THIS is my response to the piece entitled: "History, Benson and the Odemo" by one Akindiya Apako in The Guardian of October 17, 2003 page 14). Although I have not laid my hands on a copy of the Tribune where Professor Oyediran made reference to, I concede to him and hereby apologise. However, from the argument of Akindiya, NNDP "penny-allised" the Odemo of Ishara, Oba Akinsanya.

But he is making much ado about nothing and his case is like a man who is trying to cure guinea worm instead of leprosy. Be that as it may, Oba Akinsanya whose salary was reduced to one penny was still on the throne and he was better than the deposed Alaafin of Oyo. Then they should also tell the world whose regime deposed the Olowo of Owo, Oba Olagbegi, Oba Fadina of Ota and Zaki Arigidi of Ado-Ekiti.


It is pertinent to refer Akindiya to Awo's book written in 1945 and titled The Path To Nigerian Freedom. Let me acknowledge that I was the first person that Awo gave a copy of the book as his friend in London. You will find in that book, the unpalatable things written by Awo about Igbos and Hausas. Awo asserted that the Yorubas are the most knowledgeable and advanced people in Nigeria while the rest are lagging behind. Awo's political idea at that time was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was either Igbo or Hausa, hence in a modest language, his politics of East for the East, West for the West and North for the North. On the political structure of Nigeria, Awo, in his book, advocated the abolition of the office of Obas as Chairmen of Council as was done in India, hence the late Fani Kayode got into trouble with the Ooni of Ife, when he was chairman of Council in Ife.

This ultimately caused him to lose his election when the Action Group nominated him as a member of the Federal House in Ife Constituency and turned round to file in a lawyer now deceased as independent candidate who defeated him. This led to Fani Kayode leaving the Action Group to join the NCNC in December 1959. Also the late Bode Thomas ran into trouble with the Alaafin of Oyo when he was Chairman of Local Council in Oyo. This political panorama led to the death of Bode Thomas in 1953. The arrangement then was that when the president and chairmen assembled in the council, the chairmen came in last and this arrangement was not acceptable to the Obas wherein they were expected to stand up for the chairmen on their arrival. That was the politics of the 1950s.

To buttress my friendship with Awo, I advanced him with twelve pounds when I accompanied him on his shopping spree, to make up his shopping expenses, when he was parking to leave London for Nigeria. We never discussed again on it, but I shall collect the money from him when I meet him in heaven in years to come. Awo then left London and could not wait for the Call to Bar and had to be called to bar in absentia. The political difference between Awo and I on matter of principle then was that he believed in Yorubaism and I have an uncompromising belief in Nigeria as one united country. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. Such secondary schools as CMS Grammar School, Methodist Boys High School, Kings College, Baptist Academy, St Gregory College, Igbobi College, (all in Lagos), Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Government College Ibadan, DMGS Onitsha, CKC Onitsha, Government College Kaduna and Hope Wadel Training Institute Calabar etc, all had Nigerians of all tribes: Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, Effiks, Itsekiris etc and all mixed and socialised with one another.

Let me also recall that we formed "Egbe Omo Yoruba" together in London in 1945 in the house of Dr. Oni Akerele at 53 Massena Avenue, West Hampstead, London. When Awo came back, he transferred Egbe Omo Yoruba to Nigeria and it metamorphosed to Action Group in Owo, the Yoruba name being "Afenifere". Awo wanted me to join Action Group but I refused because when I left school, I worked as Customs Officer in Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Degema, Bonny, Opobo, Warri, Akasa, Yenegoa, Southern Cameroon and Kano, hence I traversed Nigeria more than Awo did in his life time. This was why I could not join a tribal party for I believe in One Nigeria, One Constitution and One Destiny while Awo believed in Yorubaism.

