Clinton Ayabowei found a strong word of caution in the story of Obi Okonkwo. The character is fictional, but his travails left a lifelong impact on one living human being. If a book could influence the life of a young man growing up in a newly independent nation, that book would be ‘No Longer At Ease’ by Chinua Achebe. The man it affected for life is Clinton Ayabowei Esq.
Achebe’s second novel tells the story of Okonkwo, a young Nigerian graduate just back from England. He was sent by his community, Umuofia, to study Law, but when he got to the United Kingdom, he changed his mind and decided to read Classics instead, literally a study of the language, culture and literature of ancient civilizations. In the newly independent Nigerian nation, Okonkwo belonged to the new elite who would take over from the colonial overlords.
Bred in the best tradition of British culture, austere, disciplined and determined to be counted among the new crop of Nigerian citizenry, Okonkwo cultivated a mindset that did not give room for compromise. He believed that probity should be a living element in the moral life of the country, and accountability should be the watch-word of the emergent national ethos.
He had an abiding respect for upright living, and he meant to set himself up as an example to emulate for future generations. In particular, he detested anything having to do with bribery, the act of giving and accepting inducement for work that has rightly been paid for, by virtue of the salary that comes at the end of the month.
Among members of the Umuofia community in Lagos, Okonkwo was the leading light, the star of the moment, who embodied all their hopes and aspirations as a people. He represented their presence in the new civil service hierarchy, and he was sure to bring nothing but pride to their land.
Okonkwo himself was averse to the culture of corruption for which Nigeria was getting famous. He decided that he would be an exception, and everyone could be sure to point at him as a beacon of hope, a sterling instance of what it means to be an exemplary citizen, a shining light in the dark, a voice for patriotism and decency.
Everything turned otherwise when Okonkwo paid a visit to his birth place, Umuofia. He saw for himself the abject poverty confronting his home. In his poetic imagination, his mother amounted to nothing but a bag of bones, and his father was no healthier under the evident grind of poverty. Okonkwo felt he needed to do something drastic, and change their circumstance for good.
But he had a loan of forty pounds to pay back to the Umuofia Progressive Union which had so graciously released his scholarship, in the first place, and sponsored his education for four years in Her Majesty’s queen-dom. He would equally have to pay back the lease on his new car in installments, pay back five pounds he had lost to thieves, move to a worthwhile apartment, and settle down with the woman he had chosen to marry against the advice of his people.
The everyday pressures of living, in short, so overwhelmed Okonkwo that he began to contemplate accepting the bribe that was obviously being offered to him in his office and in his official residence. In the end, Okonkwo falls to the temptation, and accepts gratification without knowing that the currency notes that were passed to him were marked. Police men were waiting just outside to apprehend him. The novel ends when the police burst into his home, pounce on the evidence of corruption, and lead the culprit away to face the full wrath of the law.
Ayabowei took his moral bearings from that story. He admired everything about the young man, except the fact that he took a bribe. His sympathies went out to the young graduate from England, and he contemplated the fate of his fall for days on end. From the time he read that novel in his higher elementary school days, Ayabowei made a resolute vow to himself.
He would never fall to the same temptation that so lured Okonkwo to perdition. He would be an exceptional Nigerian. If Okonkwo’s classic example, given by Achebe, would have a counterpoint, then he would be that living counterpoint. He would live the dream that Okonkwo failed to live. He would measure up to the lofty standard that the young man could not reach. He would be different. He would set himself apart in his private and public conduct, and would be a prime reference point for society as to what it means to be a man of conscience.
He would not take what did not belong to him. He would not steal from the commonwealth. He would be content with his portion. He would not join the bandwagon of those who loot the treasury hollow for the heck of it. He detested bribery with all his soul, and he would do well to stay far from anything corrupt that attempted to taint his good name.
The course of Ayabowei’s life thus far has shown him to be a man of his word. His yes has remained his yes, and his no remains his no. He has done well to keep bribery and corruption at a distance, so much so that he declined to join the police when he got a chance to enroll in his younger days.
He even turned down his appointment as a judge when he was named for the office on three consecutive occasions, for fear that being a judge will leave him open to corruption. Even in his days as a law maker in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Ayabowei was known to be peculiar. No one ever dared approach him with a bribe, because he would certainly refuse where others were accepting.
The same could be said for his days in government. As Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of Bayelsa State, he earned his title as Honourable for his singular distinction as one Commissioner who would not compromise his personal beliefs, one who could be counted upon to give proper account of his expenditure from the public purse.
Ayabowei is still grateful that he read Achebe’s novel at the time he did, quite early in life. He is also grateful to a certain Mr. Ogolo of blessed memory, a son of Opobo in Rivers State, the teacher who brought the plight of Okonkwo so graphically before his young imagination as to elicit the right response that has guided him through life, from the last century to the present moment in a new millennium.
‘The man who taught us, our principal, a man called Mr. Ogolo, drove home a strong message. He is late now. From the way he taught us, I said I will never be in that position. Even if I joined the police, that would have been one of the considerations. I would have been tempted to take a bribe. That’s why I said no to being a policeman, and that’s why I also refused to be a judge. I prefer to be in private practice as a lawyer’, he said.
Ayabowei’s joy is that he has set himself as an example for his children, two of whom are already practicing lawyers. Wherever they may go, and whenever they mention the name Ayabowei, it will be recognised as a brand for honesty, another name for probity and forthrightness. Everyone who has ever served under Ayabowei, be it in his private chamber, or else in the Ministry of Justice, freely declares the goodness in the heart of the man, and testify to his upright dealings with humanity. His friends and admirers speak of his noble spirit, and his former colleagues at work still think highly of him.
For Ayabowei, no credential is better than being in possession of such a sterling identity. He practically embodies the popular saying that a good name is better than riches.
