RACISM, ELECTION AND SURVEILLANCES

What else do you say about this Genius of a President emerging on the world stage, the man became a Candidate after becoming a millionaire by writing books; others wrote such books after they left offices. Barrack Hussein Obama made use of available technology to amass millions that he used to prosecute his campaign successfully becoming the President of the Greatest Country in the world and yet we are claiming the ‘Plutocrats’ coronate him.

Had Obama presented this type of mind-set when he came out to contest for the American Presidency, God knows we wouldn’t have so gifted a man taking over from those creeps from the last Administration.

Yes, the present AG of the Federation (USA) had lambasted the weaklings and the cowards for not facing reality of racism in America. He wants an open discussion of the canker worm that has infested this country for decades.

But for Christ sake – slavery ended in the 1800s. For an individual who is 105yrs old today, such person would have missed few years of been a slave!! While one readily accepts that racism still permeates the fabrics of an average American life and that the form or formats range in degrees within regions in USA, nevertheless, what everyone is saying is for us to look beyond human Imperfections.

When Obama came out with his audacity of messages and Inspirations, he initially did not command any respect from all quarters; even the media conglomerates were hesitant before they embraced him as an individual and a black man. Corporate Entities, Established Organizations, even the democratic independent strategists, all waited for a while before jumping into the moving train that almost left them all behind.

As a democrat, for life, I was one of those who waited on principle, hoping for a Hillary miracle. After the democratic primaries, we all shifted chorus for the election of Barrack to the White House. This man had set a precedent for life both for blacks and white folks on how to package a winning election strategy both in tone and efforts within a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment.

To think that organized media, ‘Plutocrats’ and money bags only gave Obama the chance on their own dictates is really begging the question. The Genius became a student of his environment and as studious as he is, seized the bull by the horn, a one life opportunity; package himself with a little cache of Nerds surrounding him to win an election of the century.

No one can fault him for gaurging correctly the present young generation’s minds and spirits; by directing their potential energy, he mobilized them and turned them into a foot-warrior-soldiers combing nook and corners of the country for votes. Yes, other factors that became his luck contributed immensely to his success even when such factors were overwhelmingly negative.

This reminds me of the theory of the Hedgehogs versus the Foxes (Hedgehogs/Foxes), apology to Mr. Tetlock, who said that an individual who has a focused world view, ideological leaning and strong convictions about issues belong to the hedgehogs; while the more cautious both in attitudes, language and demeanor, those, he said are more centrist politically, who are likely to adjust easily to their environments with good pragmatic approach to life but are likely to be self-doubt prone to their believes would incline to Special Exceptions complexity and nuance at a close range and will always get things right: these mind-set liberals belong to the Foxes of human race.

The young generation of Black Americans, African Immigrants – be it citizens or residents never see themselves as slaves or slave descendants and will doubt the rationale of anyone categorizing them as brain washed individuals.

The success of the civil rights movement paved the way to allow Africans to migrate to America. When the Africans arrived, they did a lot of menial jobs, paid their dues and became another melting pot among other ethnic groups that were allowed to enter United States. As many Black Americans seized opportunity to educate themselves, so also the African migrants went to colleges to matriculate. In 1867, the United States Government under the aegis of the Freedmen’s Bureau, established, my Alma Matter; Howard University in Washington D.C., where the first civilian President of Nigeria Late Dr. Azikwe graduated. The Departments of Dentistry were organized in 1881 at Howard University and in 1886; the departments of Dentistry were established at Meherry Medical College.

These two institutions educated nearly all the black dentists in the United States until the 1954 United States Supreme Court desegregation decision which changes the situation significantly. As many Black Americans failed to seize educational opportunities, several African migrants also failed and fell on the wayside.

After the election of Barrack Obama, the young blacks, their white counterparts, their liberated mothers and fathers, the African migrants, all descended on Chicago to usher in new era and President Barrack Hussein Obama. Majority of these people are leaving behind those who refused to grow or break through their racist cocoons. People look forward in transforming their new found hope into everlasting pragmatism.
Regardless of the dynamism of a new era, people will always see things with one eye, but fortunately there are, always, two sides to a coin.

Now that the world is faced with monumental economic crisis, apparent overwhelming gap between the rich and the poor, what everyone should be striving for is to find a way out of the Gridlock of unemployment, increase homelessness whether among Blacks or Whites. Symbolically, the election of Barrack has shifted focus to the iniquities of the failure of capitalism. It is true that the Free World Trade had produced millions of wealth around the Globe. Many failures of capitalism were brought about by the greedy few of course.
This election of the century has to be a watershed to focus on specific problems. We need to search for solutions and solve the myriads of problem so as to move forward. With collective participation and awareness we will focus on racism. Racism, especially in America, against minorities that don’t have any other country to claim besides America can be dealt with in various ways. Those of us whether with dual citizenship or residents in America must have come across racist onslaught in many forms and shapes. The gains from civil rights era had been turned upside down after the 60s. American blacks became the focus of jail terms.

The drug problems of the 70s were magnified ten times against the blacks versus the white folks. A pack of marijuana possession or heroin powder will throw a black man or woman in jail while those bringing drugs into the country by planes never go to jail. The Rockefeller drugs laws were recently reversed in New York State by Governor Patterson’s Administration. The three-Strikes- Law in California should at this time probably be revisited so as relieve the burden on the minorities.

