On Odia Ofeimun's "Awolowo was greater than Mandela"

[Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso]

Just a tiny piece of the ongoing debate...

http://mobile.saharareporters.com/article/symbolism-and-greatness-case-awolowo-and-mandela-remi-oyeyemi
Grace and Peace Sent from my BlackBerry®

[Chidi Anthony Opara]

On what basis did Odia Ofeimum judge and pronounced Awolowo greater than Mandela? What were the criteria? Both were great men in different ways. It is like saying that Michael Imoudu was greater than Chinua Achebe or vice-versa. Anyway, I have long subscribed to Matthew Kukah's view some years back that Odia Ofeimun can never be unbiased in any matter involving Awolowo, he (Odia), being an Awolowo minion.

CAO.

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

It is extremely disheartening and distressing that this comparison was made. It could only have been made by an unrepentant and irredeemable sycophant who by the way has a right to so remain. Educated students of history know that while there are different levels of greatness and different ways to be great, the greatness of leaders is ultimately by popular informed acclaim.

My thinking is that the comparison is unnecessary and that Awolowo greatness is actually diminished by it. All who truly love Awolowo, are genuinely appreciative of his accomplishments, and do not need to earn their daily bread by milking Awolowo’s affiliations and  memory, know not to make the comparison with Mandela or indeed any other leader. Awolowo was a great leader of his people by parochial acclaim. Mandela was a great world leader by universal acclaim.

There are those who feign faithfulness to Awolowo greatness and would have everyone believe that Awolowo was the greatest being that has walked on the planet Earth, to feather their private nest. They know deep in their hearts that he was not, fell well short, and could not be. They do not serve Awolowo’s memory well when they mindlessly dishonor the man by raising poisoned dust. The claim made for Awolowo is one more disingenuous and misguided attempt to misrepresent Awolowo’s legacy and rewrite Nigeria’s history. Africa and the world know better.

 

oa

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Awolowo was greater than Mandela  is the kind of headline that guarantees that even the okuru dogs will be out to wag their tails, to dutifully show their canines, to grow ominously, to do their share of barking. What cannot be denied is that both men are great by whatever parameters within which you would like to define greatness.

Ditto with any of the following headlines:

Benjamin Netanyahu is greater than Mahmoud Abbas!

Muhammad  is greater than Jesus!

Nkrumah is greater than Lumumba!

Malcolm X is greater than Dr. Martin Luther King!

 Nigeria is greater than South Africa!

Goodluck Jonathan  is greater than Jacob Zuma !

Mugabe is greater than Gaddafi

Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey  is greater than King Sunny Ade !

 Wole Soyinka is greater than Chinua Achebe - and Shakespeare is greater than both of them!

Obama is greater than Hilary Clinton!

(Of course the assertion that Brother Obama is greater than Hilary Clinton would cause the revered Sheikh Ben-guria to suffer from an apoplexy; such a claim would only perforate his peptic ulcer itself a result of too much pious fasting...)

Well, George Bernard Shaw is reported to have said, “I can think of no writer in English Literature, not even Sir Walter Scott who I more despise than Shakespeare, when I match my intellect against his own!” (As heard from the lips of Von Bradshaw)

Dawodu : Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Chief Obafemi Awolowo speeches

Everyone attests to the impact of his educational policies....

The purpose of the Article – no matter the criteria for making such a comparison could only be to generate debate, discussion and of course in some circles indignation and outright dismissal of any such claim, coming so closely at the heels of dear Madiba’s funeral which was a world event .

Ogugua Anunoby says that “Awolowo’s greatness is actually diminished by it” (the comparison). Pray Sir, how so?  Very personally speaking, I would say that  it is not an odious comparison,  but  that such a comparison coming at the heels of Madiba's funeral when the dearly departed is still so fresh in our minds is not in good taste and does not, cannot serve its purpose.

This brings us back to man of the people Chinua Achebe’s reason for not wanting to honour AWO with a national funeral, in Achebe’s words, because AWO he said “was not an Igbo god!”

And to that extent the author’s purpose has been fulfilled. But we could also take a peek at some factors / basis for any comparisons, for their comparative greatness

To be continued,

We Sweden

 

On Saturday, 4 January 2014 20:20:35 UTC+1, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso wrote:

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Odia Ofeimum speaks

Chidi  - one black represents all blacks all over the world

We can say with absolute certainty that Nigeria contributed to the downfall of apartheid which was a great evil...

