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bishopbode@hotmail.com Atlanta, GA, USA

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NO, EBINO TOPSY, AWO WOULD NEVER BE IN THE PDP

t is quite apposite to quickly disagree with Chief Ebenezer Babatope, one of the leaders of the People’s Democratic Party in Osun State on the recent statement credited to him that the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo would have been in his party if he were to be alive today. He is also wrong that the recent attack on a faction of Afenifere in his State could not be carried out by his party members. It is either Babatope is mixing facts with the truth or is now totally a different man.

It is a big reversal for the once left-leaning and well admired Ebenezer Babatope to be going off course. Here was a man of huge political future with the way he served the people through Awo. He was definitely on course even after the termination of the Second Republic and his return from the indiscriminate imprisonment of 1983 until tasting real power in the post-annulment time. He was the Senator who ran away to London where renouncement of support for Abacha’s plan to succeed himself was declared.

He has been acting and talking strangely of late like a fish out of water or one with a grudge against some groups which may be found amongst the old order of Awolowo political family.

The name Ebenezer Babatope used to be synonymous with powerful and proletarian history telling. Ebenezer Babatope had a powerful column in the Tribune papers in the days of old, particularly in the days of the most progressive political party in the Second Republic Nigeria. This writer was in the High School when Babatope was one of the assistants of the sage - Obafemi Awolowo and even before the start of the Republic in 1979 when the Committee of friends was founded.

Note should be taken that Babatope was fired from his University of Lagos job by the regime of soldier Obasanjo before then and he got a job with the former Vice Chairman and Finance Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from where he later emerged as the Director Organization and Publicity of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria under the undoubtable leadership of same Awo.

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Ebenezer Babatope was worthy of emulation as a Party spokesman and he could be called a powerful speaker whose historical analysis is yet to be rivaled by any of the nowadays spokesmen on the political scene in Nigeria. He surely won the hearts of Awo with the way he handled all opponents of not only Awolowo but also the Unity Party of Nigeria in the hey days of Second Republic.

Ebino, as he was popularly known then was not only a trojan in his handling of the public affairs of his party but also a one man riot squad in the way he could face any public debate over matters of party politics or his political master. He was not trained in insulting people as the present ill trained or ill-cultured boys in the corridor of Federal Government are wont to, but had abundance of history to back up his public speeches or debates as the director of publicity and organization of the most disciplined party of the era.

He was also a powerful writer whose articles in the Sunday Tribune was a ‘must-read’ then. He could write and talk history as a good student of history and a lover of historical illustrations.

Such were his speeches then that his audience or readers would be treated to in-depth explanations of the sit tight rulers in Africa or third world and how they fell. Many got explicit details about Patrice Lumumba, Sekou Toure, Kenneth Kaunda and many others through regular reading of Ebino Topsy.

He was the director of party organization and this writer as a High School student saw him in action in Ikirun, then in old Oyo State but now in Osun State of Nigeria where he physically prevented us from getting too close to his leader who was in Ikirun for a party campaign in 1979.

The admiration for Ebino Topsy grew in heights and even when the great Awo transited in 1987, Ebino was still a popular man with many of us who knew him years back.

The recent statement credited to Ebino Topsy who has now become Chief Ebenezer Babatope has reinforced my concerns just like that of many of us who used to talk admiringly about Ebino.

The late and one time majority leader in the real Ondo State House of Assembly in the Second Republic, Alex Adedipe agreed with so many of us as Undergraduates when we praised the quality of Babatope who remained steadfast with Awo or progressives after 1983. ‘Alenco’ as the strong Akure politician and lawyer was called, described Ebino as a strong man with words.

There is a need for the younger generation to emulate whatever is good in our seniors and to call to question what is not in agreement with the qualities they used to preach.

Babatope was in Buhari gulag for ‘God knows’ offence from 1983 till 1985 and his offence could not be more than working for Awo. He knew a lot of political workings of Obafemi Awolowo and a lot of youths including this writer were happy when the 1985 military men set Ebino free.

Babatope later became a lawyer but has become a very strange man since the death of his leader - Obafemi Awolowo and participation in the post-annulment regimes.

This is where the name or alias of Ebino Topsy disappeared.

What is wrong with Ebino Topsy? With due respects to Ebenezer Babatope, he needs to let the world know the problem between him and the old order of the Awo family.

It is noted that he once wrote derisively about Bola Ige and has joined camps with the men who he used to verbally attack as dangerous to the good of Nigeria..

He could never be serious to say that the late Chief Awolowo would be in PDP! For one thing, Obasanjo would never be qualified to lead Awo’s party while Babatope must have been dead wrong that the late leader of the Yoruba would agree to the gross abuse of the Nigerian constitution as presently the case by his (Obasanjo) leader in PDP.

What does Ebino think about the murder of Bola Ige? Does he think Nigerians are fools to misread the message from his party and leadership echelon who discouraged the investigations into the killing? Who is Chief Ebenezer Babatope today?

How could he defend his party as not capable of attacking the factional leaders of Afenifere on tour of Osun State? How changes manifest in human beings overnight?

For all the people know, the People’s Democratic Party is capable of anything. The country has witnessed the assassination of Dikkibo, Harry Marshall, Bola Ige and now Saadatu Rimi. The near murder of Benue governor too.

Ebino or Babatope is dead wrong that the PDP in Osun State, his State and that of late Bola Ige was not capable of organizing any kind of attack.

It is of note that Babatope in one of his writings in the Tribune years past told us about the violence with the military. He advised that it would be unreasonable to trust the military with power. When did he become so trusting of even Obasanjo?

The system in Nigeria today is the preponderance of soldiers who have refused to be civilianized in the corridors of power. These men can still be brutal, crude and despotic as the only languages known in their dictionary are giving and obeying orders. The crudity, brutality and despotism have often been reflected or demonstrated by retired General Obasanjo and his party.

It is a big ‘mis-message’ that Babatope who once suffered military brutality in the hands of Obasanjo chose to ignore the truth by clinging to the People’s Democratic Party by all means.

What is the state of relationship between him and his natural political family? Why has the elders ignored him?

Remember he served in the inglorious regime of Abacha and rightly or wrongly refused to get out of the junta when Yoruba leaders of thought directed thus. The point is that he was not the only one who refused the directive and he has found it difficult to return to his natural political environment since and has found home with those he used to lampoon in the past as reactionaries.

He is not writing for the Tribune and is not as popular as before. He is not doing what he used to do for the right group with credibility but now for the wrong group thus having no credibility.

To all the real elders in Yoruba, there is the need to readmit Babatope into their fold because he is an asset which can be of great use. Do not allow him to waste amongst the wolves. Babatope marching for Abacha or hobnobbing with Adedibu? That is not Ebino Topsy.

Babatope too should not lose any pride in returning to his roots. He is needed and he needs them too.

Many can not wait to see the return of the old and dear Ebino Topsy.