As an African, one can only recount personal experiences as it relates to racism. As previously enumerated, the Africans enjoyed the fruits of civil rights as we arrived in USA. Those who came before us were even better off than some of us who arrived late in the 70s. If many of us were cognizant of the problems our black American brothers and sisters were facing during discussions in class rooms in those days; our background in Africa as one coming from a close nit families at home shielded us from the full weight of racism.

If the Americans were trying to dilute the population of the blacks in America at that time with the newly arriving Africans, they have good intentions. Here were Africans who were ready to go to college, becoming lawyers and Doctors and of course willing to better their lots in many other good ways.

It was probably the hope of the Whites that seeing the Africans struggling educationally would motivate MORE Black Americans to embrace education or that the meekness of the newly arrived Africans will temper the militancy of the “Negroes.” Good intentions sometimes could be construed as conspiracy theory. Nevertheless, we arrived, picked up menial jobs, put ourselves in schools and soldiered on for better tomorrow.

Today, one can count in tens and hundreds among Africans who are relatively doing fine and are perfectly adjusted to their environments. Some of those who decided to return home after their education for one reason or the other did so in good faith. But for the ridiculousness of our leaders at home and their corruptions, those who came back to USA could have stayed put at home. Largely though, many came back because of the education of their children.

Personally, I never encountered any apparent racism until what I called my Second Coming to America. If such were to exist, then, by virtue of been a student or share youthfulness, one ignores them all. Only once was I verbally subjected to racist utterances by one or two county policemen in Maryland; I practically diffused the situation by refusing to be drawn to their craziness.

It was when I returned to USA in 1997 after been politically active in Nigeria for about ten years and of course after my very short stay in Saudi Arabia working at King Fadh Hospital in the town of Gizan. I went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for two reasons to earn much needed dollars and perhaps to be able to cross to USA after a refusal to grant me a USA visa from Nigeria..

If I were to be American citizen today, I could have called for my FBI file under the auspices of Free Information Act to find out the reason or reasons why surveillances had been placed on me since I arrived back in USA. The intense activities of their surveillances to date are surely enough to command a whole book.

The trail of “Otele-muye” goes a long way from an effort to block my return to my profession; it was like ‘no way, no how’ you will not practice dentistry in America. The disruptive activities stretched from Albany, during my residency program, to Michigan State, where I went for a Dental License Exam. The nuance continues till today in many forms that are very vivid and without any justification.

Quoting Glen Beck of Fox News, “Let me be clear,” he said, “If someone tries to harm another person in the name of the Constitution or the ‘truth’ behind 9/11 or anything else, they are as dangerous and crazy as those we don’t seem to recognize anymore, who kill in the name of Allah.”

Long live the human race

O. Almaroof

OBAMA - The Compromise The American Plutocrats Are Ready To Make

The dictum is whoever dictate the diameter of one’s knowledge also control the circumference of one’s progress. My apology and respect to the wise man –whoever he is- who coined this pertinent truism which is especially relative to the condition of people of African descend all over the world and particularly in the United States.

The same kind of plutocrats who were the evil genius behind the tactic that was used in the colonial Africa where many different unrelated tribes were amalgamated to form independent countries in order to divide and control the minds of African leaders are currently behind the approval of the election of Obama as the first ‘African-American’ president of the United States in order to marginalize the original descendants of the African slaves’ political progress in the United States. Make no mistake, had Obama been a direct descendant of the African slaves formerly called Negroes, like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson; he would either have been short dead or definitely stopped from making it to the presidency.

These plutocrats are very few in number but assert a great influence on the American politics through their tight grip on the Nation’s economy. They owned all the major mass media, educational institutions, banks and even the federal reserve bank of the United States. They have been behind every major political and economic decision in America since the foundation of the union which probably explains why, according to Michael Parenti in one of his speeches on the hypocrisies of capitalism, seven out of the first nine presidents of United States were slaves’ owners.

I read somewhere long time ago that the first time the term “WHITE” was ever used to define a group of people was in the United States as a tool to maintain the subjugation of the African slaves. I believe that the intention of the evil genius was beyond that of subjugation. I think it was intended as a kind of juxtaposition of the white color and the black color and to claim all the attributes of the connotation of “WHITENESS” which include godliness, goodness, pure, holy and cleanliness and then assign all the attributes of the connotation of “BLACKNESS” which includes evil, dirty, useless and pathetic to the slaves and their descendants in order to set one race against the other.

In other words, they did not classify themselves and the slaves as “WHITE” and “BLACK” because of the color of their respective skin but because of an intended misconceived notion of their respective characters. Unfortunately, they have been feeding this nonsense for centuries to the innocent Americans especially those of Caucasian descend and have become part of our language and culture ever since; after all, language is an extension of culture. There was a time in American history when the descendants of the slaves tried to inject positive connotation to the word “BLACK” through phrases like “Black Power” and “I am black and proud”, but I think that the damage has already been done to most Americans!

It is almost as if they have some kind of natural hatred for the African slaves and their descendants so much that they started the civil war over the abolition of slavery and blamed it on states’ right issues – that is, states’ rights to own slaves; these evil genius are directly or indirectly, behind the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, J.F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.

