The Cotonou Times: Why did you become a politician in the year 1992?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: Thank you! First, I have been involved in politics underground for a very long time.
The Cotonou Times: So you’ have been doing politics for a very long time.
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes
The Cotonou Times: Under which political party?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Chief Awolọ́wọ́’s political organization. You see the year, Awolọ́wọ́ created Àfẹ́nifẹ́re, I was a member,I registered and I had a registration number.
The Cotonou Times: You were a member of the Action Group ?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá :Yes
The Cotonou Times: Do you remember the year you joined the Action Group (Àfẹ́nifẹ́re)?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : 1951
The Cotonou Times: So you were amongst the first set of people to start this political party?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes. In 1964,we had Federal elections.
The Cotonou Times: 1964, wasn’t it the time Chief Awolọ́wọ́ was in prison?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes. Ọ̀yọ́ had one representative, in the Lagos Federal House of Assembly.
The Cotonou Times: Did you run during the 1964 Federal Parliamentary Elections ?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : I contested in the primary election, but I was not elected and therfore I petitioned the leadership of the Action group. The person who was the Ọ̀yọ́ Secretary of the Action group. was a native of a small village beside Ọ̀yọ́,named Àwẹ́ who was a lawyer named Odeku. We took the petition to him,to let him know that the primary election was rigged. The leaders of the Action group in Ọ̀yọ́,the elders helped me to hand over the petition to Odeku to whom they reaffirmed that I had won the primary elections. So Odeku gave me the assurance that the necessary corrections would be made and that the person chosen during the primary process would not be accepted. But a month after, I was already making preparations raise the money for the election, that I learnt that I would not have to run during the Federal Elections. An announcement was made that that the Action Group and the NCNC had formed an alliance named UPGA ,which stipulated that wherever the Action group had a candidate who they thought could be elected, NCNC should not present any candidate, and wherever NCNC had a candidate who was likely to be elected , the Action Group should not put out any candidate. Given the fact that NCNC was usually winning the Ọ̀yọ́ seat, it was decided that that seat should be hand overe to the NCNC chosen candidate named Ayọ̀ Alábí, that he should be allowed to contest for Ọ̀yọ́ and that I should step down. That was why I stopped participating to the 1964 Federal Elections. In 1965 there was election for the Western Region House Of Assembly and the Action Group Elders decided that no primary elections would be held . I was designated as the Candidate for the Western Region House of Assembly.
The Cotonou Times: So that was how you became an elected member of the Western Region House of Assembly?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: But I had already made arrangements to travel to America for my Master’s Degree in Linguistics. I had been a Lecturer since 1963 in the Institute Of African Studies at the University of Ibadan. So I thought that politics wasn’t working for me, and that I should just focus on the path of academia Actually few days before I travelled to America, I told the Action Group leadership that I would not be to running because I was traveling to the US.
The Cotonou Times: So this means that you were not “officially elected”, despite the fact that you were designated by the party to run under the umbrella of the Action Group?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : The Action Group leadership indicated they that didn’t want to hold a primary election and this is how I was chosen.
The Cotonou Times: So the primary election did not take place?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes.
The Cotonou Times: So that was the reason you left for the US then ?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : The day I was travelling to the US, my wife and I had traveled the day before from Ọ̀yọ́ to go and sleep at a friend’s house in Lagos in order to board a plane scheduled for the next day. As we were at my friend’s house, we heard an announcement on the radio indicating that the Western Region House Of Assembly had been dissolved.
The Cotonou Times: This occurred during the Tafawa Balewa regime. Wasn’t the Western Region House Assembly already dissolved at that time because ? We understand that when Chief Awolọ́wọ́ was arrested in 1962, it had been dissolved then. Wasn’t it locked or it remained open?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : At first it was locked, and an interim administration took over then after a while it was reopened. Akintola came back as a Premier until it was dissolved in 1965
The Cotonou Times: Back then,the Action Group members who were not arrested in 1962,1963,1964 until 1965 were they Awolọ́wọ́ or Akintola loyalists?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : You know that Akintola and Chief Awolọ́wọ́ were in the-same party till a fight ensued that split the party into two factions.. Some were following Akintola and some were following Awolọ́wọ́.
