By Chukwuma Ajakah

It was an afternoon of encomiums and celebrations when friends and associates of Nigerian literary icon, poet and polemicist, Odia Ofeimun, gathered for the public presentation of a book titled, Odia Ofeimun: In Search of a Common Morality, Essays, Tributes and conversations”.

The auspicious occasion held on Thursday, September 28, 2023 at the Right House, Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja also featured hot debates as conversations revolved around burning national issues, especially the troubled economy with the likes of renowned human rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, SAN chiding the political class for what he calls the dollarization of the Nigerian currency.

While commending the initiators of the book project, Falana said: “In a society where we hardly read books, I want to commend the writers and the editors. We thank them for continuing to honour a man who deserves all the honour and we are doing it while he is alive.

“We are told that there is no alternative to the ongoing crises of underdevelopment in our country. President Bola Tinubu has said that if there were any other alternative, he would have embraced it. So, as far as they are concerned, there is no alternative to the destructive neoliberal policies that are being unleashed on us. Let me say without any fear of contradiction that majority of Nigerians have nothing to do with Foreign Exchange. It is a business of the elite. When you unleash violence on our people because you are looking dollars, please note that the majority of Nigerians have no contact with dollars. In fact, most of them have never seen a dollar in their lives. There is no provision in our laws for the dollarization of the Nigerian economy.”           

Expressing gratitude for the honour done him, Odia Ofeimun remarked; “I do wish that every friend of mine who is a contributor to the progress we are making in the society is defended by the anointing of the presences he offers to the rest of the world.  I am genuinely celebrating my friends because they have come to celebrate me. I’m celebrating everybody because even when we do not meet, you know those who wherever they are, will defend the values that we believe in. Values that will defend other human beings in the society, values that are not selfish, but socially interrogated in such a manner that whatever they do is a blessing to all those who hear about them.”

“When you want people to do great things for a society the first thing you should wish for is that when the good people meet, they recognize themselves enough to be able to pursue common goals. We may not all be Marxists, socialists or whatever, but there is something about us as a people. The good people in the society are knowable and they are knowable not just because they swing some ideology, but because they know what is good for everybody

According the celebrated prolific author and social crusader, “The governors who began recognizing their own people as ‘omoluabi’ were tapping to the very root of the social milieus and cultures we lived in, we are born into, that we may not be living by, but conclusively wish to pursue and help grow. The way we are growing in our society, we appear to be throwing away some of the great things we believed in, but I also want to say this, irrespective of where we say it, we are genuinely contributing to the building of a society that will save the rest of us and save the children that come after us. If a child has heard the word omoluabi before and does not live according to its principles, that child will be considered a non-member of a progressive future. Being a member of a progressive future is a factor of what we are doing here today.

Ofeimun who has also had a stint in politics as a former Private Secretary to the late Premier of defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and later gubernatorial reminded Nigerians that “We all genuinely wish for a better society. I’ve seen everybody doing their own thing in their own way, but for God’s sake, let’s face it. If there were not people like us in the Nigerian society, much of what we call the Nigerian society will not exist.”

The auspicious event chaired by Mr Olumide Fusika, SAN attracted dignitaries from diverse sectors of the society, including Former Governor of Osun State and immediate past Minister for Interior Affairs, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the book reviewer Dr. Reuben Abati, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, The Guardian Newspapers, Martins Onoja, Former Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Oye Ekiti, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, creative writer, Molora Wood.

According to the editor, Professors Wumi Raji, Sylvester Odion Akhaine and Akin Adesokan, “Odia Ofeimun: In Search of a Common Morality emanated from the three-day conference held at the University of Lagos, in honour of Odia Ofeimun when he turned 70 on March 16, 2020.”