The disgruntled descendants of African slaves got tired of such derisory phrase like ‘Negroes’ and opted for the term ‘African-American’ as an expression of their affinity to the mother land.
The evil genius hijacked this phrase and with the help of their mass media ‘miseducate’ the American people and, as if out of some altruistic motives, grouped all people of African descend in America, whether descendants of slaves or not, under the umbrella of ‘African-American’ and claimed to do this evil thing for goodness sake as a ‘divine burden’, while their true intention was to ostracize the real descendants of the slaves from attaining the promise of Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I said the American plutocrats have some kind of natural hatred for the descendants of the slaves because, while it is true that the plutocrats have exploited all races throughout American history for their own personal gains, it is only the collective African-Americans (often mistakenly thought of as the descendants of the African slaves) who are often ‘accidentally’ short forty to hundred times like wild animals by the agents of these evil genius who camouflage themselves as police officers and still found not guilty by the jury of their pairs in the twenty-first century America!

Unfortunately the majority of Americans, especially and pathetically the Africans who are now American residents and citizens have been brain-washed by these plutocrats into believing that their brothers and sisters who are the descendants of the slaves are bunch of lazy and useless sub-human beings who are not capable of seizing the opportunities that America provides. The fact, however, is that Africans who are residents and citizens of America are given more opportunity and respect than their counterpart brothers and sisters of the slaves in order to keep all of them divided and controlled by the plutocrats. We have all been bamboozled again and again!

I am not trying to excuse some of the shortcomings of our brothers and sisters of the slaves, for there are so many, but I am saying that we should put these shortcomings in context of their prior and continual experience of raping of their mothers, sisters and children by their Caucasian masters; striping off the essence of their humanity by selling off their husbands, wives, children and even new born babies like pieces of properties; Lynching their sons for looking at Caucasian women; tying them to the back of trucks and dragging them to their death mainly because they have dark skin – like they did recently in Texas; and racially profiling them so that they can be locked up or even put on death role for crimes they probably did not commit. What kind of people can go through this kind of excruciating experience without developing some kind of malady?

Let us remember that these brothers and sisters of the slaves, though less than thirteen percent of the American population (depending on whether the census include people like me who is a naturalized American citizen), have influenced the whole world more than any minority in recent history! In addition, had it not been for the civil right movement initiated by these brilliant brothers and sisters of the slaves, most of Africans who are American residents and citizens today would not have made it.

I personally campaigned and voted for Barrak Obama because he is a very intelligent and competent man but so are many descendants of the slaves who are prevented and even killed for attempting to be the president of the United States. I am sure that Obama is cognizant of the compromise made by America through the underground works of the evil genius. They, after over four hundred years, finally succumbed to the contradiction of what America was supposed to stand for when the absurdity of the reality became overwhelmingly obvious, allowed the first Black or African-American to be the President of the United States!

Now they are saying that African-Americans (meaning the descendants of the slaves) have no more excuses of racism to prevent them from the American dream. They are saying that African-Americans are finally completely free because of the election of Obama. I say what good is freedom if one spends so much of one’s life fighting to protect it while one does not have any time to enjoy it. What kind of freedom is that?

The plutocrats have put our brothers and sisters of the slaves in a very sad predicament with this political maneuver. They have put shackles on their ankles and enter them in a rat race which they can never win because of their shackles and then turn around and blame them for not winning! They say if Obama can do it, you can do it too and if the slaves’ descendants tried to point to the fifty percent Caucasian advantage of Obama, they are immediately accused of saying that Obama is not black enough! Listen, what do we exactly think it means for the slaves’ descendants to be black if they, being black, are ready and willing to accept President Bill Clinton as the first black president of United States before Obama was elected?

I personally think that is exactly why the plutocrats allowed Obama to be the first African-American president of the United States in the first place; they did not want somebody black enough like the slaves descendants who have had the experience of perpetual atrocities committed against their kind. This again is the tactic of divide and rule; the dictators of the diameter of our knowledge are controlling the circumference of our progress.

