30th posthumous anniversary tribute to late Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo part 2

THE MAN

Chief Olabisi Onabanjo was a unique person. He was clever, urbane, intellectual, courageous, probing, mischievous and a great lover of Nigeria and her people. He made friends from all parts of Nigeria with admirable ease. He reveled in controversy. He conceded your right to hold your own views even while he violently disagreed with them.

THE ENGAGING BOSS

As a boss, I found him most intriguing. In 1979, after the elections, but well before he was sworn in, he suddenly showed up in my house one Sunday afternoon, unannounced. He spent time with my family. My conclusion later was that he wanted to know the members of his team as much as possible – their families and how they lived. He was a detailed man and a perfect judge of persons.

A TEAM PLAYER

Chief Onabanjo was a team player. Even when he disagreed with the majority, he was ever ready to defend any collective decision. On one occasion, he was away overseas when the Executive Council presided over by his deputy took some decisions with which he did not agree. Chief Onabanjo did not upturn the decisions. On the contrary, he sought to convince a re-convened Executive Council of the wrongness of the earlier decisions by superior argument but he upheld the decision taken in his absence.

 A UNIQUE POLITICIAN 

Chief Onabanjo was a most accommodating politician. In the days of UPN/NPN politics in the West in particular, there was so much tension even in interpersonal relationships of blood relations who belonged to different political parties. Chief Onabanjo was an exception. All his friends in the NPN were very much at home in the government lodge in Abeokuta where they could eat, joke and sleep as good friends. His courtesy was available to them even when he was out of town. He was a perfect host. Yet his friends knew that he was utterly uncompromising in his loyalty to Awo and the UPN. Though he was playful, humane and compassionate, Aiyekooto was a furious fighter.

DISARMING SENSE OF HUMOUR 

Aiyekooto had a prodigious sense of humour. Before lending me a book once, he wrote on it “this book was stolen from Bisi Onabanjo!” No matter how tense a situation was, he always saw the humorous side and by the time he made his contribution, he often managed to get even the severest combatants to laugh.

THE MAN OF SHOCK THERAPY 

Chief Onabanjo had many pranks and savoured good jokes. Once, at the Ilushin Rubber Estates during a state tour, he assembled the State Executive Council for a meeting, at which he surprisingly announced a cabinet reshuffle which saw me moved from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in which I was having a ball, to an unglamorous new Ministry of Forestry. I was distraught and shattered though I was trying hard not to show it. There was something about the Ministry of Health which I found so agreeable. The Governor knew he was stabbing me!

After mischievously dropping his bombshell, he waited for it to sink and then asked for comments. When none was forthcoming, he specifically asked for mine. I was furious inside of me but muttered something like, “except for the fact that I could see that we were surrounded by a forest of rubber trees, I do not know what this forestry was all about!” For the next five minutes he threw off his cap and laughed with such relish. “You will soon know” he managed to say after his hearty laugh. He told a friend of mine later that I was becoming too comfortable in the Ministry of Health and he had sent me to Forestry, an economic ministry, to know the monied class of Ogun State and have a well rounded experience.

Three months after the reshuffle he repeated the same hilarious laughter when, in answer to the question on how I was doing in the new Ministry of Forestry, I told him that my freezer could not contain the bush meat coming my way! Yet, he was no jester. He had a sharp, serious and well-focused mind. He had the curious combination of being serious but jocular, simple but tasty, playful, but focused. He had a deep, incisive, keen, yet mischievous mind. When he saw that the ministry was not taking all my energy he added water resources so the the Water Corporation reported to me.

A MAN OF LOYALTY 

One other remarkable thing about Chief Onabanjo, which I mentioned earlier, was his loyalty to his friends which was severe and total. He would rather injure himself than injure a friend. He could literally break his back to help a friend. He could never betray a friend and be at ease as some are wont to do. In the same vein, while he was slow in making enemies, he fought his enemies furiously. He was a friend you could always count on and an enemy to be feared.

