Micro-seconds from death (I)

Chapter One

Ziggy[1] from within

Surviving an assassination plot is not new. It depends on fate, the calibre of the person concerned and sometimes excellent work by law enforcement agencies in detecting the plot on time. Because those who kill others for a fee are not ghosts, they are often bound to make mistakes either before or after the criminal act. In certain instances, there have been others who survive such acts with injuries. But survive they did, to live another day. Politicians, journalists, judges and ordinary political activists have often been targets of assassins sent by persons with an axe to grind or secrets to keep. The other category, which most of those targeted could hardly escape from, is that directed at an insider within an organisation. Even if the person survives, there are two major things to battle with: security and repairs to damage in his credibility.

Sponsors of assassinations could be likened to the King of Darkness, who abhors any kind of light around his/her person. Secrecy and cover ups using every available means at their disposal forms the deep cover of darkness around them. Whoever, directly or indirectly tries to shine some light through information into their activities will most likely be put down in the most ruthless of manners. Physical elimination of the information bearer remains the first option here. But where this has become impossible, everything will be done to damage the credibility of the person with the ability to open up on the King of Darkness hiding among minions ready to do their Master’s bidding at the snap of two fingers. The scenario painted has not been different for me since that night of Saturday, 10 January 2009 when I was almost killed by six gunmen in Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Fate played a very crucial role in my being alive after the attack. Till date, the circumstances surrounding the attack and my survival are issues, which constitute serious spiritual lessons for me. They shattered some previously held spiritual assumptions, while strengthening others that shaped my growing up years. But in more ways than one, given the events preceding that night and the attack itself, till date I am still trying to find answers to critical issues raised in my adopted Christian faith unlike the Islam I was born into, which does not need any explanation. It is the same thing with my native Yoruba beliefs, which clashed with Christianity to a point of no return that night. Although some light are being shed through some Christian friends into this issues that I have dubbed, an intersection of faiths, it might take a while before it finally sinks in given the disdain that one had treated traditional beliefs with in the past.

But barely 48 hours after the attempt to assassinate me, some faceless agents of the Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, began a campaign of calumny to water down the expected negative public opinion against the attack. Text messages to discredit me began circulating on Monday, 12 January 2009 claiming among others that: “There was no attack on Wale Adedayo. He planned what he claimed happened with members of the OPC to stop the governor from sacking him.” I was not surprised. It was something I had expected, given my knowledge of the man I had worked with so closely in the last four years. But my thoughts were concentrated on safety first, ahead of any other thing as only the living can give a proper account of what happened later, no matter how long.

The negative texts were reinforced with word of mouth propaganda especially among persons within the OGD system in Ogun Central and Ogun East Senatorial Districts. But it was more prevalent in Abeokuta. The claims insisted on the ‘fact’ that the attack designed to kill me was staged-managed to gain public sympathy. This was after spirited efforts to bury what happened had failed woefully as the story was published by most newspapers on Monday, a little over 30 hours after the attack. But the ziggy could not be sustained with most people refusing to buy the theory. In an ironic twist of fate, some policemen and State Security Service (SSS) officials serving in the government sent solidarity messages and counselled that I leave town immediately. Of course, some loyal party cadres were shocked and wanted revenge. And contrary to advice from my SSS and police friends, I travelled round again to calm a number of the boys down. They should not take on one another, I counselled, as not everyone has the nerve or principle to reject certain instructions.

With the reality dawning on the set of amateur ziggy operatives being used that the attack could not be covered up, towards the evening of the same day, they invented another theory: It was an armed robbery attack, which the police were already investigating. This was what they held on to for a long time with the Commissioner for Information & Orientation, Mr. Kayode Samuel, and Security Adviser to the Governor, Alhaji Lamidi Odulawa, addressing a press conference to confirm it a few days later. But curiously enough, and as expected in similar cases, the police was not part of the press conference. The Vice Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Prof. Odutola Osilesi, his driver and a security aide of the VC were at the press conference, where they told the invited journalists that it was the official car snatched from them the robbers used to attack me. According to them, this explains the car with Ogun State Government licensed plate number that I saw.

The VC’s driver said he was made to lie face down in the car as the robbers drove away with it. This was a measure to ensure the car did not stop due to security measures which could have been installed in it. The driver confirmed the exchange of gunfire between the robbers and I. He also confirmed that the robbers lamented the death of one of them in the gunfire exchange. But I will always dispute this claim because there is no doubt that the other two will die of their injuries, if they did not do so immediately given the spot of the bullets on their bodies. According to the driver, the ‘armed robbers’ went back to the scene after returning from chasing me to pick up their dead colleague. The man gave a graphic account of what he believed was happening until he was dropped off at a point by the robbers who did not kill him. For him, it was God’s grace and mercy that saved him as he later wandered around until he could locate his boss. With his statement, the OGD Administration believed it had finally collapsed arguments that it was an assassination attempt.

Of course, the VC and his men could be excused. They were unaware that one of the strategies of a ‘perfect assassination’ on the road was to feign armed robbery attack. The first or second vehicle ahead of a target one is attacked before descending on the victim of an assassination. But none of those in the first wave of attacks would be killed, except in extra-ordinary circumstances. In attacking the first set of victims who would not be killed, instructions and threats from the ‘armed robbers’ should happen. This will not be so for the main target, who will be killed with his/her vehicle snatched to make the robbery theory believable. Nonetheless, the vehicle will be found later either within Nigeria or in the neighbouring Benin Republic because there was no need for it in the first place. It was a strategy designed to take out two members of the Ogun State House of Assembly in 2008, but which failed, apparently, due to a superior spiritual strength by one the proposed victims, Hon. Wale Alausa (Ijebu Ode State Constituency). Dr. Tokunbo Oshin (Ijebu Igbo State Constituency) would have joined Alausa had the plot against the legislator from Ijebu Ode succeeded. Their sins: membership of the Group of 15 legislators opposed to the strong arm tactics of the governor.

When the Samuel-organised press conference did not stop the whisperings about the attack, especially the fact that it was organised from within, another ziggy spinning began. Shortly after my resignation, informal information dissemination from within the OGD system to the media and other opinion moulders was a reversal to the first ziggy that I stage-managed the attack. They claimed I shot at my windscreen from the inside of the car, and that I was never attacked. Funny enough, not one of those being fed this theory asked why bullets from a Pump Action Rifle that I held made one entry each into the windscreen and my car’s bonnet. Being pellets, a bullet from a PAR scatters, creating little holes over a wide area when the target is close. But the bullet marks on my vehicle was a single entry to the windscreen and another one on the bonnet of the car.

