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Ayo Adebanjo! 96 cannon-shots for the sage, who chose honour to riches!
By Sunny Igboanugo
“The purest treasure mortal times afford is a spotless reputation. That away, men are but gilded loam or painted clay…My honour is my life both grow in one. Take honour from me and my life is done.”
This was Shakespear, writing in King Richard 11, in 1597. It was one of the scenes where two nobles, Henry Bolingbroke Duke of Lancaster squared up against Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. The subject matter was that rare item – honour. Bolingbroke had accused Mowbray of high treason in an alleged attempt to overthrow King Richard – accusation that amounted the highest crime in the land.
For that Mowbray, who pled his innocence, swore that the only remedy that would cleanse and cure the dishonour was the blood of the man from which the treasonable word issued. The two hot-bloods would not listen to their elders.
Hear Mowbray’s retort to his father, when he tried to persuade him not to fight:
My king, I throw myself at your feet. You have power over my life, but not my honor: it’s my duty to obey you, but my good name, even if you take my life, will not be dishonored by you in death. I am disgraced, insulted, and slandered here, my soul pierced with the venomous spear of lies, which no medicine can cure except the blood of the man who has poisoned me.
It even got sharper when the king threatened Bolingbroke with his authority. King Richard’s staff was made of a lion’s head while that of the Duke, his cousin was made of a leopard. So, he commanded – give up the fight I command you – lions make leopards tame. But listen to Bolingbroke, still emphasising his honour even over his life said in reply:
Yes, but the lions notwithstanding its powers cannot make leopard change its spots. To take that gage from me is to take my honour. A brave spirit in a loyal person is like a jewel in a chest protected by ten locks. Then, my dear liege, let me prove my integrity in combat: I live for my honor and will die for it.
What does all this say? Simple! Without honour, a man is no more than a moulded sand or painted clay – completely lifeless! Therefore men who know the value of honour do everything to protect it. Like the British nobles who were prepared to kill themselves to preserve their honour, every man is supposed to prefer death over dishonour. In other words, not even the entire world or pain of death would make them trade this rare virtue.
Bola Ige, former Governor of Oyo State and Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, months before he was assassinated in December 2001, at the main auditorium of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), Enugu gave a local impetus to the idea. There, he spoke so eloquently and profoundly to accentuate the meaning of honour that his audience became clearly roused to why individuals must fight or die for it.
The essence of that event in the court of King Richard 11, more than 400 years ago and its reenactment by Ige two decades ago, remain as profound and true then as they represent the true spirit of man in the import of creation today. Men are still ready to die today to preserve their honour and integrity as they were in those eras.
Even with the thinning down of their numbers across the world, due to many years of sustained corruption and the interplay of personal interests, some men still manage to see honour and integrity as the main credo for existence of man. The name, Samuel Ayodele Adebanjo, foremost Yoruba leader and exemplary nationalist would certainly find itself in that fast-diminishing list.
Until his passing on Friday, February 14, 2025, Pa Adebanjo, gave a grand performance like a principal character in an opera accentuating that concept of humanity. The stage was the Nigerian politics. Just two years earlier, in 2023, men of integrity were called to that stage. The nonagenarian led the pack. As the Leader of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, he had every reason to benumb his conscience and bury the truth as he knew it.
After all, how could he abandon the people he led when one of their own was in the arena for a contest? Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Yoruba son and one of his subjects as the alter ego and numero uno of the Yoruba people by virtue of his leadership of the Afenifere, was one of the contestants for the presidential election of that year.
It was therefore not only expected to stand behind the Jagaban Borgu, the Asiwaju of Lagos, but imperative. He could have given that excuse to his colleagues in Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), or the Middle Belt Forum with whom there was a previous agreement for the Igbo to produce the next President. Of course, in the Nigerian context, it would have sufficed as an excuse.
But that was where Adebanjo’s quality stood out. The Yoruba, is also inured in the doctrine of Omoluabi – the unique value expressed in a well-behaved person and stressed only in the principle of doing the right thing at all times – which also includes upholding the doctrine of equity, justice and fair-play – the essence of man in a plural and divergent world.
That was the pitch! That was how instead of Tinubu, Adebanjo, led the Yoruba support for Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, an Igbo man. Reason: “The Yoruba will not take its turn and take the turn of another person just because it has the advantage or power to do so.”
For his compatriots who argued otherwise, he had this to say to them, in an Arise News Television interview: “Why are we supporting Obi? The constitutional, logical, and equitable reasons for it, I have stated. Those are the issues they should address. They should tell us that the rotation system which showed that Yoruba have had their slot and automatically disqualifies Tinubu now is false.
“None of them can claim to love the Yoruba people more than me, Ayo Adebanjo; no Yoruba man living. I am challenging them to come out if there is any organisation in existence that surpasses Afenifere in protecting Yoruba interest.
