I do not know if the Okun people would sustain the annual ritual of remembering the late Chief Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi, the Aro of Mopa and one-time chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), which was started on 28 November, 2008. I remember the maiden memorial lecture they held in his remembrance that year and the one of 2009.While Professor of Criminology, Etannibi Alemika, delivered the first memorial lecture, Professor Ifeyori Ihimodu delivered the second. Both lectures were profoundly rich and they captured the quintessence of the man whose public service life was an exemplar worthy of emulation.I will only refer to the thematic essence of Alemika's lecture entitled: 'Imperative of Good Governance and Trustworthy Leadership for National Development' was well delivered in his summation: 'I conclude this lecture by highlighting two important lessons that we need to learn and which the life of Chief S.B. Awoniyi has taught us. First, in a country or state where good governance is institutionalised, all and everyone with requisite competence can aspire to lead and indeed be given the opportunity to provide leadership.'Awoniyi died as the leader of the North, a formidable position, though he was by religion, probably a minority in the region, and ethno-culturally as a Yagba man, he was no more than a near invisible micro-minority, a minority of minorities. Second, opposition to evil and wicked governance and the struggle for good governance and leadership in Nigeria are very significant virtues to be desired more than holding prime political offices in a regime characterised by bad governance or populated by untrustworthy leaders whose credentials are excellent performance as fraudsters and political thugs or jobbers.'If we go away with these two lessons and commit ourselves to the institutionalisation of good governance and trustworthy leadership, we would have honoured Chief Awoniyi. But even more important, we would have ignited a movement and change process that will transform our nation from the current endemic conditions of anarchy, injustice, insecurity and widespread deprivations into a humane, secure, peaceful, cohesive and developed society.' Indeed, both lectures were right in their perspectives of the Awoniyi persona.Awoniyi, who rose to the position of 'Super' Permanent Secretary in the public service and retired at the age of 44, set a very high standard in public life of integrity and accountability- two scarce principles in the nation's socio-economic and political spheres.His exploits in the murky waters of Nigerian politics, where he was temperamentally impatient with political shenanigans and chicanery, had marked him out as a rare breed in the intriguing, confusing and corruptive Nigerian politics.His very deep involvement in politics began in the ill-fated Third Republic, when he represented his people in the Senate on the platform of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC).When the political transition failed and there was another attempt at transiting from military to democratic governance, he got involved in the process by first participating in the Constitution Conference organised by the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.In the partisan political process that followed the conference, Awoniyi partnered the likes of Malam Adamu Ciroma, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and Alhaji Asheik Jarma, among others, to form the defunct All Nigeria Congress (ANC). He was then the protem national chairman. But the ANC was denied registration despite that it was the most organised of all the associations that sought registration.With the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he had played a prominent role in the election of the presidential candidate, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who later became president.He had also wanted to lead the party as its national chairman.But the powers-that-be conspired against him and ensured that he did not achieve his desire through the instrumentality of the 'transparent rigging' at the Eagle Square. But because he was in the vanguard of protest from within the party against the chicanery of Obasanjo and the PDP leadership, the same powers had also plotted his ouster from the party. From then on, Awoniyi recoiled into his shells.It was from that cosmos that he defined a trajectory to the ACF where he became chairman of the Board of Trustees in 2000.The life of Awoniyi - his imprints, his ideals, his positive affectations, his nobility, et al - is a big directional signboard for public administrators and politicians to emulate.Worthy of emulation are his love of country, as exemplified in his passionate commitment to honesty and his proper conduct in public office; his dedication to the proper upbringing of the youth in the polity as captured in his popular saying that, 'the youth must not only be encouraged to grow but also must be taught to grow well.'Even in death, honour for Awoniyi, in and outside Okun land, has not diminished. Those who crave the culture of decency in politics continue to recall his peculiar genre. I cherish my privileged relationship with the Sardauna Keremi. I remember him always because he lives in my heart; and to quote Samuel Butler, 'To die completely is to be forgotten.He who dies, and is not forgotten lives, forever.
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