Financial and material inducements to those invited to hear their own side of the story became the order of the day with a number of individuals and organisations falling over themselves to get a share of the Abeokuta largesse. Choice cars were combined with pecuniary benefits to make the OGD system’s stories believable. It was another Gen. Sani Abacha circus all over again. I was labelled a blackmailer, with claims that it was a failed attempt to get money from the governor which made me release the information that I was attacked. More on this later. Hitherto trusted friends joined the largesse train with some of them doing volunteer ziggy jobs in Lagos and elsewhere to run me down. The belief that one had made so much money while there made a lot of converts for OGD. It was also confirmed that I should have been replaced as the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor for inefficiency and embezzlement of funds since late 2008. The ziggy promoters claimed it was a fear of being replaced, which necessitated my allegations of being attacked. More, also, on this later.

Not done with that, an Ogun State executive meeting of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Gani Adams faction was called in Abeokuta where it was ‘revealed’ to the militant group’s officials that I have been sitting on N76.8m meant as monthly disbursement to its cadres in the state since January 2005 at a rate of N1.6m per month. Of course, there was no truth in this. It was only the leader of the group, Gani Adams, that the governor gave instructions for a monthly allowance of one million naira (N1m) for. The funds come from the Commissioner for Special Duties, Chief Kola Sorinola, who had been briefed by the governor to that effect. But I was the conduit for transferring the money. It is possible the state OPC officials complained about nothing getting to them before this ziggy of ‘chopping’ their money was released at the meeting. But instead of the intended effect of getting OPC members in Ogun State to go after me, the discussions there were dutifully relayed by a number of them who knew about my selfless contributions to the organisation despite the betrayal by its top echelon.

The national head of the herbalists of the same OPC, Asegongo, who is based in Abeokuta and has been involved in a lot of spiritual assistance to the governor, was also told that the governor sent five million naira (N5m) to him through me. Unlike the executive members who took the information given to them with a pinch of salt, the man believed the story. I had cause to call Asegongo following his father’s death shortly after the lies fed to him that whatever was intended for me spiritually will always go back to the senders. They were naïve to believe that any herbalist for that matter was my strength. I knew one was in Egypt and among very strong Egyptians. But given my background, they were never my strength. Doing what was necessary on errand for the political survival of an unappreciative boss was different from forgetting my roots. As with the Ogun State OPC executive members, the reason for making the false claim about the money was to induce the herbalist against me. He was induced, no doubt. But God has continued to protect me from every spiritual attack from that quarter till date.

It was the same ziggy with a number of senior journalists, especially Editors, who naively believed the packaged lies against me – all in a vain attempt to discredit my person and whatever story one might release later. But the most audacious of the ziggy was the use of the Publisher of Conscience International magazine, Chief Abiola Ogundokun, to discredit me. The man enjoyed patronage for his magazine from the OGD Administration before my entry into the system. But the patronage apparently became an under the table deal after my appointment. Ogundokun was to be appreciated by OGD later after his many exchanges with me on the social networking site, Facebook, where he uses a fake name to attack my person. I understand some senior officials of government represented the government at a chieftaincy ceremony by Ogundokun in his hometown, Iwo, Osun State in 2009. But a detailed account of my encounter with Ogundokun and similar responses to his lies against me are contained in a forthcoming book.

Leaving the shores of Nigeria for Cardiff, United Kingdom in September 2009 was a mixture of relief and sadness for my family and I. But my wife and I felt it was time to actualise a long held dream of publishing a magazine, from the UK and also activate a security measure to safeguard one’s life. Given our dire financial straits, we had to sell our only house in Lagos at a very ridiculous amount to do what we had to do. We also sold two of our cars. But interestingly enough, efforts to get reporters for the magazine, Uhuru, in the UK was almost frustrated by OGD’s admirers, who had circulated a malicious rumour that my trip to the UK and the magazine were sponsored by the governor. A number of people kept away from me after this episode in classical propaganda. It was only in the night of our first editorial meeting in a restaurant in Brixton did the opportunity of presenting my case – first hand- come for me. Before then, I was labelled an ingrate who took money from OGD and trying to paint the same man black.

Even before then, almost everyone was keeping away from us before my trip to the UK. Some out of fear of being labelled our friend, thus becoming targets of ‘armed robbers’, while others belong to a school of thought with the belief that one did not share ‘stolen’ government funds with them. The last category was the Abeokuta converts who were the evangelists of the propaganda being fed a gullible system about me. Nonetheless, there remains an individual using a fake name, Lagbaja Ola, on an internet forum, Naijapolitics, where he made claims that I killed a lady and buried her in my Ijebu Ife home for rituals. This was well circulated by the OGD system as another example of how discredited I was. But till date, and despite repeated demands to substantiate his allegations, the faceless writer has not done so. Initially, I was made to believe the Commissioner for Youths & Sports, Mr. Bukola Olopade, was responsible. It later proved incorrect. Indications suggest the person is one of the Correspondents of a national newspaper in Abeokuta, who enjoyed generous patronage from me during my stay in the Ogun State capital.

And recently, despite claims of embezzlement against me, fresh efforts are being made to twist facts of loans I took from some financial institutions. According to the newly appointed Commissioner for Information & Orientation, Mr. Sina Kawonise, the debts meant nobody should believe anything from me. But he did not explain the reason  for his infantile argument, except to claim that most of the things OGD is being accused of were orchestrated by me. 

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[1] In the OGD Administration, ziggy simply means the political equivalent of 419, i.e deception to achieve a political end.

My responses to Prof. Bolaji Aluko on Lt. Col. Victor Banjo

(Following some exchanges concerning the betrayal of the late Lt. Col. Victor Adebukunola Banjo by elements of the Yoruba leadership shortly before the Nigerian civil war in 1967, a few of my responses are hereby collated, drawing extensively from the book, A break in the Silence: Lt. Col. Adebukunola Banjo, by Prof. Adetowun Ogunsheye. These were mainly posted to, naijapolitics, omoodua, talknigeria and yorubaworld - all being discussion groups hosted by Yahoo).