The Cotonou Times: Were there more Awolọ́wọ́ loyalists than Akintola loyalists in 1965?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes,but Akintola created his own party named Democratic Party.
The Cotonou Times: Was this party controlling the Western Region House of Assembly or not?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : There were three parties: NCNC,ACTION GROUP and DEMOCRATIC PART(Akintola’s party). Few people from NCNC moved to theDemocratic Party,and few people from Action group also moved to Democratic Party, that is how Akintola obtained the majority in the Western Region House of Assembly.
The Cotonou Times: So let’s move to the year 1992 because we know you that you were elected to the Nigerian Senate
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Before we get there, I want to underline that the day following the dissolution of the Western Region House of Assembly, all Action group members started to be arrested and beaten . Among my supporters in Ọ̀yọ́ who wanted me to contest, three of them were arrested. One was beaten and his head was smashed with an axe. It was God who saved me as I was not home, because I would probably also have been arrested and humiliated.
The Cotonou Times: So what was the name of these three individuals who were arrested and humiliated?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : I only remember the name of two of them
The Cotonou Times: Okay,what’s the name of the two?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : One is from my neighborhood in Ọ̀yọ́ and his name is Níyi, whereas the second person is a Principal in Ọ̀rànmíyàn Grammer School in Ọ̀yọ́, named Ògùndáre.
The Cotonou Times: We heard that the Western Region was called the “Wild Wild West” then?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes, the “Wild Wild West” started when Chief Awolọ́wọ́ was arrested until the 1965 election. Following the poll, the votes were being counted at night until the electricity was cut off at Atiba Hall in Ọ̀yọ́.The Action Group suggested that the vote counting should be suspended until the electricity was restored . The Democratic Party responded that other means of illumination such as candles should be used in order to continue the vote counting. That was how the votes were manipulated, it was then announced that Ayọ̀ Alábí,for whom had I stepped down and who was supposed to be elected on behalf of UPGA was not elected, and that someone else had won.
The Cotonou Times: You said that all of this occurred in 1965,which is 58 years ago and we are now in 2023 in this same Nigeria where this kind of these things still occur. Were the results of the 1965 Western Region election cancelled?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: No. The results were manipulated,and it was announced that Akintola had won.
The Cotonou Times: So Akintola’s party officially won the 1965 Western Region Parliamentary Election?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : They said he was the one who won.
The Cotonou Times: So according to you the 1965 election was rigged.
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Approximately six months after all of that ,the first Coup d’etat occurred in Nigeria, it was the first time the military overthrew the Government.
The Cotonou Times:This is when Amadu Bello,Tafawa Balewa and Ladoke Akintola were killed i?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá :Yes, this is when Awolọ́wọ́ was released from prison,then Gowon became Head Of State.
The Cotonou Times : Where you in Nigeria or in the US when all this happened?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá :No,I was still in the US but i came back to Nigeria in September 1966.
The Cotonou Times : So you came back to Nigeria in September 1966?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes,so when I got back the military had taken over in Nigeria. No political activity was allowed from 1966 until 1975 when another Coup d’etat took place,Gowon was overthrown and Ọbasanjọ́ took over. Prior to Ọbasanjọ́, Muritala Mohammed actually took over and was in power for six months until he was assassinated. So in 1979, Ọbasanjọ́ ruled for approximately three years , until he handed over to a civilian government. The Civilian Administration took over in 1979 and I continued to participate in “underground politics”. You see when I came back from America in 1966, I became a lecturer at the University of Lagos until 1972. I then asked to be transferred from the University of Lagos to the University Of Ilé-Ifẹ̀. I was still participating in “underground politics” i979 when Ọbasanjọ́ handed over to the civilians That’s when Ọ̀yọ́ citizens came to visit me at the University of Ifẹ̀, asking me to join politics. I told them that I wasn’t interested but I that I would continue to be an “underground politician” as I wanted to continue with my academic career. That was when Bola Ige was elected as Governor of Ọ̀yọ́ state.