The difference notwithstanding however, I maintained friendly relationship with Awo. For instance, in 1982, I visited Awo at his Ikenne home from Ikorodu with my Four-Wheel LADA Jeep. We had lunch in his house and he led me to my car and when he saw my car he said 'TOS I like your 4-Wheel car" and I promised to send one to him. To keep my promise, I bought a 4-Wheel LADA Jeep for him as a Birthday gift in 1982. Also, Awo was anxious to pursue his ambition to become the President of Nigeria and he wanted me to get the Yorubas in our party (NPP) to support him. To show my support, I arranged a meeting in my house in Yaba, he attended the meeting and also in attendance was Adeniran Ogunsanya.

Ogunsanya was furious that the UPN rigged election against him in 1979 to pave way for Jakande as Governor of Lagos State but Awo stated that the election was not rigged and that Jakande clearly won the election. He further stressed that he would have sponsored Ogunsanya for the Governorship of Lagos State if had joined his party (UPN). Awo however, pleaded with Ogunsanya and he agreed to lend support to Awo.

We were all happy and Opral gave us lunch and when Awo was leaving, Opral gave him six big tins of Ovaltine, which was his favourite. At this time Ogunsanya was the National Chairman of the NPP. After that meeting, the behaviour, utterances and actions of Ogunsanya did not show any support for Awo and this prompted another meeting, which I also arranged in the house of Justice Michael Odesanya at Idowu Taylor Street, Victoria Island.

The shift of the meeting to Victoria Island was to avoid unnecessary crowd, which gathered outside my gate at the time we finished meeting in my house, shouting "Awo! Awo! Hence the need for privacy. There again, we spoke to Ogunsanya to forget about the Awo/Jakande issue and Awo restated his point that he could not have supported Ogunsanya from another party to become governor of Lagos State and we saw it as a reasonable argument. However, Ogunsanya finally agreed to support Awo and to buttress this, Odesanya and I carried him to sit on Awo's leg. Awo jocularly said that we should not break his legs and we shifted one of Ogunsanya's hips on the arm of the chair, on which Awo sat and the other, on Awo's leg, then Awo embraced him as a mark of reconciliation. Mrs. Stella Odesanya gave us lunch and we ate together.

I then worked on NPP to support Awo and explain to them that NPP could not go it alone because in 1979, UPN had five States and NPP had three states and I felt that if the two parties emerged and pulled resources together we would defeat Shagari's NPN. The total votes of the UPN were more than those of the NPP. It was then my belief that for a Southerner to become president at that time NPP and UPN needed to forge an alliance. Later, I arranged a meeting between Awo and Zik and it took place at 16, Inner Crescent Ikoyi, Government House where Nwobodo lived. The two of them met and embraced each other and we discussed and agreed on the matter.

Details of the agreement were that Awo would become the President of Nigeria and Zik as Chairman of Council of States. Awo was to operate from his house at Park View in Apapa as president of Nigeria while Zik would occupy the State House Marina. Also it was agreed that Awo would appoint ministers and Zik appoints ambassadors.

After all these agreements, Zik asked if any other thing more was for him and Awo said that in addition to being the Chairman of Council of States, Zik should take over Audit and Treasury, which were non-political. Then Zik accepted to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race to pave way for Awo. So we arranged a meeting at our party (NPP) office at Murtala Mohammed Way, Yaba in the Brazilian Da-Rocha House named Extravaganza, which was the headquarters of the NPP. At that meeting, Zik read his statement of withdrawal from the race and active politics and surprisingly, added "in accordance with democratic principles, I leave the matter to the house".

Ogunsanya, Nwobodo, Mbakwe and RBK Okafor started table thumbing and others joined and shouted "we want Zik! we want Zik!" and this was carried by the whole house, but I did not join. The reason they gave was that NPP had got two more States: Borno and Kaduna, bringing it to five states at par with UPN. Thus they argued that Zik and Awo should contest along with NPN and since there might not be a clear winner, anyone between Awo and Zik with the higher vote would be supported against Shagari. When we returned to the house of Jim Nwobodo, Zik said that he noticed that I did not join the crowd and I told him that I did not support their political equation and that by that action, we had lost again to the North and that Shagari would have the upper hand.