Response to Prof. Bolaji Aluko on Victor Banjo (1)

Prof. Aluko, You wrote:

>Wale: While waiting for the 24-hours to read more excerpts, I am intrigued at
>the gospel-like nature that you have conferred on Auntie Bimpe's book on
>her brother, which can only be second-hand accounts.

I disagree with your assertion about “second hand account”. First, the woman, along with her husband (Prof. Ayo Ogunsheye), was a member of the Yoruba Leaders of Thought group assembled to chart a way forward for the Yoruba Nation in the aftermath of the July 1966 counter-coup by Northern military officers.

Secondly, it is not my view that you should agree with what I write. But kindly understand that God also endowed we younger ones with some wisdom to understand certain unspoken words. Persons junior to me work with the CIA and MI6 as analysts pouring over scores of documents to positively identify threats and proffer solutions to challenges without being on the field AT ALL! Ojukwu’s book is welcome anytime he wants to publish it. But whatever he writes will be placed side by side with other accounts of the war for each individual or group to make up their minds about the ‘truth’. And that is what I have done given the books and other accounts of the war I have digested so far.

But please read Prof. Ogunsheye’s account as my response to this first issue. Other answers will follow shortly:

“In July of 1966, the Northern army officers executed their own coup. They killed Maj. Gen. Ironsi, the Head of State, while he was a guest of the Western Region Military Governor, Col. Adekunle Fajuyi. It was alleged that Fajuyi had opted to die with Ironsi with whom he refused to surrender. sOther rumours alleged that he was given no such option but was taken away with Ironsi. They were both killed. The Western Region had also become a victim in the Northern coup.

“The army officers retaliated the killing of the civilian Prime Minister and the Northern Premier and quite a number of army officers of Northern origin by killing many Ibo army officers. This was followed in the North by the pogrom, a genocide massacre directed at Ibos in the North. Many Yorubas were also victims of this massacre. It took everybody by surprise. There was a mass exodus of Ibos to the East and a similar movement of Yorubas to the West.

“Gowon was installed as the new Head of State in Lagos. He was not of Hausa-Fulani ethnic group, but he was a Northerner. He appointed another Army officer, Adeyinka Adebayo as governor for the West. He also released the Western Region Leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who had been put in detention by the Tafawa Balewa government, thus mollifying the West. Ojukwu, the Military Governor of the East had declared secession and the creation of Biafra in response to the genocide against the Ibos in the Northern riots.

“With the arrival of the Yoruba refugees in the West, the Yoruba leadership was in a dilemma. Under Gowon’s regime, the family had enjoyed a respite from harassment and had experienced a feeling of being back into the mainstream of politics. My husband and I were, therefore, invited to the Yoruba Leaders of Thought meeting. This meeting was called to deliberate on the stand of the Yorubas. They decided at the meeting that if the East was allowed to secede, the West would not be part of a truncated Nigeria. They would also secede.

“In the confusion that followed the pogrom, Gowon, in a statement, had admitted that the basis for one Nigeria no longer seemed to exist. Ojukwu in the Eastern Region had meanwhile declared secession and requested Ibos to come back to the East. There was a mass migration of Ibos to the East, not only from the North, but also from the West. Ojukwu had also released all Ffederal Government detainees in the Eastern Region.

We gathered that Victor was among those he released. He was now a free man. He had offered to come over to the West and offered his services to the Gowon Government. Gowon is alleged to have replied that he could only come over as a prisoner. Instead of leaving the country, as we expected him to do, he had stayed on as friend and adviser to Ojukwu. It was alleged that he was helping him to train an Army for reasons he gave in the next episode as Commander of the National Liberation Army. The family with this development came again under the surveillance of the federal forces in power.”

Wale Adedayo

________________________________________________________________________________

(Banjo was detained from January 18, 1966 - May 30/first week in June
1967. [When he was released is questionable, but my gut feeling was that
it was within days of May 30. Banjo stated that he was detained for 14
months in his August 1967 Midwest broadcast. That would put his release
at February/March 1967, unless of course he was talking about being
jailed in one place (Ikot-Ekpene? ) for 14 months. Obi Nwakanma says
that he was released by Ojukwu in April - but how could that be since
Ojukwu had no power to release a man jailed for TREASON to the NATION in
APril 1967 BEFORE he declared Biafra on May 30, 1967? Besides, Banjo's
release in April would put him in the East - and possibly in Enugu - in
May 5-7 when Awolowo's delegation met with Ojukwu. Was Banjo anywhere
around then? Is there any record of that? Or since Awolowo was jailed
in nearby Calabar until August 1966 - meaning that Banjo and Awo were
co-prisoners within travelling distance of each other for possibly 5 - 7
months, maybe they discussed and agreed on the Midwest incursion then?
) –Prof. Bolaji Aluko.

Prof. Ogunsheye: “After the (Yoruba) Leaders of Thought meeting, a decision had been taken to contact him (Victor Banjo). We (herself & husband) were required to provide a code which will assure him that they (those sent on the mission) were not spies, but bona fide emissary of the West. We had suggested that they used a combination of numbers that was derived from the registration numbers of our two cars. It seemed brilliant at the time. We felt the West was going to get help. We had seemed exposed and helpless after the Leaders of Thought meeting.

“It was rumoured that soldiers of Western origin had been disarmed, and armed soldiers of Northern origin had not been resposted to the North as was agreed. Instead, they had been reinforced by soldiers of Chadian origin.

“The West was, therefore, in a state of siege by the Northern soldiers. It was rumoured that some Ibos who had stayed in the West had been molested in the market and were stoutly defended by the Yorubas. Some Ibos were in fact taking refuge with some Yoruba families. The university staff who were of Ibo origin had almost all left the University of Ibadan campus. It was rumoured that the North was ready to subdue the West militarily.

“Then came the news that a force led by Col. Banjo had invaded the Mid-West. This made the family jittery. I concluded he was coming in response to the request from the West. But how did he mobilize troops so quickly? Who were members of his army? This was explained at dusk of the same day by his broadcast as Brigadier Victor Banjo, Commander of the National Liberation Army.” A break in the silence: Lt. Col. Victor Adebukunola Banjo (pgs 46 – 47).