Adesina Akanni

AWO AT 1OO

If Papa Obafemi Awolowo were alive, he would be celebrating his 100 years birthday.
He was 22 years short of that when he answered the call of nature by May 9, 1987.
The birth of Awo was a cause of joy to all of us Nigerians especially the Yoruba people and others who were living in the West during the golden era of his rein because his program knew no ethnic coloration as all Nigerians in the region drank from his fountain of the ‘life more abundant’ provided by his Action Group in the services for humanity.
In the wisdom of his Royal Father, Oba Okunola Sijuwade , the Oni of Ife , Obafemi Awolowo , the Odole of Ife , was on his merit , the next most important human creation after Oduduwa , the progenitor of the Yoruba world .Well said Kabiyesi, Olu Aiye .Some people even believe Awo was a reincarnation of Oduduwa .
Today we are celebrating the 100 birthday of the father of Nigerian federalism that much he humbly agreed to in a documentary interview conducted by the ace ‘Village headmaster’ Mr. Femi Robinson and my self when I suggested in ‘The Man Awo’ that he was the father of Nigerian federalism. His achievement as Premier of Western Region even during the colonial era became so much a legendary demonstration convincing the colonial authority of the capability of the Africans to rule themselves thereby hastening the Nigerian, Nay! African journey to independence.
With the attainment of self rule in 1952, the Action Group which he formed won the first election into the Western Regional House of Assembly .On the authority of the late Chief Adisa Akinloye ,the IPP (Ibadan Peoples’ Party ) which he headed joined the Action Group which had the highest number of seats (plural majority ) in the House when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe refused to give way to a Yoruba man within the NCNC to be Premier of Western Region.
The truth of course is that party insignia was not used to contest the election but the Action Group members were the only party members that were organized with the symbol of brass made palm tree affixed to their dress as the House met before the IPP members joined them. That was the truth that made lie out of the wicked lie that Awolowo used that occasion to introduce tribalism into Nigerian politics through carpet crossing. Awolowo was not a member of the IPP and the IPP was not affiliated with the NCNC even though the competition between the IPP and the AG was fierce during the election in Ibadan because Ibadan was the operational base of the Action Group. The IPP took its independent decision to join the Action Group to form the government in good conscience based on the sentiment of the people they were elected to represent and that is what republican democracy is all about .
The achievement of that Awolowo government is there today even though it has been abused in various degrees over the years .
Free primary education , community school buildings , Western Television first in Africa , Rediffussion , mechanized farming , free health services , rural development manifesting in the tarred road connecting towns and villages.
Awolowo did not stop there , he wrote books for us to read as reference in his absence- ‘Thoughts On Nigerian Constitution’ where he expounded his federalized theory which now forms the basis of our constitutional development .Others are ‘Awo-an autobiagraphy ’; ‘The Peoples’ Republic ; Fagbamigbe’s trilogy : ‘ The Voice of Reason’ :‘ The Voice of Courage and the ‘ The Voice of Wisdom ’ .
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The remaining are ‘ Awo and the Nigerian Civil War ’;‘ The Strategies And Tactics For The Federal Republic ‘ and “ The March To Prison”. Oh , Awo where art thou!
I hope we are not being frustrated by the challenges posed by the enormity of Awo’s achievements that makes us helpless. What do we see today ?We have professed Awoists who are planning to close public schools or return them to private hands .
Some people say Awo was born before his time . I disagree because saying that diminishes Awo’s relevance . If Awo was not born the time he was , only God would know the fate of Nigeria. May be there would be no Nigeria the way it is today consuidering the contribution of Awo to its existing through his participation in its constitutional conferences and politics where issues were woven around him. You remember when President Ibrahim Babangida described Awo as the issue in Nigerian politics for whom you are either for or against. Awo played his role so well that he died too young at the age of 78. Nigeria has been worse off since almost twenty two years he died only for us to be crying like spoilt children that we turned to be as he would do every thing for us including establishing political party. Awo over pampered us .
If Awo were to be alive General Babangida would not have foisted two party wagon on us that squeezed us between the left and right giving no room for the centre , an experiment that collapsed like a pack of cards with annulment of its June 12 election that would not have been held.
There would have been no AD, a protest party that only gave way to Obasanjo Presidency destroying the ambitions of Chief Olu Falae and late Chief Bola Ige in the process as a result of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
If Papa were to be alive there would be no division in the Awo camp . The division in the Awo camp is constituting a danger to the progressive group in Nigeria because the Awo camp is the principal and dominant camp in the progressive movement in Nigeria and any division in that camp would constitute a danger to the polity of Nigeria and that is what we have been witnessing since the inception of this fourth republic .