 A GENERAL IN BATTLE

Onabanjo was a man of conviction. He was not a politician who sought only the allure of politics but was too lily-livered to face any difficult situation. Such politicians fled whenever trouble came or went underground. Not Chief Onabanjo. He was a man for all seasons, deft and as bold as a bull. When most of his counterparts were jailed for treasonable felony in 1962-1963, he was known to have been the generalissimo of the operation “wetie” the popular resistance to the government of Akintola in the Western Region. He was the stuff of which guerilla fighters are made. To him injustice was anathema. He would go into a house in one dress and come out in another. He wore disguises all over and slept in odd places to avoid the arrest of the security forces who were after him.

 SENSE OF PROPRIETY & HUMILITY 

Onabanjo’s sense of proportion and propriety was amazing. When he met his successor, Col. Oladipo Diya (as he then was), in the tense days after the overthrow of the civilian regime, he asked for a Secretary to be able to do a handing over note. For over one week thereafter he toiled over and did a comprehensive handing over note! He didn’t have to do any handover notes to a people who forcibly and treasonably overthrew an elected government but he was a stickler for responsibility. Diya was to pay him back very badly as he proceeded to uproot everything Onabanjo stood for or achieved in Ogun State.

 A FRIEND INDEED

Onabanjo knew when to make a call or visit a friend he had not seen for a while, or extend a gesture of kindness to the needy, or when and whom to consult on an issue. On January 1st each year, as was the tradition of the time, he slaughtered cows and personally supervised the distribution of portions of the meat to different party leaders, traditional rulers, key citizens all over Ogun State, including political opponents and top government functionaries. He never lost his grip with reality. He was never spoilt by office. He did not forget his friends. Even some of those who later betrayed him owed their breakthrough in life to him. When Professor Wole Soyinka wanted a sizeable plot of land in Abeokuta, I was his emissary. It was far beyond what the policy permitted to an individual. The Governor shrugged on his chair and said, “he (Soyinka) had paid more than his fair share in the service of the people and was entitled to some indulgence” . That was how the allocation was approved.

A TRUSTEE OF THE PEOPLE

By contrast, he did not allow any member of the cabinet to take any state land and he didn’t take any for himself. He said we were “trustees” holding the land on behalf of the people. He said a trustee was not entitled to have a taste or appropriate the trust for his personal use! He also did not take a single state land for himself!

FATHER/SON RELATIONSHIP WITH AWO

The relationship between Chief Onabanjo and Chief Awolowo was a wonder to behold. It was like that of a father and his favourite son – intimate, sincere and indulgent. Evidently, Chief Awolowo knew that this was a sincere and a frank political son on whom he could rely absolutely. He was a deep and an original thinker. His sincerity to the cause of Awo was beyond doubt. Yet, he was no sycophant. He was one follower who was not afraid to disagree with the leader. And when _Master Bisi_ as Chief Awolowo affectionately called him, disagreed, even without voicing it, the leader knew it. He added value to the quality of the leader’s cause by making objective and sincere contributions to the serious issues which the leadership had to deal from time to time.

THE DEFT DIPLOMAT 

Chief Onabanjo provided the critical link between the UPN and the NPN in the heady and tense period of 1979-1983.He had the respect of both sides.

FAMILY RELATIONSHIP

Chief Onabanjo’s relationship with his family was most admirable. The affection between him and his wife was palpable. He was an Anglican while his wife was a Roman Catholic. It did not make a difference. They relied so much on one another for fulfilment. Chief (Mrs.) Lucia Onabanjo took care of his needs with such meticulous attention. She scrupulously avoided any interference in the governance of the state. His relationship with his children was admirable. Even while not approving of their every action, he was always there to advise and to give them support. They could share confidence. Bukky, was indisputably his favourite, and all the others knew it. He was honest in every relationship, even with his children. I overheard him and Bukky share secrets they did not want mama to know about many times! On Christmas Day he was the family cook making breakfast, lunch and dinner for every member of the family! How I wish I could cook!