Prof. Bolaji Aluko: (- Re-structuring of Nigeria from 4 regions to 12 states occurred on May
27; secession by Biafra occurred May 30, war started July 6 as "police
action" from the Federal side, and invasion of the Midwest started
August 9, and movement to the West was to proceed without delay
thereafter. Was the invasion/liberation of the Midwest/West planned
BEFORE the secession/war, or does it take a month for plan it, and for
Banjo to also commence and conclude all the agreements with the top
political and military leaders of the Midwest and West? Where, for
example, according to Obi Nwakanma, was the vote taken in which
OGBEMUDIA voted for the take-over, and only one un-named person voted
against it?)

I believe Ojukwu was hasty in the decision to implement the secessionist plan almost immediately. Strategically, he could have bought more time for the young nation by noise making and other kinds of propaganda as he continues negotiation/mediation with Gowon while training and arming the Biafran Army, away from Federal glare. Afterall, the East, as it were then was a no go area for ANY federal sysmpathiser. Banjo mentioned something similar in his defence at the kangaroo tribunal that sentenced the cream de la cream of the Biafra war efforts to an unkind death by firing squad. Invasion of the Mid-West to me could have been part of a strategy to move into the West as part of the agreement reached at the Yoruba Leaders of Thought meeting, where it was agreed that the West should ask Banjo for help.

The first person Banjo called on the phone after making his broadcast in Benin was his elder sister to get a final go ahead for the man to move into the West with his troops. As per the dates, I am not good at that. But you may want to take a cue from what Prof. Ogunsheye wrote on pages 55 – 57:

“This broadcast (by Banjo) was neither relayed by any other radio station in Nigeria nor did any newspaper dare pick it up. The transcript copy of the broadcast here presented was obtained from the British Broadcasting Corporation Transcription Service. All through the war, people continue to link Victor falsely with the January 1966 coup. Similarly, there was a great confusion about his role as the head of a force consisting largely of Biafran soldiers. It was clear to me that he had borrowed the soldiers to attempt a liberation of the West. He had heard about the decisions of the Western Leaders of Thought meeting to secede, if Biafra was allowed to go and disarming of Yoruba soldiers in the West, the infiltration of foreign Chadian soldiers to reinforce the soldiers of Northern origin, whose removal from the West had not been implemented and the general siege situation in the West of an army of occupation.

“It was alleged that Awolowo did meet him, when he visited the East on a peace mission before the announcement of secession. Victor in his marathon defence before the Biafran Tribunal confirmed that there was a previous agreement with the Western leaders. ‘When Ojukwu decided to declare an independent Republic of Biafra, I pleaded with him to postpone it as both the people of West and Mid-West were not as yet at that stage sufficiently strong militarily to take the same stand, even though they would wish it. I pointed out to him that his declaration of Biafra was not consistent with our plans and agreements. I told him that the people of the West, who were acting on the basis of the fact that I would bring assistance to them from here would consider the decision to declare Biafra at that time a betrayal of our agreement (Nelson Ottah)’

“There was no doubt that Victor borrowed troops from Ojukwu and received his help in the form of a Liberation Army. He had assisted Ojukwu with training of Biafran troops and fought brilliantly to protect the Northern Front as head of the 101^st Division. In return, Ojukwu let him have the free hand to use the Brigade Victor led to liberate the Mid-West. His intention was to proceed to the West to liberate it. There were no previous written conditions attached on the political dispensation of the Mid-West except that it would be free and independent of both Biafra and the Federal Government.

“In fact, it was a Liberation Army as he emphasized in his broadcast. Njoku, in his book: A tradegy without heroes, confirmed that before the Mid-West invasion of August 9, 1967, there was no information with the Biafran Army Commander Headquarters about Biafran troops on operation to the Mid-West. The letter dated 22^nd August received at the Army Headquarters in Enugu in which Ojukwu was alleged to have given specific instructions about the Mid-West invasion was an afterthought. It was written and sent after Victor had successfully invaded and took over the Mid-West and delivered his famous Radio Broadcast on August 14, 1967. According to Njoku’s account, ‘Victor’s speech angered everybody, including Ojukwu himself.’ Victor was immediately recalled to Enugu and placed under house arrest. Other accounts said Victor was so popular with his troops that Ojukwu had to pretend to be inviting him to Enugu for consultation. In fact, writes Njoku, ‘As the situation deteriorated (in the Benin war sector, in Victor’s absence), Ojukwu mysteriously freed Brigadier Banjo from arrest and returned him to active command of the 54^th Brigade on the 6^th September 1967.’ This was when Ojukwu took over the operations and it became a Biafran operation and conquest of the Mid-West.

“The speed of the 9^th of August operation had taken everyone by surprise. Victor had studied military strategy and had employed an element of surprise in his two pronged invasion of the Mid-West taking on both Benin and the important oil town of Warri. He had been involved in training the Biafran Army. He had applied his knowledge of military engineering acquired at Shrivenham, The Royal Military College of Science, now Cranfield University, to the local fabrication and manufacture of weapons, tanks and other military weaponry that now grace the War Museum Collection as examples of indigenous effort. It was understandable that in return for for his services as he said in his speech, Ojukwu should agree to let him have troops for the liberation of the West.

“I was worried after his broadcast. Will the West accept his offer of liberation by a troop made up of Biafran soldiers? Suddenly, the telephone rang. Victor’s voice came on loud and clear from nowhere! ‘Hi Sis! It’s me!’ I could not believe it. We have not heard from him since the Eastern Region declared secession on May 30, 1967. ‘Where are you speaking from?’ I said, with fear for his safety gripping me. ‘I am speaking from Benin.’ ‘Are you sure it is safe to speak? I listened to your broadcast as Brigadier of the Liberation Army.’ ‘You don’t have to worry about telephone tapping of this conversation. I have fixed a device at this end to scramble it, in case anyone was listening in. How are things at Ibadan?’ ‘Tense, but quiet,’ I replied. ‘We hope to be in Ibadan by tomorrow. But I don’t want to fight my way through. I don’t want my homeland, Yorubaland, to become the theatre of war. Do you think they still want me to come?’ ‘Buk, beware, that the Ilorin Afonja episode does not repeat itself. On that historic occasion, the invited force assassinated their host and installed themselves in power. Ilorin has since been ruled by them.’ ‘No, Sis. That is why I want to know if my forces will be welcomed. If at least 50% of the people are in favour, I shall come in. We are a Liberation Army, not an invading force.’ ‘Ayo is away in Lagos. You should phone one of the front benchers in the Leaders of Thought Committee,’ I said. ‘Do you have a telephone number of any of them?’ he asked. ‘No. I don’t. But I can look up the Ibadan directory for you.’ Suddenly, there was a buzz on the line and it went dead.

