For the very few people that knew me from a very young age, it has always been obvious to them that Babaolowo is a different breed of human. Growing up without a silver spoon as never been an excuse for greed or opportunistic lifestyle, I have always employed the use of my own wits and depended largely on my capacity to think and identify what is value and what is not, and for this I have been rewarded with peace of mind and the ability to call the bullshit of anybody irrespective of who they are.
Activism: I was still a teenager the first time I led a protest in secondary school. I remember how my beautiful “Iya Toyin” had to visit Awori Anglican Comprehensive High School to plead with the Principal for more time to pay my WAEC fees due to a fictitious deadline imposed to fleece, only to discover that the fees have been inflated by more than three times the appropriate amount. Fueled by the agony of watching my mother beg a thief in Moyegun and the reality of the whole scam, I started my protest by writing a piece, sent it to PM News, a news media house that had recently began publication compared to the larger media houses and a correspondent was sent to our school to confirm the truth. I didn’t even know what it meant to be a “comrade”, all I had was “courage” and a thirst for justice.
By the time the news of journalists interviewing student broke to the school administration, we had already organized cardboard and placards for protest, and the thieving Principal ran into a panic resolution tactics by immediately announcing that the excess collected on the appropriate WAEC fees will be refunded to all that have already paid, and the remaining students that are yet to pay will only be required the right amount. Some of us were fully refunded, and Tinubu hasn’t started paying for WAEC because he had only just become the governor and still finding his foot.
Yabatech came with its challenges and I faced it with my pen and my voice on all front. I began my activism from the beginning after being asked to pay the student union fees before I could register, I asked the registration officer to show me where it was written in the student handbook that Student Union membership was a compulsory criteria for registration as a student after paying my acceptance and school fees with receipts? I read everything I see so I sometimes know what others don’t. Even freshers like me thought I was mad for challenging the norm, but I ended up not paying either the Student Union or departmental association fees in my first and subsequent years until graduation. A few good men caught the bug from me and live charmed and glorious lives in Yabatech.
It would be a surprise that I went on to serve the College, Student Union and my Department in different capacities for years as an election umpire and all of this on recommendation; God bless the soul of Akintola Adefemi. Adefemi was the first person in College to challenge me on the ground of activism in a good way after our first semester based on my valued and active criticism of the norm, he insisted that I should channel the energy into the system by joining the Student Representative Council (SRC) to represent our department and students. I rejected the offer because the SRC then wasn’t the type of representation I sought, I knew I would probably end up resigning out of frustration, or become a thorn in the flesh of the management because the Student Union Government (SUG) was merely a unit they fed, or become an Akin Alabi which would have meant betraying myself and my values. I preferred being a thorn in the flesh of all establishments as a student so I stood my ground.
Adefemi wouldn’t stop believing and somehow ended up nominating me again as a student member of the College Electoral Committee without consultation or ever being a member of the SRC. My nomination was unanimously adopted. I later found out that it was a better pick on the part of management when compared to the idea of having me become a student union executive in any capacity since the position will exempt me from such unless ofcourse I rejected it. It was a win for me as well because it was an opportunity to serve and represent the student where it mattered, and it didn’t deny me my voice for the students, and against the SUG or the college administration. The SUG in my days was not the same as the Student Union of the days of Sowore or the Great Oracle Mahmoud, it was then “now” a mere extension of the school management, led by a group of cowards that only acted when pinned to the wall by fellow students, and this is even visibly apparent in not just school unionism within schools but also NANS and NAPS. Student unionism had become a platform for aligning with corrupt school managements or politicians as against the the true position unionism for defending the rights of students when it began.
I remember quite a number of times we had to pin the SUG in Yabatech to the wall to protest or demand provision of basic amenities like water before they acted during the days of Olubunmi Owoso in Yabatech. My amiable friends Fakorode O Kayode and Adeyemi Denrele Tokunboh stood in the frontline with me on such occasions, many of us were required answered questions afterwards. Some of us had risen above questioning and the College knew our agitation wasn’t a desire for undisclosed stipend or recognition like the members of the SUG, it was an action borne out of a genuine desire, and a display of capacity as student leaders, a true student representation without titles even though I had one.
