Comrade Segun Osoba – remember him? He celebrated his 90th birthday last Thursday at his country home of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. Family, friends, comrades and students of the Marxist ideologue gathered to give Dr. Osoba 90 hearty cheers. Comrade, as we fondly called him, was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, also known as Great Ife).
The story is told of how, because of his leftist activism, he was passed over again and again for his professorship until he decided, no more, even when he was approached to now put in his papers. This reminds us of the same treatment meted out to legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who was glossed over repeatedly for the Senior Advocate of Nigeria title until Great Ife students decided to award him the Senior Advocate of the Masses title!
That he declined to be decorated with the title of “Professor” took nothing away from Osoba. He was one of the fiery Marxist scholars that made Great Ife the hotbed of vibrant student union activism in his days. Those were also the years when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was a force to reckon with, not only within the Great Ife campus but also nationwide. Whenever Ife ASUU sneezed in those days, the government of the day caught a cold!
It was, therefore, not an error that when the Murtala Muhammed/Olusegun Obasanjo military junta decided to give the country a new constitution in 1978, Osoba was one of the “50 wise men” saddled with the responsibility. Together with another leftist scholar, Dr. Yesufu Bala Usman, the two broke ranks with the other conservatives that made up the preponderance number of the Constitution Drafting Committee to author and submit their own minority report, which was pro-people as opposed to what many Nigerians regard today as the Lugardian Constitution (as amended time and time again), which has failed to solve the country’s myriad problems.
Osoba and Usman had posited that “our people need a country, Nigeria, operating at full capacity and unshackled by the thieving activities of a good-for-nothing ruling class”. This is more apposite today than it was in 1978!
In recognition of Osoba’s contributions to national development (which includes decades of mentoring generations of Nigerian youths, of whom yours truly is one), President Bola Tinubu felicitated with him on his 90th birthday. The State House press release titled ‘President Tinubu greets Dr. Segun Osoba at 90’, runs thus:
“President Bola Tinubu congratulates Dr. Segun Osoba, a renowned historian, activist, and scholar, on his 90th birthday today January 9. The President celebrates the respected scholar on this momentous occasion and describes him as one of Nigeria’s finest minds. After many years of activism and scholarship, Dr. Osoba retired from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as a history lecturer in 1991. He has been operating from his hometown, Ijebu-Ode, in Ogun state ever since.
“President Tinubu lauds Osoba’s efforts in advancing the frontiers of knowledge, promoting scholarship, and inspiring generations of Nigerians. The President also commends the eminent historian, a staunch advocate of social justice and good governance, for contributing to Nigeria’s constitutional development. He recalls his membership in the committee that drafted the 1979 Constitution, which laid the foundation for the Second Republic. Notably, Osoba and Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman produced a minority report recommending no immunity clauses for Presidents and governors and a minimum age of 30 to be eligible to run for office. The military government rejected the entire report at the time.
“President Tinubu thanks Dr. Osoba for his intense patriotism in serving the nation and prays to God Almighty to grant him many more years in good health”.
Well, Osoba and Usman’s minority report, which was rejected by the military junta of the time, may yet become the stone which the builders rejected but which eventually became the head of the cornerstone (Psalm 118: 22).
A major highlight of the celebration was the launching of a collection of the celebrant’s speeches and papers titled, Critical and Contentious Issues in the Modern and Contemporary History of Nigetia: Collected Writings of Samuel Olusegun Osoba. Another highlight was the toast to the good health of the celebrant- For he is a jolly good fellow was rendered to the admiration of all in the Ijebu language of the celebrant, after which speaker after speaker insisted on hearing from the celebrant.
Osoba ignited the fire of a revolutionary activist, which old age has done little to diminish. Going down memory lane, he said that all his lifetime, he has dedicated himself to the struggle for a better society, the upliftment of the downtrodden and the unrelenting fight against oppression. “I spent my life trying to help people achieve their potentials. If you do that, the ruling class will grind you to dust”, he said, adding that Nigeria is well endowed but the only problem is leadership. “The ruling class is the problem”, he said, but Comrade reiterated that he remains unchanged and unperturbed, even in old age.
What a better way to demonstrate this than the enthusiastic way he sang the Victory Song when his comrades in the house raised the song! His voice suddenly rang out, even without a microphone, and with clenched fist he sang along with the others:
There is victory for us
There is victory for us
In the struggle for Africa
There is victory for us
Forward, ever
Backward, never
In the struggle for Africa
There is victory for us!
E soleto! E Africa!
Here is wishing Comrade (Dr.) Segun Osoba many more years of celebration in good health and happiness!
Adieu! Comrade Madunagu
Marxist theoretician, revolutionary activist, foremost feminist and humanist, our inimitable comrade, Prof. Benedicta Madunagu translated from mortality to immortality on 26 November 2024, aged 65. Funeral obsequies begin on Thursday, to culminate in interment on Friday, in Calabar. We will miss her!
Bene fought a good fight and left indelible marks on the sands of time. Together with her friend, husband, ideological soulmate and comrade, Edwin, they were two of the university lecturers that the General Obasanjo military junta victimised for their principled and active support for the student movement, the National Union of Nigerian Students, led by the irrepressible Segun Okeowo, in 1978’s Ali Must Go student revolt against the Commercialisation of education by the Obasanjo military junta.
Bene, Edwin and a host of other leftist and conscionable lecturers and administrators were branded by the ultra-conservative, reactionary and retrogressive Nigerian government as “teaching what they were not paid to teach”, for which they were sacked from their jobs, but which the courts later reversed. Alhaji Shehu Shagari ‘s administration upheld the court judgment.
Bene’s transition has left a void which the Nigerian left will find hard to fill but we take solace in the fact she raised and nurtured other cadres who are continuing with the struggle. They say to live in the heart of others is not to die; Bene lives on in the hearts of other revolutionaries who will keep the revolutionary torch burning. Comrade Che Guevara spoke for every revolutionary activist when he said: “Wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms”.
Bene’s battle cry reached an uncountable number of comrades during her active years of revolutionary struggle; and more than one hand reached out for the arms that she doggedly did battle with. So, she lived a worthy and fulfilled life of a proud and accomplished revolutionary. This is our consolation, strength and fortitude as we grapple with this irreparable loss .
Sleep well, comrade! The task that you lived, laboured and died for shall be pursued with urgency and utmost vigor. Aluta continua! Vitoria a certa!
Feedback
I disagree that stampedes are the result of hunger. Rather, I will say stampede has been with us for a long time. I can recall that the introduction of the “War Against Indiscipline” was as a result of stampedes at various service points. And stampede has never been a factor of something free. Even where a Nigerian needs to pay for services rendered, there will still be stampedes! I remember that was why I rejected taking up an appointment in Lagos in the early 1980s – except the employer would be ready to provide accommodation within the premises of my workplace! While in the university, Unife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), I used to visit my sister in Lagos in the late 70s. Each time I wanted to go out, she would give me a sound warning not to forget to hold firmly to my wristwatch, necklace and other valuables while rushing to board a taxi/bus because there was always a need to rush; otherwise, one would be left behind. Later, I discovered that in most urban areas of today, stampedes are also common. And in all of these circumstances, one would still have to pay for the services rendered. The point I have tried to make here is that stampede was not, and should not, be tied to hunger or T-pain alone because it has always been part of us. – Kola Oloye.
