MY STEWARDSHIP: Beyond the Tripod

By

Professor Omo Omoruyi mni

His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo UkuAkpolokpolor Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin.

Distinguished Chairman, Chief Samuel Udinyiwe Igbe, Iyase of Benin.

Special Guests Lt. General TY Danjuma Minister of Defence

Chief Solomon D Lar, Foundation National Chairman of People Democratic Party (PDP)

Chief Launcher: Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, Esama of Benin

Chief Hosts: HE Chief Nosakhare Igbinedion, Governor of Edo State

HE Chief James Ibori, Governor of Delta State.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

I call this book my stewardship. You will recall that in September 1977, this community through the Oredo Council voted for me as the Representative of this community in the Constituent Assembly on faith and on the genuine belief that I would use my best judgment to do what I considered to be right and in the best interest of this community. I was not sent to Lagos to form a political party some would say; I too did not harbor any plan that I was seeking the election so as to bring a political party to Benin. But I did form a political party; I did bring a political party to Benin. I did both on the belief that I was acting in the best interest of the Benin Community.

In interpreting what is best for the community, I made sure that Benin was not made an appendage of the tripod that we call the WAZOBIA. I also made sure that Benin and in fact, Bendel was not only an integral part of, but in the leadership of the national "Fourth Dimension".

I had no ambition to be a politician; I had in mind with experimenting with ideas. I knew the logical implication of a membership of the Constituent Assembly. I wanted to see how the political dynamics would play themselves out.

UNSUNG HEROES

I would not have had the opportunity to participate in the exercise that gave rise to this book but for the factors of certain persons in Benin that are in four categories listed as follows:

LESSONS FROM THE WAY THE COUNCILLORS ACTED

It was Chief Jos Ogbebor who told me that the councilors would not be able to make the choice on their own and that they would have to listen to the Benin Community before they made up their minds. These were the "listening councilors" out of the 16 councilors that heeded the voice of the first, second and third categories of Benin people and sent me to Lagos in September 1977. How these people communicated with the councilors, how they sold me to them and how these councilors eventually reached their decision are now part of the history of my election in 1977 and would be adequately discussed in my memoir. All I can say on this occasion is that I shall forever remain grateful to them.

The lessons from the election should not be lost on me and I want to share them with the new breed.

One is that elected people should listen to what the community leaders are saying. The councilors who were my electors listened and acted in the best interest of the community.

Second was that they did not demand money from me. They did not sell their votes. If their votes were for sale I would not have been able to participate. They turned down those who offered them money and went for me. I am saying this today to debunk the story attributed to some people in Benin that they got money from me or that some one paid them on my behalf. This is not saying that some people did not give me money to enable me buy fuel for my car.

Third was that contrary to the practice one hears about today, they did not make me take oath and they did not force me to become a member of one secret society or cult or the other. The three councilors whose names I shall not name here wanted me to take oath that I would not be like Chief Ighodaro who crossed carpet. This was an insult on the revered and illustrious Bini leader.

How and why Chief SO Ighodaro became a member of the Action Group in Ibadan is still an unexplained point in Benin politics. These councilors misinterpreted what Barrister SO Ighodaro did as a Member of the OtuEdo when he finally became a member of the Action Group at the first sitting of the Western House of Assembly. To them it was not necessary to send an educated person like me to Lagos unless he was made to subscribe to an oath. Despite the intervention of the leader of the OtuEdo, Chief H. Omo Osagie, his Deputy who was the Chairman of the Council stuck to his gun and eventually refused to vote for me along with two others who voted for their kind.

This was one of the issues that forced me to do a detailed interview with the two leaders involved in the episode, Chief H. Omo Osagie and Chief SO Ighodaro later. All attempts I made to make them write down their various experiences at the critical stage in Benin politics for posterity failed for the reasons that I shall leave out of this address. I wish they did; some of the mistakes being made today by the up and coming politicians in Benin would have been avoided. I shall make some attempt to correct the misinterpretation of this aspect of Benin political history later in another book.

Suffice it to say that from the copious notes I took from my interviews with both of them about the actions of the politicians during this period, the two leaders were in agreement on one fact. They agreed on the fluidity of political affiliations at that time.

From my discussion with them, contrary to what many know about them, they shared identical view on the need to make sure that Benin people in public life should not take second row to any group in Nigeria. Their views were in consonant with that held by the late Omo N’Oba Akenzua. This was at the back of my mind when I got to the Constituent Assembly. You will read from the book.

I also discovered that these two illustrious sons of Benin like the Oba Akenzua were Edo Nationalists who strongly believed that Edo Nation can survive on its own. They might It was obvious that one could not make any meaning of who actually was belonging to this or that party at the time they went to Ibadan.

