Tribune needs help

Power is never served a la carte. That is one of the favourite quotes of former Governor of Lagos State and one of the national leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. One of the most passionate and consumate political actors of contemporary Nigeria, Tinubu understands all too well that politics is essentially the struggle for the acquisition, utilization and retention of state power either for selfish, pecuniary purposes or for the public good. That inimitably profound and perceptive scholar of Nigeria’s political economy, the late Professor Claude Ake, once noted that the struggle for political power in post-colonial Nigeria tends to be such a vicious, all consuming affair because public office is seen as a veritable means of primitive accumulation. The phenomenal problem of corruption in the country underscores the perception of politics not as an avenue for selfless public service but an opportunity for self enrichment to the detriment of the public good.

Yet, there is also a political tendency in Nigeria that places premium on utilizing public office to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of the people. That tradition dates back to Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s incomparably visionary administration in western Nigeria during the first republic and his equally adroit management of the nation’s finances as federal Commissioner of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council during the civil war. Those who have kept this tradition of progressive politics alive include the UPN governors in the second republic, the AD governors between 1999 and 2003 and now the ACN /LP governors in Lagos, Edo, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states.

In his relentless bid to assume power at the centre and achieve for Nigeria what he had accomplished as Premier of western Nigeria, Awo faced the worst imaginable form of political demonisation, victimisation and persecution. He was framed and unjustifiably imprisoned for treasonable felony on the flimsiest of grounds. The Coker Commission of Enquiry was set up to taint his moral integrity. During his political misadventure in the NPN during the second republic, the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola set up the National Concord primarily to combat Awo’s percieved influence in the media and damage the sage’s reputation.

One of the sensational stories published by the Concord, I recall, was Awo’s ownership of 360 plots of land at Maroko. The motive for the story was to portray Awo as a hypocrite who professed to be a socialist while being immensely wealthy. It did not matter to his detractors that the land was legitimately acquired as payment for legal services rendered. Awo, who was abroad when the story broke, returned home to a rousing reception at the Murtala Muhammed Airport. One of the thousands who thronged the airport to welcome their beloved leader had a placard which read “Papa, please buy more land”! Responding to questions from reporters, Awo made the pertinent point that anyone who wanted to effect positive politiical change in Nigeria needed the financial strength to sustain a viable political organization and fight the wealthy elite determined to maintain the decadent and exploitative status quo. While amassing fabulous wealth, largely through dubious means, Awo’s opponents wanted him to commit economic suicide in pursuit of his socialist beliefs!

No politician since Awo has been as harrassed, abused, threatened and villified as Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is effectively the Asiwaju of progressive politics in contemporary Nigeria. This of course is to be expected. Power is not served a la carte. There is a grim political struggle for the soul of Nigeria and Tinubu is a critical actor in the battle. He is as passionate as Awo in his commitment to the progressive transformation of Nigeria through adherence to the principles of federalism, welfarism and democracy. He was a key inspirational figure in the ACN’S successful reclamation of its stolen mandates in Edo, Ekiti and Osun states and the party’s expanding clout beyond the south west. During the duration of the legal battles, Tinubu became an amateur lawyer reading and digesting law reports and joining legal titans in protracted strategy sessions. He was instrumental to the introduction of scientific forensic evidence that played a vital role in the resolution of the judicial disputes. While his opponents are engaged in frivolities or empty ‘power’ sloganeering, Tinubu is busy burning the midnight oil planning, thinking and strategising with his political associates.

Like Awo, he has formidable financial muscle and deploys the power of the media skillfully to actualize his political objectives. If I were in the PDP’s shoes, I would feel jittery about Tinubu. He is a veritable political Jagaban. But if the PDP carries out its reported plan to arrest him in the run up to the elections on trumped up charges, they would help in further lionizing Tinubu just as they did Awo. He would assume a larger than life image. Rather than hurt the ACN electorally, such blatant intimidation will mobilize passionate support for the party particularly in the south west. The PDP strategists should read, once again, the political history of a region famously described by Professor Mackintosh as the ‘cockpit of Nigerian politics’.

But then, how do we place the role of the Nigerian Tribune, the paper established by the great Awo 62 years ago, in all this? How is it that the paper has become one of the most vicious weapons against a man who best exemplifies Awo’s values in contemporary Nigerian politics? The inimitable columnist and scholar, Dr. Olatunji Dare has brilliantly traced the illustrous history of the Tribune in sharp contrast to its present editorial policy. I am however reluctant to believe that the editors and journalists at the Tribune necessarly have anything personal against Tinubu. I know many of them as brilliant and competent professionals. What then has gone wrong? Why should a newspaper founded by the country’s foremost advocate of federalist democracy now become the mouthpiece of a ‘mainstream’ philosophy that has over the last eight years grossly underdeveloped a region that, under Awo, was a beacon of light for Africa?

First and foremost, Mama HID Awolowo is incapacitated by age, Chief Wole Awolowo is largely a-political and no member of the family has taken an active interest in politics since Dr. (Mrs.) Olatokunboh Awolowo-Dosumu’s brief foray into the turbulent terrain in the aborted Third Republic. Secondly, the newspaper was affected by the crack within the progressive fold that resulted in the late Chief Bola Ige joining OBJ’s administration and ultimately the PDP Tsunami that swept through the south west in 2003. Not only did the wily OBJ give some of Awo’s children political appointments, even the most reactionary of the PDP governors became emergency Awoists and courted the family at every turn. Thirdly was the political economy of media survival. The PDP-controlled states in the south west naturally effectively utilized the weapon of advert patronage.

Now that the spirit of Awoism is resurgent in the south west, the temptation to antagonize the Tribune must be resisted. Whatever may be its current lapses, the newspaper still symbolizes Awo’s enduring vision. It is part and parcel of the history of the south west and cannot be allowed to wither. Asiwaju Tinubu and the progressive governors of Lagos, Ekiti, Osun, Edo and Ondo states must constructively engage both the Awo family and the Tribune management. They must be shown the absurdity of lending their illustrous family name to the same political forces that tried to erase Awo’s imperishable legacy in the south west. The Tribune must be helped to re-discover its true voice. It must be helped to thrive as a living testament to Awo’s undying spirit.