“Fifteen minutes later, a member of the front benchers called. He had called earlier in the day to apprise me of the presence of Victor in Benin. ‘Buk just phoned,’ I said. ‘He wants to know if 50% of the people still want him to come.’ ‘Why is he asking for their approval? Most of these leaders are fence-sitters,’ he said. ‘He should have just marched in.’ ‘This was not my impression of the leaders at the Yoruba Leaders of Thought meeting,’ I replied. The Leaders of Thought meeting had taken place some months back. Since then, a lot had happened on the Western Front. Chief Awolowo had joined Gowon’s Government. ‘Do not take any more phone calls. It is dangerous now,’ he said, before he left.

Wale Adedayo

________________________________________________________________________________

Prof. Bolaji Aluko: (Does Auntie Bimpe's book tell you/us anything about where Victor Banjo was between August 22 and September 22? Was he in Biafra,
commanding troops towards Lagos, or just in Benin, either giving orders
or arguing endlessly with Ojukwu?)

I believe this has been answered in the second part where the woman revealed Banjo was detained by Ojukwu for his effrontery in making the categorical statements he did after the successful seizure of the Mid-West.

(If, in fact the Western leaders BETRAYED him, that means that he could
NOT convince Ojukwu of that, whereupon he was executed on September 25,
1967. Would that not be a miscarriage of justice, some kind of
scape-goatism? But more intriguing, who betrayed Ifeajuna, Agbamuche
and Alale - the same Midwestern/Western leaders?)

No sir! The four guys murdered by Ojukwu through the machinations of those envious of their brilliance and closeness to Ojukwu had almost the same thoughts. Banjo was betrayed on three fronts – Yoruba Leaders who accepted the Hausa-Fulani divide and conquer gift of including them in Gowon’s government; the ‘Federal’ Government and the Biafran Nation, which exhibited the worst form of ingratitude to a military genius whose warning they refused to heed leading to the avoidable slaughter and needless deaths of thousands either through bullets, bombs or hunger. The other three were betrayed by the same ‘Federal’ Government, because as in the case of Banjo, they wanted rapprochement with Nigeria and by the Igbo people, who refused to see the danger clearly ahead of them despite warnings by the brilliant trio who did more than all the Njokus of this world in the way and manner they pursued the Biafran agenda.

(For me, when I read Banjo's speech, Ojukwu's letter and the chronology
of events, there are just too many things that don't add up, and really,
it is hard for me to see how Prof. Bimpe Ogunseye's sisterly book can
shed light on these.)

The following is Prof. Ogunsheye’s analytical response to Ojukwu’s letter of after thought:

“This letter had been overtaken by events. The West had been rearmed and were now participating in the Federal Government as partners. Awolowo was now a Federal Minister in Gowon’s government. Victor, however, did not raise any issue with Ojukwu. He knew the situation had changed. He could now only march to the West as an invader at the head of a Brigade of foreign Biafran troops. He had announced on August 9 in Benin that he was fighting for one Nigeria. Ojukwu in his letter rejected the idea of one Nigeria and in fact sought its dismemberment. The East, he reaffirmed, would not be part of one Nigeria. There was no going back on its secession and separation from the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was, however, ready to annex the Mid-West now regarded as conquered territory, no longer liberated territory. Victor was no longer to have anything to do with the Mid-West or make any announcement on its political disposition.

“He would support Victor in his attempt to liberate the West. He now had the backing of his Council to loan him Biafran forces on certain conditions:

a.) Biafran troops will remain in the West after the liberation for as long as he, Ojukwu, and Biafra deem fit;

b.) During that period, all political measures, statements and decrees must be subject to Ojukwu’s approval or on his authority;

c.) Victor’s appointment as military governor of the Yorubaland will emanate from Ojukwu and be subject to his pleasure;

d.) Should Lagos be also liberated by the forces under Victor’s Command, Ojukwu and Biafra will have the right to nominate a military administrator for Lagos. Lagos, for the purpose of this exercise, is therefore not considered Yorubaland until a merger of that territory is effected with Yorubaland. No such condition was necessary for all the other Yorubaland territory north of Western Region to Jebba on the Niger.

“How, after the volte-face in the Mid-West, anyone expects Victor to accept these conditions beats the imagination! Victor must have written his consent as required in the document. He thus won his freedom from arrest and detention to lead now the 54^th Brigade to Yorubaland?

“Victor thought he needed time to work out another strategy to resolve the problem in keeping in view his ideas on the concept of one Nigeria. Back at Benin, he met a demoralised and frightened Biafran force and a hostile civilian population who did not bargain for subjugation under Biafra. As Ogbemudia in his book, Years of Challenge, observed: ‘An underground resistance movement was formed to harass the now largely Ibo occupation force. There were also very many incidence of arrests and killing of the non-Ibo population.’ It gave Victor a preview of what would happen in Yorubaland, if he also overran it for the Ojukwu government of the Mid-West.

“It has been suggested in the writings of some Biafran officers that Victor was unable to return to the West. Even Gowon admitted to his wife that they knew he had nothing to do with the January 15, 1966 coup. Nobody was looking for him for a revenge action. In the West, he was well thought of. Victor was a nationalist to the core. He sympathised with the Biafrans for the genocide directed at them, but his concept of one Nigeria was steadfast.

“This gave credence to the real or imagined dialogue between Ojukwu and Victor that Kole Omotoso recorded in his book, Just before dawn, (pages 286/287). ‘Victor …”We must enlarge the base of the struggle beyond the suffering Ibos.” Ojukwu …”Victor, I don’t know if you know how much people have suffered …” Victor …”We must not forget the feelings of the minorities … They are of importance in the way this whole thing will turn out.” Ojukwu … “Don’t talk to me about minorities,” Ojukwu said, waving aside the issue. Victor Banjo could not believe that someone of Ojukwu’s intelligence could not recognise that the case of the Ibos must be a base to launch forward for the rest of the country.”

