(Being an excerpt from ‘Telling it as it is’, the autobiography of Chief Ayo Adebanjo)
CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY
The position of organising secretary was very attractive and juicy as it came with a brand new car, a Morris Minor. The salary was £25 per month with a commensurate touring allowance! Many were jostling to be recruited; many young men wanted to be one of the two dozen organising secretaries from the 24 divisions in Western Region.
The star appointees then were J.J. Odufuwa from Ijebu- Igbo (Ijebu Division), who was a strong NCNC supporter before being converted to AG; Isaac Ositelu (Ikeja Division, which extended to Ikorodu at the time); S. A. Adeniya (Oyo); Richard Babalola (Ekiti) and another Babalola (Ondo).
Remo was one of the smallest divisions in the Western Region then, but it was very important for many reasons. Chief of these was that our leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, came from the division. So it was important that the organisation there be strong enough to render opposition to almost zero level. This actually happened during the various elections where opposition candidates lost their deposits.
I remember my gleaming black Morris Minor with registration number 000914 (worth about £500 then) was my first car. I never even owned a bicycle. Because of the country’s terrain, organising secretaries needed the cars.
The perks of office, the opportunity to help build a first-rate political party that could change the fortunes of Nigeria, make the dividends of governance more widely available, serve with pride and honour, made the position of organising secreatary all the more worthwhile.
Journalism, Daily Service and life in Lagos were sacrificed for the Action Group in 1954. The Princess Street apartment, a room and a parlour, and the glamour of the Federal Capital, were bartered for another new beginning. With my Morris Minor, and an apartment in Makun, Sagamu, I settled down to work with Nigeria’s most organised and highly disciplined political party (even till today).
My major roles were to recruit more members for the party, campaign for its candidates and settle disputes among members. Many NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and the Camerouns) supporters came into the fold of Action Group.
Because AG had a clear-cut manifesto, ‘A Contract with the People,’ they could categorically say what would be done if elected. But NCNC didn’t have any. They only said, ‘Give us a blank cheque, we’d tell you what we’d do when we get there…’
This full-time job as organising secretary was different from the passion for politics and activism that burnt in my heart. It was more than the protest I engaged in, chanting,
‘No coronation; McPherson, no coronation,’ when the crisis in the Federal House erupted over the McPherson Constitution, when Action Group ministers resigned en masse. The incident brought the youths of AG and NCNC together, and they jointly demonstrated against the idea of celebrating ‘Coronation Day,’ to mark the ascension to the throne by Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953 like they did
‘Empire Day’. Some of the leaders arrested by the colonial government were on trial, and I followed them to the gate of Broad Street prison.
This was real politics in all its hues and colours, under the best political leader Nigeria ever produced, the enigmatic, charismatic and altruistic visionary, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo.
Recruitment for organising secretaries was very businesslike. To be eligible for employment, the minimum qualification was school certificate, or its equivalent. But field secretaries were recruited with lower qualification. They (field secretaries) were equipped invariably with motorcycles and bicycles (and used speed boats in riverine areas). Field secretaries were in charge of specific areas within the division and each time the organising secretaries were coming for a meeting in their areas, they would be the ones to prepare the ground for such meetings.
The duty of organising secretaries was to visit every part of their operational area to explain the party’s manifesto, present its achievements and what the government was doing and intended to do for people of the area. In other words, their main roles were to galvanise support for the party and present it as a better alternative to the opposition party, the NCNC. To this end, regular meetings were held with the people, and not only when election was approaching. Organising secretaries also had the responsibility to draw up an itinerary of activities to promote the party and recruit new members, and forward such schedules to the headquarters.
It was during one of such trips in 1954 that I enrolled Sir Olaniwun Ajayi into the party. He was then a supervising teacher for Methodist schools. This was the beginning of our friendship which blossomed till his death on November 4, 2016.
Although their duty was mainly to mobilise membership for the party, organising secretaries were to also mediate disputes where they existed within their areas of operation.
But where they couldn’t handle such disputes, they were to bring such issues to the knowledge of the secretariat.
I remember one of such disputes I mediated at Ode-Remo which the then Akarigbo of Remo (Oba M.S. Awolesi, Erinwole II) had tried to settle without success. I resolved the dispute and, in order to give honour to the Akarigbo, I brought the disputing parties to the Kabiyesi for final settlement.