Unionism and its leadership opportunities can be a tool for true leadership and capacity building, it can also be a mere tool for popularity depending on the character and value system of the people involved. Success in activism and advocacy has rarely translated into good political leadership or governance in the recent history of Nigeria or Africa, examples close to home is evident in the performance of the radical khaki wearing Adams Oshiomole of the Nigeria Labour Congress of the early 2000s, and the supposed human rights activist and lawyer in Festus Keyamo who has now become a pan in the kitchen of the rulers frying and gleaming Nigeria and Nigerians for the fun of it.
Successful leadership in business also doesn’t automatically translate to capacity in governance, leadership and resource management. Leadership in government and politics is not the same as leadership in business. While nepotism can be a tool for success in business without recourse, it is always a recipe for disaster in politics and governance. Governance requires a character that is not required in business leadership for success, therefore success in business leadership or management is not a criteria or indicators for potentially succeeding in leadership and governance. Governments don’t buy and sell resources, commodities or service for profit or personal gains, they manage resources, humans, talents and develop policies for the common good of all and their profit is measured in the successes of institutions (public and private), others and not self as against the yardstick in business. You will agree that narcotic drug dealers businessmen too, they just don’t sell what is legal even though it is desired by a market, and not all drug dealers succeed and that’s beyond getting caught by the law.
Sowore indeed has succeeded in business, managing the complexity running a media house as an executive after cutting his teeth in activism from an early age. he has also successfully started a political party on his own and this by no chance a feat because that has been done by so many people than I forgot to count. I have worked in the media and entertainment space in Nigeria for a dozen years too and I know the simplicities and complexities involved first hand and should be applauded. I am also well aware of the rigours of activism, and I am still actively involved in demanding rights and justice even though I don’t practice it as a profession. Politics in different parts of the world have different markers, this is why I don’t hold “political experience” as a yardstick for capacity. Lucky Igbinedion will be called experienced, but experienced in what exactly? Jolly Nyame will be tagged ex-governor as well as James Ibori, they are ex-convicts too who stole from their people with both hands like Tinubu is still doing today through proxies. Lagos was a pigsty for the 8yrs of BAT, today he rides on the successes of others in the shadow of a faux mentorship that never existed but at least he had something to hide behind.
Experience in leadership is measured by results produced in office and not by the seasons spent occupying the office by any breathe, this is why my position and the choice of whom I support has been hinged on leadership and the results produced as a leader. The two other popular candidates don’t fall by any stroke in the true definition of leaders, they are at best rulers and in the real sense plunderers with longevity to show on their trail of calumny, a résumé as “experienced politicians” even though their indicators are soiled in red of either corruption, failures or the blood of innocent Nigerians demanding a Nigeria that is for all so I’ll excuse them from my comparative completely.
By all definition, Peter Obi is a bigger success in business and leadership today than Yele Sowore and a radical one too. It takes more than the chants of “solidarity forever” to fight two impeachments and change the whole electoral calendar of a State while at it. Julius Malema is another great example of radical leaders, he was more radical than Sowore and still very so today. He started a party too from scratch and didn’t because of his desire to become president get fixated on power. Malema understood the need to show capacity and began that journey from his municipal, making it almost impossible for anyone to question his capacity to lead. The popularity of Sowore in business or activism does not translate to leadership capacity in governance on any front. I know the problems of Nigeria the same way Atiku Abubakar did in 1992 when he began his presidential ambition journey, today he has been responsible for compounding this problems and I don’t even need Wikileaks documents to confirm it. Nothing on the résumé of Sowore alludes to capacity to do what he’s saying.
Without denigrating Yele; there is not doubt that an eagles nestling can fly, but first it must grow wings. Sowore needs to grow wings and show it to the world instead of telling all and sundry that he can fly. Peter Obi didn’t just grow wings, we saw him in flight.
I am Abidemi Babaolowo Oderinlo
#IWriteWhatILike
Thanks for sharing!