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INTERVIEW

I Am Intimidated By My Father’s Good Image — Awoniyi’s Son

Late CHIEF SUNDAY BOLORUNDURO AWONIYI, the Aro of Mopa was an  iconoclast in  public service and a firm believer in the core values of late Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello. He was the chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) until he died in an auto crash on his way from Abuja to Kaduna to attend the meeting of the forum on November 28, last year. In his memory a foundation was launched at Arewa House, Kaduna on April 30, this year. Tributes were paid and testimonies were made and accolades were showered on the late elder statesman by friends, colleagues, associates and proteges. The icing on the cake turned out to be the public presentation of a 700-page book on the life and times of the Aro of Mopa. His eldest son and an investment consultant MR. DARE AWONIYI speaks with SHITTU OBASSA about the man whose good public image intimidate even his own family.

NNW: Kindly tell us about the last days of your father on earth before passing on?

AWONIYI: Let me try and answer your question because I’m not too sure of what you exactly mean. His last days on earth were primarily spent in service of the nation, the North, Arewa Consultative Forum (AFC) and attempt to be a bit focused on what is right and decent. He spent a lot of time with members of the mass media. He felt very strongly abut the media. He believed that the media was the saviour of the people in a situation where there is a despot in power. And he worked assiduously to point out the ills of government and the failure in the responsibility of government because he believed that government is there to serve the people and provide basic needs of the people. He spent a lot of energy at the pursuit of this noble cause and at his age a lot of people were surprised that he had so much energy and drive to do what he was doing. He was hypertensive and diabetic. But he kept on moving in pursuit of his set goals. Until the last minute. He died on his way to Kaduna from Abuja to attend ACF meeting. So, his life was a life of service. And it is difficult to say exactly how he live his life towards the end. He believed in hardwork, honesty dedication integrity and he was focused. He also believed that somebody must speak out in the face of tyranny. He used to describe Nigeria as an ill-used country because of the caliber of the leaders it has had. So, it was a very painful thing for him. He truly believed that Olusegun Obasanjo misused the opportunity to more Nigeria forward. Today, my father has been vindicated. That vindication for me was very painful, because I would have preferred that he was not vindicated the way he has been vindicated. The revelations that are coming out about contracts and embezzlement. It is so much what he said Obasanjo was doing and Obasanjo would do. It is a terrible shame the man has lived up to the statements of Chief S.B. Awoniyi. That is very painful for me and members of my family, because we were brought to believe in Nigeria, in service to humanity, to believe that somebody given a responsibility is inherently good. To now find out that somebody in a position of responsibility who is consummately evil and choose to do wrong when he can do right is unbelievable.

How was growing up under the tutelage of the late Chief?

(Laughter). Growing up under the tutelage of Chief was an interesting experience. Chief was a strict disciplinarian. He was not a tyrant in the sense of being a disciplinarian. He was actually fair and consistent. He was not changing the goal post. The reason for his rebuking you or chastising you and deciding to punish you today it is for the same reason he will do so in 20 years’ time. He was  fixed and precise. He was almost a permanent fixture in my life and the lives of others in the family. To be  honest with you, his death was a monumental shock to me, because this was somebody I regarded as a permanent fixture. He was always  there for me and others. He was always ready to listen to you ad he was always ready to give you a  piece of advice. He was always ready to take down his pattern of life as part of his instruction. He could spend six hours for the purpose of giving some correction to you on whatever and no matter how small. To be honest, I am among those of his children who were very close to Chief and we came to realize that even though he was our biological father he did not belong to us as a guide, an instructor and a mentor. He loved us a lot. he was not an emotional person. It is very difficult for Chief to hug you but he might do so once in many years. But he was a very interesting person to live with. He would learn so much from him at any time you stay with him. He was a repository of knowledge and the depth of his  knowledge is so much frightening. I looked at him for once and I said  for me and many others like me “I am a body supported by his brain.” But for him he was just one big brain being supported by his body. And we laughter about it. On the day I cracked that joke he said “well, I suppose if anybody wants to kill me he has first go for my brain.” And  on the day he died in an accident it was brain injury that killed him. Finally. Chief was a very very wonderful father.

