This Day

Dele Momodu

A Rebel in the House of Oduduwa

01.19.2008

These are not the best of times for the House of Oduduwa. Strange things are happening that rubbish the cherished memories of the progenitor of Yoruba, one of the most sophisticated races on earth. In education, style and fashion, elegance, culinary expertise, sharp intellect, hard-work, culture, integrity, wisdom, entertainment, enjoyment and many aspects of human endeavour, the Yoruba can never be found wanting.

The Yoruba produced many distinguished Africans in academia: Samuel  Johnson, Bishop Ajayi Crowther, Wole Soyinka, Saburi Biobaku, Ayodele Awojobi, J. F Ade Ajayi, Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Wande Abimbola, Akinola Aguda, Olu Akinkugbe, Omololu Olunloyo, Akin Mabogunje, Ojetunji Aboyade, Samuel Aluko, Edward Odeku, Adeoye Lambo (First African Head of the World Health Organisation), Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, Kole Omotoso, Biodun Jeyifo, Ayo Banjo, Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, Tai Solarin, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Kayode Osuntokun, Gabriel Adesiyan Olawoyin, Kayode Oyediran, Samuel Manuwa (the first Nigerian Chief Inspector of health) Wale Omole, Niyi Osundare, Femi Osofisan, and many other eminent scholars scattered all over the world.

The list of Yoruba achievers and elites is almost endless. Most of our artistes of international repute are of Yoruba descent, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela Sowande, Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade, Sade Adu, Seal, Tunde Baiyewu of The Lighthouse Family, Adeyemo of Starpoint, as well as too many local icons of music and theatre. Just mention it, they are there. Perhaps, it is the cosmopolitan nature of the Yoruba world that has contributed to their rebellious spirit. They are always in the vanguard of defending the rights of man. In the First Republic, the Yoruba politicians of the Western Region, led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, worked assiduously to make their region a model state by recording a long list of firsts in the transformation of their community into a most modern environment.

One of their own, General Matthew Olusegun Aremu Okikiolakan Obasanjo also recorded another first when he became the first Yoruba man to become the head of state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He worked very hard at sustaining the unity of Nigeria, and organized a controversial election which made him the first military leader to hand over power to a civilian government. This instantly catapulted him to the level of a statesman, courted world-wide by the Lords and Royals. He became a leading light in the crusade for the emancipation of Africans and promoted the notion of good governance, transparency and accountability.

Obasanjo was admired for his modest outlook as a chicken farmer. He shunned ostentation and criticized the excessive ways of the previous and successive governments. His children were in school and little known. Everything went well for him in retirement until he was arrested by General Sani Abacha and jailed for treason. His incarceration would ultimately turn him into a Mandela of sorts, and even his erstwhile enemies began to see him as a transfigured man, and a possible candidate for martyrdom.

Miraculously, he survived his ordeal, and surprisingly, Chief Moshood Abiola who won the June 12 presidential election suddenly died in prison. It was not recorded anywhere that Obasanjo fought for his release. Ironically, it was Obasanjo who was handpicked by Nigeria’s Mafioso to inherit the mantle lost by Abiola. Thus, he became the only Nigerian in history to return from retirement as military head of State to become a civilian President, and for a record two terms, and almost got a third. Most Nigerians expected the born again and Bible-wielding man to right the wrongs of the past and restore hope to the hopeless. His first official speech revealed instantly that our optimism was clearly misplaced, and that Obasanjo had learnt little, or nothing in prison.

As President, he fought battles on all front. He sermonized with a religious zeal against corruption, and presented an image of a latter day Saint. But the more we looked, the more we got confused. Our father of the nation had discarded his tie-and-dye adire dresses for the delicately cut and impeccably sewed designer wears of the rich and famous. His shoes and wristwatches came from the best shops in Europe. Sooner or later, news filtered out that Baba Iyabo was no longer the poor farmer of old but a major player in Nigeria’s investment circuit. The tales of his metamorphosis were stranger than fiction.