“The full import of this discussion must have dawned on Victor, if in fact, it did take place. On his release from detention to return to Benin to salvage the deteriorating situation, he must have reflected on the Biafran leader’s bidding in relation to the West. Victor was nobody’s puppet as observed by the British Times of London. He did what his gentleman officer’s mind dictated. He was a highly moral and caring person. Ademoyega, again, commented on his high moral standard, thus: ‘Finally, the charge the he, Banjo, took money from the British High Commission was utterly false and frivolous. Ojukwu himself knew that to be so. Banjo was w ell to do officer and was quite comfortable. He had no need to look for cash. Banjo entered the Mid-West with no more than five thousand pounds given him for the operations. He had not spent more than five hundred pounds, before he handed over the remainder to me for operations. While in Benin, he received several instructions from Ojukwu to break into the Central Bank, Benin and remove whatever money was there. Banjo completely refused to do it, saying it was not honourable. The truth was Ojukwu needed a scapegoat for his utter lack of preparation for the war and for his failure to find means of supporting his soldiers on the field.’

“Victor always liked tidy situations according to records left in his trail. He stopped to make sure there was a friendly government behind him in the Mid-West, instead of dashing off to Lagos and risk running into an ambush of federal troops both in front and behind him. He also wanted to make sure he could come into the West without spilling innocent blood. This time, he saw the writing on the wall. The bridges had been broken; the performance of Biafran troops had deteriorated. They were unable to perform against a superior federal force. Victor did not run away either. Instead, he withdrew the already demoralised Biafran troops to Agbor, where they would be safer in an Ibo area of the Mid-West, and then came back to Biafra to confront Ojukwu with the realities of the situation and plans for a new strategy for participation in the federation. He knew he was taking a risk, but he decided that was the honourable option for him.”

Ends. For now. But I am prepared for queries.

Wale Adedayo

A short history of Ijebu Ife

A short history of Ijebu Ife

The following is an account of the history of Ijebu Ife as recorded by historians and which is in accord with the traditions handed down by the ancestors of the King of the town, Ajalorun:

Olofin Ogbolu, eldest son of King Oduduwa succeeded his father. He had only reigned for some few years in Ile Ife when, as a result of an annual consultation of Ifa Oracle, the High Priest delivered a message that unless the King, Olofin Ogbolu, relocate from the town with all his sub-chiefs to another part of the Yoruba country to establish themselves anew, Ile Ife and its surrounding towns would be destroyed by flood.

As was customary with our ancestors, Olofin had no choice than to abide with what Ifa decreed. And in company with his chiefs and people, he arrived in many places where Ifa, upon consultations, did not allow him to settle. Some of these include Emuren in Remo Division, Isiwu in Ikorodu Division, Erunwon and Ilefon near Ijebu Ode, Odogbolu, Okemori and Idotun near Isonyin, Odongbodu, Egbe, Okeyejo, Okelugbogu, Imomo, etc, in Ilugun Alaro area of Ijebu Division.

The Elemuren, the Elerunwon, the Alse Omo of Isiwu were permitted by the Ajalorun Olofin Ogbolu to wear beaded crown. “In 1894” the Elemuren entered into treaty of friendship and protection with the British government. There was none of the articles of that treaty in which Elemuren was referred to as “chief” but as King of Emuren.

The Elemuren is a traditional son of Oba Ajalorun of Ijebu Ife to whom he owes the origin of his crown (see page 47 Obaship and Chieftancy by E. Alademomi Kenyo). The Elerunwon of Erunwon near Ijebu Ode has been wearing beaded crown in his settlement since about 1445 A.D. before the Ajalorun finally arrived in Idofe, Oke Ife, about 1450 A.D. i.e 20 years before Obanta arrived in Ijebu in 1470 A.D.

The Intelligence Report of May 1943 by T. B. Bowell-Jones, District Officer (Special Duty) para. 35B Ijebu Ode Villages, admit that the Elerunwon left Ile Ife with the Ajalorun of Ijebu Ife, first settling at Imewuro in the Ilugun Area, then at Idorunwon and Iwaye in the same area, thence to Idotun near Isonyin and finally to Erunwon, where the Ifa oracle was consulted with favourable results; the Ajalorun was the elder brother and that Obanta had not yet arrived in Ijebu Ode.

Excerpts from: History of Ijebu Ife.

No genuine democracy without credible journalism

By Wale Adedayo

Democracy presupposes that the citizens have an informed choice among competing issues, personalities and political parties among others. Whether in a country, an organisation or village, the idea of using democratic means to arrive at decisions presupposes that the people are aware of virtually all information about the matter at hand.

In a democracy, the group or persons assigned this enormous task to inform the people and educate them are journalists. When journalists misbehave with their assignments, the repercussions often affect lives and institutions in such a way that nobody could ever imagine. There have been many manufactured stories about the Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

At a stage, during his first term, it was as if the media managers in the state had missed it completely. Why should a governor that even his opponents acknowledge as a performer have such a negative image? Why should a successful private businessman, who had always supported progressive groups as a private person suddenly become odious to such organizations in public life? Why should friends, who yesterday were full of praises for this son of a Pastor now feel Daniel has nothing to offer despite their acknowledgement of his achievements in office? Why???

The questions kept on coming until we went back to the drawing board and discovered that a carefully orchestrated formal and informal media war against OGD was being managed from outside the state. The interesting aspect of this contrived war was that most of the senior colleagues being used never for once asked probing questions from the man who suddenly seem to have more money and influence than he had ever dreamt of in his life.

Journalism, some would say, is a profession of skeptics. I'll not say so, directly. But the beauty of journalism is that we ask questions. Credible journalists do not just report a statement or interview when writing their stories. Context, which the layman describe as background, is weaved into the story in order to properly inform and educate the public, which may not otherwise have access to such information.

In reporting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's offer to assist the Nigerian military, which a comrade posted on the Net this morning, the journalists, who wrote the story for London's The Independent newspaper appropriately educated the British electorate on why fuel prices might continue to go up. The reason is simple, Brown should be held accountable by the electorate for whatever economic mishap that could result from the Prime Minister's offer to help Nigeria deal with its Niger Delta nightmare.