 Soldiers

Bad Man  

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Re - "not in good taste" - I should like to withdraw such an accusation with the understanding that he did not give a lecture entitled "Awolowo is greater than Mandela" and that it was  only in the course of the interview/ conversation that Madiba Nelson Mandela's name was brought up as a result of which, in my humble opinion Odia Ofeimum went ahead in a reasonable, factual and for me convincing manner, to talk about the late great Chief Obafemi Awolowo's vision and to some extent its implementation, in as far as he was able to successfully implement his education policy for example.

We Sweden

[Chidi Anthony Opara]

“Matching Nigerian example of Mandela, Ofeimun chooses Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo above the anti-apartheid legend, stating that Awolowo's philosophical qualities were transcendental.” 

---Sahara TV.

What is the crux of the interview, judging from the above?

CAO. 

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

“Ogugua Anunoby says that “Awolowo’s greatness is actually diminished by it” (the comparison). Pray Sir, how so?  Very personally speaking, I would say that  it is not an odious comparison, …” 

 

ch

 

Comparison of especially dead historical characters is quite oftentimes a fool’s errand, and a risky business. Seldom does it serve the intention or interest of the ‘comparer’ well. The challenges, times, and manifest differences in the lives and accomplishments of historical characters are sometimes so great that the comparison reduces the erstwhile profile of one or other of the historical characters being compared. This seems to be the case here.

What  may I ask, is the value point of a comparison of Awolowo and Mandela? Okay Awolowo is greater than Mandela so what? Is it not enough that Awolowo, warts and all, was a great man in his own right? Why are some, repeat some of Awolowo’s admirers and former employees consumed and obsessed with the need to ever present him as greater than every other leader? It is time left-over opportunists and sycophants recognized that Awolowo does not have to be “greater’ than every and all great leaders to be great as indeed he was. The shameful trade on Awolowo’s greatness must be embarrassing to many true admirers and followers of Awolowo. Awolowo was a great leader and deservedly so. His greatness does not need to be compared with any other leaders’ greatness. It is irreverently munificent to do so.  

 

oa

 

oa

 

 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cornelius Hamelberg

Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 5:52 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Cc: jum...@gmail.com

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Sir,

 The presumption of course is that All men are created equal – irrespective of whether you are Yoruba, Igbo, Luo, Ibibio, Fulani, Zulu, Xhosa, Mandinka, Wolof or Hausa...

The judgement is yours, that that any comparison, especially of “dead historical characters is quite oftentimes a fool’s errand, and a risky business”. And may you abide by your own judgment and never yourself ever have to countenance any preposterous propositions through time and space – and place, such as that “Yasser Arafat is greater the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu “ or vice versa. As you say, it’s “a risky business”

In spite of which these kinds of lists will persist, with or without any condemnation or approval by you:

The world's 100 top public intellectuals

The world's greatest human beings (among the living and the dead of course)

In rank order: The greatest Africans that have ever lived (among whom I would count the Prophet Moses)

The world’s greatest musicians

 The world’s greatest artists

The world’s greatest poets

The world’s greatest philosophers

The world’s greatest scientists

The world’s greatest inventors

The world’s greatest mathematicians

There are probably people in this forum who by word and deed are jockeying to position themselves in more than one of these greatness categories, and other unmentioned greatness categories, if they are not already there.

In any case, history will judge the relative positions of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Madiba Nelson Mandela, and the positions of the living and the dead among the enemies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the enemies of Madiba Nelson Mandela

 But who will judge who is not going to heaven and who is destined for “the everlasting bonfire”?

Yours Sincerely,

We Sweden

[ugwuanyi Lawrence]

This list server has once more done a great good by drawing our attention to the comparison between Obafemi Awolowo and Nelson Mandela made by Odia Ofeimun.Watching the interview in You Tube as advertised by The Punch  a short while ago one can see the boldness of Odia to  impress certain political views about Nigerian and South African developmental challenges.However there are also serious attempts to  subvert truths and miseducate the public.

E.g:

(i)Odia claims that the plan for Nzeogwu 's coup started in 1964 when the Igbos realized that the Hausa-Fulani have rather sited some projects in the north against their wish but he did not state who and where the protagonist of the coup at this time?

(ii)Odia fails to recall that Ademoyega a Yoruba man was one of the five majors that planned and executed Nzeogwu's ill-fated coup and that what is called an Igbo coup is one of the most dangerous positions in Nigerian history given that the coup had no interior motive whatsoever to enthrone an Igbo man as the leader. Indeed some school of thought hold that the coupists wanted to enthrone Awolowo as the leader.

Furthermore the coup was stopped by Igbo soldiers as Ojukwu reported in his book Because I am Involved(1989).