“This is not a Yoruba matter; it’s not a contest between Yoruba and Igbo. It is about who are the best champions of the people. This is an equitable thing for the unity of the country. That is what we should address. We should first decide whether we should have a second chance when one of us has not had a chance.
“Those are facts of the issue. We are not only opposed to the issue of Tinubu; we are also opposed to Atiku. How can a Fulani man rule for eight years and another Fulani man is going back there? Those are the issues. Let us base this election on issues, not on sentiments.
“And if you read that statement where I first announced our support for the South East, I didn’t even know who was going to be the candidate then; it was principle and certain ideals. It is that ideal they should challenge.
“They should not bring in any price line or sentimental attachment. I won’t accuse them of any other ulterior motive; that’s their affair, but that is our own case; it is the case that they should address; address the message, forget the messenger.
“We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria while we at the same time continue to brutally marginalise and exclude them from the power dynamics. Peter Obi is the person of Igbo extraction that Afenifere has decided to support and back. He is the man we trust to restructure the country back to federalism on the assumption of office.
“We will not compromise this principle of justice, equity, and inclusiveness because one of our own, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is a frontline candidate. It is on this same principle we condemn the People’s Democratic Party for sponsoring Atiku Abubakar, a Northern Fulani Muslim, to succeed General Muhammadu Buhari, another Fulani Muslim.
“The current President is a Fulani from the Northwest, and by virtue of the zoning arrangement that has governed Nigeria since 1999, power is supposed to return to the south imminently. The southwest, as I have pointed out, has produced a president and currently sits as VP; the South-South has spent a total of six years in the Presidency, but the Igbo people of the South-East have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the South, equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo.”
Even after Tinubu grabbed, snatched and ran away with the trophy, Adebanjo was neither any less relentless, nor perturbed. Like the father, whose recalcitrant and wayward son brought back a stolen item, he refused to be part of it in spite its seemingly resplendent beauty and inviting allure. He knew that the magnificence of that item, was superficial and beneath it, just like a tomb, was rottenness and fetidness.
So, as punishment, he might not have received some freshly-minted state of the art exotic cars into his home, deservedly as an Afenifere leader. His house might not have been renovated and decorated with the latest designs of ornamental furniture. No! He might not have received hefty amounts in his bank account as allowance or gifts during festive periods. No streets or monuments were named after him either as some people who took a different road are getting today.
But did it bother him? Did he care? Certainly no! Ostensibly, he knew what he had was far more valuable than silver and gold. Just like the biblical reenactment, he saw the riches of the world shown to him with the prospect of owning them if only he could bow down and serve mammon. But he screamed with a loud voice – away with you!
Bola Ige, in that Enugu outing, while describing the beauty of honour, had told his audience that in that assemblage at the auditorium, were people, whose entire life bore the imprimatur of official sleaze – who from the brooms in their kitchens to the slew of exotic automobiles in their garages were the proceeds of corruption. Amid the enthusiasm and loud ovation his words generated, were registered countenances of discomfiture as with thieves whenever stolen items are mentioned.
Clearly, Samuel Ayo Adebanjo, would hardly be counted in that group of established villains to whom integrity and honour are alien, having sold their souls to the devil. He did not want to gain the entire world and lose his soul. So, he chose the uncommon path.
Like the noblemen in the court of King Richard 11, 400 years ago, he went into a duel with the renegades and reprobates of the world. In the end, at the age of 96, he closed his eyes in his modest house in Lekki Lagos. On that Friday, he breathed his last, clutching in his bosom the biggest trophy his traducers yearn for but would never have – the purest treasure mortal times afford – a spotless reputation!
Seyi Adewunmi, President of the Lagos Country Club (LCC), launched into his third term in office on Tuesday, with the eternal words with which William Shakespeare depicted the pleas of King Richard 11 to British noblemen at daggers-drawn in his forecourt, some 431 years ago – forgive, forget, reconcile and be agreed.
It was his way of offering his olive branch to seek healing for members still lacerated with old wounds of the bitter battle for the soul of the club, which ended up in courtrooms after failure to settle it inside the games-room, the tennis courts and other troubleshooting arenas.
Flanked by his wife, Ify, whose contribution he lavishly acknowledged, Adewunmi, at his inauguration at the club’s main hall, apparently recalling the incident, which nearly crippled affairs at the family club, said: “To those who are still aggrieved, I speak to you now, directly and without condition. Whatever the disagreement, the Club is bigger than any single dispute, and its future is far more important than any lingering bitterness.
“Whatever the words that were said or the decisions that felt unjust, I invite you, today, to lay it down. No dispute is worth dividing us. I extend to you my open hand and my open heart. This is your club. It needs you. I need you.
