Opinion
Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala: The Lifetime Of A Humane Politician
By
Tunji Olaopa
Permit me to start this eulogy by appreciating His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, for his thoughtfulness in setting aside political differences not only to accord Otunba Alao-Akala the courtesy of a state burial, but in extending the paraphernalia of state to spearhead this unique gathering of alliance across the broad political and ideological spectrum in Oyo State. Secondly, and from the perspective of a political scientist, I like to acknowledge the uniqueness of this broad political alliance across the spectrum, and to admonish this corps of Oyo State political elites across the divides that are gathered today to extend their love to Otunba Akala by concretizing whatever inspiration was behind this commendable gathering which has set aside political differences to honour a unique persona with a view to elevating the coalition into an Oyo State political elites family forum
Such a political family forum will then be a testament to the unrestrained love for the people of Oyo State, in pursuit of higher purpose through gathering from time to time to push the frontiers of real progress irrespective of political differences not only for the benefit of our dear state, but Yorubaland and by extension, our dear country Nigeria. It is significant that this alliance is convoked in honour of Otunba Alao-Akala. This being a solid testament to one defining feature of his live-and-let-live politics, devoid of bitterness, amongst a host of other legacies of his political statesmanship. I like to surmise that this is a dimension in statecraft which if given life, would in time inspire trans-ethnic consciousness and solidarity that is critical to harnessing Nigeria’s complex diversity as political capital to catalyze dynamics towards resetting Nigeria’s journey to its destined future.
Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala
That this lecture is coming posthumous is really sad. And this is because I believe we should celebrate those who have contributed indelibly to our understanding of our humanity and our politics while they are still alive. I am however gratified that we could gather to celebrate this eminent and unique politician of our time whose lifetime made an indelible mark on what politics ought to mean for those who are still around us and for the stewardship that we hold on behalf of the people
It was Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman and orator, who once remarked that “the life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living”. With these words, Cicero reminds me of a similar saying of Yoruba, that we are deified after we are dead! In other words, memory serves as the point of the immortality that humans seek to perpetuate themselves in existence. Indeed, almost everyone wants to live forever. But there are those who, without even seeming to try, succeed in generating memories in the lives of people. One of these is certainly Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala. Of course, it is practically impossible for the dead to command the entire positive memories of everyone alive. However, there was a significant outpouring of grief and reminiscing from across the spectrum that links the masses to the elites. It would seem that the long reach of Akala’s compassionate nature reached everywhere. Significantly, even His Excellency the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, testified to Alao-Akala’s deep sense of generosity and humanity
This is one example of a man that had battled to rise from the heap, from grass; a humble beginning, and was determined to raise as many as he could. He was a passionately compassionate soul who had no apologies for his desire to reach out to those in need, a desire molded in the fire of his affliction while growing up. This is how Festus Adedayo reviewed Akala’s passion: “I see a down-to-earth man who had no airs, a man hunted by the unpleasant experience of his childhood which manifested in an uncommon generosity in him while in office that was misconstrued as profligacy.”
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Otunba Alao-Akala was an exceptional figure in all respects. And as I proceed in this eulogy, I shall further highlight some significant dimensions of his exceptionality without attempting to write another biographical account of his life. First, I like to consider his religiosity. As a Baptist myself, I can easily and deeply appreciate the influence of the Baptist doctrinaire variant of Christianity in his worldview and in his intellectual and emotional maturation. Of course, being Baptist constitutes a fundamental influence in the historical formation of Ogbomoso as a community, and almost all her indigenes. Indeed, being entirely submerged in the Baptist way of life was sufficient to provide a prism by which Akala, the church-boy, would eventually see all of life and its meaning. He read all his dealings as ascension in life through his connections and disconnections to God. It is only in this way that one could understand why he could give the autobiographical summation of his life and it’s unfolding a spiritual title “Amazing Grace”. And who would query the influence that Providence had taken in his life if that is what he saw from his childhood all through his lifetime? And all that was truly unusual – a politician that saw the hand of the Almighty in his political calling and becoming. How strange could such a person be? How exceptional?
