On Monday, the Oyo State Governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala in an apparent contempt for the late political sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, replaced his statue with that of an unknown soldier.

Awolowo’s statue was erected by a former governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lam Adesina, in the twilight of his administration, in front of the Government House at Agodi, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The statue was, however, allegedly demolished by political thugs believed to be loyalists of controversial Ibadan politician and PDP chieftain, Chief Lamidi Adedibu. The statue was demolished in 2003 during the inauguration of Rashidi Ladoja as the Oyo State Governor. For four years nothing was done to erect another statue to honour Awo, a respected statesman who fought doggedly along with others in the colonial era to ensure that Nigeria gained independence from Great Britain.

One expects that Alao-Akala should have recognised Awo’s contribution to the development of then Western Region of Nigeria which had Ibadan as its capital. It was Chief Awolowo who first introduced free education to the region as the premier. He was also the brain behind the establishment of the first television station in Africa, which was situated in Ibadan.

Awo was a charismatic leader with large followers. His intellectual prowess was what Yakubu Gowon considered in his days as military head of state when he appointed him the Federal Commissioner for Finance during the Nigerian civil war years. It therefore amounts to sacrilege and a brazen display of impudence and arrogance for Alao-Akala to replace Awo’s statue with that of an unknown soldier.

In trying to explain the rationale for the unveiling of the new statue, Alao-Akala said his government did that to appreciate the role of the nation’s fallen heroes in ensuring the peace and unity of the country. But it did not occur to the governor that a soldier's statue erected in front of a civilian Government House is an irony of sort. It probably betrays Akala’s disposition as a civilian governor with dictatorial tendencies similar to those of military rulers, and thereby sends wrong signal to the people he governs.

The revelation that the statue was constructed at a whopping cost of N17.5 million is quite ridiculous, annoying and leaves much to be desired. It is an eloquent testimony to the fact that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is a party given to wastefulness and corrupt tendencies. Alao-Akala’s action has been condemned by prominent citizens. Lam Adesina described it as sacrilegious and regretted that anti-democratic forces had taken over the reins of the Oyo State government. His predecessor, Alhaji Ladoja, said the step taken by the governor showed his low level of reasoning and mentality regarding democratic norms.

The former Kwara State governor, Cornelius Adebayo, lamented that Alao-Akala was tampering with the collective history of the Yoruba by his action. We share these sentiments. Hence, we call on the Alao-Akala-led government to remove the unknown soldier's statue which must be constituting an eyesore to well-meaning citizens in Ibadan.

http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=21672


I think this is rascality taken too far.

What historic importance is this unknown soldier when compared to Awo. I guess Akala must have benefitted from his free education policy. No this is unfair, please for legacy sake somebody some where should stop this madness. Think if an outsider like say an Igbo military administrator or hausa man doing something like this. Well meaning Nigerians should help preserve history.

That goes to show Akala's level of reasoning as Adedibu & Obasanjo's robot. Anyway, I'm not suprised that such a thing is happening.

In Africa in general it is sacrilegious to disrespect an elder. I believe we can stop this afront on our colective sensibility. Let those who have people in the house appeal to them to push for a bill to correct this anormally.

Just like Ajala remove Awo statue, the State house of assembly should remove him.

what makes u think they don't concur?

Then all of them need to go, if they can support what is wrong.

I said it earlier that one day this will happen cos of a well known reason. Otumba Chief Alao-Akala was right to remove
Mr Awolowo Statue, which for him and his state represent Tribalism and Back-stabber, according to Chief Akala he don't want himself to be seen as a man who honours Tribalism which Mr Awolowo represent.

i bow for some people self ! can someone be tribalistic among his tribes men again willy willy*2 ?
Akala blundered and he should be corrected not supported just because you THINK someone was tribalistic in nature !
How do u define AWO being a back stabber? can u please, explain ? Ordinary civilian snuggled out military personnel and you are here saying he back stabbed ? why didnt ojukwu sorted himself out by having all his strategies outlined ?

Abegi, carry your tribal war comot for here o ! Besides, we are talking about what AKALA did not what AWO did or did not do!

Cheers

micklplus:

How do u define AWO being a back stabber? can u please, explain ? Ordinary civilian snuggled out military personnel and you are here saying he back stabbed ? why didnt ojukwu sorted himself out by having all his strategies outlined ?