“The chapter we are about to write is better written together and it MUST be written. So please sheathe your swords. Come home. The gates are open, the seats are ready, and the work is too important for any of us to sit it out.”
The President, who was full of praises for the club’s Board of Trustees, was particularly enthused with the contributions of Aare Kola Oyefeso, the leader of the exulted body, whom he described as “a conscience and compass of this club,” for donating his wealth of experience.
Hear him: “To our Board of Trustees, and to Chief Kola Oyefeso in particular, I offer my deepest respect. You have been the still, small voice of wisdom in the seasons of noise.
“Every time this Presidency needed an elder’s hand on the shoulder, you were there. The Management Council and the Board have not merely coexisted during my tenure, we have collaborated, and the Club is better for it. I am indeed very grateful sir.
Expressing similar gratitude to other members of the Management Council Officers and the Chairmen of the various Sections and their Committees as well as the members, he enjoined them to prepare for the task ahead.
He added: “I see you all. I greet you all. And I am profoundly glad to be standing here, still standing, before you today. Let me begin with a confession. When I first stood in this position three years ago, I made promises. Big promises. The kind that sound magnificent from a podium and look somewhat different at seven in the morning when the contractor has not shown up and the cheque has not cleared….but I did not run away.
“I did not make excuses. I did not hide behind procedure or blame my predecessors. I rolled up my sleeves, as you well know I am rather fond of doing, and I worked. Two terms. Hundreds of meetings. Thousands of decisions. One attempted character assassination which, I am glad to report, the character survived.
“And today, you have returned me unopposed for a third and final term. Not because I cannot be challenged. Not because the road ahead is smooth.
“But because you looked at my record, you weighed me as a man, you made your assessment, and you made your verdict. I receive this mandate with the full weight of gratitude and the full fire of purpose. Lagos Country Club — your President is back. And this time, we will finish the work.”
He also expressed gratitude for various members of the club, who had supported in many ways to keep it going, recalling particularly the donation of equipment worth millions of naira by Tunji Amosu, the Vice President of the club, saying such a selfless gesture defined the idea behind LCC as a family club.
Hear him: “He (Amosu) reached into his own pocket, deep into his pocket I might add, and donated equipment worth millions of Naira to our new clinic. Millions. I want to be clear: this was not government allocation. This was not a corporate write-off. This was one man saying, ‘I believe in this Club enough to invest my own resources in its wellbeing.’ That is the spirit of Lagos Country Club at its finest, and it deserves to be celebrated.
“But let me also say that greatness is not only measured in millions. Gifts are never less precious than the grand gesture, and for this reason, I want to honour those who gave what they had, and gave it gladly. Confidence Yunusa (D12848) donated pillows to our clinic, and before you smile, those pillows matter. They speak of someone who thought about the comfort of a sick fellow member on a sick bed. That is love in action.
“Also, Femi Oduwole (D14027) gave us a water dispenser. Clean water. To all who gave in any measure: this Club sees you, this Management Council thanks you, the Board of Trustees appreciates you and history, as I speak is recording you.”
By Sunny Igboanugo
Despite consistent usage, it has remained a powerful reality, the age-long saying that the drum sounds for a great man – in life and at death. Rather than becoming a tiring cliché its reality continues to emerge as demonstrable evidence from time to time.
So, when on Sunday, October 26, 2025, the cap lowered on the head of Ben-Chuks Nwosu – astute lawyer, consummate politician, inimitable humanist, gifted public speaker and foremost community leader, it was not just another historic event, many of which have trailed him over the years, but a clear statement on the persona of the former Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly – one meant to capture his import as a man who has conquered his territory and etched his name permanently on the sands of time.
The versatile lawyer and politician, was among the influential figures assembled for special recognition by Igwe Keneth Orizu 111, Monarch of the Nnewi ancient kingdom – one of the iconic traditional stools in Anambra State – to mark his 100 years of age and 62 years on the throne, as one of the features of the historic event.
The monarch, the oldest and longest reigning king in Nigeria was emphatic on why Nwosu made that list – it was an acknowledgement of his positive contributions, not only to the development of the ancient town, but to the advancement of humanity in general through his engagements in many aspects, especially his chosen career of law and his vocation as a politician.
Ostensibly, the royal father wanted to make that statement both as part of the records of his reign and to demonstrate the essence of the biblical saying – to whom much is given, much is expected – and how this son on of Nnewi land had over time, fits that bill perfectly.
For instance, not only the monarch, the people of Anambra, if not the conscious world, bore and still bear witnesses to how, the primus inter pares of the Anambra legislature, Nwosu unsheathed his sword from the scabbards to confront the political hounds that attacked the state at that time, in defence of his territory – democracy.
