APART from personal encounters with him, I have followed Comrade and his niche since the 1980s when I first saw him on television. This was in his days as the General Secretary of the Textile Union, sticking it to the then dreaded Military Government of IBB at a town hall meeting. Our most recent encounters, however, included a visit to his Abuja residence in August 2017, and a chance meeting aboard a Benin – Lagos flight two weeks after the visit to his home. So, this piece is but an attempt to provide some insights into my perception of his personality and character.

APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole

During my said visit to his home which lasted all of six-plus hours (I recall actually having both lunch and dinner with him on that day); we engaged on a wide range of issues mostly bordering on Nigeria and his position on issues. We also caught up on and shared opinions on the multi-million dollar boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jnr. and Connor Mcgregor which had taken place earlier that morning.

We were later joined by a few other people, mostly former Edo State Government House aides of his. As this was a few days after his speech at the August 23, 2017 NLC’s restructuring colloquium: ‘The Labour Movement and the future of a United Nigeria: What Role for Restructuring.’ One of those former aides whose names I can’t immediately recall, had mentioned to Comrade that a close friend had called and asked him: “When did your former boss (Comrade) start agreeing with OBJ on issues”. The reference being that OBJ had always been a staunch opponent of restructuring, and Comrade had just ‘pooh-poohed’ the arguments for restructuring at the NLC colloquium.

Impediment to national development

To this, Comrade responded that he had never truly been on the same side with OBJ on national issues save for leading the NLC to support the EFCC and the work it did under OBJ in his conviction that corruption in official circles was a major impediment to national development. He stated that the seeming agreement between OBJ and himself on restructuring was merely a coincidence. And that while OBJ must have his personal reasons for his position, his (Comrade’s) own reasons were rooted in his convictions of the sanctity of the Nigerian state, because according to him, he had been a beneficiary of Nigeria’s “unity in diversity”. He supported this position by emotionally narrating to us his experience as a young man leaving home for the first time right after completing secondary school to take up a job with the Arewa Textiles Company in Kaduna. He arrived Kaduna knowing no one, having no place to stay, and having little money on him. He and the two others were advised to go to the nearby Police station.
https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2018/12/apc-candidates-challenge-signatures-forged-in-bit-to-replace-their-candidature/

Of course, the station DPO was gracious enough to allow them to use the station as temporary abode, without first bothering to enquire about their ethnicity. Just as it is said that nothing good lasts forever, they were informed by the DPO some time later, to seek alternative accommodation. Comrade and his co-sojourners were next advised to go sound out the Village Head of an interior Kaduna community for a place to stay. Again, the Village Head benevolently offered these three youngsters from “foreign” tribes a place to put up. And so, this interior community became their new abode until they were able to sort themselves out.

The moral of the story being that the Police DPO and Village Head in reference were respectively from today’s South-West and North-West regions of the country, while Comrade was from the then Bendel State. Hence, Comrade insists that no one can convince him that a certain region, tribe or ethnicity is not worthy of being part of the Nigerian arrangement. What is more, according to Comrade, is that whatever he is or has achieved today is down to the fact that the Hausa/Fulani dominated Arewa Textiles Company in Kaduna saw wisdom in electing him as their Union Secretary. A development that served as the launching pad and motivation for him not only to go on and aspire to higher things, but to actually succeed in those aspirations.

He reasoned further that had the management and staff of Arewa Textiles Company based the decision to hire and vote for him on the mindset and logic of equating an individual’s entitlement in Nigeria to the section of the country the individual hails from (which seems to be the kernel of the restructuring agitation), then he would not have had the opportunities he himself has had. This is so considering, firstly, that there is no textile in Edo State where he hails from. Besides, the elective offices in the workers union would all have been zoned to candidates of Kaduna State or Northern Nigerian extraction, a scenario that might have ultimately altered his own destiny.

These are the experiences and sentiments that shaped the character of the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole we have all come to know as former Governor of Edo State and now National Chairman of the country’s ruling party, APC.

So, the Comrade that was heckled at the August 23, 2017 NLC’s restructuring colloquium was a grossly misunderstood Nigerian. Though his views on restructuring at that event was an unpopular one, he no doubt had the right to hold and express them without apology to anyone, because he was speaking from “my heart; not my head”. He posited further that he was aware that he could not lay claim to always being right. But that whenever he ends up being wrong on issues, it was always his “head” that was wrong, and never his “heart” because his “heart” is his convictions. Indeed, the “heart” was behind a contrite Comrade-Governor’s public apology and reparation to the widowed road side bread seller for his spur of the moment “go and die” comment in 2013.

He also told of his experience on a recent trip to Abuja during which his convoy got stuck in traffic. The Benin-Ekpoma road which is a major nexus between the North and South of the country had at the time been rendered impassable by heavy rains and perennial neglect. In typical Nigerian fashion, the security team promptly opted to use their siren in a bid to gain priority passage on the bad section of the road. But, he immediately instructed his security detail to cut out the siren because in his thoughts, the use of sirens in that circumstance was not only insensitive, but also capable of provoking in the masses, resentment and anti-elite sentiments of “here are the ‘big men’ whose actions and inactions have brought this hardship on us”.

That is the mark of a leader who cares and understands what it means to be on the wrong end of providence. This, indeed, is the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who regardless of what some consider his lack of oratory finesse, has chosen the mantle of fighting and getting results for the Nigerian worker and the downtrodden all of his adult life. So, Comrade’s polemic tendencies did not start with Chris Ngige, Bukola Saraki, Rochas Okorocha or Ibikunle Amosun; and certainly not since his becoming APC National Chairman. Consistent with the saying that “one doesn’t learn to become left-handed at old age”, expecting anything but polemics of him, is to not know the man and his convictions about his “heart”. It is testing the limits of his convictions about Truth and Right versus Wrong. Comrade has publicly dissociated himself from the attempts by some of his party members to transform themselves into “emperors”.

Indeed, emperors are believers in the Machiavellian doctrine of “it is better to be feared than to be loved”. As a man of radical candour, Comrade Oshiomhole would rather err on the side of truth and the “greater good” than either be feared or loved, which is why he is championing direct primaries to engender and “deepen democracy” in the APC. A move that is unpopular amongst some of his party’s elites who are more disposed to continue to have their way at the expense of the party foot soldiers.

On emperorship, I also recall his comment about staying out of the affairs of the Edo state Government since handing over, in order not to be seen as meddling. Especially as he himself did not encourage and would not have encouraged meddlesomeness while he held sway at the Dennis Osadebe house. This is a lesson in Servant Leadership for the emperor wannabes today parading the corridors of power in the country.

The events immediately following the APC primaries have seen a lot of angst directed in the direction of Comrade Oshiomhole. The angst and the potential schism have all come as proof of the character of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole,as he has publicly pledged to be on the side of Truth and fairness as opposed to giving in to blackmail and gang up. This is the Adams Oshiomhole that I have come to know and adore so much so that I named my daughter Oshiomhole, after him in 2004. And I hope and pray that my daughter grows up to have his values and virtues.
https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2018/12/watch-oshiomhole-may-be-a-traitor-working-against-buharis-re-election-apc-youths/

Abdulhakeem Ibrahim  wrote from Calgary, Canada