Remi Ladigbolu/
The centenary celebration of Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Lagos on Friday was more than an occasion to honour a 100 year old Afenifere leader. It brought several generations of the Yoruba political tradition together around questions of leadership, regional cooperation, constitutional reform and the values needed to sustain them.
The gathering at the MUSON Centre in Onikan brought together Yoruba political leaders, traditional rulers, academics, religious leaders and other stakeholders. Their speeches returned repeatedly to the legacy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the struggle for democracy and the continuing search for a political direction for the South West.
One strand of the discussion went beyond the familiar arguments about restructuring and regional integration. It examined the kind of leadership required to make those ambitions credible and lasting.
In his lecture, Archbishop Emeritus Ayo Ladigbolu argued that political renewal could not be separated from character. While Professor Ropo Sekoni examined the constitutional dimension and Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, focused on practical regional cooperation, the lecture approached the subject through Yoruba ethical thought.
Presenting a paper titled, ‘Yoruba Ethical Renaissance: A Way To Reinvent Our National Values And Rebuild The Nigeria Of Our Dream’, Ladigbolu argued that Nigeria’s problems could not be explained only by weak institutions or policy failures.
“At the heart of Yoruba ethics lies Iwa,” he said. “In Yoruba philosophy, a person’s worth is not judged by how much money he has but by the content of his character.”
He drew on the example of Awolowo to illustrate the place of character in political leadership.
“History offers hidden explanations for Awo’s greatness and imperishable legacy. Simply put, Awo endures because he had character,” he said.
“It is character that makes a leader see into the future and the opportunities encased in its womb when his rivals and contemporaries see only the expediencies of today. It is character that gives a leader the courage to sacrifice everything including his life and even family, in the pursuit of a cause.”
The argument was particularly relevant to a celebration centred on Fasoranti, whose 100 years were being marked as a record of public service and political commitment.
Former Finance Minister, Oba Olu Falae, made that point in his opening remarks.
“Pa Reuben Fasoranti clocked 100 years in May. We are not here to celebrate longevity. We are here to celebrate impacts,” Falae said.
He described Fasoranti as a peaceful, loyal and faithful leader who was respected with love rather than fear.
“The aim of this lecture is to inspire leadership and to inspire others to leadership so that they can emulate the virtues of Pa Fasoranti,” he said.
The challenge of passing those values to another generation ran through the lecture.
The political inheritance of Awolowo and the Afenifere generation cannot survive simply as speeches, photographs and anniversaries. It has to find expression in a political environment very different from the one in which those leaders operated.
The proposed answer was a Yoruba Ethical Renaissance built around Iwa, Omoluabi, Ajose and Otito, representing character, moral responsibility, communal cooperation and truth.
It was not presented as a call to retreat from modernity.
“A Yoruba Ethical Renaissance involves the recovery, reinterpretation, and application of indigenous ethical principles in contemporary contexts,” Ladigbolu said. “It is not a return to the past but a forward looking project which seeks to integrate tradition and modernity.”
For younger Yoruba people, the challenge may therefore be less about recovering these values than finding reasons to believe they still matter.
Knowing the old proverbs or remembering the names of Awolowo and other political heroes is not enough. The values have to remain visible in public life for a new generation to see integrity, sacrifice and service as more than historical ideals.
The lecture also turned that scrutiny towards the elders themselves.
“Elders serve as moral compass,” he said. “But what can we do in a situation when the Elders who ought to set the standard and correct the young ones have also become victims of globalization?”
The implication is difficult to avoid. A movement cannot ask the younger generation to reject corruption and selfishness while those expected to provide moral leadership fail to uphold the standards they preach.
Ladigbolu proposed an annual Chief Reuben Fasoranti Youth Dialogue on Nigeria Ethical Renaissance as one way of connecting the generation being honoured with those expected to carry the values forward.
Professor Ropo Sekoni took the discussion into the political and constitutional arena.
He recalled the achievements associated with Awolowo, Bola Ige and Adekunle Ajasin, particularly free education and healthcare, and argued that Afenifere should continue its historic campaign for a better constitutional order.
