The Great Ife Students’
Union Building(Ken SaroWiwa Building) means different things to many
people. While to some, it is a place that has produced heroes and
legends; to others, it is the bedrock of Students’ militancy; to others
still, it is a house for thugs, rogues and ‘professional’ students.
Whatever it may mean to anyone isa matter of interpretation. For those,
like me, who have served the Union in any capacity at one time or the
other it is a centre for political consciousness,analyses and education
which we will always love cherish.
In front of that building once
stood a newspaper vendor, Abe Igi( under a tree) where different people
come to read the papers (usually for free) and in turn analyse,discuss
and argue about topical issues makingthe news for long hours that one
begins to wonder if these people ever attend lectures. (I must confess I
learnt more politics at this point than I did in the classroom studying
for a degree in Political Sciencein the university). It was at this
place that I met the strangestperson in my life!
Comrade Tony
Uchendu is a young man who you would ordinarily prefer to avoid. His
appearance is austere; his to his stature is what you can call below
average. His ideas and opinions are either strange or bizarre. He
professes Communism and his deep knowledge of Marxism particularly
thrills me. But how willyou know except you come close to him? But I
have never met someone whocalls himself a Stalinist until I met this
Comrade!
In addition to loaning me Isaac Duetscher’sStalin: A
Political Biography some day after our first meeting, he requested me to
attend the meeting of his group, The Eagle Network; a group a was
largely unaware of its existence on Campus. I was reluctant to read the
book he gave me ( I have not read any Stalin’s biography allI knew then
about him were from books about Soviet’s history and politics), just as I
was to attend the meeting. After hesitating for several days, I decided
to honour the invitation baring any political or social consequences
for attending the meeting of a strange,largely clandestine, and an
unknown group and at night! It was at this meeting still that I heard
further shocking message particularly about democracy.
Noticing
my hesitations, Comrade Tony allayed my fears: the group sprang up from
the Black Nationalists’ Movement(BNM). I told him that I only know the
Movement as a political ideological group to which the Governor of Osun
State,OgbeniRaufAregbesola belonged to as a student of The Polytechnic,
Ibadan. Then we discussed some things in my project thesis: The Effects
of Party Politics on Nigeria’s Democratic Experience (which I dedicated
to Ogbeni ). On seeing my work he oppugned all my ideas about democracy
and told me that all Nigeria needed was leadership and not democracy.
It
is now 54 years that our colonial masters left us. It is also 16 years
since the soldiers went back totheir barracks handing over power to
politicians or ‘democrats’. And Nigeria has had almost equal number of
years for both military and civilian regimes. The ‘democrats’ may
disagree with the points I will be making but no problem.
A lot
of people are deliberately ignorant of the fact that two of modern
history’s most celebrated dictators are products of a democratic
process. Benito Mussolini(Italy) and Adolf Hitler(Germany) a were
elected under the Fasci di Combattimentoor Fascist Party and the
National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi Party respectively
in 1922 and 1933 in addition to countless others. We must equally
concede that elections have also produced geniuses and near-saints like:
Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Thatcher, Julius Nyerere, Sam
Mbakwe, LateefJakande, SuleLamido and the likes, just as it has produced
rogues and despots: Robert Mugabe,is just a good case.
Also,
anyone who has studied US history would know that democracy is just a
style of leadership not a system as we may think. Franklin D. Roosevelt
is a good example. Many remember him today as perhaps the most loved
American president. Few remember the ‘Court Packing’ and attempt to
flush out all his opponents from the Congress during the 1938 midterm
election using his influence in the Democratic Party. All these he did
to force the New Deal Program through the throat of Americans. Few still
remember he is called the lion and the fox: two creatures known for
ruthlessness and craftiness.
We have equally been told that
democracy is built on institutions, and not men. In fact President Obama
made this point clear on his visit to Ghana in 2009: Africa needs
strong institutions and not men. If I am on the same page with these
people,the word institution is to be taken literarily: an organisation
that has a particular purpose. In this case may mean: courts,
parliaments, bureaucracy, political parties, or electoral bodies. If
that is the meaning of institution, then I submit we have them in fact
in excess. To fight corruption alone we have: Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission(EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offences Commission(ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau, NationalAgency for
Food, Drugs Administration and Control(NAFDAC), State Security
Service(SSS), the Police the list is endless. Has the existence of these
reduced corruptions?
It is on that note that I found another
meaning of the word in Oxford Dictionary: a person who is well known
because they have been in a job for a long time. In the United States’
Federal Reserve Board we can mention institutions like William M. Martin
Jr. who served as chairman between 1951 to 1970 serving under five
different administrations, both Democrats and Republicans. Also we have
Allan Greenspan who was appointed chairman in 1987 and served four
different Presidents, including Bill Clinton,even though he himself was a
Republican. These are institutions per excellence. And these we need!
When
I hear people talkof ‘institutions’ they say it as though they will be
manned by robots or X-Men. Judges can be bribed, influenced or
intimidated; security agencies can compromise; other institutions can be
deliberately underfunded (all these we recently witnessed in Nigeria).
The reason forall these is that these institutions are manned by weak
men. Weak men cannot rise above partisanship,tribalism, nepotism,
ethnicity or religious bigotry. This is where I agree with my Stalinist
friend!
Irrespective of what the West wants us to believe about
Stalin: he was responsible for the deaths of untold number of Soviet’s
citizens through starvation and ‘concentration’ camps; murderer of many
if not allhis opponents and supporters (including the respected Leon
Troskyone of the leaders of October 1917 revolution); reigned terror on
many through the notorious and dreaded KGB (the Secret Police), we need
him to bring discipline back into our lexicon as a nation. For those who
do not know, Stalin it was that mechanized Soviet’s agriculture; turned
around its education that rural farmers were all sent to school; laid
the foundation of Soviet’s industrialization, and development of nuclear
power which compelled Americans to treat Russians as equals in
international politics; responsible for Soviet’s victory over Adolf
Hitler’s Nazi army. All these came with great costs. Ivan the Terrible,
Peter the Great and other great reformers have been dwarfed by the giant
form of the Man of Steel(Stalin)(Deutscher 1961: 294 ). If we remove
Stalin’s contribution to Russia’s history what is left? There is always a
price to pay for making progress!
As a developing nation, we
need leaders to guide and inspire our people into political, social,
economic, cultural and spiritual vitality, revival and activities.
History is not in wantof such leaders: Napoleon Bonaparte(France),
Charles De Gaulle(France), Lee Kwan Yew( Singapore), Jossip Bros “Tito”(
Yugoslavia), Major-General Park Clung(South Korea), Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk( Turkey), Fidel Castro( Cuba) and the likes. These will not be
your first choice of ‘democrats’ but the untold development they brought
into their domains and jurisdictions cannot be quantified.
Comrade
Tony, I later learnt, was shot by the men of the Nigerian Police during
a demonstration in 2012 nationwide Strike so I was not able to return
his book Stalin: A PoliticalBiography to him while he was alive.During
my little stay with him, I knew him to have so much in passionate love
with Stalin.When I looked at the book again recently, I saw the words:
“If I ever meet you, Stalin,” wrote the Comrade at the back of the
book,“I will give you a kiss.” As against what his appearance portrayed
he was just 26 years old when he was shot. I hope he is kissing now!