By Charles Kumolu

THERE is no likelihood that anyone would be faulted for describing Prof Bolaji Akinyemi as a man of many parts.He means different things to different people.

Indeed, he comes across as a colossal scholar, fascinating diplomat, imaginary politician, misunderstood activist and quintessential statesman.

Those  whose perception of him may be at variance with the aforementioned  are likely to commit the class blunder of regarding him as a gadfly.

But that is at the peril of his antagonists, as the 1947-born-intellectual  par excellence has never ceased from being  a reference point since his first national appointment in 1975.

Like a colossus, Akinyemi, whose appointment as the Director-General of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, came at a rather astonishing age of 33, has continued to bestrode  Nigeria’s socio-political sphere.

In the trail of this nearly four decades of pragmatic sojourning  are complex and yet workable variables expended on Nigeria’s journey to nationhood.
As the head of the NIIA,   he championed  dialogue  as an alternative vehicle for  foreign policy consultation.
He organised and presided over the following: Nigerian-United States Dialogue (1978), Nigerian-Soviet Dialogue (1978), Nigerian-Chinese Dialogue (1979), Nigerian- Scandinavian Dialogue (1980), Nigerian-Brazilian Dialogue (1980), Dialogue on North-South,  Dialogue with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (1981) and the Nigerian-Chinese Dialogue (1982).

From  the  various national assignments he had undertaken at  different times, Akinyemi, who was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1985, boasts of an unwavering passion to serve his fatherland.

Professor Bolaji Akinyemi

This yet to be rivaled drive that saw him being a handy resource person  each time stringent solutions are needed for contentious national questions, are conspicuously present in his speeches, seminal works and even media interviews.

An encounter with him would surely make every student of history   long for further engagements,  as a result of his expansive knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of governance.

As  Minister of External Affairs, Akinyemi  brought his provoking  scholarly  prowess   to  bearthrough  policy actions  at a time when  the dynamics and complexities of global politics required men of his calibre to promote Nigeria’s  stance on international affairs.

Till date, some of the structures and frameworks he put in place act as testimonies to the indelible footprints he left in the nation’s foreign service.

Of note is the  Technical Aid Corps  ,TAC,  a programme which sent  professionals overseas to engage in volunteer work  among the continuous interdependent nations of the world.

TAC was  designed to  promote  Nigeria’s  image and status as a major  player in global affairs,  particularlythe  African  continent which had been the centre  piece  of the country’s foreign policy.

Black bomb
He was also credited to  have initiated the  Concert of Medium Powers,  aimed at maximizing the potentialities of third world countries.  A direct offshoot of that  was  his support  for Nigeria  to consider developing nuclear weapons.

Such proposal, which he described as the black bomb, connoted  that Nigeria  had  a sacred responsibility to challenge the racial monopoly of nuclear weapons.

He was the leader of the Nigerian  delegation to the United Nations Annual General Assembly Session, New York   (1985); deputy leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Commonwealth Summit, Bahamas (1985); leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Organisation of African Unity, Council of Ministers Session (1986);  deputy leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Organisation of African Unity Heads of State and Government Summit (1986); leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference, Harare (1986); deputy leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Non-Aligned Summit, Harare (1986); leader of the Nigerian Delegation to the United.

Nations General Assembly Annual Session (1986); leader of the Nigerian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Critical Economic Situation in Africa (1986); leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Budget Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity, Addis Ababa (1987); leader of the Nigerian  delegation to the Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity, Addis Ababa (1987); deputy leader of the Nigerian Delegation to the Annual Summit of the  Organisation of African Unity (1987),   among others.

The other side of him also manifested during the Abacha regime, when the tumultuous state of the nation then demanded that agents of change, like him, proceed to the trenches in the interest of the nation.

Mixed bag

With the nation on the brink, Akinyemi chose rather not to sit on the fence as he, alongside the late Pa Anthony Enahoro, Bola Tinubu, Dan Suleiman, among others, formed the  National Democratic  Coalition, NADECO.

With the display of uncommon bravery in the face of the brutality of the worst dictatorship in  Nigeria’shistory, Akinyemi braved the odds to ensure that civil rule was enthroned.

His role in that era also came as a mixed bag to those who  thought that he was unlikely to stand up against the military-an institution he had served in some capacities before then.  But that was the typical Akinyemi, manifesting  his conviction that there  isn’t any known alternative to democratic governance.

Of  significance, recently, was the stabilizing role Akinyemi played as the Deputy Chairman of the 2014 National Conference. Whenever matters were heading for catastrophe, Akinyemi brought his wealth of diplomacy to bear.

It was that same sagacity that he demonstrated, penultimate week, when he sent an open letter to the two major presidential candidates – President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Muhammadu BUHARI of the All Progressive Congress, APC.

In that letter, Akinyemi went down memory lane, bringing his fears home.
“We have  this very notorious prediction from United States semi-official sources that the world is expecting a cataclysmic meltdown of the Nigerian nation  come 2015. Of course most Nigerians have taken umbrage at this prediction for their country.  But there are Nigerians who are indifferent  to the outcome of this prediction. One of my low moments during the just concluded 2014 National Conference was when in an attempt to break an impasse, I painted a grim picture of devastation which would follow a breakdown of the Nigerian state, to which a delegate between 45 and 55 years old replied  “so what?”  I thought to myself, here is a man who would probably run away to a neighboring country at the boom of the first gun but was callously indifferent to the fate of the youth, women and children who would be caught in the middle.”

Akinyemi did not only identify the problem. He, also, in that letter, proferred solutions.

As he celebrates his 73rd birthday today, we join Nigerians in wishing him well.