When Papa Awolowo left us for the great beyond , the Awoist Movement ( not the Awo Camp at large ) emerged at Ikenne through the instincts of young Awoists then to protect the myth of Awoism in the progressive movement.
The Awolowo movement (distinct from the Awoist Movement ) that started with the formation of the Action Group in the first republic was planted firmly in the Western region, Middle Belt, North Eastern Nigeria and South Eastern Nigeria .
While the Action Group headed the the Government of Western region , its members were leaders of opposition in both the Eastern and Northern regions before the creation of Midwestern state making the Awolowo Action Group the most nation wide political party in Nigeria as other big political parties were confined to sections of the country, the NPC to the North and NCNC to the South .
The progressives of the first republic formed the UPGA ( United Progressive Party Alliance ) before the collapse of that republic as it bit the finger that fed it . Then came the 2nd republic when the Awolowo’s UPN tried to build on the achievement of the Action Group but tragically lost its middle and South Eastern allies to the conservatives through what Papa Awo had earlier described as second fiddle mentality .
At the end of the day ,while NPN won in five States in the core North and the two traditional Awolowo allies of Cross rivers, Awolowo’s UPN that narrowly lost in Cross
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Rivers State won massively in Western States and lost narrowly to Waziri’s GNPP in the North Eastern State of Gongola and competitive in Borno as the NPP won in the core Eastern States of Anambra and Imo and Plateau States while PRP won in both Kano and Kaduna States . It was the Awolowo UPN that had members in the highest number of Houses of Assembly among all the parties in this period . No wonder the desperation in mathematically ‘ twelve two thirding’ the result thereby preempting the electroral college that could have possibly resulted into Awo’s Presidency by NPN inclined FEDECO supported by the Obasanjo regime in what Papa Awolowo called FEDELEX coup (Federal Electoral Commission and Executive conspiracy to stop Awo).
As history often repeats itself , the Progressive group did not get its thoughts together soon enough as some of them embarked on the struggle for national cake sharing and failed to prepare for the following election until late when the PPA ( Progressive Party Alliance ) was formed and internal bickering could not allow the alliance to give Pa Awo the much unified support he needed to face the NPN in 1983 election thereby giving room for the NPN to ‘ moonslide’ the election .
After the NPN succeeded in stealing the mandate , Pa Awo in his last political message, in his last political Convention at Abeokuta where he professed his theory of thesis and anti-thesis that the best from all political parties in Nigeria would come together in the future to form a formidable party , postulated that ole to gba nkan enia, elomiran agba lowo e ( if a thief steals something from some one , someone else would take it from him) . He there after ordered us to embark on a three day fast for Nigeria . After the three day fast, General Buhari ‘ took the thing’ , the stolen mandate from the NPN and became Head of a military regime after which Pa Awo withdrew to his Ikenne home responding to national issues as he deemed fit.
Then came Gen.Ibrahim Babangida rightly paying tribute to Pa Awo describing him as the issue in Nigerian politics for whom one is or against . President Babangida was doing relative well when Awo was alive to such extent that some people rumored that he was privy to Awo’s secret file. But when the ‘ lion at Ikenne’ , (the tactical military code for Awo ) fell to the call of nature , Babangida went imperial .
We have talked about the party system foisted by Babangida – SDP and NRC. What remains to be added is that the victory of the SDP was in progression with the Awolowo laid ground work for progressives in the UPGA in the first republic and the PPA in the second republic. It was not an accident that the SDP won in the progressive states of the West, East,Middle Belt , North Eastern State and Eastern States.
The failure of the leadership of the SDP to acknowledge this manifesting in his presidential candidate’s failure to attend the meeting in Owo where he was to accept the Awo agenda is nothing but the proverbial denial of its source by a river .Owo meeting itself was the first wrong foot in this direction. It is not generally known that the movement out of Ikenne was the first source of bickering among the Awo associates .
During the celebration of the first anniversary of the Awo’s transition , Dr. Oluwole Awolowo gave his leaving room to Mr. Gbolabo Ogunsanwo to host his meeting of a rainbow coalition . Ogunsanwo’s ambition was to build a political party in line with Awo’s thoughts. He felt ‘called’ as President Babangida had banned all the former governors and top notchers of the banned political parties. Chief Ebenezer Babatope was notified of the meeting by Dr. Oluwole Awolowo as we ( Chief Babatope , Tola Oseni,
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Yomi Olusanya ,Tola Oseni, Akanni Odumuyiwa , Nosiru Yossuf and Bari Salau) were sitting in the dinning room. Dr.Awolowo himself was not in the meeting as he was busy attending to guests.
With Chief Babatope in , the meeting took a different dimension and adjourned till another day. The next meeting hosted by Dr. Awolowo intuitively resulted into the formation of the Awoist movement , a name we have used earlier in my election for Somolu chairmanship in 1987.
The Awoist movement was formed to keep the myth of Awolowo political family in tact as a basis for contacting the progressive forces for which the Awolowo camp was a pivot throughout Nigeria.