The echoes of that historic period in the state, have continued to reverberate across the firmament, while the imprimatur has continued to be evident in demonstrably bold terms even now, as the doyen has again donated himself to yet a fresh battle – that of rescuing the people of Anambra from the abyss of despair as the state approaches the edge of the precipice where the current minders are driving it, through bad policies and unwholesome politics.
Currently, the Chief of Staff (CoS) of the John Chuma Nwosu (JCN) Campaign Council, the ex-lawmaker, has become a central voice for the new advocacy in Anambra by JCN – the man, who has taken it as duty to rescue the state and reverse the evil political vehicle, fast galloping towards that inevitable destruction.
Ndubuisi Nwobu, Deputy Governorship Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), at the hosting of members of the council at a reception organised at his Nnewi country home, shortly after the event at the Igwe’s palace, spared no words in acknowledging this aspect of the former Speaker’s persona, particularly his contributions to both politics and human development in Anambra State and beyond.
Nwosu takes traditional greetings with Igwe Orizu
For Nwobu, himself one of the biggest names in Anambra political arena, bearing the scars of its different political wars, it was a recognition of a fellow warrior in the battlefield and a colleague in arms, whose contributions are vital for the mission at hand.
The former Chairman of Awka South Local Government Area and former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who represented the governorship candidate at the event was emphatic in guaranteeing that Nwosu would neither relent or be deterred by the arsenal of war being assembled by the anti-democratic, anti-progressive and clearly negative forces in the state, who seem intent on relentlessly asphyxiating it of life.
Hear him: “There is greater work ahead and I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll live up to expectation, because your passion for the service to mankind is exceptional. Whatever you set your mind on, you pursue it with so much gusto and vigour, as if your life depends on it. For you, there’s always no going back.
“Congratulations. The entire campaign council greets you. We thank you for what you have done and have no hesitation in our belief that with your contributions to this onerous task, we’re going to triumph. Remain strong. May the good Lord continue to strengthen you in the name of Jesus.”
Before Nwobu spoke, Prof. Zelinjo Igweze, Director, Women Mobilisation and Dr. CC Okeke, Deputy Director General (DDG) Political Matters, had also spoken in the same manner, paying glowing tribute to the Nnewi-born political juggernaut.
Ike Iwenofu, accomplished Engineer and Director General of the council, had earlier in his tribute on behalf of the members, also acknowledged Nwosu’s towering profile and invaluable contributions to the campaign efforts.
He wrote: “The entire John Chuma Nwosu Campaign Council bursts with joy as we celebrate our indefatigable Chief of Staff, Rt. Hon. Barr. Benchuks Nwosu, on this glorious day of honour and recognition by His Royal Majesty, Igwe Dr. Kenneth Orizu III of Nnewi, during the historic Centenary Birthday Celebration.
“This royal honour is not just a mark of distinction, but a celebration of character — a recognition of your steadfast loyalty, uncommon humility, and tireless service to humanity and our great movement. You have continued to distinguish yourself as a pillar of strength and a shining example of leadership, loyalty, and integrity. Your honour today reflects the values we hold dear — service, excellence, and commitment to the greater good.
“We rejoice with you, Ogbalike Nwachinemelu, and pray that this recognition opens even greater doors of favour, grace, and impact in your journey ahead. A thousand cheers to a worthy son, a noble leader, and a loyal ally!”
Nwosu with Nwobu
But for the man of the moment, the event evoked memories decked in family history, particularly depicting a family of warriors, whose essence was captured in the roles they played in defence of the territorial integrity of the Obuofia Nnewi enclave in the years of yore.
He tells the story: “My father, Nwoke Modo was a warrior and it became his assignment to move from Obuofia to wage wars against our attackers. Where we live now is called Agawana, meaning war trenches. So, Eze Ugbuonyanta, the great grandfather of the person that gave me this title today, named him Ogbalike. That means, when things get tough, he is invited.
“So, when this came up about a year ago, I told the Igwe that I had a senior brother, but they said the knew the history, but that this was given to me in recognition of the special role I played as Speaker, particularly during the impeachment saga (of former governor, Peter Obi.)
“They said I proved some genetic trails when I did not betray him as then Chairman of the Anambra State Traditional Council and I did not betray Dr. Dozie Ikedife, who was the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. So, this has been in the making for more than a year. In line with tradition, I had to let my elder brother know and he gave his consent that I could go ahead and take our grandfather’s title. That’s what I have done today. Since he was a warrior, they felt that the role I had played in Anambra politics akin to that of a warrior, hence the title.”
With this historic aspect, it might no longer be surprising to anyone the line the former Speaker is toeing, why his battle-weary body is lacerated with the scars of war and why his path both in politics, law and other endeavours is strewn with courage and forthrightness. It lives in the family – an acknowledgement that Ogbalike Nnewi is not just a title, it is history!
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