“NADECO may have helped us to get democracy. Afenifere should help us to get a great constitution for Nigeria, so that all will be truly equal,” Sekoni said.
The appeal places another responsibility on Afenifere. Having helped sustain the struggle for democratic rule, the organisation now has to define what it wants to achieve within the democratic system.
Constitutional reform and true federalism have long been central to the progressive political tradition. The difficulty is turning those longstanding demands into a coherent programme that can command support beyond political meetings and anniversary gatherings.
Hamzat offered a more immediate route by urging South West governments to work together with powers and resources they already possess.
He called on governors to coordinate their development plans and budgets and argued that regional integration did not have to wait for constitutional reform.
His examples were concrete. He proposed interconnected rail infrastructure across the region and greater cooperation in agriculture, with states such as Ekiti, Ogun and Ondo supplying agricultural produce to Lagos.
“So Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo can supply the rice because the land is there. So that’s the way to do it,” he said.
He also called for greater use of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) and the South West Development Commission (SWDC).
“That one doesn’t require any constitution,” Hamzat said. “It’s just governors and their team sitting together with DAWN to say, how do we link Southwest together?”
For the South West, that creates an immediate test. The region already has elected governments, substantial economic resources, universities, industries, transport networks and regional institutions. Much can be done through cooperation within the powers the states already have.
The harder task is maintaining that cooperation as administrations change and political interests shift.
President Bola Tinubu, represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, placed Fasoranti within the wider history of Nigeria’s democratic struggle.
“I bring good tidings from the President. He thanked the lecturers profusely. He said he learnt a lot from the lectures,” Gbajabiamila said.
Quoting Awolowo, he added, “Only the deep can reach into the deep. The lectures contain deep meanings.”
He also stressed that Fasoranti’s influence extended beyond the Yoruba.
“Pa Fasoranti is a foremost Yoruba leader. But I must say that Pa Fasoranti’s impact is bigger than the Yoruba race. His name cannot be erased from the history of democracy in Nigeria,” he said.
Chief Olusegun Osoba, who chaired the occasion, returned to the philosophy behind Afenifere.
“What is the meaning of Afenifere? It means he who wishes others well or he who wants good for others,” Osoba said.
He described egalitarianism, or equality of all, as central to Awolowo’s political philosophy and that of the old Unity Party of Nigeria. He also traced the progressive political tradition through the Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress and Action Congress of Nigeria to the All Progressives Congress.
The occasion drew Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, former Ekiti Governor Kayode Fayemi, former Ondo Governor Olusegun Mimiko, former Osun State Deputy Governor Iyiola Omisore, Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, Chairman of the Lagos State Governance Advisory Council (GAC) Prince Tajudeen Olusi, the Olowo of Owo Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin, Ondo State Attorney General Kayode Ajulo, Dr Taiwo Fasoranti, Professor Toyin Ogundipe and other prominent figures.
Representatives of Afenifere from Kwara, Kogi, Delta and other states also attended.
The gathering was bigger than a birthday celebration. It brought together several generations of the political tradition Fasoranti has represented for decades.
He has lived through colonial rule, independence, the political upheavals of the First Republic, military rule, the NADECO struggle and the democratic era. His life therefore connects political generations that experienced very different versions of Nigeria.
But much of the inheritance associated with that generation remains unfinished.
Sekoni’s call is for Afenifere to turn its democratic inheritance towards constitutional reform. Hamzat wants South West governments to begin acting collectively within the powers they already possess. Osoba pointed back to egalitarianism and the tradition of wishing others well.
But the political proposals also return to the problem of values. Can the values that gave the old progressive tradition its moral authority still persuade people growing up in a political culture where money and influence often appear to count for more than character?
Fasoranti’s 100 years offer an opportunity to examine what is being passed from one political generation to another.
Remembering that inheritance will not be enough to preserve it. Political ideas need people willing to carry them into public life and defend them when doing so becomes difficult.
The generation now approaching political leadership will eventually have its own moment, just as Awolowo and the NADECO generation had theirs. The real test will be whether the present generation can pass those ideals on in a form that the next generation is willing to embrace and defend.
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