Because political meeting was banned at the time , the Awoist meeting was held regularly at night in Ikenne that it was nicknamed iso oru ( night vigil ) . Before we realized it , the meeting had become the biggest political gathering in Nigeria and President Babangida turned the other eye probably because of his regard for Pa Awo and her jewel of inestimable value, Chief (Mrs.) HID Awolowo in whose compound we were meeting.
At the meeting we would talk and debate from night to the morning and eat and drink appropriately from the hospitality of the Awolowo family ( no alcohol ) at the Efuyela Hall before every one dispatched to where he came from -all parts of Nigeria especially the West .It was boisterous and energetic but we had a fifth columnist .
We have to put on record some of those Awoists who insisted on retaining Ikenne as our reference point at the time .Chief Gani Oladiran ( first President) , Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Dr. Olu Onagoruwa , Chief Dayo Abatan, Chief Tayo Soyode , Chief Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Chief Akin Omojola , Hon. Wale Oshun ,Chief Biodun Okunuga,Chief Jide Ogundipe ,Chief ( Mrs.) Iyabo Apampa , Chief (Mrs.) Iyabo Anisulowo , Chief (Mrs.) Bola Sobowale , Mrs. Nike Mayungbe , Comrade Nosir Yusuf, Alhaji Abubakar Sokoto , Hon. Honokpona ,Comrade Akanni Odumuyiwa , Comrade Tola Oseni, Comrade Gbenga Ladipo, Comrade Tunji Olateju and my humble self –Bari Salau .
We must also seek the blessing of God for the soul of our comrades that have transited to the world beyond –Chief John Omo Ikirodah ( 2nd President ) , Comrade Yomi Olusanya , a veterant youth leader of the Youth thinkers and the Awo Vanguard fame , Comrade Samusideen Ojuroye ,Comrade Kunle Babatope and lady Theresa .
Ayo Opadokun was misrepresenting our intention to the former governors that we were planning to move the carpet out of their floor.
The result was the meeting of the former governors at Owo with Ayo Opadokun as their secretary. That was the stroke that broke the camel’s back leading to a chain of events that led the Awolowo camp to the position of disunity in which we are today.
How do we get out of it? At this 100 years of our founding father , common sense seems to be prevailing and we can still redeem ourselves in order to bequeath to our children, the legacy of public service based on probity that Awolowo taught us . The truth is that the disunity in the Awolowo camp is causing poverty of ideas and the bastardization of our body politics that bare us in the face . Being the pivot of progressivism in Nigeria, the Awolowo camp should on returning to Ikenne reappraise honestly the political situation in Nigeria and try to find solutions to the political problem
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in Nigeria. The first question we should ask ourselves is where did we go wrong and how
did we lose our leadership role in the progressive movement and how can we redeem our glory? Since the progressive movement is larger than the Awolowo Camp even though we are its pivot , another question we need to ask ourselves is that ,where are our friends that we lost during the June12 Crisis? The honest answers to these questions will show us the way forward . Time is not on our side .
The origin of Afenifere as a Yoruba translation of the welfarist policy of the Action Group as denoted in the motto of the party –Life More Abundant - for the masses must always be remembered in our meeting at Ikenne . Afenifere is not a replica of Egbe Omo Oduduwa . Its message is political. There is nothing sacrosanct in the present political set up and is not even working anyway. The Awolowo Camp must take the challenge to unify their forces and purify the dirty political water that is prevalent in Nigeria today.
We must tap the political puritanism of Lateef Jakande, Ayo Adebanjo, Tunji Otegbeye, Olu Falae,Wole Awolowo, Reuben Fasonranti ,Lam Adesina, Bisi Akande , Rafiu Jafojo; political cognoscentism of Ebenezer Babatope, Gbolade Osinowo,Dayo Abatan,Seye Ogunlewe, Olusegun Mimiko,Iyabo Apampa, Iyabo Anisulowo, Bola Sobowale , Busura Alebiosu, Rasheed Shitta- Bey ,Tony Adefuye ,Lanre Razaq,Tayo Soyode, Femi Okunrounmu, Dipo Jimilehin,Seye Ogunlewe, Olorunfunmi Bashorun ,Bari Salau; the good naturedness of Bode Olajumoke, Martins Kuye , Kunle Olajide, Kola Ogunjobi, Kayode Salako, Abubakar Sokoto , Kashim Imam ,Gbenga Daniel, Segun Agagu , Olagunsoye Oyinlola , Tunji Almoroof ; the literary ingenuity of Tola Adeniyi, Segun Osoba, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo , Bimbola Awofeso , Odia Ofeimun, Ebenezer Falobi,Biodun Adeneye and the political sagacity of Dapo Sarumi, Bode George,Kola Oseni, Bola Tinubu , Biola Babatope , Remi Adikwu- Bakare, Nikepo Oshodi, Bosede Osinowo, Aduke Maina, Yetunde Arobieke, Debo Olasoji , Adeniji Adele, Musiliu Obanikoro, Segun Adesegun , Segun Adekoya;the enthusiasm of Shina Akanni ,Dotun Osunkoya, Jide Kosoko, Nike Mayungbe,Debo Ogunade , Tola Oseni, Samusideen Rabiu,Kayode Alabi, Babatunde Adesida, Gbadebo Rabiu, Kamar Rabiu, Taiwo Oshodi, Adebowale Adebomojo, Ade Salau, Muftau Lawal , Babatunde Ahmed, Femi Salau, Niyi Adeleye, Kola Alabi,Omololu Falowo, Dele Quadri, Fatai Raji,Sola Afolabi, Sola Balagun , Abiodun Emmanuel, Adedoyin Banjo, Dapo Olasope, Fatai Gbadebo ,Dele Fapounda , Gbolahan Bagosto ,OriyomiSulaiman ,Taiwo Idowu Abayomi Ojuri, John Adenuga, Ishola Gbadebo,Wole Diya,Rotimi Abiru, Rotimi Layemo,Gori Ogbara, Gbenga Abdulai, Yakubu Alebiosu, Mondiu Olatilewa, Wale Onile-ere , Banjo Agoro and others to build a renewed strength for our movement once again in other to stimulate and energize Nigeria politically and economically.
Papa Awo, Happy birthday and thank you for sparing us your jewel of inestimable value . May she continue to lead us to the promised land for many more years . Yeye Oba HID Awolowo a pe renio
By Bari Salau