Mr Awolowo was/is known by people as a champion of Tribalism and back-stabbing and his Excellency Otumba Chief Alao Akala don't want people to see him as a supporter of such an ugly mentality.
For example the problem between the Ijaws and Ishekiris was caused by this same man and many lives were lost on that conflict and majority of his policies contributed to the loss of many other innocent lives.
Maybe because of all this loss of peoples lives, His Excellency doesn't want his hands stain, that is why he want to distance himself from such a man.

willy*2:

Mr Awolowo was/is known by people as a champion of Tribalism and back-stabbing and his Excellency Otumba Chief Alao Akala don't want people to see him as a supporter of such an ugly mentality.
For example the problem between the Ijaws and Ishekiris was caused by this same man and many lives were lost on that conflict and majority of his policies contributed to the loss of many other innocent lives.
Maybe because of all this loss of peoples lives, His Excellency doesn't want his hands stain, that is why he want to distance himself from such a man.

write as much as you can, and make as many excuses as you can.

one thin is certain, the legacies left by awo we know, and also that of akala /adedibu, we shall surely see.

akala is the man distancing himsef from awo, dats fair, gud enough and actually appropriate, cause they obviously dont belong to same school of thought!

kaycrystal:


write as much as you can, and make as many excuses as you can.

one thing is certain, the legacies left by Awo we know, and also that of akala /adedibu, we shall surely see.

akala is the man distancing himsef from awo, that is fair, good enough and actually appropriate, cause they obviously don't belong to same school of thought!

May your days be long.
cheers

Their is a difference between politics and hooliganism that akala is practising. if you take a careful study of what has dominated Ibadan in terms of illiteracy, inhuman act etc. since the emergence of this democracy you will succumbed to my point. A truth Yoruba man will never allow himself to be control by devil mind as its obvious in akala case. who is akala to changed papa awo statue with unknown soldier? did soldier symbolise democracy in akala world? if you even look at amount used to erect the statue you will tag it to something suspicious. a town like Ibadan that was a copy picture which other states striving for its emulation changed to be laughing stuff with her irrational  control by devil tools so to say, it's a pity! infact Ibadan is a disgrace stigma to Yoruba land.

jas_o:

Their is a difference between politics and hooliganism that akala is practising. if you take a careful study of what has dominated Ibadan in terms of illiteracy, inhuman act etc. since the emergence of this democracy you will succumbed to my point. A truth Yoruba man will never allow himself to be control by devil mind as its obvious in akala case. who is akala to changed papa awo statue with unknown soldier? did soldier symbolise democracy in akala world? if you even look at amount used to erect the statue you will tag it to something suspicious. a town like Ibadan that was a copy picture which other states striving for its emulation changed to be laughing stuff with her irrational  control by devil tools so to say, it's a pity! infact Ibadan is a disgrace stigma to Yoruba land.

I believed their are something wrong about Awolowo that made his Excellency Otumba Chief Akala to drag down the Statue.
It's a pity to treat Mr Awolowo in such a way, this shows that his legacies are no more welcome. Kai!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ah ah ! you are a two mouthed person willy.

mdsocks:

ah ah ! you are a two mouthed person willy.

Yes i am.
Awolowo don fall for ground

willy*2:

I believed their are something wrong about Awolowo that made his Excellency Otumba Chief Akala to drag down the Statue.
It's a pity to treat Mr Awolowo in such a way, this shows that his legacies are no more welcome. Kai!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If statues represents legacies in ur warped dictionary, then we know where you belong. obviousy you are a rare breed of the molete boys that has little time for the internet but also you are yet to understand and explore the possibilites by getting more educated and enlightened. pity you dint come during the era of free education!!!

its obvious this willy willy doesnt know much and those are facts gathered from his posts so far !
Sincerely, how would you react if one governor of the touts in your state that is being control by a  garrison commander from amala kingdom decided to change statue of ZIK and or odimegwu with a nonentity called " unknown soldier"  

What is wrong cant be right and thats the whole argument ! In yoruba land, theres a big respect given to elders ! And it cant be negotiated or compromised however u want to look at it !  Awo signifies lot of things that u cant even comprehend and i think that is the reason why you are taking abomination as child's play in the first place!

cheers

kaycrystal:

If statues represents legacies in your warped dictionary, then we know where you belong. obviousy you are a rare breed of the molete boys that has little time for the internet but also you are yet to understand and explore the possibilites by getting more educated and enlightened. pity you dint come during the era of free education!!!

All what you said about me is true,
But His Excellency Otumba Chief Alao Akala said Mr Awolowo is not important. I'm not the one who destroyed the Statue but his Excellency Chief Akala a Yoruba man who knows the right thing to do.

no mind the stupid ogbomosho man,na the hang over of the feud between Awolowo and Akintola dey worry am.