From them there was a common lesson I learnt, which I would like to share with the new breed politicians of today.

From Chief H. Omo Osagie, contrary to what some people wrote about his involvement in one society or the other, he warned me against allowing secret societies to get on the way of my service to the people.

From Chief SO Ighodaro, I learnt that anyone who aspires to serve our people must eschew the preoccupation with secret societies. He told me that that constituted the greatest drawback in the political and economic development of Benin.

How relevant are these two pieces of advice? They served me well in the past and I want to commend them to the political class of today that we should reduce the political salience of secret societies in our public life. We can see what secret societies are doing to our campuses. What we find on campuses is a replica of what is going on in wider society.

SOME MEMORABLE RECOLLECTIONS

I am not here to tell you what you would read in the book or review the book. You will have the opportunity to read the book and make up your mind on one issue or the other. Let me mention what you are not likely to find in the book but which also have relevance to the book and my stewardship.

THE BENIN TRADITION IS RICH

One was how I was exposed to the issue of transition in Benin Monarchy. How this occurred is insightful. Barrister Iyamu, the former Secretary to the Oba of Benin would recall this episode very well. He came to me one weekend when I was in Benin to tell me that Omo N'Oba, Oba Akenzua 11 of blessed memory would want me to come to the palace to brief him and his chiefs on the developments in the Constituent Assembly. We then agreed that the briefing would be in two parts: with the Oba and with his Chiefs. We also agreed on date and time.

On the agreed day, I flew to Benin and went straight from the airport to the Palace. This was how I was exposed for the first time in my life to the rituals about the transition.

Mr. Iyamu was expecting me all right. But he, with a straight face, told me, "Professor, Oko Ita mwen ro bo translated literally to mean that "the Omo N’Oba was otherwise engaged".

I then asked "Mr. Iyamu can I come back later today or do I come back tomorrow before going back to Lagos"?

Then Chief Egbe, an uncle of mine cut in, to ask when I was born? Before I could address myself to what I considered unnecessary question he asked me to go to my father with the advice that my generation would live to witness a historical event. I later learnt about what was happening. The rest is history.

What is important in this story is that I came to Benin and to the Palace on Omo N'Oba's invitation because he wanted me to brief him on the controversies arising from the developments in the Constituent Assembly. These are the issues discussed in the book, which are (a) the Presidential System, (b) the idea of the "geographical spread", (c) the Sharia and (d) the formation of political clubs in the Constituent Assembly.

It was later that I knew what happened. That is my community. The saying that "AGHA SE EDO, EDO REE" the Bini version of "the more you look, the less you see", started to have meaning for me.

The lesson I am trying to pass across is that the representatives from this community should avail the traditional leadership of our people the Omo N’Oba and his Chiefs the benefit of what is happening in the country from time to time.

MY COLLEAGUES STILL CALL ME "SECTION 207"

The second issue was the way the Constituent Assembly dealt with Section 207 of the Draft Constitution.

The councilors sent me to Lagos to act in accordance with my conscience. I was surprised that all kinds of motives were attributed to me for certain actions I took in accordance with my conscience.

I am referring to the amendment I offered to Section 207 of the Draft Constitution to move the effective date from January 15, 1966 to October 1, 1960 as it applied to Nigerians who were to be allowed to or disallowed from contesting the transition election in 1979.

Those who criticized me in Benin and accused me that I did it because I wanted to knock out known names so as to have a free field and become a Benin leader failed to address the issues involved in the decision of the Constituent Assembly. January 15, 1966 or October 1, 1960, those who were affected in Benin then or as a result of the July 1975 Odje Commission would still have been affected.

For those who accused me without hearing from me or without reading the account from official records of the Assembly, I'd want to call their attention to the Proceedings of the Constituent Assembly 1977/78, Vol. Three.

Section 207 (1) of the Draft Constitution applies to the debarment of certain persons from the first election of 1979; Section 207 (2) makes it applicable to January 15, 1966. The record shows that I was the only member who submitted any amendment to Section 207 (2).

Many political leaders of the old Midwestern Region led by Chief DC Osadebay, Dr. Christopher Okogie and Chief Ukonga to mention a few approached me with a plea that I should do something about the obvious discrimination against the former leaders of Midwest. They wanted justice. This is important as a way of responding to those who said that the north asked me to do so because they wanted a short cut to stop Chief Awolowo or that I did it because I wanted to stop those who wanted to aspire to Benin leadership. This was not my motive; I cannot vouch for the motive of individual members who voted for the amendment. We were in the Assembly as individual members as there were no political parties. As I responded to my constituent, so I would expect others to respond to theirs. My constituent happened to be those political leaders of my State who were yearning for justice and I responded.