The Cotonou Times: Where you still a member of the UPN?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: Yes,I was still a faithful Awolọ́wọ́’s party member,but I remained underground. Nothing actually stopped me from doing politics publically, but I just didn’t want to be elected to any public office. Meetings were held in my house in Ọ̀yọ́ and its surroundings, as I am fond of politics.
The Cotonou Times:What made you become a Senator in 1992?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: It was because I was so fond of politics. The Ọ̀yọ́ citizens always came to me asking me to run for public office
The Cotonou Times: Which kind of relationship did you entertain with MKO Abiola,because both of you belong to the same political party(Social Democratic Party)?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: He was my very good friend. When I was elected Senator,my fellow senate members chose me as Senate Majority Leader. Abiola and I were already friends before that. When he was coming to Abuja he would first visit me in my house, we would both have lunch and dinner together. Then we would go and see the military head of state,President Babangida who was also our friend. When Abiola’s election was cancelled which prevented him from becoming President, I was approached by the Federal Government to become the Interim President.
The Cotonou Times: You mean the position that was held by Ernest Shonekan ?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: Yes. I don’t know if they went to meet him before me, but I was approached. I didn’t give them any response because Abiola was my very good friend even before he ran for the 1993 presidential election. Many people told me that it didn’t matter but I felt the Yorubas would not understand it that way.
The Cotonou Times: Thank you so much Baba for the enlightenment. How much was the Government of Nigeria paying a Senator back then?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: Let’s just say they weren’t paying anything.
.The Cotonou Times: So you are saying that as a Senator, you were not receiving any monthly allowance from the Government?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: We were given five thousand Nairas,but the money was basically to cover the transportation charges between Abuja and our constituency.
The Cotonou Times: Just five thousand Nairas ?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: Yes, Transport fee from Abuja to Lagos,Two thousand five hundred naira back and forth.
The Cotonou Times: Do you know this has changed completely now?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: We were lodged in hotels, we were eating for free, we were given a vehicle with a driver and nothing else other than that.
The Cotonou Times: Could you take the car to your constituency?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : No, one cannot drive from Abuja to Ọ̀yọ́, as it is not convenient. It’s like eight hours drive or more. So it’s best to travel by air. By air it was two thousand five hundred Nairas, and it was the same price to come back as well.
The Cotonou Times: So it was the Government who was paying for these travel expenses?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá : Yes,the money given to us was basically for transport, except for those senators who didn’t go to their constituency every month.
The Cotonou Times: What you are trying to tell us is that the lawmakers were doing their job voluntarily?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá :Yes, no money was involved. I am the one who later gathered all the senators and pleaded with them to let us manage like that until Abiola would be elected President. I reassured them that when he is elected ,we will know how much the President and his cabinets make,which would enable us to tell them how much we want to earn. It was hard to convince them.
The Cotonou Times: How do you react to those who claim that Nigeria no longer exists and that the Yorubas must exercise their right of self-determination?
Professor Ògùnwándé Abímbọ́lá: It is an interesting idea and the reason why I making a such a claim lies on the fact that unless there is change because if there’s a change, but if there is no change in the governance in Nigeria, and that things remain as they are without any development. The Soldiers in 1966 are those who turned Nigeria into a Unitary Government because up till independence there were only three regions. Why don’t we go back to three, four or maybe six regions? I believe that things would be easier but if this is impossible and that we continue with this unending vicious circle of nonsense with no light, no water ,no peace of mind because of kidnappers, assassins etc and if there is not going to be a genuine change then there’s absolutely no problem with Yoruba self-determination
The Cotonou Times: Thank you so much Baba for all your well detailed explanations . May you live longer in good health.
