Pa Ayo Adebanjo: Is it time to go? |Taiwo Adisa
(Published by the Sunday Tribune, February 23, 2025)
At 96, just two months shy of his 97th birthday; you would think that the above question is a misnomer. Especially when it was obvious the man had, for several years, prepared himself for the last day. Since he clocked 90, Baba has left no one in doubt as to his readiness for the last call. He would boldly say it, ‘I am already at the departure lounge…’ And again, when you look at the biblical submission as contained in Psalm 90:10, which says: “The days of our years are three scores and ten; and if by reason of strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; it is soon cut off, and we fly way,” you would conclude that Baba was already doing overtime.
Last week, a short video surfaced online, indicative of Pa Adebanjo’s readiness to join his forebears any moment from the time the video was recorded.
Though he didn’t look sick, but he happily said that “very soon, the world would announce that “Ayo Adebanjo, leader of Afenifere, the controversial man is gone. He died at the age of 90-something and he spoke last to his daughter…” It was the clearest signal that Baba was never afraid of death, having convinced himself and many of his followers that he lived up to the expectation of his generation as well as those who handed the baton to him. He was always concerned about the type of feedback he would give to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whenever they reunite in the great beyond. He was conscious of his position among the disciples of federalism, social democracy and the life abundance ideology.
I was told he became irritated at a stage when age conspired to impose some frailty on his and take away his strong character and effervescent nature and that he severally resisted the use of walking stick. He wasn’t happy human nature would not permit him the time and energy to continue to contribute his quota to national discourse as regularly as he would and he detested a situation where anyone would have to help him with those things he used to do himself. He was a unidirectional believer in true federalism and restructuring as well as the promulgation of a new constitution to usher in a new country. The 1963 Constitution, which guaranteed fiscal federalism and a true federal system in the regions was the closest to what he wanted for Nigeria. He agitated, counseled and boldly spoke his mind, whether it was before the gun-wielding military goons or the Babanriga-wearing civilian leaders.
When a dogged fighter battles till the end, it is difficult to realize that he was possibly stretching his contributions beyond the limits. And Pa Adebanjo was a dogged fighter, who battled till the end and left no one in doubt of which side of the battlefield he was camped. He was determined to see federalism implanted on this soil. He was very sure that the virile antidote to national stagnation being suffered by Nigeria, one administration after the other, is restructuring. As the day drew nearer, he was certain some things may not be achieved in his lifetime. He brought the younger generation closer and made them the foot soldiers of a sacred cause.
After his 95th birthday, you would think that Pa Adebanjo would slow down in deference to the growing age. He didn’t. A few months after that birthday, he gave an indication of two programmes he had to attend in Ibadan and he invited me to join. I was to go with Tunde Momoh to the events, one fixed for 7am and the other for 12 noon. I had concluded that Baba won’t be able to make the 7am programme, since it was confirmed he was not sleeping in Ibadan the day before. But a few minutes after 7, when I called Tunde, just to fulfill my personal prediction, he told me Baba was already at the venue in Sango! I kept wondering how a 95 years old would leave Ogbo-Ijebu to keep a 7am appointment in Ibadan, a distance of 75 kilometres that would take nothing less than one hour,30 minutes of driving. I just restrained myself from joining him at the 7.am event and instead headed for the one meant for 12 noon! Aside that, Baba presided over several meetings of the Pan-Yoruba Socio-political Organisation, Afenifere and attended many meetings of the Southern and Middle-Belt leaders Forum and the PANDEF. On one occasion, he led a delegation to Jos, Plateau State, to commiserate with the governor, over one of those mindless killings by bandits. So, for Pa Adebanjo, it was a life of round the clock as well as self-imposed service to humanity. A restless lifetime in search of the good of all.
Pa Adebanjo was far more than an elder statesman. He was an activist per excellence. He was an unbending progressive and an unyielding advocate of federalism and a true believer in life abundant and social democracy. He sang the tunes to the ears of the military. He insisted on the same antidote all through the 25 years of democracy he witnessed this Fourth Republic. He even told the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, anything other than restructuring is leading Nigeria to war “quietly,” just as he told President Bola Tinubu to remember his roots, which was Afenifere and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and actualise the restructuring of Nigeria.
In one of his last interventions, he told President Tinubu: “We want a Yoruba Nation that is independent within a federation where every unit of the federation is taken as equal. That is why the Yoruba people are pressing for federalism which is the foundation of Nigeria’s independence. We have been consistent. Those who are agitating for the Yoruba Nation are doing so because the Federal Government refuses to practice federalism as we had it. You see, many of you do not know why are clamouring for a change of constitution and that is one of the things I think Bola Tinubu should take care of.
“It is the Constitution that allows the North to cheat the South under the revenue allocation which Bola Tinubu fought against on the creation of local governments. The military government created local governments with their whims. Every general wanted a local government in his village and they now say the number of local governments will be the basis of sharing revenue. As a result of this, Lagos State which had the same population as Kano State, remains 20 local government areas. Yet, Jigawa State that has since been carved out of Kano has over two dozen local government areas. That was the basis Bola Tinubu fought former President Olusegun Obasanjo and won at the Supreme Court. The ball is now in Tinubu’s court.”
In his usual frontal and direct approach, Pa Adebanjo told Tinubu to be the son of his father and live up to the task of restructing Nigeria.
“He should restructure Nigeria if he is going to be the son of his father and if he is going to be what he fought for and if he has the courage…. There is no reason to restrain him from restructuring the country. That is the basis on which he became the governor then and it will be to his credit. It was he, who took the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, which was a product of the Afenifere to Buhari, thinking that they would make him the president. The north which they are saying they know is inclusive of the Middle Belt; they use the Middle Belt population to claim that they are more. That is why I insist that we must change this Constitution,” he added.
So, when a personality of that nature departs, we are bound to yearn for more. Thus the question, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, is it’s time to go? It’s a question we know only God can answer and the Almighty provided that answer on February 14, 2025. Several questions would rock the mind. Will he not leave a vacuum? What about the unaccomplished tasks? Yes, he has left a vacuum, but as they say in Yoruba, Baba ku, Baba ku. His foot soldiers out there believed he has left a strong foundation upon which they can build. Afenifere spokesman, Justice Faloye said Pa Adebanjo has built an organisation that is preprared for future tasks before he departed.
He said: “Yes, Afenifere is a body that would continue to occupy that space, social democracy and welfarism; it would be long before we can get another like Baba. Because, this is a man, who that spent 70 years pushing this. Not many of us can think of having 70 years of political activism. That is a very, very high huddle to jump. This is a man that fought the colonialists; he fought the military and now the civil authority.
He added: “The point is this Baba did what he was supposed to do in his generation, it is for my generation to stand up. In truth, Pa Adebanjo did what he was supposed to do. He fought against colonialists, whether they are of internal or external colorations. He fought inequality, demanded social justice and detested injustice.
Even in death, he remained inseparable with his compatriot, Pa Edwin Clark, another fighter and leader, who died on Monday February 17, at the age of 97. The duo held the public conscience aloft for years and betrayed it not. They played their tunes, saturated us with wisdom and set the benchmark for public good. May the souls of Pa Ayo Adebanjo and that of his good friend, Pa Edwin Clark, rest peacefully in the bosom of their maker.