Olusegun Obasanjo one the closest ally to Kaduna Nzeogwu had severally told the world that Nzeogwu simply dreamnt of being a Charles De Gaule of Nigeria  and that Nzeogwu was merely keying into the trend of the time.

    In 1989 as an undergraudate I had gone to interview Dr.Tai Solarin at Mayflower school Ikenne for an undergraduate magazine.What shocked me was how he named the street to his house Kaduna Nzeogwu street.It  helped me to achieve some positive impression about Kaduna Nzeogwu.

But more study has everyday shown me that Nzeogwu like Tai were not intellectuals- in terms having a profound understanding of those who constitute the Nigerian political space.How could Nzeogwu ever have thought that Nigeria is his traditional Igbo community where people would wish to banish a criminal today, here and now?

For me  his thoughts about Nigeria was one of the most foolish taught ever to have made because Nigeria is not France,can never be France,will never be France.Africa is not Europe will never be Europe and can never be Europe(in terms of the worldview and fundamental disposition to issues and values).

To think otherwise is to deceive oneself dangerously as he did.

(iii)Odia claims that Awolowo wanted the Unity of Nigeria.Yes perhaps.However if this bottle of wine from Odia is to be swallowed it should be investigated further-whether Awolowo did not give Ojukwu the condition that if he must lead  the East out of Nigeria he must  pull the middlebelt along ; allow them to join Biafra or at least give them time if secession was the last option. If this sacred offer which is believed to have taken place in a hotel room at Enugu in the presence of the Gowon's Commissioner of police that accompanied Awolowo on mediation to Enugu (shortly before the war broke out)were to be accepted or at least considered it should further be known whether this has nothing to do with Awolowo's alliance with J.S.Tarka and his ambition to lead Nigeria.It should be knwon whether Awo was not threatened by Igbo might and whether he simply did not see the war as a tool to reduce Igbos to size to govern Nigeria as implied in  Chinua Achebe 's book There Was a Country.

But could Awo ever ever have led Nigeria and succeeded in doing what he did in the west in the entire Nigeria-?

You will need to read the psycho-social anthropology of the diverse ethnic nationalities of Nigeria to answer this question.

How long would it have taken him to raise an educated population that will tolerate him for whatever political good he were to render?Even as he has built more schools for the north than any Nigerian leader even from the north- GEJ is still having headache with the north-Why?

Refresh your mind on Chinweizu and caliphate colonialism served in this list-server a few weeks ago.

You will find a worthy answer for yourself.

(iv) On the charge of genocide it will be well and wise to read Awolowo's position which I believe has some truth.

-But how and why a man of high learning should identify with an "uncivil war"(Wole Soyinka-You Must Set Forth at Dawn) of  this kind that arose from disagreement on the federal structure should remain to be questioned given especially the fact that he had once traveled to Pakistan to study India-Pakistan  constitution  that made it possible for Pakistan to secede from India and was ready to recommend the option for Nigeria perhaps as a way to checkmate the dangers of federalism (for which he was branded Pakistanese by his contemporaries)coincidentally when the opportunity came for him to emphasize this position and defend it  he backed out.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo was quite a fine thinker no doubt but whether he understood the limits of his talents, the proper focus of his talents and the Nigerian state he aspired to lead is something of a deep interest.

It should be recalled that Plato after whom he might have mirrored some of his works despised politics because of the kind of people that practiced in his time.Why he never thought likewise is important and whether he would not have remained more relevant to more people  (which to me is the true measure of greatness)by doing that, demands to be studied.

And if any reader of this piece would contend that  Awolowo was successful as a politician it should be known how and why those whom he granted education and helped to be properly educated have been "driven" out of the Nigerian state on "self-fulfillment exile" as Odia himself  lamented in his interview by the Nigerian federal structure he is believed to have defended and promoted at the cost of millions of lives?

 Indeed:

" Why Awolowo failed to achieve his ambition to lead Nigeria and whether it had to do with poor knowledge of the social and political anthropology of the larger Nigerian society he aspired to lead for which he should have insisted on a Yoruba national leadership (where he was widely accepted) than Nigerian leadership, at least, to incarnate his ideas that would have made him a philosopher-king in the black African context is what could be investigated further"( Ugwuanyi,L.OThe Philosopher-King and the Modern State in Africa" forthcoming West African Review.)

Lawrence Ogbo Ugwuanyi,Ph.D

Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

Great Zimbabwe University

Masvingo/

Senior Lecturer of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy and Religions

University of Abuja

Abuja-Nigeria

.