In putting Akala as an Ogbomoso boy in perspective, let’s start by putting that bit in its historical context. Indeed, historically, Ogbomoso stands at the confluence of several historical junctures, from Yoruba, the South West and the Nigerian federation. Ogbomoso was significant in defining the fate of the old Oyo Empire especially in resisting the calvary force of the invading Fulani. Ogbomoso would also significantly contribute to the erosion of the power of the Oyo Empire when it shifted its allegiance to Ibadan, the then rising military town which defeated the Fulani in 1840. This political strategy of pragmatic reading of times and seasons of politics has led Ogbomoso into being a significant bloc in the politics of the South West and of Oyo State.
The rise of Chief S. L. Akintola and the political and ideological disagreement with Chief Obafemi Awolowo would further entrench Ogbomoso’s political significance in the South West scheme of things. It was therefore inevitable and logical that Akala’s incursion into Oyo State politics would be from the platform afforded by Ogbomoso as a political base. To understand this, we have to return to S.L. Akintola and his Ogbomoso cultural connection from which Akala took his political cue. It is therefore not strange for Akala to pronounce that “history has not been fair to … Akintola”
In yielding to the godfatherism of Chief Lamidi Adedibu therefore, Akala was clearly motivated by what he called the “Ogbomoso political behaviour” and its antecedent alliance with Ibadan, with an unstated reckoning that Papa Adedibu was by blood Omo Oyo Alafin. And in Akala’s reckoning, and my reading following after SLA, if an alignment with the Northern Nigeria would benefit Ogbomoso, and in this case through Chief Adedibu with Ibadan, then that was the best political move to make. He said this much in justifying his joining the All People’s Congress (APC), and in his words: “the party had the national spread and was in control of the centre.” It is in this sense that we must salute the political sagacity of Otunba Alao-Akala. It was not an easy thing for him to ride the formidable dynamics of his Ogbomoso grassroots politics into the fortress of Ibadan realpolitik, mediated by the mercurial Alafin Molete, and not only win the electoral contest but to become a godfather himself
The question for the political class taking a cue or the baton from him is therefore to keep pushing the political interest of their constituencies while forging alliances that are critical to the fruition of a political culture and resilience that are required to building a strong and prosperous Nigerian state, overall, with sensitivity to better harness our diversity to not only position the South West in the larger federation, but to salvage our ailing and failing Nigerian nation-state. This relates to the issue of how the political class in Nigeria manage the tension that comes with ethnic and tribal politics, and crisis management. Taking lessons from and in stark contrast to the Awolowo-Akintola environment of bitterness-polluted polity, Senator Rasheed Ladoja’s testimony that though he and Akala had occasions of political disagreement, “but this did not injure our personal relationship … I therefore never saw Alao-Akala as a betrayer” was instructive. It validates Akala’s ideology of live-and-let-live, a politics that tried as much as possible to be devoid of bitterness that has become the hallmark of the Nigerian politics
Lest I am misconstrued, Akala was not a saint by any stretch of imagination. He was just a man; an amiable lover of pleasure, a socialite who cherished being in social circles with friends and associates. I am indeed a beneficiary of his warmness and his uncanny capacity to maintain a social circle and network with people irrespective of age, status, tribe or class. Since 2011 when I met him, Otunba Alao-Akala not only adopted me as a kid-brother, but also indirectly taught me what it means to insinuate oneself into the lives and concerns of those around me. He was essentially a part of my family, with an encouraging presence in all my events to boot. He attended my inaugural lecture and would always call to offer his goodwill whenever I recorded a major stride. I later discovered that that was the modus operandi he had for everyone that crossed his path, even if they are outside his political network. In a time where relationships are counted in terms of political patronage and connections, that was a huge legacy for Otunba Alao-Akala. Indeed, he was in some sense an unusual being, an enigma, a spirit of some sort who simply passed by this land and had ascended to attend to duties of higher calling. The best we can do is to read the footprints of his passing and orient ourselves by them.
