We remain unforgettable. Though they refuse to celebrate us. They want us erased, obliterated and blotted out. Never, that won’t happen! We’re incapable of being forgotten. The grim memories won’t allow us to be forgotten.
May 1, 1998, aka, May Day Riots, Ibadan, Oyo State. Still refreshingly crisp, 26 unbroken years after. It was a day to cherish. We are the Ibadan warriors of June 12.
President Bola Tinubu didn’t forget us. We’re convinced. But he preferred us unsung. He wouldn’t acknowledge us either. Strange? Even stranger than fiction!
He came near it. But he never did it. He bluntly refused to hit the nail on the head. He could not sincerely heal the wound. And it festers. Pity!
Is Tinubu afraid of Ibadan gods? Why did he withdraw from recognising its heroes of June 12? He almost said it. But he never did.
The city of Ibadan was in shreds that May Day, a bloody Friday. That single day, seven souls were lost to the struggle. Many more others were severely injured, brutalised.
Luckily, a President from that constituency emerged. And he opted to ignore his constituents. Its memories still as vivid as if it was just yesterday. It wouldn’t have been otherwise for us. We are still in excruciating pains.
We were “captured.” So they claimed. And tagged us “Prisoners of War.” That’s the deadly dummy they sold the maximum ruler of our time: Tyrant Sani Abacha.
Out of the Ibadan warriors. Tinubu could only identify Chief Bola Ige for recognition and celebration. We, the rest are inconsequential. It’s his choice. Sad! He preferred not to have anything to do with us.
He made deliberate, strenuous efforts. He struggled within himself not to remember us. That failed him woefully. Instead, the memory kept popping up. He couldn’t resist the urge.
So? This is the far Tinubu chose to get close to us. He wouldn’t identify with us wholeheartedly. He picked his words carefully. Perhaps, to slight us. And he did bruise us brutally. He wouldn’t want to celebrate our courage.
He grudgingly obliged us these lines: “We could not have won the battle against military dictatorship without the irrepressible Nigerian journalists who mounted the barricades along with the pro-democracy activists.
“We celebrate them today, along with their media establishments such as The Punch, Guardian, National Concord, Tribune, The News/Tempo and TELL magazines. Military authorities proscribed these media establishments and jailed their journalists for standing for free speech and civil liberties.” Bogus and ambiguous!
Why did Tinubu shut the Ibadan warriors out of June 12 heroes? We wonder aloud. When former president Muhammadu Buhari did it. We perfectly understood his psyche. And plight.
We knew where he was coming from. We didn’t belabour him. We didn’t expect him to understand the struggle. He couldn’t have believed in it. That would be too much for him.
All the same. He remains the greatest beneficiary of a course he knew next to nothing about. He never cared about the struggle. He didn’t believe he rode on our backs to power. The reason he treated us the shoddy manner he treated us.
Someone who new next to nothing. He’s alien to the struggle. A complete outsider; from top to bottom. Yet, he recklessly feasted on our sweats with relish. He brazenly enjoyed every dish of the struggle. And to the fullest.
We were made to watch him from afar. In his eight odd years. He made mess of the essence of the struggle. The democracy the struggle brought. Buhari battered into tatters when he happened to us.
His ultimate goal was to break our collective resolve. He wanted us to regret the struggle. He goofed big time. We shamed him to his utter chagrin. He could not comprehend our courage. Where did it come from? He wondered aloud. Just as he meandered his exit out of Aso Rock.
May a Buhari never happen to us again. Not even his remotest semblance. Neither in any form, nor mode or shape. Never again!
Sure! The last can never be heard of June 12. Not even of its unsung heroes. So also the whole story can’t be told. The reason I am bringing this piece back.
First published in my column, Daily Sun, Thursday, June 14, 2018. Exactly 20 years after our release from detention. It was in response to Buhari’s recognition of some in personalities. He called them heroes of June 12 on June 12, 2018.
None of us, 40 in all, was recognised or remotely mentioned. That has not been addressed till date. Tinubu followed suit last week. He ignored the Ibadan heroes of June 12. The piece:
“Prisoners of War (PoWs), remember them? Sure, you must. If not, let us risk a quick flashback.