Contrast this with the recent frame up of the Chief of Staff to the Ogun State Governor, Dr. Yomi Majekodunmi, for attempting to kill the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Tunji Egbetokun. Most of the newspapers did not apply the time worn principles of journalism that has helped other countries to be where they are today. Prodded on by insidious propaganda from those fighting for a non-existent Yoruba Leadership; opportunists who want to deny the Yewa/Awori a chance to produce the next Governor in 2011; and expired leaders who still want our people to be involved in a rankadede situation, nobody asked questions about how a former Managing Director of a bank would be directly involved in an assassination bid.

What happened to us in the last few days is like what some Crime Correspondents often condone from the Police. For instance, hardly does anyone raises query when they read in our newspapers that the Police killed 10 armed robbers after a hot exchange of gunfire only to recover one locally made pistol. How could there have been hot exchange of gunfire when the locally made pistol recovered can only fire ONE cartridge at a time to the Police's rapid firing AK47?

Not one of such reports has ever contained where the bullets hit the so-called robbers to determine whether the alleged criminals were killed in cold blood or not. That is often left for Amnesty International and other like minded NGOs to sort out. In the interim, because of inaction from those who should report the stories, such illegalities continue and the populace continues to suffer. How would anyone whose loved one is killed in such circumstances react? We institute jungle justice in such people and expect God to hear our prayers when we go and offer tithe in the church?

Someone wrote that we denied the Governor was ill in April. What bunkum! That is part of the shenanigan going on. What has the manufactured report of a sponsored Correspondent based in Abeokuta, which he wrote at the time, got to do with the event of three weeks ago? In other climes, even those genuinely opposed to the Governor among the journalists would have gone to the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Shagamu, where he was first attended to and used that to get to the London hospital, which treated him following advice to that effect from Shagamu. Till date, there has been no sign of that.

The Speaker who framed up our Chief of Staff sleeps in Abeokuta and go to Lagos to address press conferences. But each time the stories are written, journalists often claim he spoke with them in Mowe or Ibafo. The last press conference in Ogudu GRA after a meeting with one of the sponsors in Ikoyi was reported to have taken place in Mowe. Are we at war? About two days after our arrival from London, the rumour mill in Abeokuta was agog with stories that OGD bagged a death sentence from President Olusegun Obasanjo's superior juju after the Governor prostrated with onde (charm) for the Ota Chicken Farmer during a peace meeting brokered for both men by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West.

Interestingly enough, the rumour collapsed within 48 hours. We suspected that they were expecting us to expose the attempt on the Governor's life through poison. They were proactive enough to send negative propaganda into town to defuse whatever we were going to say. Unfortunately for them, we had already taken a decision before we left Croydon that the issue should be kept under wraps. But that President Umaru Yar'Adua should be briefed on it. Apart from OGD's immediate family and the few of us that joined him in London, no one was to know about the attempt on his life.

Our reason was simple: It might drive away some of the investors who are eyeing prime areas of the state for industrialisation. Chevron, Shell and a Chinese consortium are moving on the Olokola Free Trade Zone, which also includes a deep sea port. The Chinese have already moved to site with construction work going on at the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone site in Igbesa, Ado Odo/Ota Local Government. It was because we kept mute about the attept on the Governor's life that the Obasanjo angle did not survive that week.

The latest one, for which they've found suitable allies in some discredited journalists is that of magun. It is being claimed that the Governor was afflicted with magun after making love to somebody. This is cheap. This is sad. Gutter materials like these should not find their way into a forum for serious discussions. Elementary propaganda studies teach that we check information/messages appropriately before exposing our lack of knowledge. A similar story of sexual escapades was also written recently by another gutter weekly magazine in Lagos.

It was followed by another sponsored story by a live-in-lover of Chief Abiola Ogundokun in National Standard magazine. I feel the lady in question wants to get at me, not my boss, on behalf of her husband. But not to worry, God dey! Looking at the Obasanjo and magun stories using the prisms of my relationship with Otunba Gani Adams (Oodua!!!); my teenage years in Idioro, Mushin; and my high school days in Gaskiya College, Badia, how can any sane Yoruba man believe that when you dobale with onde to make somebody dead and the thing bounces back to you, that it is in the comfort of an Oyinbo hospital in London that the person would be healed? What arrant nonsense! Can't people use their heads anymore?

In the same vein, even if these jeunjeun journalists, who keep on debasing the profession, have not seen Tunde Kelani's masterpiece, Thunderbolt (Magun), before, why is it difficult for them to know that magun cannot be cured by any white man's medicine? In fact, magun is a fast mover against the life of the man if he had slept with the woman. If not, the woman would soon be on her way to the Creator! No Oyinbo medicine can stop its effect!!

If the above holds true in Yorubaland, where the ways of our fathers still hold sway among many, why should those who ordinarily ought to inform and educate the people now do the exact opposite, that is, misinform and destroy the ability to reason among our people? The reason is not far fecthed: pecuniary gains. Those who should be the sentinels of a new dawn in Nigeria have joined marauders to destroy the polity.

In the name of dollars and naira, our so-called journalists have turned the profession into a prostitution racket where anything goes. For us in Ogun State, our watchword remains the same; we will NEVER succumb to blackmail. We are resolute that things must change for the better in Nigeria, starting with our corner in Ogun State, Yorubaland, Yoruba in Diaspora and Nigeria.

• Wale Adedayo, a journalist, is the Chief Press Secretary to the Ogun State Governor.

The Media in a Young Democracy*

By Wale Adedayo

I often get criticised by colleagues for describing Nigeria as a young democracy. And interestingly enough, some senior journalists often compare the situation in the country to that of the developed democracies when commenting about the shortcomings of the Nigerian system.

Unfortunately for such individuals, the fact that the independent media and the judiciary were allowed to flourish under military rule, which they are used to, does not mean we have developed democratically because periodic elections have now been added. Democracies depend on institutions that have nothing to do with individual office holders in ensuring the observance of due process, which is what we call the rule of law.

These institutions include the law enforcement agencies, judiciary, professional organisations and the independent media. All these and more will rise to defend the interest of the average citizen in a developed democracy without the need to draw the attention of a state governor or president of the country for that matter.

