As we walked at a slow pace,
Adebanjo told stories of his
relationship with Pa Obafemi
Awolowo, June 12, National
Democratic Coalition (NADECO),
the Obasanjo years, Alliance for
Democracy, AD; and some other
political issues. After about 80
minutes, we were back at his
residence. While I headed for the
main building, papa said he was
going to the back of the building to
do some exercises, so I followed him
again. And for another 15minutes,
he did some aerobics after which
we then went inside.
“That is the way I do it every
morning; and I’ve been doing this
for as long as I can remember”, he
told me. This was sometime in
June, 2012.
Always looking like a sixtysomething
year old, one thing you
concede to Pa Adebanjo is his
unflinching belief in and avowed
commitment to the ideals of
Awolowo. He is seen largely as an
old horse of the Awolowo political
leaning and an Afenifere leader.
My first meeting with papa in 1991
was at his then Surulere residence.
This was long before the June 12,
1993 presidential election. His
views then and after the election and
annulment remain the same.
Brutally frank, and could be very
jovial, Adebanjo once asked me if I
liked eating chin-chin (a
confectionary). I said yes. He
then told me how his wife makes
chin-chin for him regularly and how
he has come to enjoy eating chinchin
for the over 60 years of his
marriage. So, whenever I visit him,
I always request from some to take
away.
For Adebanjo, who is 90 this week,
papa’s views of and on politics and
life are captured in this script in a
manner that his just published
autobiography may not have. A
man you have known since 1991 (27
years and still counting), Adebanjo
tells it as it is and has never flinched
when it comes to his political belief.
During an interview session with
him, this question was meant to be
asked and I found a way to ask it,
though respectfully. In fact, before
the interview began, I’d requested
of him that I would ask him an
embarrassing question, one which
I’d discussed with my boss, Gbenga
Adefaye, who was then the Editor of
Vanguard. The Editor had quipped:
“Ask him o, let him attack the
question, some people say he’s a
thug”, to which I responded, “How
do I ask him such a question?”
“That is your problem. You are the
one going to do the interview. Just
ask him”.
PA AYO ADEBANJO
MARCHING ON AT 90
My life, my politics!
• Encounters with a man who likes TELLING IT AS IT IS
• And the question nobody wanted to ask him
•ADEBANJO
I’m not a thug. I’m
a lawyer! Is that
the question you
wanted to ask
since and you’ve
been dancing
round?
So, before the interview (for the
umpteenth time), after that road
walk in 2012, I told papa “I have a
very serious question coming that I
would want to ask” to which he said,
“Ajani, ask me any question you
want”. During the interview, this
ensued:
Sir, some people say you were
more of an enforcer for Papa
Awolowo?
What do you mean?
That you were capable of making
trouble because of Papa Awolowo?
If you believe in somebody’s
ideals; you see the person standing
firm on that principle; and you
decide to go all the way with him,
how does that make you an
enforcer?
Don’t mind people. They
always want to just say
something. Some even say you
were a thug?
I’m not a thug. I’m a lawyer! Is
that the question you wanted to ask
since and you’ve been dancing
round?
Okay o, I’m not a thug
Last week, Pa Adebanjo said he was
too busy to grant any interview but
still had the time to engage Sunday
Vanguard in a chat over why he would
not release a free copy of his new book,
‘TELLING IT IS AS IT IS’.
Firstly, how do we get a copy
of his book?
Ajani, you just have to buy this book.
Papa, I’m your son and I
expect you to give me a copy
duly signed ‘TO MY DEAR
SON’”, by you sir.
Ajani, I agree with what you have
said but do you know how many sons
I have in Vanguard? I have sons in
ThisDay; I have sons in Tribune.
Should I continue?
I understand you sir.
No, you don’t. If I give you a copy
of the book free, my conscience would
have to carry the burden. So why
not give my other ‘sons’ and that would
be setting a bad precedent. That, I
do not want to do.
Okay Papa, now I
understand. How much sir?
The soft copy is N5, 000 while the
hard copy is N7, 000.
Do I give it to Dapo Akinrefon who
is here or would you come to Ijebu-
Ogbo to collect it, or wait till I return
to Lagos?
We want the copy sir so we can
publish some excerpts to
illustrate the piece I’m writing.
No! Ajani you cannot do that. You
cannot publish part of the book. Not
now. Not yet. Part of the deal with
the publisher is that you cannot
reproduce parts of the book without a
special arrangement with the
publishers. In any case, you know
almost everything.
Yes sir I but I still want the book.
(Laughing) I know you will write
about all our encounters. I know
you will write about the road walk
too (continues laughing). Okay I will
sign the book and give it to Dapo. But
you must promise me you will pay
when I return to Lagos.
I will pay sir.
Ajani, you must pay o.
Yes sir I will; and I will also
write about this exchange too;
about how you insisted that I
should buy a copy of the book.
Yes (laughing)! I know you will
write it.