When we were also told of his plan to succeed himself for a record third term in office, we dismissed the rumour as tales by the moonlight. But like a bad dream, it soon came out to be true despite a late denial. The brazen attempt was foiled, and the damage was total. The last election conducted was also dismissed as a complete sham and the reverberation is yet to subside.

Since leaving office, Obasanjo’s travails have known no limits. As a matter of fact, I have written so many articles on him and thought there was nothing more to write. But nothing can ever beat the technical knock-out he got from his own child, his most popular son, Iyabo’s younger brother, Olugbenga Obasanjo, a true chip off the old block. Gbenga is the second son, after Olusegun Obasanjo Jr., and not the first as widely believed. He’s a more handsome version of his father and resembles him in a number of ways. He’s a rebel who wines and dines with his father’s enemies, and attacks the OBJ boys as crooks who will eventually ruin his father.

For those of us who know him well, he does not mince words, just like his dad, and is not bothered if you think he’s too frank for his own good. He’s very close to his mum whom he believes has suffered unjustly from his dad, and seeks to protect her interest always. Obasanjo himself seems not to have managed his son well by treating him like an outcast and forcing him to go and hustle around the corridors of power. Unknown to the Obasanjos, Gbenga was a time bomb, and the family lacked the anti-ballistic experts to detonate him.

I dare not repeat the horrendous publications that have emanated from the sad claims and counterclaims in the divorce papers of Olugbenga and Mojisola Obasanjo, because of my closeness to the bitter and enraged couple. I owe it to both of them to help quell the towering inferno and not to fuel it.

All the descendants of Oduduwa should rise up and do everything possible to stop this madness. It is not too late to plead with the parties to end this preventable war. Obasanjo must reconcile with his son because he’s obviously a bitter child. Otunba Alex Onabanjo who’s my big brother should also embrace peace by forgiving Olugbenga and seeking to know why the young doctor is that bitter. Olugbenga shares the combustive nature of his dad. The way out is very simple. Let Mojisola withdraw her new claims from court and Olugbenga should be encouraged to reciprocate. The two should not be allowed to permanently damage their future, that of their lovely children, and that of their distinguished families.

I believe the claims and counter claims are ego driven with each party wanting to inflict maximum damage on the other. Nigerians have been drawn into the camps of believers and unbelievers over the matter. Those who should know believe that Gbenga has taken his pound of flesh against a father he believes humiliated him so much when he was in power. His father never subscribed to his independence of opinion and promoted other children above him. Gbenga suffered a major embarrassment when his father allowed his spokesperson Remi Oyo to publicly rebuke him over a best-selling interview in The News. Gbenga also believed that his father surrounded himself with soldiers of fortune who made so much money in the process while he as a President’s son had to struggle for his own crumbs.

The biggest losers in this terrible war are the innocent children of the marriage. By casting doubts and aspersions on their paternity, they have been subjected to public opprobrium. Their schoolmates would make them a major topic for gossip. Will these children forgive a father who inflicted such harsh punishment on them in the name of fighting their mum. This may permanently damage their psyche.

The next loser is Obasanjo who has now been stripped naked in the market place. This living legend must be the saddest man around today. No one would believe him any more in  matters of morality, just because his own son said those unprintable words about him out of a deep-seated anger. It does not matter if Gbenga’s claims are false. The enemies are already jubilating.

Gbenga has not only pounced on his father but also his father-in-law, Otunba Alex Onabanjo, a very successful businessman whose prettydaughter, Mojisola had a talk-of –the-town wedding with Gbenga Obasanjo. It is not uncommon for in-laws to get bruised in divorce cases. The attack against the Otunba is too ferocious. Gbenga obviously chose the heaviest punches that he delivered for maximum effect. My theory is that he deliberately threw the sucker punch to keep his enemies very busy.

The ultimate losers are Gbenga and Moji. I always remember what Bashorun Abiola told me on my wedding day, ”Husband and wife must fight, but when you do remember those of us you invited to witness your wedding and calm down because you would have wasted our efforts by not reconciling.” True, I remember their wedding and the great effort that went into putting it together.

Let everyone bury their ego and reduce the damage already caused. The whole world is watching to see how this absurdist drama would play itself out.