* Bari Salau is the Political Consultant for The Movement For Progressive Change In Nigeria . Contact : Thenewnigerians.blogspot.com or Adedejisalau@yahoo.com
5

AFENIFERE, AWOISTS AND IKENNE

AFENIFERE, AWOISTS AND IKENNE

The civil rights movement in the American history started with a central issue – the constitution of America as it was debated and agreed upon by American forefathers that all humans are born equal and the constitution should stand for the rights of everyone in the Union.
Thus, if the Yorubas’ issue often looks like a central ethnic issue we might as well say the free education made possible by the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the old west was for the Yorubas only; it turns out however, that what is good for the Yorubas might as well be good for the whole Nation.
In effect, what we are saying is, when a group of people come together to debate what is good for a part component of all regions it will ultimately be good for all components. It has often been said that had the whole components embraced the single issue of education proposed earlier by Awolowo, Nigeria would have been turned into the likes of European nations, India, China or Canada of today.
When one supports an umbrella of all Yorubas, one does not necessarily support a mono-cultural philosophy of a political agenda; rather, one supports totally a non-central and non political ethnic organization.
In borrowing from 1909 W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett N.A.A.C.P creation to fight the central issue of Black Lynching in America, the National Association of Colored People became the most recognized organization in the civil rights establishment with 1,200 active branches all over America. This obviously started with just an ethnic movement that withstood the test of all criticism for more than 100 years of American history.
Papa Awolowo and others started the Pan Yoruba organization in good faith; one can even say that they were 100years ahead of their compatriots in Nigeria organizational movement.
While we, the wasted generations, are today celebrating Papa Awolowo’s legacy, it is pertinent to note that Mama ‘Yeye Oba’ Awolowo has always been in the forefront to lend supporting role for the continuation of Yoruba dynasty. In Education, in Economics, in Science, and in Politics, the Yorubas have always shown leadership for all Ethnic Group in Nigeria.
As a progressive think-thank organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in America becomes the most influential in every major civil rights issue of the last century – the land mark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case, the Montgomery bus boycotts of the mid-1950s and the passage of the 1964 civil rights Act were centrally issues concerning the Blacks in America but in a larger context becomes the rights of all other ethnic groups in America Society.
The fact that a black family occupies the most powerful house in the world today – the white house- will obviously be credited to yesterday’s civil rights movement and a thoughtful organization that was first created to focus on an ethnic central issue.
As much as we believe in the greater good of common Nigeria where all Ethnic group contribute to its success, we applaud the motives of bringing the splinter Afenifere group, the Awoist and all Yorubas under one progressive and useable umbrella. Awoist movement was long crafted and suggested as the way forward among Awo followers when the man died.
It is a befitting stroke of thought to gather under one roof at Ikenne and to see the combination of the old horses and hawks with Mama ‘Yeye Oba’ Awolowo in attendance. We say hurrah!! Seeing Baba Kekere, Pa Jakande, Papa Fasoranti, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Bush Alebiosu, Tony Adefuye and the new progressive faces like Governor Daniel of Ogun State and others gracing the peace seeking gathering gave joy to our heart.
When the former Yoruba Governors pre-empted the Thursday’s meeting by showing up on Wednesday at Ikenne, we were a little bit concerned of the antecedent of the old order of the same politics that shred good intention into pieces and sounds like personal greed of thought.
The lesson should be learned from that Shomolu Politician Chief Tony Adefuye’s utterance that things started falling apart, apology to professor Chinua Achebe, when the Yorubas failed to heed the advise of late Papa Awolowo on the need to meet periodically at Ikenne.
The Genesis of split started with the formation of Awoist movement crafted at Ikenne. The old hawks, fearing their back seat allocation in the face of new think-tank group, split and headed to Owo. This writer once attended such gathering at Papa Ajasin’s home in Owo. Later, the Imeri group which morphed from Abacha ‘Kata Kata’ met in Imeri while Afenifere met in Ijebu Igbo; all ignoring Ikenne.
When Papa Fasoranti was approached at Akure to host another component of the same, he made a thoughtful move; he must have thought that over the years, the disciples of Papa Awolowo had failed to follow proper protocol heeding the Sage’s honesty of purpose over issues concerning Nigeria in which Yorubas have always been in the forefront, hence Papa Fasoranti, in our opinion, seized the mantle of leadership and headed to Ikenne wherefore the Spirit of the Sage welcomed everyone to his abode.
It is the State of Nigeria nation that remains potently daisy. We need new thinkers, aggressive programs and policies that will mimic the old-west days of glorious made possible by the late Sage.
Like IBB once said: Papa Awolowo traversed the political realms of Nigeria Nation for forty years, fought and canversed for total transformations of Nigeria into a modern Nation. Peoples within and outside the shores of Nigeria who were not comfortable seeing an emerging powerful Black African Nation, frustrated his efforts and all of us are still paying for this.
A brilliant philosopher, a writer, an economist, a political giant of his time, Papa would have been a catalyst to a true modern, most populous African Nation.
AWOIST MOVEMENT FOREVER