What was his passion in your own opinion of him?

His greatest desire was for everybody to excel. He believed that every human has the capacity to be great to do good and to be wonderful. He believed that opportunities were not available for most people and that as much as possible it was his responsibility to provide that opportunity for as many as possible. He believed that anybody who wanted to reach him even late at night could walk up to him or his house and see him. For a long time he had no security guard’s until he was attacked. You simply walk and knock on his door. He would just say, “Come up”, even to stranger right to his bedroom at night. Sometime, he would come down in his pijamas and talk to you. He had no qualms about mixing with people. He also believed that the youth must be allowed to grow. You must not steal a young man’s standard.

And that they must be helped to grow right. His  ideas, concepts and values of life were so strong that it was as if he was posed in his attempt to move people forward. He asked me one day if I had a motto for my life. And I said “No”!. He said, “your school has a motto?” And I said “Yes”. So, why don’t you have a motto?” And I said “I never thought of it”. He said, “Okay,  I will lend you mine” And he then said “Good manners, honesty, discipline and the pursuit of excellence.” And he lived by it. I understood this later that you can be good mannered, you can be disciplined and you can be honest but nobody can be excellence but you can push towards it. He purpose excellence all his life. He saw in people the ability to pursue excellence. His biggest flaw in the words of Smith when he was talking about Weston Churchill, “church’s biggest flaw is that he would only accept the very best.” And that was the by gest flew of late Chief Awoniyi. He was willing only to take the very best. He did not believe that anybody should play the second fiddle to anyone. He did not believe anybody should rule over anybody or lord it over anybody. Anytime he drove on the street and he saw these urchin we call Almajiri  in the North he was pained. This is one of the reasons why he started talking about the foundation. A grassroots-oriented foundation to enable him to do something,  to make sure that Nigerians are free from the tyranny of those same people that they call leaders, to move things forward because the reason why we have almajiris roaming the street is not because the religious education system has failed, it is because the leadership has failed to plan for these young boys and girls.

Your father is going to be honoured in a very special way that very few will enjoy having lived a life of selfless service, that is, publicly they are going to make testimonies and pay tributes. How do you feel being the son of such a person?

As I told you, as his son, he did not belong to us. I mean, my father has never picked up a phone or written a note for me to any body; he will not do it. He will do it for anybody else but not his children. He will not introduce any of his children. As a matter of fact it was after his death that people knew he had 11 children, a lot of people do not  know his children. He will not introduce you, he will not push any of his children,  he will not do anything. He will educate you to any level you want and from that point on you are on your own because he believed that being his child you have some special advantages which others do not have. So, none we knew he do not belong to us. For people to pay you accolades they pay he belonged to them. So they are that emotion at about it. We are really honoured as a family, as individual members of that family, to know that people love him so much. I have the experience of seeing people re-act  to him when he was alive with so much affection and now that he is gone, I understand why so much affection is being poured on his memory. We are honoured by it, we are owed by it, we are scared about it. It is frightening but we thank God for it. But most importantly he didn’t belong to us, he belong to Nigeria, he belonged to the North, he belonged to ACF.

For the first time a non-Muslim  from a minority was asked to head ACF and he became a rallying point. What kind of lessons are we to learn from it?

