BY AYO OPADOKUN
Nigeria’s political landscape shook to its roots on 9th of May 1987, when the most unexpected happened. The earth-shaking occurrence was the transition to glory of Chief Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo (OA). With such a massive blow, Nigeria’s Progressives on the political divide lost Obafemi Awolowo, the most priced and valued possession, and the man for whom Chief Emeka Ojukwu spun the most enduring epithet, “The Best President Nigeria Never Had”. Indeed, OA was the best President Nigeria never had, thanks to the deliberate and conscious conspiracy of ultra-reactionary elements and agents of Right-Wing foreign socio-economic and political leeches.
With the benefit of hindsight, we cannot but marvel at the last 100 days of OA. He displayed some signs, which we took no notice of at the Time-T. Lets us commence the journey from his last birthday on March 6, 1987. While OA’s guests were just having the usual breakfast at Efunyela Hall, OA enjoyed social interaction with those present. Mama, HID was also seated.
At about 10am, I, as a personal Aide after Rotimi Abe got incarcerated for appending his name to OA’s convincing response which proved that contrary to General Idi Agbon’s assertion that UPN’s Governors have confessed to embezzling state funds to service the UPN party, none of them had been interrogated by the SIP as at that time I was called out to meet with a delegation from Oye Community now in Ekiti State. They brought a gift, a carved statue of OA. It was a spectacular work of art. It was very heavy, to the extent that it took the collaborative efforts of about five healthy men to bring it down from the Peugeot pick-up van, with registration No. OD613AA, used to transport it to Ikenne. Just as the effigy was successfully placed on the rostrum, OA indicated that he would like to go and have his own breakfast.