Why did the former leaders of Midwest come to me, a Bini, of all the delegates from Bendel State? They were not my electors. They were not from Benin. But they were from Bendel of which Benin was the then capital. My view was that this was the only State in the Federation that was democratically created and why should those who fought for it suffer injustice? I saw merit in their plea. It was an honor to be so approached and I am glad I was able to rise to the occasion.

They knew that I was in the leadership of the Majority Voting Group in the Assembly. They knew that I was influential from the proceedings of the Assembly. May be they were right! From my meeting with them, I was able to identify three options.

Number 1 was unacceptable to the military junta but would be willing to negotiate a change of date. Which date, no one could tell me. In fact, the members of the Majority Voting Group advised me to drop the issue and allow those affected by the January 15, 1966 to be so affected. This was discriminatory.

Number 2 had its problems too. Moving the date from January 15, 1966 to July 29, 1975 would save the politicians of the First Republic, but it would be applicable to those who fell by the ax of the military after July 29, 1975. This would be difficult for me to explain in Benin that the injustice they suffered after July 1975 was supported by me.

Number 3 had merit in that October 1, 1960 was the beginning of Nigeria as an independent country. In my view, whatever moral code was to be set up should be made to apply to Nigerians. There were no Nigerians before October 1, 1960 as those who lived within the four walls of Nigeria before October 1, 1960 were British subjects. They only became Nigerians as from October 1, 1960. This was the option I settled on just before the commencement of business on that fateful day. I did not discuss it with anybody. I did not lobby for it. I kept it to myself and waited for the wisdom on the floor of the Assembly to be so exercised. I definitely believed that there was wisdom on the floor of the Assembly. This was what those who criticized my action in Benin did not understand.

Acting according to my conscience and on the firm belief that there was wisdom on the floor of the Assembly, I decided to take advantage of the rules governing debate in the Constituent Assembly. This was how I, on the floor of the Assembly rose to speak as follows:

Dr. Omoruyi (Oredo) Mr. Chairman; Hon. Members,

I want to amend my amendment to read, "Ist of October 1960", instead of "29th July 1975". 1st of October 1960 is Independence Day, so that covers everything. I beg to move.

No issue in the Constituent Assembly including such matters as the Sharia, the Presidential System and the Creation of States was so much debated and took so much time as this amendment. It took two agonizing days of acrimonious debate.

It was the subject of name-calling correspondences between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Olusegun Obasanjo in December 1979.

I acted in accordance with my conscience as was so directed by the Oredo Councilors that elected me. I 'd want to leave you with the words of Alhaji Shehu Abdullahi (Kano) from the Proceedings of the Constituent Assembly. It will be hell fire for Nigeria and for all of us not to accept the Amendment moved by the Hon. Member of Oredo

(Dr. Omoruyi) who I think the nation should respect for resisting all the temptations and all pressures put on him last night".

He went on:

"Yesterday at the Satellite Town there was some story that this morning the Member for Oredo (Dr. Omoruyi) was going to withdraw his amendment because he was approached with two Mercedes Benz cars and a lot of other gifts".

I acted in accordance with my conscience in seeing that my amendment was carried. I was able to overcome the pressure and temptation from one source or the other. I did not learn this on the spot; I acquired this from home and learnt early to act in accordance with my conscience. Pressure and temptation were not part of the things that influence my action. What I actually went through and how I weathered it should be left to my memoir.

I was surprised that the amendment was carried by one of the largest majorities in the Constituent Assembly. I did not kow it was so popular. A reading of the Proceedings would tell part of the story.

The amendment was carried by a majority of 121 to 16. 120 plus me could not be wrong. That was the company I kept. Could they all be wrong and my detractors right?

My amendment was one issue that united all Nigerians. The record is there for all to see. The followers of Chief Awolowo and some of my detractors in Benin never referred to the record. The supporters for the motion cut across all the known divides in Nigerian politics: geography, ethnicity and religion. The support for my amendment was Beyond the Tripod. For the interest of scholars let me further categorize those who voted for and against in terms of where they came from.

For the amendment were:

1. All the delegates from the Middle-Belt and the "South-South" except Professor Ambrose F. Alli;

2. All the delegates from the far the north;

3. All the delegates from Igbo states of Anambra and Imo except Chief CC Onoh;

4. 16 delegates from the Yoruba States.