I’m  not sure  that it is the lesson from the kind of leadership or it is the lesson from the quality of the people who make up the north. So, the north is a very interesting place. People forget that the NPC was formed and started by Rev. Lot, it was not the Sardauna  of Sokoto that started it, it was the Rev. Lot a Christian minority. People forget that when the north was in a mess and was brutalized. Our leaders were murdered in their sleep and we had to rally round and hold Nigeria together it was a Christian minority, Generla Yakubu Gowon everybody turned to. So, from time to time, in the history of the North we have had this situation. However, we have people like late Malam Aminu Kano. Even though, people knew he was from Kano, in the context of his style of politics and his values he was actually a minority. This is because his brand of politics was not mainstream Northern politics. He was a socialist to the core. His values were different. So, the north has always produced people like that and they were appreciated. It is the quality of the North that made it possible for people like late Chief Awoniyi to emerge as leader of the North. If it is not the entrenched values in the north it is possible for Awoniyi to possess the sterling qualities of a leader and yet not duly recognized. But the North is such a place that, in spite of all our weaknesses, flaws and faults we still  know and appreciate certain core values. You will discover that those who are of northern origin and had the opportunity of leading this country but failed to perform creditably hardly have public respect in the North. They may be heroes in Lagos, Abuja and the eastern part of this country. But when they are among their own people they lack popularity ever in their  respective places or home towns. And Audu in the bush, as my father used to say, knows that they have failed. So, it is what the North is made up of and not necessarily the personal qualities of late Chief Awoniyi, that they can look at themselves and accept the fact that we need some body in the calibre of Awoniyi to lead us.

Although the late Chief was said to have prepared the blue print for the take-off of the foundation, sustenance of the laudable projects and programmes can be a problem. How do you think that the foundation named after him can be sustained?

I totally agree with you. But, like I said earlier my late father was man of the people, the north and entire Nigeria. When the issue of the foundation was broached I know he was working on something but the details were not firmed up yet. But he had discussed with so many people and they have a clear idea of the foundation will be pursuing.

One aspect of the foundation that might be of interest to the public is the memorial lecture of such a great man in view of his ideals and principles. How do you intend to sustain his legacies?

When you look at the legacies of late Sardauna of Sokoto, late Chief Awoniyi was probably the foremost advocate of those legacies. He pushed for the yearly lecture on late premier of Northern Region. And they are even talking of a foundation now. It is unfortunate that the chief is no more. But, I believe he has done  according his own bit creditably. We’re looking at his blue print for promoting the legacies of Sardauna. And we’re going to look at his own blue print to push his own legacies. You see, one thing you have to understand about the late chief is that he was a complete democrat. Even when he was a permanent secretary under the military he believed in democracy absolutely. He believed that arbitrariness was not part of democracy, that everything must be done according  to the rules and principles laid down. And that everybody must be involved in taking decisions about the direction the country should follow, even if that person is from the smallest minority. And, he believed that it is the way you treat the minorities and their voice among you that defines whether you are a civilized society or not. For that purpose, we’re looking at a lecture series and the ideals  he believed in. The foundation will have a pro-poor out look. We’re going work on health projects, explore different and better ways of doing things to bring out a new outlook and  a fresh approach to many things. We’re looking at pandemics like HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and annual occurrence of gastro entritis (cholera) at the end of every dry season. Judging by the rate at which it kills it is obvious that it is not cholera. This is because it takes about seven days before cholera could kill a victim. But, this disease kills within six hours. He complained about it. He has studied it. He was an Information Technology guru. He was always on the internet. So, we are looking at some of those values. He had wanted to put computers in schools. He had wanted to put computer in the hands of every child in Nigeria. He made me work assiduously as an investment consultant on developing a programme that could be workable. So, we’re supposed to look at that. If government is interested, fine, we make available our blue print. If they are not interested there is nothing we can do. This is because we don’t have the wherewithal for it. We’re also looking at community development. We’re talking of sensitizing communities take responsibilities for their own infrastructure and their own future. We’re also looking at education. We will make people understand what is possible. There will be programmes, annual lectures and collaborations with other organisations for their own programmes and assistance. We also will offer assistance to as many organizations as possible. I have been to one or two programmes organized by foundations and they were rowdy and badly organized. We’re going offer any interested foundations our expertise as an organization.

As  his own son, give me an epitaph that befits his grave?

He had this saying during discussions with people he regularly recited: “There is no amount of good that a man cannot do if he does not care who gets the credit.” And that is the sum total of my late father.