Funny as this exchange is, Pa
Adebanjo is a man who likes
TELLING IT AS IT IS - that’s the title
of his autobiography. Though just
about a book, Adebanjo is a man who
sticks to his gun. Not one given to
the familiar shenanigans of today’s
politicians, there are many instances
in Pa Adebanjo’s life that gives
credence to this fact - as would be seen
in his views on many issues below:
On why he remains an
avowed Awoist
No, it is not like that. People are
missing the point. The mistake people
are making is that they are confusing
issues. The rigidity that pays off is a
rigidity that is worth dying for. What
is rigidity in Awolowo’s philosophy?
What is rigidity in having free
education? Are we having free
education today in the West? Even in
Lagos, do we have it? Those who see
these people mid- way can be carried
away but we who know what is
happening can never be fooled. It
is not enough. Why should we reduce
ourselves to a situation when we
accept less as more and we say, ‘at
least, we thank God’. That much is
less than the standard expected of an
Awolowo man. I am strict on principle
and ideology: Is it on true federalism?
Is it on our socio-economic
programme? People know Awolowo
for what he represented. Free
education and federalism are
synonymous with Awolowo. I would
rather go to my grave with my name
intact and referred to as rigid Awolowo
man than join bad company. You must
stand for something. Look at the
people they are collaborating with,
just to side-line the elders. Go and ask
them why they disagreed with us.
Was it based on principles or on
policies? Some people just got blinded
by ambition and we are watching
where it will all lead.
On June 12
The message June 12
presidential election sent out is that
Nigerians were ready to bury their
differences as a people and support
whatever they considered good and
which they felt would make their
country move forward. But the
election was annulled; and that is
where I have a problem. I have told
people that my problem with the
annulment has nothing to do with (the
winner) MKO Abiola as an
individual. My problem with that
annulment also has nothing to do
with the fact that Abiola is a Yoruba
man. Even if the annulment had been
against a Chukwuemeka or a Dan
Fulani or an Essien Udom or Isokrari
James, I would still have opposed it
the way I have always opposed it.
Look, 14 million Nigerians voted.
Why should one man, just one man,
decide that he would annul that
election? What right does one man
have to say that he is annulling an
election? In a country where people
voted, just one man annulled the
election, why? You know the statement
from Aso Rock Presidential Villa
annulling that election was not
signed? No! That statement was not
signed. That is the irony. In fact when
I asked Duro Onabule, he said it is
not possible. He said Babangida’s
first house was built for him by MKO
Abiola and the Babangida he knows
cannot annul an MKO election. We
were supporting Abiola during the
crisis. I remember during my
detention days when people asked me
what was my connection with him, I
said Abiola is not my cup of tea. I told
them that I am here because
14million Nigerians voted for this
man and that is the democracy Chief
Awolowo taught me.
How Alliance for Democracy,
AD, state governors lost the
2003 elections to Obasanjo
At that time, our flag-bearers
misconceived the idea of working with
Olusegun Obasanjo as President.
This was because they didn’t like to
take directives from us and they
believed they wanted to take their own
destiny in their hands; they claimed
we were tormenting them because we
put them in office. They, therefore,
sought an alliance with Obasanjo;
that they would vote for him for the
presidency in return for their staying
in office and leave South-West for
them. There was an agreement
between the governors and Obasanjo,
to which we, the elders, were not privy.
I will never agree to have anything to
do with Obasanjo politically, because
I don’t see any virtue in him, nothing
credible in him, particularly as far as
the interests of the Yoruba people are
concerned. Obasanjo is not a Yoruba
man, he doesn’t want what the Yoruba
people want and I’ve always said so.
What Yoruba people want?
We want autonomy. We want to be
part of Nigeria as an independent
entity, self-sustained but not
subservient to any part in a true
federation.
On Obasanjo’s National
Conference
Obasanjo knew what he wanted all
along? He drew AD leaders out and
swindled them knowing that
restructuring had become a bait.
Obasanjo claimed that he wanted
to bring all the parties together to
produce a peoples’ constitution and
our argument then was that if we did
not take part, we would not push our
case and they would label us critics.
I took part as one of the five party
leaders nominated. Our
membership of that committee was
able to open the eyes of our colleagues
from the other parties that Afenifere
was not talking about secession but
about true federation. What
Obasanjo said was that if we believed
so much in SNC, we should go and
persuade the other people of the other
zones to buy into it so that when he
eventually convenes it, he would not
be accused of doing the bidding of
Afenifere. If a man who had fought
against something now shifts and
even advises on how to mobilise
support for the cause, is that not
progress. It gave us an opportunity
to explain to the other people that
the Sovereign National Conference
we were asking for was an
alternative to bloodshed and that we
must agree to live together based
on terms and conditions agreeable
to all. We just wanted true
federalism. If you recollect,
Obasanjo’s first presidential media
chat, I was there and we thrashed
out the issue of SNC because
Obasanjo’s fake argument was that
there cannot be two sovereignties
but we made him understand that
whatever that conference
recommended should not be
reviewed by any other committee;
that was our position.