Against the amendment were:

1. Only 15 Yoruba delegates;

2. Only one delegate from the Middle-Belt and the "South-South", Professor Alli;

3. Only one from Igboland, Chief CC Onoh;

4. None from the far north.

I WAS A UNITER AND NOT A DIVIDER

The third memorable experience for me was what I did to bring the minorities in the south and in the north together in the Constituent Assembly. This is my legacy. How I commenced the consensus building among the minorities in the north and in the south is discussed in the book. How the minority caucus set the agenda of the Constituent Assembly from the consensus built from the initial meeting called at my instance was a feat that others can be repeated today. Benin alias Bendel should lead in pushing the frontier of Nigerian politics Beyond the Tripod.

WAS INVOLVED IN AGENDA SETTING FOR THE ASSEMBLY

It was the political dynamics in the Assembly that forced on me certain roles in the Constituent Assembly. Some of us noticed that the military regime had no agenda; hence we decided to take advantage of the lacuna and set the agenda for the Assembly. I was a member of the leadership group that set the Agenda for the Assembly and perfected the following issues:

1. the 1979 Constitution based on the Presidential System;

2. the "geographical spread" that made the minorities all over the country critical to the election of the President;

RESOLUTION OF THE ISSUE OF SHARIA

I was in the leadership of the group in the Constituent Assembly that resolved the issue of Sharia by limiting its reach to personal matters and limited to the States. What seemed to have been ignored in the debate over this issue was that the mover of the motion for the deletion of the relevant Section in the Draft Constitution was a Member from the then Bendel, Dr. Mudiaga Odje (Ughelli and Isoko).

WHAT CAN BE LEARNT FROM MY EXPERIENCE?

Just as I called the first meeting of the minorities from the north and from the south to brainstorm on the need for the "Fourth Dimension" in Nigerian politics i.e. "Beyond the Tripod in Nigerian Politics", I still believe that our political leaders can do this today. Our conception of the "Fourth Dimension" in 1979 was a national idea and was not limited to the South.

Just as the Fourth Dimension agreed on the issues that we would pursue in the Assembly and in our dealing with the other Dimensions (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) in the Assembly, I still believe that this should have been done in 1998 in anticipation of the 1999.

A confession is in order here. We fashioned the Constitution, but we failed to take seriously how to implement it. This neglect cost the Fourth Dimension power in the past and made room for those who did not believe in the Presidential System to inherit power from the military. Was this not why the system crashed? One should leave this to academicians.

WHY RELEASING THE BOOK NOW

The purpose of releasing the book at this time is two fold.

One is to tell a story never yet told about the history of the system we are operating to day. This is for the University students that the "Presidential System", the "Geographical Spread" and the issue of "Sharia" have history.

Two is to make the political leaders of today learn from the successes or failures and mistakes of the past. This is for the political class that forming a political party that has the minorities as the core is feasible.

Three, that the notion that ‘we are all minorities" or that we constitute the "Fourth Dimension" is feasible if and only if the leaders of the minorities in the north and in the south (Middle-Belt and "South-South") would engage in a conspiracy in their dealing with the rest of the country. This is absent today.

Four, that from the experience of the past, the minorities are facing two options today if they are to fight for justice in a Nigeria that since 1960 only recognizes the tripod.

FINAL ADVICE

1. I strongly urge the present political leaders of the Fourth Dimension to commence a minority focused-political party and agenda that is also open to other Nigerians.

2. I strongly urge the political leaders of the minorities to use their number and resources to influence the platform of the existing political parties so that what they stand for is incorporated in the policies of the parties.

A confession is in order here again. We in the 'South-South' and in the "Middle-Belt" lost on both counts in 1979. Is it not obvious that we are losing them since 1999? Definitely, there is no political party that grew out of the minority caucus.

I am concerned that the leaders of the existing political parties are too preoccupied with mediating the relationships within the tripod. I was surprised that the leaders of the minorities in the north and in the south did not object to when the President Obasanjo called on the leaders of the Arewa Consultative Forum, the Afenifere and the Ohaneze Ndi Igbo to meet and dialogue and find solutions to the lingering political problems afflicting the country as if these are the critical factors in Nigeria. Why did the leaders of the minorities in the same party with the President not remind President Obasanjo that there are other groups in Nigeria? Why should they not remind the President not to forget that the Lars, the Danjumas, the Anenihs, and the Gemandes that come from areas that are Beyond the Tripod? Nigeria is Beyond the Tripod. This is the message we can get from this book.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

I would want to end these remarks by paying tribute to the present Omo N’ Oba, Oba Erediuawa for his leadership of our people.

