The wise prays that God should not visit the land with the dearth of respectable and responsible elders who are elderly in reference to experience, track record, sagacity, discipline and dedication to the cause of the society. In actual fact, it is practically impossible for any person in the contemporary Black African society to attract nobility, reverence and grandeur to himself at old age if he had not lived well to impart positively on others as well as the community or society where he is found. One cannot force others to treat him well as a senior citizen if the larger populace take him for a wicked, hopeless and evil man on account of his previous misdemeanor and unenviable record of public engagement. No hostile person can have any friendly crowd around him.
Moreover, politics is a delicate terrain which the most saintly should dread to tread if he must keep his value in the society. Active players in the field of politics effortlessly earn the title of a sinner either deservedly or vicariously as they must always act to satisfy and dissatisfy others as the case may be. This explains why political leaders and office holders are usually in the eye of the storm but interestingly, the same people get either promoted or demoted as they handle critical issues involving people who are free to form an opinion on such leaders based on personal judgement and individual biases.
Today, the Nigerian political turf is more saturated than ever before as it is now populated by different characters who, ordinarily, should not have had any business in public administration and/or processes of leadership selection. The situation goes for the worse as a result of the imbalance in the ratio of the good and bad players in our political trajectory. As it stands now, you can hardly find an ideal model in politics and even the few ones who should ordinarily attract your confidence are unpredictable vulnerable. They do disappoint when you need them to exhibit astuteness, courage and character. An average person believes God is not interested in whatever he does in politics… They manipulate the process at will to achieve their selfish goals and they are always ready to turn the table against anyone who tries to checkmate them.
But how can I continue to paint a gloomy picture of a system in which I am found? God, in his infinite mercy, has not forsaken us even in this generation as we still have some elders of quality who had been able to get the right orientation, cultivate right habits and position themselves to transfer knowledge, wisdom and passion to the younger ones in the field of politics. In the Progressive family as at today, we do not have any cause to christen our girl-child “Kumolu” because we still have some brave men around. We are still blessed with enigmatic personalities such as Chief Adebisi Akande and Chief Akin Oke who recently took a bow from office after presiding over the affairs of the Progressive family in Oyo state for over a decade.
I became the ‘good boy’ of Chief Oke in July, 2014 immediately I resigned my appointment as an aide of Sen. Olufemi Lanlehin who was the lawmaker representing Oyo South Senatorial district in the National Assembly at that time. He (Oke) made me the unofficial spokesman of Oyo APC to take care of an exigency. As days rolled by, he drew me closer to himself and a day would not pass by without him teaching me one thing or the other about Progressivism and life in general. He is never found wanting when it comes to knowledge transfer to younger ones, leadership by precept and rare display of virtue.
Here is an octogenarian who obtained direct tutelage and mentoring from the Sage (Chief Obafemi Awolowo) in the heydays of Action Group (AG) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He contested election to be a Councillor in his Ogbomoso Ward in 1976 and he fought spiritedly to challenge the system that got him rigged out and it was that incident that made him a beloved subject and confidant of Oba Jimoh Oladunni Oyewumi (Ajagungbade lll) who joined his ancestors recently. It is on record that Chief Akin Oke remained an Awo supporter in Ogbomoso at a time it was suicidal to do so as this related to the political saga which pitched Chief S. L Akintola (an indigene of Ogbomoso) against Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was from Ikenne-Remo. Oke’s life and those of his family members were put at risk while his house and other valuable items were razed at a point in Ogbomoso but he would rather die than abandon his Idol- Awo.
Only God knows the kind of tutelage which the Great Awo gave some of his disciples such that they would hardly do anything in the field of politics without direct or indirect reference to him. The likes of Chief Oke would always act as if Awo, Bola Ige and Lam Adesina would be the one to decide their fate in heaven on the Day of Judgment. “Baba Awolowo did not teach us like that… Uncle Bola Ige said this and that… When something like this happened in the past, Alh. Lam handled it this way…” You would always hear this kind of statement from staunch Awoists like Chief Akin Oke, Alhaji Olayide Abas and few others. They still hold their Progressive torchbearers in high esteem years after and people like me find this extremely amazing.
Another interesting thing about Baba Oke is his calmness in the face of provocation, maltreatment or deprivation… “Let me tell you why I cannot put up any fight with Gov. Ajimobi due to the despicable way he treats this Party under my chairmanship? First reason is that; He is doing well with governance and I feel we should not do anything capable of distracting him or painting him black in the face of the people. Two; Alhaji Lam (Adesina) had warned us to avoid any face-off with him for whatever reasons. Three; he is an Ibadan man and I am from Ogbomoso… And there is a need for any Ogbomoso man like me to avoid a repeat of monumental altercation involving Ibadan and Ogbomoso men while in government again”. These were the submissions of Chief Oke on many occasions between 2014 and 2018 when I had sought to know why he could not protest the shabby treatment which late Sen. Ajimobi meted out to the party at that time.
Chief Oke assumed office as the Oyo state Chairman of the defunct Action Congress (ACN)of Nigeria on October 17, 2010 and he left recently as the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after about eleven years of meritorious leadership service. He emerged the first Chairman of a Progressive party to defeat the incumbent conservative government and he crowned this feat with an unprecedented record of winning a second term in office for any Governor in the Pacesetter state. As if these were not enough, he built and commissioned a magnificent Party Secretariat for the Progressives in what pundits have regarded as the first of its kind in the political history of Nigeria.
Throughout the eleven years he spent in office, he never involved himself in any scandal as his worst enemies can also attest to his incorruptible nature. He also prioritized the welfare of his Executive Committee members, secretariat staff and a multitude who must throng the party office on daily basis as stakeholders and faithful. Akin Oke who is also known as Baba Omo Keekeeke is indeed a father to all and a blessing to our generation. I only penned this piece in his honour as he clocked 83 years on February 14, 2022 (Saint Valentine’s Day) and I look forward to celebrating him in a biography to be dedicated to him on his 90th birth anniversary. Like many other democrats and patriots, I’m proud to be associated with the one who rose through the ranks from Youth Leader at the grassroots to the state Chairman without any blemishes. All hails our Quintessential Leader at 83. Ki Oluwa tubo da Baba si fun wa… Ki Eleye ma si siwaju!
OLAWALE SADARE writes from Ibadan.
