By Eddie Onuzuruike
A National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, member once approached me in Umuahia, excited that he saw his town’s man’s name boldly inscribed on one of the streets in Umuahia. How did this come about sir? He queried. That was somewhat difficult for me to answer but a little knowledge of history came to my rescue.
Adelabu was a first republic politician and was at a time the Minister of Social Services in the Eastern Region but he died prematurely. I was aware that he was an NCNC member, a party that had the greatest number of nationalists like Herbert Macaulay, Zik, Mbonu Ojike, Adeniran Ogunsanya, K O Mbadiwe, Dr Michael Okpara and many others. In the same vein, NCNC was popular in Eastern Nigeria and probably for Adelabu’s party affiliation and political thought, he was honoured with streets in Igbo Land and other areas in the then Eastern Nigeria which comprises South East and most of the South-south geo-political zones of today. I equally informed him that there are other street names like Awolowo, Kaduna, Lagos etc in Umuahia.
This encounter with the corps man happened two and half years ago. It was over the weekend that I read a well written article on the Guardian of Saturday, 13, 2015, authored by Oloye’ Lekan Alabi on Adelabu and a program for remembering this political giant of yester-years. In the same article lay a great revelation on the vision of Nigerian leaders in the early years of the independence struggles. The following is a speech by Adegoke Adelabu.
‘I want a career open to talent. I want opportunities based on merit. I want the son of the Fulani herdsman in Sokoto, the son of the Cocoa plantation labourer in Ibadan, the son of a railway porter in Enugu and the sons of their highnesses the Emir of Katsina, the Ooni of Ife and the Obi of Onitsha to stand an equal chance of succeeding Dr. Mellanby as the next Principal of Ibadan University College. Such a career is open to talent in America. Such a career is open to talent in England. Such a career is open to talent in Germany. We shall labour without respite until such a career is open to talent in our own Nigeria….
The crux of the problem of Unity is that sacrifices, great sacrifices, must be made by individuals, by groups, by tribes, by sections, by bodies, by classes, and by regions in order to usher in that unity which will secure for us freedom and independence. It is not that we too, do not love our tribe, religion, class and region. But we love Nigeria more. We hereby implore all partisans and regionists to join us in the Great Adventure. The stake is well worth the sacrifice.”
Dr Martin Luther’s “I have a dream” speech delivered in 1963 has always been a mantra for me to the extent that I recaptured it in one of my books, The Preacherman, but little did I know that a similar speech was made earlier by Adelabu. Adelabu died in 1958, Martin Luther’s speech which said so much about equality and desegregation and of being the brother of a Whiteman rather than his brother in-law happened five concrete years after Adelabu said such words.
Chances are that Martin Luther King may have been inspired by Adelabu’s injunctions in his speech in Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963, during the civil rights march. If King was not privy to this speech by Adelabu, it would be a wonderful coincidence.
Back home here, I do not think that we have been fair to our heroes past. We have their history and biographies but what have we done to live by their ideals and philosophies?
Adelabu’s speech harped on equal opportunities, development in Education, industries and all. How much have we done at all levels of government to emulate and implement them?
Paraphrasing King: ‘In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable Rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’ It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children…………. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of ‘interposition’ and ‘nullification’—one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; ‘and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.’
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.”
Excerpts of King’s speech captured above are touching and have yielded much results that America is desegregated culminating in a black, Obama, becoming the president of America.
What have we done with Adelabu’s speech which came some years earlier than King’s? This is a question yearning for answers from all Nigerians, leaders and the led.
Much needs to be done. We should celebrate their birthdays and memorialize their deaths where prizes, scholarships should be bestowed on our children. Upcoming and contemporary leaders who have shown genuine acts to recreate a better Nigeria free of the mental shackles of hate and prejudice, including the encompassing corruption, nepotism, tribalism and all the ugly acts that characterize the present day Nigeria where we are rich but have one of the lowest standards of living in the world and bayed on all fronts by all types of unthinkable crimes. We have to wake up from our slumber and chart a better course or be cursed for ever.
.Onuzuruike wrote in from Umuahia