We didn’t allow the opposition to exploit the dissension within our domain, and so we quickly resolved the dispute.
That was in 1955.
The problem began during the contest to install the Akarigbo of Remo (after the reign of Oba Adeleke Adedoyin).
M.S. Awolesi contested the stool against Adeleke Adedoyin.
The NCNC northern caucus was supporting Adedoyin whom they nicknamed Sarkin Tulas (that he would be king by force). The community was polarised in their support for the two candidates. The dispute and the role that I played in resolving it were later reported to the leader (Chief Awolowo) by the Akarigbo when he visited the area sometime later.
By virtue of my position, I was friendly with all the traditional rulers, from the Odemo of Isara, Oba Samuel Akinsanya, to the Alakenne of Ikenne, Oba Awomuti. Even in Odogbolu where they had three kings (Elesi, Oremadegun and Moloda), I organised them in different sections. I had a good relationship with the three of them.
There was an occasion when Chief Awolowo was visiting Odogbolu. The school children lined up the streets, waving and singing. He addressed them on why education was important. He mentioned that politicians enjoyed popularity, an honour that money could not bestow. Awo illustrated this by saying that he was being honoured by obas, chiefs, school children and others because he was the Minister of Local Government and Leader of Government Business. He told them that if, on the other hand, he had been on a visit as a lawyer, only his colleagues and clients would recognise him.
‘There lies the difference,’ he said. It was like the proverbial saying among the Yoruba that ‘if you are looking for money and you come across honour, you should feel accomplished, because even if you get the money, it is honour you would use it to acquire.’
As organising secretaries, our claims (mainly for touring expenses) were submitted every month to the Principal Organising Secretary, S.T. Oredein, for approval (and Deola Adigun was his assistant). He (Adigun) was a member of the House of Assembly and later a minister in the Western Region. There was no occasion when I submitted a claim and it was rejected.
I was under the supervision of the Divisional Leader, Chief M.A. Okupe, and later Chief M.A.K. Sonowo, Alisa Owodunni. There was organisation and discipline. I had interactions with Chief Awolowo, as I had to report to him anytime he came to Remo. There was no occasion when I was disciplined for dereliction of duty.
My efficiency was acknowledged by the leadership of the party such that, often, I was asked to go and help other divisions during any local election.
It was in the course of this that I was posted to Oyo for a local government election in 1955 when Chief A.O. Adeyi, the pioneer principal of Fiditi Grammar School, was elected as Chairman of Oyo Southern Divisional Council and was later appointed a minister after the general election of 1956. I was also sent to Ilorin, at another time, to campaign for Alhaji Sule Maito who later became leader of the Northern House of Assembly under the platform of the AG/Ilorin Talaka Parapo Alliance. At that time, Alhaji Maito, leader of the local mass movement political organisation known as Talaka Parapo, was agitating for the merger of the Yoruba elements in the North with their kith and kin in Western Region. The organisation was a pain in the neck of the Sardauna and, on the formation of the AG, it entered into an alliance with the party.
While in Ilorin, I exploited my Muslim connection. There, I recited some verses of the Qu’ran which I learnt when I was young (my mother was a Moslem). This often got the audience excited.
Another place where I went to serve in the North was in the Tiv and Idoma areas where I was involved in some mobilisation for the party.
My last posting was to Abak in 1957 (then part of the Eastern Region) to supervise the House of Assembly election. It was during this election that our candidate, S.G. Ikoku, defeated his father, Alvan Ikoku, who contested on the platform of the United Nigeria Independence Party (UNIP). The party was led by Udo Udoma (who later became a judge).
People voted on principle. No enmity ensued between the Ikokus as a result of the outcome. There was no violence, no ambush. It was a healthy competition. Elections were based on issues. Ikoku Jnr was popular because of the people’s yearnings.
I was there to monitor the elections. We also won some seats in Rivers. Wenike Briggs became a member of the Federal House (from Rivers). UNIP was a local organisation championing the cause for the creation of an additional state for the minorities in the East then known as the COR (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers State). Because we were fighting for the same cause, there was a move to form an alliance between us; but the talks broke down and they decided to do it alone. At the election, however, our party defeated their candidates.
The AG was agitating for the creation of states across the country, to rectify the imbalance in the federation, but only the Mid-West Region was created, ostensibly to spite the party, thinking that by so doing, they would weaken the influence of Chief Awolowo.