Akala is a mistake

deor03:

Akala is a mistake

no,he is an accident waiting to happen.

The Oyo State Governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, on Wednesday explained why he replaced the statue of the late politician, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, with that of an Unknown Soldier.

He said that as a beneficiary of the free education policy of the defunct Action Group, he held the late Premier of the defunct Western Region in high esteem.

Alao-Akala was reacting to the gale of criticisms that had trailed his decision to replace the demolished Awolowo’s statue opposite the Government House with that of an Unknown Soldier.

The governor had on Monday, unveiled the new statue, which he said was constructed to remember the fallen heroes of the first and second World Wars as well as the country’s civil war.

In a statement e-mailed to PUNCH by his Special Adviser on Public Communication, Mr. Dotun Oyelade, the governor accused his predecessors of playing politics with the replaced statue .

Rationalising his administration’s decision to commit N17.5m to the renovation of the Remembrance Arcade, Alao-Akala said it was meant to revert to the master plan of the city.

He said his decision was also aimed at dousing the ripples generated by the replacement of the original Unknown Soldier statue with that of Awolowo by the administration of a former Governor of the state, Alhaji Lam Adesina.

According to him, a former military administrator of the state, the late Maj.-Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa, had ordered the construction of the Unknown Soldier cenotaph in front of the Government House.

This, he said, was meant to replace the first Unknown Soldier statue constructed at the Dugbe cenotaph, which was removed because of the congestion in the heart of the city.

On his assumption of office in 1999, Alao-Akala said that Adesina ordered the demolition of the military statue on the premise that it connoted military hegemony.

As a democrat, he quoted the former governor as vowing not to allow such statue in front of the Government House where he would reside. This informed its being pulled down.

For the better part of the four years of his administration, he said Adesina did not deem it fit to replace the statue with that of Awolowo until two days to the end of his tenure in 2003.

When the Awolowo statue was pulled down just as Adesina’s successor, Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja was being inaugurated on May 29, 2003, Alao-Akala quoted his boss as having ascribed the action to the handiwork of unknown persons.

Although Ladoja, claimed to be an Awoist, he said he failed to re-erect the structure during the three years and one month he spent in office.

He said, “What the Akala administration has done is to stem the controversy surrounding the statue by going back to the original plan for the construction of the Unknown Soldier arcade in front of the Government House.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Chief Obafemi Awolowo lives in our heart as the most enduring testimony of the greatness of the Yoruba race.

“Governor Alao-Akala, as a beneficiary of the free education, remains committed to continuing the enduring recognition given to the statesman.

That is the defence of his excellency the excutive Governor of Oyo state,
Ladoja or no Ladoja I think Akala should have just done the right thing.
Ogbomosho or Oshogbo is not the case now.

micklplus:

its obvious this willy willy doesnt know much and those are facts gathered from his posts so far !
What is wrong can't be right and thats the whole argument ! In yoruba land, theres a big respect given to elders ! And it can't be negotiated or compromised however u want to look at it !  Awo signifies lot of things that u can't even comprehend and i think that is the reason why you are taking abomination as child's play in the first place!
cheers

Micklplus,
I understood your concern,
But His Excellency Chief Otumba Alao Akala is a man in possession of some secret files unknown to you about Mr Awolowo, he knows him better and what Awo represent which is Tribalism and Back-Stabbing, people like his Excellency is not comfortable with such an Awo ideology and want to eradicate it.

I need to stop reading willy*2's posts.

This person wants to kill me with laughter.

STV reported this evening that, some journalist that attempted to take picture of the over 17million naira stature of the unknown soldier were arrested and detained.

Even i heard that some factional OPC members of Ibadan branch were draging Awolowos Statue all over Ibadan street.

supercunt:

no,he is an accident waiting to happen.

he z already an accident, it's only the casualties that, ,

Mustay:

he z already an accident, it's only the casualties that, ,

But His Excellency Chief Akala did the right thing, the Electorate elected him to do

the electorates elected him to better their lives not a non-living SIGNIFICANT statute

Mustay:

the electorates elected him to better their lives not a non-living SIGNIFICANT statute

They Elected Otumba Akala to better their lives and also to remove the INSIGNIFICANT statue,
Oyo people are tired of spreading Tribalism imposed on them against their will by that living but dead statue,.
That was why they mandated his Excellency throught their votes to pull the statue down.