I also want to pay tribute to my parents represented by Mr. Jacob Erhabor Omoruyi for their support and understanding during this period.

I also want to pay tribute to my immediate family for coping with my absence during the greater part of the period covered in the book.

This is an opportunity for me to place on record how three illustrious Chiefs of Benin kingdom rallied round me in 1978 and made me feel that I had backbone in what ever I did. When the former leaders of the NCNC in Benin abandoned me because I brought an Igbo Presidential candidate for the reasons given above, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, late Chiefs FS Edo-Osagie and MI Agbontaen had to receive Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe because of me. While I pray for the long life for the Esama of Benin, may I also use this forum to pray that the Soul of Chiefs FS Edo-Osagie and MI Agbontaen Rest in Perfect Peace.

I cannot forget the warmth and generosity of Chief Henry Fajemirokun. Many people knew him as a businessman. I met with him as a man with a Political Vision for Nigeria. He sensitized some of us to the belief that we should push for a new arrangement in Nigeria that would lead to the emergence of new names outside the three major ethnic nationalities that would be pro-business and also pro-masses. This is one aspect of the legacies of Chief Fajemirokun that had not been mentioned. When some of us drove in a long convoy from Lagos to Ile Oluji for his Funeral, some people were asking what was the connection between Chief Fajamirokun and some members of the Constituent Assembly? Some of the members of the moneymen he had recruited for his political plan are still alive today such as Chief Gabriel Igbinedion to confirm my account. He died in Abidjan a week or so before he was to start the implementation of his political plan. This is still part of the issues that are not in book yet that moneyman wanted to float a political movement that would be amenable to business just as the labor leaders did in 1989. May Chief Fajemirokun’s Soul Rest in Peace.

Who said that there are no friends of minorities among the majority groups? Who said that there are no Nigerians at heart from one of the major ethnic nationalities? We have not looked for them. I named the first one I met in 1978, Chief Fajemirokun. I can now name the second one I met in 1978/79, Chief Deinde Fernandez.

Just as Chief Fajemirokun planned to do before he died, Chief Fernandez did fund the launching of Club 19 in many states and actually wanted to fund a political party that would champion a Nigeria that would be built on the integrity of the persons and not on the basis of the tripod. I was delighted I was able to establish contact with him by telephone recently. When I tried to refresh his memory of what he did for some of us in 1978, he must have been surprised. I am surprised that his name is not featuring as one who should be approached to bail out the country. I so commend him.

I have said a lot through this medium. I would also want to thank my students and colleagues of the University of Benin. The current staff of the Department of Political Science, University of Benin should still consider me an Honorary Professor of Political Science who would readily come to the aid of the Department anytime. It was this setting that started me on in 1977. I am seriously thinking of what I can do for the Department of Political Science in particular and for the University of Benin in general. This will be in addition to my decision to donate my library in the Department that had already been done. I can do more and I want to do more. It is my home; after all, but for the Department, I would not have had a place to go back to in 1995. As a Professor of Political Science, I was elected to the Constituent Assembly; from there I became a partisan politician; from there I became the first Professor to attend the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies and finally from Benin I became the founding Director General, Centre Democratic Studies. In all these extra-curricular ventures, I had the Department of Political Science University of Benin to go back to. Who knows? Yes, I came to the US as a Visiting Fellow, Human Rights Program, Harvard University in August 1995 from the University of Benin, as a Professor of Political Science. I might still go back to the University of Benin as a part-time or Honorary or Visiting Professor one day. Who knows!

I have already placed on record in the book why I had to dedicate this book to Chief SD Lar, General TY Danjuma, Chief Deinde Fernandez and Dr. Obi Wali and Deacon Mike Ehimamiogho. At a time when it was not popular to think beyond the tripod, they were at the frontier in the fundamental restructuring of Nigeria. But for Deacon Mike Ehimamiogho, the manuscript would have been lost in the early 1990s. I still want to thank them for the various roles they played in the Fourth Dimension.

I thank you for coming and I want to assure you of the one thing I know I would not do. That is partisan politics not because of the usual saying that politics is dirty but because I have had my time in various capacities in public life in Nigeria as a partisan politician, as a constitution-maker, as an adviser to various military regimes, as a policy maker as a promoter and defender of democratic rights since 1959. My forthcoming reflections on my public life will deal with the sources of my decision.

I look forward to the day I shall be with you all and contribute my quota to the development of our land and its people.

An Address at the Public Presentation of my book on June 20, 2003 at Benin City Nigeria: BEYOND the TRIPOD In NIGERIAN POLITICS. (Benin City, Amfitop Books 2001).

Professor Omo Omoruyi

June 2002