At a time, when my assignments outside my constituency became so rampant, the party leader (Chief Awolowo) said he hoped my outside engagements would not negatively affect my performance in my primary place of assignment at the Remo Division (his home base).
For me, however, it was a joy to be a politician. It was an everlasting opportunity to meet important people in different areas, move with them and understand their aspirations.
The organising secretary of each division was the symbol of the party in that division. He was expected to be well informed about the principles and philosophy of the party, as embodied in its manifesto, and it was the knowledge of this that he used to mobilise members throughout the division.
As the representative of the party in power, the organising secretary was expected to be very conversant with the achievements of the party and keep the division well-informed about these long before any election. To this end, he went on regular tours of the division, and was aided in this assignment by the field secretaries in their various locations. With these, the party kept the electorate regularly well-informed on any issue in government.
In the course of this mobilisation, we got to know more about the needs of the people which we later transmitted to the party secretariat for appropriate attention. This contrasts with the present-day organising secretaries who are better known for issuing press releases as against real party mobilisation.
For three years (1954-1957), I distinguished myself and performed creditably. I was the secretary of choice whenever there was need for troubleshooting or more members were required for the party. Every corner of Nigeria was my constituency.
There were many beautiful and challenging episodes during my tenure as organising secretary. I remember my friend and neighbour, Bolaji Akodu (a staunch member of NCNC) who, on account of our friendship, often accompanied me on some of the political tours, although not a member of the party.
The exposition of the party principles and manifesto, which he listened to during these tours, converted him to the party and he thereafter became a fanatic.
The programmes of Action Group were meticulously explained wherever we went, never telling our audience what we couldn’t do, or promising heaven on earth. Only what we planned to achieve were discussed with them.
Akodu always donned the emblem of the party thereafter. When he lost one of the crests, he was frantic and disoriented searching everywhere until he found it.
During elections, we had polling agents whom we gave honoraria (feeding allowance, et al). We recruited agents and compiled names, posted them to different booths. On one occasion in 1956, the polling agents offered to work for free. They rejected the honoraria and said it was an honour to represent Chief Awolowo during his election.
The money was returned to the coffers of the party, and Chief Awolowo was amazed. In appreciation, I wrote a letter of commendation to each of the polling agents. What was impressive was the spirit which they adopted in serving the party. Chief Awolowo was very appreciative too, and he commended me for returning the money.
I loved the job. There was what you could call job satisfaction. For someone who was politically minded, it was the right job. If anyone did what I did then, he’d want to be a minister, deservedly. But the fact that I was working in Chief Awolowo’s constituency was enough satisfaction for me. I never had any ambition to contest election at the regional level. But my ambition was to serve under Chief Awolowo as a minister if he got elected at the federal level as prime minister.
I wanted to learn from the sage, to be closer to him, know the nitty-gritty of running a credible government, and lavishing the populace with the dividends of democracy. As the Organising Secretary in Chief Awolowo’s constituency, I had garnered enough experience in running a regional government and there was no position in the region that had any attraction for me.
One incident I can’t forget during my days as Organising Secretary was when I drew the ire of my Chairman, Chief M.A. Okupe (the founder of Agbonmagbe Bank, now Wema Bank). Chief Okupe was my Divisional Leader, and he was from Iperu, one of the big towns in the division.
In that town was a very influential age group which he (Okupe) had a disagreement with. I got to know about the age group because anywhere I saw prominent people, I challenged them, ‘Why are you not in AG?’ And Chief Oremule (a senior officer in the Lagos Judiciary, was the Giwa of the group.
In the course of talking to him about joining the Action Group, I reiterated that they had to go through Chief Okupe; that if it was possible for me to see to their recruitment, they would be glad.
I went to one of the meetings of their age group in Iperu, and enrolled about 50 of them as members of the Action Group that day. When Chief Okupe (father of Dr. Doyin Okupe, who once worked as President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Special Adviser on Media, and again as Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan) learnt about the recruitment, he was livid, believing that I was undermining his influence in his hometown. He didn’t see the good side of getting members!