When I later met with Awo and Justice Odesanya, Awo asked me 'TOS, how do you cope with your leader, who will agree today and change tomorrow?" We all laughed it over. Later on, some members of the NPP accused me of supporting Awo whom they alleged sent Zik out of the Western House in 1952 and I told them that my action was the most expedient for the South to produce the president. In the light of this therefore, it is wrong for anyone to assume that I was not in good terms with Awo. This is not true; Awo and I were friends and when I speak concerning him, I am speaking as things were and on matter of principle. On issues raised between Zik and Eyo Ita by Akindiya Apako, the decision that led to Zik's replacement of Eyo Ita as leader of Government Business in Eastern Region was that of the party (NCNC).

In the first place, the Action Group did not want Zik to be head of Government in the West arguing that Igbo cannot rule the East and also come to rule the West but the man whom Action Group called Igbo (Eyo Ita) was an Efik, he was not an Igbo man. When it came to the issue of sending two people from Lagos to the Centre, NCNC which won the five seats in Lagos chose Zik and Olorunimbe, but at the election that followed in the Western House of Assembly, Zik was voted out and Olorunimbe and Adedoyin were voted in. At this point, the only route available for Zik as the leader of the party was through the Eastern House hence the Eastern House was dissolved. Zik contested to the Eastern House of Assembly and from there to the Centre.

Concerning Moronu, the matter began when Okpara and I were on a campaign tour and on our way to Ogbomosho, Okpara expressed his wish to become the Prime Minister in 1964. I told him that it was not possible because we formed UPGA in order to bring Awo from prison and make him Prime Minister as was the case in Ghana where Nkrumah emerged from prison. Because of my stand on this matter and to reduce my political strength, he spearheaded a campaign against my standing election in my constituency in Yaba with a master plan of getting me out of the nomination.

He then got Ogunsanya, my town's man to organise my Nomination Committee but Ogunsanya, not wanting to be seen to be opposing me, put Akinyemi Obe (whom I paid for to become a lawyer) but in politics, friendship does not matter and sometimes they do not think of yesterday rather their interest was what mattered most to them at the time of their action. Then they asked people to file their nomination and I applied to go back and they got Moronu who was one of my campaign secretaries to file his nomination paper. At the close of nominations, two contestants emerged. I felt insulted and refused to go to the nomination committee and they nominated Moronu unopposed. I then decided to resign from the party to contest as Independent UPGA and to teach them that I am the battery on which the party moved in Yaba and Lagos. So I reported the matter to Zik and told him that I was going to resign from the party and Zik said that he would speak to Okpara on the matter but that whatever happened, I should not turn the matter into an Igbo/Yoruba affair.

When the House was dissolved on December 8, 1964. I gave my resignation letter to my orderly to go to the airport and that he should not deliver the letter to Okpara until after his press conference. I requested my orderly to give a salute to Okpara and hand over the letter to him after he had entered his car so that he could only know about my resignation after the press conference. I further instructed my orderly to go to the telephone booth at the VIP Lounge to phone me and confirm that he had delivered the letter and that Okpara had driven away in his car towards Lagos. On hearing from my orderly that he had carried out my instructions. I telephoned the radio and television houses to announce my resignation and also sent copies of my resignation letter to them and to the press. I then contested as Independent UPGA and won the election.

Thereafter, they carried the campaign of calumny that I was against the Igbos and I put up a pamphlet saying that I was neither Igbo-phobia nor Igbo-phobist. So this explains the issue of Moronu. Let me conclude by asserting that Awo the sage rose from a humble beginning to higher heights, likewise my leader, the Great Zik. But neither of them is a saint as supporters of Awo are trying to portray him to be. On this matter generally, I want to be left alone because there is no need of wasting time on it except they want to open further the Pandora box.

T.O.S. Benson, CFR, SAN, is the Baba Oba of Lagos, and Nigeria's first Federal Minister of Information, Culture and Broadcasting.


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