March 6, 1987 will undoubtedly remain a memorable day in the annals of human existence. It was the historic birthday of Obafemi Awolowo, the legendarily unique figure, titan, icon and colossus of all-time acclaim.The world was transfixed in superfying wonderment, as the acclaimed sage expressed that the object of his celebration on the day in question, was actually not his birthday, but the imminence of his transition to eternal life.Two months and three days, precisely May 9, 1987, elapsing from this momentously prophetic outpouring, the immortal Awo, exited the earthly space, leaving the general mass of humanity in the maelstrom of hysteric puzzle.To be sure, the trajectory of Awo's life was such which by every twist of the imagination, exuded the hallmark of the extra-ordinary. He was a prodigy of an awesomely colossal hue, adventing not only ahead of his time, but on a remarkably awesome space on the differential spectrum of being that early.This salutary superhuman imagery bear eloquent expression in the visionary emanation of his exploits, which treasured evergreen brilliance, have never ceased to excite the imagination.What is more, is that the trailblazing momentum that dotted his spell in the portals of governance ' of which we may not bother to belabour ourselves with a recount, in their awesomely gargantuan dimension, was sizzling and grippingly so too.For those who care to appreciate ' the exemplary odyssey of this sage of celebrated memory, brings to poignantly bold relief, the demented sentiment that mischievously seek to pigeon-hole him to the reductionism of an irredentist, animated by the exclusive vision of Yoruba micro-nationalism, contrary to the larger visionary pan-Nigerianism ' of immensely passionate fervor, that animated his world view.Indeed, portrayed in veritably apt description, by Ibrahim Babangida, as the main issue in Nigerian politics, there is no doubt that Awo shines forth as the most pivotal figure in the annals of post-independent Nigeria.While it could be said of Zik, that he waxed more visibly in the defining era of the nationalist ferment, subsequent years, starting from the immediate post-independent epoch, witnessed a progressive plummeting of his hitherto colossal stature, on the scale of reckoning, influence and importance, as Awo's image and stature loomed increasingly larger on the firmament, on account of his stature as a prime-mover and agent provocateur of the most pivotal influence and visibility, apart from his equally pillar-presence as the inspirational arrow-head, if not the primogeniture of the radical progressive tendency, not only in the larger macrocosm of Nigerian politics, but within the very mainstream of governance. Even to date, 25 years elapsing from the reference point of his glorious demise, the great Awo continues to live to this grand billing in terms of his immensely inspirational symbolism and the pragmatic spell of eternal value, endemic in his doctorinaire postulation for a revolutionary transformation of the socio-political paradigm of Nigerian nationhood.Let it here be stressed, not only for the records, but as well as a corroborative attestation to Awo's immense stature as the truly main issue in Nigerian politics, even in death, that the revolutionary ferment of the June 12 victory, was indeed a dynamic culmination of the current of dialectical forces ignited in the long stretch annals of Awo's chequered but egalitarian agitation for socio-political equity, dating back from the nostalgia of those great era of the 50s.Immensely adept in the exacting sphere of political engineering, Awo remains forever enshrined in the treasured dew of evergreen memory for the catalytic impetus he inspired in accelerating the momentum of socio political conscientisation which in turn was to ignite a wave of popular contagion that swept through the caliphatic bastion of the feudal north as the great Awo saw death; courted death, wined, dined and romanced death, walked through the valley of its shadows; escaping its venomous fang by sheer hairs breath, as he combed through the entire nooks and crannies of the north, in an unusual show of valour, courage, and soldiery, mounted with such unrelenting zest and gusto as had hitherto rarely been witnessed elsewhere. It was veritably dizzying, dazzling and sizzling, not only in its sheer rousing effectiveness; but the suicidal dare devilry and marathonic Spartan ardour of Awo's heroic defiance. It was a development which for the first time, provoked the Sardauna from the cosy ambience of his gilded royal cocoon, to the condescending obeisance to populist democratic persuasion, kissing the hostile rays of the northern sun as he mounted an actively vigorous appeal for the people's vote.This capitulative somersault to frenetic currying for popular vote by the great Sardauna, happening as it were, for the first time, in the face of the imminent apocalyptic turning of the table against him in the north, courtesy of the hurricanic sweep of Awo's messianic proselytization to the Talakwas, could well be appreciated on the vivid scale of importance against the Sarduana's mindset, obsessed as it were, with the anachronism of the north as a manorial ancestoral bequeathal, whose ownership within the exclusive circuit of the Sardauna clan, was a settled question, warranting no vote catching mantra, as antithetically typical of the western liberal democracy then already visibly extant in the more civilized clime of the south.On a similar note, his life long struggle for the emancipation and conscientisation of the hitherto marginalized mass of the myriad minorities, then consigned to the fringes on the scale of reckoning, manifest in all probabilities, such stuff of legend that would forever linger in memory.It is indeed unfortunate that Awo's failings, if a failure, were aptly more of an extraneous origination rather far flung from his person, than any endemic foible or limitations as might tend to be ascribed to him. This is to say that if any, it is the failure endemic in the system, a failure of the Nigerian character and painfully too, as it goes without saying ' a treacherously perfidious dissonance rearing head at multiple dimensions, but primarily from within the ideological sub-group of the Awoist school.Johnson is a writer and journalist.
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