Okupe complained to Chief Awolowo about my activities, and he (Awolowo) invited me to Ibadan. Chief Awolowo invited me to dinner in his house at Oke-Ado, and as soon as we settled down at the table he asked me, ‘What’s the matter between you and M.A. Okupe?’ I explained to him that the prominent Iperu age group would do our party a world of good by being in AG. That my objective was to ensure that whoever contested election against him (Awo) would lose his deposit (candidates usually deposited money with the electoral body at that time, and if they failed to get an appreciable number of votes, the deposit was forfeited). Since I discovered this group, I encouraged them to join our party.
I told our party leader that as Organising Secretary, I was conscious of my loyalty to Chief Okupe, and I believed that recruiting more members for the party was to the enhancement of his leadership. But that he misunderstood my intentions, I was prepared to go and apologise to him.
At that time, it was easy and safe to travel at night. So, I went straight from Ibadan (after dinner with Chief Awolowo) to Chief Okupe’s Agbonmagbe House in Yaba, Lagos. I got there around 11 pm.
As soon as I got in, I prostrated. I explained to him that I meant no offence: that the recruitment was to the benefit of the party under him as Divisional Leader; that as an organising secretary, it was my duty to recruit more members for the party, and that the more members I recruited, the more his leadership would be enhanced in the division; that my overall objective was that anyone who contested against Chief Awolowo would lose his deposit.
This explanation disarmed him and he jokingly exclaimed, ‘You Ijebu people are very smart.’
Again in 1956, late Chief Onasanya Solanke also once complained about me to Chief Awolowo. It was during the crisis involving Hon. Stephen Oluwole Awokoya.
He (Awokoya) wanted to bid for another term in the Western House of Assembly (representing Aiyepe, Ago-Iwoye and Odogbolu axis). But Chief Onasanya wanted to replace him. I was campaigning for Awokoya (who was Minister of Education and who later established a school). He was a very good orator (in spite of his science background). Chief Onasanya, who studied confectionery-making in the United Kingdom, ran a popular bakery in Lagos called ‘Odus Bakery’ where he introduced the wrapping of bread in cellophane.
He (Onasanya) reported me to Chief Awolowo, accusing me of supporting a candidate (that as an organising secretary I should be neutral).
I explained to Chief Awolowo that, as a member of the party, I could support any aspirant. But the argument was that as an employee of the party, I could not openly support any aspirant.
At that time, Chief Awolowo already knew that Chief Awokoya was becoming increasingly unpopular. His people didn’t want him anymore. Chief Awolowo was preparing to make him a member of his cabinet through the House of Chiefs. But Awokoya rejected it, saying that he didn’t want to come in through the back door. He later established his own party, Nigeria People’s Party (with Mr. Babalola from Ekiti), contested and lost the election. Chief Onasanya won the election in 1956, and became a member of the Western Region House of Assembly.
This incident concerning Onasanya and Awokoya was to be misinterpreted by some students while I was in England. Dr Taslim Elias, who was not a fan of Awolowo, was relating this story to members of the Nigerian Students’ Union, in Denison House, Victoria, labelling Chief Awolowo a dictator who didn’t accommodate intellectuals such as Awokoya. He alleged that Awokoya had to leave Action Group because of Awolowo’s intolerance of dissent!
I told Elias that he was telling a story whose facts he didn’t know. That I was a character in the story, fully aware of all the details as they developed and were resolved. I explained to the audience that Awokoya dug his own grave, by refusing to accede to entreaties by Chief Awolowo who was prepared to bring him back into the government through the House of Chiefs. This the leader was doing when he discovered that Awokoya was no longer popular in his constituency (the party-appointed members of the House of Chiefs).
This would follow the precedence adopted in the case of Rotimi Williams who was first appointed into the House of Chiefs before being made a minister. Even the Olowo of Owo, Oba Olateru Olagbegi, a member of the House of Chiefs as of right, was made a minister.
I then invited any member of the audience who was in doubt to follow me to see Chief Awolowo who was then in London for the 1958 Constitutional Conference. Among those who responded to this invitation was Tobi Dafe, then President of the Nigerian Students’ Union in London. We met Chief Awolowo in his St James’ Hotel room and he confirmed my story.
While serving as Organising Secretary, my ambition was to work for some years and then proceed to London to study Law. So, when the party came into power, and appointed Chief M.E.R. Okorodudu as the first Agent-General of the Government in London (an office that came into existence as a result of the 1954 Lyttleton Constitution which established federalism), I approached Chief Awolowo with a request to make me a private secretary to the Agent-General, to enable me go to London.
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