Exit of the Man Who Survived Abacha's Bullets

This Day (Lagos)

NEWS
28 April 2008
Posted to the web 28 April 2008

By Omololu Ogunmade
Lagos

Senator Abraham Adesanya died yesterday after battling unsuccessfully with stroke which had rendered him inactive for four years.

Four years after he was crippled by a severe illness which reportedly culminated in a sudden loss of memory, leader of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Pa Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya, finally gave up the ghost yesterday. Adesanya passed on at his Apapa residence at the age of 85.

Born on July 24, 1922, in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, Adesanya commenced his elementary education at St. John's Anglican School, Oke Agbo between 1933 and 1935, before moving to Ojowo United Primary School in Ijebu Igbo between 1936 and 1938. He proceeded from there to Methodist School, Osogbo in 1939 and later to Ijebu Igbo Grammar School between 1942 to 1944. He obtained a degree in Law from Holborn College of Law, London, the United Kingdom in 1960.

His departure has rekindled memories of his gallant life during his life and times. Adesanya returned to Nigeria after his education and forthwith entered into a legal practice. During the pre-independence Nigeria, he was a member of the Western State House of Assembly. And in 1979, he was elected into the Senate on the platform of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) founded and led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, first premier of Western Nigeria.

As a senator, he was a courageous and outspoken member of the parliament. Owing to his firm stance on his positions, the late Adesanya was labelled a UPN senator at the Upper chamber of the National Assembly.

Adesanya became popular while serving as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the Second Republic, following his observation on the appointment of Justice Ovie Whiskey, a serving member of the old Bendel State judiciary, by the administration of Alhaji Aliyu Shehu Shagari, the then president and Commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as the Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO). Shagari ruled on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

Whiskey's appointment was sequel to the expiration of the tenure of his predecessor, Chief Micheal Ani. While Whiskey's appointment was forwarded to the Senate for confirmation, Adesanya vehemently opposed it, saying it was wrong for an individual to hold dual public positions at the same time, since he did not resign his membership of Bendel State judiciary. But the leadership of the Senate headed by Senator Joseph Wayas overruled Adesanya.

Having lost out at the Senate, Adesanya vowed not to be cowed by the whims and caprices of his colleagues. He headed for the court to challenge the ratification of Whiskey's appointment. And determined to push his case through, he employed the services of the foremost lawyer and human rights crusader, Chief Gani Fawehinmi. But as was the case in the Senate, Adesanya also lost out at the court. The court threw out his suit, insisting that he lacked the locus standi to institute the suit.

According to the court, though Adesanya might not agree with the decision of the Senate to endorse Whiskey, it reasoned that whatever resolution passed by the legislative body became a collective resolve of all and sundry who belonged to the chamber at the time.

After the August 1979 general election, Adesanya was in the team of Awolowo's lawyers who defended him at the Presidential Election Tribunal in 1979 on the twelve-two-thirds debacle.

During the dark days of military rule headed by the former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and the late General Sani Abacha, Adesanya was a leading figure in the fight against dictatorship. He was the deputy chairman of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the platform through which pro-democracy activists fought gallantly for the return of Nigeria to civil rule. The late Chief Adekunle Ajasin was the chairman of the coalition.

In the same vein, Adesanya took over the mantle of the leadership of Afenifere, upon the demise of Ajasin and served in that capacity until he was incapacitated in 2004 by ailments from which he never recovered. He narrowly escaped assassination in 1996, when the killer squad of Abacha moved to kill him in cold blood because of his stiff opposition to the military junta.

Adesanya was commonly portrayed as a rigid person. But he often explained that his perceived rigidity was borne out of his principled posture and because of his avowed commitment never to compromise his belief under any guise. And to underscore his principled attribute, he publicly proclaimed that his daughter, Mrs. 'Dupe Adelaja, the then Minister of State for Solid Minerals did not have his support to take up an appointment in that capacity in the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. In fact, he intimated the public with notions that he instructed his daughter not to accept the appointment, but she opted to go ahead.

As the leader of Afenifere, Adesanya was a force to reckon with. He made headlines whenever he spoke and thus became the delight of media practitioners. Afenifere under his leadership was a highly formidable platform whose decisions and criticisms could not be ignored at will. In fact, the body was more or less viewed as the assembly of kingmakers in Yoruba land.

For instance, it was Afenifere under the leadership of Adesanya that decided on who vied for what position in the newly formed Alliance for Democracy (AD) during the transition to civil rule programme of the administration of General Abdusalami Abubakar between 1998 and 1999.

But this hitherto vibrant platform had virtually gone comatose since 2004 when Adesanya took ill. Crises of monumental proportions have rocked the organisation, resulting in the polarisation of the body into factions, while members called themselves names. While a faction is being headed by Pa Reuben Fasoranti, whom Adesanya formally appointed to act on his behalf, another faction is led by Senator Ayo Fasanmi, who claims that Fasoranti's appointment violates the group's constitution.

Several attempts made by notable leaders in Yorubaland, such as Bishops Bolanle Gbonigi, Ayo Ladigbolu as well as Justice Kayode Eso to reconcile the combatants have remained a futile exercise. Not even the three-day retreat sponsored by youngsters in the race to reconcile the feuding leaders in October last year could achieve that purpose.

Although participants at the retreat held at the International Institute for International Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan embraced one another and vowed to forge ahead in the spirit of oneness and unity, that seeming reconciliation lasted but a while as the feud later resurfaced.

But while Adesanya headed Afenifere, it remained a united entity, without records of dissidence and members had great respect for the leadership at the time. If threats by Fasanmi's faction never to reconcile with the group led by Fasoranti are anything to go by, it will not be an overstatement to say that Adesanya might be the last leader to head a united Afenifere.

Because of the great respect he commanded as Afenifere leader, he was officially installed as the "Yoruba leader" in 1999. He commanded the credibility, discipline, integrity and authority that Yoruba leaders had stood for over the years. This was attested to while important Afenifere meetings were held at his Ijebu Igbo home. And that culture was sustained till last Thursday, when Fasoranti's group held its caucus meeting in Ijebu Igbo home of Adesanya where they charged the administration of President Umaru Yar'Adua to bring anyone found culpable in the ongoing probes at various levels to book.

Finding someone acceptable to step into the shoes of Adesanya has been the major hurdle before the race even before his demise. Since Adesanya's incapacitation, the masses of Yoruba race look like sheep without shephered, having no instructor, nor anyone to look up to.

In a nutshell, Adesanya would go down in history as one leader who did his best in his dedication towards the advancement of his people as well as the larger society in which he resided.