Another Great Ife

The Legend

3 years ago

When I was at the Obafemi Awolowo University (1980-1984 and 1986-1988) I was a member of the Kegite’s Club – I still am. OAU is the World Headquarters (WHQ) of the Kegites Club because that is where the club started in 1963. In 1986 when I went back for my Masters program, we had a problem when it was time for the annual leadership transition of the club.

The Chief that had been chosen by the Council of Elders was facing resistance from a sore loser and his associates. Somehow two factions had emerged in the club. One was the ‘Old Guard’, those of us who had become Kegites at OAU and owed our allegiance to the World Headquarters and the values of discipline, respect and portraying a good image of the club and University.

The other faction was made up of mostly Kegites who had joined the club in other tertiary institutions before moving to OAU, they found our ways too strict and stuffy for their liking. We in turn did not regard them as good team players. We the ‘Old Guard’ wanted one of our own trusted Comrads to be Chief. The other faction backed one of their own.

The Council of Elders was dominated by members of our own group so our candidate emerged. The other camp started to cause problems, so in order to settle our grievances, the Council of Elders delegated four of us (2 former Chiefs and 2 Life Senior Fellows) to go and see one of our older club members on campus who was a Professor. He was a Life Senior Fellow of the club and a father figure. We narrated the developments to him and asked him to convene a meeting at which both factions would be present and settle the matter by asking them to reconcile themselves to the choice of Chief for that year. Our delegation was in for a shock.

After listening to us, the Professor said, ‘Why have you people chosen a Yanmiri boy to be Chief here at Ife? How is he going to communicate with our ancestors? I cannot support this’.

We could not believe what we had just heard. It had never occurred to us that Chief Tony Ogidi did not qualify to be Chief at WHQ because he was Igbo. The criteria for becoming Chief back then was ‘Kariability’ which meant commitment to the goals of the club, good character and the ability to inspire.

The Kegites Club has always been a melting pot for people of all ages, ethnicities, faiths and classes. We left our Professor very disappointed but determined not to heed what we believed was unethical counsel. It was not the Kegites way. It was not the Great Ife way. We went ahead and solved the problem ourselves by making peace with the other side and promising them that there would be no actions taken against any of them. We coronated Chief Tony and he was a great leader.

That was 36 years ago. Today, two members of our group of four who went to seek the help of the Professor are themselves Professors heading key tertiary institutions in Nigeria, the third is a Senior Lecturer in one of the old Universities. Even though we might not see each other often, we have maintainedour bonds of friendship and solidarity that the Kegites Club was anchoredon and nurtured by the great institution we all love and call Great Ife. There have always been bigots in unexpected places, small minded people who do not deserve to be in the hallowed halls of such great institutions of learning.

The hope is always that there are enough rational people to keep them in check and confine them to the margins where they belong.

Sadly, the abnormal and irrational is pushing forcefully into the mainstream. Last week we were horrifyingly entertained by a bunch of clowns who had the audacity to literally invade OAU to protest the appointment of a ‘non-Ife indigene’ as Vice Chancellor. The protest and the dramatis personae who led it would have been laughable but for the fact that it was not funny at all. A University is hallowed ground. A place where knowledge and learning are prized above all else, while administrative processes are put in place to keep the institution running. Years ago, serious scholars did not consider putting themselves forward for certain positions for fear it would interfere with their research, teaching and conference-related travel schedules.
The process of appointing a Vice-Chancellor used to be of no concern to any entities other than the institution concerned. Apparently, things are different now. These days all kinds of interests weigh in – political, religious, community, ethnic, and in the recent case of OAU, sub-ethnic.

That afternoon, as we walked out of the office of our Professor years ago, we felt ashamed – for him. He had tried to teach us division and prejudice, in an institution whose motto is ‘For Learning and Culture’. All those who were involved in those protests last week, either directly or indirectly, should be ashamed of themselves. I hope the Universitywill investigate the serious breach of security. How did hoodlums masquerading as traditional worshippers gain access to the campus? Are the students safe if these shenanigans are allowed to continue or happen again? A University should be led by people of sound mind, good character and solid academic credentials.

Anyone who is behind the debacle we witnessed last week or is the supposed beneficiary is not fit to lead the Great Ife that we know. I believe that after over 60 years of its existence, OAU needs to revise its Motto, ‘For Learning and Culture’ is no longer enough, perhaps they need to add ‘Character’ to the list.

The OAU that I passed through and still stay connected to needs transformative leaders who can continue to make the institution competitive, who can solve the many challenges the institution faces which include access to adequate infrastructure, human, material and technical resources, safety and conducive learning for students, up to date technology, attracting research grants and facilities, and enterprise development, to mention a few. This kind of leader will not be someone who was thrown up because of the corner of Yoruba Land he/she happens to come from, and will definitely not be the kind to have either the time or inclination to pander to parochial interests. It is bad enough that over time non-Yoruba Vice-Chancellors have been discreetly shooed away from competing for the position, now we are dealing with the infantile issue of exactly where in Yoruba Land the VC should come from.

Maybe there is another Great Ife where teachers with small minds and a narrow world view can be left alone to churn out generations of unemployable students who will go into the world with poor functional skills, a lack of imagination and anti-academic ideas. Fortunately, the last line of the OAU anthem is: There is only one Great Ife in the Universe, another Great Ife is a counterfeit, Great! Great! Great! Great! Great!

•Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Gender Specialist, Social Entrepreneur and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She is the First Lady of Ekiti State, and she can be reached at BAF@abovewhispers.com

Originally published in The Vanguard.