By Abiodun Komolafe
The members of WASU came back and left their footprints, either helping to inaugurate landmark organizations such as the Egbe Omo Oduduwa in 1948, supporting regional bodies like the Ibadan People’s Union, or linking up with the already existing Zikist Movement. In the North, the vibrant and radical Borno Youth Movement (BYM) – led by Ibrahim Imam and others – was making waves and mobilizing on a pro-people platform. In fact, BYM was even more progressive and sincerely radical than most of the southerners in WASU who were largely liberal or social democrats.
Working in close alignment with movements like the BYM was the Kano-centric Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), led by the hard-punching Mallam Aminu Kano – an illustrious leader of unchallengeable integrity. We cannot compare 80% of today’s political establishment in Nigeria to the intellectual firmament unleashed by the activism of that colonial era.
Nigeria’s biggest tragedy, which continues to be an impediment, is that it entered independence without being propelled by a “natural party of government.” Such a party would have set clear markers and institutional guidelines post-independence, thus yielding long-term national benefits. This is what occurred, for example, in Mexico, where the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) guided the nation and held office for seventy-one unbroken years before, as is natural in human affairs, eventually running out of steam.
The same dynamic can be seen in India, with Nehru’s Congress Party steering the country into independence and governing for decades before predictably reaching a state of institutional exhaustion. This pattern can likewise be observed in Malaysia, Indonesia and, to a limited extent, Singapore. Ghana, unlike Nigeria, actually had a natural party of government – embodied in the Convention People’s Party – which proved highly capable in government, but, sadly, had begun to lose focus even before the CIA-backed ‘Operation Cold Chop’ ousted Kwame Nkrumah on February 24, 1966.
Nigeria continues to suffer from this lacuna, for a natural party of government would have embodied an ideological framework capable of weaving an emerging national ethos into the post-independence era. The closest we ever came, sadly, was the radical youth vanguard, interwoven with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). Unfortunately, tribal fragmentation and an incoherent political strategy weakened the NCNC, thereby preventing it from consolidating its strength and sustaining a vibrant, pan-Nigerian organisation. Going forward, Nigeria must find a way to rectify the debilitation induced by entering independence without a national party of government that would have laid the foundation for a national ethos. There can be no sustainable advance unless this is done.
Admittedly, there will continue to be debates about the efficacy of the “Great Man Theory of History.” There is no consensus that institutions and ideology are overriding. Nevertheless, we cannot totally discard the role that exceptional people have played and can still play. In Nigeria, the first generation post-1914 amalgamation was talented, and indeed represented the best and the brightest of their era. As people like Chinua Achebe have said, the problem with Nigeria now is: Why are we not replicating the kind of human capital we had from 1914 onwards? This question must be faced!
If we look at the contrasting lives and philosophies of, let us say, Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Adegoke Adelabu, Aminu Kano and Bukar Dipcharima, there is a common thread. They showed that ideological clarity and intellectual preparation matter. For example, a lot of Nigerians do not know, even sixty years after his transition, that Balewa wrote a brilliant novel long before he came into the public domain.
The novel, Shaihu Umar, was written in Hausa in 1933 and published in 1934. In 1967, an English translation of the work was published by Mervyn Hiskett. It was later adapted into a major stage play in the 1970s, and a film, directed by Adamu Halilu, in 1976. Simply put, had Nigeria’s future Prime Minister just stayed the course with teaching and writing, he might have become an acclaimed prize-winning novelist.
Beyond Nigeria, legal titans such as Bode Thomas, Remi Fani-Kayode, Rotimi Williams and Awolowo were competitive even in the London courts.
Dr. M.A. Majekodunmi (1916-2012) was from a very early age an acknowledged medical practitioner and specialist. Professor S.D. Onabamiro (1913-1985) held patents in his name and, had he stuck exclusively to academics and research, might well have been honoured in his lifetime with top scientific awards. Regrettably, what issues forth today – after billions upon billions of naira poured into whatever passes for education – has failed to match the aforementioned, which is by no means an exhaustive list. Indeed, the less said about the character deficiency of today’s generation, the better.
The impact of the legal profession as a driver of the nationalist ethos, the anticolonial struggle, and the nurturing of civil society must be stated. Sapara-Williams set a formidable early precedent, while figures like Macaulay founded the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) in 1923. They remained deeply involved in community-level politics within the Lagos Colony from pre-amalgamation through early colonial eras.
Apart from co-founding the Daily Times in 1926, which became West Africa’s biggest media organisation, Alakija and other lawyers had previously been involved in marshalling arguments towards revamping the public health system, following the cholera outbreak of 1923 in Lagos. Although they were not medical practitioners, it was the lawyers of that period who, by threatening civil litigation and claims for damages, forced the colonialists to make sweeping changes in the structure of public health, including new sewage and water systems, to prevent future water-borne diseases.
It was not only this, the lawyers fought hard on many fronts long before the formal adoption of pro bono principles and the overriding public good. What are we then saying? The legal profession in Nigeria should return to the spirit embedded in its early pioneers and restore this noble profession as the prime mover and centrepiece of a progressive society.
In the final analysis, the methods of recruitment and selection into the Nigerian political establishment ought to be reevaluated and reformed, because empirical evidence demonstrates that they are currently not fit for purpose. This process has not produced a dedicated cadre imbued with the national ethos to aid the cause of sustainable development and the emergence of a competitive society that’d lead to higher living standards and the pathway to shared prosperity and a socially just society.
The political parties themselves are special purpose vehicles and not philosophically driven formations. They are not transiting into real political parties based on what is referred to as “democratic centralism.” Yet, this is how political parties have evolved over the last 400 years. As things stand, not a single so-called political party in Nigeria can be said to be replicating the cadre-inducing and mentoring framework of the anti-colonial cadre of the 1940s, or the Action Group’s Youth Wing emerging from the early 1950s.
Once upon a country, the Middle Belt possessed a vibrant youth-mentoring framework, much like the BYM and NEPU. How to revive this disciplined cadre mentoring remains a central question for what we call political parties today. In reality, these entities are basically just amalgamations to capture power and divide the spoils of office. This parasitic family-and-friends arrangement is precisely why Nigeria suffers under overbloated government machinery. It is also the reason a father leaves office only to “replace himself with his son.” And the cycle continues!
Breaking out of this logjam will require immense political astuteness and an infusion of statesmanship. After all, modern political history and economic success of nations depend almost entirely on the continuous production of very well-prepared, cadre-based succession plans.
May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!
● Concluded.
– Abiodun Komolafe
Email: ijebuijesa@gmail.com.
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