But a young democracy is one where the institutions that guarantee due process in governance are still weak. Compared with the U.S or U.K, the Nigerian judiciary, mass media, law enforcement agencies and the individuals who run these agencies are just coming to terms with how things should be done in a democratic polity. Even for those who know, a fear of being victimised through dismissal or demotion is constant on their minds.

Unfortunately in Nigeria , many political actors, whose major interest remain the spoils of office, often pretend as if democracy is all about periodic elections. It is the responsibility of credible journalists to write stories and analyses with an understanding that Nigeria ’s is a young democracy. In most cases, it is only politicians that the Nigerian media descend on. Law enforcement agents and judicial officers who occupy sensitive positions are often overlooked in critical stories by the media. These are individuals who have been thoroughly polluted by military rule and could constitute a cog in the wheel of our democratic progress through their conducts in office.

While it is true that there are other institutions that are NATURALLY expected to act as pillars for strengthening democracy in any country, the most important of all is the mass media. Without information nothing can work. Thus, any society which claims to be democratic must concomitantly have vibrant mass media organisations. Journalists in such a society must also have very high standards of training from the universities or polytechnics to the effect that the quality of their reports and ethical matters relating to the journalism profession are given priorities.

In Nigeria, this aspect, which has a lot to do with the calibre of journalists, ultimately rests on the shoulders of those who monitors Journalism and Mass Communication courses in our universities and Polytechnics, i.e the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

Cognisant of the fact that without credible journalists, there cannot be democracy, the developed democracies have over the years put in place structures that continually monitor the training of media practitioners in order to get the highest standard possible from this set of professionals, who can make or mar democratic practice.

In the United Kingdom , for instance, it is doubtful if any course in journalism would be accredited in a higher institution without Political Communication being offered by such a school as a core course. Without a proper understanding of how Political Actors continually make efforts to influence the process of governance, journalists in any society may not be able to play their assigned part in ensuring that the genuine wishes of the people are given room by those in public offices and the political actors who seek to influence them and what they do.

One is aware of the concern of a few credible media owners in Nigeria about the quality of Mass Communication or journalism graduates. This has to do with the ability of such graduates to write good English and ask sensible questions during interviews. But till date, it is doubtful if there has been any conscious effort to link Nigeria ’s democratic development with an urgent need to insist on Political Communication as a core course for all Mass Communication courses in our higher institutions.

Coming from a background of prolong military rule, the practice of journalism in Nigeria requires urgent attention so that we could match up with what obtains in other democracies. And the place to start is the training institutions. It is time the NUC and National NBTE insist on this for the accreditation of Mass Communication courses in our universities and Polytechnics.

Naturally, there should be a law guaranteeing Freedom of Information and protection of the rights of those who squeal on the illegal activities of elected or appointed officials of government. Democracy presupposes that the citizens have a right to choose between competing individuals, political parties and ideas during regular elections. But it is also an established fact that only those who are well informed can make credible choices. Currently in Nigeria , information about government activities can only be given to interested members of the public ONLY if the officials concerned want to. This should not happen in a democracy.

Ours is young. And that is why one is happy that the current National Assembly has initiated steps to pass an FOI law in Nigeria . In Ogun State , the Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, joined millions of Nigerians to sign a petition asking for the FOI bill, which is currently in the National Assembly to be passed speedily. His Excellency was joined by Ogun State citizens from the 236 Wards of the 20 local governments in the state to sign the petition, which has since been forwarded to the National Assembly through the Freedom of Information Coalition in Lagos .

Because of the enormous power of the media, abuses also abound. Today in Nigeria a number of media houses are owned by persons who have a lot of things to hide. What obtains in such places is so sad that they continue to muddle the waters of Nigerian politics. But the public is not so deceived anymore. Statistics show that the highest selling newspaper in Nigeria today does a maximum of 50,000 copies per day. That is even on a very good day.

In a country with a population of more than 100 million, it is a clear indictment that the average person does not want to read newspapers. If a similar study is done about radio and television, I have no doubt, the same thing will be discovered about how many people listen to news and analyses. Our educational institutions have a responsibility to train journalists that will restore confidence to the public. Apathy during an election or a general disdain for governance by the people depend on how much the electorate believe in what the mass media communicate to them.

Developed democracies have institutions that ensure minimal abuses by political actors. Employing rumour mongering as it is often done here to bring down a government can hardly work in the United Kingdom or United States where the citizens can easily access information. It is also very unlikely to bribe a journalist or media organisation to continually dish out fabricated stories to run down political opponents or others in a developed democracy. The law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and the professional organisations often ensure that such do not happen in the U.K. and U.S. , for instance.

Above all, in the developed democracies those who take to journalism as a profession did so out of choice, not because they could not get other well paying jobs due to the economic condition of their societies as we have in Nigeria . They are well paid, and in some instances, often decide how much employers should pay them. Today in Nigeria , most journalists are not only poorly paid, some do not even get paid for a long time, while a few join the profession to ‘make it.’ These are symptomatic of a young democracy.

The challenge we have is to encourage the enactment of laws that will encourage the strengthening of our democratic institutions. Policemen and other law enforcement agents who perform their duties creditably should be rewarded, not victimised. Bad eggs should be shown the way out. Judges should not be denied due entitlements because they give negative judgments to those holding political offices.

Journalists should not be selective in the stories they write simply because they want to protect some special friends. Many are those shouting about democracy and due process today, who are enemies of anything that has to do with the rule of law. Yet, journalists who know about such individuals and their background have often kept quiet.

An FOI law that will be used to check abuses by government officials is also good to ask questions from journalists who cannot explain the source of their sudden wealth. With an FOI law in place, rumour mongering, which is another prevalent issue in a young democracy will be a thing of the past. Journalists will no longer be made to dish out rumours as ‘facts’ to the people. Securing convictions against criminal elements by our law enforcement agencies will also become easier.

Questionable characters should reduce in both the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, a situation that will go a long way to restore sanity to the polity. Even some members of civil society who have ulterior motives for setting up Non-Governmental Organisations will be put I check as it becomes easier to expose corrupt persons and organisations.

* Mr. Adedayo, Chief Press Secretary to the Ogun State Governor, delivered this paper to students of Mass Communication Department, Olabisi Onabanjo University , Ago Iwoye, Ogun State on Thursday, 7 February 2008.