Yes, it's another June 12 on this side of the Atlantic and it's the case that some twenty four years ago, that evergreen expression of William Gladstone "the most inexpressible calamity" found a home for itself in our history in the guise of 'annulment'.
One cannot help but echo the words of the Bard of Stratford-upon-avon when he said "All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances and one man in his time plays many parts" ( As you like it). Those words are true for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale and they are true for us.
For some, today is a day for benedictions, for others it's the longest 24 hours clinically set aside for maledictions, lamentations, name calling and all sort of partial truths.
But for me and I hope for you too, today is a celebration of a chaotic synthesis; the matrimony of good and evil, for there's a truth in the saying ' there's a bit of good in evil and evil in good'
At times, I wonder how the judicial officers, military men, politicians, businessmen and the Gbadamosi's of Lapai (characters in the annulment drama) feel on a day like this. A day that arguably heralded the Abacha years of despotism and swiss accounts leadership!
I recall watching a journalist interview IBB on how he felt about the annulment episode and its incidentals and the man answered with astonishing temerity" I have told Nigerians to stop killing themselves. They should come and kill me....."(paraphrase)
Honestly, I felt like "awwwn, Dear General, relocate from that your hilltop mansion, release your bodyguards on vacation and i might just take you up on your offer, you know".
But to be fair, I'm not sure IBB even understood the intrinsic meaning and calculated impact of annulment on the Nigerian polity, he was just like that proverbial sheep!
Speaking of proverbial sheep, when MKO was touring the world to amass political sympathy for his ' Hope Mandate', it's on record that he once likened IBB to the proverbial sheep in Yoruba oral tradition , that tasted salt and won't stop licking till it drops dead! Salt is sweet but it can also kill. Yoruba people sha! IBB the licker!
He capriciously licked the toil of Abiola, Tofa and Nigerians in general. Or how do we explaining such an arbitrary cancelation? After the presidential hopeful spent cash and kind, engaged in intellectual disputations that have never been matched in our current political dispensation; for once, muslim-muslim ticket did not hold the electorates back! The national pledge for that period was ' hope and nothing else'. Some I we submitted that Nigerians have never been that united! What a waste.
After all has been said, the man MKO spent 48 months of his life in incarceration simply because he won't take the easy way out AKA 'renouncing his mandate, the mandate of the majority' and he crowned it all with the highest price a man can pay- his life! This is not hero worship, it's summarizing the life of a maverick just before the curtain of his life was drawn.
But 24 years after, Gbadamosi is still chilling in Niger State but I believe, just like MKO predicted, that he died long ago from owing to the terminal 'seat-tight syndrome' and betrayal of public trust. Let's just say IBB is chilling in death alive! I digress a lot.
But let me concern myself with the achievements of the man MKO and what I think the youths should learn from that maverick!
Let's start with a snippet of what Wikipedia has on Moshood Abiola. "He was twice voted international businessman of the year and received numerous honorary doctorates from universities all over the world. In 1987 he was bestowed with the golden key to the city of Washington, D.C., and he was bestowed with awards from the NAACP and the King center in the USA, as well as the International Committee on Education for Teaching in Paris, amongst many others. In Nigeria, Abiola was made the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, the highest chieftaincy title available among the Yoruba, and has only been conferred by the tribe 14 times in its history. This in effect rendered Abiola the ceremonial War Viceroy of all of his tribespeople"
If our train of thought are headed towards the same direction, you will observe that much emphasis was placed on MKO's industry; or his 'business acumen' in contemporary usage. The contributor went further to highlight the 'connect between effort and reward as shown in the numerous recognition he got for his philanthropic gestures, social activism, stance against injustice among other things.
That been said, the youths of today should come to terms with the controversial 'Golden Rule' "he that owns the gold makes the rule"; and 'mining gold' is one of the craziest endeavor a man can embark upon but it's worth every step of the journey since it involves stretching your mind to the limit, discovering, questioning the status quo and unlearning harmful stereotypes (I suggest you see 'Gold' starring Matthew McConaughey).
One thing Wikipedia probably forgot to add is the truth that the maverick was an agricultural enthusiast; in spite of his qualifications in accountancy and the white collar phenomenon. That brings me to the issue of agriculture and the Nigerian youth; Tosin was here today and she said if an hypothetical mango gets plucked in Israel this morning, there's an high tendency Jack is sipping it with his wife Jacqueline in New York the next noon! Truly, 'it's not the big that eat the small, it's the fast that eat the slow' (that's a book- read it if you can)
The youths of nowadays need to appreciate speed! MKO did!
The life and times of MKO exemplified the awareness that JFK projected in his inaugural when he said " to those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe, struggling to break the bonds of mass misery......not because communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes but because it's right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich"
Kennedy went on to say 'For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life' but that's a matter for another day.
In the interim, I sincerely hope the youth celebrating Democracy today in remembrance of MKO understand that democracy fueled by dissent, youthful industry, education, maximized energy and hope! among other things!
May the words to come leave a lasting impression on you
"Because of this man, there is both cause for hope and certainty that the agony and protests of those who suffer injustice shall give way to peace and human dignity. The children of the world shall know the great work of this extraordinary leader and his fervent mission to right wrong, to do justice, and to serve mankind. The enemies which imperil the future of generations to come: poverty, ignorance, disease, hunger, and racism have each seen effects of the valiant work of Chief Abiola. Through him and others like him, never again will freedom rest in the domain of the few. We, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus salute him this day as a hero in the global pursuit to preserve the history and the legacy of the African diaspora"