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Indeed, there are several significant senses in which he was just a typical politician motivated by sheer ambition in the way he moved from one party to another. A dimension that is the face of realpolitik that all politicians are used to in Nigeria today. No one would, however, deny the capacity of Akala as a bridge-builder and a master-negotiator who understood the technique involved in high-politics. And a testament to this is the coalition of politicians gathered here today in a posthumous seminal reflection on Oyo State political future, all to honour the broad-mindedness, accommodationist exemplariness, that he was dedicated to in his lifetime
Let me end this critical eulogy by characterizing the persona of the politician that I think Chief Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala represents; a legacy that could serve as a pathway for a politics that can move us forward. Otto von Bismarck, former first chancellor of the German empire, once wrote that “politics is the art of the possible, the attainable—the art of the next best.” This quote speaks about the essence of realpolitik; the capacity to get things done even outside the demands of ideologies and idealism. Politics within the context of Nigeria could be a very difficult thing. It demands a lot of compromise that often clashes with one’s ideological principles. To get things done is therefore not to be perfect, but to get things done in ways that improve the lives of people.
It is in this sense that Chief Alao-Akala was such a pragmatic politician who deeply understood what it means to be a politician that makes things happen. And one significant way he did this was through building an inter- and intra-ethnic confidence and negotiations that transcended party and ideological lines to fast-forward the demands of good governance. It seems to me that no one can accuse Chief Alao-Akala as being for Ogbomoso alone, or for sidetracking essential infrastructural development just to favor Ogbomoso to the detriment of other regions in Oyo State
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In this sense, Alao-Akala created a definitive contrast by which we can assess what it means to be a pragmatic politician in a context that should normally have generated acrimony and dead-weights of delayed decisions that make lives difficult for citizens. That any politicians could survive within such a stifling environment is a miracle. It takes compromise and pragmatism. It takes a vision that is already aware of the deep mines involved in acting on behalf of the people rather than for selfish and self-serving ends alone. The key word in my last sentence is “alone” because it makes allowance for a politician to find means to feather her own nest or those of her ethnic constituents without compromising her stewardship to the people. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Nigeria urgently needs politicians who are simply not mere jobbers, but those who are motivated, as Alao-Akala was by his background and existential deprivation. Whatever motivates anyone running for office, the critical matter is that such a person must be ready to do whatever it takes to make life more abundantly richer than what exists before she gets there. This is what it means to make politics the act of the possible, and Chief Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala was our exemplar.
. Being a lecture delivered by Olaopa, a retired Federal Permanent Secretary, and Professor at National Institute (NIPSS), Kuru-Jos, at the Day of Tributes organized by the Oyo State Political Class in collaboration with the Oyo State Government in Ibadan on Monday, 14th of February, 2022. tolaopa2003@gmail.com
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By Toyin Falola
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei
Religion remains a much-debated issue, especially in Africa. It is one of the determining factors of our identity. It determines who we are, our beliefs, actions and reactions, and even our thought processes. Africans had their own culture and traditional religion until the advent of western civilization, which brought with it the ‘gift’ of Abrahamic religions—,Christianity and Islam—and judged African traditional religious practices as evil, pagan practice and witchcraft. The missionaries did a thorough job of making people believe that their religion was superior and righteous. Africans accepted these imported religions, and their traditional beliefs began to fade. Christianity and Islam are now the new order, and people are extremely devoted to these newly found Gods.
The Toyin Falola Interviews recently played host to music composer and songwriter, Beautiful Nubia. The question of Beautiful Nubia’s stance on religion pops up during the interview. He is known to promote African spirituality but has also defended foreign religions as advantageous. In response, he talks about his ancestral line: his paternal family were Olu Orogbo devotees (the Yoruba god of letters), and his maternal family were Ifa priests and Esu devotees. He said, “religion has always fascinated me like it gets people’s minds.” He opines that spirituality ties into what gets people so much into religion. Although he no longer practices religion, he affirms that these religions have positively influenced people to do good and show kindness to their fellow human beings.
He states, “Any organized religion has a set of dogma or doctrines they use to guide you to put you in there. You are there; it is like a strait jacket to keep you on the straight and narrow. Why I said religion is a good thing is because the purpose of this is to ensure that you stay on the straight and narrow, that you do good things.” We can agree that religion has contributed to the rise of morals to a certain extent, as the fear of God keeps many people from doing evil. It has curbed wickedness and negative traits inherent in humans and made many people see the world in a new light. Religion has spread the message of doing good and becoming a better human being.