Long Live the Republic of Nigeria

By Dr. Olatunji Almaroof

THE TRIBAL GATHERING

Our insistence on playing tribal politics is outrageously baffling to me! No matter how hard we try to camouflage our tribal political maneuvers under whatever umbrella we may chose, it will continue to undermine the future of Nigeria as one indivisible Country. I will advise us to start seeing ourselves as Nigerians first and anything else second. I know this is going to be difficult for those of us who are older but I think we should at least try to plant this seed for those coming behind us to harvest. I am certain that Chief Awolowo would have taken this approach, especially in today’s world of globalization and quest for United States of Africa, if he was alive with us today. Less we forgot, the East under Ojukwu attempted this and failed while Chief Awo was on the side of GOWON (Go On With One Nigeria).
I understand that some people might ask what is wrong in Yorubas coming together under the umbrellas of Afenifere or Oodua (Oduduwa) to DISCUSS. The topic of the discussion is exactly what is wrong with such gathering. Is the topic political, economic, social or what? And whose concerns are they going to address in such gathering. Are we concern about the well being of Nigerians as a whole or the selfish interest of a tribal section of the Nation? And what about the consequence of intra-tribal conflict that such gathering will generate? Will the interests of the Egbas take priority over those of the Ondos, Oyos, Ijebus and etc? Imagine if the North and the East start having their own gatherings (If they are not already doing so); wouldn’t that be a kind of recipe for a disunited Nigeria?
Listen, don’t misunderstand me; I am proud to be a Yoruba and I would have probably loved it better to have had a Yoruba country if the British had not amalgamated all unrelated tribes to form what we call Nigeria today. And I am sure that any honest Northerner, Easterner and others will feel exactly the same way because it is natural for the birds of the same feathers to fly together! But what we have today is one indivisible Nigeria and that makes me a Nigerian first and a Yoruba second. When and if we have a United States of Africa, I will be a United States of Africa citizen first, a Nigerian second and a Yoruba third!

By Shina

Movement for Progressive Change In Nigeria

Movement for Progressive Change In Nigeria

Slogan: Wake Up Nigeria; Time For Change

Nigeria Now

Despite the availability vast Nigerian economic resources and men and women of intellect inside and outside Nigeria who are ready to make themselves available for services to the nation, Nigeria is still bedeviled with the anachronism of under development in its polity, economic and social services. Nigeria lacks basic amenities of life: constancy and regularity in the supply of electricity; uninterrupted water supply where water is supplied at all; availability of delivery of adequate health system, manifesting in the lack of drug and deficiency of hospital facilities; qualitativeness and quantitativeness in educational facilities ; economic viability in transportation facility as a result of lack of modern road, rail and air network.
As a result of which most Nigerians wallow in poverty with deficiency of food and housing while the ruling class, the politicians are overpaid and over- pampered as the workers at individual, private and corporate level are under-paid, ignored and treated with disdain and disrespect.
Nigeria is bedeviled with institutionalized corruption in all her spheres of life.
Even the police is not adequately prepared to fight crime as policemen are made to buy their own shoes and touch-lights and other equipments from the corrupt money that they get from ‘wetin you carry’ road check .
Nigeria can no longer be allowed to continue to drift if it is to survive as a nation.
We are therefore obliged to do something before calamity strikes.
Our Mission:
Our mission and aim are:
1. To formulate strategy to develop Nigeria from a politically and economically backward country to a politically and economically progressive country in the shortest possible time.
2. To politically restructure Nigerian multi- party system to a tri-polarity bloc of left-center and right with a view to cleansing the political spectrum to enable our people make reasonable choices at all elections.
3. To hold the Nigerian Constitution sacrosanct subject to its amendment in accordance with the letters and spirit of the constitution with periodical constitutional conferences as may be necessary.
4. To sensitize our people as to their role by holding the politicians accountable for their deeds.
5. To ensure internal democracy in our party structure and ensure democratically inclined competition among the political parties to ensure that our people are given opportunity to meaningfully participate in electing their representatives at all levels of government.
6. To promote integrity and ensure ethical behavior for our public office holders both at political and bureaucratic levels.
7. To ensure that political parties design meaningful manifestoes by which their performances would be measured in government.
8. To ensure that the public draws benchmark by which budgetary allocations are dispensed and accounted for.
9. To try to bring these changes within our framework of political system or necessary to take other constitutional measures that would help to achieve our aims and desire for the interest of our people.
10. To promote openness in government as a means of developing ethical integrity to fight waste, corruption, favoritism, nepotism and tribalism in government services.
Philosophy: Our basic philosophy shall be to adopt the position of Basic Rights Advocate In Nigeria (BRAIN) with a view to ensuring that the government lays good foundation for the supply of necessity of life – education, health, housing, employment, food which will depend on the adequate availability of infrastructure like water , electricity, mobile transportation network, sophisticated communication facilities , schools , hospitals and mechanical agricultural industries that will stimulate manufacturing industrialization thereby economic development- and to make the people demand if that is not the case .
The time to start is now in order to make progress everyday and every moment. We can no longer wait.
Methodology: To embark on political socialization of our people towards our aim by working together to do in addition to saying what is desirable.
To generate debate in all our spheres of life and to analyze our problems and arrive at possible solutions and to take actions to implement these solutions arrived at.
We do not want to accept the concept of gradualism to wait for more years after 48 years of Independence when our people are yearning for democracy that is routed in their culture with the history, experience and aspiration of freedom enshrined in our constitution in pursuit of happiness and realization of dignity for every Nigerian which they have fought for in the past and continue to struggle for.
The time is now for Nigeria to modernize her democracy and democratize her capitalism.
After fighting foreign colonialism, military dictatorship, Nigeria can no longer tolerate modern despots in democratic garment. Now, is time for action and every Nigerian is invited to contribute in words and in deed to the wake up call for change on a great nation, Nigeria whose foundation was built on the dreams of our founding fathers, Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo , Ahmadu Bello is ready to take her historic proud and rightful place in the community of Nations. Wake up Nigeria-Time for Change.

By Bari Salau