Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has
described the first Federal Minister of Social Services and Natural
Resources, Chief Adegoke Adelabu, popularly called ‘Penkelemesi’, as his
political role model.
Obasanjo made this remark on Saturday at
his Hilltop presidential residence, Abeokuta, while receiving the
family of the late Ibadan-born politician who paid him a courtesy visit.
They had come to intimate the former
president about the 100 years posthumous birthday of the late politician
slated for September 3, 2015 and a foundation to be inaugurated in his
name.
Obasanjo said he shared the political
philosophy of the late politician which was devoid of ethnic
considerations but which focused on Nigeria’s unity.
He noted that Nigerians were still struggling to reach the pinnacle Adelabu attained in politics.
Obasanjo, who accepted the offer to be
the patron of the posthumous centenary birthday celebration of the late
politician, described the late Adelabu as a detribalised Nigerian.
Led
by an Ibadan chief, Aare Tunde Alabi, the family members said they were
in Obasanjo’s house to solicit his support in giving a befitting
ceremony to the first African Manager of the United African Company.
The former president further noted that
Adelabu was years ahead of his political contemporaries, adding that he
advocated for the United States of West Africa before his demise – long
before the Economic Community of West African States was formed.
He said, “Adelabu was not just a
historic figure, he was a reality, he was a phenomenon, he was uniquely
Yoruba, uniquely Nigerian, uniquely African and uniquely a member of
human race.
“What you are proposing to do, I believe
Adelabu deserves it in every facet. Today, we are still struggling to
reach the pinnacle or the pedestal Adelabu reached in politics. He was
not swayed by linguistic, ethnic, tribal, regional, sectional
considerations but by what is best for Nigeria.”
Alabi, who gave a brief bio data of the
leader of the opposition in the Western House of Assembly between 1956
and 1958, pleaded with Obasanjo to “carry Adelabu to the world.”
He said if Adelabu was alive he would have been 100 years by September 3, 2015.
Adelabu, the first Chairman of the
Ibadan District Council in 1954, died in a road accident on March 25,
1958 along Ibadan-Ode Remo Road at the age of 43.
The opposition leader in the First Republic championed the cause of the NCNC led by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
(Punch)
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