EMPATHY FOR THE POOR

Chief Onabanjo’s devotion to any cause to which he was committed was total. As a journalist, his love of the profession was unequalled. As a state governor, he had a heart for the downtrodden. He never forgot faces. As he regularly travelled through the state, the impression made on him of underdeveloped areas of the state and by deprived people was gripping. When he had a chance, he made every effort to make a change. He singlehandedly located the Olabisi Onabanjo University in the deprived area of Ago Iwoye and located it’s other campuses in rural areas of Aiyetoro, Ibogun, Ikenne for an equitable sharing and the Teaching Hospital in Shagamu.

He had a lot of sympathy for the rural Yewa area of Ogun State. He deliberately located Technical Colleges only in the rural areas. He did the same for Primary Health Centres and established mobile clinics to carry health services to rural areas.

RECORD ACHIEVEMENT 

He raised secondary schools from 68 to 210 in 4 years, established the University now named after him with four campuses, OGTV, OGBC, the hotels in Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode and Ota, Technical Colleges in Aiyetoro, Ijebu Igbo, Ilara, the Ita Osu Market, Ijebu Ode, Oba Lipede Market, Abeokuta, the Gateway Pharmaceuticals, IjebuOde, Omo Wood Complex, Ogbere, Lapeleke Brick Factory, Agro Services in Odeda etc. He shared facilities round with fairness and equity.

WORK ETHIC

His work ethic was something else. He was a slave driver whose victims enjoyed working for him. He made a heavy demand on every officer but he drove himself even harder. It is no wonder that his legacy has remained unbeatable so many years after he left office.

HIS WEAKNESS 

Despite my deep admiration for his person, intellect and leadership, I must not be mistaken to portray Chief Onabanjo as a perfect human being who had no fault. He was flesh and blood with his strength and failings. He was stubborn, sometimes short tempered, brash and, some will even say, high-handed. Once he summoned an emergency cabinet meeting. None of us knew the reason for the meeting. When he came into the cabinet chamber, he went into a tirade on the unbecoming behaviour of an unnamed member of the cabinet. A decision had been taken the previous day at the regular Executive Council meeting to dissolve the board of the Sports Council. Chief Sosan was a party leader from my constituency and I felt obliged to see him. That evening, I sought to find out what had transpired only to discover that he was not given a hearing by the panel which found against him. That offended my sense of justice. I attempted to convey a piece of advice to Chief Onabanjo by telephone that evening, that the finding of the panel was flawed, if only for not hearing the Chairman of the Board. When I did not receive a favourable response, I put my views in writing in a personal note the following morning. I suppose we were two of a kind! I gave an unsolicited advise that while the Board could be dissolved, the finding of the flawed inquiry should not be the basis for the dissolution.

Unknown to me, my note had triggered the emergency cabinet meeting. I was terribly embarrassed. To worsen the matter, the governor also said that if a decision of the Council offended the conscience of anyone, he should feel free to resign. With my tail between my legs, I owned up to being the culprit before my colleagues. I assured my colleagues that I had no personal interest in the matter and was only trying to aid the cause of good government. I apologised to the Governor if he found my conduct offensive but I had intended no harm.

Chief Onabanjo and I, somehow, never discussed the incident thereafter. But knowing him as I did, I knew he already felt sorry. That same night, when a cabinet colleague, Prince Tola Sotinwa, visited him in the Government House, the Governor reportedly told him that he had really been unfair to me by summoning the meeting and castigating me. He was convinced that I meant well. He did not tell me himself and Tola said he had not sent him to me,but he told someone he thought was likely to tell me! When he eventually dissolved the Board of the Sports Council, it was not on the basis of the flawed inquiry but for reorganisation as I had advised. There had been no victor, no vanquished!

FAIR TO ALL

Chief Onabanjo was a visionary leader with an acute sense of history and a genuine lover of the ordinary man. He cared for those who worked for him and identified with their problems. He was firm but fair to friends and foes alike. He left a deep imprint in the sands of time all over Ogun State and beyond. He also left a standard of comportment in office that is difficult to beat. May his beautiful soul rest in peace.

Prince Yemi Adefulu, MFR, was Ogun State Commissioner for Health Social Welfare; Forestry & Water Resources; Local Government ( Home Affairs) 1979-1983