Of course, we know they won’t be here forever. Nevertheless, when an old man or woman dies, we feel it, sometimes very deeply, many times painfully, especially when the person that just passed on was our father, mother or community elder whom we admired.

Within the space of a fortnight, two highly respected old men who arrived this world in places hundreds of miles apart in our country transited to the Great Beyond. Pa Ayo Adebanjo who arrived in the little village of Isanya Ogbo left first, at the age of 96. Isanya-Ogbo is a little town in the Ijebu area of Ogun State. It is part of the Ogbo Mokanla (Eleven Ogbo). Some of the other villages that make make up the Ogbo clan in Ijebu land include Iken-Ogbo, Odoagamegi-Ogbo, Ibido-Ogbo, Imaweje, and Ijagun. Ijagun is home to the Tai Solarin University of Education.

On the other hand, Pa Edwin Clark was birthed in the village of Kiagbodo in Delta State, and would have celebrated his 98th birthday in May if he had tarried just a little longer. But no one knows for whom the bell will toll and when.

Two old men, born hundreds of miles apart, journeying through life eventually met and discovered they had common passions. Their passions were centered around the actualisation of a Nigeria that works for all, irrespective of where anyone came from.

In 1983/84 session when I answered call-up in the National Youth Service Corps, I was, like others, given a booklet that listed all the ethnic groups in Nigeria. A whopping 387 was listed. Later in 1984, the Koma people were “discovered”, in old Gongola State, when irrepressible Col. Yohanna Madaki was military governor and Major General Muhammadu Buhari was Head of State. Shortly thereafter, in 1985, Buhari was overthrown, and a new leader emerged. That is the redoubtable General Ibrahim Babangida, who launched a book on his odyssey in Abuja yesterday.

IBB, as the Oga at the time was called, launched a transition to civil rule programme which culminated in the June 12, 1993 election subsequently annulled by General Babangida. This unleashed a series of reactions that eventually saw General Abacha emerging out new Oga, MKO Abiola, winner of the election dying in detention,  Abacha himself dying, Abdulsalami Abubakar emerging, and another transition to civil rule starting. Eventually, General Olusegun Obasanjo emerged elected president in 1999.

If Nigerians thought their country was on the road to El Dorado, they were soon disappointed as structured inequalities and injustice became common experience.

It is in the light of the unsavoury experiences Nigerians were going through that the two old men that recently transited started giving voice to what is wrong with us, and what should be done to right the wrongs. Pa Ayo Adebanjo used the platform of the Afenifere to ventilate his suggestions, while Pa Edwin Clark used the PANDEF platform. They also worked with the Middle Belt Forum, currently led by Dr. Bitrus Pogu, the Arewa Consultative Forum, and Ohanaeze Ndigbo. At times, Afenifere, Ohanaeze, PANDEF, and the Middle Belt Forum found need to operate on a common platform. The SMBLF, or Southern and Middle Belt Forum Leaders was actualised and used as the need arises.

While they were here, their opinions on issues helped influence the direction of government policy as their interventions significantly impacted public policy.

In fact, it could be said that many people in high public offices shied away from certain actions and policies simply because they were apprehensive of the kind of reactions that might be elicited from these titans. These two old men were the conscience of the nation and the regions they came from– the South-West and the South-South.

The import of their transition is that today’s buccaneering politicians have less to fear; they have already captured the political space and suborned the institutions of society in such a way that a nobody can never get justice. The security agencies are doing their bidding while the judicial institution has become a superstore where justice carries a price tag affordable by only those who can pay.

Life is a relay race. These old men have left, and it behoves their inheritors to carry on from where they stopped. Speaking of inheritors, I refer not just to the filial, but to those who share and believe in the ideals that they stood for and are willing to sacrifice for the betterment of society. To start with, PANDEF must remain vibrant, robust and responsive to issues. Afenifere must re-engineer itself to remain strong in order to withstand the onslaught of prebendial interests. The future calls for sacrifice as we battle misplaced economic priorities, insecurity, and a crippling sense of hopelessness that is currently pervading the nation. These departed old men committed huge personal resources to call and host meetings, and mobilise the media and civil society in furtherance of ideals they believed in. Their inheritors should do no less, but more, because we have a lot to do, and a long distance to travel.  As Pa Clark said as he was dying, according to family members, “we should not give up on making Nigeria better.” We cannot afford to betray their memories and legacies. Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Pa Edwin Clark, rest well in the bosom of God. Adieu. TGIF.