“The story runs like this: On May 1, 1998, Ibadan, Oyo State capital, was shaken to its foundation. Protesters from three different locations invaded the city. It was a bloody Friday.
“They were up in arms against the dictatorial government of the despot, General Sani Abacha. He had planned to rule us forever. The rioters vehemently disagreed and displayed it.
“This was one of the violent spill-overs from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. It was presumed, Chief Moshood Kshimawo Olawale Abiola, GCFR, won the election. It was a struggle of life and death.
“The Ibadan 1998 May Day riots consumed lives and properties. The targets were Abacha’s cronies and everything associated with them. The city was literally turned upside down and inside out.
“The following Sunday, I practically paved the way for my detention. The Sunday Tribune, which I edited, went to town screaming. Its banner headline was fearful. It roared, Genesis of Ibadan bloodbath: The Untold Story. Nobody could ignore it, not even Abacha’s security sycophants!
“When the dust settled, 40 of us lost our freedom at different times and locations. We were framed up, clamped into detention.
“We were strangely accused of planning to overthrow a military junta of Abacha mode. Our chief accuser and tormentor was the then Col. Ahmed Usman (retd), ex-military administrator of Oyo State. To his greatest delight, we were captured in the warfront. So, he came out publicly to recklessly pronounce us Prisoners of War (PoWs). And it sticks till today.
“Sadly enough, none of our members made the list of honours for June 12 Pro-Democracy Heroes. To the compilers and masterminds of that list, we never for once existed. That is the weird thinking of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
“Our team was by no means formidable. We had Chief Bola Ige as our undisputed leader. The last public office he held was Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation in the Olusegun Obasanjo civilian administration. He was initially his Minister of Power. Ige was before this, governor of the old Oyo State in the Second Republic. That was between October 1, 1979 and September 30, 1983. He was murdered in cold blood on December 21, 2001, in his Bodija, Ibadan residence.
“Other members included: Alhaji Lam Adesina (late) former governor of Oyo State; Comrade Ola Oni (late), the legendary rights activist; Femi Adeoti (my humble self); Alhaji Lateef Akinsola, a.k.a Tokyo (late), former chairman, state National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW); Alhaji Billy Akanji, a.k.a Baba 70 (late), Kehinde Adesina and Sunday Morenikeji, aka, Baba Blessing (late).
“None of us spent fewer than 32 days in detention while Abacha had his way. We regained freedom through bail the second day he lost his life. His gross loss was our bountiful gain. Such is life.
“But President Muhammadu Buhari ignored the whole pack of us. He left us in the cold; all alone to lick our wounds, all by ourselves. What an unfriendly deal! Is it because we are not government-connected?
“There are several others of the like minds. None of us could make the list in the reasoning of the compilers. Pity!
“Undoubtedly, the strong pillar of the struggle was Chief Alfred Rewane (also late). As a matter of fact, he lost his precious life in the thick of the agitation.
He was the silent and main financier of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). He was shot dead strongly believing in the actualisation of the June 12 mandate.
“Now that June 12 has been posthumously actualised in a way, Patriot Rewane remained largely unlaud in his grave. He was a man of great courage and discipline.
“He never pretended. He proudly showcased his June 12 belief. And he lived for it. But here we are all ignored by those who should know better.
“I have very strong conviction that we cannot celebrate June 12 without Patriot Rewane. He struggled with his heart and sweat. He threw everything he had into it. We are forever proud of him.
“To be sure, no dispute about those “lucky” to be so honoured now. And certainly, no grudges against them not even one. If it took 25 years to recognise MKO.
“Then there is still hope for the PoWs and others. We have clocked 26 years having been detained in May 1998.
“We, the PoWs never ran away. Some of us had ample opportunities to do so. But we refused the urge and the pressure. Yet, we are alive today with those who bolted away.
“Those of us (PoWs) who are not dead. We were left off the hook. We never lost a life in the struggle. Despite the agony and trauma we went through. That is God’s great grace.
“Nevertheless, what is sauce for the goose is equally sauce for the gander. There is no half way to it. No half measure either. What is worth doing at all is worth doing well.
“We’re spurred to shout, ‘Egbe kini yi wa, awa lokan.’ We insist: ‘Awa lokan.’”
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