Beautiful Nubia
The issue, however, is not the practice of these religions but the ability of leaders to sway people easily. Although imported religions have helped to stop the extremities of African religious practices, it has only accentuated people’s gullibility. Beautiful Nubia further states, “What is wrong with religion is that it gives certain people the power to use their followers. It is not the religion itself; it is the human beings who run these religious organizations who use their power to extract money from them and push them in the wrong direction.” Owning a church is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get rich, particularly in Nigeria. All that is needed to succeed in this business is to be a good actor, have nice clothes (suits, particularly), can win people over with words and give yourself an extraordinary title such as Rabbi.
It is common knowledge that the major reason why people attend church and Jumat services religiously are that they seek solutions to their problems. As much bad governance is enough to seek God’s intervention for various human issues ranging from terminal illnesses, protection, promotion, unhappiness, barrenness, unemployment, and marital problems, to poverty, which is an average African’s motivation to seek God’s face, also cause people to become staunch believers. To get swift, miraculous answers to these problems, many people fall prey to the traps of “men of God”, who only look to fill their pockets and bellies. This explains why a “pastor” would shut down his church after winning a 100 million Naira bet.
Pastors and Muslim clerics are considered mini gods who can do no wrong. The Bible verse, “touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm,” is an ever-ready response by Christians in defense of their highly revered pastors who would not think twice before taking advantage of their desperation to get their problems solved. They forget that a “man of God” is first a man. Religion has rendered humans gullible to the extent that they excuse things their religious leaders do that are not even in tune with what is written in the Holy books. How do you explain a pastor who sleeps with a woman looking for the fruit of the womb and says his sperm is the anointing that will cause her to have her child? What do we say to a pastor who instructs his congregation to bring a greater percentage of their salaries to him so that God can answer their prayers? Should the man who claims to be an alfa but has exploited so many people in the name of being a ‘wonder healer’ be left alone? Churches and mosques nowadays see the desperation of people and feed off it. Many people come to church for prosperity and get ripped off the little they have, all in the name of miracles, signs and wonders. You could be in a church service and then suddenly hear the pastor say, “I see seven stars. I need seven people who will give the Lord Seven Hundred Thousand to come out now at the count of seven. One, Two…Seven!” You will be amazed at the number of people who will run to the altar to give the ‘Lord’ that amount of money in this present economy. Unsurprisingly, some borrow money to give to their pastors to receive blessings, then struggle to pay back the borrowed money. Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop.
These men of God add false doctrines to their fraudulent, shady activities. Beautiful Nubia quotes his mother, a Christian singer, as saying, ” any church where they are a lot of people there, you know there are telling them lies there.” He made an example of a Muslim cleric who tells his followers that every other person is evil, an infidel and a pastor who tells his congregation that their Jesus is not a Jesus of poverty, that He died for them to be wealthy. It is now rare to find churches that preach about the kingdom of God and how to live a life that pleases God. Churches today entice and then mislead people.
Sometimes, people realize all these things are wrong but lack the courage to question these atrocities. According to Beautiful Nubia, “…as a child, you are fully indoctrinated, and as an adult, you are scared to question these beliefs.” Asking a pastor why he preaches only prosperity and how to get rich as a Christian would be considered as seeking the wrath of God because the pastor can call down fire to consume his ‘enemy’. Questioning an Imam on why he sleeps with young girls will only attract curses from the Quran on such a person, followed by “who are you to question God’s prophet? The ways and dealings of God are mysterious”. Really, who dares question these men of God? The fear that has been unconsciously programmed into your mind from a very young age holds your voice and makes you look away from the evils of these religious leaders.
This is not to say that there are no genuine men of God, but there is a plague of greedy religious leaders who, because of their power over their members, influence them to bend to their will while satisfying their greed and lust. “We should not focus too much on religion being our enemy. We need to focus more on ourselves, fix ourselves, and we can use traditional wisdom to do that”, says Nubia. The way we question and demand accountability from the government should be the same way we question our religious leaders. Not every “God says” is true. The Bible in 1 John 4:1 says, “Beloved , believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Many religious leaders are gods of their bellies and are only out to exploit people to put food in their fat stomachs and live expensive lifestyles with their poor congregation’s money. Child of God, shine ya eye!
This is Part 1 of the report on the interview with Beautiful on March 19, 2023. The extensive interview, which has received millions of views across different platforms, talks about the role of music in society. For the transcripts, see:
YouTube
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7fyHlf1QIsI
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